,.;:« 



V\ \ SJORy 
SKAGIT 



AND 




W\SH1NG^I 



^mm. 









.:t;#j 




.^ v^^-rv'... 



^V^> 






v!*'KC/.!V/,*." 



.*- . jt «:;<: v-^'' "; %»>*, --k' "x-r, 









^f-^- v\v. x'.t- ^A:i' 






■V/;rH"-.-r- 









S}^'^;^^^J^ 















"4i^^f/^.^.:^ 



'fe.'v:^vv 






An Illustrated History 

OF 

Skagit and Snohomish 
Counties 



their people, their commerce and their 
resources 



WITH AN OUTLINE OF THE EARLY HISTORY 



State of Washington 



ENDORSED AS AUTHENTIC BY LOCAL COMMITTEES OF PIONEERS 



INTERSTATE PUBLISHING COMPANY 
1906 






UiRARY of CONGRESS 

Two Conies (I«ceive<f 

AUG 31 1906 

eMyfigm Entry 



^'k^i- 



eOPYRIGHT. 190G. 
BY 

s'TERSTATE PUBLISHING COMPAX'i 



■<^ 



Co the Pioneers 

of 

8hagit and Snobomieb Counties 
^asbington 

Those Who Have Gone and Those Who Remain, 

This Work is Dedicated as a Token of 

Appreciation of Their Virtues 

and Their Sacrifices 



"The best heritage the pioneer can leave to future genera- 
tions is the simple yet powerful story of his life— of hardships 
endured, of dangers faced, and his final victory over wil- 
derness and desert plain." — Theodore Roosevelt. 



PREFACE 




E 



VERY community writes its own history just as surely as every community makes its 
own history. The compiler and publisher of historical works can do nothing more 
than to collect, collate and arrange the accounts which have been already prepared 
for him by the actors themselves, whose deeds and achievements he seeks to record. 
If he does this thoroughly', skilfully and with conscientious care, he has done all that is 
possible to him. If the makers of the history of any locality have failed to write fully 
accounts of their deeds, either upon the printed page or the tablets of the memory, no compiler can make 
good the resulting loss. A careful effort has been made by the compilers and publishers of this work, 
to make the best use of all available materials. It is hoped that in some measure, at least, they have 
succeeded. If the result of their labors seems deficient to the reader in any respect, let him remem- 
ber the possibihty that the deficiency may be due partly to the fact that the makers of the history 
themselves have not written their history with sufficient care and fullness. 

A tribute is due, however, to the pioneers of Skagit and Snohomish counties, both for the faith- 
fulness and vividness of the pictures of past experiences which they have hung on memory's walls, ■ 
and for the wilhngness manifested to display those pictures for the benefit of the compilers. A 
tribute is also due to the pioneer newspaper men for efficiency in preserving for us a record of events 
as they transpired, and for unselfishness in placing before the compilers the files wherein that record 
is to be found. It is impossible to thank specifically each of the many persons who have assisted in 
the production of this work, but to all who have extended courtesies, or imparted information, and to 
those who, by their patronage, have made the publication of the history possible, the most cordial 
thanks of the publishers are extended. 

Special acknowledgments are due the Puget Sound Mail, the Skagit News-Herald, the Mount 
Vernon Argus, the Anacortes American, the Skagit County Times and the Courier of Sedro-Woolley, 
the Snohomish Tribune, the Everett Daily Herald and the Morning Tribune, the Arlington Times, 
the Stanwood Tidings, the Edmonds Review; to Eldridge Morse and Clayton Packard, editors 
respectively of the old Northern Star and the Eye, for use of files; to Melville Curtis, of Anacortes, for 
placing in our hands files of the Northwest Enterprise and of the Progress, also some rare maps' and 
pamphlets; to E. A. Sisson, of Padilla, for the use of his diary and old pamphlets; to Gardner 
Goodridge, of Stanwood, and Hon. E. C. Ferguson, of Snohomish, for valuable papers; to the Everett 
Improvement Company for maps, newspaper files, etc.; to Dr. Charles Milton Buchanan, of the 
Tulalip Indian Agency, for information and contributions concerning the Indians; to the Everett 
Chamber of Commerce for valuable files and documents; to the officers of both counties for numerous 
favors and courtesies, and to the special committees of both counties for efficient assistance in revising 
the manuscripts and many helpful suggestions. 

Free use has been made of official records of county, state and nation. In the preparation of the 
history we have had the efficient help of W. D. Lyman, professor of history and civics in Whitman 
College, Walla Walla. 

THE INTERSTATE PUBLISHING COMPANY.. 

John MacNeil Henderson, President. 
Charles Arthur Branscombe, Vice President. 
William Sidney Shiach, Editor. 
Harrison B. Averill, Associate Editor. 



COMMITTEE ENDORSEMENTS 



We, the undersigned, citizens of Skagit county, Washington, hereby certify that we have 
assisted in a thorough final revision of the manuscript history of said county prepared and to be pub- 
Hshed by the Interstate Publishing Company. We came to this region during the early days, have 
taken an active part in its development, and witnessed with no little interest the making of its history 
from its dawn to the present time; therefore we are able to give to this revision advantages accruing 
from personal knowledge of many events. 

The History of Skagit County we have no hesitancy in pronouncing eminently fair and com- 
prehensive in its treatment of all sections, impartial toward all interests, interesting in its description 
of pioneer life and latter-day growth of our community, and authentic in its spirit and details. The 
result, we believe, is a standard county history of substantial and permanent worth. 

Thomas P. Hastie, President Pioneer Association. 
Da\id Batev, Ex-president Pioneer Association. 
E. A. SissoN, Secretary Pioneer Association. 
Albert L. Graham, For the Islands. 



We, the undersigned, pioneer citizens of Snohomish county, Washington, hereby certify that we 
have gone over the manuscript history of said county, prepared and to be published by the Inter- 
state Publishing Company, and have called the attention of its editor to such errors and omissions as 
our knowledge of events enabled us to discover. Having been active participants in, or vigilant 
observers of, almost everything that has happened in the county from the early days to the present, 
we believe ourselves well qualified to judge of the merits of said history, and we have no hesitancy 
in stating that so far as we know it is a full and comprehensive record of events, impartial in its 
treatment of the various interests and sections and in all respects a meritorious and authentic work. 



E. C. Ferguson, ()/' Snohomish. 
E. D. Smith, of Loivell. 
Peter Leoue, of Stamvood. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 



PART I 
INTRODUCTORY 



CHAPTER I 

EXPI.ORA'IIONS BY WaTER 



PACE 

Introductory— Gasper Cortereal— Juan de Fuca— His Story— Behring's Explorations— Captain James Cook— Incep- 
tion of Fur Trade— The Nootka Controversy— La Perouse—Meares— American Explorations — Discovery of the 



Columbia — Vancouver's Explorations. 



CHAPTER II 

Expi-oRATioNs Hv Land 

Verendrye — Moncacht-ajje-Alexander Mackenzie— Thomas Jefferson and the Northwest— Lewis and Clark Expe- 
dition to the Pacific — Negotiations Leading to the Louisiana Purchase — Details of the Journey of Lewis and 
Clark 5 

CHAPTER III 

The Astor Expedition 

Profits of the Fur Trade— John Jacob Astor— His Plan-His Partners— The Tonquin— Fate of That Ship— David 
Thompson — Adventures of William Price Hunt and Party— Failure of Astor's Enterprise — Capture and Restora- 
tion of Astoria 12 

CHAPTER IV 

The Northwest and Hudson's Bay Companies 

Joint Occupation— Early History of the Northwest Company— Rivalry of the Northwest and Hudson's Bay Com- 
panies-Absorption of Northwest Company — Character of the Hudson's Bay Company — Its Modus Operandi— 
Its Indian Policy— William H. Ashley— Jedediah S. Smith— Captain B. L. E. Bonneville— Captain Nathaniel J. 
Wyeth — Hudson's Bay Company Seeks a New License— The Puget Sound Agricultural Company IH 

CHAPTER V 

Period of Settlement 

Jason Lee and Party — The Reception by the Hudson's Bay Company's Employees— The Political Effect — The Flat- 
heads' Search for the Hook— Its Results to the Tribe— Settlers in Oregon in 1832-34— Expedition of Doctor 
Marcus Whitman and Doctor Samuel Parker— Whitman's Mission— Whitman's Work — Gray's Return to the 
East — New Arrivals— The Large Immigration of 1843— Extract from Nesmith's Lecture, "The Early Pioneer" — 
Death of Edwin Young — Attempts to Organize a Government — Provisional Government at Last 24 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER VI 
The Oregon Controversy 

PAGE 

Claims of the United States to Northwest Stated— Negotiations of 1826-7 — Evans on Effects of Joint Occupation- 
Interest of Congress Finally Aroused— Exploration is Stimulated— Immigration of 1843— Negotiations of 1831— Of 
1842— Of 1843- -Interest Manifested All Over the Union— Political Parties Take up the Controversy — Negotia- 
tions of 1845 — Polk Gives Great Britain a Year's Notice of Intention to Abrogate Joint Occupancy Treaty — 
Negotiations of 1846— Great Britain Offers Forty-Ninth Parallel— Offer is Accepted— The San Juan Contro- 
versy—Its Settlement y4- 

CHAPTER VII 

The Cayuse War 

Agent White's Warning to Immigrants — The Renegade Cockstock— Indian Expedition to California— The Indian 
Agent's Difficulties— Calamity Averted -Cause of the Whitman Massacre— Joe Lewis— Details of the Massacre — 
Rev. Brouillet's Statement— His Interviews with Spalding— Peter Skeen Ogden— His Speech— Indian's Reply — 
Prisoners Delivered Up— Eells and Walker — Oregon Rises to the Occasion— Volunteer Regiment Provided for — 
Failure of Attempt to Negotiate a Loan— Appeal to Citizens — The Regiment— Expedition Starts from Portland — 
Vakimas Choose Peace— Battle of Sand Hollows— Tiloukaikt Outwits Gilliam— Gilliam's Death— Captain Maxom 
Takes Command— Condition at Fort Waters — Women to the Aid of the Suffering — Governor's Proclamation — 
Additional Volunteers— Difficulty of Collecting Supplies— Lee Appointed Colonel— Resigns in Favor of Waters — 
Sets Out for Nez Perce Country — Cayuses Flee— End of Campaign— Results of War 4L 

CHAPTER VIII 

Early Days in Washington 

Early Agricultural Progress— Emigrants from Fort Garry — Michael T. Simmons — Condition of the Sound Country 
at the Time— Settlements of 1848— Beginning of Commerce on Puget Sound— Settlements of 1850— Of 1851 — 
Convention at Cowlitz Landing— Washington Territory Created— Governor Stevens— Conditions Found by 
Him— Territory Organized— Stevens Goes to Washington, D. C— Indian Council Convened— Extracts from 
Kipp's Diary — Governor Stevens' Speech— Arrival of Looking Glass— Treaty Signed— Territory Relinquished. . 50 

CHAPTER L\ 

The Yakima War 

Outbreak— Causes— Gold Discovery— Initial Murders— Murder of Agent Bolen— The Haller Expedition— Its De- 
feat — Olney's Letter to Governor Curry — Military Preparations — Major Rains' Expedition— Rains' Reply to 
Kamiakin's Letter— Raymond's Message to Major Chinn— Establishment of Fort Henrietta — General Wool 
Arrives— Reinforcements sent by Nesmith to Relief of Fort Henrietta— Kelly Assumes Command— His Meeting 
with Peo-peo-mox-mox— First Day of Battle— Killing of Peo-peo-mox-mox and other Indian Hostages— Different 
Accounts of it— Kelly's Report of the Battle of Walla Walla— Severe Winter Following— Governor Stevens' 
Return from the Blackfoot Country— Charges against General Wool— Stevens' Return to Olympia— War on 
the Sound— Massacres on White River— Desultory Winter Campaign— Stevens Calls for Additional Volun- 
teers—Attack on Seattle— Defeat of Indians on White River — Volunteers Decide on Inland Empire Campaign — 
Operations of the Oregon Volunteers — Wool's Instructions to Colonel Wright— Evans' Criticism of Wool- 
Wright Starts for Walla Walla — Kamiakin's Attack on the Cascade Settlements— Lawrence W. Coe's Account 
of Attack on the Bradford Store— Coe's Narrative of Attack on Lower Cascades— Attack, on Middle Block- 
house—Relief Comes— Sheridan's Operations— Steptoe's Return— Wright's Yakima Campaign— Colonel Shaw's 
Vigorous Campaign— Stevens' Second Council of Walla Walla— Wool's Congratulations— Failure of the 
Council— Stevens' Battle with the Indians— His Criticism of Colonel Wright— Wright's Patched-up Peace- 
Indignation of the Territories— Indians' Preparations for Renewal of the War— Steptoe's Ill-starred 
Expedition— Wright's Vigorous Campaign— Battle of Four Lakes— Spokane Plains— Peace— Summary of the 
Results of the Campaign 6T 



CONTENTS 



PART II 

HISTORY OF SKAGIT COUNTY 

CHAPTER I 
Period of Settlement 

PAGE 

First Settlers on Fidalgo Island— Compton's Claim— Fate of Robert Beale— Smoke in 1868— Enumeration of Early 
Settlers— First White Woman— Other Arrivals— Miss White's Statement— Agriculture Begun on the Island — 
Farm Machinery Introduced— Progress During Early Seventies— Ship Harbor — The Lady of Ship Harbor — 
Settlement of Guemes Island— Copper Prospect Discovered — "King of the Smugglers" — Attempted Settlement 
on Mainland in 1855— Quotation from Northern Light— Calhoun Visits the Mainland — His Settlement— Stories 
about Swinomish Indians — Settlers following Calhoun and Sullivan— Settlers in 1870 — First White Women — 
Settl'ers in 1871— Conditions in Early Seventies— Grain Raising— First Steam Thresher— Settlement of Padilla — 
Arrival of Whitney— Whitney, Sisson & Company — First Settlers in Skagit Valley— First House— First School 
and Church— Skagit City— Logging Bees— Campbell's Store— Election of 1871— Potatoes as Legal Tender- 
Primitive Transportation- Logging— Murder of John Barker— Kimble's Experiences— Other Settlers— Settle- 
ment of Upper Valley— First Settler above the Jam — Rev. B. N. L. Davis — Discovery of Coal— Settlement of 
Amasa Everett— Some Pioneers in Special Callings — Logging Camps — Settlers at Different Points— N. P. R. R. 
Matters— County Division Rumblings of 1873— Large Crop Yields on the Swinomish — The Samish Valley — 
Edison— Early Settlers— Pioneer Merchant— Inauguration of Diking — Public Schools — Killing of Patrick 
Mahoney — Concluding Remarks 97 

CHAPTER II 

Skagit County, 1874-1883 

Effects of Crisis of 1873— First Move for Jam Removal— Cold January in 1875— Bird's-eye View of County in 1875— 
First Coal Shipments — Scale of Prices in l87(i— Beginning of Work on the Jam — Proposed Levee Along the 
River— Description of Jam— Importance of Removal— Northern Star's Report o£ Progress— Dangers of Work- 
Tribute to the Jam Loggers— Heavy Grain Shipments in 1S76— Progress of Dikifif— Large Yields of Oats— Star 
Correspondents' Statistics -Discovery of Coal— Prospecting in 1877 — Discovery of Gold in 1878— Excitement 
Ensuing— Ruby Creek Mines — Conditions in 1^77-8— Logging above the Jam — Progress of the Upper Valley— 
Birdsview — Sedro- Woolley— District Court at La Conner— Restoration of Railroad Lands — Voyage of the 
Josephine— Social Life — Drowning of John Imbler — Fishing Industry— Heavy Snow Fall of 1880— Mining — 
Steamboating to the Mines— Settlement at Mouth of Baker River— Fracas with Indians — Memorial to Post- 
master General— Fine Oat Crops— Floods of 1882— Jam Removal Meeting— Lumbering — Minkler's Mill^ 
Drowning of J. S. Kelly , 112 

CHAPTER III 

■ Skagit County, 1883-1889 

County Division — Preliminary Sparring — The Bill Introduced— First pill Lost— Another Introduced and Carried— 
Copy of the Act— Loss of Steamers Josephine and Fanny Lake— Other Steamers— Movements for Improve- 
ment of River Navigation— Movement for Improved Roads— Dry Summer of 1883— Swinomish Flat Develop- 
ments in lS83—Floods— Drowning of Walker— Morse's Tide Land Report— Jam Removal Matters Again— Lum- 
bering in 18S4— Indian Fracas— County Seat Struggle Begun— Its Progress and Conclusion— Minerals— Cold 
Weather in December, 1884— General Progress — Auditor's Statistics— Forest Fires in 18S5— Good Crops of 
That Year— List of Loggers— Anti-Chinese Demonstrations — General Developments in 1386- Skagit River Tele- 
phone Company— Outline of Mail Contracts— List of Tax Payers— Railroad Matters — Skagit Saw-mill and Manu- 
facturing Company— Whitney Island— Freshet of 1887— Whatcom— Skagit Struggle Again— Blowing up of the 
Bob Irving— Rapid Developments of 1888— Railroad Rumors— Logging— Statistics of Property, 1883-8— 
Statehood — Mining Activities — Constitutional Convention — Final Admission 127 

CHAPTER IV 

Skagit County, 1889-1897 

Cold Winter of 1889-90— Railroad Projects- The Seattle & Northern— Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern— Fairhaven & 
Southern— Seattle & Montana— Paper Railroads— General Excitement— Anacortes Boom— Mount Vernon— 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Skagit County Agricultural Society— Increase in Population— Memorials to Congress— Anti-Chinese Move- 
ments—Attempted Highway Robbery— Smallpox Epidemic- Pioneer Association Organized — List of First Offi- 
cers and Members— Road Agitation in 1891 — New County Scheme -Shooting Affair of July 26, ISHl — Bar Asso- 
ciation-Great Growth of County— Bridge Building in lS9i County Seat Removal Struggle— Population in 
1892— Assessment Returns— Floods of Winter of 1S92-3 — Cold Snap in January and February— Proposed Motor 
Line — Trial for Murder of David C. Moody -Wilbur Heirs Case — Large Shipments of Oats — Skagit County 
Shingle Association — Court-house Erected— Wagon Bridge at Mount Vernon Completed— Crop Conditions in 
1893— Marsh Land Reclamation— Flood of 1894 — Damage to Realty Owners and Railroads— Drowning of N. P. 
Swanbergand Child — Drowning of Indians — Freshet of July— Results of Flood — Northwest Agricultural Society — 
Skagit County Horticultural Society- Forest Fire— High Tide of January 12, 1895— Anacortes Threatened by 
Forest Fire— Unfortunate Year 1895— Memorial in Matter of Clearing the Mouth of the Skagit — Fracas on the 
Wharf at Saniish— Trial of Baldwin. Perkins and Loop— County Immigration Association Projects of 1895-6— 
Floods of 1896— Attempted Murder at Prairie , 14-1 

CHAPTER V 

Skagit Coi'NTY, 1S!)7-19I»5 

General Revival of Industry — Indian Murder Case— Klondike Excitement -Flood of November, 1897 — Spanish- 
American War — Summary of Events — Return of the Soldiers -Trial of Joe Henry— Murder of D. M. Wood- 
bury — Trial of Al. Hamilton — His Final Conviction and Execution -Trouble Over Employment of Japanese — 
Invasion of Army Worms— Railroad Accident — Corsage Case Census of 1900— Prosperous Year 1901 — 
County Fair— Memorial Services— Storm of December 25th — Railroad Accident of January 17, 1903— Trial 
of Charles Lindgrind— Skagit County at the St. Louis Fair— Refunding of Bonds— Jail Break — Pioneers' 
Reunions of 1904-5-Burning of Steamer Elwood— Prosperous Year 1904 -High Tide of December 29, 1904 — 
Encouraging Outlook , 165 

CHAPTER VI 

Political 

Division Movement in 1882— Officers Elected That Year— Special County Election— Precincts and Official Vote- 
Organization of First Board of Commissioners — Ferry Licenses Granted— First Jurors— County Seat Struggle 
of 1H84— Vote on Question by Precincts — Democratic Convention of 1884— Republican Convention— Official 
Vote— Commissioner District (juestion— Local Option Election— People's Party Organized— Official Vote in 
1886— Election of 18H9— Special Election of 1889— Conventions and Election of 1890— Hot Campaign of 1892 — 
People's Party Appears— Conventions and Official Vote— Conventions and Elections of 1894— Northwestern 
County Combination— Vigorous Campaign of 1896— Preliminary Conventions— Resolutions of the " Middle- 
of-the-Roaders"— Official Returns— Official Returns in 19((0— McBride Becomes Governor — Preliminary Con- 
ventions in 1902— Official Vote- Republican Resolutions in 1904 - Democratic Convention— Result 174 

CHAPTER VII 

Cities and Towns 

Mount ]'ernon—lis Site— First Settlement— First School— Platting of the Town— First Store -First Residence- 
First Restaurant— Transportation— Progress in 1879— Effect of Ruby Creek Excitement— Logging in the 
Vicinity— Flag Pole— Fraternal Orders— Progress in 1883-4— School Census of 1884— Odd Fellows' Hall— Mount 
Vernon Made County Seat— Skagit Saw-mill and Manufacturing Company— Railroad Matters— Telegraphic 
Connections— Building and Loan Association— Incorporation — Steady Growth During Boom Period— Enterprises 
Inaugurated at the Time— Municipal Improvements— First Big Fire - Great Northern Reaches Mount Vernon— 
School Building Erected— Opera House— Chamber of Commerce— •' Mass Meeting" of 1894 — New Dike- 
Effort for City Water System— Fire of April 20, 1895— Later Fires— Progress of Recent Years— Frater- 
uities— Churches— Newspapers— Schools— Bank — Summary of Business Houses— Fair Association — Profes- 
sional Men— City Officers. La Conner— Vus\. Mercantile Establishment— John S. Conner— La Conner Post- 
office— La Conner in 18S2— James and George Gaches— Efforts for Improvement of Swinomish Slough — 
Development in 1875— Steamboat Transportation— Business Establishments— Telephonic Connections, Water 
System, Etc. — Incorporation — Dis-incorporation— Re-incorporation- Puget Sound Mail — Public Schools — 
Churches— Fraternities— Skagit County Bank— Fires — Present Population— Outlook. AnacortfS—'RomSiUce of 
its History— Excellent Location— Amos Bowman's Article— Earliest Settlers in the Vicinity— Bowman's Map- 
Terminal Aspirations— Bowman's Account— Anacortes in 1882— Communication— Early Steamboats— Town 



CONTENTS xi 



PAGE 

Platted— N. P. R. R. Interested— The Boom— Warnings of Skagit News— Cause of Boom— Attitude of Rail- 
roads Toward Anacortes— Electric Railroad Enterprise- Skagit Motor Line— First Ocean Steamship's Visit - 
Municipal Incorporation— First Election— Chamber of Commerce— Schools— Newspapers- -Banks— Breaking of 
Boom— County Seat Fight— Fish Canneries Established— Banks— Wharves— Churches— Fraternities— Water 
System— Fire Department— Conclusion. Sedro- lVoo/U-\ — Marvelous Growth— First Settlement— Arrival of 
Mortimer Cook— "Bug " Established by Him— Inception of Business Enterprises— Boom of 1889 in Sedro- 
Entrance of Fairhaven & Southern— Other Railroads— Platting of Sedro. AW/rwV/^— Business Houses in 
1890— Decline of the Pioneer Town— Kelly's Town Takes the Lead -Sedro Land and Improvement Company- 
First City Election— St. Elizabeth's Hospital— WooUey Founded— Story of Beginnings— Postoffice Estab- 
Hshed— Early Business Enterprises — First City Election in Woolley— Growth of the Industrial Field— Social 
Life Organized— Disastrous Fire of 18!il— That of 1893— Hard Times— Union of Sedro and Woolley in 1898— 
First City Officials— Progress of the Consolidated City— Story of the Schools— Present System — Churches and 
Their History— City's Newspapers— Present City Officers— Fraternities— Business Directory— Present Status— 
" The Tale of Two Cities " 18» 

CHAPTER VIII 

Cities and Towns (Continued) 

Bur/in^/on—FWst Settlements— Platting of Town— Early Business Men— Pioneer Loggers— Milletfs Dwelling 
Erected— Postoffice Established— Advent of Railroads— Geographical Surroundings— Incorporation in 1902— 
Belleville Episode— First Business Houses— Mills Established— Business Directory of 1905— Schools— Churches 
—Fraternities. jE'rt'?Vo«— Surroundings— First Settlers— Postoffice Meeting— Captain Edwards' Store— Town 
Platted— Samish Island — Town in 1878— In 1882— Early Business Men — Disastrous Fire of 1893— Progress — 
Industries of Community — Present Busiuess Houses— Schools— Churches— Fraternities. Bow — Founding — 
Growth— Present. .^?/o«— Establishment by White and Skaling— Temperance Town — Pioneer Business Men 
— Business Features— Business Directory— Churches and Schools — North Avon. Bay7'tt^7e'—lts Incipiency — 
— Resources — As it is To-day. C/t'ar/,d-e— History — Present— Resources. Mc Murray— EstabVishmeut of Town 
— Location— Growth — Business Houses of To-day. Montbornc — Hamilton— Ms Past— Incorporation— Growth- 
Business Directory. Baker— 'iX.oxy of Its Growth— Present— 5rt«X- City— Rockport— Cement City— Dewey— 
Whitney— Fidalgo— Fir — Conway — Skagit Citv — Lyman —Sterling — Thome — Ehrlichs— Soma Historic Boom 
Towns— Other Postoffices in Skagit County 22S 



PART III 
HISTORY OF SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



CHAPTER I 

Settlement and Organizati 



The First Saw-mill— Military Operations During the Indian War— Beginnings of Snohomish City— Military Road 
Operations Abandoned— Founding of Mukilteo— Election of June 9; 1860— Organization of County— The 
Creating Act— Census of 1861 — Effects of Eraser River Excitement — Cady and Parsons' Expedition — The 
Trans-Cascade Trail Matter— Census of 1862— First White Women- Settlement of the Stillaguamish— Mrs. 
Marvin's Pioneering Experiences— Names of Early Settlers— Beginnings of Logging— Logging at Mukilteo— 
First Settlers of Port Gardner Bay— M urder of Charles Seebart- First Steamboats— Logging on the Stillaguamish 253 

CHAPTER II 

Current Events— 1870-1889 

Saw-mill Projects— Assessed Valuations— Population and Conditions in 1^70— First Deaths of Women — Judicial 
Matters— Cold Winter of 1874— Conditions Subsequent to 1873— Statistics of Logging in 1876— Saw-mill on the 
Pillchuck — Agriculture on the Sillaguamish— Development of Water Transportation — The Northern Star — 
Death of Low and Batt— Diphtheria Epidemic— Hard Times of 1877— Extract from Governor's Report— Military 
Companies Organized— Agriculture on the Skykomish — On the Snohomish and Pillchuck — Removal of Stilla- 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

guamish Jam — Assessor's Census for 1877 — For 1878 — Suspension of Northern Star — Tide Lands Report — 
Revival of 1882— Lumbering Operations of Blackman Brothers— W. M. Pattison's Ferry — Incoming Immi- 
grants — Work on Snohomish Marshes— Lake Washington Wagon Road— Removal of Snags from the Snohomish 
River— Shooting Affray at Stanwood — Ice on the Snohomish in Winter of 1883-4 — Indian Difficulties — Agricul- 
tural Progress— Stock Raising— Hard Times for Loggers in 1884— Progress of Snohomish City — Pillchuck and 
Stillaguamish Wagon Road— Mining Operations— Movement for Railroads — Production in 1884 — Revival in 
1885 — Blackman Mill Burned — Pillchuck Boom Break — Inception of Shingle Industry — Progress of Agriculture 
— First Threshing Machine— Products of 1885— Anti-Chinese Agitation— New Roads — Stillaguamish in 1886 — 
Depression at Granite Creek — Forest Fires — Accident on the Stillaguamish in 1887 — Railroad Matters— Seattle 
& West Coast — Bellingham Bay Road — Lumber Industry in 1887 — Silver Creek Road — Indian Matters— Popu- 
lation in 1887 — Principal Property Holders — Lively Year 1888 — Accident on the Stillaguamish — Combinations in 
Lumbering — Railroad Activity— Building of Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern — Stillaguamish in 1889— Movement 
for Secession — Mining Excitement and General Progress 259 

CHAPTER 111 

Current Events— 1889-1897 

Progress of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern— Mining— County Division Rumblings— Railroad Matters — 
Immigration — Mineral Developments— Lumbering and Agriculture — Arhngton — Lumbering — Wages — Brewing 
of County Seat Trouble — Building of Court-house— Railroads Again— Effects of Railroad Building on Realty 
Speculations — General Progress — Assessment Summaries — Population— Year 1891— Court-house Completed— 
Disastrous Storm on the Coast— Railroad Progress in 1891— Attention to Electric Railroading— The Seattle & 
Montana — The "Three S" Road— Society for County Advancement— Excursion by Boat to Sultan— Mining in 
1891— Granite Falls-Silver Gulch— Visit of Philip Armour and Others— Erection of the Paper Mill at Lowell- 
Inception of Great Industrial Enterprises at the New City of Everett — Water Works Movement at 
Everett — The Case of David Montgomery — Expulsion of Guy — Statistics of Progress— Building of the Great 
Northern— The Everett & Monte Cristo Railroad— Stillaguamish and Sultan Mining Company— Other Mining 
Matters — Raids on Dives — Freshets of November, 1892 — Smallpox — Completion of the Great Northern — 
Stillaguamish Construction Company — Tilt with a Steamboat Man— Jail Break— Story of the Trials of Schultz 
and Smith, Murderers — Assessor's Report for 1893— Floods— Opening of 1894— Public Improvements— Steam- 
boat Matters— Great Strike of 1894— Accident on Lake Stevens— County Seat Struggle— Puget Sound National 
Bank Fails — Shooting of 'Texas Jack" — Trial of "Omaha Bill" — Revival in 1896— Mining Association 
Organized — Mining Activities— Introduction of the Silo — Attack on Nathan Phillips — Snohomish River Flood 278 

CHAPTER IV 

Current Events — 1897-1905 

New Era — Hart vs. Rucker — Removal of Court Records — Interview with D. D. Besse — Developments on the Monte 
Cristo — Dairying — Forest Reserve Question — Puget Sound National Bank Troubles Adjusted — Worth Found 
Not Guilty— Flood of 1897— Wreck on the S. & I.— Proposed Power Plant on the Stillaguamish— Railroad 
Matters in 1898— Sultan Valley Railroad Company— Canadian Pacific Operations— Pride-Mystery Receiver- 
ship—Revival of Shingle Business— Snohomish's Part in Spanish War— Connella-Nelson Case— Indignation 
Meeting in Everett— Mining in 1899— Snohomish County Shingle Manufacturers' Association — Mills of the 
County — Excessive Rains in August, 1899 — Fair of 1899— Monty- Fox Shooting Affair — Railroad Accident- 
Activity in Lumbering in 1900— Progress in Mining — Northern Pacific Purchases Everett-Snohomish Road — 
Attack on Frank Whited — Population in 1900 — Immigration in 1900 — Mining Operations — Splendid Harvest of 
1901 — Accidents of the 'Year — Malvern Murder Case — Accident on Snohomish Logging Company's Road — 
Helena-Bornite Consolidation— Trolley Line Rumors of 1903— Snohomish- Everett Trolley Line Completed — 
Trolley Etnerprises of 1904— Wreck on Great Northern — Murder of Fred Alderson— Murder of Henry Hots — 
Sad Fate of Boggio — Railroad Disaster — Disaster on Monte Cristo Branch — Accident to Logging Train Near 
Robe— Accidental Death of Pete Hansen— Conclusion 294 

CHAPTER V 

Political 

Introductory Remarks— Officers Appointed by Creating Act— Early Officers— Republican Ticket, 1876— Democratic 
Ticket— Result of Election of 1876— Democratic Convention of 1878— Republican Convention— Official 
Returns— Result of Election of 1880— Republican Convention of 1882— Democratic Ticket in 1882— People's 
Ticket— Result of Election— Repubhcan and Democratic Tickets, 1884— The People's Convention— Election of 



CONTENTS 



1881— County Division Agitation— Campaign of 1886— Democratic Nominees— People's Ticket— Official Re- 
turns—Settlement of Case Against Stretch— Republican Nominees, 1888— Democratic Nominees— Official 
Vote — Precincts in 1889 — Result of Special Election — Republican Convention, 1890— Democratic Convention- 
Official Returns — People's Party Appears— Its Nominees in 1892— Democratic and Republican County Tickets- 
Prohibition Ticket— Official Count— Fight Between Whitney and Commissioners in 1893— Conventions in 1894 — 
County Seat Removal Issue— Result of Election— Campaign of 1896— Fusion — The Fusion Ticket — The 
Republican Ticket— Official Vote— Vote in 1898— Disappearance of Populism— Official Vote in 1900— Republican 
and Democratic Nominees in 1902- Official Vote— Campaign of 1904— Its Result :!05 

CHAPTER VI 

Cities and Towns 

jFtv/v .7— Factors in Growth of a Great City — Peculiar Advantages of Everett's Location— "City of Smokestacks "— 
First Settlements on the Town Site— Rucker Brothers, Swallwell and Friday Form Land Syndicate— Platting of 
Port Gardner by Rucker Brothers— Withdrawal from Market— Arrival of Henry Hewitt, Jr.— ColbyHoyt 
Syndicate Takes Hold— Vast Holdings Secured— Incorporation of Town Site Company— Platting of City of 
Everett— Swallwell's Landing Forges Ahead— Enormous Land Sales During Boom— Substantial Improvements 
Begun— Marvelous Growth of the Riverside— City's Earliest Business Men— Postoffice Established — Its Ups 
and Downs— Nail Factory— Smalley's Story of Everett — Accuracy of Survey -Arrival of Great Northern at 
Everett Terminus in 1>(91— More Early Business Men— "Bucket of Blood" Saloon— Rise of the Bayside— Henry 
Hewitt's Account of Everett's Founding — Pioneer Bank— Statistics of Early Transactions — Inauguration of New 
Industries and Business Enterprises— Committee of Twenty-One— Fire Companies Organized— Business 
Men's Association— City Incorporation at Last— First Officials— Activity of 1891-2- Starting of Nail Works- 
Enumeration of Factories in 1892 — Smelter and Three S Road Built— First Overland Train— Tide Lands Contest- 
Launching of Pacific's First Whaleback— Exports of 1896— Everett Harbor Improvement- Everett Improvement 
Company Takes Over Rockefeller Holdings — New Impetus to Growth — Tremendous Growth That Followed — 
Resources — Public School System— Churches and Their History- Banks— Clubs — Library— Water Front 
Societies and Fraternities — Shipping and Railroad Advantages and Connections— Newspapers— Prophecy of the 
F-uture— Conclusion. Beginnings of Snohomish City — First Stores — Pioneer School— Town Platted— Snohomish 
in 1873— Snohomish Atheueuni- Northern Star Appears— Effects of Logging Industry on Town— Eye Estab- 
lished-Pioneer Saw-mill of Blackman Brothers— View of Town in 1883— Progress to 1887— Railroad Matters of 
Interest— Stimulating Effects— First Train — Verses in Commemoration of Event — Incorporation — Summary of 
Business Houses in 1889— Era of Rapid Development— Re-incorporation— Mills of Town in 1890 — Disastrous 
Fires of 1891- Serious Trouble with City Marshal— Water System Established— Depression of 1893— Fire of 
January, 1893-Fire of September 16th— Year 1894- Fire of 1894— Creamery Secured— Two Mills Destroyed 
— Revival in 1901— Library Site Donated— Fire of 1901 — Terrible Explosion of November, 190'2— Progress of the 
City— Business Enterprises of the Present— Public Schools— Churches— Fraternities— Beauty of the City's 
Environments — Summary of Resources and Prospects 314 

CHAPTER VII 

Cities and Towns (Continued) 

jT/<7rriT'i'//^— Location— Father of the Town— Comeford's Early Experiences — He EstabHshes Store— Postoffice 
Secured— Other Business Houses Instituted— Railroads Arrive— Town in 1890— Early Mills — The Eye's 
Description of Marysville — Incorporation— Founding of Churches— Business Firms of To-day— School System — 
Fraternal Orders. Stanwood—Ym^ Situation and Resources— Centerville Postoffice Established— Changed 
to Stauwood — Eatly Merchants- Oliver Arrives — Pearson Opens Store— Other Enterprises — Survey of Town 
Site— Railway Building— Fire of 1892— Events of 1898— Cannery— Incorporated as a City— Public Conveniences 
of Present— Co-operative Creamery Association — Lumber Industries of City— Business Houses — Steamboat 
Lines— Schools— Churches Founded— City Officials. £'(/»;£'«(/j— Surroundings— Transportation Facilities- 
Early Settlements at Edmonds— Brackett Locates There— He Secures Postoffice— Town Site Dedicated in 
18.84— Great Development of 1889-90— The Boom. North Edmonds— \Va.ieT System Installed— Incorporation- 
Present Officers— Commerce for Past Decade— Edmonds' Shingle Industries — Business Directory— Churches- 
History of Schools— Conclusion. Lowell— ln\Mna.cy with Everett— Founding— Business Established — Post- 
office Established— Smith's Operations— Progress— Development of Early Nineties— Paper Mill Erected — 
Industries— The Present. Arlington— S'\i\iaX\on — Inception of Settlement— First Stores— Development Follow- 
ing Railway Building. HalU-r CzVy- Early Business Houses— Rapid Growth of Early Nineties— Hard Times- 
Consolidation of Haller City and Arhngton— Present Prosperity — Fire of 1899— Population in 1900— Steady 
Growth Since Then— Present Industries and Stores— Churches — Fraternities — Becomes Railroad Center^ 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

Future of the Town. Monroe — Sightly Location — Park Place— Business Established — Monroe Postoffice. 
Tye City — New Town Built— Depression of 1893— Disastrous Fire— Incorporation— Industrial Backing — Annual 
District Fair— Business Directory, 1905. Granite /"a//i— Commanding Location— The " Portage"— First Set- 
tlers—Mail Service Established — Platting of Town— Industries and Stores Built— Town in 1900— Pioneer 
Schools— Churches— F"rateruities— Incorporation— A Milling Center— Rapid Growth. Sultan — Resources — 
Settlement by John Nailor — Railroad Arrives— Town Springs up in Earnest — Enterprise of Citizens in 1895^ 
Becomes a City— Schools — Churches — Fish Hatcheries— Milling and Logging Statistics — Business Directory of 
Present. /7i?r^«(-<?— Location— Site on Oldest Claim on Stillaguamish — Platted by Perkins— Postoffice Estab- 
lished — Mills and Other Industries — Business Men— Schools. Mukiiteo — Founding by Frost and Fowler — 
Oldest Town in County — Postoffice Comes in 1862 — Early Days — Mukiiteo Lumber Company — The Town at 
Present. Index — Location and Resources — Early History — Growth — Present — Schools. Machias — Settlement 
of Site — Starting of Town — In 1905. Startup — Monte Cristo — Silverton — Darrington — Beauty of Location — 
History. Bryant — Oso— Cicero — Maltby— Hartford— Robe— Sobey — Gold Bar— Meadowdale — Other Commer- 
cial Centers and Postoffices 345 



PART IV 
SUPPLEMENTARY 

CHAPTER I 

Descriptive 



Puget Sound Country a Challenge to Man— No Place for Weaklings— Its Luxuriant Vegetation— Difficulties of 
Agriculture— Of Prospecting and Mining— Inspiration of the Country— Its Inviting Aspect— A Grand View of 
the Magnificent Scenery— Puget Sound Sunsets— Washington the "Sunset" State — Mildness of its Climate — 
Challenge Accepted— Course of Future Development— Importance of the Aleutian Islands with Regard to the 
Sound— A Promising Future — Skagit County— Geographical Position— Boundaries— Skagit River— Its Land 
Building Labors — Character of Tide Land— Size of Swinomish Flat — Productiveness— Scenery— Transporta- 
tion— Need of Improved Facilities— What Has Been Done— Upper Skagit Valley— Tributary Valleys — Mountains 
in the East— Fidalgo Island— Phenomenal Yields— Large Average Yields— Huddleston's Statistics— Cabbage 
Seed Production — Fruit Raising — Diversified Farming Common — Lumbering— Logging Camps of the County — 
Saw-Mills of the County — Shingle Mills— Mineral Wealth— Cokedale— The Hamilton Field -Efforts at Exploita- 
tion—Iron Near Hamilton— Efforts for Sale of Properties— Character of Ore— Cement— Talc— Other Minerals- 
Fishing- Salmon Canning— Salmon Hatcheries— Cod Fishing— Oysters— Summary of Attractions— Snohomish 
County— Boundaries— Timber Resources— Principal Features— Cascade Mountains— River Systems— Lakes — 
Lumbering— Large Trees— Snohomish Timber at Fairs— Logging Methods — Description of Early Logging— 
Blackman Brothers' Improvements — The Donkey Engine — Snohomish County Mills — Sash and Door Factories — 
Mineral Outlook— Mineral Belt— Darrington District— The Bornite Mine— Monte Cristo Railroad— The Wayside 
Mine— Silverton District— The Bonanza Queen— Copper Independent— The Forty-Five— Monte Cristo District 
— Discovery— The Packwood Party— Barlow Pass Discovered— Forming of the Colby-Hoyt Syndicate— Large 
Operations— Disastrous Flood of 1897— The Justice— The Rainy— The Sidney— The Mackinaw— Philo—Rantoul 
Group— Monte Cristo Company's Property— Other Mines— Goat Lake Region— Discovery— The Foggy Ledge- 
Placer Mining on the Sultan— De Soto Company's Properties— Wallace District— Forty-Five Consolidated— Its 
History— The Little Chief— Other Properties— Index District— The Copper Bell— Sunset Company's Property— 
The Ethel — The Buckeye Copper Mine — Index Mining Company— Other Properties in the District— History of 
Silver Creek District— New York-Seattle Company— Bonanza Group— The Ontario— Lucky Day— Orphan 
Boy— Everett Smelter— Agriculture in Snohomish County— Stillaguamish Flats— Intensive Agriculture— Dairy- 
ing— Fishing— Commercial Trout Company— Manufacturing 381 

CHAPTER II 

Educational 

State Schools and Education— Provision for Same— High Schools— Normal Schools— State Agricultural College 
—and School of Science— State University— First Schools in Skagit County— Schools in Upper Skagit— 
Schools on the Islands— First Teachers' Examination— G. E. Hartson's Report— Progress in 1886— Teachers' 



CONTENTS 



page; 
Association Organized— Statistics of Years since 1886— J. G. Lowman's Report— High Schools— Schools at the 
Portland Fair— Private Schools— Alden Academy— Forest Home Industrial Academy— Snohomish County 
Schools— District No. 1— No. 2— No. 3— Eight Districts in 1875— Dixon's Report for 1891— Friar's Report for 
]8!i8-Stiger's Report for 1904— Puget Sound Academy— Dorrance Academy— Academy of St. Dominic -Betha- 
nia High School and College— Conclusion 420 

CHAPTER in 

Press of Skagit and Snohomish Counties 

Puget Sound Mail— Skagit News-Herald— Mount Vernon Argus— Puget Sound Post— Skagit County Courier— 
Skagit County Times— Anacortes American— School Bulletin— Hamilton Herald— Skagit County Logger- 
Avon Record— Sauk City Star— Northwest Enterprise— Anacortes Progress— Other Pioneer Newspapers— Sedro 
Press— The Northern Star— The Eye -Snohomish Tribune— Everett Daily Herald— Morning Tribune— Labor 
Journal— Arlington Times— Monroe Monitor— Washington Transcript— Granite Falls Post— Index Miner— Stan- 
wood Tidings— Edmonds Review— Marysville Globe— Sultan Star— Everett Times— Everett Herald (discon- 
tinued)— Edmonds Chronicle 42^ 

CHAPTER IV 

The Indians of Skagit and Snohomish Counties 

Local Indian Reservations— Tulalip, Swinomish, Lumnii, Port Madison, Muckleshoot— Mukilteo Council— Its 
Results— Missionary Work— Priest Point— Government School Established— Present School— Its Employees 
and Equipments — Agents— Captain Hill's Report — Area of Reservation— Indian Courts— Areas of Lummi and 
Other Reservations— Basket Making— Early White Settlements Near or in Tulalip— The Indian: His Origin and 
Legendary Lore — Multitude of Theories— Immigration from Asia Theory — Forced Migration Theory— Other 
Theories— Legendary Pecnlarities— Linguistic Resemblances — Couclusion of the Matter— Indian's Legend- 
ary Accounts of His Origin— Character of Indian Legends— Pacific Indian Fishermen— Their Vocation in the 
Legends— Legend Telling in Winter— Summer Work— Happiness of Indian Life— A Picture of Indian Legend 
TeUing— Indian Philosophy — Indian Legendary Education— Canoes, Canoeing and Canoe Building— Origin of 
the Canoe— Expertness of British Columbia Canoe Builders— Birch Bark Canoes— Classes of Canoes on Puget 
Sound — Making of Canoes— Methods of Overcoming Defects— Canoe Bailing— Names of Canoe Types— Descrip- 
tion of Each— Description of Paddles— Methods of Paddling— Canoe Racing- Canoe and Indian— His Coffin in 
Death 443 

CHAPTER V 

Reminiscent and Poetical 

Reminiscence of Twenty-five Years Ago— Some Upper Stillaguamish History— Scraps from a Pioneer's Diary — 
Edison's Gold Excitement— A Celebrated Advertisement — The Salmon Age— An Incident of Pioneer Travel — 
Alpine, the Deserted Village— Caught in a Puget Sound Blizzard— Reminiscences of an Ex-Indian Agent— Gen- 
eral McDowell and Chief Bonaparte— An Indian Sham Battle— White Man Versus Indians— The Indians and 
a Total Eclipse— A Siwash's Revenge— A Claim Seeking Incident— Ancient Cherry Trees— One Pioneer 
Woman— Original Methods of a Postmaster— A Camping Incident— A Stirring Incident of '58— A Flood Story— 
A Miner's Story— Then and Now— A Sailor's Pioneering— A Bear Story— Adventures with Bruin— A Good 
Country to Tie To-Piracy on the High Seas— The "Judge" Throws the Case Out of the Window— Mount 
Ranier— The Swinomish Flats-Sailing of the Whaleback— Port Gardner- The Wild Cherry Tree— The Old 
Settler— On the Plains— The Pioneers— The Brave Old Days— The Evergreen State 45& 



PART V 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Skagit County 493 

Snohomish County 82& 



GENERAL ILLUSTRATIONS 



A "Catch" of Fish 

A Field of Cauliflower 

A Field of Oats 115, 

A Fish-Canning Plant 

A Hop Ranch 

Anacortes 

Anacortes High School 

A ' ' Preemption" Cabin 

Arlington 

A "Samish Flats ' Residence 

A Shaded Highway 

A Skagit County Farm 

A Sound Steamer 

"At Anchor" 

A Timber Claim 

Baling Hay, Near Stan wood 

Baling Hay, Snohomish I"lats 

Battleship ' ■ Iowa ' 

"Bicycle" Tree, The 

"Big Tree" Stump 

Blockhouse, Bosart's 

Blockhouse, Crocket's 

' ' Bonnie," The Collie 

Bridge on ' ' Goat Trail ' 

Burlington 

' ' But I Flow on Forever" 

Cabbage Seed, Harvesting 

Canoe-maker, The 

Canyon Falls 

Canyon of the Skagit River 

Cauliflower 

Cedar Log Encircled by Roots of Other Large Trees, 

Changing the Channel 

Chief John 

"Clearing" 

Collapse of Great Northern R. R. Bridge 

Court House, Everett 

Creamery, Stanwood Cooperative 

Crevasse on Mt. Baker 

Deception Pass 

Distant View of Stanwood 

' ' Donkey" Logging Engine 

Dusky Indian Maidens 

Engine, Donkey 

Engine, Logging 

Everett 



Exhibit of Snohomish County at Portland, 1905 

Exposition Buildings, St. Louis, Portland 

Farm of C. Anderson, Stanwood 

Field of Oats 115, 

First Sawmill in Snohomish County, Built 1852 

First Skagit County Surveying Corps, 1872 

Fish-Canning Plant 

Fish Hatchery, Baker Lake 

Fish Hatchery, Sub-station 

Fishing Boats 

Fishing Crew 

Fish Trap, A 1 15, 

Fish-trap Piles, Towing 

Foot Bridge Suspended on Cables 

Forresters 

Fresh Vegetables 

Getting Out Ship Masts ^ 

Glaciers on Mt. Baker 

Goats 

Goat Trail 

Governor Isaac Ingalls Stevens 

Granite Falls 

"Gum Boot" Kitty 

Harvesting Cabbage Seed 

Hauling Fir Logs, Oxen 

Hauling Shingle Bolts 

" Hawaii," Steamer 

Hemlock Tree Growing from Old Cedar "Snag" 

Hereford Cattle 

Hewitt Avenue, Everett 

High School, Anacortes 

"Hole in the Wall" (Two Views) 

"Home of the Trout" 

"Home Sweet Home" 

Hop Ranch 

Indian in his "Dugout" 

Indian Tree Burial 

In the Background, Everett 

In the Harbor 

La Conner, 1873 and 1905 

La Conner Flats (Oat Fields) 

Large Log Over Which Other Large Trees Have 

Grown 

Library Building, Everett 

' ' Limping Liz" 

Log Bridge 



GENERAL ILLUSTRATIONS 



Logging Engine 175 

Logging near Pilchuck 136 

Logging Scene 380 

Logging Teams 145, 222, 282 

Log Leaving Chute 129 

Marguerite, Steamer 330 

Monte Cristo 252 

Monte Cristo R. R. Tunnel, 900 Feet 266 

Moonliglit on the Sound 405 

Mount Vernon 194 

Mouth of the Sl<agit River 107 

Mt. Baker 380, 395 

Mt. Index 380 

Mt. Rainier 395 

'Old Sawmill on Tulalip Indian Reservation, Built in 

1852 107 

On Samish Flats, Near Edison 188 

Pan-American Exposition Exhibit 175 

Pass, Deception 418 

Pioneer Cabin 188 

Pioneers, The 282 

President Roosevelt at Everett, May 23, 1903 315 

Puget Sound Academy, Snohomish 337 

Puget Sound from Hat Island 405 

Punctured Tree, The 171 

Rhododendron, The 96 

Rosario 418 

Sawing on the Big F~ir Tree 380 

Sawing Shingle Bolts 129 

"Sedro-WooUey 222 

Shingle Bolt Drive, Stillaguamish River 136 

Shipbuilding at Everett 330 

Ship Masts 282 

-"Siwash" at Home 442 

•"Siwash" Indian Camp 442 

■"Siwash" in bis "Dugout" 124 

Sixty Thousand Salmon in Fish Trap, Strawberry 

Bay 162 

Skagit River 124 

Skagit River Canyon 124 



PAGE 

Skid Road, A 175 

Snohomish, 1886 and 1905 337 

Snohomish County Exhibit at Portland, 1905 136 

Snohomish County Vegetables 266 

"Sound of the Woodman's Ax" 222 

Source of a Mountain Stream 315 

Stacking Timothy Hay 230 

Stanwood 344 

State Flower, The 96 

Steamer Hawaii 405 

Steamer Marguerite at Snohomish 330 

Steamer Umatilla 405 

Steaming Crater on Mt. Baker 395 

Stillaguamish and Skykomish River Falls 252 

Stillaguamish River, Changing the Channel 266 

"Still Waters Run Deep" 211 

Stump Dance Platform 298 

Stump Dwelling House 386 

Stump Pile, 90 Feet High 145 

Surveying Corps, Skagit County, 1872 155 

"Swamping," "Barking the Ride," etc 129 

Swinomish Indian Reservation 455 

Ten- Horse Logging Team 222 

The Canoe Maker 442 

Threshing Near Stanwood 351 

Threshing Oats, La Conner Flats 115 

Timber Claim, A 211 

Tulalip Indian Agency 442, 455 

Tulalip Indian Belle 455 

Tulalip Indian Girls in Tambourine Drill 455 

Tunnel on Monte Cristo R. R., 900 Feet 266 

Washington State Exposition Buildings at St. Louis 

in 1904 and at Portland in 1905 298 

Washington State Flower 96 

" Whaleback" Vessel, "City of Everett" 322 

Wilman's Peak 252 

' ' Woodman, Spare that Tree" 386 

World's Fair Log, Diameter 16 Feet 136 

Yarding "Donkey" Engine and Ten-Horse Logging 

Team 222 



INDEX 



SKAGIT COUNTY BIOGRAPHICAL 



Abbott, Linus Mount Vernon 751 

Abrahamson, John McMurray 802 

Adam, Valentine Hamilton 808 

Adin, George La Conner 670 

Aldridge, Wilson M Baker 812 

Alkire, John W., D. O Mount Vernon 520 

Allen, Smith O Prairie 785 

Allmond, Douglass Anacortef 617 

Alstrand, Charles Belleville 755 

Amskold, John Frederick Mount Vernon 601 

520 
567 



Anable, John L Mount Vernon 

Anderson, Andrew Mount Vernon 

Anderson, Andrew Mount Vernon , 

Anderson, Axel Mount Vernon 

Anderson, Frederick La Conner 

Anderson, Nels Mount Vernon 

Anderson, Nels Bow 

Andrews, Hon. Laurin L La Conner 

Armstrong, William Mount Vernon . 

Arnold, George G Sedro- Woolley 

Axelson, Axel W Mount Vernon . 

Axelson, Elmer A Fir 



Baldridge, John R Hamilton 807 

Ball, John Mount Vernon 535 

Ball, Richard H La Conner 648 

Barkhousen, Henry C Anacortes 638 

Barratt, William Marblemount 707 

Bartl, Frank Mount Vernon 543 

Bartl, Xaver Clear Lake 790 

Batey, David Sedro-Woolley 689 

Beale, Charles W Anacortes 624 

Beard, Marston G Anacortes 641 

Becraf t, Charles E Mount Vernon 591 

Bell, Samuel L Mount Vernon 608 

Beloit, Eugene Sauk 818 

Benedict, Fred W Mount Vernon 602 

Benson, Al Bow 742 

Benson, Berent A Bow 747 

Bessner, Matthew Mount Vernon 576 

Bessner, Nicholas Edison 773 

Best, Christopher C Dewey 644 

Best, Martin L Mount Vernon 574 

Bingham, Hon. Charles E. .. .Sedro-Woolley 674 

Blumberg, Frederick Lewis. . .Mount Vernon 512 



PAGE 

Borseth, Ole J Fir 721 

Bowen, James S Mount Vernon 517 

Bowen, John L Sauk 816 

Bowman, Amos Anacortes 611 

Bradley, Hon. R. Lee Anacortes 635 

Bradsberry, Frank Sedro-Woolley 698 

Bristow, Edward La Conner 650 

Brosseau, George A Burlington 7.37 

Brown, William J Bow 756 

Buck, Franklin Mount Vernon 723 

BuUer Brothers Marblemount 819 

Burdon, William H Fidalgo 642 

Burns, Sylvester Sedro-Woolley 696 

Burton, Walter S Burlington 724 

Cain, Thomas Edison 763 

Callahan, Edward Mount Vernon 577 

Callahan, James Mount Vernon 607 

Callahan, John Mount Vernon 577 

Carlson, John Edward Mount Vernon 554 

Carlson, John H Mount Vernon 561- 

Carlson, Swan Mount Vernon 542 

Carlson, W. Axel La Conner 655 

Carpenter, Nelson W Mount Vernon 521 

Carter, Fred Leroy La Conner 655 

Cavanaugh, James H Anacortes 634 

Chambers, Samuel La Conner 663 

Chellman, Fred P Mount Vernon 557 

Chilberg, Isaac La Conner 668 

Chilberg, John H La Conner 671 

Christenson, Nels Mount Vernon 563 

Clothier, H arrison Mount Vernon 511 

Cochrane, James Hamilton 808 

Colvin, Robert C Mount Vernon 595 

Conn, Fletcher W Edison 746 

Conner, Herbert S La Conner 647 

Conner, James J Hamilton 806 

Conner, John S La Conner 644 

Conrad, Charles La Conner 672 

Cook, Mortimer Sedro-Woolley 673 

Coriell, Abner B Mount Vernon 528 

Cornelius, William J M ount Vernon 575 

Cox, George Sedro-Woolley 696 

Cressey, George G Burlington 732 

Cressey, William Henry Harrison. .Burlington 729 



INDEX 



Cressey, William, Jr Burlington . 

Crogstad, Andrew N Fir 

Crumrine, Edward Bay View . . 

Culver, Clement Edison 

Carrier, Oliver C La Conner . 

Curtis, Melville Anacortes . 



I'AGE 

734 

792 



617 



Caches, Charles E La Conner 

Gage, Frederic La Conner 

Gage, William Mount Vernon 

Garland, Richard Mount Vernon 

Gates, Jasper Mount Vernon 



Dale, John L Edison 757 

Dale, William Mount Vernon 515 

Daniels, Eugen Edison 773 

Danielson, Lars Mount Vernon 576 

Dannenmiller, Henry A Mount Vernon 580 

Davis, Rowland E Anacortes 636 

Davison, Adam W Sedro-Woolley 697 

Dawson, William A Bow 757 

Dean, George Saniish . . . '. , 776 

Dean, James M Anacortes 6-10 

Decatur, Capt. David F Mount Vernon 518 

Denis, Peter Edison 772 

Donaldson, Nils Milltown 802 j 

Donnelly, David M Sedro-Woolley 685 i 

Douglass, Frank A Sedro-Woolley 693 

Downs, Dr. Horace P Mount Vernon 525 j 

Downs, John L Mount Vernon 525 [ 

Dreyer, Henry H Burlington 686 I 

Dunlap, Isaac La Conner 589 

Dunlap, Samuel Mount Vernon 555 

Dunlap, William Mount Vernon 590 

Dunlop, William A Sedro-Woolley 692 

Dunn, George W Clear Lake . ." 796 

Dwelley, Joseph F La Conner 664 

Eckenberger, George Samish 775 

Egbers, Ahlert H Mount Vernon 552 

Egelkrout, John Sedro-Woolley 712 

Egtvet, Peter Mount Vernon 538 

Elde, Charles Mount Vernon 557 

Elde, Nels Mount Vernon 555 

Eplin, Lafayette Mount Vernon 594 

Erickson, Nils Mount Vernon 559 

Everett, Amasa Baker 705 

Ewing, Joseph E Mount Vernon 573 

Faller, Frederick R Sedro-Woolley 682 

Farrar, Calvin L Sedro-Woolley 677 

Fellows, James H Clear Lake 800 

I'instad, Bernt J Mount Vernon 600 

Flagg, Arthur W Mount Vernon 579 

Flagg, Benjamin Mount Vernon 003 

Fortin, Napoleon Mount Vernon 603 

Foster, U. E Sedro-Woolley 675 

Franey, Robert Van Horn 815 

Eraser, Alexander D Burlington 730 

Fredlund, Jules Mount Vernon 524 

Fulk, David Padilla 781 



PAGE 

Gates, John B Mount Vernon 722; 

Gates, Thomas Mount Vernon 590 

Gay, Samuel S Sedro-Woolley 678 

Geld, Andrew A. Bergseth . . . Mount Vernon 569 

Geesaman, William Bow 749^ 

Gilmore, John A Edison 763 

Gilmore, William N Edison 758 

Gilmore, William, Sr Edison 758 

Good, Thomas Mount X'ernon 543 

Gorton, Edgar P Mount N'ernon 537 

Graham, Albert L Anacortes 618 

Gregory, William () Burlington 714 

Gunderson, Ole Mount Vernon 541 

Gunther, Robert Mount Vernon 572 

Halloran, Patrick Mount Vernon 494 

Halpin, William H Anacortes 731 

Hamilton, Frank R Sedro-Woolley 700 

Hammer, Hiram Sedro-Woolley 678 

Hansen, Charles C Mount Vernon 538 

Hanson, George J Mount Vernon 723 

Harmon, Charles Mount Vernon 514 

Harrison, James M Sedro-Woolley 710 

Hart, Joseph Sedro-Woolley 691 

Hartson, George E Mount Vernon 518 

Hartson, Ralph C Mount Vernon 517 

Hastie, Thomas P Mount Vernon 498 

Hawkins, William A Mount Vernon 597 

Hayton, Hon. Thomas Mount Vernon .500 

Hayton, James B Fir 791 

Hayton, Thomas R Mount Vernon 507 

Hayton, William Mount Vernon 549 

Hay ward, Darley C Mount Vernon 5.54 

Hemingway, Lewis P Fir 793 

Hensler, Gus Anacortes 626 

Henson, George A Hamilton 806 

Herrle, Lawrence Mount Vernon 593 

Hodge, Charles W Samish 776 

Hoehn, Frank J Sedro-Woolley 684 

Hoff, Gustave C Mount Vernon 567 

Hoffman, George Bow 752 

Hurley, William Burlington 715 

Hurshman, Henry Lyman 803 

Hutchinson, Haley R Mount Vernon 526 



I varson, Sigurd Sedro-Woolley 



713 



Jackson, John W Bow 748 

Jarvis, Frederick J Sedro-Woolley 695 

Jenne, George F Mount Vernon 606 

Jennings, Isaac La Conner 667 

Jewell, Mrs. Elizabeth Burlington 739 

Jewett, Frank A Mount Vernon 591 

Johnson, Ale.x Fir 792 

Johnson, Alfred Mount Vernon 544 

Johnson, .Andrew A Mount Vernon 529 

Johnson, Andrew S Bow 745 

Johnson, Bengt Milltown 752 

Johnson, Charles Clinton Mount Vernon 522 

Johnson, Edwin Mount V'ernon 566 

Johnson, Fritz Belleville 777 



INDEX 



Johnson, Gustaf W Mount Vernon 580 

Johnson, Lewis Fir 79-1 

Johnson, Nelse B Mount Vernon 523 

Johnson, Ole Burlington 717 

Johnson, O. J Mount Vernon 559 

Johnson, Peter E Mount Vernon 574 

Johnson, Rasmus S Edison 745 

Johnson, S. Fred Mount Vernon 007 

Joiner, Judge George A Anacortes 617 

Jones, Fayette L Burlington 738 

Jungquist, Frank Mount Vernon 560 

Jungquist, John Mount Vernon 530 

Kalso, Fred Bay View 721 

Kalso, Otto Bay View 721 

Kamb, John W Mount Vernon 549 

Kelleher, John Sedro-W'oolley 710 

Kelly, Mrs. Nancy A Mount Vernon 718 

Kemnierich, August Birdsview 811 

Kerr, Samuel E Mount Vernon 001 

Kiens, Fred Sedro-W'oolley 709 

Kiens, John Sedro-Woolley 089 

Kilander, Otto W Padilla 782 

Kill, John Mount Vernon 578 

Kimble, David Everett Mount Vernon 527 

Kimble, Edward David Mount Vernon 528 

Kinsey, Darius Sedro-Woolley 683 

Klingenmaier, Otto Bay View 778 

Knisley, George M Mount Vernon liUO 

Knutzen, Jess H Burlington 715 

Koch, David Burlington 725 

Kunzmann, Frederick C Bow 750 

Kyle, J. William Sedro-Woolley 682 



1 
801 I 
794 1 
817 



Lachapelle, John B Big Lake 

Larson, Lewis Fir 

Larsen, Peter Sauk 

Lawson, Alfred J Fravel 775 

l^awson, George H Mount Veruon 502 

Lee, Nelse H Mount Verncn 509 

Lee, Ole N Mount Vernon 541 

Lehnhoff, Anton Mount Vernon 6US 

Lendblom, Gust Mount Vernon 558 

Lewis, John Bow 730 

Lindamood, Charles A Burlington 735 

Lloyd, John Sedro-Woolley 698 

],ockhart, Samuel M La Conner 666 

Lockhart, Thomas G Mount Vernon 570 

Lockwood, John B Burlington 735 

Lonke, Ole Mount Vernon 582 

Lough, James Big Lake 801 

Lowman, Jacob W Anacortes 623 

Lowman, J. Guy Mount Vernon 498 

Lund, John Axel Mount Vernon 530 

Lundin, Albert Burlington 716 

Majerus, Jacob La Conner 672 

Majerus, Michel Burlington , 737 

Maloy, Patrick H Mount Vernon 579 

M ann, George H Fir 786 

Marble, George W Mount Vernon 516 



PAGE 

March, Fred H Anacortes 639 

March, James T Anacortes 637 

Marihugh, Silas W Mount Vernon 598 

Martin, John W Edison 772 

Martin, Mrs. Mary Lyman S04 

Massey, William K Anacortes 639 

Matheson, Capt. John A Anacortes. . ^ 630 

Mattice, Dr. Menzo B Sedro-Woolley 679 

Meins, William Prairie 784 

Melkild, John Conway 656 

Melville, Alexander B Clear Lake 799 

Miller, Marsh Mount Vernon 548 

Miller, William H Burlington 735 

Millet, John P Anacortes 636 

Minkler, Hon. Birdsey D Lyman 803 

M inter, Richard P Anacortes 629 

Moore, Andrew J Bow 748 

Moores, James H Mount Vernon 592 

Moran, George Mount Vernon 529 

Morris, George A Mount Vernon 593 

Morris, John C Mount Vernon 59ft 

Moss, David H Mount Vernon 493 

MacLeod, Kenneth Conway 801 

McCormick, David L Mount Vernon 604 

McCormick, Thomas J Mount Vernon 599 

McCoy, Patrick Edison 763 

McCuilough, Nathaniel Edison 770 

McDonald, James Sedro-Woolley 695 

McFadden, Plin V Sedro-Woolley 709 

McGlinn, Hon. John P La Conner 662 

McGregor, Daniel A Sedro-Woolley 684 

McKenna, William ] Bay View 777 

McKinnon, Peter Mount Vernon 593 

McLean, M Mount Vernon 599 

McMillin, George Burlington 739 

McTaggart, Edward Edison 769 



Neely, James Bow 

Nelson, Columbus Anacortes 

Nelson, Mrs. Catherine Anacortes 

Nelson, John Anacortes 

Nelson, John C Mount Vernon 

Nelson, John L Mount Vernon 

Nelson, Nels A La Conner. . . . 



Nelson, Oluf Inman 

Nelson, Peter E 

Norris, James M . . . . 



. Mount Vernon 500 

.Anacortes 025 

.Burlington 726 



Odliu, Hon. William T Anacortes 612 

Odlin, Woodbridge Sedro-Woolley 711 

Olsen, Christopher Fir 793 

Olson, Charles La Conner 070 

Olson, Frank G Mount Vernon 571 

Olson, Solomon M ount Vernon 602 

Olson, Swan Peter Mount Vernon 589 

Ormsby, Norris Sedro-Woolley 694 

Ostrander, Nathan Mount Vernon 582 

Ovenell, T. Nelson Burlington 717 



Palm, Leander Mount Vernon 



544 



INDEX 



PAGE 

Patterson, George W Hamilton 809 

Patterson, Ira T Mount Vernon 522 

Pearson, Gust La Conner 656 

Pease, Orson Burlington 716 

Peck, H arris B Mount Vernon 557 

Perry, William H Sedro-Woolley 679 

Peterson, Peter Mount Vernon 669 

Peth, John J Mount Vernon 604 

Peth, Richard H Mount Vernon 571 

Pettit, Sands C Burlington 724 

Phelps, George W Clear Lake 795 

Pickens, Michael Mount Vernon 521 

Poison, Alfred Fir 786 

Poison, Nels Mount Vernon 550 

Poison, Perry Seattle 508 

Porter, Thomas F Sauk 817 

Power, Hon. James La Conner 555 

Pul ver, Rudolph Burlington 736 

Purcell, John . . Bay View 779 

Putnam, R. H Clear Lake 797 



•Quint, Albanus D Dewey 



643 



Rains, William T Clear Lake 798 

Ranous, Bethuel C Anacortes 638 

Ratchford, George W Sedro-Woolley 694 

Reed, Edward Bow 748 

Regenvetter, Peter La Conner 666 

Richards, Nelson B Bow 751 

Riemer, John G Clear Lake 800 

Ritchford, James Sedro-Woolley 685 

Robinson, William F Anacortes 631 

Rock, John H La Conner 665 

Ross, Alexander Lyman 804 

Ross, David Sedro-Woolley 714 

Rudene, H on. John O La Conner 497 

Russell, David Birdsview 811 

Scanlan, John Mount Vernon 595 

Schafer, August W Hamilton 805 

Scheurkogel, Hyman La Conner 658 

Schidleman, Samuel Mount Vernon 562 

Schmitz, Peter Burlington 740 

Schricker, Hon. William E ... La Conner 648 

Scott, James Sedro-Woolley 711 

Seabury, Howard Sedro-Woolley 675 

Sharf enberg, Albert Mount Vernon 565 

Sharfenberg, Joseph Mount Vernon 566 

Sharpe, Thomas Anacortes 642 

Shaughnessy, Thomas Burlington 726 

Shea, Samuel E Sedro-Woolley 699 

Shea, Warren M ount Vernon 515 

■Shield, J. Madison .Mount Vernon 552 

Shrauger, Ira E Mount Vernon 493 

Shumaker, Nichols Edison 769 

Shumway, George N Belfast 664 

Singer, William C Mount Vernon 597 

Sisson, Edgar A Padilla 780 

Slosson, Fred Mount Vernon 553 

Smith, Alexander K Clear Lake 798 

Smith, Harvev Mount Vernon 606 



Smith, John R Clear Lake 797 

Snowden, Benjamin F Mount Vernon 550 

Sorensen, Hans Peter Sedro-Woolley 711 

Southard, Edward D Burlington 738 

Spahr, Emery Mount Vernon 568 

Spaulding, Michael Bow 749 

Springsteen, Franklin J Baker 812 

Squires, James T Edison 774 

Stacey, Alfred J Anacortes 629 

Stackpole, Frank H Mount Vernon 523 

Stearns, Earl H Bow 741 

Stevens, Lafayette S Clear Lake 795 

Stevens, Tobias Burlington 732 

Stevenson, Charles W Mount Vernon 514 

Stewart, Ellsworth M Mount Vernon 596 

Storrs, Charles E Mount Vernon 547 

Storrs, Dennis Mount Vernon 551 

Sullivan, Daniel Edison 764 

Sullivan, Daniel P Bow 742 

Sullivan, James J Bow 741 

Sullivan, Michel J La Conner 668 

Summers, Henry Mount Vernon 564 

Sumner, Bloomington R Avon 783 

Sundstrom, Oscar Mount Vernon 522 

Sutter, John Sauk 706 

Tait, Thomas H Padilla 781 

Thomas, John G Anacortes 640 

Thomas, Robert P Anacortes 634 

Thompson, Jeremiah Mount Vernon 553 

Thompson, William J Sedro-Woolley 683 

Thorne, Woodbury J Thornwood 731 

Tillinghast, Alvinza G La Conner 661 

Tingley, Samuel Simpson Hamilton 704 

Tjersland, Ben Mount Vernon 564 

Tollber, Charles Mount Veinon 581 

Treat, Charles F Fir 785 

Truman, Peter W Lyman 805 

Turner, Newton G La Conner 662 

Turner, Thomas Edgar Clear Lake 799 



Umbarger, Harlton R Burling 



733 



Valentine, Charles La Conner 665 

Van Fleet, Emmett Sedro-Woolley 699 

Van Horn, James V Van Horn 815 

Villeneuve Charles Sedro-Woolley 680 

Von Pressentin, Albert Sauk 816 

Von Pressentin, Otto K Sedro-Woolley 681 

Von Pressentin, Paul Marblemount 818 

Warner, Charles Sedro-Woolley 696 

Watkinson, Euphroneous E . . Bow 756 

Watkinson, Melbourn Edison 771 

Wells, Hiram E Mount Vernon 570 

Wells, William R Mount Vernon 573 

Wells, William V Anacortes 623 

Westlund, Charles G Mount Vernon 544 

Wheeler, George Sedro-Woolley 713 

White, Frank N Anacortes 641 

Whitney, Charles P Mount Vernon 519 



Whitney, Rienzi Eugene Anacortes 

"Wicker, George O Sedro-Woolley 

Wild, Henry Hamilton 

Wilkins, Thomas P North Avon . . . . 

Williams, Charles H Bow 

Wilson, John H uston Bow 

Wilson, Joseph Seattle 

Wingren, Olof J La Conner 



PAGE 

Wingren, Peter La Conner 658 

Wolf, George J Mount Vernon 561 

Wood, William Fravel 774 

Woodburn, Robert Padilla 782 

Woods, William Sedro-Woolley 708 

Woolley, Philip A Sedro-Woolley 676 



Young, James M 



. Sedro-Woolley 



708 



SKAGIT COUNTY PORTRAITS 



PAGE 

Abbott, Linus :.. 753 

Allmond, Douglass '. 616 

Alstrand, Charles 753 

Anderson, Nels 744 

Arnold, George G 701 

Ball, Eleanor M 533 

Ball, John 532 

Barratt, William 701 

Batey, David 688 

Batey, Mrs. David 688 

Borseth, Mrs. Ole J 719 

Borseth, Ole J 719 

Bowman, Amos 610 

Buck, Franklin 719 

Cain, Thomas 765 

Conn, Fletcher W 744 

Conner, John S 645 

Cressey, William Henry Harrison 728 

Curtis, Melville 619 

Dreyer, Henry H 688 

Dreyer, Mrs. Henry H 688 

Dunlop, William A 688 

Egtvet, Mr. and Mrs. Peter, and Home 539 

Everett, Amasa 701 

Fraser, Alexander D 728 

Gage, William 546 

Caches, James 652 

Caches, Mrs. James 653 

Gates, John B 719 

Gilmore, William 759 

Halloran, Patrick 495 

Halpin, William H 728 

Hamilton, Frank R 701 

Hamilton, Mrs. Frank R 701 

Hanson, George J 719 



PAGE 

Hanson, Mrs. George J 719 

Hart, Joseph 688 

Hayton, Mrs. Thomas R 505 

Hayton, Thomas R 504 

Hayton, Thomas, Sr 501 

Hensler, Gus 627 

Hoffman, George 753 

Johnson, Andrew S 744 

Johnson, Bengt 753 

Johnson, Rasmus S 744 

Kalso, Frederick 719 

Kalso, Mrs. Frederick 719 

Kelley, Mrs. Nancy A 719 

Kiens, John 688 

Lewis, John 728 

McCoy, Patrick 762 

McTaggart, Edward W 768 

Odlin, William T 613 

Olson, Swan Peter 586 

Olson, Mrs. Swan Peter 587 

Poison, Mrs. Olof 789 

Poison, Olof 788 

Poison, Perry 509 

Sutter, John 701 

Stackpole, Mr. and Mrs., and Home 583 

Thorne, Mrs. Adelia Lathrop 728 

Thorne, Thomas D., D. D 728 

Thorne, Woodbury J 728 

Tillinghast, Alving G 660 

Tingley, Mrs. Samuel Simpson 701 

Tingley , Samuel Simpson 701 

Van Horn, James V 814 

Wilson, Joseph 688 



INDEX 



SNOHOMISFI COUNTY BIOGRAPHICAL 



. 885 
.1077 
. 921 
. 9-13 
.1019 
. 1064 



Acme Business College, 

Carolyn Pachin, Conductor. .Everett 

Aldridge, William Oso 

Alston, Guy C Everett 

Anderson, Charles A Marysville 

Anderson, Erick O Silvana 

Anderson, Fred P Granite Falls . 

Anderson, George W Granite Falls 1007 

Anderson, Henry C Stanwood 989 

Anderson, Louis Marysville 947 

Andersen, Peter Everett 924 

Angevine, John Francis Everett 913 

Arndt, Carl Startup 1110 

Arp, Louis P Edmonds 952 

Asbery, Isaac Marysville 941 

Atwood, Henry L Granite Falls 1009 

Austin, Granis W Monroe 1093 

Baitinger, Henry E Inde.x 1112 

Bakeman, Charles H Snohomish 850 

Bakeman, George Snohomish 862 

Baker, Daniel S Arlington 1033 

Baker, Frederick K Everett 917 

Baldridge, Henry L ....Sultan (now Harrington). ... 1101 

Bartlett, Frank L Marysville 942 

Baxter, Nathan N Sultan 1105 

Bender, John Finley Everett 907 

Bengtson, Andrew Monroe 1094 

Blackman, Alanson A Snohomish 8,53 

Blackman, Arthur M Snohomish 829 

Blackman, Elhanan Snohomish 851 

Blackman, Hyrcauus Snohomish 852 

Blair, Aaron L Arlington 1022 

Bohl, Ernest Arlington 1044 

Botten, Iver Silvana 1011 

Brackett, George Edmonds 9.59 

Brady, James Edmonds 948 

Breckhus, Gilbert O Silvana 1014 

Breckhus, Jacob G Silvana 1015 

Breckhus, John Silvana lOKi 

Breckhus, Severt G Silvana 1013 

Britton, Joseph C Arlington 1029 

Brown, Peter Snohomish 862 

Brown, William Snohomish 865 

Browne, Christian Granite Falls 1068 

Brue, Andrew J" Stanwood 993 i 

Brush, Bert Jay Everett 914 ' 

Buchanan, Dr. Charles Milton. Tulalip Indian Kesv. . . 842 

Buck, Fred S Sultan 1109 

Bunten, William H Arlington 1041 

Burleson, Hiram H Edmonds 952 

Campbell, John A F"ortson 1079 

CamplDell, John L Darrington 1082 

Carpenter, Daniel I Granite Falls 1059 

Carpenter, Ira Machias 1058 

Chartrand, Felix Oso 1075 



PAGE 

935 
1083 
1072 
1057 
1012 



Chase, Willie Eastman Lowell 

Chenier, Joseph Darrington 

Cicero, .Stephen Cicero 

Clark, William A Machias 

Clausen, Lars P Silvana 

Cochran, George M Snohomish 8.55 

CoUingwood, Ralph Cicero 1073 

Conners, Frank L Stanwood 993 

Conners, William Stanwood 981 

Cook, William Sultan 1 103 

Cox, Dr. William C Everett 921 

Currie, James W Edmonds 949 

Cuthbert, Andrew Norman 1009 

Danhof , Garmt Snohomish 872 

Darling, F. H Edmonds 950 

Davies, Thomas D Marysville 942 

Davison, Joseph Everett 925 

Deering, William Snohomish 874 

Denney, Hon. John C Everett 899 

Densmore, Alfred Everett 920 

Diffley, Michael Granite Falls 1061 

Doolittle, Fred C Index 1116 

Drew, Terresser B Lowell 939 

Duffy, Bernard J F'ortson 1078 

Eddy, Wilbert F Snohomish 878 

Edsberg, Sigward J Stanwood 1003 

Eggert, Ernst Getchell 1050 

Eide, Ole E Stanwood 986 

Eitzenberger, Max Arlington 1045 

Ekstran, Nils O Stanwood 998 

EUingsen, John Arlington 1033 

Elwell, Charles F Monroe 1086 

Elwell, Tamlin Snohomish 841 

Enas, Joseph S Granite Falls 1066 

Engeseth, Severt Arlington 1037 

Erdahl, Samuel S Bryant 1071 

EricksoD, Stvrker A Silvana 1019 

Erickson, Ulrick R Snohomish 882 

Estby, Anders Norman 1010 

Everett Public Library, 

Gretchen Hathaway, Librn. Everett 910 

Fenlason, Wesley J Stanwood 998 

Ferguson, Clark Snohomish 833 

Ferguson, Emory C Snohomish 825 

Ferguson, Fred E Monroe 1097 

Fhygesen, Chris Startup 1 100 

Finnigan, Thomas J Snohomish 875 

Fjerlie, Andrew Stanwood 1004 

Fjarlie, Ole O Stanwood 1005 

Flo, Louis I Stanwood 999 

Floe, Steffen Stanwood 994 

Florance, Andrew ¥ Snohomish 874 

Folsom, Dr. A. C Snohomish 844 



INDEX 



Foss, Fred V Snohomish. 

Ford, William H Arlington . . 

French, Alfred Oso 

Friday, Henry Everett . . . 

Funk, Martin J Silvana . . . . 

Funk, Peter Arlington . . 

Furness, Iver Norman . . . 



.1031 
.1077 
. 914 
.1015 
.1031 
.1009 

. 843 
. 9:i6 
. 1047 
. 984 



Getchell, Joseph E Snohomish ... 

Getchell, Martin Lowell 

Gooding, Marion Arlington 

Goodrich, Gardner Stanwood .... 

Gorham, Hon. Charles W . . . . Snohomish 829 

Grant, Claude C Cicero 1074 

Gravelle, Peter Mukilteo 948 

Green, Andrew J Arlington 1038 

Gregory, Horace A. Granite Falls 904 

Gunderson, Emil Stanwood 1005 

Gunderson, Peter Stanwood 9()3 

Gunn, Amos D Index 1111 

Hall, Arthur E Stanwood 975 

Hall, James \V Snohomish 8G0 

Hamlin, Capt. William H .... Edmonds 9,56 

Hancock, Francis H Stanwood 982 

Hansen, Chiis Stanwood 994 

Hansen, John C Stanwood 990 

Hanson, Charles F Stanwood 907 

Hanson, Julius Granite Falls 1068 

Hanson, Lars P Stanwood 1000 

Harding, Will Granite Falls 1005 

Harriman, Charles F Monroe 960 

Harter, Isaac Marysville 945 

Harvey, Peter Stanwood 976 

Haskell, Calvin L Hartford 1052 

Hawkinson, Charles Snohomish 850 

Hayes, George W Monroe 1095 

Headlee, Thomas E Everett 887 

Heide, A. F Seattle 897 

Helseth, Jens G Jorden 1049 

H evely , H uldo Silvana 1014 

Hewitt, Henry, Jr Tacoma 888 

Hill, Albert E Edmonds 955 

Hill, Charles L Snohomish 873 

Hillis, Charles D Cicero 1072 

Hilton, John H Everett 908 

Hingston, Philip Index 1114 

Hollingsworth, Ira Hazel 1079 

Holmes, Samuel Edmonds 953 

Horton, Gilbert D Snohomish 840 

Hovik, Ludwig A Marysville 945 

Howard, Albert S Stanwood 991 

Howard, Dr. Henrv P Everett 922 

Hughes, Robert Snohomish 833 

Hulbert, Robert A Everett 919 

Husby, Halvor P Stanwood 1003 

lies, John Oso 1076 

lllman, Harold W. Everett 925 

Illman, William H Sultan 1106 



Isberg, Rev. Peter Stanwood 

Iverson, Hon. O. B Olympia . 



1014 
1022 
1006 
1036 
989 
867 
1092 
866 
940 
976 
HOT 



Jackson, Clous Silvana 

Jefferson, Thomas Trafton 

Jenny, Fred Cedarhome .... 

Jensen, Thomas Arlington 

Joergenson, Rev. Christian. .. Stanwood 

Johnson, Abel Snohomish 

Johnson, George Monroe 

Johnson, Hans Snohomish 

Johnson, Iver Lowell 

Johnson, Iver Stanwood 

Johnson, L. Roy Sultan 

Johnson, Nils C Arlington 1028 

Johnson, Peter J Getchell 1051 

Jordan, Alvah H.I? Lowell 932 

Jones, Lewis J .Everett 927 

Jones, Nathan Barker Sultan 1101 

Jones, Rev. William G Seattle 894 

Jones, William D Hartford 10.54 

Julson, H. .A Snohomish 860 

Jutzik, Theodore Snohomish 860 

Kackman, Thees Bryant 1070 

Keay, Alexander Everett 898 

Kinnear, Robert Edgecomb 1048 

Kirk, George W Snohomish 853 

Kirn, Charles J Everett 923 

Klaeboe, Andrew B Stanwood 979 

Knight, Arthur C Snohomish 858 

Knudson, John Darrington 1082 

Knutson, Frederick. Monroe 1089 

Knutson, Rasmus Silvana 101 2 

Koch, Frederick W Silvana 1015 

Kraetz, Anton -Arlington 1044 

Kraetz, Joseph Arlington 10.38 

Kroger, Joachim .Arlington 1041 



.1042 
.1054 
.1017 
.1016 
. 995 
. 868 
.1017 
. 990 



La Forge, Charles S Snohomish .... 

Lammers, August Arlington 

Lane, Edwin J Lochsloy 

Langsjon, Johannes Silvana 

Langsjon, John Silvana 

Langsav, Peter H Stanwood 

Larimer, Floyd M Snohomish. . . . 

Larsen, Lars Silvana 

Larson, Erlend Stanwood 

Larson, John C Arlington 1037 

Larson, Ole Silvana 1018 

Lawry, Charles L Snohomish 841 

Lee, John B Stanwood 1000 

Lenf est, Elmer, C. E Snohomish 832 

Leque, Nels P Stanwood 985 

Leque, Peter Stanwood 972 

Levison, Levi Stanwood 995 

Lindley, Joseph Monroe 1092 

Lohr, Jacob T Cicero 1073 

Loose, Ursinus K Snohomish 834 

Lord, Mitchel Snohomish 876 

Lorenzen, Lorenz Arlington 1042 



PAGE 

Malkson, Gilbert H Everett 926 

Mallett, Joseph Snohomish 872 

Mann, James W Sultan 1106 

Marsh, Calvin L Arlington 1027 

Martell, Joseph Snohomish 881 

Matterand, Ole S Stanwood 980 

Maxwell, Robert Trafton 1020 

Menzel, George Granite Falls 971 

Menzel, Henry Granite Falls 970 

Meredith, H. M Sultan 1098 

Messner, Roy G Granite Falls 1060 

Micheels, Herman Snohomish 882 

Mickelson, Andrew B Stanwood 997 

Moehring, Charles F Snohomish 850 

M ontague, John Darrington 1081 

Moore, Charles E Darrington 1081 

Moore, William B Stanwood 995 

Moran, Thomas Arlington 1027 

Morgan, Alonzo W Snohomish 848 

Morgan, Eugene L Sultan 1108 

Morgan, Hiram D Snohomish 847 

Morgan, Hon. Benjamin H , . .Snohomish 848 

Morgan, Morgan M Snohomish 878 

Morgan, Morgan, Sr Snohomish 859 

Morgan, William Snohomish 877 

Morris, John W Arlington 1034 

Moskeland, Ole O Marysville 943 

Mudgett, Jacob A Snohomish. . . .". 871 

Munson, David T Florence 1007 

Murphy, Andrew J Index 1117 

Murphy, Curt J Arlington 1040 

McCaulley, Matthew M Arlington 1035 

McDonald, Charles F Hartford 1052 

McEacheran, Dr. Daniel Stanwood 980 

McGray, Capt. Otis C Monroe 1087 

Mclntire, Dr. Ida Noyes Everett 905 

Mclntire, Hon. Albert W Everett 900 

Mclntyre, Thomas Index 1115 

McLean, Oliver Snohomish 834 

McManus, John E. Seattle 893 



Naas, Ole Stanwood . . . 

Nelson, John W Snohomish. . . 

Nelson, Peter Everett 

Ness, Peter Stanwood 

Nickerson, Earnest A Everett 

Nicklason, Gustaf Cedarhome . . 

Niles, Frank Granite Falls 



.1006 
. 861 
. 928 
.1000 
. 915 
.1007 
.1059 



. Marysville 944 



Nilson, Lars C 

Cake, Richard L Edmonds 955 

Odell, Elmer E Monroe ...1095 

Oldfield, Harry L Everett 907 

Oliver, Dr. William Forrest . . Arlington 1026 

Olsen, Peter Stanwood 997 

Olson, Olanus and Hans Silvana 1012 

C^strand, Carl W Edgecomb 1049 

Ovenell, George T Stanwood 991 

.... 845 
.... 912 



PAGE 

PattisoD, Fred O Monroe 1086. 

Paulson, Peter Marysville 944 

Pearsall, George V Sultan 1104 

Pearson, Daniel O Stanwood 975 

Pearson, Petrus Hazel 1080 

Peden, Abraham Snohomish 876 

Person, Peter Monroe 1090 

Persun, Jackson H Arlington 1035 

Peterson, A. Louis Sultan 1103 

Peterson, Charles P Edmonds 950 

Peterson, Jacob Arlington 10.36 

Phelps, Franklin E Monroe .!.,.1089 

Philipsen, Thomas Snohomish 854 

Pierson, James R Hazel 1080 

Piles, Senator Samuel Henry. Seattle 892 

Pratt, William Rutherford .... Everett 918 

Redding, Clifford R Index 1112 

Reinseth, Ole O Arlington 1039 

Reinseth, Peder Arlington 1039 

Rhoades, John F Snohomish 830 

Richards, Thomas N Snohomish 875 

Ritter, David A Granite Falls 1060 

Roark, Dell Silvana 1020 

Robbins, John M Marysville 960 

Robe, Truitt K Granite Falls 969 

Robertson, Alexander Florence 1008 

Robinet, Jacob Everett 927 

Rod, Knut O Arlington 1042 

Roth, Charles Arlington 1047 

Roth, Gottlieb Snohomish 865 

Rowland, O. O Index 1113 

Rudebeck, Nicholas Everett 906 

Ruthruff, Hugh C Oso 1074 



Packard, Myron W Snohomish . 

Parker, Leroy Everett . . . 



Sandberg, Charles 

Sandmann, Oscar 

Sawyer, Mrs. Jennie M 

Schafer, Fred 

Scherrer, Ulrich 

Schloman, Bernhard C. W . . . 

Schloman, John 

Sexton, David F 

Shadinger, John H 

Shafer, Alonzo W 

Shaw, Colby J 

Shaw, Edgar J 

Shaw, George W 

Siler, Henry O Everett 

Sill, Jasper 

Sill, John W 

Sinclair, Hon. Woodbury B . . 

Smith, Eugene D 

Smith, Fred 

Smith, Frederick 

Smith, Sylvester 

Snyder, Wilson M 

Sorensen, Ole E 

Spaulding, Thomas 

Spencer, John 

Sprau, Charles E 



Oso 1075 

Hartford 1053 

Monroe 1085 

Snohomish 855 

Granite Falls 1066 

Arlington 1026. 

Arlington 1040 

Snohomish 837 

Snohomish (South') ... 867 

Trafton 1021 

Snohomish 801 

Snohomish 801 

Snohomish 857 

(and Port Gamble) .... 911 

Arlington 1029 

Snohomish 868- 

Snohomish 857 

Lowell 931 

Lowell 939 

Marvsville 941 

Index 1113 

Snohomish 839' 

Edmonds 956- 

Monroe 1094 

Everett 911 

Snohomish 856- 



INDEX 



Sprau, Jacob M Monroe 1085 

Spurrell, H enry Snohomish 881 

Stecher, John Everett 928 

Stenson, Ingebregt Silvana .1018 

Stephens, Edwin Milton Monroe 1083 

Stevens, Sylvester S Arlington 1045 

Stevens, Winslow B Monroe 1091 

Stone, John E Everett 916 

Stretch, John F Snohomish 826 

Stubb, Ludwig O Norman 1010 

Suhl, Peter J Monroe 1085 

Suttles, Almon J .Arlington 1032 

Swalwell, William G Everett 886 

Swartz, Joseph Granite Falls 1062 

Swett, John A Sultan 1099 

Sykes, Benjamin Monroe 1087 



Tackstrom, Andrew 
Theurer, John A . . . 
Thomas, Benjamin. 
Thompson, Carl. . . . 
Thomsen, Hans .... 

Thomsen, Jens 

Thorsen, Halvor . . . 



. Stanwood 981 

. Robe 1070 

.Snohomish 858 

. Arlington 1043 

.Arlington 1040 

. Arlington 1025 

.Silvana 1016 



Tjeroagel, Rev. Helge M Stanwood 

Torske, Oscar Silvana . . . 



.1013 



PAGE 

Turner, William M Granite Falls 1063 

Tvete, Nels K Arlington 1030 



Urban, T. Venzel 



. Snohomish 8.56- 



Vail, Charlie S Snohomish 885- 

Vanasdlen, John A Monroe 108i 

Vernon, James Mercer Everett 918 

Vestal, Samuel Snohomish 866 

Walker, George Snohomish 871 

Walters, Henry D Monroe 1096 

Ward, William Harrison Snohomish 831 

Warner, John F Sultan 1102 

Wellington, Giles L Sultan 1104 

Westbrook, Herbert Douglas. Everett 923 

Westover, Arthur M Marysville 946 

Westover, William H Marysville 947 

White, William C Monroe 108+ 

Whitfield, William Snohomish 846 

Wilbur, Lot Snohomish 853 

Willard, Ben Stanwood 981 

Willhite, Alonzo Lincoln Stanwood 992 

Wilsted, Chris Edmonds 954 

Wood, Joseph Duboise Snohomish 845 



Yost, Allen M Edmonds 



951 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY PORTRAITS 



Acme Business College, Everett 884 

Anderson, H. C 988 

Blair, Aaron L 1023 

Brackett, George 957 

Cathcart, Isaac 934 

Erickson, Ulrick R 880 

Ferguson, Emory C 824 

Getchell, Mr. and Mrs. Martin 937 

Gregory, Horace A 962 

Gregory, Mrs. Horace A 962 

Gunderson, Mrs. Peter 962 

Gunderson, Peter 962 

Hamlin, Capt. William H 957 

Hanson, Charles F 962 

Hanson, Mrs. Charles F 962 

Hanson, Mr. and Mrs. Lars P., and Residence 1001 

Harriman, Charles 957 

Hewitt, Henry, Jr 889 

Iverson, Hon. O. B 966 

Jefferson, Thomas 1023 

Jones, Rev. William G 895 



Klaeboe, Andrew B 978 

La Forge, Charles S 827 

Lane, Edwin J 1055 

Leque, Peter 973 

Martell, Joseph 880 

Menzel, George 966 

Menzel, Henry 966 

Michaels, Herman 88a 

Mclntyre, Mr. and Mrs 901 

Robbins, John M 957 

Robe, Truitt K 966 

Roth, Gottlieb 864 

Schloman, Bernhard C. W 1023 

Sexton, Mr. and Mrs. David F., and Residence 836 

Shaffer, Alonzo W 1023 

Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Eugene D 930 

Spurrell, Henry 880 

Thomsen, Jens 1023 

Vail, Charles S 884r 

Walker, George 870 



PART I 

INTRODUCTORY 



CHAPTER I 



EXPLORATIONS BY WATER 



The opening of a new century is a fitting time 
to glance backward and reconstruct to the eye of 
the present, the interesting and heroic events of 
the past, that by comparison between past and 
present the trend of progress may be traced and 
the future in a measure forecasted. 

No matter what locahty in the Northwest we 
may treat historically, we are compelled in our 
search for the beginnings of its story to go back 
to the old, misty Oregon terriiMrw with its isola- 
tion, its pathos, its wild chivalry, its freedom and 
hospitality. Strange indeed is its earliest history, 
when, shrouded in uncertainty and misapprehen- 
sion, it formed the ignis fatuus of the explorer, 
"luring him on with that indescribable fascination 
which seerns always to have drawn men to the 
ever receding circle of the 'westmost west.' " 

Shortly after the time of Columbus, attempts 
began to be made to reach the western ocean and 
solve the mystery of the various passages sup- 
posed to lead to Asia. 

In 1500 Gasper Cortereal conceived the idea of 
finding a northern strait, to which he gave the 
name ".\nian," and this mythical channel received 
much attention from these early navigators, some 
of whom even went so far as to claim that they had 
passed through it and had reached another ocean. 
Among the captains making this bold claim was 
Juan de Fuca. He is said to have been a Greek 
of Cephalonia whose real name was Apostolos 
\'alerianos. and it is claimed that when he made his 
(li.'^covery he was in the service of the Spanish 
nation. Michael Lock tells his story in the fol- 
lowing language : 

"He followed his course, in that vovage, west 



and northwest in the South sea, all along the coast 
of Nova Spania and California and the Indies, 
now called North America (all which voyage he 
signified to me in a great map, and a sea card of 
my own, which I laid before him), until he came 
to the latitude of forty-seven degrees ; and that, 
there finding that the land trended north and north- 
west, with a broad inlet of sea, between forty-seven 
and forty-eight degrees of latitude, he entered 
thereinto, sailing more than twenty days, and found 
that land still trending northwest, and northeast, 
and north, and also east and .southeastward, and 
very much broader sea than it was at the said 
entrance, and that he passed by divers islands in 
that sailing ; and that, at the entrance of said strait, 
there is, on the northwest coast thereof, a great 
headland or island, with an exceedingly high pin- 
nacle or spired rock, like a pillar, thereupon. Also 
he said that he went on land in divers places, and 
that he saw some people on the land clad in beasts' 
skins ; and that the land was very fruitful and 
rich in gold, silver and pearls and other things, 
like Nova Spania. Also he said that he. being 
entered thus far into the said strait, and being 
come into the North sea already and finding the 
sea wide enough everywhere, and to be about 
thirty or forty leagues wide in the mouth of the 
straits where he entered, he thought he had now 
well discharged his office ; and that not being armed 
to resist the force of savage people that might 
happen, he therefore set sail and turned homeward 
again toward Nova Spania, where he arrived at 
Acapulco, anno 1593, hoping to be rewarded by the 
viceroy for this service done in the said voyage." 
The curious thing about this and some of the 



INTRODUCTORY 



other legends is the general accuracy of the descrip- 
tions given by these old mariners. Professor 
W. D. Lyman thinks it is not impossible that they 
had either visited thr Pacific coast in person or 
had seen other jiilots who had, and that thus they 
gathered the niaterial from which they fabricated 
their Munchausen tales. 

Many years passed after the age of myth before 
there were authentic voyages. During the seven- 
teenth century practically nothing was done in the 
way of Pacific coast explorations, but in the 
eighteenth, as by common consent, all the nations 
of Europe became suddenly infatuated again with 
the thought that on the western shores of America 
might be found the gold and silver and gems 
and furs and precious woods for which they had 
been striving so desperately upon the eastern coast. 
English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Rus- 
sians and Americans entered their bold and hardy 
sailors into the race for the possession of the land 
of the Occident. The Russians were the first in 
the field, that gigantic power, which the genius of 
Peter the Great, like one of the fabled genii, had 
suddenly transformed from the proportions of a 
grain of sand to a figure overtopping the whole 
earth, and which had stretched it? arms from the 
P>altic to the .\leutian archipelago, and had looked 
southward across the frozen seas of Siberia to the 
open Pacific as ofifering another opportunity of 
expansion. Many years passed, however, before 
Peter's designs could be executed. It was 1728 
when \'itus Behring entered upon his marvelous 
life of exploration. Not until 1741, however, did 
he thread the thousand islands of Alaska and gaze 
upon the glaciated sunuuit of Mount Elias. And 
it was not until thirty years later that it was known 
that the Bay of Avatscha in Siberia was connected 
by open sea with China. In 1771 the first cargo 
of furs was taken directly from .\vatscha, the chief 
port of eastern Siberia, to Canton. Then first 
Europe realized the vastness of the Pacific ocean. 
Then it understood that the same waters which 
frowned against the frozen bulwarks of Kamchatka 
washed the tropic isdands of the South seas and 
foamed against the storm-swept rocks of Cape 
Horn, 

Meanwhile, while Russia was thus becoming 
established upon the shores of Alaska, Spain was 
getting entire possession of California. These two 
great nations began to overlap each other, Russians 
becoming established near San Francisco. To 
offset this movement of Russia, a group of Spanish 
explorers, Perez, Martinez, Heceta, Bodega and 
Maurelle, swarmed up the coast beyond the S'ite 
of the present Sitka. 

England, in alarm at the progress made by 
Spain and Russia, sent out the Columbus of the 
eighteenth century, in the person of Captain James 
Cook, and he sailed up and down the coast of 



Alaska and of Washington, but failed to discover 
either the Columbia river or the Straits of Fuca. 

His labors, however, did more to establish true 
geographical notions than had the combined efforts 
of all the Spanish navigators who had preceded 
him. His voyages materially strengthened Eng- 
land's claim to Oregon, and added greatly to the 
luster of her name. The great ca])tain, while tem- 
porarily on shore, was killed by Indians in 1778, 
and the command devolved upon Captain Clark, 
who sailed northward, passing through Behring 
strait to the Arctic ocean. The new cominander 
died before the expedition had proceeded far on 
its return journey ; Lieutenant Gore, a \''irginian, 
assumed control and sailed to Canton, China, arriv- 
ing late in the year. 

The main purposes of this expedition had been 
the di.'covery of a northern waterway between the 
two oceans and the extending of British territory, 
but, as is so often the case in human affairs, one of 
the most important results of the voyage was 
entirely unsuspected by the navigators and prac- 
tically the outcome of an accident. It so happened 
that the two vessels of the expedition, the Revolu- 
tion and the Discovery, took with them to China 
a small collection of furs from the northwest coast 
of America. These were purchased hv the Chinese 
with great avidity ; the people exhibiting a willing- 
ness to barter commodities of much value for them 
and endeavoring to secure them at ahnost any sacri- 
fice. The sailors were not backward in communicat- 
ing their discoveries of a new and promising mar- 
ket for peltries, and the impetus imparted to the fur 
trade was almost iinmeasurable in its ultimate 
effects. .\n entirely new regime was inaugurated 
in Chinese and East Indian commerce. The north- 
west coast of America assumed a new importance 
in the eyes of Europeans, and especially of the 
British. The "struggle for possession" soon began 
to be foreshadowed. 

One of the principal harbors resorted to by fur- 
trading vessels was Nootka, used as a rendezvous 
and principal port of departure. This port became 
the scene of a clash between Spanish authorities 
and certain British vessels, which greatly strained 
the friendly relations existing between the two gov- 
ernments represented. In 1779, the viceroy of 
Mexico sent two ships, the Princess and the San 
Carlos, to convey Martinez and De Haro to the 
vicinity for the purpose of anticipating and pre- 
venting the occupancy of Nootka sound by fur 
traders of other nations, and that the Spanish title 
to the territory might be maintained and confirmed. 
Martinez was to base his claiin upon the discovery 
by Perez in 1774. Courtesy was to be extended 
to foreign vessels, but the establishment of any 
claim prejudicial to the right of the Spanish crown 
was to be resisted vigorously. 

LTpon the arrival of Martinez, it was discovered 
that the American vessel, Columbia, and the Iphi- 



EXPLORATIONS BY WATER 



genia, a British vessel, under a Portuguese flag, 
were lying in the harbor. Martinez at once de- 
manded the papers of both vessels and an explana- 
tion of their presence, vigorously asserting the claim 
of Spain that the port and contiguous territory were 
hers. The captain of the Iphigenia pleaded stress 
of weather. On finding that the vessel's papers 
commanded the capture, under certain conditions, 
of Russian, Spanish or English vessels, Martinez 
seized the ship, but on being advised that tiie orders 
relating to captures were intended only to apply 
to the defense of the vessel, the Spaniard released 
the Iphigenia and her cargo. The Northwest 
America, another vessel of the same expedition, 
was, however, seized by Martinez a little later. 

It should be remembered that these British 
vessels had, in the inception of the enterprise, 
divested themselves of their true national character 
and donned the insignia of Portugal, their reasons 
being: First, to defraud the Chinese government, 
which made special harbor rates to the Portuguese, 
and, .=econd, to defraud the East India Company, 
to whom had been granted the right of trading in 
furs in northwest America to the exclusion of all 
other British subjects, except such as should obtain 
the permission of the company. To maintain their 
Portuguese nationality they had placed the expe- 
dition nominally under the control of Juan Cavalho, 
a Portuguese trader. Prior to the time of the 
trouble in Nootka, however, Cavalho had become 
a bankrupt and new arrangements had become 
necessary. The English traders were compelled to 
unite their interests with those of King George's 
Sound Company, a mercantile association operating 
under license from the South Sea and East India 
companies, the Portuguese colors had been laid 
aside, and the true national character of the expe- 
dition assumed. Captain Colnutt was placed in 
command of the enterprise as constituted under the 
new regime, with instructions, among other things, 
"to establish a factory to be called Fort Pitt, for the 
purpose of permanent settlement and as a center 
of trade around which other stations mav be 
established." 

One vessel of the expedition, the Princess Royal, 
entered Nootka harbor without molestation, but 
when the Argonaut, under command of Captain 
Colnutt. arrived, it was thought best by the master 
not to attempt an entrance to the bav, lest his vessel 
should meet the same fate which had befallen the 
Iphigenia and the Northwest America. Later 
Colnutt called on Martinez and informed the 
Spanish governor of his intention to take possession 
of the country in the name of Great Britain and to 
erect a fort. The governor replied that possession 
had already been taken in the name of His Catholic 
Majesty and that such acts as he (Colnutt) con- 
templated could not be allowed. An altercation 
followed and the next day the Argonaut was seized 
and her captain and crew placed under arrest. The 



Princess Royal was also seized, though the Amer- 
ican vessels in tlie harbor were in no way molested. 

After an extended and at times heated con- 
troversy between Spain and Great Britain touching 
these seizures, the former government consented to 
make reparation and offered a suitable apology for 
the indignity to the honor of the flag. The feature 
of this correspondence of greatest import in the 
future history of the territory affected is, that 
throughout the entire controversy and in all the 
royal messages and debates in parliament no word 
was spoken asserting a claim of Great Britain to any 
territorial rights or denying the claim of sovereignty 
so positively and persistently avowed by Spain, 
neither was Spanish sovereignty denied nor in any 
way alienated by the treaty which followed. Certain 
real property was restored to British subjects, but a 
transfer of realty under the circumstances could not 
be considered a transfer of sovereignty. 

We pass over the voyage of the illustrious 
French navigator. La Perouse, as of more 
importance from a scientific than from a political 
view-point; neither can we dwell upon the explo- 
rations of Captain Berkeley, to whom belongs the 
honor of having ascertained the existence of the 
strait afterwards denominated Juan de Fuca. Of 
somewhat greater moment in the later history of the 
Northwest are the voyages of Meares, who entered 
and described the above-mentioned strait, and who, 
in 1788, explored the coast at the point where the 
great Columbia mingles its crystal current with the 
waters of the sea. In the diplomatic battle of later 
days it was even claimed that he was the discoverer 
of that great "River of the West." Howbeit, nothing 
can be surer than that the existence of such a river 
was utterly unknown to him at the time. Indeed, 
his conviction of its non-existence was thus stated 
in his own account of the voyage: "We can now 
with safety assert that there is no such river as 
the St. Roc (of the Spaniard, Heceta) exists as 
laid down on the Spanish charts," and he gave a 
further unequivocal expression of his opinion by 
naming the bay in that vicinity Deception bay and 
the promontory north of it Cape Disappointment. 
"Disappointed and deceived," remarks Evans face- 
tiously, "he continued his cruise southward to lati- 
tude forty-five degrees north." 

It is not without sentiments of patriotic pride 
that we now turn our attention to a period of dis- 
covery in which the vessels of our own nation 
played a prominent part. The northern mystery, 
which had been partially resolved by the Spanish, 
Enghsh, French and Portuguese explorations, was 
now to be robbed completely of its mystic charm ; 
speculation and myth must now give place to exact 
knowledge: the game of discovery must hereafter 
be played principally between the two branches of 
the Anglo-Saxon race, and Anglo-Saxon energy, 
thoroughness and zeal are henceforth to characterize 
operations on the shores of the Pacific Northwest. 



INTRODUCTORY 



The United States had but recently won their inde- 
pendence from the British crown and their energies 
were finding a fit field of activity in the titanic 
task of national organization. Before the consti- 
tution had become the supreme law of the land, 
however, the alert mind of the American had begun 
projecting voyages of discovery and trade to the 
Northwest, and in September, 1788, two vessels 
with the stars and stripes at their mastheads arrived 
at Nootka sound. Their presence in the harbor 
while the events culminating in the Nootka treaty 
were transpiring has already been alluded to. The 
vessels were the ship Columbia, Captain John 
Kendrick, and the sloop Washington, Captain 
Robert Gray, and the honor of having sent them to 
our shores belongs to one Joseph Barrel, a prom- 
inent merchant of Boston, and a man of high social 
standing and great influence. While one of the 
impelling motives of this enterprise had been the 
desire of commercial profit, the element of patriot- 
ism was not wholly lacking, and the vessels were 
instructed to make whatever explorations and dis- 
coveries they might. 

After remaining a time on the coast, Captain 
Kendrick transferred the ship's property to the 
Washington, with the intention of taking a cruise 
in that vessel. He placed Captain Gray in com- 
mand of the Columbia with instructions to return 
to Boston by way of the Sandwich islands and 
China. This commission was successfully carried 
out. The vessel arrived in Boston in September, 

1790, was received with great eclat, refitt.ed by her 
owners and again despatched to the shores of the 
Pacific with Captain Gray in command. In July, 

1791, the Columbia, from Boston, and the Washing- 
ton, from China, met not far from the spot where 
they had separated nearly two years before. They 
were not to remain long in company, for Captain 
Gray soon started on a cruise southward. On April 
29, 1792, Gray met Vancouver just below Cape 
Flattery and an interesting colloquy took place. 
Vancouver communicated to the American skipper 
the fact that he had not yet made any important dis- 
coveries, and Gray, with equal frankness, gave the 
eminent British explorer an account of his past dis- 
coveries, "including," says Bancroft, "the fact that 
he had not sailed through Fuca strait in the Lady 
Washington, as had been supposed from Meares' 
narrative and map." He also informed Captain 
Vancouver that he had been "oflf the mouth of a 



river in latitude forty-six degrees, ten minutes, 
where the outset, or reflux, was so strong as to 
prevent his entrance for nine days." 

The important information conveyed by Gray 
seems to have greatly disturbed Vancouver's mind. 
The entries in his log show that he did not entirely 
credit the statement of the American, but that he 
was considerably perturbed is evinced by the fact 
that he tried to convince himself by argument that 
Gray's statement could not have been correct. The 
latitude assigned by the American is that of Cape 
Disappointment, and the existence of a river mouth 
there, though affirmed by Heceta, had been denied 
by Meares ; Captain Cook had also failed to find 
it; besides, had he not himself passed that point 
two days before and had he not observed that "if 
any inlet or river should be found it must be a 
very intricate one and inaccessible to vessels of our 
burden, owing to the reefs and broken water which 
then appeared in its neighborhood?" With such 
reasoning, he dismissed the matter from his mind 
for the time being. He continued his journey north- 
ward, passed through the Strait of Fuca, and 
engaged in a thorough and minute exploration of 
that mighty inland sea, to a portion of which he 
gave the name of Puget sound. 

Meanwhile Gray was proceeding southward "in 
the track of destiny and glory." On May 7th he 
entered the harbor which now bears his name, and 
four days later he passed through the breakers and 
over the bar, and his vessel's prow plowed the 
waters of that famous "River of the West," whose 
existence had been so long suspected. The storied 
"Oregon" for the first time heard other sound than 
"its own dashing." 

Shortly afterward Vancouver came to Cape 
Disappointment to explore the Columbia, of which 
he had heard indirectly from Captain Gray. Lieu- 
tenant Broughton, of Vancouver's expedition, sailed 
over the bar, ascended the river a distance of more 
than one hundred miles to the site of the present 
Vancouver, and with a modesty truly remarkable, 
took "possession of the river and the country in its 
vicinity in His Britannic Majesty's name, having 
every reason to believe that the subjects of no 
other civilized nation or state had ever entered it 
before." This, too, though he had received a salute 
of one gun from an American vessel, the Jennie, on 
his entrance to the bay. The lieutenant's claim was 
not to remain forever imchallenged, as will appear 
presently. , 



CHAPTER II 



EXPLORATIONS BY LAND 



With the exploration of Pugct sound and the 
discovery of the Cokimbia, history-making mari- 
time adventure practically ceased. lUit as the fabled 
strait of Anian had drawn explorers to the Pacific 
shores in quest of the mythical passage to the 
treasures of Ind, so likewise did the fairy tales of 
La Hontan and others stimulate inland exploration. 
Furthermore, the mystic charm always possessed 
by a terra incognita was becoming irresistible to 
adventurous spirits, and the possibilities of discov- 
ering untold wealth in the vaults of its "Shining 
mountains" and in the sands of its crystal rivers 
were exceedingly fascinating to the lover of gain. 

The honor of pioneership in overland explora- 
tion belongs to one Verendrye, who, under authority 
of the governor-general of New France, in 1773 set 
out on an expedition to the Rocky mountains from 
Canada. This explorer and his brother and sons 
made many important explorations, but as they 
failed to find a pass through the Rocky mountains, 
by which they could come to the Pacific side, their 
adventures do not fall within the purview of our 
volume. They are said to have reached the vicinity 
of the present city of Helena. 

If, as seems highly probable, the events 
chronicled by Le Page in his charming "Histoire de 
la Louisiane." published in 17.58, should be taken as 
authentic, the first man to scale the Rocky moun- 
tains from the east and to make his way overland 
to the shores of the Pacific was a Yazoo Indian, 
Moncacht-ape, or Moncachabe, by name. But "the 
first traveler to lead a party of civilized men through 
the territory of the Stony mountains to the South 
sea" was Alexander Mackenzie, who, in 1793, 
reached the coast at fifty-two degrees, twenty-four 
minutes, forty-eight seconds north, leaving as a 
memorial of his visit, inscribed on a rock with 
vermilion and grease, the words, "Alexander Mac- 
kenzie, from Canada by land, July 2-i, 1793." His 
field of discovery was also without the scope of our 
purpose, being too far north to figure prominently 
in the international complications of later vears. 

Western exploration by land had, however, 
elicited the interest of one whose energy and force 
were sufficient to bring to a successful issue almost 
any undertaking worth the effort. While the other 
statesmen and legislators of his time were fully 
engaged with the problems of the moment, the great 



mind of Thomas Jefferson, endowed as it was with 
a wider range of vision and more comprehensive 
grasp of the true situation, was projecting exploring 
expeditions into the Northwest. In 1786, while 
serving as minister to Paris, he had fallen in with 
the ardent Ledyard, who was on fire with the idea 
of opening a large and profitable fur trade in the 
north Pacific region. To this young man he had 
suggested the idea of journeying to Kamchatka, 
then in a Russian vessel to Nootka sound, from 
which, as a starting point, he should make an ex- 
ploring expedition eastward to the United States. 
Ledyard acted on the suggestion, but was arrested 
as a spy in the spring of 1787 by Russian officials 
and so severely treated as to cause a failure of his 
health and a consequent failure of his enterprise. 

The next effort of Jefferson was made in 1792, 
when he proposed to the American Philosophical 
Society that it should engage a competent scientist 
"to explore northwest America from the eastward 
by ascending the Missouri, crossing the Rocky 
mountains and descending the nearest river to the 
Pacific ocean." The idea was favorably received. 
Captain Meriwether Lewis, who afterward distin- 
guished himself as one of the leaders of the Lewis 
and Clark expedition, offered his services, but for 
some reason Andre Michaux, a French botanist, 
was given the preference. Michaux proceeded as 
far as Kentucky, but there received an order from 
the French minister, to whom, it seems, he also 
owed obedience, that he should relinquish his ap- 
pointment and engage upon the duties of another 
commission. 

It was not until after the opening of a new 
century that another opportunity for furthering his 
favorite project presented itself to Jefferson. An 
act of congress, under which trading houses had 
been established for facilitating commerce with the 
Indians, was about to expire by lirnitation, and 
President Jefferson, in recommending its continu- 
ance, seized the opportunity to urge upon congress 
the advisability of fitting out an expedition, the 
object of which should be "to explore the Missouri 
river and such principal stream of it as, by its course 
of communication with the waters of the Pacific 
ocean, whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado or 
any other river, may offer the most direct and 



INTRODUCTORY 



practical water communication across the continent, 
for the purpose of commerce." 

Congress voted an appropriation for the purpose, 
and the expedition was placed in charge of Captains 
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. President 
Jefferson gave the explorers minute and particular 
instructions as to investigations to be made by 
them. They were to inform themselves, should they 
reach the Pacific ocean, "of the circumstances which 
may decide whether the furs of those parts may 
be collected as advantageously at the head of the 
Missouri (convenient as is supposed to the 
Colorado and Oregon or Columbia) as at Nootka 
sound or any other i)art of that coast ; and the trade 
be constantly conducted through the Missouri and 
the United States more beneficially than by the cir- 
cumnavigation now piaclicid." In addition to the 
instructions already (luntcd, these explorers were 
directed to ascertain if possible on arriving at the 
seaboard if there were any ports within their reach 
frequented by the sea vessels of any nation, and to 
send, if practicable, two of their most trusted people 
back by sea with copies of their notes. They were 
also, if they deemed a return by the way they had 
come imminently hazardous, to ship the entire party 
and return via Good Hope or Cape Horn, as they 
might be able. 

A few days before the initial steps were taken in 
discharge of the instruction of President Jefferson, 
news reached the seat of government of a trans- 
action which added materially to the significance of 
the enterprise. Negotiations had been successfully 
consummated for the purchase of Louisiana on 
April 30, 1803, but the authorities at Washington 
did not hear of the important transfer until the first 
of July. Of such transcendent import to the future 
of our country was this transaction and of such 
vital moment to the section with which our volume 
is primarily concerned, that we must here interrupt 
the trend of our narrative to give the reader an idea 
of the extent of territory involved, and, if possible, 
to enable him to appreciate the influence of the 
purchase. France, by her land explorations and 
the establishment of trading posts and forts, first 
acquired title to the territory west of the Missis- 
sippi and east of the Rocky mountains, though 
Great Britain claimed the territory in accordance 
with her doctrine of continuity and contiguity, most 
of her colonial grants extending in express terms 
to the Pacific ocean. Spain also claimed the country 
by grant of Pope Alexander VL A constant war- 
fare had been waged between France and Great 
Britain for supremacy in America. The latter was 
the winner in the contest, and, in ]7()?, France, 
apparently discouraged, ceded to Spain the province 
of Louisiana. By the treaty of February 10, 1763, 
which gave Great flritain the Canadas, it was 
agreed that the western boundary between English 
and Spanish possessions in .\merica should be the 
Mississippi river. Great Britain renouncing all 



claims to the territory west of that boundary. In 
1800 Spain retroceded Louisiana to France "with 
the same extent it has now in the hands of Spain 
and which it had when France possessed it, and 
such as it should be according to the treaties subse- 
quently made between Spain and other states." 

The order for the formal delivery of the prov- 
ince to France was issued by the Spanish king on 
October 1.5, 1803, and, as above stated, the United 
States succeeded to the title bv treaty of April 
30, 1803. 

Exact boundaries had not been established at 
the time of the Louisiana purchase, but some idea of 
the vastness of the territory thereby acquired by the 
L'nited States may be had when we consider that it 
extended from the present British line to the Gulf 
of Mexico and included what are now the states of 
Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, 
Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana, the territory of 
Oklahoma. Indian territory, more than three-fourths 
of Montana ant! Wyoming, and parts of Colorado 
and New Mexico. 

And so the Lewis and Clark expedition, which 
had in its inception for its chief object to promote 
the commercial interests of the LInited States, 
acquired a new purpose, namel}', the extending of 
geographical and scientific knowledge of our oxvn 
domain. Upon its members a further duty devolved, 
that of informing the natives that obedience was 
now due to a new great father. 

The expedition of Lewis and Clark excited a 
peculiar interest at the time of its occurrence, and 
has since occupied a unique place in our history. 
The description of this expedition which follows is 
condensed from the writings upon liie subject of 
Professor W. D. L^•man, <■{ Whitman College, 
Walla Walla. 

To our colonial ancestors, caged between the 
sea and the domains of hostile natives and rival 
colonies, afterward absorbed in a death struggle 
with the mother country, all the vast interior was 
a sealed book. And when the successful issue of 
the Revolutionary war permitted them to turn 
around and see where they were, still more when 
the great purchase of Louisiana from France 
enabled them to look toward the tops of the "Shin- 
ing mountains" with a sense of proprietorship, all 
the romance and enthusiasm and excitement of ex- 
ploration, hitherto sternly denied them by their 
narrow lot, seized and fascinated all classes. 

On the 14th day of May, 1804, the Lewis and 
Clark party left St. Louis by boat upon the muddy 
current of the Missouri, to search for the unknown 
mountains and rivers between that point and the 
Pacific. Their plan was to ascend the Missouri to 
its source, cross the divide, strike the headwaters 
of the Columbia, and, descending it, reach the sea. 

And what manner of men were undertaking this 
voyage, fraught with both interest and peril ? Meri- 
wether Lewis, the loader of the part\', was a captain 



EXPLORATIONS BY LAND 



in the United States army, and in Jefferson's judg- 
ment was, by reason of endurance, boldness and 
energy, the fittest man within his knowledge for 
the responsible duties of commander. His whole 
life had been one of reckless adventure. It appears 
that at the tender age of eight he was already 
illustrious for successful midnight forays upon the 
festive coon and the meditative possum. He was 
lacking in scientific knowledge, but when appointed 
captain of the expedition had, with characteristic 
pluck, spent a few spare weeks in study of some 
of the branches most essential to his new work. 
William Clark, second in command, was also a 
United States officer, and seems to have been equally 
fitted with Lewis for his work. The party consisted 
of fourteen LInited States regulars, nine Kentucky 
volunteers, two French voyageurs, a hunter, an in- 
terpreter and a negro. To each of the common 
soldiers the government offered the munificent 
reward of retirement upon full pay with a recom- 
mendation for a soldier's grant of land. Special 
pains were taken to encourage the party to keep 
complete records of all they saw and heard and did. 
This was done with a vengeance, insomuch that 
seven journals besides those of the leaders were 
carefully kept, and in them was recorded nearly 
every event from the most important discoveries 
down to the ingredients of their meals and doses of 
nicdicnic. I'hey were abundantly provided with 
beads, mirnirs. knives, etc., wherewith to woo the 
savage hearts of the natives. 

After an interesting and easy journey of five 
months, they reached the country of the Mandans, 
and here they determined to winter. The winter 
having been profitably spent in making the acquaint- 
ance of the Indians and in collecting specimens of 
the natural history of the plains — which they now 
sent back to the president with great care — they 
again embarked in a squad of six canoes and two 
jjirogues. June l:')th they reached the great falls 
of the ■Missouri. 

A month was spent within sound of the thunder 
and in sight of the perpetual mist cloud rising from 
the abyss, ijefore the}- could accomplish the difficult 
portage of eighteen miles, make new canoes, mend 
their clothes and lay in a new stock of provisions. 

The long bright days, the tingling air of the 
mountains, the pleasant swish of the water as their 
canoes breasted the swift current, the vast campfires 
and the nightly Ijuffalo roasts — all these must have 
made this the pleasantest section of their long 
journey. 

The party seems to have pretty nearly e.xhausted 
its supply of names, and after having made heavv 
drafts on their own with various permutatory com- 
binations, they were reduced to the extremity of 
loading innocent creeks with the ponderous names 
of Wisdom, Philosophy and Philanthropy. Suc- 
ceeding generations have relieved the unjust 



pressure in two of these cases with the high sound- 
ing appellations of Big Hole and Stinking Water. 

On the l"3th day of August the explorers crossed 
the great divide, the birthplace of mighty rivers, and 
descending the sunset slope, found themselves in 
the land of the Shoshones. They had brought 
with them a Shoshone woman, rejoicing in the 
pleasant name of Sacajawea, for the express 
purpose of becoming acquainted with this tribe, 
through whom they hoped to get horses and val- 
uable information as to their proper route to the 
ocean. But four days were consumed in enticing 
the suspicious savages near enough to hear the 
words of their own tongue proceeding from the 
camp of the strangers. When, however, the fair 
interpreter had been granted a hearing, she speedily 
won for the party the faithful allegiance of her kins- 
men. They innocently accepted the rather general 
intimation of the explorers that this journey had 
for its pritnary object the happiness and prosperity 
of the Shoshone nation, and to these evidences of 
benevolence on the part of their newly adopted 
great father at Washington, they quickly responded 
by bringing plenty of horses and all the information 
in their poor power. 

It appears that the expedition was at that time 
on the headwaters of the Salmon river near where 
Fort Lemhi afterward stood. With twenty-nine 
horses to carry their abundant burdens, they bade 
farewell to the friendly Shoshones on the last day 
of August, and cotnmitted themselves to the dreary 
and desolate solitudes to the westward. They soon 
became entangled in the ridges and defiles, already 
spotted with snow, of the Bitter Root mountains. 

Having crossed several branches of the great 
river, named in honor of Captain Clark, and becom- 
ing distressed at the increasing dangers and delay, 
they turned to the left, and, having punished a 
brawling creek for its inhospitality by inflicting on 
it the name Colt Killed, commemorative of their 
extremity for food, they came upon a wild and 
beautiful stream. Inquiring the name of this from 
the Indians, they received the answer "Kooskoos- 
kie." This in reality meant simply that this was 
not the stream for which they were searching, but 
not understanding, they named the river Kooskoos- 
kie. This was afterward called the Clearwater, 
and is the most beautiful tributary of the Snake. 

The countr)' still frowned on them with the 
same forbidding rocky heights and snow-storms as 
before. It began to seem as though famine would 
ere long stare them in the face, and the shaggy 
precipices were marked with almost daily accidents 
to men and beasts. Their only meat was the flesh 
of their precious horses. 

lender these circumstances Clark decided to take 
six of the most active men and push ahead in search 
of game and a more hospitable country. A hard 
march of twenty miles rewarded him with a view 
of a vast open plain in front of the broken mountain 



INTRODUCTORY 



chain across which they had been struggling. It 
was three days, however, before they fairly cleared 
the edge of the mountain and emerged on the great 
prairie north and east of where Lewiston now is. 
They found no game except a stray horse, which 
they speedily despatched. Here the advance guard 
waited for "the main body to come up, and then 
altogether they went down to the Clearwater, where 
a large number of the Nez Perce Indians gathered 
to see and trade with them. Receiving from these 
Indians, who, like all that they had met, seemed 
very amicably disposed, the cheering news that the 
great river was not very distant, and seeing the 
Clearwater to be a fine, navigable stream, they 
determined to abandon the weary land march and 
make canoes. Five of these having been con- 
structed, they laid in a stock of dog meat and then 
committed themselves to the sweeping current with 
which all the tributaries of the Columbia hastened 
to their destined place. They left their horses with 
the Nez Perces, and it is worthy of special notice 
that these were remarkably faithful to their trust. 
Indeed, it may be safely asserted that the first 
explorers of this country almost uniformly met with 
the kindest reception. 

On the 10th of October, having traveled sixty 
miles on the Clearwater, its pellucid current de- 
livered them to the turbid, angry, sullen, lava- 
banked Snake. This great stream they called 
Kimooenim, its Indian name. It was in its low 
season, and it seems from their account that it, as 
well as all the other streams, must have been 
uncommonly low that year. 

Thus they say that on October 13th they 
descended a very bad rapid four miles in length, at 
the lower part of which the whole river was com- 
pressed into a channel only twenty-five yards wide. 
Immediately below they passed a large stream on 
the right, which they called Drewyer's river, from 
one of their men. This must have been the Palouse 
river, and certainly it is very rare that the mighty 
Snake becomes attenuated at that point to a width 
of twenty-five yards. Next day as they were de- 
scending the worst rapid they had yet seen (probably 
the Monumental rapid), it repelled their efifrontery 
by upsetting one of the boats. No lives were lost, 
but the cargo of the boat was badly water-soaked. 
For the purpose of drying it, they stopped a day, 
and finding no other timber, they were compelled 
to use a very appropriate pile which some Indians 
had stored away and covered with stones. This 
trifling circumstance is noticed because of the ex- 
plorers' speaking in connection with it of their cus- 
tomary scrupulousness in never taking any property 
of the Indians, and of their determination to repay 
the owner, if they could find him, on their return. 
If all explorers had been as particular, much is the 
distress and loss that would have been avoided. 

They found almost continuous rapids from this 
point to the mouth of the Snake, which they reached 



on October 16th. Here they were met by a regular 
procession of nearly two hundred Indians. They 
had a grand pow-wow, and both parties displayed 
great affection, the whites bestowing medals, shirts, 
trinkets, etc., in accordance with the rank of the 
recipient, and the Indians repaying the kindness 
with abundant and prolonged visits and accompany- 
ing gifts of wood and fish. On the next day they 
measured the rivers, finding the Columbia to be nine 
hundred and sixty yards wide and the Snake five 
hundred and seventy-five. They indulge in no 
poetic reveries as they stand by the river which has 
been one principal object of their search, but they 
seem to see pretty much everything of practical 
value. In the glimmering haze of the pleasant 
October morning they notice the vast bare prairie 
stretching southward until broken by the rounded 
sunmiits of the Blue mountains. They find the 
Sohulks, who live at the junction of the rivers, a 
mild and happy people, the men being content with 
one wife each, whom they actually assist in family 
work. 

Captain Clark ascended the Columbia to the 
mouth of a large river coming from the west, 
which the Indians called the Tapteal. This was, of 
course, the Yakima. The people living at its mouth 
rejoiced in the liquid name of Chimnapum. Here 
Captain Clark shot what he called a prairie cock, 
the first he had seen. It was no doubt a sage hen. 

After two days of rest, being well supplied with 
fish, dog, roots, etc., and at peace with their own 
consciences and all the world, with satisfaction at 
the prospect of soon completing their journey, they 
re-embarked. Sixteen miles JdcIow the mouth of 
the Kimooenim, which they now began to call the 
Lewis river, they descried, cut clear against the dim 
horizon line of the southwest, a pyramidal mountain, 
covered with snow — their first view of Mount Hood. 

The next day, being in the vicinity of Umatilla, 
they saw another snowy peak at a conjectured 
distance of one hundred and fifty miles. Near 
here Captain Clark, having landed, shot a crane 
and a duck. Some Indians near were almost 
paralyzed with terror, but at last they recovered 
enough to make the best possible use of their legs. 
Following them. Captain Clark found a little cluster 
of huts. Pushing aside the mat door of one of 
them, he entered, and in the bright light of the un- 
roofed hut discovered thirty-two persons, all of 
whom were in the greatest terror, some wailing and 
wringing their hands. 

Having by kind looks and gestures soothed their 
grief, he held up his burning-glass to catch a stray 
sunbeam \vith which to light his pipe. Thereat the 
consternation of the Indians revived, and they 
refused to be comforted. But when the rest of the 
party arrived with the two Indian guides who had 
come with them from the Clearwater, terror gave 
way to curiosity and pleasure. These Pishquitpaws 
— such was their name — explained to the guides 



EXPLORATIONS BY LAND 



their fear of Captain Clark by saying that he came 
from the sky accompanied by a terrible noise, and 
they knew there was a bad medicine in it. 

Being convinced now that he was a mortal after 
all, they became very affectionate, and having heard 
the music of two violins, they became so enamored 
of the strangers that they stayed up all night with 
them and collected to the number of two hundred 
to bid them good-bye in the morning. The principal 
business of these Indians seemed to be catching and 
curing salmon, which, in the clear water of the 
Columbia, the explorers could see swimming about 
in large numbers. Continuing with no extraor- 
dinary occurrence, they passed the river now called 
the John Day, to which they applied the name 
Lapage. Mount Hood was now almost constantly 
in view, and since the Indians told them it was near 
the great falls of the Columbia, they called it the 
Timm (this seems to be the Indian word for falls) 
mountain. 

On the next day they reached a large river on 
the left, which came thundering through a narrow 
channel into the equally turbulent Columbia. This 
river, which Captain Lewis judged to contain one- 
fourth as much water as the Columbia (an enormous 
over-estimate), answered to the Indian name 
of Towahnahiooks. It afterward received from the 
French the name now used, Des Chutes. 

They now perceived that they were near the 
place hinted at by nearly every Indian that they had 
talked with since crossing the divide — the great 
falls. And a weird, savage place it proved to be. 
Here the clenched hands of trachyte and basalt, 
thrust through the soil from the buried realm of 
the volcanoes, almost clutch the rushing river. Only 
here and there between the parted fingers can he 
make his escape. 

After making several portages they reached 
that extraordinary place (now called The Dalles) 
where all the waters gathered from half a million 
square miles of earth are squeezed into a crack 
forty-five yards wide. The desolation on either side 
of this frightful chasm is a fitting margin. As one 
crawls to the edge and peeps over, he sees the 
waters to be of inky blackness. Streaks of foam 
gridiron the blackness. There is little noise com- 
pared with that made by the shallow rapids above, 
but rather a dismal sough, as though the rocks below 
were rubbing their black sides together in a vain 
effort to close over the escaping river. The river 
here is "turned on edge." In fact, its depth has 
not been found to this day. Some suppose that 
there was once a natural tunnel here through which 
the river flowed, and that in consequence of a vol- 
canic convulsion the top of the tunnel fell in. If 
there be any truth in this, the width of the channel 
is no doubt much greater at the bottom than at the 
top. Lewis and Clark, finding that the routjhness 
of the shore made it almost im])ossil)lc tn c;u-ry 
their boats over, and seeing no evidence of rucks 



in the channel, boldly steered through this "witches' 
cauldron." Though no doubt hurled along with 
frightful rapidity and flung like foam flakes on the 
crest of the boiling surges, they reached the end of 
the "chute" without accident, to the amazement of 
the Indians who had collected on the bluff to witness 
the daring experiment. After two more portages 
the party safely entered the broad, still flood be- 
ginning where the town of The Dalles now stands. 
Here they paused for two days to hunt and caulk 
their boats. They here began to see evidences of 
the white traders below, in blankets, axes, brass 
kettles, and other articles of civilized manufacture. 
The Indians, too, were more inclined to be saucy 
and suspicious. 

The Dalles seemed to be a dividing line between 
the Indian tribes. Those living at the falls, where 
Celilo now is, called the Eneeshurs, understood and 
"fellowshipped" with the up-river tribes, but at the 
narrows and thence to The Dalles was a tribe called 
the Escheloots. These were alien to the Indians 
above, but on intimate terms with those below the 
Cascades. Among the Escheloots the explorers first 
noticed the peculiar "cluck" in speech common to 
all down-river tribes. The flattening of the head, 
which above belonged to females only, was now the 
common thing. 

The place where. Lewis and Clark camped while 
at The Dalles was just below Mill creek (called by 
the natives Ouenett), on a point of rock near the 
location of the present car shops. 

The next Indian tribe, extending apparently 
from the vicinity of Crate's point to the Cascades,, 
capped the climax of tongue-twisting names by 
calling themselves Chilluckittequaws. 

Nothing of extraordinary character seems to 
have been encountered between The Dalles and the 
Cascades. But the explorers had their eyes wide 
open, and the calm majesty of the river and savage 
grandeur of its shores received due notice. They 
observed and named most of the streams on the 
route, the first of importance being the Cataract 
river (now the Klickitat), then Labieshe's river 
(Hood river). Canoe creek (White Salmon) and 
Crusatte's river. This last must have been Little 
White Salmon, though they were greatly deceived 
as to its size, stating it to be sixty yards wide. 
In this vicinity they were nnich struck with the 
sunken frirest, which, at that low stage of the water, 
was ver\- cons])icuous. They correctly inferred that 
this indicated a damming up of the river at a very 
recent time. Indeed, the}- judged that it must have 
occurred within twenty years. It is well known, 
however, that submerged trees or piles, as indicated 
bv remains of old Roman wharves in Britain, may 
remain intact for hundreds of years ; but it is never- 
theless evident that the closing of the river at the 
Cascades is a very recent event. It is also evident 
from the sliding, sinking and grinding constantly 



IXTRODUCTORY 



seen there now that a similar event is liable to 
happen at any time. 

The Cascades having been reached, more port- 
ages were required. Slow and tedious though they 
were, the explorers seem to have endured them with 
unfailing patience. They were cheered by the 
prospect of soon putting all the rapids behind and 
launching their canoes on the unobstructed vastness 
of the lower river. This was prosperously accom- 
plished on the 3d of November. They were greatly 
delighted with the verdure which now robed the 
gaunt nakedness of the rocks. The island formed 
at the lower cascade by Columbia slough also 
pleased them by its fertility and its dense growth 
of grass and strawberry vines. From this last cir- 
cumstance they named it Strawberry island. At 
the lower part of that cluster of islands, that spired 
and turreted rock of the old feudal age of the river, 
when the volcano kings stormed each other's castles 
with earthquakes and spouts of lava, riveted their 
attention. They named it Beacon rock, but it is 
now called Castle rock. They estimated its height 
at eight hundred feet and its circumference at four 
himdred yards, the latter being only a fourth of 
the reality. 

The tides were now noticeable. This fact must 
have struck a new chord of reflection in the minds 
of these hardy adventurers, this first-felt pulse- 
beat of the dim vast of waters which grasps half 
the circumference of the earth. And so, as this 
mighty heart throb of the ocean, rising and falling 
in harmony with all nature, celestial and terrestrial, 
pulsated through a hundred and eighty miles of 
river, it might have seemed one of the ocean's multi- 
plied I'mmrs outstretched to welcome them, the 
fiisi ..ii^.mized expedition of the new republic to 
thi> "wc^tmost west." It might have betokened to 
them the harmony and unity of future nations as 
exemplified in the vast extent, the liberty, the human 
sympathies, the diversified interests, industries, and 
purposes of that republic whose motto yet remains 
"One from many." 

The rest of their journey was a calm floating 
between meadows and islands from whose shallow 
ponds they obtained ducks and geese in great 
numbers. They thought the "Quick Sand river" — 
Sandy — to be a large and important stream. They 
noticed the Washougal creek, which from the great 
number of seals around its mouth they called Seal 
river. But strange to say, they missed the Willa- 
mette entirely on their down trip. The Indians in 
this part of the river called themselves Skilloots. 
Dropping rapidly down the calm but misty stream, 
past a large river called by the Indians the Cow- 
aliske— Cowlitz — to the country of the Wahkiacums, 
at last, on the 7 th of November, the dense fog with 
which morning had enshrouded all objects suddenly 
broke away and they saw the bold, mountainous 
shores on either side vanish away in front, and 



through the parted headlands they looked into the 
infinite expanse of the ocean. 

Overjoyed at the successful termination of 
their journey, they sought the first pleasant camping 
ground and made haste to land. The rain, which 
is sometimes even now observed to fall copiously 
in that part of Oregon, greatly marred the joy of 
their first night's rest within sound of the Pacific's 
billows. 

Six days passed in moldy and dripping inactivity 
at a point a little above the present Chinook. They 
then spent nine much pleasanter days at Chinook 
point. This, however, not proving what they 
wanted for a permanent camp, they devoted them- 
selves to explorations with a view to discovering a 
more suitable location. 

The party wintered in a log building at a point 
named by them Fort Clatsop. On the 2;)d of March, 
1806, they turned their faces homeward, first, how- 
ever, having given to the chiefs of the Clatsops and 
Chinooks certificates of hospitable treatment and 
posted on the fort the following notice: "The 
object of this last is that, through the medium of 
some civilized person, who may see the same, it 
naay be made known to the world that the party 
consisting of the persons whose names are here- 
unto annexed and who were sent out by the gov- 
ernment of the United States to explore the interior 
of the continent of North .\merica, did penetrate 
the same by way of the Missmiri and Columbia 
rivers, to the discharge of the latter into the Pacific 
ocean, at which they arrived on the 1-lth day of 
November, 1805, and departed on their return to 
the United States by the same route by which they 
had come." 

Of this notice several copies were left among 
the Indians, one of which fell into the hands of 
Captain Hall, of the brig Lydia, and was conveyed 
to the United States. 

The expedition made its way with no little diffi- 
cult>' up the Columbia river. They discovered on 
their return a large tributary of that river (the 
Willamette) which had escaped their notice on their 
outward journey, and made careful inquiry of 
the Indians concerning it, the results of which 
were embodied in their map of the expedition. 

At the mouth of the John Day river their 
canoes were abandoned, their baggage was packed 
on the backs of a few horses they had purchased 
from the Indians, and traveling in this manner, 
they continued their homeward march, arriving at 
the mouth of the Walla Walla river April 27th. 
The great chief Yellept was then the leader of the 
Walla Walla nation, and by him the explorers 
were received with such generous hospitality that 
they yielded to the temptation to linger a couple 
of days before undertaking further jonmeyings 
among the moimtain fastnesses. Such was the 
treatment given them by these Indians that the 
journal of the expedition makes this appreciative 



EXPLORATIONS BY LAND 



notation concerning them: "We may indeed 
justly affirm that of all the Indians that we have 
^cen' since leaving the United States, the Walla 
Wallas are the most hospitable, honest and sincere." 

Of the return journey for the next hundred 
and fifty miles, that venerable pioneer missionary, 
the late Dr. H. K. Hines, writes as follows : "Leav- 
ing these hospitable people on the 29th of April, 
the party passed eastward on the great 'Nez Perce 
trail.' This trail was the great highway of the 
Walla Wallas, Cayuses and Nez Perces to the 
buffalo ranges, to which they annually resorted 
for game and supplies. It passed up the valley of 
the Touchet, called by Lewis and Clark the 'White 
Stallion,' thence over the high prairie ridges and 
down the Alpowa to the crossing of the Snake 
river, then up the north bank of Clearwater to the 
village of Twisted Hair, where the exploring party 
had left their horses on the way down the previous 
autumn. It was worn deep and broad by the con- 
stant rush of the Indian generations from time 
immemorial, and on many stretches on the open 
jtlains and over the smooth hills, twenty horsemen 
could ride abreast in parallel columns. The writer 
has often passed over it when it lay exactly as it 
(lid when the tribes of Yellept and Twisted Hair 
traced its sinuous courses, or when Lewis and 
Clark and their companions first marked it with 
the heel of civilization. But the plow has long 
since obliterated it, and where the monotonous song 
of the Indian march was droningly chanted for so 
many barbaric ages, the song of the reaper thrills 
the clear air as he comes to his garner bringing in 
the sheaves. A more delightful ride of a hundred 
and fifty miles than this that the company of Lewis 
and Clark made over the swelling prairie upland 
and along the crystal streams between Walla Walla 
and the village of Twisted Hair, in the soft May 
days of 180G, can scarcely be found an\'where on 
earth." 

To trace the journeyings of these explorers 
further is not within the province of this work, 
but in order to convey a general idea of the labors 
and extent of the voyage, we quote the brief sum- 
mary made by Captain Lewis himself: 

"The road by which we went out by the way 
of the Missouri to its head is 3,096 miles; thence 
by land by way of Lewis river over to Clark's 
river and down that to the entrance of Travelers' 
Rest creek, where all the roads from different 



routes meet; thence across the rugged part of the 
Rocky mountains to the navigable waters of the 
Columbia, 398 miles; thence down the river 640 
miles to the Pacific ocean — making a total distance 
of 4,134 miles. On our return in 1806 we came 
from Travelers' Rest directly to the falls of the 
Missouri river, which shortens the distance about 
579 miles, and is a much better route, reducing the 
distance from the Mississippi to the Pacific ocean 
to 3,555 miles. Of this distance 2,575 miles is up 
the Missouri to the falls of that river ; thence pass- 
ing through the plains and across the Rocky moun- 
tains to the navigable waters of the Kooskooskie 
river, a branch of the Columbia, 340 miles, 2i)i) of 
which is good road, 140 miles over a tremendous 
mountain, steep and broken, 60 miles of which is 
covered several feet deep with snow, and which we 
passed on the last of June; from the navigable 
part of the Kooskooskie we descended that rapid 
river 73 miles to its entrance into Lewis river, 
and down that river 154 miles to the Columbia, and 
thence 413 miles to its entrance into the Pacific 
ocean. About 180 miles of this distance is tide 
land. W^e passed several bad rapids and narrows, 
and one considerable fall, 286 miles above the 
entrance of this river, 37 feet 8 inches ; the total dis- 
tance descending the Columbia waters 640 miles — 
making a total of 3,555 miles, on the most direct 
route "from the Mississippi at the mouth of the 
Missouri to the Pacific ocean." 

The safe return of the explorers to their homes 
in the United States naturally created a sensation 
throughout that country and the world. Leaders 
and men were suitably rewarded, and the fame of 
the former will live while the rivers to which their 
names have been given continue to pour their waters 
into the sea. President Jefferson, the great patron 
of the expedition, paying a tribute to Captain Lewis 
in 1813, said: "Never did a similar event excite 
more joy throughout the United States. The hum- 
blest of its citizens have taken a lively interest 
in the issue of this journey, and looked with impa- 
tience for the information it would furnish. Nothing 
short of the official journals of this extraordinary 
and interesting journey will exhibit the importance 
of the service, the courage, devotion, zeal and per- 
severance under circumstances calculated to dis- 
courage, which animated this little band of heroes, 
throughout the long-, dangerous and tedious 
travel." 



CHAPTER III 



THE ASTOR EXPEDITION 



While the limits of this volume render a full 
treatment of the early Northwest history impossi- 
ble, it is necessary to write briefly of those mam- 
moth forces of the first ages of the country, the 
great fur companies, those gigantic commercial 
organizations, whose plans were so bold, farreach- 
ing and comprehensive, and whose theater of action 
included such vast areas of the earth's surface. 

The profits of the fur trade were such as might 
well entice daring and avarice to run the gauntlet 
of icebergs, of starvation, of ferocious savages 
and of stormy seas. The net returns from a single 
voyage might liquidate even the enormous cost of 
the outfit. For instance, Ross, one of the clerks 
of Astor's company, and located at Okanogan, 
relates that one morning before breakfast he bought 
of Indians one hundred and ten beaver skins at the 
rate of five leaves of tobacco per skin. Afterward 
a yard of cotton cloth, worth, say, ten cents, pur- 
chased twenty-five beaver skins, the vakie of which 
in the New York market was five dollars apiece. 
For four fathoms of blue beads, worth, perhaps, 
a dollar, Lewis and Clark obtained a sea otter's 
skin, the market price of which varied from forty- 
five to sixty dollars. Ross notes in another place 
that for one hundred and sixty-five dollars in 
trinkets, cloth, etc., he purchased peltries valued 
in the Canton market at eleven thousand two hun- 
dred and fifty dollars. Indeed, even the ill-fated 
voyage of Air. Astor's partners proved that a cargo 
worth twenty-five thousand dollars in New York 
might be replaced in two years by one worth a 
quarter of a million, a profit of a thousand per cent. 
We can not wonder then at the eager enterprise 
and fierce, sometimes bloody, competition of the 
fur traders. 

The fur-producing animals of especial value in 
the old Oregon country were three in number. 
The first, the beaver, was found in great abundance 
in all the interior valleys, the Willamette country, 
as was discovered, being preeminent in this respect. 
The two others, the sea otter and the seal, were 
found on the coast. The sea otter fur waS' the most 
valuable, its velvety smoothness and glossy black- 
ness rendering it first in the markets of the world 
of all furs from the temperate zone of North Amer- 
ica, and inferior only to the ermine and sable, and 
possibly to the fiery fox of the far north. 

Such, then, was the prospect which prompted 
the formation of the Pacific Fur Company, which 
shall have the first place in our narrative as being 



the first to enter the Columbia river basin, though 
it was long antedated in organization by several 
other large fur-trading corporations. The sole and 
prime mover of this enterprise was that famed 
commercial genius, John Jacob Astor, a native of 
Heidelberg, who had come to America poor, and 
had amassed a large fortune in commercial trans- 
actions. In 1810 there was conceived in the brain 
of this man a scheme which for magnitude of 
design and careful arrangement of detail was trul\- 
masterful, and in every sense worthy of the great 
entrepreneur. Even the one grand mistake which 
wrecked the enterprise was the result of a trait 
of character which "leaned to virtue's side." 
Broad-minded and liberal himself, he did not appre- 
ciate the danger of entrusting his undertaking to 
the hands of men whose national prejudices were 
bitterly anti-American and whose previous connec- 
tion with a rival company might affect their loyalty 
to this one. He regarded the enterprise as a purely 
commercial one, and selected its personnel accord- 
ingly, hence the failure of the venture. 

Mr. Astor's plan contemplated the prosecution 
of the fur trade in every unsettled territon' of 
America claimed by the United States, the trade 
with China and the supply of the Russian settle- 
ments with trading stock and provisions, the goods 
to be paid for in peltries. A vessel was to be 
despatched at regular intervals from New York, 
bearing supplies of goods to be traded to the Indians. 
.She was to discharge her cargo at a depot of trade 
to be established at the mouth of the Columbia 
river, then trade along the coast with Indians and 
at the Russian settlements until another cargo had 
been in part secured, return to the mouth of the 
river, complete her lading there, sail thence to 
China, receive a return cargo of Canton silks, 
nankeen and tea, and back to New York. Two 
years would pass in completing this vast commercial 
"rounding up." An important part of the plan was 
the supply of the Russian posts at New Archangel, 
the object being two-fold — first, to secure the profits 
accruing therefrom, and, second, to shut off compe- 
tition in Mr. Astor's own territory, through the 
semi-partnership with the Russians in furnishing 
them supplies. Careful arrangements had been 
made with the Russian government to prevent any 
possible clash between the vessels of the two com- 
panies engaged in the coast trade. "It was," says 
Brewerton, "a colossal scheme and deserved to 
succeed ; had it done so it would have advanced 



12 



THE ASTOR EXPEDITION 



American settlement and actual occupancy on the 
northwest coast by at least a quarter of a century, 
giving employment to thousands, and transferred 
the enormous profits of the Hudson's Bay and North 
West British Fur Companies from English to 
American coffers." 

Like a prudent business man, Mr. Astor antici- 
pated that, though the Northwest Company had no 
trading posts in the region west of the Rocky 
mountains and south of fifty-two degrees north, 
its enmity and jealousy would be speedily aroused 
when a new competitor entered the field. He 
resolved to soften enmity by frankness, so wrote 
to the directors of the British company the details 
of his plan and generously offered them a third 
interest in the enterprise. This ingenuousness on 
his part found no response in the characters of the 
shrewd and unscrupulous men in whom he had so 
unwisely confided. Nobleness, in this instance, 
failed to enkindle nobleness. They met candor 
with duplicity, generosity with perfidy. 

Playing for time, they pretended, Csesar-like, 
to take the matter under advisement, and at once 
despatched David Thompson, the astronomer and 
surveyor of their company, with instructions "to 
occupy the mouth of the Columbia, to explore the 
river to its headwaters, and, above all, to watch the 
progress of Mr. Astor's enterprise." Tliey then 
declined the proposal. 

But Mr. Astor proceeded widi his project ener- 
getically and skillfully. He associated with himself 
as partner? in the enterprise (and here was his 
great mistake) Donald jNIackenzie, Alexander 
Alackay, .who had accompanied Alexander Mack- 
enzie on his voyage of discovery, hence possessed 
invaluable experience, and Duncan Macdougal, all 
late of the Northwest Company, and. though men 
of great skill and experience, schooled in the preju- 
dices of the association with which they had so long 
maintained a connection and able to see only 
through British eyes. To the partners already 
enumerated were subsequently added Wilson P. 
Hunt and Robert Maclellan, Americans : David and 
Robert Stuart and Ramsey Crooks, Scotchmen ; 
a Canadian named John Clarke, and others. 

Wilson P. Hunt was given the post of chief 
agent on the Columbia, his tenn of office being five 
years, and when he was obliged to be absent tempo- 
rarily, a substitute was to be elected by the partners 
who happened to be 'present, to act in his place. 
Each partner obligated himself in the most solemn 
manner to go where sent and to execute faithfully 
the objects of the company, but before subscribing 
to this bond two of the British perfidiously com- 
municated to the British minister, Mr. Jackson, 
temporarily in New York, the details of Mr. Astor's 
plan and inquired of him concerning their status 
as British subjects trading under the American flag 
in the event of war. They were given assurance 
that in case of war they would be protected as 



English subjects and merchants. Their scruples 
thus put at rest, they entered into the compact. 

The larger part of the expedition was to go via 
Cape Horn and the Sandwich islands to the mouth 
of the Columbia, there to await the arrival of the 
Hunt party, which was sent out by land. To convey 
them thence the ship Tonquin, a vessel of two hun- 
dred and ninety tons burden, was fitted up for sea. 
She was commanded by Captain Thorne, a lieu- 
tenant of the United States navy on leave, and had 
on board Indian trading goods, the frame timbers 
for a coasting schooner, supplies of all kinds, and 
in fact, everything essential to comfort. 

Before the vessel had left the harbor, Mr. Astor 
was apprised that a British war vessel was cruising 
oft" the coast for the purpose of intercepting the 
Tonquin, and impressing the Canadians and British 
who were on board. This was a ruse of the North- 
west Company to delay the expedition so that their 
emissary, Thompson, should arrive at the mouth of 
the Columbia first. But Mr. Astor secured as con- 
voy the now famous United States frigate, Consti- 
tution, commanded by the equally famous Captain 
Isaac Hull, and the Tonquin, thus protected, pro- 
ceeded safely on her way. She arrived at her 
destination March 22. ISll. after a voyage the 
details of which may be found in Irving's- Astoria, 
Franchere's narrative, or in some of the publications 
based upon the latter work. On the 12th of the 
following month a part of the crew crossed the 
river in a launch and established at Fort George 
a settlement to which the name Astoria waS' given 
in honor of the projector of the enterprise. They 
at once addressed themselves to the task of con- 
structing the schooner, the framed materials for 
which had been brought with them in the Tonquin. 
An expedition also was made by Mr. Mackay to 
determine the truth or falsity of the rumor that a 
party of whites were establishing a post at the upper 
cascades of the river, but when the first rapids were 
reached the expedition had to be abandoned, the 
Indian crew positively refusing to proceed further. 

On the 1st of June, the ill-fated Tonquin started 
north, Mr. Mackay accompanying. We must now 
pursue her fortunes to their terrible conclusion. 
Mr. Franchere, a Frenchman, one of Mr. Astor's 
clerks, is the chief authority for the story. With 
his account. Irving seems to have taken some 
poetic license. According to that graceful writer, 
with a total force of twenty-three and an Indian 
of the Chehalis tribe called Lamazee, for inter- 
preter, the Tonquin entered the harbor of Neweetee. 
Franchere calls the Indian Lamanse, and the har- 
bor, he says, the Indians called Newity. We shall 
probably be safe in following Bancroft, who sur- 
mises that the place was Nootka sound, where, in 
180:1, the ship Boston and all her crew but two had 
been destroyed. 

Captain Thorne had been reoeatedlv and 
urgently warned by Mr. Astor against allowing 



INTRODUCTORY 



more than four or five Indians on board at once, 
but the choleric skipper was not of the kind to 
hsten to the voice of caution. When Indians ap- 
peared with a fine stock of sea otter skins, and the 
indications were for a profitable trade, he forgot 
evervthinsj in his ea,c:emess to secure the peltry. 
But Ions t*x]irriciKc with ilic whites and the instruc- 
tions of their \\il\ cliiif. Alaquinna, had rendered 
these triJjes less pliable and innocent than the cap- 
tain expected. Being unable to strike a bargain 
with any of them and losing patience, Thorne 
ordered all to leave the deck. They paid no atten- 
tion, and the captain, becoming violently enraged, 
seized their leader by the hair and hurried him 
toward the ship's ladder, emphasizing his exit by 
a stroke with a bundle of furs. The other Indians 
left forthwith. 

When Mr. Mackay, who was on shore at the 
time, returned to the ship, he became indignant at 
Thorne. and urged that he set sail at once. Lamanse, 
the Chehalis Indian, seconded him, asserting that 
all prospects of profitable trade were destroyed 
and that a longer stay in the harbor was attended 
with very great danger, but advice and importunity 
were vain. 

Early next morning a number of Indians, 
demure and peaceable, paddled over to the vessel, 
holding aloft bundles of fur as an evidence of their 
wish to trade. Thorne called Mackay's attention 
to the success of his method of dealing with the 
red men. "Just show thein that you are not afraid," 
said he, "and they will behave themselves." The 
Indians exchanged their furs for whatever was 
oft'ered, making no remonstrances or demands for 
higher prices. 

Other canoe loads of savages came aboard and 
still others, the self-satisfied Thorne welcoming all 
in his blandest manner. The more watchful sailors 
became suspicious and alarmed, but they well knew 
that remonstrance against the course of Captain 
Thorne was vain. Soon, however, even he noticed 
tliat the Indians had become massed at all the 
assailable points of the vessel. He was visibly 
startled by this discovery, but pretending not to be 
aware that anything was wrong, he ordered his 
men to get ready for sailing, and the Indians to 
leave the vessel. 

The latter started toward the ladder, but as 
they did so, they drew from the unsold bundles of 
furs the weapons therein concealed. 

"In an instant the wild war-yell broke the awful 
silence, and then the peaceful deck of the Tonquin 
saw a slaughter grim and pitiless. Lewis, the 
clerk, and Mackay were almost instantly despatched. 
Then a crowd, with fiendish triumph, set upon the 
captain, bent on evening up at once the old score. 
The brawny frame and iron will of the brave, 
though foolhardy, old salt made him a dangerous 
object to attack, and not until half a dozen of his 
assailants had measured their bleeding lengths on 



the slippery deck did he succumb. Then he was 
hacked to pieces with savage glee. Meanwhile four 
sailors, the only survivors besides the interpreter, 
Lamanse, by whom the story was told, having 
gained access to the hold, began firing on the tri- 
umphant Indians ; and with such effect did they 
work, that the whole throng left the ship in haste 
and sought the shore. Lamanse, meanwhile, was 
spared, but held in captivity for two years. The 
next day, the four surviving sailors attempted to 
put to sea in a small boat, but were pursued and 
probably murdered by the Indians. And then, like 
a band of buzzards circling around a carcass, the 
Indian canoes began to cluster around the deserted 
ship." 

But an awful retribution was about to overtake 
the Indians. Cautiously at first, but with more 
boldness as they observed the apparent lifelessness 
of everything on the ship, they began next day to 
climb aboard, and soon several hundred of them 
were rifling the storehouses, gloating over the dis- 
figured bodies of their victims, and strutting across 
the deck, clad in gaudy blankets, and lavishly 
adorned with beads and tinsels. 

Then came a terrible boom, and the luckless 
Tonquin, with all on board, both quick and dead, 
was scattered in fragments over the face of the 
deep. Her powder magazine had exploded, de- 
stroying the ship and her enemies in one awful 
ruin. According to Lamanse, as quoted by Fran- 
chere, two hundred Indians were destroyed by this 
explosion. 

Franchere was unable to state what caused the 
ship to be blown up, but surmises that the four 
sailors attached a slow train to the magazine before 
their departure. .\s Franchere is the only known 
authority, it seems certain that Irving must have 
fabricated his account, which is to the effect that 
Lewis, wounded, remained on the ship after the 
four sailors had gone, and that he enticed the sav- 
ages aboard, that he might destroy himself and 
them in one final retribution. 

A report that the Tonquin was destroyed 
reached Astoria in due time, the news being borne 
by Indians. At first the story was entirely dis- 
credited, but as time passed and no Tonquin 
appeared, it became more and more evident that 
there must be some truth in it. No details of the 
tragedy were known, however, until Lamanse 
reappeared some two years later. 

On July 15, 1811. David Thompson, with eight 
white men, arrived at Astoria. His expedition had 
been long delayed on the eastern side of the Rocky 
mountains, in the search for a pass. Desertions 
among his crew also impeded his progress, and the 
final result was that he had to return to the nearest 
post and remain over winter. In the early spring 
he hurried forward. The party distributed many 
small flags among the Indians along the Columbia, 
built huts at the forks of the river and took formal 



THE ASTOR EXPEDITION 



possession of the country drained by the Cokimbia 
and its tributaries in the name of the King of Great 
Britain, and for the company which sent them out. 
But the main object of tlie expedition was not 
realized. They were unable to occupy the mouth 
of the Columbia, and the perfidy of the Northwest 
Company failed of its reward. Hostile though the 
expedition was, it was received at Astoria with 
open-handed cordiality, Macdougal furnishing 
Thompson with supplies for the return journey 
against the urgent remonstrance of David Stuart. 
Such generosity to one's conmKTcial enemy is. t(.i 
say the least, a little unusual, but the magnanimity 
displa}'ed has for some reason failed to call forth 
the plaudits of historians. 

.At the time of Mr. Thompson's arrival. David 
Stuart was about to start for the Spokane country 
to establish a post, and he delayed his departure for 
a short time that his and JMr. Thompson's party 
might travel together. At the confluence of the 
Columbia and Okanogan rivers, Mr. Stuart erected 
Fort Okanogan, the first interior post west of the 
Rocky mountains within the limits of the present 
state of Washington. 

January 8, 181 '2, a part of the Hunt expedition 
reached Astoria in a pitiable condition. The ad- 
ventures of different members of this party form a 
sad chapter in the history of the fur trade. Hunt 
was met bv overwhelming obstacles from the very 
first. In his efiforts to get men for his expedition 
he was harassed in ever\' way possible by persons 
interested in rival fur companies, and when, at last, 
owing to his own indomitable perseverance and 
Astor's unstinted purse, he got a party together, the 
battle was by no means won. In April, ISll, Hunt 
set his face toward the Pacific. With him were 
sixty men, four of whom, Crooks, Mackenzie, 
Miller and Maclellan, were partners, and one. 
Reed, was a clerk. The rest were free trappers and 
Canadian voyageurs, except two English natural- 
ists, Bradbury and Nuttall. 

The earlier portions of their journey afTfor<led 
many interesting and some exciting experiences, 
but all went fairly well with them until tlie moun- 
tains were entered, when their troubles began. 
The story of their wanderings, their struggles, 
hardships and starvation on that terrible winter 
trip through the interminable labyrinths of the 
mountains, and on the desolate and forbidding lava 
plains is heart-rending in the extreme. Detach- 
ments under Mackenzie and Maclellan passed 
through the mountains to Snake river before winter 
was fairly upon them, though even they had to 
endure extreme suffering. It was these who 
reached Astoria in January as before stated. On 
the loth of February the main party imder Mr. 
Hunt also reached the scene. As they drew near 
Astoria, the whole population of that settlement 
came pouring down to meet them, the foremost 
being Mackenzie and Maclellan, who, having 



abandoned hope that Hunt and his men could sur- 
vive the famine and the rigors of winter, were the 
more rejoiced to see them alive. "The Canadians, 
with French abandon, rushed into each other's 
arms, crying and hugging like so many school girls, 
and even the hard-visaged Scotchmen and noncha- 
lant Americans gave themselves up to the unstinted 
gladness of the occasion." Crooks and John Day, 
with four Canadians, had been left sick on the banks 
of the Snake. It was not thought likely that they 
would ever be seen alive again, but the next sum- 
mer, Stuart and Maclellan, while journeying from 
Okanogan to Astoria, found the two leaders, naked 
and haggard, near the mouth of the L'matilla. 
Their pitiable plight was speedily relieved, but poor 
John Day never recovered and soon was numbered 
among the dead. The Canadians were afterward 
found alive, though destitute, among the .Siioshones. 

On the oth of May, 181?, the Beaver, another 
of Astor's vessels, reached Astoria. Among those 
on board was Ross Co.x, author of Adventures on 
the Columbia River, a work of great historical 
value. About this time, also, Robert Stuart, whde 
bearing despatches by land to Mr. Astor, discovered 
the South Pass through the Rocky mountains, 
which in later years became the great gateway to 
the Pacific for inmnigrant trains. 

Pity it is that the historian must record the 
failure of an enterprise so wisely planned as that 
of Astor, so generously supported and in the execu- 
tion of which so much devoted self-abnegation 
was displayed, so many lives sacrificed. But the 
clouds were now beginning to darken above the 
little colony on the shores of tlie Pacific. On 
August 4th the Beaver sailed northward for Sitka, 
with ]Mr. Hunt aboard. While there an agreement 
was entered into between that gentleman and the 
Russian governor, Baranoff, the gist of which was 
that the Russian and American companies were to 
forbear interference with each other's territory and 
to operate as allies in expelling trespassers on the 
rights of either. The Beaver had been instructed 
to return to .\storia before sailing to Canton, but 
instead she sailed direct, so Mr. Hunt was carried 
to Oahu, there to await a vessel expected from New 
York, on which he should obtain passage to As- 
toria. But he did not arrive until too late to avert 
the calamity which befell the Pacific Fur Company. 
War was declared between Great Britain and the 
United States. Mr. Astor learned that the North- 
west Company was preparing a ship mounting 
twenty guns, the Isaac Todd, wherewith to cap- 
ture Astoria. He appealed to the United States 
for aid, but his efforts were unavailing. Discour- 
agements were thickening around the American 
settlement. Mackenzie was unsuccessful at his 
post on the Shahaptin river, and had determined to 
press for a new post. He visited Clarke, and while 
the two were together, John George MacTavish, of 
the Northwest Company, paid them a visit and 



INTRODUCTORY 



vaimtingly informed them of the saiHng of the 
Isaac Todd, and of her mission, the capture or 
destruction of Astoria. Mackenzie returned at 
once to his post on the Shahaptin, broke up camp, 
cached his provisions, and set out in haste for 
Astoria, at which point he arrived January 16, 1813. 
Macdougal was agent-in-chief at Astoria in the 
absence of Hunt. It was resolved by him and 
Mackenzie that they should abandon Astoria in the 
spring and recross the mountains. Mackenzie at 
once set off to recover his cached provisions and to 
trade them for horses for the journey. He also 
carried despatches to Messrs. Clarke and David 
Stuart, advising them of the intention to abandon 
Astoria and directing them to make preparations 
accordingly. Mackenzie met a party of the North- 
west Company, with MacTavish as one of the 
leaders, and the parties camped, as Irving says, 
"mingled together as united by a common interest 
instead of belonging to rival companies trading 
under hostile flags." 

On reaching his destination, Mackenzie found 
his cache had been robbed by Indians. He and 
Clarke and Stuart met at Walla Walla as per 
arrangement, and together descended the Columbia, 
reaching Astoria June 12th. 

Stuart and Clarke refused to break up their 
posts and to provide horses or make other prepara- 
tions for leaving the country. Furthermore, Mac- 
kenzie's disappointment in finding his cache broken 
into and its contents stolen made it necessary that 
the departure should be delayed beyond July 1st, 
the date set by Macdougal for dissolution of the 
company. Treason was to have time and 
opportunity to do its worst. MacTavish, who was 
camped at the fort, began negotiations for the pur- 
chase of trading goods, and it was proposed by 
Macdougal to trade him the post on the Spokane 
for horses to be delivered the next spring, which 
proposition was eventually accepted. An agree- 
ment for the dissolution of the company to take 
effect the next June was signed by the four part- 
ners. Clarke and Stuart yielding to the pressure 
much against their wills. Hunt, who arrived on 
the 20th of August, also reluctantly yielded, the 
discouraging circumstances having been pictured 
to him by Macdougal, who pretended to be ani- 
mated by a desire to save Mr. Astor's interests 
before the place should fall into the hands of the 
British, whose war vessels were on their way to 
effect its capture. Hunt then sailed to secure a 
vessel to convey the property to the Russian settle- 
ments for safe keeping while the war lasted, first 
arranging that Macdougal should be placed in full 
charge of the establishment after January 1st 
should he fail to return. 

While en route to advise Messrs. Clarke and 
Stuart of the new arrangement, Mr. Mackenzie 
and party met MacTavish and J. Stuart with a 
company of men descending the river to meet the 



Phcebe and the Isaac Todd. Clarke had been 
advised of the situation and was accompanying 
them to Astoria. Mackenzie decided to return also 
to the fort, and with Clarke attempted to slip away 
in the night and so reach Astoria before the mem- 
bers of the Northwest Company arrived, but was 
discovered and followed by two of MacTavish's 
canoes. Both MacTavish and Mackenzie reached 
their objective point on October 7th, and the party 
of the former camped at the fort. Next day Mac- 
dougal, by way of preparation for his final coup, 
read a letter announcing the sailing of the Phoebe 
and the Isaac Todd with orders "to take and destroy 
everything American on the Northwest coast." 

"This dramatic scene," says Evans, "was fol- 
lowed by a proposition of MacTavish to purchase 
the interests, stocks, establishments, etc., of the 
Pacific Fur Company. Macdougal then assumed 
sole control and agency because of the non-arrival 
of Hunt, and after repeated conference with Mac- 
Ta\'ish. in \\liich tlie presence of the other partners 
was ignored, thr sale was concluded at certain rates. 
/V few days later J. Stuart arrived with the remain- 
der of the Northwest party. He objected to 
MacTavish's prices, and lowered the rates materi- 
ally. Mr. Stuart's offer was accepted by Macdougal 
and the agreement of transfer was signed October 
16th. By it Duncan Macdougal, for and on behalf 
of himself, Donald Mackenzie, David Stuart and 
John Clarke, partners of the Pacific Fur Company, 
dissolved July 1st, pretended to sell to his British 
confreres and co-conspirators of the Nortlnvest 
Company "the whole of the establishments, furs and 
present stock on hand, on the Columbia and Thomp- 
son's rivers.' " Speaking of the transaction in a 
letter to John Quincy Adams, secretary of state, 
Mr. Astor himself says : 

"Macdougal transferred all of my property to 
the Northwest Company, who were in possession 
of it by sale, as he called it, for the sum of fifty- 
eight thousand dollars, of which he retained four- 
teen thousand dollars as wages said to be due to 
some of the men. From the price obtained for the 
goods, etc., and he having himself become inter- 
ested in the purchase and made a partner of the 
Northwest Company, some idea may be formed as 
to this man's correctness of dealing. He sold to the 
Northwest Company eighteen thousand one hun- 
dred and seventy pounds of beaver at two dollars, 
which was at that time selling in Canton at five and 
si.x dollars per skin. I estimate the whole prop- 
erty to be worth nearer two hundred thousand 
dollars than forty thousand dollars, about the sum I 
received in bills on Montreal." 

Charitably disposed persons may suggest that 
Macdougal's actions were in a measure justifiable ; 
that a British force was actually en route to capture 
Astoria, and that the post, being without adequate 
means of defense, must surely fall ; that it was bet- 
ter to save a pittance than that all should be lost. 



THE ASTOR EXPEDITION 



Macdougal's conduct subsequent to the transfer of 
Mr. Astor's property was, however, "in studied and 
consistent obedience to the interests of the North- 
west Company." (3n his return on February 28, 
1814, in the brig Pedler, which he purchased to 
convey Mr. Astor's property to a place of safety, 
Mr. Hunt found his old partner, whom he had left 
in charge of the fort, still presiding over it, but now 
a dignitary in the camp of the enemy. There was 
no other course open to him than to digest the 
venom of his chagrin as best he could, take his 
diminutive drafts on Montreal, and set sail in the 
Pedler for New York. Macdougal had been given 
a full partnership in the Northwest Company. 
What was the consideration? 

It is needless to add that on the arrival of the 
British vessels, Astoria became a British posses- 
sion. The formal change of the sovereignty and 
raising of the union jack took place on December 
15th, and as if to obliterate all trace of Mr. Astor's 
operations, the name of Astoria was changed to 
Fort George. The arrival of the Isaac Todd the 
following spring with a cargo of trading goods and 
supplies enabled the Northwest Company to enter 
vigorously into the prosecution of its trade in the 
territory of its wronged and outraged rival. 

"Thus disgracefully failed," sa_\'s Evans, "a mag- 
nificent enterprise, which merited success for sagac- 
ity displayed in its conception, its details, its objects ; 
for the liberality and munificence of its projector in 
furnishing means adequate for its thorough execu- 
tion ; for the results it had aimed to produce. It 
was inaugurated purely for commercial purposes. 
Had it not been transferred to its enemies, it would 
have pioneered the colonization of the northwest 
coast by citizens of the L'nited States ; it would have 
furnished the natural and iieaceful solution of the 



question of the right to the territory drained by the 
Columbia and its tributaries. 

* * * * * * * :;5 

"The scheme was grand in its aim, magnificent 
in its breadth of purpose and area of operation. 
Its results were naturally feasible, not over-antici- 
pated. They were but the logical and necessary 
sequence of the pursuit of the plan. Mr. Astor 
made no miscalculation, no omission ; neither did he 
permit a sanguine hope to lead him into any wild or 
imaginary venture. He was practical, generous, 
broad. He executed what Sir Ale.xander Macken- 
zie urged should be adopted as the policy of British 
capital and enterprise. That one .\merican citizen 
should have individually undertaken what two 
mammoth British companies had not the courage 
to try was but an additional cause which had inten- 
sified national prejudice into embittered jealousy on 
the part of his British rivals, the Northwest Com- 
pany. " 

By the first article of the treaty of Ghent, 
entered into between Great Britain and the United 
States, December 11:, 1814, it was agreed "that all 
territory, places and possessions whatsoever, taken 
by either party from the other, during or after the 
war, should be restored.'' Astoria, therefore, again 
became the possession of the United States, and in 
September, 1817, the government sent the sloop-of- 
war Ontario "to assert the claim of the United 
States to the sovereignty of the adjacent country, 
and especially to reoccupy Astoria or Fort George." 
The formal surrender of the fort is dated October 6, 
1818. 

Mr. Astor had urged the United States to re- 
possess Astoria, and intended fully to resume opera- 
tions in the basin of the Columbia, but the Pacific 
Fur Company was never reorganized, and never 
again did the great captain of industry engage in 
trade on the shores of the Pacific. 



CHAPTER IV 



THE NORTHWEST AND HUDSON'S BAY COMPANIES 



It is pertinent now to inquire somewhat more 
particularly into the fortunes and antecedent history 
of the Northwest and Hudson's Bay Companies, 
which are each in turn to operate exclusively in the 
territory with which our volume is concerned. By 
the Joint-Occupancy treaty of October 20, 1818, 
between the United States and Great Britain, it was 
mutually covenanted "that any country which may 
be claimed by either party on the northwest coast 
of America, westward of the Stony mountains, 
shall, together with its harbors, baxs and creeks, and 
the navigation of all rivers within the same, be free 
and open, for the term of ten years from the date of 
the signature of the present convention, to the 
vessels, citizens and subjects of the two powers; 
it being well understood that this agreement 
is not to be construed to the prejudice of any 
claims which either of the two high contracting par- 
ties may have to any part of the said country; nor 
shall it be taken to affect the claims of any other 
power or state to any part of said country ; the 
only object of the high contracting parties in this 
respect being to prevent disputes and differences 
among themselves." 

The Northwest Company, whose members 
were, of course, British subjects, was, therefore, 
permitted to operate freely in all disputed territory, 
and it made good use of its privileges. Its opera- 
tions extended far and wide in all directions ; its 
emissaries were sent wherever there was a prospect 
of profitable trade ; it respected no rights of terri- 
tory; it scrupled at no trickery or dissimulation. 
When it learned of the expedition of Lewis and 
Clark it sent Daniel W. Harmon with a party, 
instructing him to reach the mouth of the Columbia 
in advance of the Americans. The poor health of 
the leader prevented this. Of its efforts to cir- 
cumvent Mr. Astor's occupancy of the mouth of the 
Columbia we have already spoken. 

It showed also its intention to confirm and 
strengthen British title to all territories adversely 
claimed, and wherever a post was established the 
territory contiguous thereto was ceremoniously 
taken possession of "in the name of the king of 
Great Britain for the Northwest Company." 

Although organized in 1774, the Northwest 
Company did not attain to high prestige until the 
dawn of the nineteenth century. Then, however, 
it seemed to take on new life, and before the first 
half decade was passed it had become the success- 
ful rival of the Hudson's Bay Company for the fur 



trade of the interior of North America. The Hud- 
son's Bay Company when originally chartered in 
1(j70 was granted in a general way the right to 
traffic in Hudson's bay and the territory contiguous 
thereto, and the Northwest Company began to in- 
sist that the grant should be more strictly construed. 
The boundaries of Prince Rupert's land, as the 
Hudson's bay territory was named, had never been 
definitely determined, and there had long been con- 
tention in those regions which were claimed by that 
company, but denied to it by the other fur traders. 
Beyond the recognized area of the Hudson's bay 
territory, the old Northwest Company (a French 
corporation which had fallen at the time of the fall 
of Canada into the possession of the British) had 
been a competitor of the Hudson's Bay Company. 
When this French association went out of existence 
the contest was kept up by private merchants, but 
without lasting success. The new Northwest Com- 
pany, of Montreal, united and cemented into one 
organization all these individuals for the better dis- 
charge of the common purpose. It is interesting to 
note the theory of trade of this association as con- 
trasted with that of the Hudson's Bay Company. 

From established posts as centers of opera'tions. 
the Montreal association despatched parties in all 
directions to visit the villages and haunts of the 
natives and secure furs from every source possible. 
It went to the natives for their goods, while the 
rival company so arranged its posts that these were 
convenient to the .whole Indian population, then 
depended upon the aborigines to bring in their 
peltry and exchange the same for such articles as 
might supply their wants or gratify their fancies. 
Consequently the one company required many em- 
ployees, the other comparatively few. The clerks 
or traders of the Montreal association were required 
to serve an apprenticeship of seven years at small 
wages. That term successfully completed, the 
stipend was doubled. Skill and special aptitude in 
trading brought speedy promotions, and the chance 
to become a partner in the business was an unfailing 
incentive to strenuous effort. The Hudson's Bay 
Company, on the other hand, had established fixed 
grades of compensation. Promotion was slow, 
coming periodically rather than as a reward for spe- 
ciallv meritorious service, and though faithfulness to 
duty was required, no incentive was offered for 
special endeavor. The Hudson's Bay Company 
based its territorial title upon a specific grant from 
the crown, while the rival association sought no 



THE NORTHWEST AND HUDSON'S BAY COMPANIES 



other title than such as priority of occupancy and 
pre-emption afforded. It claimed as its field of 
operation all unoccupied territory wherever located. 

Such, in general, were the methods of the two 
companies whose bitter rivalry was carried to such 
an extent that both were brought to the verge of 
bankruptcy and that civil strife was at one point 
actually precipitated. In 1811 Lord Selkirk, a 
Scotch nobleman of wealth, who had become the 
owner of a controlling interest in the Hudson's Ray 
Company, attempted a grand colonization scheme. 
His project was to send out agricultural colonies to 
the basin of the Red River "of the North. The 
enmity of the Northwest Company was at once 
aroused. It fully realized that Selkirk's scheme 
was inimical to its business, especially so because his 
grant lay directly across its pathway between Mon- 
treal and the interior. The effect would be to "cut 
its communication, interposing a hostile territory 
between its posts and the center of operations." 
The company protested that the grant was illegal, 
that it was corruptly secured, and urged that suit 
be instituted to test Lord Selkirk's title. But the 
government favored the project and refused to 
interfere. A colony was established at Assinaboia. 
Its governor prohibited the killing of animals within 
the territory, and the agents of the Northwest Com- 
pany treated his proclamation with contempt. 
Matters grew worse and worse until hostilities 
broke out, which ended in a decisive victory for the 
Northwest Company in a pitched battle fought 
June 19, 1816, twenty-two of the colonists being 
killed. Numerous arrests of Northwesters engaged 
in the conflict followed, but all were acquitted in 
the Canadian courts. The British cabinet ordered 
that the governor-general of Canada should "re- 
quire the restitution of all captured posts, buildings 
and trading stations, with the property they con- 
tained, to the jiroper owners, and the removal of 
any blockade or any interruption to the free passage 
of all traders and British subjects with their mer- 
chandise, furs, provisions and effects, through the 
lakes, rivers, roads and every route of comnumica- 
tion used for the purpose of the fur trade in the 
interior of North America, and the full and free 
permission of all persons to pursue their usual and 
accustomed trade without hindrance or molestation." 

But the competition between the companies con- 
tinued. Both were reduced to the verge of bank- 
ruptcy. Something had to be done. The gover- 
nor-general of Canada appointed a commission to 
investigate conditions, and that commission recom- 
mended a union of the two companies. Nothing, 
however, of material benefit resulted. Eventually, 
in the winter of 1819-90, Lord Bathurst, British 
secretary of state for the colonies, took up the mat- 
ter, and through its mediation a union was finally 
effected. On March 20, 1821, it was mutually 
agreed that both companies should operate under | 
the charter of the Hudson's Bay Company, fur- ! 



nishing equal amounts of capital and sharing 
equally the profits, the arrangement to continue in 
force for twenty-one years. By "an act for regu- 
lating the fur trade and establishing a criminal and 
civil jurisdiction in certain parts of North 
America," passed in the British parliament July 2, 
1821, the crown was empowered to issue a license to 
the combined companies for exclusive trade 
"as well over the country to the east as beyond the 
Rocky mountains, and extending to the Pacific 
ocean, saving the rights of the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany over this territory." "That is to say," explains 
Evans, "in the territory granted to the Hudson's 
Bay Company by their charter, this license does not 
operate. The company in the Hudson's bay terri- 
tory already enjoyed exclusive privileges; and this 
license recognized that territory as a province, ex- 
cepting it as a British province from the operation 
of this license." 

Agreeably to the provisions of the statute just 
referred to a license was granted to the Hudson's 
Bay Company and to William and Simon McGil- 
livray and Edward Ellice, as representatives of 
the shareholders of the Northwest Company. The 
license was one of exclusive trade as far as all 
other British subjects were concerned, and was to 
be in force for a period of twenty-one years. It 
was to extend to all "parts of North America to the 
northward and westward of the lands and terri- 
tories belonging to the United States or to any 
European government, state or power, reserving 
no rent." 

Of the grantees a bond was required conditioned 
upon the due execution of civil process where the 
matter in controversy exceeded two hundred pounds, 
and upon the delivery for trial in the Canadian 
courts of all persons charged with crime. Thus it 
will be seen that Americans operating in the Oregon 
territory (which was, by act of the British parlia- 
ment and the license issued under it, treated as 
being outside of "any legally defined civil govern- 
ment of the United States") were subject to be 
taken when accused of crime to Canada for trial. 
How did that comport with the treaty of 1818, one 
provision of which was that neither power should 
assert rights of sovereignty against the other? The 
fact that the British government required and the 
company agreed to enforce British law in the "terri- 
tory westward of the Stony mountains" shows 
clearly the wish of the ever earth-hungry British 
lion to circumvent the treaty of 1818 and make Ore- 
gon in fact and verity- a British possession. 

By 1824 all the rights and interests of the stock- 
holders late of the Northwest Company had passed 
into the hands of the Hudson's Bay Company. The 
absorption of the one corporation by the other was 
complete. The treacherous and perfidious treat- 
ment of Mr. Astor and the demoralization of his 
partners availed the greedy Northwesters but little, 
for they were soon after conquered and subdued 



INTRODUCTORY 



and forever deprived of their identity as a company 
by tlieir powerful rival and enemy. 

The Hudson's J Jay Company now became the 
sole owner and proprietor of the trade west of the 
Rocky mountains, and of all the rights accruing un- 
der the license of trade of December 5, 1821. An 
extended narration of the methods and rules of this 
corporation would be very interesting, but, mindful 
of our assigned limits and province, we must be 
brief. The company has been aptly characterized 
by Evans as an "imperimn in hiipcrio," and such it 
was, for it was in possession of well-nigh absolute 
power over its employees and the native races with 
whom it traded. It was constituted "the true and 
absolute lords and proprietors of the territories, 
limits and places, save always the faith, allegiance 
and sovereign dominion due to us (the crown), our 
heirs and successors, for the same, to hold as tenants 
in fee and common soccage, and not by knight's 
service, reserving as a yearly rent, two elks and two 
black beavers." Power was granted, should occa- 
sion arise, to "send ships-of-war, men or ammuni- 
tion to any fort, post or place for the defense 
thereof ; to raise military companies, and appoint 
their officers ; to make war or conclude peace with 
any people not Christian, in any of their territories," 
also "to seize the goods, estate or people of those 
countries for damage to the company's interests, or 
for the interruption of trade ; to erect and build 
forts, garrisons, towns, villages ; to establish colo- 
nies, and to support such establishments by expe- 
ditions fitted out in Great Britain ; to seize all 
British subjects not connected with the company 
or employed by them or in such territory by their 
license and send them to England." Should one 
of its factors, traders or other employees "contemn 
or disobey an order, he was liable to be punished 
by the president or council, who were authorized 
to prescribe the manner and measure of punish- 
ment. The offender had the right to appeal to the 
company in England, or he might be turned over 
for trial by the courts. For the better discovery 
of abuses and injuries by servants, the governor 
and company, and their respective president, chief 
agent or governor in any of the territories, were 
authorized to examine upon oath all factors, mas- 
ters, pursers, supercargoes, commanders of castles, 
forts, fortifications, plantations, or colonies, or other 
persons, touching or concerning any matter or thing 
sought to be investigated." Further to strengthen 
the hands of the company the charter concludes 
with a royal mandate to all "admirals, vice-admirals, 
justices, mayors, sheriffs, constables, bailiffs, and 
all and singular other our officers, ministers, liege- 
men, subjects whatsoever, to aid, favor, help and 
assist the said governor and company to enjoy, as 
well on land as on the seas, all the premises in said 
charter contained, whensoever required." 

"Endowed with an empire over which the com- 
pany exercised absolute dominion, subject only to 



fealty to the crown, its membership, powerful 
nobles and citizens of wealth residing near and at 
the court, jealously guarding its every interest, and 
securing for it a representation in the government 
itself, is it to be wondered," asks Evans, "that this 
imperiiDii in iniperio triumphantly asserted and 
firmly established British supremacy in every region 
in which it operated?" 

Something of the modus operandi of the com- 
pany must now be given. The chief factors and 
chief traders were paid no salaries, but in lieu 
thereof were given forty per cent, of the profits, 
divided among them on some basis deemed equi- 
table by the company. The clerks received sal- 
aries varying from twenty to one hundred pounds 
per annum. Below these again were the servants, 
whose term of enlistment (for such in effect it was) 
was for five years, and whose pay was seventeen 
pounds per year without clothing. The servant 
was bound by indentures to devote his whole time 
and labor to the company's interests ; to yield obe- 
dience to superior officers ; to defend the company's 
property ; to obey faithfully orders, laws, etc. ; to 
defend officers and agents to the best of his ability ; 
to serve in the capacity of a soldier whenever called 
upon so to do ; to attend military drill ; and never 
to engage or be interested in any trade or occupa- 
tion except in accordance with the company's orders 
and for its benefit. In addition to the pittance paid 
him, the servant was entitled, should he desire to 
remain in the country after the expiration of his 
term of enlistment, to fifty acres of land, for which 
he was to render twenty-eight days' service per an- 
num for seven years. If dismissed before the expi- 
ration of his term, the servant, it was agreed, should 
be transported to his European home free of charge. 
Desertion or neglect might be punished by the for- 
feiture of even the wretched pittance he was to 
receive. It was, furthermore, the policy of the 
company to encourage marriage with the Indian 
women, its purpose being to create family ties which 
should bind the poor slave to the soil. By the time 
the servant's term of enlistment had expired, there 
was, therefore, no choice left him but to re-enlist 
or accept the grant of land. "In times of peace, 
laborers and operators were ever on hand at mere 
nominal wages ; in times of outbreak they were at 
once transformed into soldiers amenable to military 
usage and discipline." 

The system was certainly a fine one, viewed 
from the standpoint of the company, but while it 
may command admiration for its ingenuity, it is 
certainly not to be commended for magnanimity. 
Its design and purpose was to turn the wealth of 
the country into the coffers of the English noble- 
men who owned Hudson's Bay stock, though this 
should be done at the expense of the manhood, the 
self-respect and the independence of the poor sons 
of toil who foolishly or from necessity bound them- 
selves to its service. 



THE NORTHWEST AND HUDSON'S BAY COMPANIES 



21 



The Indian policy of the company was no less 
politic than its treatment of its employees, but it 
had much more in it that was truly commendable. 
Its purpose did not bring its employees into conflict 
with the Indian nor require his expulsion, neither 
was there danger of the lands of the savage being 
a])propriated or the graves of his people disturbed. 
The sale of intoxicants was positively and for the 
most part successfully prohibited. Conciliation 
was the wisest policy of the company, and it gov- 
erned itself accordingly ; but when punishment was 
merited, it was administered with promptness and 
severity. When depredations were committed the 
tribe to which the malefactor belonged was pursued 
by an armed force and compelled to deliver the 
guilty to his fate. A certain amount of civilization 
was introduced, and with it came an increase of 
wants, which wants could be supplied only at the 
company's forts. Indians were sent on hunting 
and trapping expeditions in all directions, so that 
concentration of tribes became difficult, and if at- 
tempted, easily perceived in time to prevent trouble. 
Thus the company secured an influence over the 
savage and a place in his affections from which it 
could not easily be dislodged. 

In their treatment of missionaries, civil and 
military officers and others from the United States, 
the company's factors and agents were uniformly 
courteous and kind. Their hos])itality was in the 
highest degree commendable, meriting the gratitude 
of the earliest visitors and settlers. The poor and 
unfortunate never asked assistance in vain. But 
woe to the American who attempted to trade with 
the Indians, to trap, hunt or do anything which 
brought him into competition with the British cor- 
poration ! All the resources of a company supplied 
with an abundance of cheap labor, supported by 
the friendship and affection of the aboriginal peo- 
ples, backed by almost unlimited capital, and forti- 
fied by the favor of one of the wealthiest and most 
powerful nations of the world, were at once turned 
to crush him. Counter-establishments were formed 
in his vicinity, and he was hampered in every way 
possible and pursued with the relentlessness of an 
evil fate until compelled to retire from the field. 

Such being the conditions, there was not much 
encouragement for American enterprise in the basin 
of the Columbia. It is not, however, in the Ameri- 
can character to yield a promising prospect without 
a struggle, and several times efforts were made at 
competition in the Oregon territory. Of some of 
these we must speak briefly. The operations of 
William H. Ashley west of the Rocky mountains did 
not extend to the Oregon country and are of 
importance to our purpose only because in one of 
his expeditions, fitted out in 1826, he brought a 
six-pounder, drawn by mules, across the Rocky 
mountains, thereby demonstrating the feasibility of 
a wagon road. In 182G Jedediah S. Smith, of the 
Rocky Mountain Fur Company, encouraged by 



some previous successes in the Snake river district, 
set out for the country west of the Great Salt Lake. 
He proceeded so far westward that no recourse was 
left him but to push onward to the Pacific, his stock 
of provisions being so reduced and his horses so 
exhausted as to render an attempt to return unwise. 
He went south to San Diego for horses and supplies, 
and experienced no little difficulty on account of the 
suspicions of the native Californians, who were 
jealous of all strangers, especially those from the 
United States. Eventually, however, he was able 
to proceed northward to the Rogue river, then along 
the shore to the Umpqua, in which vicinity serious 
difficulty with Indians was experienced. Fifteen 
of the nineteen who constituted the party were mas- 
sacred ; indeed, all who happened to be in the camp 
at the time except one were killed. This man, aided 
by friendly Indians, reached Fort Vancouver, and 
told his story to the magnanimous chief factor of 
the Hudson's Bay Coiupany, Dr. John McLoughlin, 
who offered the Indians a liberal reward for the 
safe return of Smith and his two companions. A 
party of forty men was equipped at once to go to 
the Umpqua country, but before they got started, 
Smith and the men arrived. McLoughlin took steps 
to secure the property stolen from Smith, and so 
successfully did he manage the affair that peltries 
to the value of over three thousand dollars were 
recovered and the nuirderers were severely pun- 
ished by other Indians. Smith was conquered by 
kindness, and at his solicitation the Rocky Moun- 
tain Fur Company retired from the territory of the 
Hudson's Bay Company. 

Of various other expeditions by Americans into 
the Oregon country and of the attempts by Amer- 
ican vessels to trade along the coast, we cannot 
speak. Some reference must, however, be made to 
the work of Captain B. L. E. Bonneville, who, in 
1831, applied for a two years' leave of absence from 
the United States army that he might "explore the 
country to the Rocky mountains and beyond, with 
a view to ascertain the nature and character of the 
several tribes of Indians inhabiting those regions ; 
the trade which might profitably be carried on with 
them; quality of soil, productions, minerals, natural 
history, climate, geography, topography, as well as 
geology of the various parts of the country within 
the limits of the territories of the United States 
between our frontier and the Pacific." The request 
was granted. While Bonneville was informed that 
the government would be to no expense in fitting 
up the expedition, he was instructed that he must 
provide himself with suitable instruments and maps, 
and that he was to "note particularly the number 
of warriors that may be in each tribe of natives that 
may be met with, their alliances with other tribes, 
and their relative position as to a state of peace or 
war ; their manner of making war, mode of subsist- 
ing themselves during a state of war and a state 
of peace ; the arms and the effect of them ; whether 



INTRODUCTORY 



they act on foot or on horseback; in short, every 
information useful to the government." It vi'ould 
seem that a government which asked such im- 
portant services ought to have been wiUing to make 
some financial return, at least to pay the expenses. 
But Captain Bonneville had to secure financial aid 
elsewhere. During the winter an association was 
formed in New York which furnished the neces- 
sary means, and on May 1, 18;V3, the expedition 
set out, the party numbering one hundred and ten 
men. They took with them in wagons a large quan- 
tity of trading goods to be used in traffic with the 
Indians in the basins of the Colorado and Colum- 
bia rivers. Bonneville himself went as far west as 
Fort Walla Walla. Members of his expedition 
entered the valleys of the Humboldt, Sacramento 
and Colorado rivers, but they were unable to com- 
pete with the experienced Hudson's Bay and Mis- 
souri Companies, and the enterprise proved a 
financial failure. The expedition derives its chief 
importance from the fact that it forms the basis of 
one of Irving's most fascinating works, which, "in 
language more thrilling and varied than romance, 
has pictured the trapper's life, its dangers, its excit- 
ing pleasures, the bitter rivalry of competing 
traders, the hostility of the savages," presenting a 
picture of the fur trade which will preserve to latest 
posterity something of the charm and fascination 
of that wild, weird traffic. 

Captain Nathaniel J. Wyeth, of Massachusetts, 
projected in 1832 an enterprise of curious interest 
and some historical importance. His plan was to 
establish salmon fisheries on the Columbia river, to 
be operated as an adjunct to and in connection with 
the fur and Indian trade. He crossed overland to 
Oregon, despatching a vessel with trading goods 
via Cape Horn, but his vessel was never again 
heard from, so the enterprise met defeat. The next 
year Captain Wyeth returned to Boston, leaving, 
however, most of his party in the country. Many 
of the men settled in the Willamette valley, and one 
of them found employment as an Indian teacher 
for the Hudson's Bay Company. 

Not to be discouraged by one failure. Captain 
Wyeth, in 1834, fitted out another land expedition 
and despatched to the Columbia another vessel, the 
May Dacre, laden with trading goods. On reaching 
the confluence of the Snake and Port Neuf rivers, 
Wyeth erected a trading post, to which he gave the 
name of Fort Hall. Having sent out his hunting 
and trapping parties, and made arrangements for 
the season's operations, he proceeded to Fort Van- 
couver, where, about the same time, the May Dacre 
arrived. He established a trading house and salmon 
fishery on Wapato (now Sauvie's) island, which 
became known as Fort William. The fishery proved 
a failure, and the trading and trapping industry 
could not stand the competition and harassing 
tactics of the Hudson's Bay Company, and the 
constant hostility of the Indians. George B. Roberts, 



who came to Oregon in 1831 as an employee of the 
Hudson's Bay Company, is quoted as having 
accounted for the trouble with the red men in this 
way. He said : "The island was thickly inhabited 
by Indians until 1830, when they were nearly ex- 
terminated by congestive chills and fever. There 
were at the time three villages on the island. So 
fatal were the effects of the disease, that Dr. Mc- 
Loughlin sent a party to rescue and bring away the 
few that were left, and to burn the villages. The 
Indians attributed the introduction of the fever 
and ague to an American vessel that had visited 
the river a year or two previously. It is not there- 
fore a matter of surprise to any who understand 
Indian character and their views as to death re- 
sulting from such diseases, that Wyeth's attempted 
establishment on Wapato island was subject to 
continued hostility. He was of a race to whom they 
attributed the cause of the destruction of their 
people : and his employees were but the lawful 
compensation according to their code for the afflic- 
tion they had suffered." 

Wyeth eventually returned to Massachusetts 
disheartened. Fort Hall ultimately passed into the 
hands of the Hudson's Bay Company, and with its 
acquisition by them, practically ended American fur 
trade west of the Rocky mountains. But though 
Wyeth's enterprise failed so signally, his account of 
it, published by order of congress, attracted the at- 
tention of Americans to Oregon, and did much to 
stimulate its settlement. 

It will readily be seen then that whatever ad- 
vantage the establishment of fur-trading enterprises 
might give in the final settlement of the Oregon 
question was with the British. We shall attempt a 
brief and succinct account of the "struggle for 
possession" in a later chapter, but it will here be our 
task to determine in some measure what the political 
mission of the Hudson's Bay Company might be 
and what part that association was playing in inter- 
national affairs. In 1837 the company applied to 
the home government for a new license, granting 
enlarged privileges. In enforcing its request, it 
pointed forcibly to its efficient services in suc- 
cessfully crushing out American enterprise and 
strengthening liritish title to the territory, contrary 
to the spirit and letter of the Joint-Occupancy 
treaties of 1818 and 1827. 

In presenting the petition, the company's chief 
representative in England, Sir John Henry Pelly, 
called the attention of the lords to the service ren- 
dered in securing to the mother country a branch of 
trade wrested from subjects of Russia and the 
United States of America; to the six permanent 
establishments it had on the coast, and the sixteen 
in the interior, besides the migratory and hunting 
parties ; to its marine of six armed vessels ; to its 
large pasture and grain farms, affording every 
species of agricultural produce and maintaining 
large herds of stock. He further averred that it 



THE NORTHWEST AND HUDSON'S BAY COMPANIES 



was the intention of the company still further to 
extend and increase its farms, and to establish an 
export trade in wool, hides, tallow and other prod- 
uce of the herd and the cultivated field, also to 
encourage the settlement of its retired servants and 
other emigrants under its protection. Referring 
to the soil, climate and other circumstances of the 
country, he said they were .such as to make it "as 
much adapted to agricultural pursuits as any other 
spot in America ; and," said he, "with care and pro- 
tection, the British dominion may not only be pre- 
served in this country, which it has been so much 
the wish of Russia and America to occupy to the 
exclusion of British subjects, but British interest 
and British influence may be maintained as para- 
mount in this interesting part of the coast of the 
Pacific." 

Sir George Simpson, who was in charge of the 
Hudson's Bay Company's affairs in America, in 
making his plea for the renewal of the license, 
referred to the international import of the com- 
pany's operations in this language : "The posses- 
sion of that country to Great Britain may be an 
object of very great importance ; and we are 
strengthening that claim to it (independent of the 
claims of prior discovery and occupation for the 
purpose of Indian trade) by forming the nucleus 
of a colony through the estabHshment of farms, 
and the settlement of some of our retired officers 
and servants as agriculturists." 

One might almost expect that Great Britain 
might utter some word of reproof to a company 
which could have the audacity to boast of violating 
her treaty compacts with a friendly power. Not so, 
however. She was a party to the breach of faith. 
Instead of administering merited reproof, she 
rewards the wrongdoers by the prompt issuing of 
a new license to extend and be in force for a period 
of twenty-one years. This renewed license, the date 
of which is May 31, 18.38, granted to the company 
"the exclusive privilege of trading with the Indians 
in all such parts of North America, to the north- 
ward and westward of the islands and territories 
belonging to the United States of America, as shall 
not form part of any of our (British) provinces in 
North America or any lands or territories belonging 
to the said United States of America, or to any 
European government, state, or power. Without 
rent for the first five years, and afterward the yearly 
rent of five shillings, payable on the first of June." 

The company was again required to furnish a 
bond conditioned on their executing, by their 
authority over the persons in their employ, "all civil 
and criminal process by the officers or persons usu- 
ally empowered to execute such process within all 
territories included in the grant, and for the produc- 
ing or delivering into custody, for the purpose of 
trial, all persons in their employ or acting under their 



authority within the said territories, who shall be 
charged with any criminal offences." 

The license, however, prohibited the company 
"from claiming or exercising any trade with the 
Indians on the northwest coast of America west- 
ward of the Rocky mountains to the prejudice or 
exclusion of any of the subjects of any foreign 
state, who, under or by force of any convention 
for the time being between Great Britain and such 
foreign states may be entitled to and shall be en- 
gaged in such trade." But no provision could be 
framed, nor was it the wish of the grantors to 
frame any, which should prevent the Hudson's Bay 
Company from driving out by harassing tactics 
and fierce competition any American who might 
enter the Oregon territory as a trader. 

One of the strangest ruses of this wonderfully 
shrewd and resourceful company must now receive 
notice. It was not in the power of the British 
government to convey lands in the Oregon country, 
neither could the Hudson's Bay Company in any 
way acquire legal title to realty. It therefore de- 
termined upon a bold artifice. A co-partnership 
was formed on the joint stock principle, the person- 
nel of the company consisting largely of Hudson's 
Bay Company stockholders. The name adopted for 
it was the Puget Sound Agricultural Company. 
The idea of this association was to acquire a pos- 
sessory right to large tracts of rich tillable and 
grazing lands, use these for agricultural purposes 
and pasturage until the Oregon controversy was 
settled, then, should the British be successful in 
that controversy, apply at once for articles of in- 
corporation and a grant. It was, of course, the 
purpose of the promoters, from motives of self- 
interest as well as of patriotism, to strengthen the 
claim of the mother country in every possible way. 
Great Britain never acquired title to the lands in 
question; the Puget Sound Agricultural Company 
never gained a corporate existence; it never had 
anything more than a bare possessory right to any 
lands, a right terminating on the death or with- 
drawal from the company of the person seized 
therewith. Logically, then, we should expect the 
absolute failure of the scheme. But it did not fail. 
So forceful was this legal figment and the Hudson's 
Bay Company behind it, that they had the power 
to demand as one of the conditions upon which 
peace might be maintained between the two gov- 
ernments chiefly concerned in the Oregon contro- 
versy, that "the farms, lands and other property 
of every description belonging to the Puget Sound 
Agricultural Company, on the north side of the 
Columbia river, shall be confirmed to the said 
company. In case, however, the situation of those 
lands and farms should be considered by the United 
States to be of public and political importance, and 
the United States government should signify a 
desire to obtain possession of the whole or a part 



INTRODUCTORY 



thereof, the property so required shall be trans- 
ferred to the government at a proper valuation, to 
be agreed upon between the parties." 

The Puget Sound Company laid claim under 
the treaty to two tracts — the tract of the Nisqually, 
containing two hundred and sixty-one square miles, 
and the Cowlitz farm, containing three thousand 
five hundred and seventy-two acres. When the 
matter came up for settlement, the company asked 
five millions of dollars in liquidation of its claims. 
So the United States was forced, in the interests of 
peace and humanity, into an illogical agreement to 



purchase lands, the claim to which was established 
in open violation of the Joint-Occupancy treaties 
of 1818 and 1837. She was forced by a provision 
of the treaty of 1846 to obligate herself to purchase 
lands which the same treaty conceded as belonging 
to her. More humiliating still, she was compelled 
to reward a company for its acts of hostility to 
her interests in keeping out her citizens and break- 
ing up their establishments. But the sacrifice 
was made in the interests of peace and civilization, 
and who shall say that in conserving these it lacked 
an abundant justification? 



CHAPTER V 



PERIOD OF SETTLEMENT 



Already, it is hoped, there has been conveyed to 
the mind of the reader as clear an impression as 
the limits of this volume will permit of the first 
faint knockings of civilization's standard-bearers 
upon our western shores, of some of the expeditions 
by which the land so long a terra incognita was 
robbed of its mystery and the overland route to it 
discovered, and of the regime of the trapper and 
fur trader. It remains to treat of missionary occu- 
pancy, of the advent of the pioneer settler, of the 
diplomatic struggle for the possession of the country 
and of that second struggle for possession which 
cost so much hardship and sacrifice on the part of 
both the white and the red race and left so tragic 
a stain on our earlier annals. 

With Wyeth's overland expedition, previously 
mentioned, were Dr. Nuttall, a naturalist, and J. K. 
Townsend, an ornithologist, both sent out by a 
Boston scientific society ; also Rev. Jason Lee and 
his nephew. Rev. Daniel Lee, Cyrus Shepherd, 
Courtney M. Walker and P. L. Edwards, a mis- 
sionary party sent out by the Methodist Missionary 
Board of the United States. This body of unpre- 
tentious evangels of gospel truth were destined to 
exert an influence of which they little dreamed upon 
the imperial Hudson's Bay Company and the 
struggle for sovereignty in Oregon. The scientific 
men and the missionaries left Wyeth, who was 
delayed in the constniction of Fort Hall, and were 
guided the remainder of the way by A. R. McLeod 
and Thomas McKay, Hudson's Bay men, to old 
Fort Walla Walla, which they reached September 
1st. The journey from that point to Vancouver 



was accomplished in two weeks. Little did these 
devoted servants of the British fur monopoly realize 
that the unassuming missionary party they so kindly 
piloted from Fort Hall to \'ancouver would prove 
so potential in antagonizing their interests, and 
those of the imperial power whose patronage they 
enjoyed. The missionary party, it has been said, 
"was but another Trojan horse within whose ap- 
parently guileless interior was confined a hostile 
force, which would, within a decade of years, throw 
wide open the gates of exclusive privilege and intro- 
duce within the jealously guarded walls a host of 
foes, to the utter destruction of intrenched monopoly 
and the final overthrow of British dominion and 
pretension on the Pacific coast ! Well might Gov- 
ernor McLoughlin, the autocrat of the Pacific 
Northwest, when he welcomed this modest party 
of meek Methodists, and assigned them land near 
Salem, have recalled the misgivings of the Trojan 
prophetess: 'Tiinco Danaos ct dona fercntcs' — 'I 
distrust the Greeks, though they offer gifts.' The 
American missionary was an advance agent of 
Yankee invasion." 

About the time Wyeth's main party arrived at 
Vancouver came also the ship on which were his 
goods for the fur trade, and the furniture and 
supplies of the missionary party. On October 6th 
the goods of the missionaries were landed at Wheat- 
land, as they named the place where the mission 
was to be established. By November 3d a log house 
was advanced sufficiently for occupation, but before 
the roof was on Indian children had been admitted 
as pupils, and by December 14th twenty-one 



PERIOD OF SETTLEMENT 



persons, of whom seventeen were children, were 
baptized by Jason Let- at Vancouver. 

Wyeth's enterprise, as well as all previous efforts 
of a like character inaugurated by Americans, was 
met by crushing and ruinous opposition from the 
autocratic British monopoly, but the missionaries 
were assisted and encouraged in every way. Bonne- 
ville, Wyeth and other American adventurers and 
traders had come to Oregon to compete with the 
British traders or to colonize against the interests 
of their fatherland. Lee and his party were there 
to Christianize the pagan inhabitants, to instruct 
the ignorant, to minister to the sick and the dying, 
and to set a godly example to the irreligious, the 
reckless and semi-barbarous employees and ex- 
servants of the corporation. Hence the difference 
in their reception. The Hudson's Bay Company, 
shrewd and vigilant though it was, did not and 
could not foresee that the attempt to convert the 
Indian would fail, owing to causes over which the 
missionaries had no control, and that the mission 
people would form a settlement of their own, around 
which would naturall\' cluster all the elements of 
society independent of the British corporation ; that 
a social and political force would spring up hostile 
to the commercial interests and ])nlitical ambitions 
of the company, potential to destrov its autocratic 
sway in the land and forceful to effect the final 
wresting of the country entirely from its control. 
The coming of the missionaries has been well styled 
the entrance of the wedge of American occupancy. 

The event which prompted the outfitting of this 
missionary enterprise is one of the strangest and 
most romantic character. It shows how affairs 
apparently the most trivial will deeply influence and 
sometimes greatly change the current of human 
history. In one of the former historical works, in 
the compilation of which the writer has had a part, 
the story is told by Colonel William Parsons, of 
Pendleton, Oregon, substantially as follows: 

"Far up in the mountains of Montana, in one 
of the many valleys which sparkle like emeralds 
on the western slope of the Stony range, a handful 
of natives, whom the whites call by the now in- 
appropriate name of 'Flatheads,' met to ponder 
over the unique tale repeated by some passing 
mountaineer of a magic book possessed by the white 
man, which assured its owners of peace and comfort 
in this life and eternal bliss in the world beyond the 
grave. The Flatheads were a weak and unwarlike 
people ; they were sorely beset by the fierce Black- 
feet, their hereditary foes, through whose terrible 
incursions the Flatheads had been reduced in num- 
bers and harassed so continuously that their state 
was most pitiable. To this remnant of a once proud 
race the trapper's story was a rainbow of promise ; 
the chiefs resolved to seek this book, and possess 
themselves of the white man's treasure. They chose 
an embassy of four of their wisest and bravest men, 
and sent them trustfullv on the tribe's errand. The 



quest of 'three kings of orient,' who, two thou- 
sand years ago, started on their holy pilgrimage 
to the manger Of the lowly babe of P.ethlehem, 
was not more weird, nor was the search of the 
knights of King Arthur's round table for the Holy 
Grail more picturesque and seemingly more hope- 
less. Though they knew that there were men of 
the pale-face race on the lower waters of the 
Columbia, and one of these doubtless had told 
them of the book, they knew that these uncouth 
trappers, hunters and fishers were ungodly men in 
the main and not custodians of the precious volume 
for which their souls so earnestly longed. These 
were not like the fishers of old by the sea of Galilee, 
who received the gospel gladly, and, following in the 
footsteps of the Master, themselves became fishers 
of men, but were scoffers-, swearers and contemners 
of holy things. So the Indians, like the ancient 
wise men, turned their faces towards the east. 

"They threaded their toilsome way by stealth 
through the dreaded Blackfoot country, scaled the 
perilous Stony mountains, descending the eastern 
slope, followed the tributaries of the Missouri 
through the dreaded country of the Dakotahs, and 
then pursued the windings of the Missouri till they 
struck the Father of Waters, arriving at St. Louis 
in the summer of 1832. Indians were no rarity in 
this outpost of civilization, and the friendless and 
forlorn Flatheads soon discovered that the white 
trappers, hunters, flatboat men, traders, teamsters, 
and riff-raff of a bustling young city were about 
the last people in the world to supply Indians who 
had no furs to sell with either spiritual or material 
solace. The embassy was not only without money, 
but its members could not even speak the language 
of the pale-faces. Nor was anyone found who 
could serve as interpreter. It would have been 
easy enough to have obtained a Bible, if they could 
have met with a stray colporteur, but none was in 
evidence, and the average denizen of St. Louis 
was better provided with cartridge belts and guns 
than with literature of any sort. In despair they 
applied to Governor Clark, the official head of the 
territory, whose headquarters were in the town — 
the same William Clark who, with Captain Meri- 
wether Lewis, had led the expedition to the mouth 
of the Columbia nearly thirty years before. It is 
possible that they may have heard of Clark by 
reason of his travels through their country a gen- 
eration previous. By means of signs and such few 
words of jargon as they could muster they at- 
tempted to explain to Governor Clark the purpose 
of their visit but it is evident that they succeeded 
none too well. In response to their prayer for 
spiritual food, he bestowed on them blankets, beads 
and tobacco — the routine gifts to importunate red- 
skins — and the discouraged Flatheads abandoned 
their illusive quest for the magic book. Before 
leaving for home, the Indians made a farewell call 
on Governor Clark, during which they, or one of 



INTRODUCTORY 



them, made a speech. Just what the speaker said, 
or tried to say, may be a matter of doubt, but the 
report made of it and g-iven to the press is a marvel 
of simple eloquence. It is as follows: 

We came to you over a trail of many moons from the 
setting sun. You were the friend of our fathers, who have 
all gone the long road. We came with our eyes partly 
opened for more light for our people who sit in darkness. 
We go back with our eyes closed. How can we go back 
blind to our blind people? We made our way to you with 
strong arms, through many enemies and strange lands, 
that we might carry back much to them. We go back with 
both arms broken and empty. The two fathers who came 
with us — the braves of many winters and wars — we leave 
here asleep by your great water and wigwams. They 
were tirnl with their journey of many moons and tlieir 
moccasiii- \Mr' w-ni out. 

Our ii.j'.|ile -I III us to get the white man's Book of 
Heaven. \ uu took us where they worship the Great 
Spirit with caudles, but the Book was not there. You 
showed us the images of good spirits, and pictures of the 
good land beyond, but the Book was not among them to 
tell us the way. You made our feet heavy with burdens 
of gifts, and our moccasins will grow old with carrying 
them, but the Book is not among them. We are going 
back the long, sad trail to our people. When we tell them, 
after one more snow, in the big council, that we did not 
bring the Book, no word will be spoken by our old men 
nor by our young braves. One by one they will rise up 
and go out in silence. Our people will die in darkness, 
and they will go on the long path to the other hunting 
grounds. No white man will go with them, and no Book 
of Heaven to make the way plain. We have no more 
words. 

"The story of the Flathead embassy and their 
unique quest subsequently reached George Catlin 
through the medium of Governor Clark. Catlin 
was an artist who had made a special study of 
Indian types and dress, and had painted with great 
ability and fidelity many portraits of noted chiefs. 
In the national museum at Washington, D. C, may 
be seen a very extensive collection of his Indian 
paintings, supplemented with almost innumerable 
recent photographs, among which are those of Chief 
Joseph, the great Nez Perce warrior, and the Uma- 
tilla reservation chieftains — Homeli, Peo and Paul 
Showeway. Mr. Catlin was not only a portrait 
painter, but a gifted writer. He converted the 
plain, unvarnished tale of Governor Clark concern- 
ing the Flatheads into an epic poem of thrilling 
interest, and gave it to the press. Its publication in 
the religious journals created a great sensation, and 
steps were immediately taken to answer the Mace- 
donian cry of the Flatheads. The sending of Jason 
Lee and his party to Oregon was a result. 

"The quest of the Flatheads, the sad deaths of 
all their ambassadors save one on the journey, and 
the temporary failure of their project seemed a 
hopeless defeat, but they 'builded wiser than they 
knew,' for the very fact of their mission stirred 
mightily the hearts of the church people, and 
through that instrumentality the attention of Amer- 
icans was sharply directed to the enormous value 
of the Pacific Northwest. The interest thus excited 
was timely — another decade of supine lethargy and 



the entire Pacific coast from Mexico to the Russian 
possessions would have passed irretrievably under 
British control. 

"The Flatheads' search for the magic book was 
to all appearance an ignominious failure, but their 
plaintive cry, feeble though it was, stirred Uie 
mountain heights, and precipitated an irresistible 
avalanche of American enterprise into the valley 
of the Columbia, overwhelming the Hudson's Bay 
Company with its swelling volume of American 
immigration. 

"In a lesser way, also, their mission succeeded, 
though success was long on the road. The western 
movement of white population engulfed the hated 
Blackfeet, reduced their numbers till they were no 
longer formidable, even to the Flatheads, confined 
them within the narrow limits of a reservation in 
northern Montana, where they were ordered about 
by a consequential Indian agent, and collared and 
thrust into the agency jail for every trifling misde- 
meanor, by the agency police ; while the one time 
harassed and outraged Flathead roams unve.xed 
through his emerald vales, pursues without fear to 
its uttermost retreat in the Rockies the lordly elk 
or the elusive deer, tempts the wily trout from the 
dark pool of the sequestered mountain torrent with 
the seductive fly, or lazily floats on the surface of 
some placid lake, which mirrors the evergreen 
slopes of the environing hills, peacefully withdraw- 
ing, now and again, the appetizing salmon trout 
from its cool, transparent depths, to be transferred 
presently, in exchange for gleaming silver, to some 
thrifty pale-face housewife or some unctuous 
Chinese cook for a tenderfoot tourist's dinner — for- 
getful all and fearless of Blackfoot ambush or 
deadly foray. Of a verity, the childlike quest for 
the magic book was not without its compensation 
to the posterity of the Flathead ambassadors !" 

Of those Americans who came to Oregon with 
the early expeditions, three in 1833 and twenty- 
two in 1834 became permanent settlers. The names 
of these are preserved by W. H. Gray in his history 
of Oregon as follows: "From Captain Wyeth's 
party of 1833, there remained S. H. Smith, Sergeant, 
and Tibbets, a stonecutter ; and from his party of 
1834, James O'Neil and T. J. Hubbard. From the 
wreck of the William and Ann, a survivor named 
Felix Hathaway remained. With Ewing Young 
from California in 1834, a party came who remained 
in Oregon, consisting of Joseph Gale, who died in 
Union "county, that state, in 1883 ; John McCarty, 
Carmichael, John Hauxhurst, John Howard, Kil- 
born, Brandywine, and a colored man named George 
Winslow. An English sailor named Richard Mc- 
Cary reached the Willamette from the Rocky moun- 
tains that year, as did also Captain J. H. Crouch, 
G. W. Le' Breton, John McCaddan and William 
Johnson from the brig Maryland. This made (with 
the missionaries heretofore nained) twenty-five 
residents at the close of 1834, who were not in 



PERIOD OF SETTLEMENT 



any way connected with the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany, all of whom were here for other than 
transient purposes. There were no arrivals in 1835." 

However, the year 183(5 was, as may be gleaned 
from previous pages, an important one for Oregon. 
AX'hile, as Gray states, there were no permanent 
residences established in Oregon in 1835, that was 
the year in which Rev. Samuel Parker and Dr. 
Marcus Whitman were sent out by the American 
Board to explore the country and report upon it 
as a field for missionary labors. These gentlemen 
were met at the trappers' rendezvous on Green 
river by the noted Chief Lawyer, by whom they 
were persuaded into the plan of establishing their 
proposed mission among his people, the Nez Perces. 
When this conclusion was reached, Dr. Whitman 
started back to the east accompanied by two Nez 
Perce boys, Mr. Parker continuing his journey west- 
ward to the shores of the Pacific. It was agreed 
that Parker should seek out a suitable location 
among the Nez Perces for the mission, while Dr. 
Whitman should make arrangements for the west- 
ward journey of a sufficient force and for the es- 
tablishment and outfitting of the post. The results 
of Mr. Parker's journeyings are embodied in a 
work of great historic value from his own pen, 
entitled "Parker's Exploring Tour Beyond the 
Rocky Mountains." From information conve)fed 
by this volume, Gilbert summarizes the conditions 
in Oregon in 1835 as follows: 

"Fort Vancouver on the Columbia, under charge 
of Dr. John McLoughlin, was established in 182-i, 
and consisted of an enclosure by stockade, thirty- 
seven rods long by eighteen wide, that faced the 
south. About one hundred persons were employed 
at the place, and some three hundred Indians lived 
in the immediate vicinity. There were eight sub- 
stantial buildings within the stockade, and a large 
number of small ones on the outside. There were 
459 cattle, 100 horses. 300 sheep, 40 goats and 300 
hogs belonging to the company at this place; and 
during the season of 1835 the crops produced in 
that vicinity amounted to 5,000 bushels of wheat, 
1,300 bushels of potatoes, 1,000 bushels of barley, 
1,000 bushels of oats, 3,000 bushels of peas, and 
garden vegetables in proportion. The garden, con- 
taining five acres, besides its vegetable products, 
included apples, peaches, grapes and strawberries. 
A grist mill with machinery propelled by o.xen 
was kept in constant use, while some six miles up 
the Columbia was a saw mill containing several 
saws, which supplied lumber for the Hudson's Bay 
Company. Within the fort was a bakery employing 
three men, also shops for blacksmiths, joiners, car- 
penters and a tinner. 

"Fort Williams, erected by N. J. Wyeth at the 
mouth of the Willamette, was nearly deserted, Mr. 
Townsend, the ornithologist, being about the only 
occupant at the time. Wyeth had gone to his Fort 
Hall in the interior. Of Astoria, at the mouth of 



the Columbia, but two log houses and a garden 
remained, where two white men dragged out a dull 
existence, to maintain possession of the historic 
ground. Its ancient, romantic grandeur had de- 
parted from its walls, when dismantled to assist in 
the construction and defenses of its rival. Fort 
\^ancouver. Up the Willamette river was the 
Methodist mission, in the condition already noted, 
while between it and the present site of Oregon City 
were the Hudson's Bay Company's French settle- 
ments of Gervais and McKay, containing some 
twenty families, whose children were being taught 
by young Americans. In one of these settlements a 
grist mill had just been completed. East of the 
Cascade mountains Fort Walla Walla was situated 
at the mouth of a river by that name. It was 'built 
of logs and was internally arranged to answer the 
purposes of trade and domestic comfort, and ex- 
ternally for defense, having two bastions, and was 
surrounded by a stockade.' It was accidentally 
burned in 1841 and rebuilt of adobe within a year. 
At this point the company had 'horses, cows, hogs, 
fowls, and they cultivated corn, potatoes and a 
variety of garden vegetables.' This fort was used 
for a trading post, where goods were stored for 
traffic with the Indians. Fort Colville, on the Col- 
umbia, a little above Kettle Falls, near the present 
line of Washington territory, a strongly stockaded 
post, was occupied by a half dozen men with Indian 
families, and Mr. McDonald was in charge. Fort 
Okanogan, at the mouth of the river of that name, 
established by David Stuart in 1811, was, in the 
absence of Air. Ogden, in charge of a single white 
man. Concerning Fort Hall, nothing is said; but 
it fell into the hands of the Hudson's Bay Company 
in 1836. It was then a stockaded fort, but was 
rebuilt with adobe in 1838. Mr. Parker is also 
silent in regard to Fort Boise, which was con- 
structed on Snake river from poles in 1834 as a 
rival establishment to Fort Hall, was occupied in 
1835 by the Hudson's Bay Company, and later was 
more substantially constructed from adobe. If 
there were other establishments in 1835, west of the 
Rocky mountains, between the forty-second and 
forty-ninth parallels, the writer has failed to obtain 
evidences of them." 

Meanwhile, Whitman was working in the east 
with characteristic energy, and he succeeded in 
raising funds and securing associates for two 
missions in Oregon territory. The population of 
Oregon was accordingly increased in the year 1836 
by five persons, namely. Dr. Marcus Whitman, 
Narcissa (Prentiss) Whitman, Rev. H. H. Spalding 
and wife, and W. H. Gray. The ladies mentioned 
gained the distinction of having been the first 
white women whose feet pressed the soil of old 
Oregon, and whose blue and dark eyes looked into 
the dusky, mystic orbs of the daughters of the 
Columbia basin. A few months later the Methodist 
mission was also blessed by the purifying presence 



28 



INTRODUCTORY 



of noble womanhood, but the laurels of pioneership 
have ever rested upon the worthy brows of Mrs. 
Whitman and Mrs. Spalding, and so far as we 
know, no fair hand has ever been raised to pluck 
them thence. The missionary party brought with 
them eight mules, twelve horses and sixteen cows, 
also three wagons laden with farming utensils, 
blacksmiths' and carpenters' tools, clothing, seeds, 
etc., to make it possible for them to support them- 
-selves without an entire dependence upon the Hud- 
son's Bay Company for supplies. Two of the 
wagons were abandoned at Fort Laramie, and 
heavy pressure was brought upon Dr. Whitman to 
leave the third at the rendezvous on Green river, but 
he refused to do so. He succeeded in getting it to 
Fort Hall intact, then reduced it to a two-wheeled 
cart, which he brought on to Fort Boise, thus 
demonstrating the feasibility of a wagon road over 
the Rocky mountains. 

Although a reinforcement for the Methodist 
mission sailed from Boston in July, 1836, it failed to 
reach its destination on the Willamette until May 
of the following year, so that the American popu- 
lation at the close of 1836 numbered not to exceed 
thirty persons, including the two ladies. 

Until 1836 there were no cattle in the country 
except those owned by the Hudson's Bay Company, 
and those brought from the east by the Whitman 
party. The Hudson's Bay Company wished to 
continue this condition as long as possible, well 
knowing that the introduction of cattle or any other 
means of wealth iiroduction among the American 
population would necessarily render the people that 
much more nearly independent. When, therefore, 
it was proposed by Ewing Young and Jason Lee 
that a party should be sent to California for stock, 
the idea was antagonized by the autocratic Colum- 
bia river monopoly. Thanks largely to the assist- 
ance of William A. Slacum, of the United States 
navy, by whom money was advanced and a free 
passage to California furnished to the people's 
emissaries, the projectors of the enterprise were 
rendered independent of the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany. Ewing Young was captain of the expedition ; 
P. L. Edwards, of the Willamette mission, was also 
one of its leading spirits. The men purchased seven 
hundred head of cattle at three dollars per head 
and set out upon their return journey. They suc- 
ceeded in getting about six hundred head to the 
Willamette country, notwithstanding the bitter hos- 
tility of the Indians. Gilbert quotes from the diary 
of P. L. Edwards, which he says was shown him 
by the latter's daughter in California, to prove that 
the trouble with the Indians was caused by the 
wanton and cold-blooded murder by members of 
the party of a friendly Indian who was following 
the band. The Indian hostilities were not incited 
by the Hudson's Bay Company, as some have stated, 
but may properly be laid at the doors of the men 
who committed this barbarous outrage in revenge 



for wrongs suffered by a party to which they 
belonged two years before. 

The arrival of neat cattle in the Willamette 
country provided practically the first means of 
acquiring wealth independent of the Hudson's Bay 
Company. "This success in opposition to that 
interest," says Gilbert, "was a discovery by the 
settlers, both Americans and ex-employees, that they 
possessed the strength to rend the bars that held 
them captives under a species of peonage. With 
this one blow, directed by missionaries, and dealt 
by ex-American hunters, an independent main- 
tenance in Oregon had been rendered possible for 
immigrants." 

As before stated, the reinforcements for the 
Methodist mission arrived in May, 1837. By it 
the American population was increased eight 
persons, namely, Elijah White and wife, Alanson 
Beers and wife, W. H. Wilson, the Misses Annie 
M. Pitman, Susan Downing and Elvina Johnson. 
In the fall came another reinforcement, the per- 
sonnel of which was Rev. David Leslie, wife and 
three daughters, the Rev. W. H. K. Perkins and 
Miss Margaret Smith. Add to these Dr. J. Bailey, 
an linglish physician, George Gay and John Turner, 
who also arrived this year, and the thirty or thirty- 
one persons who settled previously, and we have the 
population of Oregon independent of the Hudson's 
Bay Company's direct or indirect control in the vear 
1837. 

In January of that year, W. H. Gray, of the 
American Board's mission, set out overland to the 
east for reinforcements to the missionary force of 
which he was a member. His journey was not an 
uneventful one as will appear from the following 
narrative, clothed in his own words, which casts 
so vivid a light upon transcontinental travel during 
the early days that we feel constrained to quote it: 

Our sketches, perhaps, would not lose in interest by 
giving a short account of a fight which our Flathead Indi- 
ans had at this place with a war party of the Blackfeet. 
It occurred near the present location of Helena, in Mon- 
tana. As was the custom with the Flathead Indians in 
traveling in the buffalo coinitry. their hunters and warriors 
were in advance of the main camp. A party of twenty-five 
Blackfeet warriors was discovered by some twelve of our 
Flatheads. To see each ntlicr was to fight, especially par- 
ties prowling about in this niaruicr. and at it thev went. 
The first fire of the b'latheads brought five of the Blackfeet 
to the ground and wounded live more. This was more 
than they expected, and the Blackfeet made little effort to 
recover their dead, which were duly scalped and their 
bodies left for food for the wolves, and the scalps borne in 
triumph to the camp. There were but two of the Flat- 
heads wounded ; one had a flesh wound in the thigh, and 
the other had his right arm broken by a Blackfoot ball. 

The victory was complete, and the rejoicing in camp 
corresponded to the number of scalps taken. Five days 
and nights the usual scalp dance was performed. At the 
appointed time the big war drum was sounded, when the 
warriors and braves made their appearance at the appointed 
place in the open air, painted as warriors. Those who had 
taken the scalps from the heads of their enemies bore them 
in their hands upon the ramrods of their guns. 

They entered the circle, and the war song, drums, rat- 



PERIOD OF SETTLEMENT 



ties and noises all commenced. The scalp-bearers stood for 
a moment (as if to catch the time), and then commenced 
hopping, jumping and yelling in concert with the music. 
'Iliis continued for a time, when some old painted woman 
took the scalps and continued to dance. The performance 
was gone through with as many nights as there were 
scalps taken. 

Seven days after the scalps were taken, a messenger 
arrived bearing a white flag, and a proposition to make 
peace for the purpose of trade. After the preliminaries 
had all been completed, in which the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany trader had the principal part to perform, the time 
was I'l-xed for a meeting of the two tribes. The Flatheads, 
however, were all careful to dig their warpits, make their 
corrals and breastworks, and, in short, fortify their camp 
as much as if they expected a fight instead of peace. 
Ermatinger, the company's leader, remarked that he would 
sooner take his chances of a fight off-hand thaii endure the 
anxiety and suspense of the two days we waited for the 
Blackfeet to arrive. Our scouts and warriors were all 
ready and on the watch for peace or war, the latter of 
which from the recent fight they had had was expected 
most. At length the Blackfeet arrived, bearing a red flag 
with "H. B. C." in white letters upon it, and advancing to 
within a short distance of the camp, were met by Ermat- 
inger and a few Flathead chiefs, shook hands and were con- 
ducted to the trader's lodge — the largest one in the camp — 
and the principal chiefs of both tribes, seated upon buffalo 
and bear skins, all went through with the ceremony of 
smoking a big pipe, having a long handle or stem trimmed 
with horse hair and porcupine quills. The pipe was filled 
with the traders' tobacco and the Indians' killikinick. The 
war chiefs of each tribe took a puff of the pipe, then passed 
it each to his right-liand man, and so around till all the 
circle had smoked the big medicine pipe, or pipe of peace, 
which on this occasion was made by the Indians from a soft 
stone which they find in abundance in their country, hav- 
ing no extra ornamental work upon it. The principal chief 
in command, or great medicine man, went through the 
ceremony, puffed four times, blowing his smoke in four 
directions. This was considered a sign of peace to all 
around him, which doubtless included all he knew any- 
thing about. The Blackfeet, as a tribe, are a tall, well 
formed, slim built and active people. They travel princi- 
pally on foot, and are considered very treacherous. 

The peace made with so much formality was broken 
two days afterward by killing two of the Flatheads when 
caught not far from the main camp. 

It was from this Flathead tribe that the first Indian 
delegation was sent to ask for teachers. Three of their 
number volunteered to go with Gray to the States in 1837 
to urge their claim for teachers to come among thein. The 
party reached Ash Hollow, where they were attacked by 
about three hundred Sioux warriors, and, after fighting 
for three hours, killed some fifteen of them, when the 
Sioux, by means of a French trader then among them, 
obtained a parley with Gray and his traveling companions 
— two young men who had started to go to the United 
States with him. While the Frenchman was in conversa- 
tion with Gray, the treacherous Siou.x made a rush upon 
the three Flatheads, one Snake and one Iroquois Indian 
belonging to the party, and killed them. The Frenchman 
tlien turned to Gray and told him and his companions they 
were prisoners, and must go to the Sioux camp, first 
attempting to get possession of their gims. Gray informed 
them at once : "You have killed our Indians in a cowardly 
manner, and you shall not have our guns," at the same 
time telling the young men to watch the first motion of the 
Indians to take their lives, and if we must die to take as 
many Indians with us as we could. The Sioux had found 
in the contest thus far that, notwithstanding they had con- 
quered and killed five, they had lost fifteen, among them 
one of their war chiefs, besides several severely wounded. 
The party was not further molested till they reached the 
camp, containing between one and two hundred lodges. A 
full explanation was had of the whole affair. Gray had two 



horses killed under him and two balls passed through his 
hat, both inflicting slight wounds. The party were 
feasted, and smoked the pipe of peace over the dead body 
of the chief's son. Next day they were allowed to proceed 
with nine of their horses ; the balance, with the property 
of the Indians, the Sionx claimed as part pay for their 
losses, doubtless calculating to wa\lay and take the bal- 
ance of the horses. Be tliat as it may. Gray and his young 
men reached Council Bluff's in twenty-one days, traveling 
nights and during storms to a\oid the Indians on the 
plains. 

Gray proceeded east, and with the energy and 
courage which ever characterized him, set about 
the task of securing the needed reinforcements. 
He succeeded in enhsting Rev. Gushing Eells, Rev. 
E. Walker and Rev. A. B. Sinith, with their wives, 
also a young man named Gomelius Rogers. He 
also succeeded in inducing a young woman to be- 
come his own bride and to share with him tlie 
dangers and tedium of a transcontinental journey 
and whatever of weal or woe the new land might 
have in store for them. Mention should likewise 
be made of the noted John A. Sutter, an ex-cap- 
tain of the Swiss guard, who accompanied this 
expedition and who afterward became an impor- 
tant character in the early history of Galifornia. 

Two priests. Rev. F. N. Blanchet and Modest 
Demers, also came during this year, so the seeds 
of sectarian strife, which did so much to neutral- 
ize the efforts and work of the Protestant mission- 
aries, then began to be sown. The population of 
Oregon, independent of the Hudson's Bay Gom- 
pany, must have been about sixty at the close of the 
year 1838. 

In the fall of 1839 came Rev. J. S. Griffin and 
Mr. Munger, with their wives, Ben Wright, Law- 
son, Keiser and Deiger, also T. H. Farnham, author 
of "Early Days in California," Sidney Smith, Blair 
and Robert Shortess. W. H. Gray, in his history 
of Oregon, estimates the population as follows : 
"Protestant missionaries, 10 ; Roman priests, 2 ; 
physicians, 2 ; laymen, 6 ; women, 13 ; children, 10 ; 
settlers, 20 ; settlers under Hudson's Bay control 
with American tendencies, 10; total, 83." 

In 1838 Jason Lee made a journey overland to 
the states for the purpose of procuring a force 
wherewith to extend greatly his missionary opera- 
tions. His wife died during his absence and the 
sad news was forwarded to him by Dr. McLough- 
lin, Dr. Whitman and a man hired by Gray. In 
June, 1840. Lee returned with a party of forty- 
eight, of whom eight were clergymen, one was A 
physician, fifteen were children and nineteen were 
ladies, five of them unmarried. Their names are 
included in Gray's list of arrivals for 1840. 

In 1841 eight young men built and equipped a 
vessel, named the Star of Oregon, in which they 
made a trip to San Francisco. Joseph Gale served 
as captain of the doughty little craft, of which 
Felix Hathaway had been master builder. The 
vessel was exchanged at Yerba Buena ( San Fran- 
cisco) for three hundred and fifty cows. Gale 



INTRODUCTORY 



remained in the Golden state through the winter, 
then set out overland to Oregon with a party of 
forty-two immigrants, who brought with them, as 
J. W. Xesmith informs us, one thousand two hun- 
dred and fifty head of cattle, six hundred head of 
mares, colts, horses and mules, and three thousand 
sheep. The incident forms the theme of one of 
Mrs. Eva E. Dye's most charming descriptions, 
but its strategic importance in helping to Ameri- 
canize Oregon and break up the cattle monopoly 
seems to have been overlooked by many other 
writers. 

The Joseph Gale who figured so prominently in 
this undertaking was afterward a member of the first 
triumvirate executive committee of the provisional 
government. He is affectionately remembered in 
eastern Oregon, where he passed the closing years 
of his eventful life. 

By the close of the year 1841 the independent 
population of Oregon had reached two hundred 
and fifty-three, thirty-five of whom are classed as 
settlers. In 1845 came an immigration of one 
hundred and eleven persons, two of whom, A. L. 
Lovejoy and A. \l. Hastings, were lawyers. In 
this year, also, came the Red river immigration of 
English and Scotch and of French-Canadian half- 
breeds to the Puget sound country. This immi- 
gration wa* inspired by the Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany, which designed it as an oiifset to the growing 
American power in the Oregon country. It had, 
however, very little political effect, as many of its 
members drifted southward into the Willamette 
country and became members of the provisional 
government. The year 1842 is also memorable for 
the famous winter ride of Dr. Whitman. 

In 1843 came the largest immigration the Ore- 
gon country had yet known, piloted across the plains 
and over the mountains by Whitman himself. Its 
eight hundred and seventy-five persons, with their 
wagons and thirteen hundred head of cattle, settled 
forever the question of the national character of 
Oregon. J. W. Nesmith has preserved for us the 
names of all the male members of this expedition 
over sixteen years of age, as also of those remaining 
from the immigrations of the year previous. In 

1844 came eight hundred more Americans, and in 

1845 a much larger number, estimated by some at 
three thousand. The year 1846 added another 
thousand to Oregon's American population. In it 
the ownership of the country was definitely settled 
by treaty with Great Britain, and the famous world 
problem was solved. 

It is impossible here adequately to treat of life 
and conditions in the Northwest during those early 
days of American occupation. Some idea of the 
inner life of the first settlers of Oregon may be 
gained from the following excerpt from a lecture 
by Colonel J. W. Nesmith. delivered before the 
Oregon Pioneer Association : 



The business of the country was conducted entirely by 
barter. The Hudson's Bay Company imported and sold 
niariV articles of prime necessity to those who were able to 
purcliase. Wheat or beaver skins would buy anything the 
company had for sale. But poor, wayworn emigrants, 
just arriving in the country, were as destitute of wheat and 
beaver as they were of coin. The skins purchased by the 
company were annually shipped in their own vessels to 
Loufliin, while the wheat was shipped to the Russian pos- 
sessions on the north and to California, to fill a contract 
that the Hudson's Bay Company had with the Russian 
Fur Company. A small trade in lumber, salt, salmon, 
shingles and hoop-poles gradually grew up with the Sand- 
wich islands, and brought in return a limited supply of 
black and dirty sugar in grass sacks, together with some 
salt and coffee. 

There being no duty collected upon importations into 
Oregon previous to 1849, foreign goods were comparatively 
cheap, though the supply was always limited ; nor had the 
people means to purchase licyond the pure necessities. 
Iron, steel, salt, sugar, coffee, tea, tobacco, powder and 
lead, and a little ready-made clothing and some calico and 
domestics,' were the principal articles purchased by the 
settlers. The Hudson's Bay Company, in their long inter- 
course with the lndi;uis, Iiad, from prudential motives, 
adopted the plan in their trade of passing articles called 
for out through a hole in the wall or partition. Persons 
were not allowed inside among the goods to make selec- 
tions, and the purchaser had to be content with what was 
passed out to him through the aperture. Thus in buying 
a suit of clothes, there was often an odd medley of color 
and sizes. The settlers used to say that Dr. McLoughlin, 
who was a very large man, had sent his measure to Lon- 
don, and all the clothing was made to tit him. The hick- 
ory shirts we used to buy came down to our heels and the 
wrist-bands protruded a foot beyond the hands; and as 
Sancho Panza said of sleep, "they covered one all over like 
a mantle," They were no such "cutty sark" affairs of 
"Paisley ham" as befuddled Tam O'Shanter saw when 
peeping in upon the dancing warlocks of "Alloway's aiild 
haunted kirk." .\ small sliced settler, purchasing one, 
could, by reasonable curtailment of the extremities, have 
sufficient material to clothe one of the children. 

* !i! !i! * :|: :i! 

The pioneer home was a log cabin with a puncheon 
floor and mud chimney, all constructed without sawed 
lumber, glass or nails, the boards being secured upon the 
roof by heavy-weight poles-. Sugar, coffee, tea and even 
salt were not every-day luxuries, and in many cabins were 
entirely unknown. Moccasins made of deer and elk skins 
and soled with rawhide made a substitute for shoes, and 
were worn by both sexes. Buckskin was the material 
from which the greater portion of the male attire was 
manufactured, wdiile the cheapest kind of coarse cotton 
goods furnished the remainder. .\ white or boiled shirt 
was rarely seen and was a sure indication of great wealth 
and aristocratic pretension. Meat was obtained in some 
quantities from the wild game of the forests or the wild 
fowl with which the country abounded at certain seasons, 
until such time as cattle or swine liecanie sufficiently 
numerous to be slaughtered for food The hides of both 
wild and domestic animals were utilized in many ways. 
Clothing, moccasins, saddles and their rigging, bridles, 
ropes, harness and other necessary articles were made 
from them. .A. pair of buckskin pants, moccasins, a hick- 
ory shirt and some sort of cheaply extemporized hat, 
rendered a man comfortable as well as presentable in the 
best society, the whole outfit not costing one-tenth part of 
the price of the essential gewgaws that some of our exqui- 
site sons now sport at the ends of their watch chains, on 
their shirt-fronts or dainty fingers. Buckskin clothing 
answered wonderfully well for rough-and-tumble wear, 
particularly in dry weather, but 1 have known them after 
exposure to a hard dax's rain in contract in a single night 
by a warm fire a foot in longitude, .md after being sub- 
jected to a webfoot winter or two, and a succeeding dry 



PERIOD OF SETTLEMENT 



summer, they would assume grotesque and unfashionable 
shapes, generally leaving from six inches to a foot of nude 
and arid skin between the top of the moccasins and the 
lower end of the breeches ; the knees protruded in front, 
wHile the rear started off in the opposite direction, so that 
when the wearer stood up the breeches were in a constant 
struggle to sit down and t'icc versa. > 

The pioneers brought garden seeds with them, and 
much attention was paid to the production of vegetables, 
which, with milk, game and fish, went a long way toward 
the support of the family. Reaping machines, threshers, 
headers, mowing machines, pleasure carriages, silks, 
satins, laces, kid gloves, plug hats, high-heeled boots, 
crinoline, bustles, false hair, hair dye, jewelry, patent 
medicines, railroad tickets, postage stamps, telegrams, 
pianos and organs, together with a tliousand and one other 
articles to purchase wliicli tlu- ciiiiiili\ i> now drained of 
millions of dollars annuall\, wiir llnii unknown and con- 
sequently not wanteil, .\ liit;lu r ii\ ili/ali. in has introduced 
us to all these modern imprnvinunts. and apparently made 
them necessaries, together with the rum mill, the jail, the 
insane asylum, the poor-house, the penitentiary and the 
gallows. 

Of the people who lived in Oregon during this 
period, Judge Bennett, in his book entitled "Recol- 
lections of an Old Pioneer," says : 

"Among the men who came to Oregon the year 
I did, some were idle, worthless young men, too 
lazy to work at home and too genteel to steal, while 
some were gamblers, and others reputed thieves. 
But when we arrived in Oregon, they were com- 
pelled to work or starve. It was a bare necessity. 
There was no able relative or indulgent friend 
upon whom the idle could quarter themselves, and 
there was little or nothing for the rogues to steal. 
There was no ready way by which they could escape 
into another countr\ . ancl tliey could not conceal 
themselves in Oregon. I never knew so fine a 
population, as a whole community, as I saw in 
Oregon most of the time I was there. They were 
all honest because there was nothing to steal ; they 
were all sober because there was no liquor to drink ; 
there were no misers because there was nothing to 
hoard ; they were all industrious because it was 
work or starve." 

Such was the general character of the early 
pioneer as depicted by men who knew whereof they 
spoke. Another characteristic strongly appeals 
to the mind of the historian — his political capabili- 
ties. His environment and isolation from the rest 
of the world compelled him to work out for himself 
tnany novel and intricate economic problems ; the 
uncertainty as to the ownership of the Oregon ter- 
ritory and the diverse national prejudices and sym- 
pathies of its settlers made the formation of a gov- 
ernment reasonably satisfactory to the whole 
population an exceedingly difficult task. There 
were, however, men in the new comnninit\- deter- 
mined to make the effort, and the reader will be 
able to judge from what follows how well they 
succeeded. 

As early as IS-iS some of the functions of gov- 
ernment were exercised by members of the Metho- 
dist mission. Persons were chosen bv that bodv 



to officiate as magistrates and judges, and their 
findings were generally acquiesced in by persons 
independent of the Hudson's Bay Company because 
of the imorganized condition of the community, 
though there was doubtless a strong sentiment 
among the independent settlers in favor of trusting 
to the general morality and disposition to do right 
rather than to any political organization. The most 
important act of the mission officers was the trial 
of T. J. Hubbard for the killing of a man who 
attempted to enter his house at night with criminal 
intent. Rev. David Leslie presided as judge during 
this noteworthy judicial proceeding, which resulted 
in the acquittal of the defendant on the ground that 
his act was excusable. 

As early as 1840 cfiforts began to be made to 
induce the L^nited States government to extend to 
the people of the Northwest its jurisdiction and 
laws, although to do this was an impossibility ex- 
cept by abrogation of the Joint-Occupancy treaty 
of 1S27 and the satisfactory settlement of the title — 
all which would require at least a year's time. A 
petition was, nevertheless, drafted, signed by David 
Leslie and a number of others and forwarded to 
congress. It was not entirely free from misstate- 
ments and inaccuracies, but is considered, never- 
theless, an able and important state paper. Inas- 
much as the population of Oregon, including 
children, did not exceed two hundred at this time, 
the prayer of the petitioners, it need hardly be said, 
was not granted. But it must not be supposed 
that the document was therefore without effect. It 
did its part toward opening the e\es of the people of 
the East and of congress to the importance and 
value of Oregon, and toward directing public atten- 
tion to the domain west of the Rocky mountains. 

Notwithstanding the paucity of the white people 
of Oregon, the various motives that impelled them 
thither had divided them into four classes — the 
Hudson's Bay Company, the Catholic clergy and 
their following, the Methodist missions and the 
settlers. The Catholics and the company were 
practically a unit politically. The settlers favored 
the missions only in so far as they served the pur- 
pose of helping to settle the country, caring little 
about their religious influence and opposing their 
ambitions. 

The would-be organizers of a government 
found their opportunit}' in the conditions presented 
by the death of Ewing Young. This audacious 
pioneer left considerable property and no legal 
representatives, and the question was, what should 
be done with his belongings? Had he been a 
Hudson's Bay man or a Catholic, the company or 
the church would have taken care of the property. 
Had he been a missionary, his coadjutors might 
have administered, but being a plain American 
citizen, there was no fimctionarv ])ossessed of even 
a colorable right to exercise jurisdiction over his 
estate. In the face of this cnicrgency, the occasion 



INTRODUCTORY 



of Young's funeral, which occurred February 1^ 
1841, was seized upon for attempting the organiza- 
tion of some kind of a government. At an im- 
promptu meeting, it was decided that a committee 
should perform the legislative functions and that 
the other officers of the new government should be 
a governor, a supreme judge with probate jurisdic- 
tion, three justices of the peace, three constables, 
three road commissioners, an attorney-general, a 
clerk of the court and public recorder, a treasurer 
and two overseers of the poor. Nominations were 
made for all these offices, and the meeting adjourned 
until next day. when, it was hoped, a large repre- 
sentation of the citizens of the valley would assem- 
ble at the mission house. 

The time specified saw the various factions in 
full force at the place of meeting. A legislative 
committee was appointed as follows : Revs. F. N. 
Blanchet, Jason Lee, Gustavus Hines and Josiah 
L. Parish ; also Messrs. D. Donpierre, M. Charlevo, 
Robert Moore, E. Lucier and William Johnson. 
No governor was chosen ; the Methodists secured 
the judgeship, and the Catholics the clerk and re- 
corder. Had the friends of the organization been 
more fortunate in their choice of a chairman of the 
legislative committee, the result of the movement 
might have been different, but Rev. Blanchet never 
called a meeting of his committee, and the people 
who assembled on June 1st to hear and vote upon 
the proposed laws, found their congregating had 
been in vain. Blanchet resigned ; Dr. Bailey was 
chosen to fill the vacancy, and the meeting ad- 
journed until October. First, however, it ordered 
the committee to confer with Commodore Wilkes, of 
the American squadron, and John McLoughlin, 
chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, with 
regard to forming a constitution and code of laws. 

Wilkes discouraged the movement, considering 
it unnecessary and impolitic to organize a govern- 
ment at the time. He assigned the following 
reasons : 

"First — On account of their want of right, as 
those wishing for laws were, in fact, a small minor- 
ity of the settlers. 

"Second — That these were not yet necessary, 
even by their own account. 

"Third — That any laws they might establish 
would be but a poor substitute for the moral code 
they all now followed, and that evil-doers would 
not be disposed to settle near a comnnmity entirely 
opposed to their practices. 

"Fourth — The great difficulty they would have 
in enforcing any laws and defining the limits over 
which they had control, and the discord this might 
occasion in their small community. 

"Fifth — They not being the majority and the 
larger portion of the population Catholics, the latter 
would elect officers of their party, and they would 
thus place themselves entirely under the control of 
others. 



"Sixth — The vmfavorable impression it would 
produce at home, from the belief that the mission- 
aries had admitted that in a community brought to- 
gether by themselves, they had not enough of moral 
force to control it and prevent crime, and therefore 
must have recourse to a criminal code." 

The friends of the movement could not deny 
the cogency of this reasoning, and, it appears, con- 
cluded to let the matter drop. The October meet- 
ing was never held, and thus the first attempt at 
forming a government ended. However, the judge 
elected made a satsfactory disposition of the Young 
estate. 

But the question of forming an independent 
or provisional government continued to agitate the 
public mind. During the winter of lS4"(l-:i a 
lyceum was organized at Willamette Falls, now 
Oregon City, at which the propriety of taking steps 
in that direction was warmly debated; On one 
evening the subject for discussion was : "Resolved, 
TlKit it is (.\|)e(lieiit for the settlers on this coast to 
istalilisli an independent government." McLough- 
lin f,i\'ijri.(l the rosnhition and it carried. Mr. 
Aherncthy, ilofeatcd in this deliatc, skillfully saved 
the (lay by introducing as the tn|)ic of the next dis- 
cussion; '■■Resolved. 'That if the United States 
extends its jurisdiction over this country w-ithin 
four years, it will not be expedient to form an inde- 
pendent government." This resolution was also 
carried after a spirited discussion, destroying the 
effect of the first resolution. 

Meanwhile, the settlers in the vicinity of the 
Oregon Institute were skillfully working out a 
plan whereby a provisional government might be 
formed. They knew the sentiment of their con- 
freres at the Falls, the result of the deliberations 
at that place having been reported to them by Mr. 
Le Breton ; they knew also that their designs would 
meet with opposition from both the Hudson's Bay 
Company and the mission people. The problem 
to be solved was how to accomplish their ends 
without stirring up opposition which would over- 
whelm them at the very outset. Their solution of 
this problem is a lasting testimony to their astute- 
ness and finesse. 

As a result of the formation of the Willamette 
Cattle Company and its success in importing stock 
from California, almost every settler was the owner 
of at least a few head, and, of course, the Hudson's 
Bay Company and the missions also had their herds. 
The fact that wolves, bears and panthers were 
destructive to the cattle of all alike furnished one 
bond of common interest uniting the diverse popu- 
lation of Oregon, and this conference furnished 
the conspirators their opportunity. Their idea was 
that having got an object before the people on 
which all could unite, they might advance from the 
ostensible object, protection for domestic animals, 
to the more important, though hidden object, "pres- 
ervation for both property and person." The 



PERIOD OF SETTLEMENT 



"wolf meeting," as it is called, convened on the 2d 
of February, 184;?, and was fully attended. It was 
feared that Dr. I. L. Babcock, the chairman, might 
suspect the main object, but in this instance he 
was less astute than some others. The utmost 
harmony prevailed. It was moved that a com- 
mittee of si.x should be appointed by the chair to 
devise a plan and report at a future meeting, to 
convene, it was decided, on the first Monday in 
March next at ten o'clock a. m. 

After the meeting pursuant to adjournment had 
completed its business by organizing a campaign 
against wolves, bears and panthers, and adopting 
rules and regulations for the government of all in 
their united warfare upon pests, one gentleman 
arose and addressed the assembly, complimenting it 
upon the justice and propriety of the action taken 
for the protection of domestic animals, but "How is 
it. fellow-citizens," said he, "with you and me and 
our children and wives? Have we any organization 
upon which we can rely for mutual protection? Is 
there any power or influence in the country suffi- 
cient to protect us and all we hold dear on earth 
from the worse than wild beasts that threaten and 
occasionally destroy our cattle? Who in our midst 
is authorized at this moment to protect our own and 
the lives of our families? True, the alarm may be 
given as in a recent case, and we may run who feel 
alarmed, and shoot off our guns, while our enemy 
may be robbing our property, ravishing our wives 
and burning the houses over our defenseless fami- 
lies. Common sense, prudence and justice to our- 
selves demand that we act in consistency with the 
principles we commenced. We have mutually and 
unitedly agreed to defend and protect our cattle and 
domestic animals ; now. fellow-citizens. I submit 
and move the adoption of the two following resolu- 
tions, that we may have protection for our persons 
and lives, as well as our cattle and herds : 

" 'Resolved, That a committee be appointed to 
take into consideration the propriety of taking 
measures for the civil and military protection of 
this colony. 

" 'Resolved, That said committee consist of 
twelve persons.' " 

If an oratorical effort is to be judged by the 
effect produced upon the audience, this one deserves 
place among the world's masterpieces. The reso- 
lutions carried unanimously. The committee 
appointed consisted of I. L. I'.abcock. Elijah White, 
James A. O'Neil, Robert Shortess. Robert Xewell, 
Etienne Lucier, Joseph Gervais, Thomas Hubbard, 
C. McRoy. W. H. Cray, Sidney Smith and Ceorge 
Cay. Its first meeting was held before a month had 
elapsed, the place being Willamette Falls. Jason 
Lee and George .Abernethy appeared and argued 
vehemently agaitist the movement as premature. 
When the office of governor was stricken from the 
list, the committee unanimously decided to call 
another meeting for the ensuing 9d of May. W. H. 



Cray, in his history of Oregon, describes this de- 
cisive occasion thus : 

"The 2d of May, the day fixed by the committee 
of twelve to organize a settlers' government, was 
close at hand. The Indians had all learned that the 
'Bostons' were going to have a big meeting, and 
they also knew that the English and French were 
going to meet with them to oppose what the 'Bos- 
tons' were going to do. The Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany had drilled and trained their voters for the 
occasion, under the Rev. F. N. Blanchet and his 
priests, and they were promptly on the ground in 
an open field near a small house, and, to the amuse- 
ment of every American present, trained to vote 
'No' to every motion put ; no matter if to carry their 
point they should have voted 'Yes,' it was 'No.' 
Le Breton had informed the committee, and the 
Americans generally, that this would be the course 
pursued, according to instructions, hence our mo- 
tions were made to test their knowledge of what 
they were doing, and we found just what we ex- 
pected was the case. The priest was not prepared 
for our manner of meeting him, and, as the record 
shows, 'considerable confusion was existing in 
consequence.' By this time we had counted votes. 
Says Le Breton, 'We can risk it ; let us divide and 
count.' 'I second the motion,' says Gray. 'Who's 
for a divide ?' sang out old Joe Meek, as he stepped 
out. 'All for the report of the committee and an 
organization, follow me.' This was so sudden and 
unexpected that the priest and his voters did not 
know what to do, but every American was soon in 
line. Le Breton and Gray passed the line and 
counted fifty-two Americans and but fifty French 
and Hudson's Bay men. They announced the count 
— 'Fifty-two for and fifty against.' 'Three cheers 
for our side !' sang out old Joe Meek. Not one of 
those old veteran mountain voices was lacking in 
that shout for liberty. They were given with a will 
and in a few seconds the chairman. Judge I. L. 
Babcock, called the meeting to order, and the priest 
and his band slunk away into the corners of the 
fences and in a short time mounted their horses 
and left." 

After the withdrawal of the opponents of this 
measure, the meeting became harmonious, of 
course. Its minutes show that A. E. Wilson was 
chosen supreme judge;G. W. Le Breton, clerk of the 
court and recorder; J. L. Meek, sheriff; W. H. 
Willson, treasurer; Messrs. Hill, Shortess, Newell, 
Beers, Hubbard, Gray, O'Neil, Moore and Dough- 
erty, legislative committee ; and that constables, a 
major and captains were also chosen. The salary of 
the legislative committee was fixed at $1.25 per diem 
each member, and it was instructed to prepare a code 
of laws to be submitted to the people at Champoeg 
on the 5th day of July. 

On the day preceding this date, the anniversary 
of America's birth was didy celebrated. Rev. Gus- 
tavus Hines delivering the oration. Quite a number 



INTRODUCTORY 



who had opposed organization at the previous meet- 
ing were present on the 5th and announced their 
determination to acquiesce in the action of the 
majority and to yield obedience to any government 
which might be formed, but representatives of the 
Hudson's Bay Company even went so far in their 
opposition as to address a letter to the leaders of the 
movement asserting their ability to defend both 
themselves and their political rights. 

A review of the "Organic laws" adopted at this 
meeting would be interesting, but such is beyond the 
scope of our volume. Suffice it to say that they were 
so liberal and just, so complete and comprehensive, 
that it has been a source of surprise to students 
ever since that untrained mountaineers and settlers, 
without experience in legislative halls, could con- 
ceive a system so well adapted to the needs and 
conditions of the country. The preamble runs: 
"We, the people of Oregon territory, for the pur- 
poses of mutual protection, and to secure peace and 
prosperity among ourselves, agree to adopt the fol- 
lowing laws and regulations until such time as the 
United States of America extend their jurisdiction 
over us." The two weaknesses, which were soonest 
felt, were the result of the opposition to the creation 
of the office of governor and to the levying of taxes. 
The former difficulty was overcome by substituting, 
in 1844, a gubernatorial executive for the triumvi- 
rate which had theretofore discharged the executive 



functions, and the latter by raising the necessary 
funds by popular subscription. In 1844, also, a 
legislature was substituted for the legislative com- 
mittee. 

Inasmuch as the first election resulted favorably 
to some who owed allegiance to the British govern- 
ment as well as to others who were citizens of the 
United States, the oath of office was indited as 
follows: "I do solemnly swear that I will support 
the organic laws of the provisional government of 
Oregon, so far as the said organic laws are con- 
sistent with my duties as a citizen of the United 
States, or a subject of Great Britain, and faithfully 
demean myself in office. So help me God." 

Notwithstanding the opposition to the pro- 
visional government, the diverse peoples over whom 
it exercised authority, and the weaknesses in it 
resulting from the spirit of compromise of its 
authors, it continued to exist and discharge all the 
necessary functions of sovereignty until, on Au- 
gust 14, 1848, in answer to the numerous memorials 
and petitions, and the urgent appeals of Messrs. 
Thornton and Meek, congress at last decided to 
give to Oregon a territorial form of government 
with all the rights and privileges usually accorded 
to territories of the United States. Joseph Lane, 
of Indiana, whose subsequent career presents so 
many brilliant and so many sad chapters, was 
appointed territorial governor. 



CHAPTER VI 



THE OREGON CONTROVERSY 



The reader is ni)w in possession of such facts 
as will enable him to approach intelligently the 
contemplation of the great diplomatic war of the 
century, the Oregon controversy. It may be safely 
asserted that never before in the history' of nations 
did diplomacy triumph over such wide differences 
of opinion and sentiment and effect a peaceable 
adju.stment of such divergent international interests. 
Twice actual conflict of arms seemed imminent, 
but the spirit of compromise and mutual forbear- 
ance ultimately won, a fact which shows that the 
leaven of civilization was working on both sides of 
the Atlantic, and gives reason to hope that the day 
when the swords of the nations shall be beaten into 
plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks 
may not be as far in the future as some suppose. 



We need not attempt to trace all the conflicting- 
claims which were at any time set up by diiiferent 
nations to parts or the whole of the old Oregon 
territory, nor to go into the controversy in all its 
multiform complications, but will confine our inquiry 
mainly to the negotiations after Great Britain and 
the I'nited States became the sole claimants. France 
early established some right to what was denom- 
inated "the western part of Louisiana," which, in 
1762, she conveyed to Spain. This was retroceded 
to France some thirty-eight years later, and in 1803 
was by that nation conveyed with the rest of 
Louisiana to the United States. So France was left 
out of the contest. In 1819, by the treaty of Florida, 
Spain ceded to the LTnited States all right and title 
whatsoever which she might have to the terri- 



THE OREGON CONTROVERSY 



tory on the Pacific, north of the forty-second 
parallel. 

What then were the claims of the United States 
to this vast domain? Naturally, they were of a 
three-fold character. Our government claimed first 
in its own right. The Columbia river was discovered 
by a citizen of the United States and named by him. 
The river had been subsequently explored from its 
sources to its mouth by a government expedition 
under Lewis and Clark. This had been followed 
and its effects strengthened by American settlements 
upon the banks of the river. While .^.storia, the 
American settlement, had been captured in the war 
of 1812-1."), it had been restored in accordance with 
the treaty of Ghent, one provision of which was that 
"all territory, places and possessions whatsoever, 
taken by either party from the other during the 
war, or which may be taken after the signing of 
this treaty, shall be restored without delay." 

It was a well established and universally recog- 
nized principle of international law that the dis- 
covery of a river followed within a reasonable 
time by acts of occupancy, conveyed the right to 
the territory drained by the river and its tributary 
streams. This, it was contended, would make the 
territory between forty-two degrees and fifty-one 
degrees north latitude the rightful possession of 
the United States. 

The Americans claimed secondly as the suc- 
cessors of France. By the treaty of Utrecht, the 
date whereof was 1713, the north line of the 
Louisiana territory was established as a dividing 
line between the Hudson's bay territory and the 
French provinces in Canada. For centuries it had 
been a recognized principle of international law 
that "continuity" was a strong element of territorial 
claim. .\11 European powders, when colonizing the 
Atlantic seaboard, construed their colonial grants 
to extend, whether expressly so stated or otherwise, 
entirely across the continent to the Pacific ocean, 
and most of these grants conveyed in express terms 
a strip of territory bounded north and south by 
stated parallels of latitude, and east and west by the 
oceans. Great Britain herself had stoutly maintained 
this principle, even going so far as to wage wnth 
France for its integrity the war which was ended by 
the treaty of 1763. By that England acquired Can- 
ada and renounced to France all territory west of 
the Mississijipi river. It was therefore contended 
on the part of the United States that England's 
claim by continuity passed to France and from 
France by assignment to this nation. This claim, 
of course, was subject to any rights which might 
prove to belong to Spain. 

Thirdly, the United States claimed as the suc- 
cessor of Spain all the rights which that nation 
might have acquired by prior discovery or other- 
wise having accrued to the United States by the 
treaty of Florida. 

In the negotiations between Great Britain and 



the United States which terminated in the Joint- 
Occupancy treaty of 1818, the latter nation pressed 
the former for a final quit-claim to all territory 
west of the Rocky mountains. In so doing it 
asserted its intention "to be without reference or 
prejudice to the claims of any other power," but it 
was contended on the part of the American nego- 
tiators, Gallatin and Rush, that the discovery of 
the Columbia by Gray, its exploration by Lewis 
and Clark, and the American settlement at Astoria, 
rendered the claim of the LInited States "at least 
good against Great Britain to the country through 
which such river flowed, though they did not 
assert that the United States had a perfect right 
to the country." 

When, however, the United States succeeded 
to Spain, it was thought that all clouds upon its title 
were completely dispelled, and thereafter it was the 
contention of this government that its right to sole 
occupancy was perfect and indisputable. Great 
Britain, however, did not claim that her title 
amounted to one of sovereignty or exclusive pos- 
session, but simply that it was at least as good as 
any other. Her theory was that she had a right of 
occupancy in conjunction with other claimants, 
which by settlement and otherwise might be so 
strengthened in a part or the whole of the territory 
as ultimately to secure for her the right to be 
clothed with sovereignty. 

In the discussion of the issue, the earliest explo- 
rations had to be largely left out of the case, as they 
were attended with too much vagueness and un- 
certainty to bear any great weight. The second 
epoch of exploration was. therefore, lifted to a 
position of prominence it could not otherwise have 
enjoyed. Perez and Heceta, for the Spaniards, the 
former in 1774, the latter a year later, had explored 
the northwest coast to the fifty-fifth parallel and 
beyond, Heceta discovering the mouth of the Col- 
umbia river. To offset whatever rights might accrue 
from these explorations, England had only the more 
thorough but less extensive survey of Captain James 
Cook, made in 1778. The advantage in point of 
prior discovery would, therefore, seem to be with 
the LTnited States as assignee of Spain. 

After the Joint-Occupancy treaty in 1818 had 
been signed, negotiations on the subject were not 
reopened until 1824. In that year, obedient to the 
masterly instructions addressed to him on July 22, 
1823, by John Quincy Adams, secretary of state, 
Richard Rush, minister to England, entered into 
negotiations with the British ministers. Canning and 
Huskisson, for the adjustment of the boundary. 
Mr. Rush was instructed to offer the forty-ninth 
parallel to the sea, "should it be earnestly insisted 
upon by Great Britain." He endeavored with great 
persistency to fulfill his mission, but his propositions 
were rejected. The British negotiators offered the 
forty-ninth parallel to the Columbia, then the middle 
of that river to the sea, with perpetual right to both 



INTRODUCTORY 



nations of navigating the harbor at the mouth of 
the river. This proposal Mr. Rush rejected, so 
nothing was accomphshed. By treaty conchided in 
February, 1835, an agreement was entered into 
between Great Britain and Russia, whereby the line 
of fifty-four degrees, forty minutes, was fixed as the 
boundary between the territorial claims of the two 
nations, a fact which explains the cry of "Fifty- 
four, forty or fight" that in later days became the 
slogan of the Democratic party. 

In 1836-7 another attempt was made to settle 
the question at issue between Great Britain and the 
United States. Albert Gallatin then represented 
this country, receiving his instructions from Henry 
Clay, secretary of state, who said: "It is not 
thought necessary to add much to the argument 
advanced on this point in the instructions given to 
Mr. Rush and that which was employed by him in 
the course of the negotiations to support our title 
as derived from prior discovery and settlement at 
the mouth of the Columbia river, and from the 
treaty which Spain concluded on the 33d of Feb- 
ruary, 1819. That argument is believed to have 
conclusively established our title on both grounds. 
Nor is it conceived that Great Britain has or can 
make out even a colorless title to any portion of the 
northern coast." Referring to the ot¥er of the forty- 
ninth parallel in a despatch dated February 34, 1S37, 
Mr. Clay said: "It is conceived in a genuine spirit 
of concession and conciliation, and it is our ulti- 
matum and you may so announce it." In order to 
save the case of his country from being prejudiced 
in future negotiations by the liberality of offers 
made and rejected, Mr. Clay instructed Gallatin to 
declare "that the American government does not 
hold itself bound hereafter, in consequence of any 
proposal which it has heretofore made, to agree to 
a line which has been so proposed and rejected, but 
will consider itself at liberty to contend for the full 
measure of our just claims ; which declaration you 
must have recorded in the protocol of one of your 
conferences ; and to give it more weight, have it 
stated that it has been done by the express direction 
of the president." 

Mr. Gallatin sustained the claim of the United 
States in this negotiation so powerfully that the 
British plenipotentiaries, Huskisson, Grant and 
Addington, were forced to the position that Great 
Britain did not assert any title to the country. They 
contented themselves with the contention that her 
claim was sufficiently well founded to give her the 
right to occupy the country in common with other 
nations, such concessions having been made to her 
by the Nootka treaty. The British negotiators com- 
plained of the recommendation of President Monroe 
in his message of December 7, 1824, to establish a 
military post at the mouth of the Columbia river, 
and of the passage of a bill in the house providing 
for the occupancy of the Oregon river. To this the 
American replied by calling attention to the act of 



the British parliament of 1831, entitled "An act for 
regulating the fur trade and establishing a criminal 
and civil jurisdiction in certain parts of North 
America." He contended with great ability and 
force that the recommendation and bill complained 
of did not interfere with the treaty of 1818 and that 
neither a territorial government nor a fort at the 
mouth of the river could be rightly complained of 
by a government which had granted such wide 
privileges and comprehensive powers to the Hud- 
son's Bay Company. 

Before the conclusion of these negotiations, Mr. 
Gallatin had offered not alone the forty-ninth par- 
allel, but that "the navigation of the Columbia river 
shall be perpetually free to subjects of Great Britain 
in common with citizens of the . United States, 
provided that the said line should strike the north- 
easternmost or any other branch of that river at a 
point at which it was navigable for boats." The 
British, on their part, again offered the Columbia 
river, together with a large tract of land between 
Admiralty inlet and the coast, protesting that this 
concession was made in the spirit of sacrifice for 
conciliation and not as one of right. The proposition 
was rejected and the negotiations ended in the treaty 
of August 6, 1837, which continued the Joint- 
Occupancy treaty of 1818 indefinitely, with the pro- 
viso that it might be abrogated by either party on 
giving the other a year's notice. 

"There can be no doubt," says Evans, "that, 
during the continuance of these two treaties, British 
foothold was strengthened and the difficult}- of the 
adjustment of boundaries materially enhanced. Nor 
does this reflect in the slightest degree upon those 
great publicists who managed the claim of the 
United States in those negotiations. Matchless 
ability and earnest patriotism, firm defense of the 
United States' claim, and withal a disposition to 
compromise to avoid rupture with any other nation, 
mark these negotiations in every line. The language 
and intention of these treaties are clear and unmis- 
takable. Neither government was to attempt any 
act in derogation of the other's claim ; nor could any 
advantage inure to either; during their continuance 
the territory should be free and open to citizens and 
subjects of both nations. Such is their plain purport.' 
such the only construction which their language will 
warrant. Yet it cannot be controverted that the 
United States had thereby precluded itself from the 
sole enjoyment of the territory which it claimed in 
sovereignty ; nor that Great Britain acquired a 
peaceable, recognized and uninterrupted tenancy-in- 
common in regions where her title was so imperfect 
that she herself admitted that she could not success- 
fully maintain, nor did she even assert it. She could 
well afford to wait. Hers was indeed the policy 
later in the controversy styled masterly inactivity : 
'Leave the title in abeyance, the settlement of the 
country will ultimately settle the sovereignty.' In 
no event could her colorless title lose color ; while 



THE OREGON CONTROVERSY 



37 



an immediate adjustment of the boundary would 
have abridged the area of territory in which, through 
her subjects, she already exercised exclusive posses- 
sion, and had secured the entire enjoyment of its 
wealth and resources. The Hudson's Bay Company, 
by virtue of its license of trade excluding all other 
r.ritish subjects from the territory, was Great 
liritain's trustee in possession — an empire company, 
omnipotent to supplant enterprises projected by 
citizens of the United States. Indeed, the territory 
had been appropriated by a wealth)-, all-powerful 
monopoly, with whom it was ruinous to attempt to 
compete. Such is a true exhibit of the then con- 
dition of Oregon, produced by causes extrinsic to 
the treaty, which the United States government 
could neither counteract nor avoid. The United 
States had saved the right for its citizens to enter 
the territory, had protested likewise that no act or 
omission on the part of the government or its 
citizens, or any act of commission or omission by 
the British government or her subjects during such 
Joint-Occupancy treaties, should affect in any way 
the United States' claim to the territory. 

"The treaties of 1818 and IS'i] have passed into 
history as conventions for joint occupancy. Prac- 
tically they operated as grants of possession to Great 
Britain, or rather to her representative, the Hudson's 
Bay Company, who, after the merger with the 
Northwest Company, had become sole occupant of 
the territory. The situation may be briefly summed 
up : The United States claimed title to the territory. 
Great Britain, through its empire-trading company, 
occupied it — enjoyed all the wealth and resources 
derivable from it." 

But while joint occupation was in reality non- 
occupation by any but the British, it must not be 
supposed that the case of the United States was 
allowed to go entirely by default during the regime 
of the so-called joint occupancy. In congress the 
advisability of occupying Oregon was frequently 
and vehemently discussed. Ignorance and miscon- 
ception with regard to the real nature of Oregon, 
its climate, soil, products and health fulness, were 
being dispelled. The representations of the Hud- 
son's Bay Company that it was a "miasmatic wilder- 
ness, uninhabitable except by wild beasts and more 
savage men," were being found to 'be false. In 
1821 Dr. John Floyd, a representative in congress 
from Virginia, and Senator Thomas H. Benton, 
of Missouri, had interviews at Washington with 
Ramsey Crooks and Russell Farnhani, who had 
belonged to Astor's party. From these gentlemen 
they learned something of the value of Oregon, its 
features of interest, and its commercial and strategic 
importance. This information Dr. Floyd made 
public in 1822, in a speech in support of a bill "to 
authorize the occupation of the Columbia river, and 
to regulate trade and intercourse with the Indians 
therein." On December 29, 182o, a committee was 



appointed to inquire as to the wisdom of occupying 
the mouth of the Columbia, and the committee's 
report, submitted on April 1.5th of the following 
year, embodied a communication from General 
Thomas S. Jesup, which asserted that the military 
(cc ipancy of the Columbia was a necessity for pro- 
tecting trade and securing the frontier. It recom- 
mended the despatch of a force of two hundred 
men across the continent to establish a fort at the 
mouth of the Columbia river ; that at the same time 
two vessels with arms, ordnance and supplies be 
sent thither by sea. He further proposed the estab- 
lishment of a line of posts across the continent to 
afford protection to our traders ; and on the expir- 
ation of the privilege granted to British subjects to 
trade on the waters of the Columbia, to enable us to 
remove them from our territory, and secure the 
whole to our citizens. Those posts would also assure 
the preservation of peace among the Indians in the 
event of a foreign war and command their neutrality 
or assistance as we might think advisable. The letter 
exposed Great Britain's reasons for her policy of 
masterly inactivity, and urged that some action be 
taken by the United States to balance or offset the 
accretion of British title and for preserving and 
protecting its own. "History," says Evans, "will 
generously award credit to the sagacious Jesup for 
indicating in 182 :i the unerring way to preserve the 
American title to Oregon territory. Nor will it fail 
to comrnend the earnest devotion of that little 
Oregon party in congress for placing on record why 
the government should assert exclusive jurisdiction 
within its own territory." In the next congress the 
subject was again discussed with energy and ability. 
In 1831 formal negotiations with Great Britain were 
resumed. 

All this discussion had a tendency to dispel the 
idea, promulgated as we have seen by the Hudson's 
Bay Company, that the territory was worthless and 
uninhabitable, also to excite interest in the mystic 
region beyond the mountains. 

The United States claimed theoretically that it 
was the possessor of a vested right to absolute 
sovereignty over the entire Oregon territory, and 
in all the negotiations after the signing of the treaty 
of Florida, its ambassadors claimed that the title 
of their country was clearly established. The fact, 
however, that joint occupancy was agreed to at all 
after 1828 could hardly be construed in any other 
light than as a confession of weakness in our title, 
notwithstanding the unequivocal stipulations that 
neither party should attempt anything in derogation 
of the other's claims, and that the controversy should 
be determined upon its merits as they existed prior 
to 1818. If the United States came into possession 
of an absolute title in 1819, why should it afterward 
permit occupation by British subjects and the en- 
forcement of British law in its domain? 

The United States' title, as before stated, rested 
upon three foundation stones — its own discoveries 



INTRODUCTORY 



and explorations, tlie discoveries and explorations 
of the Spaniards, and the purchase of Louisiana. 
While it was not contended that any of these con- 
veyed exclusive right, the position of our country 
was that each supplemented the other ; that, though 
while vested in different nations they were antag- 
onistic, when held by the same nation, they, taken 
together, amounted to a complete title. The title 
was therefore cumulative in its nature and had in it 
the weakness which is inherent under such con- 
ditions. It was impossible to determine with definite- 
ness how many partial titles, the value of each being 
a matter of uncertainty, would cumulatively amount 
to one complete title. And however clear the right 
of the United Stales might seem to its own states- 
men, it is evident that conviction must be pro- 
duced in the minds n|' the I'.ritish ,ils(i if war was to 
be avoided. 

These facts early came to be ap|)reciated by a 
clear-visioned, well-informed and determined little 
band in congress. The debates in that body, as well 
as numerous publications sent out among the people, 
stimulated a few daring spirits to brave the dangers 
of Rocky mountain travel and to see for themselves 
the truth with regard to Oregon. Reports from 
these reacted upon congress, enabling it to reason 
and judge from premises more nearly in accordance 
with facts. Gradually interest in Oregon became 
intensified and the determination to hold it for the 
United States deepened. While the country never 
receded from its conviction of the existence of 
an absolute right of sovereignty in itself, the 
people resolved to establish a title which even the 
British could not (juestion, to win Oregon from 
Great Britain even in accordance with the tenets of 
her own theory. They determined to settle and 
Americanize the territory. In IS.'ii, and again in 
ISlSfi, an clement of civilization was introduced of a 
vastly higher nature than any which accompanied 
the inroads of the Hudson's Bay Company em- 
ployees and of trap])crs and traders. We refer to 
the American missionaries spoken of in former 
chapters. The part which these had in stinudating 
this resolution of the .\mcrican people has been 
and will be sufficiently treated elsewhere. The 
results of Whitman's midwinter ride and labors and 
of the numerous other forces at work among the 
people were crystallized into action in 181:5, when 
a great, swelling tide of humanity, pulsating with 
the restless energy and native daring so character- 
istic of the American, pushed across the desert plains 
of the continent, through the fastnesses of the Rocky 
mountains, and into the heart of the disputed terri- 
tory. Other immigrations followed, and there was 
introduced into the Oregon question a new feature, 
the vital force and import of which could not be 
denied by the adverse claimant. At the same time 
the American government was placed under an 
increased obligation to maintain its right to the 
vallov of the Columbia. 



But we must return now to the diplomatic history 
of the controversy, resuming the same with the 
negotiations of 1831. Martin Van Buren was then 
minister at London. He received instructions rela- 
tive to the controversy from Edward Livingston, 
secretary of state, the tenor of which indicated that 
the United States was not averse to the presence of 
the British in the territory. While they asserted 
confidence in the American title to the entire Oregon 
territory, they said: "This subject, then, is open 
for discussion, and, until the rights of the parties 
can be settled by negotiations, ours can suffer 
nothing by delay." Under these rather lukewarm 
instructions, naturally nothing was accomplished. 

In 1848 efforts to adjust the boundary west of 
the Rocky mountains were again resumed, this time 
on motion of Great Britain. That power requested 
on October ISth of the year mentioned that the 
United States minister at London should be 
furnished with instructions and authority to renew 
negotiations, giving assurance of its willingness to 
])roceed to the consideration of the boundary sul)ject 
"in a perfect spirit of fairness, and to adjust it on 
a basis of equitable com|)ron.iise." On November 
■^■)th Daniel Webster, then secretary of state, replied 
"tiiat the president concurred entirely in the e.xpe- 
dienc}' of making the question res])ecting the Oregon 
territory a subject of immediate attention and 
negotiation between the two governments. He had 
already formed the purpose of expressing this 
opinion in his message to congress, and, at no distant 
day, a communication will be made to the minister 
of the United States in London." 

Negotiations were not, however, renewed until 
October, 1813, when Secretary Upshur sent instruc- 
tions to Edward Everett, American minister to Lon- 
don, again offering the forty-ninth parallel, together 
with the right of navigating the Columbia river upon 
equitable terms. In February of the ensuing year, 
Hon. Richard Packenham, British plenipotentiary, 
came to the American capital with instructions to 
negotiate concerning the Oregon territory. No 
sooner had the discussion fairly begun than a melan- 
choly event happened, Secretary Upshur being killed 
on the L^nited States vessel Princeton by the exjilo- 
sion of a gun. A few months later his successor, 
John C. Calhoun, continued the negotiations. The 
arguments were in a large measure a rei)etition of 
those already advanced, but a greater aggressiveness 
on the part of the British and persistency in deny- 
ing the claims of the United States were noticeable. 
.As in former negotiations, the privilege accorded by 
the Nootka convention was greatly relied upon by 
Great Britain, as proving that no absolute title was 
retained by Spain after the signing of the treaty, 
hence none could be assigned. One striking state- 
ment in Lord Packenham's correspondence was to 
the effect that "he did not feel authorized to enter 
into discussion respecting the territory north of the 
forty-ninth jiaralki of latitude, which was under- 



THE OREGON CONTRO\'ERSV 



stood by the British government to form the basis 
of negotiations on the side of the United States, as 
the hne of the Columbia formed that of Great 
Britain." He thus showed all too plainly the animus 
of his government to take advantage of the spirit 
of compromise which prompted the offer of that line 
and to construe such offer as an abandonment of 
the United States' claim to an absolute title to all 
the Oregon territory. It is hard to harmonize her 
action in this matter with the '"perfect spirit of 
fairness" professed in the note of Lord Aberdeen 
to JMr. Webster asking for a renewal of negotiations. 
No agreement was reached. 

During the sessions, of congress of 1843-4 
memorials, resolutions and petitions from all parts 
of the union came in in a perfect flood. The people 
were thoroughly aroused. In the presidential elec- 
tion which occurred at that time the Oregon question 
was a leading issue. "Fifty-four, forty or fight" 
became the rallying cry of the Democratic party. 
The platform framed in the Democratic national 
convention declared : "Our title to the whole of 
Oregon is clear and unquestionable. No portion of 
the same ought to be ceded to England or any other 
])ower ; and the reoccupation of Oregon at the 
earliest practical period is a great American 
measure." The position of the Whig party was 
milder and less arrogant, but equally emphatic in its 
assertion of belief in the validit)- of the United 
States' title. The fact that the Democrats carried 
in the election, despite the warlike tone of their 
platform and campaign, is conclusive evidence that 
the people were determined to hold their territory 
on the Pacific coast regardless of cost. "Never was 
a government more signally advised by the voice 
of a united people. The popular pulse had been felt, 
and it beat strongly in favor of prompt and decisive 
measures to secure the immediate reoccupation of 
I )regon. It equally i^roclaimed that 'no portion 
thereof ought to be ceded to -Great Britain.'" In 
January, 1845, Sir Richard Packenham, the British 
minister. pro]3osed that the matter in dispute be left 
to arbitration, which proposal was respectfully 
declined. So the administration of President Tyler 
terminated without adjustment of the Oregon 
difficulty. 

Notwithstanding the uiie(|nivocal voice of the 
people in demand of the whole of ( )regon, James 
Buchanan, secretary of state under President Polk, 
in a communication to Sir Richard Packenham, 
dated July 12, 1845. again offered the forty-ninth 
parallel, e.xplaining at the same time that he could 
not have consented to do so had he not found him- 
self embarrassed, if not committed, by the acts of 
his predecessors. Packenham rejected the offer. 
I'luchanan informed him that he was "instructed by 
the president to say that he owes it to his country, 
and a just appreciation of her title to the Oregon 
territory, to withdraw the proposition to the British 
govemment which has been made under his direc- 



tion ; and it is hereby accordingly withdrawn." This 
formal withdrawal of the previous offers of compro- 
mise on the forty-ninth parallel, justified as it was 
by (ireat Britain's repeated rejections, left the Polk 
administration free and untrammeled. Appearances 
indicated that it was now ready to give execution 
to the poi)ular verdict of 1844. The message of the 
president recommended that the year's notice, 
required by the treaty of 1827, be immediately given, 
that measures be adopted for maintaining the rights 
of the United States to the whole of Oregon, and 
tliat such legislation be enacted as would aff'oril 
security and protection to American settlers. 

In harmony with these recommendations, a reso- 
lution was adopted April 27, 1840, authorizing the 
president "at his discretion to give to the govern- 
ment of Great Britain the notice required by the 
second article of the said convention of the 6th of 
August, 1827, for the abrogation of the same." 

.Acting in accordance with the resolution, Pres- 
ident Polk the next day sent notice of the determina- 
tion of the United States "that, at the end of twelve 
months from and after the delivery of these presents 
by the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipoten- 
tiary of the United States at London, to her Britan- 
nic Majesty, or to her Majesty's principal secretary 
of state for foreign affairs, the said convention shall 
be entirelv annulled and abrogated." 

On tlie 27th of December, 1845, Sir Richard 
Packenham had submitted another proposal to 
arbitrate the matter at issue between the two gov- 
ernments. The proposal was declined on the ground 
that to submit the proposition in the form stated 
would preclude the United States from making a 
claim to the whole of the territory. On January 
17th of the following year, a modified proposal was 
made to refer "the question of title in either govern- 
ment to the whole territory to be decided ; and if 
neither were found to pos.sess a complete title to the 
whole, it was to be divided between them accord- 
ing to a just appreciation of the claims of each." 
The answer of Mr. Buchanan was clear and its 
language calculated to preclude any more arbitration 
proposals. He said: "If the government should 
consent to an arbitration upon such terms, this would 
be construed into an intimation, if not a direct invi- 
tation to the arbitrator to divide the territory 
between the two parties. W'ere it possible for this 
government, under any circumstances, to refer the 
question to arbitration, the title and the title alone, 
detached from every other consideration, ought to 
be the only question submitted. The title of the 
L''nited States, which the president regards clear and 
unquestionable, can never be placed in jeopardy by 
referring it to the decision of any individual, whether 
sovereign, citizen or subject. Nor does he believe 
the territorial rights of this nation arc a proper 
subject of arbitration." 

But the P.ritish government seems now to have 
become determined that the (|nestion shoidd be 



INTRODUCTORY 



settled without further delay. The rejected arbi- 
tration proposal was followed on the 6th day of 
June, 1846, by a draft of a proposed treaty sub- 
mitted by Sir Richard Packenham to Secretary of 
State Buchanan. The provisions of this were to the 
efifect that the boundary should be continued along 
the forty-ninth parallel "to the middle of the channel 
which separates the continent from Vancouver 
island ; and thence southerly through the middle of 
said channel and of Fuca's strait to the Pacific 
ocean." It stipulated that the navigation of the 
Columbia river should remain free and open to the 
Hudson's Bay Company and to all British subjects 
trading with the same ; that the possessory right of 
that company and of all British subjects south of 
the forty-ninth parallel should be respected, and that 
"the farms, lands and other properties of every 
description belonging to the Puget Sound Agricul- 
tural Company shall be confirmed to said company. 
In case, however, the situation of these farms and 
lands should be considered by the United States to 
be of public importance, and the United States gov- 
ernment should signify a desire to obtain possession 
of the whole, or any part thereof, the property so 
required shall be transferred to the said government 
at a proper valuation, to be agreed upon between the 
parties." 

Upon receipt of the important communication 
embodying this draft, the president asked in advance 
the advice of the senate, a very unusual, though not 
an unprecedented procedure. Though the request 
of the president was dated June 10th, and the con- 
sideration of the resolution to accept the British 
proposal was not begun until June 12th, on June 
13th it was "resolved (two-thirds of the senators 
present consenting), that the president of the United 
States be, and is hereby, advised to accept the pro- 
posal of the British government, accompanying his 
message to the senate, dated June 10, 1846, for a 
convention to settle the boundaries, etc., between the 
United States and Great Britain, west of the Rocky 
or Stony mountains." The advise was, however, 
"given under the conviction that, by the true con- 
struction of the second article of the project, the 
rights of the Hudson's Bay Company to navigate 
the Columbia would expire with the termination of 
their present license of trade with the Indians, etc., 
on the northwest coast of America, on the 30th day 
of May, 18o0." 

The wonderful alacrity with which this advice 
w^as given and with wnich five degrees, forty 
minutes of territory were surrendered to Great 
Britain, is accounted for by some historians (and 
no doubt they are correct) by supposing that the 
"cession" was made in the interests of slavery. The 
friends of that institution were unwilling to risk a 
w-ar with Great Britain which would interfere with 
the war with Mexico and the annexation of Texas. 
Their plan was to acquire as much territory from 
which slave states could be formed as possible, and 



they were not overscrupulous about sacrificing terri- 
tory which must ultimately develop into free states. 
But for unfortunate diplomacy, "it is quite probable 
that British Columbia would be to-day, what many 
would deem desirable in view of its growing 
importance, a part of the United States." 

Notwithstanding the great sacrifice made by the 
United States for the sake of peace, it was not long 
until war clouds were again darkening our national 
skies. The determining of the line after it reached 
the Pacific ocean soon became a matter of dispute. 
Hardly had the ratifications been exchanged when 
Captain Prevost. for the British government, set 
up the claim that Rosario was the channel intended 
in the treaty. The claim was, of course, denied by 
Mr. Campbell, who was representing the United 
States in making the survey line. It was contended 
by him that the Canal de Haro was the channel 
mentioned in the treaty. Lord Russell, conscious 
no doubt of the weakness of his case, proposed as 
a compromise President's channel, between Rosario 
and De Haro straits. The generosity of this proposal 
is obvious when we remember that the San Juan 
islands, the principal bone of contention, would be 
on the British side of this line. Indeed, Lord Lyons, 
the British diplomatic representative in the United 
States, was ex]iressly instructed that no line should 
be accepted which did not give San Juan to the 
British. The position of the United States was 
stated by Secretary of State Lewis Cass, with equal 
clearness and decisiveness. Eflforts to settle 
the matter geographically proved unavailing and 
diplomacy again had to undergo a severe test. 

For a number of years the matter remained in 
abeyance. Then the pioneer resolved to try the plan 
he had before resorted to in the settlement of the 
main question. He pushed into the country with 
wife and family. The Hudson's Bav Company's 
representatives were alreadv there, and the danger 
of a clash of arms between the subjects of the queen 
and the citizens of the United States, resident in the 
disputed territory, soon became imminent. Such a 
collision would undoubtedly involve the two 
countries in war. 

In the session of the Oregon territorial legis- 
lature of 18.')"2-3, the archipelago to which San Juan 
island belongs was organized into a county. Taxes 
were in due time imposed on Hudson's Bay Com- 
pany property, and when payment was refused, the 
sherifif promptly sold sheep enough to satisfy the 
levy. Recriminations followed as a matter of course 
and local excitement ran high. General Harney, 
commander of the department of the Pacific, inaugu- 
rated somewhat summary proceedings. He landed 
over four hundred and fifty troops on the island, and 
instructed Captain Pickett to protect American 
citizens there at all cost. English naval forces of 
considerable power gathered about the island. Their 
commander protested against military occupancy. 
Pickett replied that he could not, under his orders. 



THE CAYUSE WAR 



permit any joint occupancy. General Harney, how- 
ever, had acted without instructions from the seat 
of government, and tlie president (Hd not approve 
his measures officially, though it was plainly evident 
that the administration was not averse to having the 
matter forced to an issue. 

At this juncture, the noted General Scott was 
sent to the scene of the difficulty, under instructions 
to permit joint occupancy until the matter in dispute 
could be settled. Harney was withdrawn from 
command entirely. Finally, an agreement was 
reached between General Scott and the British 
governor at \'ancouver that each party should police 
the territory with one hundred armed men. 

Diplomacy was again tried. Great Britain 
proposed that the question at issue be submitted to 
arbitration, and she suggested as arbiter the pres- 
ident of the Swiss council or the king of Sweden 
and Norway or the king of the Netherlands. The 
proposition was declined by the United States. For 
ten years longer the dispute remained unsettled. 
Eventually, on May 8, 1871, it was mutually 
agreed to submit the question, without appeal, to 
the arbitrament of Emperor William, of Germany. 
George Bancroft, the well-known historian, was 



chosen to present the case of the United States, and 
it is said that "his memorial of one hundred and 
twenty octavo pages is one of the most finished and 
unanswerable diplomatic arguments ever produced." 
The British also presented a memorial. These 
were interchanged and replies were prepared by 
each contestant. The emperor gave the matter 
careful and deliberate attention, calling to his assist- 
ance three eminent jurists. His award was as fol- 
lows : "Most in accordance with the true interpreta- 
tion of the treaty concluded on the 1.5th of June, 
1846, between the governments of her Britannic 
Majesty and the United States of America, is the 
claim of the government of the United States, that 
the boundary line between the territories of her 
Britannic Majesty and the L'nited States should be 
drawn through the Haro channel. Authenticated 
by our autograph signature and the impression of 
the Imperial Great Seal. Given at Berlin, October 
31, 1873." This brief and unequivocal decree ended 
forever the vexatious controversy which for so 
many years had disturbed friendly feelings and 
endangered the peace of the two great Anglo-Saxon 
peoples. No shot was fired ; no blood was shed ; 
diplomacy had triumphed. 



CHAPTER VII 



THE CAYUSE WAR 



Long before the settlement of the Oregon ques- 
tion, signs of another struggle for ownership of the 
country had become distinctly visible. The Indian 
had begun to perceive what must have been fully 
apparent to the tutored mind of the more enlight- 
ened race, that when the sturdy American began 
following the course of empire to westward, that 
harsh, inexorable law of life, the survival of the 
fittest, would be brought home to the red man. He 
had begun to feel the approach of his own sad fate 
and was casting about for the means to avert the 
coming calamity or, if that could not be, to delay 
the evil hour as long as possible. 

Although no large immigration had entered the 
Oregon country prior to 1S4:), that nf the preceding 
year numbering only one hundred and eleven, the 
few settlers of ( )regon had already become appre- 
hensive for the safety of their brethren en route to 
the west, and .Sub-Indian Agent White had sent a 
message to meet the immigrants of 1843 at Fort 



Hall, warning tliem to travel in companies of nut 
less than fifty and to keep close watch upon their 
property. The reason for the latter injunction be- 
came apparent to the travelers in due time, for the 
Indians, especially those who had become accus- 
tomed to white people by reason of their residence 
near the mission, were not slow to help themselves 
to clothing, household goods, cattle or horses, when 
an opportunity was ofifered. However, the fact 
fbat none of the immigrants settled near the mission 
had a quieting effect upon the Indians of that neigh- 
borhood. 

In 1844 an Indian named Cockstock. with a 
small following, made hostile demonstrations in 
Oregon City. Failing to provoke a quarrel with 
the white residents, he retired to an Indian village 
across the river and endeavored to incite its occu- 
pants to acts of hostility. In this he failed. It 
appears that formerly Cockstock had visited the 
home (if Dr. White, purposing to kill him for a 



42 



INTRODUCTORY 



real or fancied wrong, but. his intended victim being 
absent, he had not been able to do greater damage 
than to break the windows of the sub-agent's house. 
An unsuccessful attempt had been made to arrest 
him for this offense, and he was now bent on calling 
the Americans to account for their audacity in 
pursuing him with such intent. With an interpre- 
ter he returned to the Oregon City side. He was 
met at the landing by a number of whites, who 
doubtless meant to arrest him. In the excitement 
firearms were discharged on both sides and George 
W. Le Breton, who had served as clerk of the first 
legislative committee of Oregon, was wounded. 
The other Indians withdrew to a position on the 
blufifs above town and began shooting at the whites, 
who returned their fire with such effectiveness as 
soon to dislodge them. In the latter part of the 
fight two more Americans were wounded, one of 
whom died, as did also Le Breton, from the effects 
of poison from the arrow points. The Indian loss 
was Cockstock killed and one warrior wounded. 
Aside from this, there was no serious trouble with 
Indians in the Willamette valley during the earlier 
years, though frequently the Indian agent was 
called upon to settle disputes caused by the appro- 
priation by Indians of cattle belonging to white 
men. 

Prior to 18-12, a number of indignities had been 
offered to Dr. Whitman at his mission station at 
Waiilatpu, near where Walla Walla now is. These 
he had borne with Christian forbearance. During 
the winter of 1843 he went east. Some of the 
Indians supposed that he intended to bring enough 
of his people to punish them for these offenses. 
He did bring with him in the summer of 1843 nearly 
nine hundred people, none of whom, however, were 
equipped for Indian warfare or of a militant spirit. 
As no offense was oft'ered the Indians and not an 
acre of their lands was appropriated by these whites, 
the quiet of the upper country was not disturbed. 
But the mission was thereafter practically a failure 
' as far as its primary purpose was concerned, as was 
also that of Rev. H. H. Spalding in the Nez Perce 
country. 

After the return of Whitman, an event hap- 
pened which boded no good to the white people. 
About forty Indians, mostly of the Cayuse and 
Walla Walia tribes, having decided to embark ex- 
tensively in the cattle business, formed a company 
to visit California for the purpose of securing stock 
by trading with the Spaniards. Peo-peo-mox-mox, 
head chief of the Walla Wallas, was the leader of 
the enterprise. The company reached California 
in safety, had good success for a while in accom- 
plishing their ends, but eventually fell into difficulty 
through their unwillingness to be governed bv the 
laws of the land. While on a hunting expedition, 
they met and conquered a band of robbers, recover- 
ing a number of head of horses stolen from Ameri- 
cans and Spaniards. Some of them were claimed 



by their former owners, in accordance with the law 
that property of this kind belonged to the original 
possessors until sold and marked with a transfer 
mark. An incident of the dispute was the killing 
by an American (in cold blood if the Indian account 
be true) of Elijah, son of Peo-peo-mox-mox. This 
unfortunate event had its eft'ect in deepening the 
hatred of the Indians for the American people. 
Peo-peo-mox-mox and his band were eventually 
expelled from California by the Spanish authori- 
ties, being pursued with such vigor that they had 
to leave their cattle behind. They returned home 
in the spring of 1845. Dr. Whitman was deeply 
disturbed by the incident, fearing that the Indians 
would take their revenge upon his mission, and sent 
a hasty message to the sub-Indian agent, so stating. 
White was visited about the same time by an Indian 
chief, Ellis, who wished advice as to what to do in 
the matter. White states that he was apprehen- 
sive of difficulty in adjusting it, "particularly as 
they lay much stress uixjn the restless, disaffected 
scamps late from Willamette to California, loading 
them with the vile epithets of 'dogs, thieves,' etc., 
from which they believed or affected to that the 
slanderous reports of our citizens caused all their 
loss and disasters, and therefore held us 
responsible." 

"According to Ellis," writes ^Irs. \'ictor, "the 
Walla Wallas, Cayuses, Nez Perces, Spokanes, 
Pend d'Oreilles and Snakes were on terms of amity 
and alliance ; and a portion of them were for raising 
two thousand warriors and marching at once to 
California to take reprisals by capture and plunder, 
enriching themselves by the spoils of the enemy. 
Another part were more cautious, wishing first to 
take advice and to learn whether the white people 
in Oregon would remain neutral. A third party 
were for holding the Oregon colony responsible, 
because Elijah had been killed by an American. 

"There was business, indeed, for an Indian 
agent with no government at his back, and no 
money to carry on either war or diplomacy. But 
Dr. White was equal to it. He arranged a cordial 
reception for the chief among the colonists ; planned 
to have Dr. McLoughlin divert his mind by refer- 
ring to the tragic death of his own son by treachery, 
which enabled him to sympathize with the father 
and relatives of Elijah ; and on his own part took 
him to visit the schools and his own library, and in 
every way treated the chief as though he were the 
first gentleman in the land. Still further to establish 
social equality, he put on his fanner's garb and be- 
gan working in his plantation, in which labor Ellis 
soon joined him, and the two discussed the benefits 
already enjoyed by the native population as the 
result of intelligent labor. 

"Nothing, however, is so convincing to an 
Indian as a present, and here it would seem Dr. 
White nnist have failed, but not so. In the autumn 
of 1844, thinking to prevent trouble with the immi- 



THE CAYUSE WAR 



.q-ration by enabling the chiefs in the upper country 
to obtain cattle without violating the laws, he 
had given them some ten-dollar treasury drafts 
to be exchanged with the emigrants for young 
stock, which drafts the emigrants refused to accept, 
not knowing where they should get them cashed. 
To heal the wound caused by this disappointment, 
White now sent word by Ellis to these chiefs to 
come down in the autumn with Dr. Whitman and 
Mr. Spalding to hold a council over the California 
affair, and to bring with them their ten-dollar drafts 
to exchange with him for a cow and a calf each, 
out of his own herds. He also promised them that 
if they would postpone their visit to California 
until the spring of 1847, and each chief assist him 
to the amount of two beaver skins, he would estab- 
lish a manual training and literary school for their 
children, besides using every means in his power to 
have the trouble with the Californians adjusted, 
and would give them from his private funds five 
hundred dollars with which to purchase young 
c<i\vs in California." 

i'.y this means White succeeded in averting an 
impending calamity, though he was unable to fulfill 
all his pledges. Peo-peo-mox-mox did, however, 
return to California in 1846 with forty warriors to 
demand . satisfaction for the murder of his son. 
Not a little excitement resulted, and a company was 
sent by the California authorities to protect fron- 
tier settlements. The Indians, seeing that both 
Americans and Spaniards were prepared to defend 
themselves, made no hostile movement, but gave 
their attention to trading and other peaceful pur- 
suits. 

For a few years prior to the settlement of the 
Oregon question in 1846, there was another cause 
of alarm among the colonists, namely, the possibil- 
ity of war with Great Britain and consequent hos- 
tilities between the settlers and the Hudson's Bay 
Company. It was very certain that in the event of 
war the Indians would side with the British com- 
pany, and the condition of the colonists would be- 
come truly deplorable. Happily, this contingency 
was averted by the triumph of diplomacy. 

But even after the question of sovereignty had 
been settled by the treaty of peace, war clouds still 
hung over the Northwest. In his message to the 
provisional legislature of Oregon, sent in December 
8, 1847, Governor Abernethy referred to the Indian 
situation in this language : 

"Our relations with the Indians become every 
year more embarrassing. They see the white man 
occupying their land, rapidly filling up the country, 
and they put in a claim for pay. They have been 
told that a chief would come out from the United 
States and treat with them for their land ; they 
have been told this so often that they begin to doubt 
it ; 'at all events,' they say, 'he will not come till we 
are all dead, and then what good will blankets do 
us? We want something now.' This leads to 



trouble between the settler and the Indians about 
him. Some plan should be devised by which a 
fund can be raised and presents made to the Indians 
to keep them quiet until an agent arrives from the 
United States. A number of robberies have been 
committed by the Indians in the upper country upon 
emigrants as they were passing through their terri- 
tory. This should not be allowed to pass. An 
appropriation should be made by you sufficient to 
enable the superintendent of Indian affairs to take a 
small party in the spring and demand restitution of 
the property, or its equivalent in horses." 

As heretofore stated, this message reached the 
legislature December 8, 1847. The same day 
another was sent with communications from Will- 
iam McBean and Sir James Douglas, of the Hud- 
son's Bay Company, giving details of a horrible 
massacre in the upper country. The calamity so 
long expected had come at last. With savage 
whoops and fiendish yells, the Cayuse Indians had 
fallen upon the helpless inhabitants of the Waiilatpu 
mission, enacting the most awful tragedy which has 
stained the pages of northwest history, a history 
presenting many dark and dreadful chapters, writ- 
ten in the blood of the Argonauts who bore the 
stars and stripes o'er plain and mountain and 
through the trackless forest to a resting-place on 
the Pacific shore. 

There were several causes in addition to the 
general ones heretofore recited which impelled the 
Indians to strike their first blow when and where 
they did, .A short time before the fatal 2nth of 
November, Bishop A. M. A. Blanchet, of the Catho- 
lic Society of Jesus, Rev. J. B. A. Brouillet, and 
other priests, made their appearance in the vicinity 
of the Whitman mission. Whitman met Blanchet 
at Fort Walla Walla and told him frankly that he 
was not pleased at his coming and would do nothing 
to help him establish his mission. The priests, how- 
ever, eventually took up their abode in the house of 
an Indian named Tauitowe. on the Umatilla river, 
having failed to secure a site near Whitman from 
Tiloukaikt. The later intercourse between Whit- 
man and Blanchet seems to have been more friendly 
than their first interview, and there is no evidence 
of anv bitter sectarian quarrel between them. But 
there is little doubt that the priests encouraged the 
Indians in the belief that the Americans would even- 
tually take all their lands. Many of the earlier 
Protestant writers accused the priests, or the Hud- 
son's Bay Company, or both, of having incited the 
Indian murderers to their devilish deeds, but most 
of the historians of later date refuse to accept any 
such theory. 

Perhaps one of the boldest of the early secta- 
rian writers was W. H. Gray, whose history of 
Oregon is so palpably and bitterly partisan and 
shows such a disposition to magnify "trifles light as 
air" that it fails to carry conviction to the mind of 
the unprejudiced reader. 



INTRODUCTORY 



The proximate cause of the massacre, assigned 
by the Indians tliemselves, was a belief that Dr. 
VVhitman was administering poison i-istead of 
wholesome medicines to such of their number as 
were sick and required his professional services. 
The large immigration of lS-4? had been the victim 
of a terrible pestilence, and by the time it reached 
the vicinity of Whitman's station was suffering 
from measies in a form so virulent as to cause the 
death of many. Of course, the disease was com- 
municated to the Indians, who hung about the 
wagons parleying or pilfering. The condition of 
the diseased Indians became pitiful. "It was most 
distressing," said Spalding, "to go into a lodge of 
some ten or twenty fires, and count twenty or twen- 
ty-five, some in the midst of measles, others in the 
last stage of dysentery, in the midst of every kind 
of filth, of itself sufficient to cause sickness, with no 
suitable means to alleviate their inconceivable 
sufferings, with perhaps one well person to look 
after the wants of two sick ones. They were dying 
every day, one, two, and sometimes five in a day, 
with the dysentery which generally followed the 
measles. Everywhere the sick and dying were 
pointed to Jesus and the well were urged to prepare 
for death." 

Six were sick with measles in the doctor's house- 
hold, and furthermore, Mrs. ( )sborn was weakly 
from a recent confinement and her baby was in ill- 
health. Dr. Whitman had the care of all these, and 
besides was acting as physician to the entire white 
and Indian population of the surrounding countr}-. 
He was unremitting in his attentions to those who 
needed him, but no skill could avail to stav the rav- 
ages of the dread scourge. 

This terrible condition of things furnished an 
opportunity to Whitman's tvv(i principal enemies — 
Joe Lewis, a half-breed, of his own hou.sehold, and 
Chief Tiloukaikt — both of whom had been many 
times the beneficiaries of his benevolence. The 
cause of Lewis's spite is not known, but "with the 
iniquity which seemed inherent in his detestable 
nature," he began circulating the report that Whit- 
man was poisoning the Indians, for the purpose of 
securing their lands and horses. He even went so 
far as to state that he (Lewis) had heard Dr. and 
Mrs. Whitman and Mr. Spalding discussing the 
matter among themselves. 

"The mission buildings." says (jrav. "occupied a 
triangular space of ground fronting the north in a 
straight line, about four hundred feet in length. 
The doctor's house, standing on the west end and 
fronting west, was eighteen by sixty-two feet, 
adobe walls ; library and bedroom on south end ; 
dining and sitting-room in the middle, eighteen 
by twenty-four ; Indian room on north end. eighteen 
by twenty-six ; kitchen on east side of the 
house, eighteen by twenty-six ; fireplace in the 
middle and bedroom in the rear ; school-room join- 
ing on the east of the kitchen, eighteen by thirty; 



blacksmith shop, one hundred and fifty feet east ; 
the house called the mansion on the east end of 
t'le angle, thirt\-two by forty feet, one and one- 
half stories; tiie mill made of wood, standing upon 
the old site about four hundred feet from either 
house. The east and south space of ground was 
protected by the mill ])ond and Walla Walla creek — 
nortli front b\- a ditch that discharged the waste 
water from the mill, and served to irrigate the farm 
in front of the doctor's house, which overlooked the 
whole. To the north and east is a high knoll, less 
than one-fourth of a mile distant and directly to 
the north, three-fourths of a mile distant is Mill 
creek." 

Referring to the disposition of different persons 
about these premises at the time of the outbreak, the 
same writer says ; 

"Joseph Stanfield had brought in an ox from 
the plains, and it had been sht)t by Francis Sager. 
Messrs. Kimball, Canfield and Hoffman were dress- 
ing it between the two houses ; Mr. Sanders was in 
the school, which had just called in for the 
afternoon ; Mr. Mar.sh was grinding at the mill ; 
Mr. Gillan was on his tailor's bench in the large 
adobe house, a short distance from the doctor's ; 
Mr. Hall was at work laying a floor to a room ad- 
joining the doctor's house ; Air. Rogers was in the 
garden ; Mr. Osborn and family were in the Indian 
room adjoining the doctor's sitting-room ; young 
Mr. Sales was lying sick in the family of Mr. Can- 
field, who was living in the blacksmith shop ; young 
Mr. Bewley was sick in the doctor's house ; John 
Sager was sitting in the kitchen but partially recov- 
ered from the measles ; the doctor and Mrs. Whit- 
man, with three sick children, and Mrs. Osijorn and 
her sick child were in the dining or sitting-room." 

Dr. Whitman had attended an Indian funeral 
on the morning of the fatal "iOth of November. 
.\fter his return he remained about the house, and is 
said to have been reading in his Bible when some 
one called him to the kitchen, where John Sager 
was. His voice was heard in conversation with an 
Indian, and soon after the work of slaughter began. 
Whitman was tomahawked and shot. John Sager 
was overpowered, cut and gashed with knives ; his 
throat cut and his body pierced with several balls 
from short Hudson's Bay muskets. Mrs. Whitman, 
who was in the dining-room, hearing the tumult, 
began wringing her hands in anguish and exclaim- 
ing, "Oh, the Indians! the Indians!" The Osborn 
familv hid themselves under the floor of the Indian 
room. Having done their dreadful work in the 
kitchen, the Indians engaged in it joined others in 
the work of despatching such of the American men 
and boys as they could find on the outside. Mrs. 
Whitman ran to the assistance of her husband in 
the kitchen. Women from the mansion house came 
to her aid, as did also Mr. Rogers, who had been 
twice wounfled, but the noble doctor, though still 
breathing, was past all huinan assistance. Mr. 



THE CAY USE WAR 



Kimball, with a broken arm, came into the house, 
and all engaged in fastening the doors and removing 
the sick children up-stairs. 

Without all was din and turmoil and fury. Re- 
treating women and children screaming in dread- 
ful anguish, the groans of the dying, the roar of 
musketry, the unearthly yells of frenzied savages, 
maddened with a diabolical thirst for human blood, 
the furious riding of naked, dusky horsemen, insane 
with excitement, the cries of despair and the tierce, 
exultant shouts of infuriated fiends mingled to- 
gether to create a scene which for terror and de- 
spair on the one side and devilish atrocity on the 
other has few parallels in human history. No pen 
has power to describe it adequately and no imagina- 
tion is equal to its full reconstruction. 

Having killed all the male representatives of 
the hated American race to be found without, the 
Indians turned again to the doctor's house. Mrs. 
Whitman, venturing too near a window, was shot 
through the breast. The doors were battered down 
and the window smashed. By the time the Indians 
had gained an entrance to the building, Mrs. Whit- 
man, Mrs. Hays, Miss Bewley, Catherine Sager 
and Alessrs. Kimball and Rogers and the three sick 
children had taken refuge in an up-stairs room, 
whence Mrs. Whitman and Mr. Rogers were soon 
summoned by the Indians. As they did not comply 
with the request to come down, Tamsucky started 
up-stairs after them, but seeing a gun so placed 
(by Miss Bewley) as to command the stairway, he 
became frightened and advanced no further. He, 
however, urged Mrs. Whitman to come down, as- 
suring her that she would not be hurt. On learning 
that she had been shot, he expressed great sorrow, 
and upon being assured that there were no Ameri- 
cans in the room waiting to kill him, Tamsucky at 
last went up-stairs and engaged in conversation 
with the people there, in the course of which he 
reiterated expressions of sorrow for what had hap- 
pened and desired the white men and women to 
retire to the mansion house, as the building they 
then occupied might soon be destroyed by fire. 
Eventually, Mrs. Whitman started down, assisted 
by Mr. Rogers and Mrs. Hays. Her wound, or 
the sight of her mangled and dying husband, or 
both, caused a faintness to come over her, and she 
was laid on the settee. As this was borne out of 
the door, a volley was fired into it and those who 
bore it, killing or fatally wounding Mr. Rogers, 
Mrs. Whitman and Francis Sager, the last-named, 
according to Gray, being shot by Joe Lewis. 

Not content with destroying the lives of their 
victims, the Indians gave vent to their savage spleen 
by heaping upon the dead and dying such indigni- 
ties as they could. The noble face of the good doc- 
tor, a face that had expressed no sentiments but 
those of kindness toward the dusky savages, was 
hacked beyond recognition, while the doctor still 
breathed, by the tomahawk of Tiloukaikt ; the ma- 



tronly features of Mrs. Whitman were lashed 
unmercifully with whips, and her body was rolled 
contemptuously in the mud ; John Sager was terri- 
bly gashed with knives, and the remains of other 
victims were treated with similar indignities. 

Joe Lewis, the darkest demon of the tragedy, 
went to the school-room, sought out the innocent 
children, who, terrified, had hidden themselves in 
the loft above, and brought them down to the 
kitchen to be shot. For a time they stood huddled 
together, guns pointed at them from almost every 
direction, expecting the order to be given at any 
moment which should occasion their death. Eliza, 
daughter of Rev. H. H. Spalding, was among 
them. Being acquainted with the Indian language, 
she understood every word that was said regarding 
the fate of herself and the other children, and her 
feelings, as she heard the Indians beseeching their 
chief to give the order to shoot, may be imagined. 
That order was never given, thanks, it is claimed, 
to the interposition of Joseph Stanfield, and the chil- 
dren were led away by two friendly Walla Wallas 
to a place of seclusion and temporary safety. 

When night closed down upon this scene of 
savage cruelty and destruction, the Indians with- 
drew to the lodge of Tiloukaikt to review the day's 
proceedings and consult as to future operations. 
The killed on this first day of the massacre were 
Dr. and Mrs. Whitman, Mr. Rogers, John and 
Francis Sager, Messrs. Gilliland (Gray calls him 
Gillan), Marsh, Sanders and Hoffman. Mr. 
Osborn and family had taken refuge under the floor 
of the Indian room at the first outbreak. There 
they remained until night, when they stole out and 
sought safety in the brush. Eventually, after 
enduring terrible hardships, they reached Fort 
Walla Walla, where McBean, yielding to their im- 
portunity, reluctantly furnished them a blanket or 
two and enough victuals to sustain life. Mr. Can- 
field, wounded, fled to the blacksmith shop, thence 
to the mansion house, where he secreted himself 
until the coming of darkness, when he stole away 
to Lapwai. Mr. Hall escaped by snatching a gun 
which had missed fire from an Indian and pro- 
tecting himself with it till he reached the cover of 
the brush, whence he escaped to Fort Walla Walla. 
He was put across the Columbia river by Mr. 
McBean, and started for the Willamette valley, 
but was never afterward heard of. Mr. Kimball 
and the four sick children, who remained in the 
attic which Mrs. Whitman and Mr. Rogers were 
induced by the treachery of Tamsucky to leave, 
were forgotten by the Indians in their excitement 
and were left unharmed the first day. Crocket 
Bewley and Amos Sales, both sick, were spared for 
reasons unknown until Tuesday, December Tth, 
when they were cruelly butchered in their beds. 

The morning of November 30th, Mr. Kimball, 
induced by the suffering of himself and the sick 
children to seek water, was discovered and shot. 



INTRODUCTORY 



The same fate overtook James Young, who, igno- 
rant of the massacre, had come from the saw-mill 
with a load of lumber. On this day, also, two sons 
of Donald Munson, of the Hudson's Ba}- Company, 
who were attending school at the station, also a 
Spanish half-breed boy, whom Dr. Whitman had 
raised, were sent to Fort Walla Walla, for the 
Indians had no quarrel with any but Americans. 

Wednesday. December 1st, Rev. J. B. A. 
Brouillet, one of the Catholic priests before men- 
tioned, arrived at the scene of desolation. He 
assisted Joseph Stanfield in the work of preparing 
the dead for burial. In his "Authentic Account of 
the Murder of Dr. Whitman," this priest makes 
this statement concerning his visit: 

"After having finished baptizing the infants and 
dying adults of my mission, I left Tuesday, the 30th 
of November, late in the afternoon, for Tiloukaikt's 
camp, where I arrived between seven and eight 
o'clock in the evening. It is impossible to conceive 
my surprise and consternation when upon my arri- 
val I learned that the Indians the day before had 
massacred the doctor and his wife, with the greater 
part of the Americans at the mission. I passed the 
night without scarcely closing my eyes. Early the 
next morning I baptized three sick children, two 
of whom died soon after, and then hastened to the 
scene of death to offer to the widows and orphans 
all the assistance in my power. I found five or 
si.x; women and over thirty children in a condition 
deplorable beyond description. Some had just lost 
their husbands, and the others their fathers, whom 
they had seen massacred before their eyes, and were 
expecting every minute to share the same fate. 
The sight of these persons caused me to shed tears, 
which, however, I was obliged to conceal, for I was 
the greater part of the day in the presence of the 
murderers, and closely watched by them, and if I 
had shown too marked an interest in behalf of the 
sufferers, it would have endangered their lives and 
mine; these, therefore, entreated me to be on my 
guard. After the first few words that could be ex- 
changed under those circumstances, I inquired after 
the victims, and was told that they were yet un- 
buried. Joseph Stanfield, a Frenchman, who was 
in the service of Dr. Whitman, and had been spared 
by the Indians, was engaged in washing the corpses, 
but being alone, was unable to bury them. I re- 
solved to go and assist him, so as to render to those 
unfortunate victims the last service in my power 
to offer them. What a sight did I then behold! 
Ten dead bodies lying here and there covered with 
blood and bearing the marks of the most atrocious 
cruelty, some pierced with balls, others more or less 
gashed by the hatchet." 

It is a well-known fact that the lives of the 
women and children of the mission were more than 
once in jeopardy. How near they came to being 
sacrificed at one time appears from the following 



language of Brouillet, who was writing in defense 
of Joseph Stanfield : 

It was on the morning of the day that followed the 
massacre. Tliere were several Indians scattered in the 
neigliborhood of the mission buildings, but especially a 
crowd of Indian women was standing near the door of the 
honse in which all the white women and children were liv- 
ing. Stanfield, being then at a short distance from the 
house, Tiloukaikt, the chief of the place, came up and 
asked_ him if he had something in the house. "Yes," said 
Stanfield. "I have all my things there." "Take them 
away." said the Indian to him. "Why should I take them 
away? They are well there" "Take them off." he 
insisted, a second time. "But I lia\ r not only my things 
there: I have also my wife and cliildr<n " "Ves." replied 
Tiloukaikt, who -appeared a little surprised; "xon Iiave a 
wife and children in the house I Will you take them oflf?" 
"No." replied Stanfield. "I will not take them away, and 
I will go and stay m\self in the house. I see that yon 
have bad designs; you intend to kill the women and chil- 
dren: well, you will kill me with them. .\re you not 
ashamed? Are yon not satisfied with what you have done? 
Do you want still to kill poor, innocent chiklren that have 
never done you any harm?" "I am ashamed." replied 
Tiloukaikt, after a moment's hesitatii^n. "It is true, those 
women and children do not deserve death : they did not 
harm us: they shall not die." .\nd. turning to the Indian 
women who were standing near the door of the house 
waiting with a visible impatience for the order to enter 
and slaughter the people inside, he ordered them to go 
ofif. The Indian women then became enraged, and, show- 
ing the knives that they took from beneath their blankets, 
they insulted him in many different ways, calling him a 
coward, a woman who would consent to be governed by a 
Frenchman: and tliry retired. ap)iarentl\ in great anger 
for not liaviuH lirrn .,llou,,! to hiiIm-ii,: liu-ir hands in the 
blood of new Mrtini^ I lie :il>,,\r m-nmistance was 
related at Fort Walla W.illa to Mr. ( )y.lcn, by Stanfield 
himself, under great emotion, and in presence of the wid- 
ows, none of whom contradicted him. 

But though the lives of all the women of the 
mission except Mrs. Whitman were spared, some of 
these unfortunates were overtaken by a fate worse 
than death. The excitement of the massacre kept 
the minds of the Indians distracted from thoughts 
of other crimes until Saturday following the out- 
break, when Tamsucky seized upon one of the girls 
and compelled her to be subject unto him. The 
fifteen-year-old daughter of Joseph Smith, from the 
saw-mill, was appropriated by the two sons of 
Tiloukaikt, her father, it is said, being so terrified 
by the danger he was in as to yield consent ; and 
Susan Kimball was taken to the lodge of Tintin- 
mitsi, or Frank Escaloom, the Indian who had killed 
her father. It is said that by claiiuing Mrs. Hays 
as his wife, Joseph Stanfield saved her from viola- 
tion. The names of other possible victims of this 
reign of terror have never come to light, though it 
has been stated that even little girls were subjected 
to outrage. In order to involve Five Crows in their 
guilt and so secure his assistance in case of war, he 
was offered his choice of the American girls for a 
wife. He picked on Miss Bewley ; sent a horse and 
an escort for her and had her brought to his home 
on the Umatilla. The bishop and his priests there 
have been severely criticized for refusing her pro- 
tection from the embraces of Five Crows, and their 



THE CAYUSE WAR 



failure to shield her has been made to argue their 
complicity in the massacre. It is likely, however, 
that fear for their lives overcame their better 
natures. The same charity which condoned in a 
measure at least the cowardice of Smith in con- 
senting to the violation of his own daughter, and of 
other captives in assenting to the slanderous reports 
about Dr. Whitman's poisoning the Indians, should 
be extended to these priests also. 

At the tinie of the massacre, Rev. H. H. Spald- 
ing was in the country of the Cayuses. He took 
supper with Brouillet on the evening of the fatal 
39th. The next day was spent by him in concluding 
his visits to the sick of the neighborhood, and on 
Wednesday, December 1st, he set out on horseback 
for Whitman's station. When near Waiilatpu, he 
met Brouillet returning after having assisted Stan- 
field in burying the dead ; also his interpreter and 
Edward Tiloukaikt. Speaking of their interview, 
Brouillet savs: 



Fortunately, a few minutes after crossing the river 
(Walla Walla), the interpreter asl<ed Tiloukaikt's son for a 
smoke. They proposed the calumet, but when the moment 
came for lighting it. there was nothing to make a fire. 
"You have a pistol." said the interpreter; "fire it and we 
will light." Accordingly, without stopping, he fired his 
pistol, reloaded it and hrod nKani, He then commenced 
smoking with the interpreter wuhnut thinking of reload- 
ing his pistol. .\ few minute^ after, wliile tlie\- were thus 
engaged in smoking, I ^aw Mr. Sp.il'lin;.; niiii.' uj.illoping 
towards me. In a moment he wa^ .il im -I'l-. i.ikuig me 
by the hand, and asknig for news -I l,n. ^,.u l.ren to the 
doctor's?" he inquired. "Yes." I ii|ili(d "What news?" 
"Sad news." "Is any person de.i.l:' "W's. sir." "Who 
is dead? Is it one of the d-n.^r'- , luMreii :^" (Me had 
left two of them very sick.) ".Xm." I r. phe.l. "Who then 
is dead?" I hesitated to tell Iiim. "Wait a moment," said 
I , "I cannot tell you now.'' While Mr. Spalding was 
asking me these different questions, I had spoken to my 
interpreter, telling him to entreat the Indians in my name 
not to kill Mr. Spalding, which I begged of him as a special 
favor, and hoped that he would not refuse me. I was 
waiting for his answer, and did not wish to relate the dis- 
aster to Mr. Spalding before getting it. for fear that he 
might, by his manner, discover to the Indian what I had 
told him, for the least motion like flight would have cost 
him his life, and probably exposed mine also. The son 
of Tiloukaikt, after hesitating some moments, replied that 
he could not take it upon himself to save Mr. Spalding, 
hut that he would go back and consult with the other 
Indians; and so he started back immediately to his camp. 
I then availed myself of his absence to satisfy the anxiety 
of Mr. Spalding. 

The news completely paralyzed Mr. Spalding 
for a moment. 'Ts it possible? Is it possible?" 
he exclaimed. "They will certainly kill me." "I 
felt the world all go out at once." he told Mrs. 
Victor in referring to the incident eighteen years 
later, "and sat on my horse as rigid as a stone, not 
knowing or feeling anything." Brouillet urged 
him to arouse himself and decide quickly what to 
do. ^ He determined to seek safety in flight, and re- 
ceiving a little food from the priest, started post- 
haste for Lapwai. Traveling most of the way on 
foot, his horse having been lost, he reached the 



home of Colonel William Craig about a week later. 
There he found Mrs. Spalding, who, receiving from 
Mr. Canfield word of the massacre, of her daugh- 
ter's captivity and of the probable death of her hus- 
band, had removed from the mission to Craig's 
home. 

Spalding encouraged the Xez Perces to remain 
neutral, for Cayuse emissaries were already seeking 
their friendship and support. He wrote a letter to 
the priests informing them of his safe arrival, ex- 
pressing a wish for peace and promising to 
endeavor to secure it. This was conveyed by two 
Nez Perces — Inimilpip and Tipialanahkeit — to the 
Catholic mission. The Indian couriers encouraged 
the Cayuses to sue for peace, and the bishop ad- 
vised a meeting of the chiefs to decide upon some 
course of action. Accordingly, on the 20th of 
December, Tiloukaikt, Five Crows, Camaspelo and 
a number of others met in council at the mission, 
Bishop Blanchet and Revs. Brouillet, Rosseau and 
Le Claire being also present. 

The result of their deliberations was the follow- 
ing manifesto, dictated to the bishop : 

The principal chiefs of the Cayuses in council assem- 
bled state : That a young Indian who understands English 
and who slept in Dr. Whitman's room, heard the doctor, 
his wife and Mr. Spalding express their desire of possess- 
ing the lands and animals of the Indians: that he stated 
also that Mr. Spalding said to the doctor: "Hurry giving 
medicines to the Indians that they may soon die:" that 
the same Indian told the Cayuses: "If you do not kill the 
doctor soon, yon will all be dead before spring;" that they 
buried six Cayuses on Sunday, November 28th, and three 
the next day; that the schoolmaster. Mr. Rogers, stated to 
them before he died that the doctor, his wife and Mr. 
Spalding poisoned the Indians; that for several years past 
they had to deplore the death of their children ; and that 
according to these reports, they were led to believe that 
the wdnites had undertaken to kill them all ; and that these 
were the motives which led them to kill the Americans. 

The same chiefs ask at present : 

First, that the Americans may not go to war with the 
Cayuses. 

Second, that they may forget the lately committed 
murders as the Cayuses will forget the murder of the son 
of the great chief of the Walla Wallas, committed in Cali- 
fornia. 

Third, that two or three great men may come up to 
conclude peace. 

Fourth, that as soon as these great men have arrived 
and concluded peace, they may take with them all the 
women and children. 

Fifth, they give assurance that they will not harm the 
.Americans before the arrival of these two or three .great 
men. 

Si.xth. they ask that Americans may not travel any 
more through their country, as their young men might do 
them harm. 

Place of Tauitowe. Youmatilla, •20th December. 1847. 
Signed, Tilouk.mkt, 

C.\M.^SPELO, 
T.AUITOWE, 
.\CHEK.\I-\. 

Meanwhile, forces were at work for the relief 
of the captive men, women and children. Peter 
Skeen Ogden, of the Hudson's Bay Company, had 
heard of the massacre and had set out from Fort 



INTRODUCTORY 



Vancouver for the purpose of ransoming the help- 
less Americans. He arrived at Fort Walla Walla 
on the evening of the 19th of December, and by 
the "J^d had arranged a council, which was attended 
by Chiefs Tauitowe and Tiloukaikt, with a number 
of the young Cayuses, also by Blanchet and 
Brouillet. Ogden's speech on this occasion is a 
marvel of mingled boldness and diplomacy. He said : 



I regret to observe that all the chiefs whom I asked 
for are not present — two being absent. I expect the words 
I am about to address to you to be repeated to them and 
your young men on your return to your camps. It is now 
thirty years since we have been among you. During this 
long period we have never had any instance of blood being 
spilt, until the inhuman massacre, which has so recently 
taken place. We are traders and a different nation from 
the Ainericans. But recollect, we supply you with ammu- 
nition not to kill the Americans. They are of the same 
color as ourselves, speak the same language, are children 
of the same God, and humanity makes our hearts bleed 
when we behold you using them so cruelly. Besides this 
revolting butchery, have not the Indians pillaged, ill- 
treated the .Americans, and insulted their woinen, when 
peacefully making their way to the Willamette? As 
chiefs, ought you to have connived at such conduct on the 
part of your young men? You tell me your young men 
committed the deeds without your knowledge. Why do 
we make you chiefs, if you have no control over your 
young men? You are a set of hermaphrodites, and 
unworthy of the appellation of men as chiefs. You young 
hot-headed men, I know that you pride yourselves upon 
your bravery, and think no one can match you. Do not 
deceive yourselves. If you get the Americans to com- 
mence once, you will repent it, and war will not end until 
every one of you is cut of? from, the face of the earth. I 
am aware that a good many of your friends and relatives 
have died through sickness. The Indians of other places 
have shared the same fate. It is not Dr. Whitman that 
poisoned them, but God has commanded that they should 
die. We are weak mortals and must submit, and I trust 
you will avail yourself of the^ opportunity to make some 
reparation. By so doing it may be advantageous to you, 
but at the same time remember that you alone will be re- 
sponsible for the consequences. It is merely advice that 
I give you. We have nothing to do with it. I have not 
come here to make promises or hold out assistance. We 
have nothing to do with your quarrels ; we remain neutral. 
On my return, if you wish it, I shall do all I can for you, 
but I do not promise you to prevent war. 

If you deliver me up all the prisoners, I shall pay you 
for them on their being delivered, but let it not be said 
among you afterward that I deceived you. I and Mr. 
Douglas represent the company, but I tell you once more 
we promise you nothing. We sympathize with these poor 
people, and wish to return them to their friends and rela- 
tions by paying you for them. My request in behalf of 
the families concerns vou ; so decide for the best. 



r.y this happily worded speech, the Indians were 
placed in a trap. They must yield to Ogden's 
wishes or forfeit the regard of the Hudson's Bay 
Company, while at the same time Ogden made no 
promises which would embarrass the Americans in 
their future dealings with the tribe or the murderers. 

To this speech the Indians made reply as 
follows : 

Tauitowe : "I rise to thank you for your words. 
You white chiefs command obedience with those 



that have to do with you. It is not so with us. 
Our young men are strong headed and foolish. 
Formerly we had experienced, good chiefs. These 
are laid in the dust. The descendants of my father 
were the only good chiefs. Though we made war 
with the other tribes, yet we always looked and 
ever will look upon the whites as our brothers. Our 
blood is mi.xed with yours. My heart bleeds for so 
many good chiefs I had known. For the demand 
made by you, the old chief, Tiloukaikt, is here. 
Speak to him. As regards myself, I am willing to 
give up the families." 

Tiloukaikt: "I have listened to your words. 
Young men, do not forget them. As for war, we 
have seen little of it. We know the whites to be 
our best friends, who have all along prevented us 
from killing each other. That is the reason why 
we avoid getting into war with them, and why we 
do not wish to be separated from them. Besides 
the tie of blood, the whites have shown us a con- 
vincing proof of their attachment to us by burying 
their dead 'longside with ours. Chief, your words 
are weighty. Your hairs are gray. We have 
known you a long time. You have had an unpleas- 
ant trip to this place. I cannot, therefore, keep 
these families back. I make them over to you, 
which I would not do to another younger than 
yourself." 

Peo-peo-mox-mox : "I have nothing to say. I 
know the Americans to be changeable ; still I am 
of the opinion as the Young Chief. The whites 
are our friends and we follow your advice. I con- 
sent to your taking the families." 

Mr. Ogden then addressed two Ncz Perce chiefs 
at length, in behalf of the Rev. H. H. Spalding and 
party, promising he would pay foi their safe de- 
livery to him. The result was that both chiefs, 
James and Itimimipelp, promised to bring them, 
provided they were willing to coine, and immedi- 
ately started to Clearwater for that purpose, bearing 
a letter from Chief Factor Ogden to Mr. Spalding. 
The result of that conference was the delivery, on 
the 29th of December, to Mr. Ogden (for which he 
paid the Cayuse Indians five blankets, fifty shirts, 
ten fathoms of tobacco, ten handkerchiefs, ten guns 
and one hundred rounds of ammunition) of the fol- 
lowing captives : 

Mission children adopted by Dr. Whitman — 
Miss Mary .A. Bridger ; Catherine Sager, aged 
thirteen years ; Elizabeth Sager, ten ; Martha J. 
Sager, eight; Henrietta N. Sager, four; Hannah L. 
Sager; Helen M. Meek. 

From DuPage County, Illinois — Mr. Joseph 
Smith ; Mrs. Hannah Stuith ; Mary Smith, aged 
fifteen years ; Edwin Smith, thirteen ; Charles Smith, 
eleven ; Nelson Smith, six ; Mortimer Smith, four. 

From Fulton County, Illinois — Mrs. Eliza 
Hall ; Jane Hall, aged ten years ; Mary C. Hall, 
eight; .A^nn E. Hall, six; Rebecca Hall, three; 
Rachel M. Hall, one. 



THE CAYUSE WAR 



From Osage County, Mississippi — Mr. Elan 
Young; Mrs. Irene Young; Daniel Young, aged 
twenty-one years ; John Young, nineteen. 

From La Porte County, Indiana — Mrs. Harriet 
Kimball ; Susan M. Kimball, aged sixteen years ; 
Xathan M. Kimball, thirteen ; liyron M. Kimball, 
eight; Sarah S. Kimball, six; Mince A. Kimball, 
one. 

From Iowa — Mrs. Mary Sanders; Helen Al. 
Sanders, aged fourteen years ; Phebe L. Sanders, 
ten; .Alfred W. Sanders, six; Nancy L. Sanders, 
four; Mary ,\. Sanders, two; Mrs. Sally A. Can- 
field ; Ellen Canfield, sixteen ; Oscar Canfield. nine ; 
Clarissa Canfield, seven ; Sylvia A. Canfield. five ; 
Albert Canfield, three. 

From Illinois — Mrs. Rebecca Hays; Henry C. 
Hays, aged four years. Eliza Spalding, Nancy E. 
Marsh and Lorrinda Ilewley were also among the 
captives. 

On New Year's day, 1818, Rev. H. H. Spalding. 
with ten others, being all the Americans from his 
mission, arrived at Walla Walla fort under escort 
of fifty Nez Perce Indians, to whom Mr. Ogden 
paid for their safe delivery twelve blankets, twelve 
shirts, twelve handkerchiefs, five fathoms of to- 
bacco, two guns, two hundred povuuls of ammuni- 
tion and some knives. 

Three days later Mr. Ogden started to Fort 
Vancouver with the captives in boats. Shortly after 
he had left the fort at \valla Walla, fifty Cayuse 
warriors dashed up to the place and demanded the 
surrender of Mr. Spalding, to be killed, as word 
had reached them of the arrival of .\nierican sol- 
diers at The Dalles, to make war upon them, and 
they held him responsible for that fact. 

The ransomed captives from Waiilatpu and the 
missionaries from Lapwai reached the Willamette 
valley in safety. Concerning the experiences of 
the people of the Tchimakain mission. Professor W. 
D. Lyman says : 

"Few things more thrilling ever came under the 
observation of the writer than the narration by 
Fathers Eells and Walker of the council of the 
Spokanes at Tchimakain to decide whether or not 
to join the Cayuses. The lives of the missionaries 
hung on the decision. Imagine their emotions as 
they waited with bated breath in their mission house 
to know the cesult. .\fter hours of excited dis- 
cussion with the Cayuse emissaries, the S]5okanes 
announced their decision : 'Go tell the Cayuses that 
the missionaries are our friends and we will defend 
them with our lives.' " This being the decision of 
the Indians, the Tchimakain missionaries. Revs. 
Eells and Walker, remained at their post of duty 
until the volunteers began active operations against 
the Cayuses. when they retired to Fort Colville. 
They were escorted thence, at the close of the war. 
1)_\- a detachment of Americans under command of 
Major Maxon. 

The massacre put the people of Oregon and 



their provisional government to a severe trial. 
That they both nobly stood the test speaks volumes 
for the patriotism of the one and the inherent 
strength of the other. Truly, every son of Oregon 
and the Northwest has cause for pride in the ster- 
ling qualities of the men and women who planted 
the seed of American civilization and American 
institutions in the soil of the north Pacific states. 

■'While the hearts of the legislators were burst- 
ing," says Mrs. Victor, "with pain and indignation 
for the crime they were called upon to mourn, and 
perhaps to avenge, there was something almost far- 
cical in the situation. Funds! Funds to prosecute 
a possible war! There was in the treasury of 
Oregon the sum of forty-three dollars and seventy- 
two cents, with an outstanding indebtedness of 
four thousand and seventy-nine dollars and sev- 
enty-four cents. Money I Money, indeed ! Where 
was money to come from in Oregon? The gov- 
ernor's first thought had been the Hudson's Bay 
Company. It was always the company the colo- 
nists thought of first when they were in trouble. 
But there might be some difficulty about a loan 
from that source. Had not the board of London 
managers warned the Oregon officers to 'stick to 
their beaver skins?' And had not Dr. McLoughlin 
resigned from his position as head of the company 
in Oregon because the London board reproved him 
for assisting immigrants, and thereby encouraging 
the American occupation of the country? And 
now there was an Indian war impending, with only 
these gentlemen who had been ordered to 'stick to 
their beaver skins' to turn to. There were the mer- 
chants of Oregon City ; to be sure a few hundred 
might be raised among them. And there was the 
Methodist mission — the governor had not men- 
tioned that — but : well, they could try it I" 

The colonial legislature does not seem to have 
wasted much time in bewailing its helpless condi- 
tion. It acted. No sooner were read the brief 
message of the governor relative to the massacre 
and its accompanying documents, than a resolu- 
tion was ofTered that the governor be instructed to 
raise, arm and equip a company of fifty riflemen to 
proceed forthwith to the mission station at The 
Dalles and hold the same. That day. December 
8th, the company was enlisted. Next day it was 
officered, presented with a flag by the ladies of Ore- 
gon City and sent by boats to its destination. 

December 10th. a bill was passed authorizing 
and requiring the governor to raise a regiment of 
riflemen bv volunteer enlistment, not to e.xceed five 
hundred men ; this regiment to "rendezvous at 
Oregon City on the 2r-,th of December. .\. D. 184?, 
and proceed thence with all possible despatch to 
the Walla Walla valley for the purpose of punish- 
ing the Indians, to what tribe or tribes soever they 
may belong, who may have aided or abetted the 
massacre of Dr. Whitman and his wife, and others 
at Waiilatpu." The bill also provided that "Jesse 



INTRODUCTORY 



Applegate, A. L. Lovejoy and George L. Curry be 
and are hereby authorized and empowered to ne- 
gotiate a loan not to exceed one hundred thousand 
dollars for the purpose of carr\ing out the pro- 
visions of this act : and that said commissioners be 
and are authorized to pledge the faith of the terri- 
tory for the payment of such sum as may be 
negotiated for by the said commissioners, on the 
most practicable terms, payable within three years 
from date of said loan, unless sooner discharged 
by the government of the United States." 

The governor and the loan commissioners set 
out, as soon as the bill became a law, for \'an- 
couver, to negotiate, if possible, a loan from the 
Hudson's Bay Company. Formal application was 
made to Sir James Douglas, December 11th, the 
commissioners pledging the faith and means of the 
provisional government for the reimbursement of 
the company, and stating that they did not consider 
this pledge the only security their creditors would 
have. "Without claiming," said they, "any special 
authority from the government of the United 
States to contract a debt to be liquidated by that 
power, yet from all precedents of like character in 
the history of our country, the undersigned feel 
confident that the United States government will 
regard the murder of the late Dr. Whitman and 
his lady as a national wrong, and will fully justify 
the people of Oregon in taking active measures to 
obtain redress for that outrage and for their pro- 
tection from further aggression." 

As was expected, the chief factor declined to 
grant the loan, for the reason already outlined. 
Governor Abernethy, Jesse Applegate and A. L. 
Lovejoy pledged their personal credit for the sup- 
plies needful to equip the company of riflemen 
already en route to The Dalles, and the immediate 
necessities of the government were thus relieved. 

Returning to Oregon City, the committee ad- 
dressed a circular to the merchants and citizens 
of Oregon, asking loans from all such as were 
able to contribute, either money or supplies. Its 
closing paragraphs are here quoted as showing 
the necessity for prompt action then existing or 
supposed to exist : 

Though the Indians of the Columhia have committed a 
great outrage upon our fellow citizens passing through 
their country, and residing among them, and their punish- 
ment for these murders may. and ought to he. a prime ob- 
ject with every citizen of Oregon, yet, as that duty more 
particularly devolves upon the government of the United 
States, and admits of delay, we do not make this the 
strongest ground upon which to found our earnest appeal 
to you for pecuniary assistance. It is a fact well known 
to cncrv pLTsiin accin.iinltd with Indian character that, by 
pa^Miiy Miyntlx y\rr thru- ir|hated thefts, robberies and 
uiurdLi^ .if r,ur fell.iu ciii.riiv. ilu-y have been emboldened 
to the coniniisMcn nf the appalling massacre at Waiilatpu. 
They call u^ uonien. (k^titute of the hearts and courage of 
men, and if we allnw this wholesale murder to pass by, as 
former agyressDns. wli.i can tell how long either life or 
property will be secure in any part of this country, or at 



what moment the Willamette will be the scene of blood 
and carnage ? 

The officers of our provisional governinent have nobly 
performed their duty. None can doubt the readiness of the 
patriotic sons of the West to offer their personal services 
in defense of a cause so righteous. So it rests with you, 
gentlemen, to say whether all our rights and our firesides 
shall be defended or not. Hoping that none will be found 
to falter in so high and so sacred a duty, we beg leave, 
gentlemen, to subscribe ourselves your servants and fel- 
low citizens. 

A specific letter to the Oregon mission was 
likewise prepared and sent. The result of the 
labors of the cominittee was such that on December 
14th they were able to report, besides the loan of 
nine hundred and ninety-nine dollars negotiated on 
the personal credit of two of the commissioners, 
with the governor, a loan of one thousand dollars 
subscribed at a citizens" meeting in < )n.'g"n Cit\- ; 
one thousand six hundred dollars from the iiur- 
chants of Oregon City, and the probability that a 
loan of one thousand dollars would be secured 
from the mission. 

The first committee then resigned, and on 
December 20th another was appointed, consisting 
of A. ,L. Lovejoy, Hugh Burns and W. H. Willson. 
These gentlemen continued in office until the close 
of the war, engaged in the expensive and vexatious 
task of negotiating small loans of wheat, provisions, 
clothing, leather and all articles of use to the men 
in the field. 

Of the regiment to be called into existence by 
the governor in accordance with legislative enact- 
ment, Cornelius Gilliam was elected colonel ; James 
Waters, lieutenant-colonel; H. A. G. Lee, major; 
and Joel Palmer, commissary-general. The purpose 
of this military organization was to secure for 
punishment the Whitman murderers and all those 
who had taken an important part in the massacre. 
It was not intended that aggressive warfare should 
be waged against the Cayuse tribe as a whole, or 
a fortiorc. against any other tribe, as a matter of 
retribution, but it was intended that the murderers 
should be procured at all cost and that war should 
be waged against all who harbored them, until the 
desired end was achieved. Accordingly, a peace 
coinmission was sent along with the army, the 
personnel of which was Joel Palmer, Robert Newell 
and H. A. G. Lee, that the olive branch might be 
oflfered before resort to the sword should be had. 
Joseph L. Meek, who had been appointed to carry 
a memorial to congress, also purposed to accom- 
pany the army. 

A base of supplies was established during the 
last days of December at the Upper Cascades of the 
Columbia. A few rude structures were erected 
and denominated Fort Gilliam, though they were 
more frequently referred to as "The Cabins." 

"The history of this little post in the heart of 
the great Oregon Sierras became a most interest- 
ing one." says Mrs. Victor. "It was here that the 
hardest struggle of the war was carried on — not 



THE CAYUSE WAR 



in fighting Indians, but in keeping the men in the 
field that had undertaken to do the fighting. In 
point of fact, tlie commissary department was 
charged with the principal burden of the war, and 
the title of "General" which Palmer acquired 
through being at the head of this department, might 
well have been bestowed upon him for his services 
in sustaining the organization of the army under 
conditions such as existed in (Jregon in 1847-S. 
Without arms, without roads, without transpor- 
tation, other than small boats and pack horses, 
without comfortable winter clothing and with 
scanty food, the war was to be carried on at a 
distance of nearly three hundred miles from the 
settlements. And if the volunteer soldiers were 
called upon to endure these hardships, which Gen- 
eral Palmer was doing his best to overcome, the 
commissioned ofiicers were no less embarrassed 
by the want of the most ordinary appliances of 
their rank or position — even to the want of a proper 
field-glass." 

Early in January, 1S48, Colonel Gilliam started 
up the river from the rendezvous at Portland, 
arriving at Vancouver the first day. He did not 
do as he was said to have threatened, attempt to 
levy on the Hudson's Bay Company's goods to 
supply his troops. On the contrary, he purchased 
such supplies as he stood in urgent necessity of, 
pledging his own credit and that of Commissary- 
General Palmer, who accompanied him, for the 
payment. Having reached the Cascades, he left 
there one company to construct a road from the 
lower to the upper portage, himself and the balance 
of his command proceeding to Fort Gilliam, where 
he received a despatch from Major Lee. at The 
Dalles. By this he was informed that the major 
had had a fight with Indians, January Sth. brought 
on by an attempt of the latter to round up and 
drive away stock left at the mission by immigrants. 
The skirmish lasted two hours and resulted in a 
loss to the enemy of three killed and one injured, 
while the white loss was one man wounded. The 
Indians, however, secured three hundred head of 
beef cattle. The next day sixty horses belonging 
to the hostiles were captured. 

The receipt of this information determined 
Gilliam to push on with all speed to The Dalles. 
As soon as the governor heard of the fight he 
directed the colonel to select some of his best 
men and scour the Des Chutes river country, being 
careful to distinguish between friendly and hostile 
Indians, but vigorous in his treatment of the latter. 

About the last of January. Colonel Gilliam set 
out with one hundred and thirtv men for the Des 
Chutes river. Arrived there, he sent Major Lee 
to the supposed position of the hostiles on the east 
side of the river. He struck the Indians in full 
retreat towards the mountains and killed one of 
their number, but while returning to camp was 
attacked in a ravine bv a considerable force. His 



command was compelled to dismount and seek the 
shelter of rocks and bushes, where they remained, 
annoyed but uninjured by the enemy, until night. 
\ext day the Indians were attacked with vigor and 
driven to their village, then out of it again, leaving 
it at the mercy of the whites. It was destroyed, 
as well as much cached property which could not 
be carried away. 

Returning to Fort Lee at The Dalles, the officers 
held there a council, on the 11th of February, with 
the peace commissioners, who had arrived in the 
meantime, to formulate a plan of action. It was 
agreed that the commissioners should precede the 
army, and the date fixed for them to start was the 
14th, but word having been received on the 13th 
that a combination of hostile tribes had been ef- 
fected, Gilliam decided to march at once with three 
hundred men. The commissioners were displeased 
but had to acquiesce, so the minions of war and the 
bearers of the olive branch journeyed together 
toward the scene of the massacre. 

On the 23d an understanding was effected with 
the Des Chutes Indians and the next day two mes- 
sengers arrived from the Yakima country stating 
that the Yakimas had taken the advice of the peace 
commissioners and decided not to join the Cayuses 
in a war against the Americans. A letter brought 
by one of them read as follows : 

Camp of Ciaies. February 16, 1848. 
M. CoMM.AxnER : 

The Yakima chiefs, Ciaies and Skloom. have just pre- 
sented me a letter signed by Messrs. Joel Palmer, Robert 
Newell and H. A. G. Lee, which I have read, and a young 
Indian, son of one of the chiefs, translated it to them in 
Yakima language. The chiefs above mentioned charged 
me to say to you in their name, in those of Carnaiareum 
and of Chananaie. that they accept, with acknowledgments, 
the tobacco and the banner which you sent them. They 
have resolved to follow your counsel, and not unite them- 
selves with the Cayuses, but to remain at rest upon their 
lands. On my arrival at the camp of Ciaies, that chief 
assured me that he would not join the Cayuses. I could 
but see, with the greatest of pleasure, dispositions which 
will prevent the spilling of blood and which will facilitate 
the means of instructing those Indians. 

Your hum!)le servant, 

G. Blanchet. 

During the forenoon of the 24th the march was 
resumed, the peace commissioners in front with a 
white flag. Their friendly advances to the Indians 
were repelled and at noon a large number of hostiles 
were seen on the hill signaling for a fight. They 
collected quickly in the path of the advancing army 
and soon their desire for battle was gratified. The 
battle of Sand Hollows, as it is called, began on a 
plain where depressions in the sand formed natural 
rifle pits. The baggage train, protected by the 
company of Captain Laurence Hall, formed the 
center of the white forces. The left flank, consist- 
ing of the companies of Captain Philip F. Thompson 
and Captain H. J. G. Maxon. were on the north side 
of the road, and the companies of Levi N. English 



INTRODUCTORY 



and Thomas McKay constituted the right of the 
command. 

The principal leaders of the Indians were Five 
Crows and War Eagle, both Cayuses. They had 
assured their followers that they were both "big 
medicine" men, invulnerable to bullets. Indeed, 
War Eagle went so far as to claim that he could 
swallow all the bullets the whites could shoot at him. 
They attempted to prove their prowess by riding 
up close to the white lines and acting in an insolent 
manner. The whites had been ordered to hold fire 
in order to give the peace commissioners a fair 
chance, but Captain McKay, angered by their 
insults, shot War Eagle, killing him instantly. Five 
Crows was seriously wounded by a shot from 
another soldier, so seriously that he had to resign 
his command of the Indian forces. Several severe 
attacks were made on the soldiers during the day. 
but the Indians were everywhere beaten and event- 
ually lied, leaving their dead and wounded on the 
ru'hi. it is stated that the Indian loss was thirteen 
killed and wounded, and the American five men 
wounded. 

The volunteers passed the ensuing night at a 
place where neither wood nor water could be ob- 
tained. Ne.Kt day they were asked to meet some 
of the Cayuses in council, but refused to halt until 
they reached a place where their thirst could be 
slaked. The night of the 'iSth was passed on the 
banks of the Umatilla, which was crossed next day. 
After the army had encamped, Sticcas and other 
Cayuses made overtures for peace and were told to 
meet the commissioners at Waiilatpu. The reluc- 
tance of the whites to treat arose out of the fact 
that thev had not heard from William McBean at 
Fort Walla Walla, as they expected. The truth 
was that their communications to him had been 
intercepted by Tauitowe, who, however, delivered 
the letters, but destroyed McBean's reply. Were it 
not for this an arrangement might have been 
effected on the Umatilla by which the murderers 
would be delivered up and the war terminated, but 
the delay proved fatal to such a consummation. 

February 2cSth, the troops reached Walla Walla, 
where the foregoing facts were ascertained by them 
in personal conference with McBean. Moving to 
the site of the Whitman mission, the troops busied 
themselves on the ;id of March in reinterring the 
bodies of the dead, which had been exhumed and 
partly devoured by coyotes. The sight of the numer- 
ous evidences of savage malevolence aroused the 
military spirit of commander and men, and the com- 
missioners saw that the ardor of both for fight 
might embarrass them in their efforts to conclude 
a peace. A fortification was commenced at once 
and its construction continued on the -Ith and 5th, 
though the latter date fell on Sunday. On the Cth, 
two hundred and fifty friendly Nez Perces and 
Cayuses came into camp and held a council with 
the volunteers, expressing themselves as disposed 



to maintain peaceful relations with their white 
brethren. 

In this council "Gilliam could not avoid acting his 
part ; but as commander of the army he was ill at 
ease. He saw the Cayuses passing by unharmed, 
going to the Nez Perce country in the hope of 
inducing their relatives and former allies to join 
them against the Americans, while just enough of 
them lingered behind to pick up the news about 
camp, and act as go-betweens. Still the influence 
of the superintendent (Palmer) was such that on 
the 8th the Nez Perce chiefs were encouraged to 
go to the Ca\use camp, then twenty-five miles 
distant, to endeavor to persuade the nation to give 
up the murderers, the army to follow on the next 
day, two of the commissioners accompanying it." 

The army did move in that direction on the 
!)th, but had scarcely started when Sticcas came, 
bringing in some property stolen from the mission 
and asking for a talk. Gilliam reluctantly called a 
halt. Sticcas announced the refusal of the Cayuses 
to surrender Tauitowe or Tamsucky, and Gilliam 
made a most remarkable proposal to withdraw 
demands for five of the murderers if Joe Lewis 
should be surrendered, a proposition to which the 
other commissioners would not agree. 

After this council. Palmer, Lee and Xewell. 
witli Captain McKay, who was in bad health, left 
for the Willamette, and Gilliam, with a hundred 
and fifty-eight men, proceeded toward Snake river. 
The first day out he was met by three Indians who 
reported that Sticcas had captured Joe Lewis, but 
that the prisoner had been rescued. 

On the i;Uh he received a message from Taui- 
towe asserting the friendship of that chief and 
stating that Tamsucky had gone to the camp of 
Red VV'olf on Snake river, while Tiloukaikt was 
proceeding down the Tucanon, bound for the 
Palouse country. Gilliam made a night march to 
the camp of Tiloukaikt and surprised it, but suffered 
himself to be outwitted by this wily Cayuse. The 
latter sent out an aged Indian, who assured the 
colonel that he was mistaken, that this was not 
Tiloukaikt's but Peo-peo-mox-mox's camp, and that 
Tiloukaikt had gone, leaving his cattle on the hills 
beyond. Completely deluded, Gilliam refrained 
from attacking the camp, but crossed the river and 
climbed up the precipitous farther bank, arriving 
in time to see the last of the cattle swimming the 
Snake. The volunteers, who might have won a 
decisive victory, collected a large band of Indian 
horses and set out on the return to the Touchet. 
They were attacked in the rear by the Palouses, 
who annoyed them exceedingly that day and the 
next night, compelling them to turn loose the 
caiDtured animals. The following morning, after 
two sleepless nights, they started on again and were 
again attacked. In the battle which followed, a 
sort of a running fight, the volunteers gained the 
victory, inflicting a loss on the Indians of four 



THE CAYUSE WAR 



killed and fourteen wounded. "Their yells and 
battle cries were changed to wailing ; the sharp war 
rattle, and crack and ping of musketry were fol- 
lowed by the nerve-thrilling death song." 

Arriving at Fort Waters (Waiilatpu) on the 
l()th, a council of officers was held there two days 
later, at which it was decided that half the force 
should proceed to The Dalles to escort a supply 
train, Gilliam himself accompanying. They started 
on this mission the 2(nh. That night, while in 
camp beyond the Umatilla, a melancholy accident 
occurred. While Colonel Gilliam was drawing a 
rope from the wagon with which to tether his horse, 
a gun in the vehicle was discharged, causing his 
immediate death. "Thus," says Evans, "by an 
ignoble accident, was sacrificed the life of the idol 
of the Oregon troops, a zealous, impetuous soldier, 
a natural-born leader, a brave and thorough patriot, 
a generous friend, a good citizen." There was, how- 
ever, evidence that the volunteers were divided in 
their allegiance to the colonel. 

Captain Maxon took coniniaml and proceeded 
to The Dalles, where he fdinicl a reinforcement of 
one company under Joseph .M. < larrison awaiting 
him. His report to the adjutant-general gave a 
melancholy picture of conditions at Waiilatpu, stat- 
ing that Fort Waters was nothing but an adobe 
enclosure, that it was defended by onh- one hundred 
and fiftv men and that these were almost destitute 
of clothing and ammunition and wholly without 
bread. Fortunately, the men discovered caches of 
wheat and peas a little later, but their good fortune 
was not then known to Maxon. 

The publication of these accounts of destitution 
and of stirring appeals for help did not go unheeded. 
A "Christian commission" on a small scale was 
organized at Oregon City to provide clothing and 
comforts for the soldiers. An address accompany- 
ing one of the shipments of goods is here repro- 
duced as vividly reflecting the temper of the pioneer 
women of the Northwest: 

Oregon City, April 12, 1848. 

The volunteers of tlie first regiment of Oregon rifle- 
men will please accept from the ladies of Oregon City and 
vicinity the articles herewith forwarded to them. The 
intelligence which convinces ns of yonr many hardships, 
excessive fatigues and your chivalrous bearing also satis- 
fies us of your urgent wants. 

These articles are not tendered for acceptance as a 
compensation for your services rendered: we know that a 
soldier's heart would spiirn witli contempt any boon ten- 
dered by us witli such an object; accept tliem as a brother 
does, and may. accept a sister's tribute of remembrance — 
as a token, an evidence, that our best wishes have gone to 
and will remain witli you in your privations, your marches, 
your battles and your victnries. 

Your fathers and ours, as soldiers, have endured 
privations and sufferings and poured out their blood as 
water, to establish undisturbed freedom east of the Rocky 
mountains ; your and our mothers evinced the purity of 
their love of country, upon those occasions, by efforts to 
mitigate the horrors of war, in making and providing 
clothing for the soldiers. Accept this trifling present 
as an indorsement of and approval of the justice of the 
cause in which you have volunteered, and of your bearing 



in the service of our cominon country as manly, brave and 
patriotic. 

The war which you have generously volunteered to 
wage was challenged by acts the most ungrateful, bloody, 
barbarous and brutal. Perhaps the kindness which the 
natives have received at the hands of .American citizens 
on their way hither, has, to some extent, induced a belief 
on the part of the natives that all the Americans are 
"women" and dare not resent an outrage, however shame- 
ful, bloody or wicked. Your unflinching bravery has 
struck this foolish error from the minds of your enemies 
and impressed them with terror, and it is for you and a 
brotherhood who wmII join \mii. to follow up the victories so 
gloriously commenced, until a smccs^ion of victories shall 
compel an honorable pcice. ami nisure respect for the 
American arms and name. 

We have not forgotten that the soul-sickening massa- 
cres and the enormities at Waiilatpu were committed in 
part upon our sex. We know that your hardships and 
privations are great ; but may we not hope that through 
you these wrongs shall not only be amply avenged, but 
also that you inscribe upon the hearts of our savage 
enemies a conviction ne\er to be erased that the virtue 
and lives of Anieriiaii wonien will be protected, defended 
and avenged by .\nuTican men. 

The cause which >ou liave espoused is a holy cause. 
We believe that the God of battles will so direct the des- 
tinies of this infant settlement, that she will come out of 
this contest clothed in honor, and her brave volunteers 
covered with glory. 



The younger ladies of Oregon also showed their 
sympathy with the war and its objects by preparing 
the following : 

"Response by \oung ladies to the call of Captain 
Maxon for young men in the army. 

"We have read with much interest the late 
report from the army, and feel ourselves under 
obligations to reply to the appeal made to us in 
that report. We are asked to evince our influence 
for our country's good, by withholding our hand 
from any young man who refuses to turn out in 
defense of our honor and our country's right. 

"In reply, we hereby, one and all, of our own 
free good-will, solemnly pledge ourselves to coinply 
with that request, and to evince on all suitable occa- 
sions our detestation and contempt for any and all 
young men who can, but will not, take up arms 
and march at once to the seat of war, to punish the 
Indians who have not only murdered our friends, 
but have grossly insulted our sex. We never can, 
and never will, bestow otir confidence upon a man 
who has neither patriotism nor courage enough to 
defend his country and the girls ; such a one would 
never have sufficient sense of obligations to defend 
and protect a wife. 

"Do not be uneasy about your claims and your 
rights in the valley ; while you are defending the 
rights of your country, she is watching yours. You 
must not be discouraged. Fight on, be brave, obey 
your officers, and never quit your posts till the 
eneiny is conquered ; and when you return in 
triumph to the valley, you shall find us as ready 
to rejoice with you as we now are to sympathize 
with you in your sufferings and dangers." 

[Signed by fifteen young ladies.] 



INTRODUCTORY 



The same report impelled the government to 
issue the following proclamation: 

Recent accounts from the seat of war show that the 
Indians are in pretty strong force, and determined to fight. 
Many of the tribes have expressed a desire to remain 
peaceful, but there can be no question that the shghtest 
defeat on our part will encourage portions of them to 
unite against us, and if they should unfortunately succeed 
in cutting off or crippling our army, it would be a signal 
for a general union among them: fear is the only thing that 
will restrain them. It is necessary at the present moment 
to keep a strong force ui tl).' Inl.l to keep those friendly 
that have mamfested a ,W-irr for p. ;u r, and to keep the 
hostile Indians busy ui thrir own country, for the war 
must now either lie earned on tiiere. or ui our valley. The 
question is not now a matter of dollars and cents only; 
but whether exertit)ns will be made on the part of citizens 
of the territory to remforce and sustain the army in the 
upper country, and keep down the Indians ( which our men 
are able and willing to do if supported), or disband the 
army and fight them in the valley. One of the two must be 
done. If the army is disbanded, before two mouths roll 
around we will hear of depredations on our frontiers, 
families will be cut off, and the murderers on their fleet 
horses out of our reach in some mountain pass before we 
hear of the massacre. 

Many young men are willing to enlist and proceed to 
the seat of war, but are unable to furnish an outfit ; let 
their neighbors assist them, fit them out well and send 
them on. As a people we must assist and carry on the 
war. I hope sincerely. that the government of the United 
States will speedily extend its protecting care over us, but 
in the meantime we nnist protect ourselves, and now is 
the time. I therefore call on all citizens of this territory 
to furnish three luinilred men m addition to the number 
now in the field. Three new companies will be organized 
and attached to the regiment commanded 1)y Colonel H. A. 
G. Lee; each company to consist of eight\-five men. rank 
and file; the remainder will be distributed among the coin- 
panies already organized ; the enlistments to be for six 
months, unless sooner discharged by proclamation or re- 
lieved by the troops of the United States. Each man will 
furnish his own horse, arms, clothing and blankets. The 
companies will bring all the ammimition, percussion caps 
and camp equipments they can, for which they will receive 
a receipt from the commissary-general. 

All citizens willing to enlist will form themselves into 
detachments in their several counties and be ready to 
march to Portland, so as to arrive there on the 18th day 
of April, on which day Colonel Lee will be there to organ- 
ize the new companies ; after which the line of march will 
be taken up for Waiilatpu. If a sufficient number of men 
to form a foot company appear on the ground, they will 
be received as one of the above companies. 

In witness whereof I have signed my name and affixed 
the seal of the territory. 

Done at Oregon City this fir.st day of April, 1848. 

An appeal was also made in vigorous language 
by one of the officers, supposed to be Lee, designed 
to stimulate enlistment. The heart of old Oregon 
was not steeled against such appeals, and though 
she had drawn heavily upon her resources in rais- 
ing, arming and equipping without help from any 
power outside herself, the men already in the field, 
she now made still greater exertions that the cam- 
paign might be prosecuted with even greater vigor. 
Polk and Clackamas counties came forward with 
one company, Linn with one, Yamhill and Tualatin 
with one and Clatsop with a few volunteers, num- 
bering in all about two hundred and fifty men. 



The amount of exertion this required can hardly 
be realized at this date. "Popular as was the war," 
writes Mrs. Victor, "it was a diificult matter putting 
another battalion in the field. The commissariat 
had at no time been maintained without great 
exertion on the part of its officers, and often great 
sacrifice on the part of the people. The commissary- 
general's sworn and bonded agents in every county 
had from the beginning strained every nerve to 
collect arms, ammunition and clothing, for which 
they paid in government bonds or loan commis- 
sioner's script. As there was very little cash in 
circulation, and as the common currency of Oregon 
had been wheat, it had come to pass that 'wheat 
notes' had been received in place of cash as con- 
tributions to the war fund. The wheat thus col- 
lected could be sold for cash or its equivalent at 
Vancouver, and thus, after passing through the 
circumlocutionary office, this awkward currency, 
which had to be gathered up, stored in warehouses, 
hauled to boat landings, set adrift upon the Wil- 
lamette, hauled around the falls at Oregon City, and 
there reloaded for Vancouver, was there at length 
exchanged for real money or goods. The collection 
of provisions for the consumption of the army was 
another matter, and not less burdensome. The 
agents could refuse no lot of provisions because it 
was small or miscellaneous, nor reject any articles 
of use to soldiers because they were not of the 
best. Lead was purchased in any quantities froin 
one to several pounds, and was hard to find, all that 
was in the country being that which was brought 
across the plains jjy the iminigrants for use upon 
the road. Powder and percussion caps were ob- 
tained in the same way, or purchased with wheat 
notes at Vancouver." 

H. A. G. Lee was appointed colonel, vice Corne- 
lius Gilliam, deceased. His appointment was un- 
satisfactory to some, as Captain Waters was the 
man to whom, in the natural order of promotion, 
the honor belonged. Accordingly there were soine 
resignations of inferior officers, causing annoyance 
and delay to the new commander, who had also 
been entrusted with the duties of Indian superin- 
tendent, Joel Paln^e^ having resigned. P.ut these 
difficulties were in due time overcome, and on May 
:?d Lee set out for Fort Waters. He had learned 
from Maxon at The Dalles that the Yakimas were 
friendly. Some of the chiefs had visited the major 
and expressed themselves in this language : 

"We do not want to fight the Americans nor the 
French; neither do the Spokanes, a neighboring 
tribe to us. Last fall the Cayuses told us they 
were about to kill the whites at Dr. Whitman's. 
We told them that was wrong, which made them 
mad at us, and when they killed them they came to 
us and wished us to fight the whites, which we 
refused. We love the whites; but they say, 'If you 
do not help us to fight the whites, when we have 
killed them we will come and kill vou.' This made 



THE CAYUSE WAR 



us cry, but we told them we would not fight, but if 
the\- desired to kill us they might. We should feel 
happy to know that we died innocent." 

Upon arriving in the Cayuse country. Lee. in 
his capacity as superintendent, held a council of 
Xez Perces and others, on request of the Indians. 
Peo-peo-mox-mox. whose friendship had been alien- 
ated by the act of the legislature withholding ammu- 
nition from all Indians, again took a friendly attitude 
toward the whites, and it was evident that rein- 
forcements from the Willamette and the expecta- 
tion that a regiment of mounted riflemen would soon 
arrive from the United States were bringing the 
Indians to a humble and peaceable frame of mind. 
The red men in council were informed that the 
whites were determined to hold the country until 
the murderers were punished and the stolen prop- 
erty returned. 

When Lee reached Waiilatpu about the 9th of 
May he reviewed the situation and determined that 
it was best he should resign the colonelcy in favor 
of Lieutenant-Colonel Waters. "I have great con- 
fidence in him." he wrote, "and doubt not the troops 
will find him competent to the task before him. To 
prevent any discord or rupture in the regiment, at 
the request of the ofiicers and men, I have consented 
to act as lieutenant-colonel during the approaching 
campaign." This act of self-abnegation and patriot- 
ism as a critical juncture restored harmony in the 
ranks and put the volunteers in condition for a 
vigorous campaign. 

On the 17 th of May more than four hundred 
men started for the Nez Perce country, whither, it 
was reported, the murderers had gone. At the 
Coppei river the forces divided, one hundred and 
twenty-one men under Lee going to Red Wolfs 
camp to prevent the fugitives escaping to the moun- 
tains ; the remainder of the volunteers going to the 
mouth of the Palouse, to cut off their retreat down 
the Columbia. Lee learned, on reaching Red Wolfs 
camp, that Tiloukaikt's band, two days before, had 
escaped from the country with everything they 
owned except some stock at Lapwai. There he went, 
arriving on the 21st and taking charge of the aban- 
doned cattle. By aid of the frientUy Nez Perces. 
he was enabled to drive back to Waters' camp one 
hundred and eighteen head of horses and fortv 
head of cattle. 

The main command, under Colonel Waters, had 
succeeded, after considerable delay, in crossing the 
Snake river, and had also pushed on toward Lapwai. 
On the 2"2d a letter was received from Rev. Cushing 
Eells stating that the Spokanes were divided in their 
sentiments toward the Americans and the war. 
though all condemned the massacre. The messen- 
gers who brought the letter volunteered to bring in 
a number of Tiloukaikt's cattle and succeeded in 
doing so, bringing in also two Nez Perces who 
informed the colonel that the main band was near 
Snake river. Thev also stated that Tiloukaikt him- 



self had fled to the mountains. Major Magone, 
with a hundred men, was sent to bring in the stock 
belonging to the hostiles and to capture any Indians 
suspected of acting with the fugitives. The stock 
was brought in, according to orders, but the onlv 
suspect encountered was run down and killed con- 
trary to orders. 

It became evident that nothing could be accom- 
plished by a regiment in the Nez Perce country, 
as the Cayuses had fled. Even the capture and con- 
fiscation of property was unsatisfactory, as it was 
sure to be claimed by some professedly friendly 
Indian, and the volunteers could hardly choose but 
return it. The governor and military officers, there- 
fore, determined to close the campaign, notwith- 
standing the murderers had not been captured. A 
detachment of fifty-five men under Major Magone 
went to Fort Colville to give Missionaries Eells and 
Walker, who had sought protection there when the 
war broke out. safe conduct to The Dalles. The 
remainder of the command returned to Waiilatpu. 
There a council of war was held to determine 
whether to abandon or to hold Fort Waters. The 
majority favored abandonment, but Lee was de- 
termined that the advantages gained by the war 
should not be lost by a complete withdrawal from 
the country. By interesting some responsible men 
in a scheme of colonization and promising to secure 
them, as far as was in his power, against treaty 
stipulations prejudicial to their interests, he suc- 
ceeded in inducing fifty-five volunteers to remain 
in the fort with Captain William Martin until Sep- 
tember, when, it was expected. Captain Thompson 
would return with a colony of intending settlers. 
The emigrant road was thus kept in a condition of 
comparative safety, so that the emigration of 1848. 
numbering about eight hundred souls, experienced 
no trouble with Indians. 

The results of the war may be summed up 
briefly. While the murderers were not captured 
and hanged, they were severely punished by being 
despoiled of their property and made wanderers and 
vagabonds on the face of the earth. The power 
and prestige of the Cayuse tribe were broken for- 
ever. The other tribes of the interior who had been 
led by the nonresistance and reluctance to fight 
displayed by emigrants passing through their 
country with families and herds to consider the 
Americans a race of cowards were effectually taught 
their error, and while the race struggle was not 
ended, it was delayed until the whites were much 
better able to contest successfully against the 
savages arrayed in the pathway of progress. 

Negotiations were kept up constantly with the 
tribes of the interior for the peaceful surrender of 
the murderers after the provisional government was 
eventually superseded by a territorial form. The 
Cayuses, though war was no longer waged against 
them, saw that their case was becoming more and 
more hopeless by reason of the fact that the United 



INTRODUCTORY 



States government had at last extended protecting 
arms to Oregon and the American power in the 
West was rapidly increasing. At last, despairing 
of their ability to protect longer the murderers, they 
compelled or induced five of tliom to surrender for 
trial. 'I'hese were Tiloui<aikt, Tamahas, Klokamas, 



Isaiaclialakis, and Kiamasumpkin. They were 
given a fair trial, convicted on the :id of June, 
executed, all of them, at Oregon City. Thus ignobly 
perished probably the last of those immediately 
concerned in the massacre, though the fate of Joe 
Lewis and others may not be certainh' known. 



CHAPTER VIII 



EARLY DAYS OF WASHINGTON 



'Hie tcrrilury norlli of tlic Cnlunibia river did 
not share in the benefits derivet! from the earliest 
immigrations into the Northwest. In the diplo- 
matic contest for the country, it had been steadfastly 
claimed by Great Britain, whose proposal, several 
times reiterated, was that the Columbia should form 
the boundary. Perhaps on account of the indus- 
trious inculcating on the part of the Hudson's Bay 
Company of the belief that northern Oregon would 
be conceded to Great Britain, the benefits of the 
provisional government were not expressly extended 
to the territory now forming Washington state, and 
for several years after the Americanization of the 
Willamette valley began, the fur company held un- 
disputed sway over the trans-Columbia region. In 
order to strengthen further the hands of the liritish 
government in its territorial claims, that company 
had organized the Puget Sound Agricultural Com- 
pany, through which considerable progress was 
made in farming and stock-raising, as is shown by 
the following description of the Cowlitz and Nis- 
qually tracts written in 1841 by the i)en of Sir 
George Sim])son : 

'"Between the Cowlitz river and Puget sound. 
a distance of about si.xty miles, the countr}-, which 
is watered by many streams and lakes, consists of 
an alternation of plains and belts of wood. It is 
well adapted both for tillage and pasturage, pos- 
sessing a genial climate, good soil, excellent timber, 
water power, natural clearings and a sea-port, and 
that, too, within reach of more than one advan- 
tageous market. When this tract was explored, a 
few years ago, the Hudson's Bay Company estab- 
lished two farms upon it, which were subsequently 
transferred to the Puget Sound Agricultural Com- 
pany, formed under the company's auspices, with 
the view of producing wheat, wool, hides and tallow, 
for exportation. On the Cowlitz farm there were 
already about a thousand acres of land under the 
plow, besides a large dairy, and an extensive park 



for horses and stock; and the crop this season 
amounted to eight or nine thousand bushels of 
wheat, four thousand of oats, with a due propor- 
tion of barley, potatoes, etc. The other farm was 
on the shores of Puget sound (Nisqually plains), 
and, as its soil was found to be better fitted for 
pasturage than tillage, it had been appropriated 
almost exclusively to the flocks and herds. So that 
now, with only two hundred acres of cultivated 
land, it possessed six thousand sheep, twelve hun- 
dred cattle, besides horses, pigs, etc. In addition to 
these two farms, there was a Catholic mission, with 
about one hundred and sixty acres under the plow. 
There were also a few Canadian settlers, retired 
servants of the Hudson's Bay Company ; and it was 
to the same neighborhood that the emigrants from 
Red river were wending their way." 

To strengthen still further British claim to 
northern Oregon, as the country was then called, 
the Hudson's Bay Company undertook the task of 
settling the still unoccupied lands or some of them 
with British subjects from the Red river country of 
Canada. As an inducement to such to make the 
tedious journey over the many weary leagues 
which intervened between the Red river of the 
North and Puget sound, the company offered to 
each head of a family, upon arrival, the use and 
increase of fifteen cows, fifteen ewes, all needful 
work oxen or horses and the use of house and 
barns. In answer to this call an emigration left 
the vicinity of Fort Garry, on the ir)th of June, 
1841. They were overtaken by the party of Sir 
George Simpson, who described them as consisting 
of agriculturists and others, principally natives of 
the Red river settlement. "There were twenty-three 
families," sa\s he, "the heads being young and 
active, though a few of them were advanced in life, 
more particularly one poor woman, upwards of 
seventy-five years of age, who was following after 
her son to his new home. As a contrast to this- 



EARLY DAYS OF WASHINGTON 



superannuated daughter of the Saskatchewan, the 
band contained several young travelers, who had, 
in fact, made their appearance in this world since 
the commencement of the journey. Beyond the 
inevitable detention which seldom exceeded a few 
hours, these interesting events had never interfered 
with the progress of the brigade ; and both mother 
and child used to jog on, as if jogging on were the 
condition of human existence. Each family had 
two or three carts, together with bands of horses, 
cattle and dogs. The men and lads traveled in the 
saddle, while the vehicles, which were covered with 
awnings against the sun and rain, carried the 
women and young children. As they marched in 
single file, their cavalcade extended above a mile 
in length : and wc increased the length of the column 
by marching in company. The emigrants were all 
healthy and happy, living in the greatest abundance 
and enjoying the journey with the highest relish. 
Before coming up to these people, we had seen 
evidence of the comfortable state of their com- 
missariat in the shape of two or three still warm 
buffaloes, from which only the tongue and a few 
other choice bits had been taken." 

The ciinipan\- crossed the Rock^v mountains earlv 
in Au-^l^t. u'aclu-.l l--..rt Walla Walla on the 4th 
of ( )cl(ilier. assisted in removing valuables from 
that fort, which burned that night or the next 
morning, and finally arrived, after the loss of two 
or three members, who changed their destination 
while en route, in the .Sound ciuuitrv. Some of the 
families remained at the Cowlitz t.irm over winter 
and some at I'^ort Xisqnall}. It was claimed by 
them that the c()iii|)an\ acted in bad faith in the 
matter of fulfilling its pledges. Whether or not 
this be true, nut many of the families located per- 
manently in the country, and the culonizatiou scheme 
may be considered a failure. 

The honor of having made the initial attempt to 
colonize northern Oregon in .American interests is 
universally conceded to one Michael T. Simmons, 
the "Daniel Boone of Washington."' Simmons is 
described as a stalwart Kentuckian, endowed with 
the splendid physique and indomitable courage for 
which the sons of that state are famous. Arriving 
at Vancouver in 1844, he spent most of the winter 
there, and doubtless learned from the chance ex- 
pressions of Hudson's Bay men something of the 
value of the country to the northward. At any 
rate, he gave up his former intentions of going to 
southern Oregon, as the compan\' wished him to 
do, and determined to explore the forests of the 
north, as the company very much opposed his doing. 
He is credited with having patriotic as well as 
personal motives for undertaking this spying out 
of the land. He started on his exploring expe- 
dition with five companions during the winter of 
1844-5, purposing to find or make a pathway to 
Puget sound. But the inclemencies of the season 
necessitated his temporary abandonment of the 



enterprise, and having ascended the Cowlitz river 
about fifty miles he returned to Vancouver. In 
July he set out again with eight companions. Reach- 
ing the sound in due season, he made some explo- 
rations of its shores in canoes and informed himself 
of its resources and value. He chose as a site for 
his colony a picturesque spot near the falls of the 
Des Chutes river, made a return trip to Vancouver 
and soon was back on the sound with James Mc- 
Allister, (jabriel Jones, David Kindred and George 
W. Bush and their families, also S. B. Crockett and 
Jesse Ferguson. Such is the personnel of the first 
.American colony in Washington. 

"Not one entering the region at the present 
time," wrote the late H. K. Hines, "can form any 
idea of the difficulty attending the enterprise of 
these people. The forests of the country were almost 
inii)enetrable, and they covered nearly all its space. 
To open a trail from the Cowlitz river northward 
was the hard work of weeks, and then to make 
such an inroad upon the forest as to give any hope 
of future support for their families was a task that 
only brave and manly men would dare to undertake. 
But empire and destiny were in these men's hands 
and hearts, and they were equal to the work they 
had undertaken. But as we now think of it, after 
fifty years, we wonder how these seven men, iso- 
lated one hundred and fifty miles from any who 
could aid them, and surrounded by the savages of 
Puget sound, who were watching with evil eye the 
inroads of the whites, succeeded in establishing 
themselves and their families in this then most 
inhospitable region. That they did marks them as 
heroes." 

The next year, 1S46. added a very few more 
to the American po])ulation of Washington, among 
them Edward Sylvester, u|)on whose land claim 
Olympia was afterward built, and the well-known 
men, A. B. Robbinson and S. S. Ford. A small 
number settled in 1847, but these few "were of the 
same sterling stuff as those who had preceded them 
and added much to the moral and intellectual fibre 
of the infant settlement." 

"This year was also signalized." sa\s Hines, "by 
the erection of a saw mill at the falls of the Des 
Chutes, since called Tumwater, on the land claim 
of M. T. Simmons. A small flouring mill had 
before been erected at the same place, with buhrs 
hewn out of some granite rock found on the beach 
of Budd's inlet, which afforded some unbolted flour 
as a change from boiled wheat for bread." 

.■\ somewhat larger settlement was effected 
during 1848, many of the new comers taking claims 
along the Cowlitz river. One man, Thomas W. 
Glasgow, attempted settlement on \\4ii(lli\ 's island. 
A few others started to establish Iiouk's in bis 
vicinity during the summer, but all were C(jmi)elled 
to withdraw, the Indians at a council called by 
Patkanim, chief of the Snoqualmies, having decided 
not to allow them to remain on the island. The 



INTRODUCTORY 



next two years were years of apparent retrogres- 
sion rather than progress, for the aduh male popu- 
lation was induced away by the discovery of gold 
in California, leaving none but women and boys to 
sow and reap, or plan and execute new enterprises. 
Later, however, the spray from the tidal wave of 
population attracted to the Golden state by the dis- 
covery of the precious metal spread over Puget 
sound, bringing activity and progress. 

Mr. Simmons, the advance agent of American 
occupancy, gained further distinction in 1850 by 
giving inception to x\merican commerce on the 
sound. A brig had reached these waters during 
the year, having been purchased by several of the 
sound residents from certain gold-seekers from 
Maine. Simmons bought her, loaded her with piles, 
and taking these to San Francisco exchanged them 
for general merchandise. The goods were exposed 
for sale in a small building in Smithfield, the town 
which later became known as Olympia. 

"This initial stake of business having been thus 
successfully set at Olympia," says Hines, "the lines 
of settlement began to extend from it in every direc- 
tion. Steilacoom, occupying a point on the sound 
below Olympia, and abreast of the Nisqually plains, 
was settled and a large business house erected there. 
Port Townsend was settled by H. C. Wilson. I. N. 
Ebey, late in the fall of 1850, occupied the claim on 
Whidby's island from which Glasgow had been 
driven by the hostilities of Patkanim, and R. H. 
Lansdale took a claim at the head of Penn's cove. 
These were among the first, if not the first, who 
established themselves above the lower portions of 
the sound, but they were soon followed by Petty- 
grove and Hastings. A town was laid out on the 
west side of Port Townsend bay, called after the 
bay itself. Port Townsend, and so the year 1850 
closed, having registered a somewhat substantial 
advancement in the country of Puget sound. Still 
the settlements were only a frayed and fretted fringe 
of white on the edge of the dark forests and darker 
humanity, of the vast region encompassing the 
waters of the great inland sea. But the time had 
come for a more appreciable advance." 

The year 1851 brought not a few immigrants 
who wished to seek their fortunes on the shores of 
the sound. Of these some were ambitious to build 
homes for themselves wherever the agricultural 
possibilities of the country were greatest and most 
easily developed ; others to find a spot which must 
eventually become a trade center and become rich 
through the "unearned increment" in the value of 
their holdings. Among the latter class were C. C. 
Terry, A. A. and D. T. Denny, W. N. Bell, C. T. 
Boren, John C. Holgate and John Low, who selected 
claims on Elliot bay and became prominent in the 
founding and building of Seattle. It is stated that 
in four years this town had a population of three 
hundred. 

Contemporaneous with, or within a year or 



two after the settlement already adverted to, was 
the settlement of Whidby's island. New Dunginess, 
Bellingham bay, the north bank of the Columbia 
river from the Cascade mountains to its mouth, 
Baker's bay, Shoalwater bay, Gray's harbor and 
other places. The coal and timber resources of the 
country began attracting attention at this time, re- 
sulting in the building up of immense milling enter- 
prises at different points on the sound. 

The ambition of these pioneers to become the 
founders of a new commonwealth, to add a new 
star to the American constellation, had co-operated 
with the natural advantages of the country from 
the first to induce them into and hold them in the 
sound basin. That ambition began its struggle for 
accomplishment as early as the 4th of July, 1851, 
when J. B. Chapman addressed all those who met 
in Olympia to celebrate the nation's birthday, upon 
the subject "The Future State of Columbia." So 
great were his enthusiasm and eloquence that they 
inspired the people to immediate activity. They held 
a meeting forthwith and decided that a convention 
should be held at Cowlitz Landing, said convention 
to be composed of delegates from all the election 
districts north of the Columbia. Its purpose was 
"to take into careful consideration the peculiar 
position of the northern portion of the territory, its 
wants, the best methods of supplying those wants, 
and the propriety of an early appeal to congress for 
a division of the territory." 

On the day appointed the convention met. It 
adopted a memorial to congress praying for the 
division of the territory ; for a territorial road from 
Puget sound over the Cascades to Walla Walla; 
for a plank road from the mouth of the Cowlitz - 
river to the sound, and that the provisions of the 
Oregon Land Law should be continued provided 
the division prayed for should be granted. 

No action was had by congress on the memorial, 
and enthusiasm for segregation for a time waned. 
However, it was not sufifered to die out entirely, 
for a paper named the Columbian was established at 
Olympia with the keeping alive of the new territory 
project as its main purpose. The first issue of this 
pioneer publication appeared September 11, 1853. 

This journal was successful in compassing the 
convention of another body of men on organization 
bent. They met at Monticello, near the mouth of 
the Cowlitz and prepared a memorial to congress 
pleading most eloquently the cause of segregation 
from Oregon. The efforts of this convention were 
supplemented by the legislature of Oregon territory, 
a few members of which, however, favored a project 
to make the Cascade range the boundary between 
the territory of Oregon and the territory of Col- 
umbia. The scheme of these contemplated the 
bounding of Oregon, north, south and west by the 
British line, the California line and the ocean res- 
pectively and east by Columbia territory, the Cas- 
cade range being the boundary line. 



EARLY DAYS OF WASHIXGTON 



But the majoritx- of the representatives and the 
majority of the people both north and south of 
the Columbia favored that river as the line of 
ili\ ision. General Lane. Oregon's delegate, brought 
the matter before congress. That body could not 
turn a deaf ear to the almost unanimous voice of 
the people directly affected by the proposed legis- 
lation, and on Alarch 2, 1853, the territory was 
organized as prayed for, the name "Washington" 
being substituted for "Columbia," however. A 
full quota of officers was appointed for the new ter- 
ritory ; namely, governor, Isaac Ingall Stevens ; 
secretary, C. H. Mason ; chief justice, Edward 
Lander; associate justices, John R. Miller and 
Victor Monroe ; district attorney, J. S. Clendenin ; 
J Patton Anderson, United States marshal. Miller 
refused the appointment, and O. B. McFadden, of 
Oregon, became associate justice in his stead. 
While all of these officers were capable and efficient, 
the choice for governor was especially felicitous, 
Stevens being just the man to guide the newly built 
ship of state through the stormy seas it was so soon 
to sail. 

Governor Stevens began bestowing blessings 
upon the new territory long before he reached its 
borders, for ere he left Washington he obtained 
charge of the survey of the northern route for the 
proposed trans-continental railway, — one of the first 
grand schemes of the American government for 
the subjugation and development of its vast terri- 
torial possessions. This circumstance gave to the 
northern route a zealous, able and well informed 
advocate. There can be no doubt that the full and 
accurate reports of Governor Stevens and his zeal 
for the route which he believed the most expedient 
did more than anything else to fix the general loca- 
tion of the Northern Pacific railroad, and to give 
to the young commonwealth over which Stevens 
presided that most potential factor in its subsequent 
development. 

Having arrived at length in the young common- 
wealth of which he had been called to assume execu- 
tive control. Governor Stevens at once addressed 
himself to the mastery of the difficult problems 
presenting themselves. He found a field of labor 
presenting a splendid opportunity for the exercise 
of his extraordinary abilities. Of the conditions as 
he found them, his son. Hazard, in his excellent life 
of Washington's first governor, thus writes : 

"It was indeed a wild country, untouched by 
civilization, and a scanty white population, sparsely 
sprinkled over the immense area, that were awaiting 
the arrival of Governor Stevens to organize civil 
government, and shape the destinies of the future. 
A mere handful of settlers, .3,96") all told, v.ere 
wideh- scattered over western Washington, between 
the lower Columbia and the straits of Fuca. A 
small hamlet clustered around the military post at 
Vancouver. A few settlers were spread widely 
apart along the Columbia, among whom were Co- 



lumbia Lancaster on Lewis river: Seth Catlin, Dr. 
Nathaniel Ostrander and the Huntingtons about the 
mouth of the Cowlitz; Alexander S. Abemethy at 
Oak Point and Judge William Strong at Cathlamet. 
Some oystermen in Shoalwater bay were taking 
shell fish for the San Francisco market. At Cow- 
litz Landing, thirty miles up that river, were exten- 
sive prairies, where farms had been cultivated by 
the Hudson's Bay Company, under the name of the 
Puget Sound Agricultural Company, for fifteen 
years ; and here were a few Americans, a number 
of Scotch and Canadians, former employees of that 
company, and now looking forward to becoming 
American citizens, and settling down upon their 
own claims under the Donation Act, which gave 
three hundred and twenty acres to every settler and 
as much more to his wife. A score of hardy 
pioneers had settled upon the scattered prairies be- 
tween the Cowlitz farms and the sound ; among 
them were John R. Jackson, typical English yeo- 
man, on his prairie, ten miles from the Cowlitz ; 
S S. Saunders, on Saunders bottom, where now 
stands the town of Chehalis ; George Washington, a 
colored man, on the next prairie, the site of Cen- 
tralia ; Judge Sidney S. Ford on his prairie on the 
Chehalis river, below the mouth of Skookumchuck 
creek ; W. B. Goodell, B. L. Henness and Stephen 
Hodgdon on Grand Mound prairie ; A. B. Robbeson 
and W. W. Plumb on Mound prairie. A number 
of settlers had taken up the prairies about Olympia, 
the principal of whom were W. O. Bush, Gabriel 
Jones, William Rutledge and David Kendrick on 
Bush prairie ; J. N. Low, Andrew J. Chambers, 
Nathan Eaton, Stephen D. Ruddell and Urban E. 
Hicks on Chambers' prairie; David J. Chambers 
on the prairie of his name. James McAlister and 
William Packwood were on the Nisqually bottom, 
at the mouth of the river, just north of which, on 
the verge of the Nisqually plains, was situated the 
Hudson's Bay Company's post. Fort Nisqually, a 
parallelogram of log buildings and stockade under 
charge of Dr. W. F. Tolmie, a warm hearted and 
true Scot. Great herds of Spanish cattle, the prop- 
erty of the company, roamed over the Nisqually 
plains, little cared for and more than half wild, and, 
it is to be feared, occasionally fell prey to the rifles 
of hungry American emigrants. Two miles below 
Olympia, on the east side of the bay, was located a 
Catholic mission under Fathers Richard and Blan- 
chet, where were a large building, an orchard and a 
garden. They had made a number of converts 
among the Indians. 

"Towns, each as yet little more than a claim and 
a name, but each in the hope and firm belief of its 
founders destined to future greatness, were just 
started at Steilacoom, by Lafayette Balch; at 
Seattle, by Dr. E. S. Maynard, H. L. Yesler and 
the Dennys ; at Port Townsend. by F. W. Petty- 
grove and L. B. Hastings ; and at Bellingham bay, 
by Henry Roder and Edward Eldridge. 



INTRODUCTORY 



"Save the muddy track from the Cowlitz to 
Olympia and thence to Steilacoom, and a few local 
trails, roads there were none. Commnnication was 
chiefly by water, almost wholly in canoes manned 
by Indians. The monthly steamer from San Fran- 
cisco and a little river steamboat plying daily be- 
tween Vancouver and Portland alone vexed with 
their keels the mighty Columbia ; while it was not 
until the next year that reckless, harum-scarum 
Captain Jack Scranton ran the Major Tompkins, a 
small black steamer, once a week around the sound, 
and had no rival. Here was this great wooded 
country, without roads, the unrivaled waterways 
without steamers, the adventurous, vigorous white 
population without laws, numerous tribes of Indians 
without treaties, and the Hudson's Bay Company's 
rights and possessions without settlement. To add 
to the difficulties and confusion of the situation, 
congress, by the Donation Acts, held out a standing 
invitation to the American settlers to seize and 
settle upon any land, surveyed or unsurveyed, with- 
out waiting to extinguish the Indian title or define 
the lands guaranteed by solemn treaty to the for- 
eign company, and already the Indians and the 
Hudson's Bay Company were growing more and 
more restless and indignant at the encroachments 
of the pushing settlers upon their choice spots. 
Truly a situation frought with difficulties and dan- 
gers, where everything was to be done and nothing 
yet begun. 

"It is a great but common mistake to suppose 
that the early American settlers of Washington 
were a set of lawless, rough and ignorant borderers. 
In fact, they compare favorably with the early set- 
tlers of any of the states. As a rule, they were men 
of more than average force of character, vigorous, 
honest, intelligent, law abiding and patriotic, — men 
who had brought their families to carve out homes 
in the wilderness, and many of them men of educa- 
tion and of standing in their former abodes. Among 
them could be found the best blood of New Eng- 
land, the sturdy and kindly yeomanry of Virginia 
and Kentuck}', and men from all the states of the 
middle west from Ohio to Arkansas. Most of them 
had slowly wended their way across the great plains, 
overcoming every obstacle, and suffering untold 
privation ; others had come by sea around Cape 
Horn, or across the isthmus. They were all true 
Americans, patriotic and bra\e. and filled with san- 
guine hope of, and firm faith in. the future growth 
and greatness of the new cmintry which they had 
come to make blossom like the rose." 

Goyernor Stevens, in the proclamation by which 
he gave inception to the work of organizing the 
territory, designated January 30, 18.54, as the day 
for electing a delegate to congress and a local legis- 
lature. Columbia Lancaster was the choice of the 
people for the difficult task of representing the 
young commonwealth in Washington. The legis- 
lature chosen at the same time convened, pursuant 



to the governor's proclamation, on the 27th of Feb- 
ruary ensuing and proceeded to transact such busi- 
ness and enact such laws as were necessary to put 
the territory on a fairly sound footing. The mes- 
sage of the governor was an able and statesmanlike 
paper. It gave a glowing description of the unde- 
veloped resources and commercial importance of 
the territory ; referred to the unfortunate status 
of the public lands, arising out of the fact that In- 
dian titles had not yet been extinguished and advised 
the memorializing of congress concerning the con- 
struction of needed public highways, the surveying 
of lands, certain amendments to the land law, the 
early settlement of the San Juan dispute and the 
extinguishment of the Hudson's Bay and Puget 
Sound Agricultural Companies' titles to certain 
lands claimed by them under the Treaty of Limits. 
The message also called the attention of the legisla- 
ture to the necessity of providing a public school 
system and an efficient militia organization. 

Soon after the adjournment of the legislature, 
which acted in harmony with the foregoing sug- 
gestions from the executive, Governor Stevens set 
out for Washington city that he might report in 
person on the survey of the northern route and press 
upon the attention of congress certain matters re- 
lating to Indian affairs, the northern boundary and 
the quieting of the gowrnment title to lands. He, 
with the help of Lanca-tc r and Delegate Lane of 
Oregon, secured "an aiiindpriation of thirty 
thousand dollars for the construction of what was 
known as the Mullan road from the Great Falls of 
the Missouri via Coeur d'Alene lake to Walla 
Walla ; of twenty-five thousand dollars for the con- 
struction of a military road from The Dalles of the 
Columbia to Fort \'ancouver ; of thirty thousand 
for a road from I'ort \ ancouver to Fort Steila- 
coom ; and eighty-nine thousand dollars for light- 
houses at various points on the coast. Liberal 
provision was made for the Indian service, in which 
was included the sum of one hundred thousand to 
enable Governor Stevens to treat with the Black- 
feet and other tribes in tlic north and east portions 
of the territory." 

GoveTunr Stcxens lost no time after his return 
to Washinijtnn territorw in using the funds and the 
authority liestowed < in him for the purpose of ac- 
complishing one of the main features of his Indian 
policy, — the extinguishment of the Indian title to 
lands. Without pausing to narrate the story of his 
negotiations with the Sound tribes, let us follow 
him in his trip to the Walla Walla valley, under- 
taken for the purpose of inducing, if possible, the 
vigorous and independent tribes of the interior to 
treat. He had sent runners to these various bands, 
apprising them of the intended council and inviting 
all to be present. At the suggestion of Kamiakin, 
head chief of the Yakimas, a spot in the Walla 
Walla vallev, which had been used bv the Indians 



EARLY DAYS OF WASHINGTON 



as a council ground from time immemorial, was 
chosen as the site of this conference also. 

Early in May the governor set out for the ap- 
IHiinted rendezvous. At The Dalles he found 
( ieneral Joel Palmer, who was to represent Oregon 
in the negotiations, awaiting him. The general 
was faithless of a successful issue of the undertak- 
ing. "So doubtful," wrote Governor Stevens in his 
diary, "did General Palmer consider the whole 
matter of the council, that it was only the circum- 
stance of a military force being despatched which 
determined him to send to the treaty ground pres- 
ents to the Indians. He stated to me that he had 
concluded to send up no goods ; but, the escort 
having been ordered, he would send up his goods. 
At this time the Oregon officers expected little from 
the council, and evidently believed that the whole 
tiling was premature and ill-advised." 

The escort referred to was sent by Major C. J. 
Rains, and consisted of a detachment of forty sol- 
diers under Lieutenant Archibald Gracie. With the 
command was Lawrence Kip, whose diary pre- 
sents an interesting account of the external and 
some of the internal happenings of this strange con- 
\ention in the wilderness. 

Stevens reached the council grounds May 21st. 
Two days later came Lieutenant Gracie with his 
soldiers. At that time no Indians were in sight, 
but the next day came the Nez Perces rushing to 
the rendezvous with impetuous speed, decked out 
in gorgeous attire and riding ponies painted and 
caparisoned in accord with their savage notions of 
style. Upon their arrival and appearance, Kip 
thus comments in his diary : 

Thursday, May 24tli. This has been an exceedingly 
interesting day, as about twenty-five hundred of the Nez 
Perce tribe have arrived. It was our first specimen of 
this prairie chivalry, and it certainly reahzed all our concep- 
tions of these wild warriors of the plains. Their coming 
was announced about ten o'clock, and going out on the 
plains to where a flagstaff had been erected, we saw them 
approaching on horseback in one long line. They were 
almost entirely naked, gaudily painted and decorated with 
their wild trapping.s. Their plumes fluttered about them, 
while below, .skins and trinkets of all kinds of fantastic 
embellishments flaunted in the sunshine. Trained from 
early childhood, almost, to live upon horseback, they sat 
upon their fine animals as if they were centaurs. Tlieir 
horses, too, were arrayed in the most glaring finery. They 
were painted with such colors as formed the greatest con- 
trast ; the white being smeared with crimson in fantastic 
figures, and the dark colored streaked with white clay. 
Reads rnd fringes of gaudy colors were hanging from 
the bridles, while the plumes of eagle feathers interwoven 
with the mane and tail fluttered as the breeze swept over 
them, and completed their wild and fantastic appearance. 

When about a mile distant they halted, and half a 
dozen chiefs rode forward and were introduced to Gov- 
ernor Stevens and General Palmer, in order of their rank. 
Then on came the rest of* the wild horsemen in single file, 
clashing their shields, singing and beating their drums as 
they marched past us. Then they formed a circle and 
dashed around us. while our little group stood there, the 
center of their wild evolutions. They would gallop up as 
if about to inake a charge, then wheel round and round, 
sounding their loud whoops until they had apparently 



worked themselves up into an intense excitement. Then 
some score or two dismounted, and forming a ring, 
danced for about twenty minutes, while those surrounding 
them beat time on their drums. .After these performances, 
more than twenty of the chiefs went over to the tent of 
Governor Stevens, where the\- sat for some time, smoking 
the pipe of peace, in token of good fellowship, and then 
returned to their camping ground. 

Saturday, May 2Gth, came the Cayuses, about 
three hundred in number, according to Kip. 
"They came in whooping and singing in the Indian 
fashion, and after circling round the camp of the 
Nez Perces two or three times, they retired to form 
their own at some little distance." Next day be- 
ing Sunday, a religious meeting was held by the 
Nez Perces, Timothy preaching. Stevens attended. 
"Timothy," observed he, "has a natural and grace- 
ful delivery, and his words were repeated b\- a 
prompter. The Nez Perces have evidently profited 
much from the labors of Mr. Spalding, who was 
with them ten years, and their whole deportment 
throughout the service was devout." 

Monday, May 28th, the governor sent A. J. 
Bolon to meet the Yakimas, and from this emissary, 
who soon returned, he learned that Peo-peo-mox- 
mo.x was professedly friendly. That chief, together 
with Kamiakin and two subchiefs of the Yakimas, 
with a following of their men, soon caiue up and 
shook hands cordially with the commissioners, re^ 
fusing, however, to receive tobacco from the whites. 

At two o'clock on the following afternoon the 
council opened, but nothing was done further than 
to organize and swear in the interpreters. The 
council convened again on the 30th at one P. M. 
"It was a striking scene," wrote Kip. "Directly in 
front of Governor Stevens" tent, a small arbor had 
been erected, in which, at a table, sat several of his 
party taking notes of everything said. In front of 
the arbor on a bench sat Governor Stevens and 
General Palmer, and before them, in the open air, in 
concentric semicircles were arranged the Indians, 
the chiefs in the front ranks in the order of their 
dignity, while the background was filled with 
women and children. The Indians sat on the 
ground (in their own words), "reposing on the 
bosom of their great mother." There were proba- 
bly one thousand present at a time. After smoking 
for half an hour (a ceremony which with them 
precedes all business), the council was opened by a 
short address by General Palmer. Governor 
Stevens then rose and made a long speech, setting 
forth the object of the council and what was de- 
sired of them. As he finished each sentence, the 
interpreter repeated it to two of the Indians who 
announced it in a loud voice to the rest — one in the 
Nez Perce and the other in the Walla Walla lan- 
guage. This process necessarily causes business to 
move slowly." 

In such tedious manner the patient and pains- 
taking Stevens explained the treaties he wished the 
Indians to sign, clause by clause and item by item. 



INTRODUCTORY 



At this stage of the negotiations the commissioners 
contemplated two reservations. — one in the Nez 
Perce country for the Xez Perces, Walla Wallas, 
Cayuses, Umatillas and Spokanes ; one on Yakima 
river for the Yakimas, Palouses, Klickitats and 
other bands. Two days were consumed by the long 
speeches of the commissioners upon the various 
provisions of the treaty and the price offered by the 
government. The third (Friday) was at the re- 
quest of Young Chief, given up for a holiday, but 
the Indians who theretofore had indulged freely 
every evening after adjournment of the council in 
sports of all kinds, remained quiet all that day, no 
doubt deliberating upon the proposals of the com- 
missioners, and in the case of the Cayuses at least 
planning mischief. 

The next day, they met as usual. After some 
further talk upon the treaties the commissioners 
urged the Indians to speak their minds freely, and 
some short speeches were made in opposition to 
parting with the lands. The speech of Peo-peo-mox- 
mox was especially noteworthy as a sarcastic ar- 
raignment of the whites, a delicate intimation of 
his distrust of the commissioners and an expression 
of reluctance to accept goods in payment for the 
earth. 

That evening. Lawyer, head chief of the Xez 
Perces, came to Governor Stevens with informa- 
tion of a vile plot and a suggestion as to how it 
should be averted. Having become suspicious that 
mischief was brewing in the camp of the Cayuses, 
he sent a spv to discover their plot, and by this 
means found that for several nights the Cayuses 
had been considering the advisability of falling upon 
and massacring all the whites on the council ground. 
They had, on the day Young Chief had secured for 
a holiday, definitely determined to strike as soon as 
the consent of the Yakimas and Walla W'allas could 
be obtained. The massacre was to form the initial 
blow of a war of extermination against the white 
race, the second act of Iiostility planned being the 
surprise and capture of the post at The Dalles. "I 
will come with my family," said Lawyer, "and pitch 
my lodge in the midst of your camp, that those 
Cayuses may see that >ou and your party are under 
the protection of the head chief of the Nez Perces." 
By so doing. Lawyer averted the danger to 
Stevens, his party and guard, for the treacherous 
plotters were well aware that an attack on the whites 
could hardly be made without the killing of one or 
more of the Nez Perce defenders, and a consequent 
war with that numerous and powerful tribe. Hav- 
ing quietly caused the arms of the whites to be put 
in readiness against a possible attack. Governor 
Stevens proceeded with his council. Monday, June 
4th, was consumed for the most part in Indian 
speech-making, but during the next day the commis- 
sioners were again the principal orators. Steachus, 
the friendly Cayuse, in a short speech, declared his 
unwillingness to be removed wholly from his own 



country and stated that his heart was in one of the 
three jilaces, the Grand Ronde, the Touchet and 
the Tucanon. 

As affording a glimpse of the inner workings of 
the council. Kip's report of the proceedings of 
Thursday, June 7th, is here reproduced: 

Thursday, June 7th. Mr. McKay took breakfast with 
us. He is tlie son of the old Indian hnnter so often men- 
tioned in Irving's "Astoria," and whose name is identified 
with pioneer life in this region. 

The council met to-day at 12. and I went into the 
arbor and, taking my seat at the reporter's table, wrote 
some of the speeches delivered. There is, of course, in 
those of the liuhans. too much repetition to give them 
fully. 1)ut a few extracts may show the manner in which 
those wearisome meetings were conducted day after day. 

Governor Stevens. — "My hrotliers, we e.xpect to have 
your hearts to-dav. I,ct us have vour hearts straight out." 

Lauxn-. the ..Id X.v Pirce chief.— llie first part of. 
his siiciiii w.i^ liis|..nc,il, rclatnii^" to the discovery of this 
countr\ 1.) tlu' .S|..iiii.iiils, which is a favorite topic with 
the Indian orators. In course of it he thus narrates the 
story of Columbus and the egg. which he had heard from 
some of the missionaries : 

"One of the head of the court said, T knew there was 
.such a country.' Columbus, who had discovered it, said, 
'Can \-ou make an egg stand on its end?' He tried to make 
the egg stand, but could not do it. He did not understand 
how. It fell over. Columbus then showed tliem all that 
he could make it stand. He sat it down and it stood. 
He knew how, and after they saw it done they could do it." 

He thus described the manner in wdiich the tribes of 
the East receded at the approach of the whites : 

"The re.l man traveled away farther, and from that 
time they kept traveling away farther, as the white people 
came up witli tlicni. And this man's people (pointing to 
a Delaware Indian who was one of the interpreters') are 
from that people. They have come on from the Great 
Lake where the sun rises, until they are near us now, at 
the setting sun. .\nd from that country, somewhere from 
the center, came Lewis and Clark, and that is the way the 
wdiite people traveled and came on here to my forefathers. 
They passed through our country, they became acquainted 
our country and all our streams, and our forefathers 
used them well, as well as they could, and from the time 
of Columbus, from the time of Lewis and Clark, we have 
known you. my friends ; we poor people have known you 
as brothers." 

He concluded by expressing his approval of the 
treaty, only urging that the whites should act toward them 
in good faith. 

Governor Stevens. — "We have now the hearts of the 
Nez Perces through their chief. Their hearts and our 
hearts are one. We want the hearts of the other tribes 
through their chiefs." 

Young Chief, of the Cayuses. ( He was evidently 
opposed to the treaty but grounded his objections on two 
arguments. The first was, they had no right to sell the 
ground which God had given for their support unless for 
some good reason.") — "I wonder if tlie ground has any- 
thing to say. I wonder if the ground is listening to what 
is said. I wonder if the ground would come alive and 
what is on it. Though I hear what the ground says. The 
ground says. 'It is the Great Spirit that placed me here. 
The Great Spirit tells me to take care of the Indians, to 
feed them aright. The Great Spirit appointed the roots 
to feed the Indians on.' The Water says the same thing : 
'The Great Spirit directs me. Feed the Indians well." 
The grass says the same thing: 'Feed the horses and 
cattle.' The ground, water and grass say, 'Tlie Great 
Spirit has given us our names. We have these names and 
hold these names. Neither the Indians nor whites have 
a right to change these names.' The ground says, 'The 



';/g''';"S'W(W!!j 




GOVERNOR ISAAC IXGALI.S STEVENS 
(First Governor of Washington Territory) 



EARLY DAYS OF WASHINGTON 



Great Spirit has placed me here to produce all that grows 
on me, trees and fruit.' The same way the ground says, 
'It was from me man was made.' The Great Spirit, in 
placing men on the earth, desired them to take good care 
of the ground and to do each other no harm. The Great 
Spirit said, 'You Indians who take care of certain por- 
tions of the country should not trade it off except you get 
a fair price.' " 

The other argument was that he could not understand 
clearly what tlicy were to receive. 

"The Indians are blind. This is the reason we do 
not sec the country well. Lawyer sees clear. This is the 
reason why 1 d^n't know anything about this country. I 
do not see tin- olfn- x.m lirive made to us yet. If I had 
the money in in\ linn.l I slunild see. I am, as it were, 
blind. I am I)liii(l .ind if;ii"r;uit. I have a heart, but can- 
not say much. This is tlic reason why the chiefs do not 
understand each other right, and stand apart. Although I 
see your offer before me, I do not luulcrstand it and I do 
not yet take it. I walk, as it were, in the dark, and cannot 
therefore take hold of what I do not see. Lawyer sees 
and he takes hold. When I come to understand your 
propositions, I will take hold. I do not know when. This 
is all I have to say." 

Five Crows, of the Walla Wallas. — "I will speak a 
few words. My heart is the same as Young Chief's." 

General Palmer. — "We know no chief among the 
Walla Wallas but Peo-peo-mox-mox. If he has anything 
to say we will be pleased to hear it." 

Peo-peo-mox-mox. — "I do not know what is straight. 
I do not see the offer you have made to the Indians. I 
never .saw these things which are offered by my great 
father. My heart cried when you first spoke to nie. I felt 
as if I was blown away like a feather. Let your heart be 
to separate as we are and appoint some other time. We 
shall have no bad mind. Stop the whites from coming up 
here until we have this talk. Let them not bring their 
axes with them. The whites may travel in all directions 
through our couiitr\ ; wr will have nothing to say to them, 
provided the>' <Ii' nni linild houses on our lands. Now I 
wish to speak .iIm.mI L;i\\mt. I think he has given his 
lands. That is what I think from his words. I request 
another meeting. It is not in one meeting only that we 
can come to a decision. If you come again with a friendly 
message from our great father, I shall see you again at 
this place. To-morrow I shall see you again, and to-mor- 
row evening I shall go home. This is all I have to say." 

General Palmer. — "I want to say a few words to these 
people, but before I do so, if Kamiakin wants to speak, I 
would be glqd to hear him." 

Kamiakin, Yakima chief. — "I have nothing to say." 

General Palmer. — "I would inquire whether Peo-peo- 
mox-mox or Young Chief has spoken for the Umatillas? 
I wish to know, further, whether the Umatillas are of the 
same heart." 

Owhi. Umatilla chief.— "We are together and the 
Great Spirit hears all that we say to-day. The Great 
Spirit gave us tlic land and measured the land to us; this 
is the reason I am afraid to sav anvthing about the land. 
I am afraid of the laws of the Great Spirit. This is the 
reason of my heart being sad. This is the reason I cannot 
give you an answer. T am afraid of the Great Spirit. 
Shall I steal this land and sell it? or what shall I do? 
This is the reason why my heart is sad. The Great Spirit 
made our friends, but the Great Spirit made our bodies 
from the earth, as if thev were different from the whites. 
What shall I do? Shall 'l give the land which is a part of 
my body and leave myself poor and destitute? Shall I 
say I will give you my lands? I cannot say .so. I am 
afraid of the Great Spirit. I love my life. The reason 
why I do not give my land away is, I am afraid I will be 
sent to hell. I love my friends. I love my life. This 
is the reason why I do not give my land away. I have 
one word more to say. My people are far away. They 
do not know your words. "This is the reason I cannot give 



you an answer. I show you my heart. This is all I have 



to 



Governor Stevens. — "How will Kamiakin of Schoom 
speak ?" 

Kamiakin. — "What have 1 to be talking about?" 

General Palmer. — "We have listened and heard our 
chiefs speak. The hearts of the Nez Perces and ours are 
one. IThe Cayuses, the Walla Wallas and the other tribes 
say they do not understand ui. We were in hopes we 
should have but one heart. Why should we have more 
than one heart? Young Chief says he does not know 
what we propose to him. Peo-peo-mox-mox says the same. 
Can we bring these saw mills and these grist mills on our 
backs to show the.se people? Can we bring these black- 
smith shops, these wagons and tents on our backs to show 
them at this time? Can we cause fields of wheat and corn 
to spring up in a day that we may sec them? Can we build 
these schoolhouses and these dwellings in a day? Can 
we bring all the money that these things will cost, that 
they may see it? It would be more than all the horses 
of any one of these tribes could carry. It takes time to 
do these things. We come first to see you and make a 
bargain. We brought but few goods with us. But what- 
ever we promise to give you, you will get. 

"How long will these people remain blind? We come 
to try to open their eyes. They refuse the light. I have 
a wife and children. My brother here has the same. I 
have a good house, fields of u licit. pMt.iiocs and peas. 
Why should I wish to leave tli' in .in.l ((niu- so far to see 
you? It was to try to do you k'""1. '"" }'<" tlirow it awqy. 
Why is it that you do so? We all .^lUiKliines do wrong. 
Sometimes because our hearts arc bad. and sometimes be- 
cause we have bad counsel. Your people have sometimes 
done wrong. Our hearts have cried. Our hearts still cry. 
But if you will try to do right, we will try to forget it. 
How long will you listen to this bad counsel and refuse 
to receive the light? I, too, like the ground where I was 
born. I left it because it was for my good. I have come 
a long way. We ask you to go but a short distance. We 
do not come to steal your land. We pay you more than it 
is worth. There is the Umatilla valley, that affords a 
little good land between two streams and all around it is 
a parched-up plain. What is it worth to you? What is 
it worth to us? Not half what we have offered you for it. 
Why do we offer so much .■" Because our great father 
told" us to take care of his red people. We come to you 
with his message to try to do you good," etc., etc. 

These extracts will give a specimen of the kind of 
"talk" which went on day after day. All but the Nez 
Perces were evidently disiiulined to the treaty, and it was 
melancholy to ^ic lluir rrluolance to abandon the old 
hunting-grounds of tluii f.iihi-rs and their impotent strug- 
gle against the overpowering influences of the whites. The 
meeting closed to-day with an affecting speech by Governor 
Stevens, addressed to the chiefs who had argued against 
the treaty. I give it in part ; 

"I must say a few words. \\v lirntlicr and I have 
talked .straight. Have all of yon i,ilk..l n hkIU? Lawyer 
has and his people have, ami ilim lin-nicss will be 
finished to-morrow. Young Cliul s.i\s Ik is blind and docs 
not understand. What is it that he wants? Steachus says 
his heart is in one of these places — the Grand Ronde, 
The Touchet and the Tucanon. Where is the heart of 
Young Chief? Peo-peo-mox-mox cannot be wafted off 
like a feather. Does he prefer the Yakima to the Nez 
Perce reservation? We have asked him before. We 
ask him now. Where is his heart? Kamiakin, the great 
chief of the Yakimas, has not .spoken at all; his people 
have no voice here to-day. He is not ashamed to speak? 
He is not afraid to speak? Tlien speak out. Owhi is 
afraid to, lest God be angry at his selling his land. Owhi, 
my brother, I do not think God will be angry with you 
if you do your best for yourself and your children. Ask 
yourself this question to-night. Will not God be angry 
with me if I neglect this opportunity to do them good? 



INTRODUCTORY 



But Owlii says his people are not here. Why. then, did he 
tell us, come hear our talk? I do not want to be ashamed 
of him. Owhi has the he;irt nf his people. We expect 
him to speak out. We expect tn JKiir I'lDni Kaniiakin and 
from Schoom. The treaty will ha\c tn he drawn up to- 
night. You can see it to-morrow. The Nez Pcrces must 
not be put off any longer. This business must be des- 
patched. I hope that all the other hearts and our hearts 
will agree. They have asked us to speak straight. We 
have spoken straight. We have asked you to speak straight ; 
but we have yet to hear from you." 

The council then adjourned till six o'clock. In the 
evening I rode over as usual to the Nez Perces camp and 
found many of tbcni pla>in- card- in their L.d.nes. They 
are the most iiueter.ite -anil ilers. .„u\ ,i u.inior will some- 
even his wi\es. S.I that in a snigle night he is reduced to a 
state of primitive poverty and obliged to trust to charity to 
be remounted for a hunt. In the other camps everything 
seemed to be in violent confusion. Tlie Cayuse and other 
tribes were very much incensed against the Nez Perces for 
agreeing to the terms of the treaty, but fortunately for 
them, and probably for us, the Nez Perces are as numer- 
ous as the others united. 

Perceiving that the only hope of overcoming 
the opposition of the Indians unfriendly to the 
treaties, lay in acting upon the suggestion of 
Steachus, the commissioners decided to ofifer a 
third reservation for the Cayuses, Umatillas and 
Walla Wallas in their own country. The offer was 
made in council Friday, June 8th, and explained in 
a lengthy speech by General Palmer. Some other 
concessions of less moment were also made to the 
Indians, and the result was quite satisfactory. All 
the chiefs gave their assent to the treaties as modi- 
fied, except Kamiakin, who had maintained an atti- 
tude of sullen silence throughout the entire council 
and still obstinately refused to give the commis- 
sioners the slightest encouragement. 

Just at the moment when the hopes of Stevens 
and Palmer were at their height and a successful 
termination of the business in hand seemed visible 
in the near prospect, a new element of difficulty 
was brought into the negotiations. A small party 
was seen approaching with much pomp and circum- 
stance, painted, armed, singing a war song and 
flourishing at the end of a pole a horrible trophy of 
a recent combat. The leader was found to be none 
other than Looking Glass, war chief of the Nez 
Perces, who had long been absent in the buffalo 
country. He was not effusive in his greeting of the 
friends that gathered round him, and soon mani- 
fested his anger at their doings in a fierce little 
speech delivered from the saddle. "My people," 
said he, "what have you done? While I was gone 
>ou have sold my country. I have come home and 
there is not left for me a place on which to pitch 
my lodge. Go home to your lodges. I will talk 
with you." 

Next day in council, the evil influence of this 
pettish old man was keenly felt. After Stevens had 
again explained the proijosed treaties for his espe- 
cial benefit, he made a violent speech against the 
sale of the lands. The Cavuses, read\- to withdraw 



their assent, strongly supported him. So emphatic 
were their and his assertions that he (Looking 
Glass) was head chief of the Nez Perces, that Law- 
yer, apparently angry, abruptly left the council and 
retired to his lodge. 

After adjournment the Nez Perces convened 
in their camp and held a council among themselves. 
The Cayuses did likewise. An exciting debate was 
indulged in in the former camp, and their council 
waxed warm, but in its outcome Lawyer was con- 
firmed as head chief and Looking Glass was de- 
clared to be second in authority. A paper was 
prepared and sent to General Stevens affimiing that 
the faith of the Nez Perces had been pledged and 
the treaty must be signed. 

Peo-peo-mox-mox and Kamiakin had signed 
their respective treaties at the close of the council 
session of June 9th. Stevens states that the latter 
was no doubt influenced by the former to do so, but 
subsequent events go to show that both signed the 
treaty as an act of treachery, their purpose being 
to create in the breasts of the whites a feeling of 
security, while they were perfecting their Indian 
confederacy for a fell swoop u{)on the hated race. 
Little remained to be done except to secure the sig- 
natures of the Cayuses and Nez Perces, and when 
council convened on Monday, June 11th, Governor 
Stevens said simply : "We meet for the last time. 
Your words are pledged to sign the treaty. The 
tribes have spoken through their head chiefs, 
Joseph, Red Wolf, the Eagle, Ipsemaleecon, all 
declaring Lawyer was the head chief. I call upon 
Lawyer to sign first." Lawyer did so, then Look- 
ing Glass, then Joseph and finally the signatures 
were obtained of all the subchiefs and principal 
men of both tribes, after which presents were made 
to the different bands. 

"Thus ended in a most satisfactory manner," 
says Governor Stevens' journal, "this great council, 
prolonged through so many days — a council which, 
in the number of Indians assembled and the differ- 
ent tribes, old difficulties and troubles between them 
and the whites, a deep-seated dislike to and deter- 
mination against giving up their lands and the great 
importance, nay, absolute necessity, of opening this 
land by treaty to occupation by the whites, that 
bloodshed and the enormous expense of Indian 
wars might be avoided, and in its general issuance 
and difficulty, has never been equalled by any coun- 
cil held with the Indian tribes of the United States. 

"It was so considered by all present, and a final 
relief from the intense anxiety and vexation of the 
last month was esj^ecially grateful to all con- 
cerned." 

The treaties negotiated as the result of the great 
Walla Walla council of 18.35 provided for the sur- 
render by the Yakimas of an area some twenty- 
nine thousand square miles in extent, being 
substantially that embraced in Chelan. Yak- 
ima, Kittitas, Franklin and Adams, with large 



THE YAKIMA WAR 



portions of Douglas and Klickitat counties. 
From it, however, was to be excepted and 
reserved the princely domain known as the 
Yakima reservation. The Nez Perces relin- 
quished the territory out of which were formed in 
large part the counties of Whitman, Garfield, Co- 
lumbia and Asotin, in Washington ; Union and 
Wallowa, in Oregon, and Washington, Nez Perces 
and Idaho, in Idaho, retaining therefrom a very 
large reservation. This included not only the Nez 
Perce reserve as it was prior to its opening a few 
years ago, but in addition large tracts between the 
Alpowa and Snake rivers and the Wallowa valley. 
That the Wallowa was originally included in the 
reservation was due to old Chief Joseph, and the 
surrender of it in 1863, against the wishes and ad- 
vice of Chief Joseph, Jr., was one of the principal 
causes of the Nez Perce war in 1877. The Uma- 
tillas, Cayuses and Walla Wallas, by their treaty, 
gave up the territory embraced substantially in 
Walla Walla county, in Washington ; Umatilla and 
Morrow counties, Oregon, also parts of Union and 
Gilliam counties in the latter state. Their original 
reservation was but little larger than that now 
known as the Umatilla reserve. 

For the whole vast area ceded, the Indians were 
to receive about six hundred and fiftv thousand 



dollars, of which two hundred thousand dollars 
were to be paid the Yakimas in the form of annui- 
ties, with salaries for the head chiefs of five hundred 
dollars per aimum for twenty years, and some 
special concessions in the way of houses, imple- 
ments, tools, etc. The compensation of the Nez 
Perces was the same. The Umatillas, Cayuses and 
Walla Wallas were to receive one hundred thousand 
dollars ; each of the head chiefs to have an annuity 
of five hundred dollars for twenty years, and special 
compensation in the form of houses, tools, etc. 
Peo-peo-mox-mo.x, who was wily enough to drive 
a hard bargain, was granted the privilege of draw- 
ing his salary at once without waiting for the treat- 
ies to be formally ratified, and was given special 
concessions in the form of a yearly salary of one 
hundred dollars with a house and five acres of land 
for his son ; also three yoke of oxen, three yokes 
and chains, one wagon, two plows, twelve hoes, 
twelve a.xes, two shovels, a saddle and bridle, a set 
of wagon harness and a set of plow harness. Thus 
for a mere pittance, in comparison with its present 
value, was secured from the Indians their possessory 
right to a large portion of eastern Oregon and 
Washington and northern Idaho, a region rich in 
wealth already acquired and still richer in its possi- 
bilities. 



CHAPTER IX 



THE YAKIMA WAR 



The Walla Walla council successfully termi- 
nated, Governor Stevens passed on to the north 
and east to continue the same kind of negotiations. 
He had not long departed before the great Yakima 
war burst suddenly over the Columbia plains ; and to 
regions as far remote as Puget sound, Walla Walla 
and Rogue river, the horrors of war were simul- 
taneously brought. The country was face to face 
with a widespread conspiracy to overthrow white 
occupancy and re-establish the uninterrupted reign 
of Indian barbarism over the entire Northwest. 

This was the primary cause and purpose of that 
widespread and pervading outbreak. "While," 
says Evans, "many causes might be suggested as 
afifecting the Indian mind and provoking hostility 
to American occupancy of the country ; while it 
was precipitated by the perfidy of Indians who just 
before had joined in treaties to allure the white 



race into a belief in their security ; while those very 
Indians went to that council to begin war there by 
the murder of the commissioners — yet that war, so 
far as the Indians were concerned, was made on 
their part, not because of any personal outrages 
conmiitted by the whites, not because of any injus- 
tice sought to be inflicted by virtue of those treaties, 
not because the terms of the treaties were unsatis- 
factory, but solely because it was the Indian purpose 
to exterminate the white settlement, to force the 
white race to abandon the territory. That war on 
the part of the Indians is perhaps sanctioned by 
what may be called patriotism. If merit it had, 
then is that merit obliterated by the perfidious 
cruelty which marked its declaration and com- 
mencement by them. On the part of the people and 
authorities of the territory, the Oregon- Washington 
Indian war resulted from repeated and unprovoked 



68 



INTRODUCTORY 



outrages which, were committed by savages upon 
unoffending and defenseless white men, women and 
children. ***=!= * i^ ^0 respect were any 
citizens of those territories the aggressors. No act 
of their citizens nor of their officials provoked hos- 
tilities. There was no cause of complaint by the 
Indians, nor were they afforded a shadow of justifi- 
cation for that outbreak of perfidy and hate during 
the summer and fall of lcSr)5. The only offense of 
the Oregon-Washington pioneers in the Indian 
estimation was that as American citizens they were 
in the country. That presence, lawful in itself, 
was to the Indians a standing menace that others 
of that race would follow them. The war was 
initiated by the native population to discourage 
immigration or American occupancy. Forced upon 
our people, it was prosecuted by them solely to hold 
the country for our race, to protect the settlements. 
and to effect a peace which would be lasting and 
enable the white population then in the country, and 
those who should come thereafter, to remain in 
safety. This conflict, so unexpected to the Ameri- 
can settlers and for which they were so ill prepared, 
may have been hastened by the negotiating of the 
treaties and the events which so quickly followed — 
events which could not have been anticipated by 
an\\ either Indian or white, who participated in 
these negotiations. In no sense, however, were 
these treaties the cause of those hostile feelings 
which brought about the war." 

The argumentative tone of the foregoing quota- 
tion was inspired by the persistent efforts of the 
United States army officials, with Major-General 
Wool, chief in command of the Department of the 
Pacific, at their head, to make Governor Stevens 
and the citizens of Oregon and Washington in some 
way responsible for the war. General Wool lost 
no opportunity to slander the people of the two 
territories and it has been stated that in the prosecu- 
tion of the war, he proved himself a more bitter 
enemy of Oregon and Washington than any of the 
Indian savages in arms. The enmity between the 
general and Governor Stevens is unsurpassed for 
venom in the annals of the Northwest. 

Just prior to the outbreak of the war an event 
occurred which brought joy to manv hearts. A 
discovery of gold was reported to have been made in 
the vicinity of the Hudson's Bay Company's Fort 
Colville and not a little excitement had been aroused 
in consequence. It was hoped that this would cause 
the long-looked-for large immigration of people 
into the territory and its more complete settlement 
and subjugation. Instead, it furnished the imme- 
diate occasion for the melancholy war, which did so 
much to retard development and delay settlement. 
The young commonwealth was fated to pass 
through a period of trials, dissimilar in many 
respects to that experienced by Oregon in the dark 
days of the Cayuse war, yet similar in that it stirred 



the hearts of the people to their most profound 
depths and tried their mettle as with fire. 

So great was the feeling of security engendered 
by the successful negotiation of the treaties at Walla 
Walla — treaties which incorporated as one of their 
provisions pledges of good will on the part of the 
Indians toward the white race — that persons travel- 
ing from Puget sound to the Colville gold fields 
hesitated not to pass through the Indian country 
singly or in small squads, ill equipped to repel 
attack. Soon rumors reached the settlements that 
many such had been murdered by Indians, and that 
the Yakimas had taken an attitude of hostility 
toward white men. The rumors in the cases of 
Matticc, Jamison, Walker, Eaton, Cummings, Huff- 
man, Fanjoy and others being partially confirmed. 
Sub-agent Andrew J. Bolon, then en route to the 
Spokane country to meet Governor Stevens, turned 
aside into the Yakima country to ascertain from 
Kamiakin himself the truth or falsity of the state- 
ments. He never returned to tell the story of his 
adventures, and as no white man accompanied him, 
only Indian evidence could be obtained as to what 
occurred. According to this the chief received 
Bolon in a haughty and insolent manner, whereupon 
the sub-agent made some threats. Kamiakin must 
have been deeply angered, for it is said he directed 
that Bolon should be killed. At any rate the sub- 
agent was murdered in a perfidious and brutal 
manner, by a son of Owhi, half brother of Kamia- 
kin. Bolon's horse .was also killed and the bodies 
of both were burned. 

When the news of this melancholy event became 
known to the whites, Acting-Governor Mason, of 
Washington territory, made a requisition upon the 
military for a force to protect the route of the 
returning Colville miners. Major Rains, in charge 
at Vancouver, ordered Brevet-Major G. O. Haller, 
with one hundred men and a howitzer, to proceed 
from The Dalles into the Yakima country, there to 
co-operate with fifty men under Lieutenant W. A. 
Slaughter, for the purpose of inquiring into the dif- 
ficulties. The Indians were abundantly prepared to 
meet him. not in council but on the battle-field. 
Ever since the signing of the Walla Walla treaty, 
the Yakimas had thought of nothing but war. The 
organizers of the hostile confederacy had steadily 
pointed out to those inclined to be peaceable that for 
fifteen years the whites had been pouring through 
their country into the Willamette ; that their purpose 
not only to hold the country but to keep open the 
routes of travel for more to follow was plainly 
manifest ; that a settlement in the Colville country 
and an open road thereto was an entering wedge 
by which the whites would gain possession of the 
interior, and that if anything was to be done to 
prevent white supremacy and the total subjugation 
of the Indian race, it must be done quickly. In con- 
firmation of their statements that the whites were 
determined to keep open the route by which should 



THE YAKIMA WAR 



come iincoiinted hordes of their race, they pointed 
to the fact that but recently United States troops 
had passed through their country going to the Snake 
river with intent to protect the immigrant road from 
Fort Hall westward. A horrible massacre had taken 
place there during August, 1854, in which all the 
members of an immigrant train, except one boy, 
were murdered and outraged in the most brutal 
manner, one woman being compelled to witness the 
torturmg of her children over a slow fire. To 
prevent the recurrence of such acts. Major Haller 
had gone m May, 1855. to the scene of the carnival 
of slaughter. This natural and praiseworthy act 
had furnished the Indian demagogues with an 
effective argument in their philippics against the 
white race. And indeed, though he succeeded in 
his expedition, capturing and hanging many of the 
perpetrators of this horrible crime, the Indian 
orators did not hesitate to publish assiduously a 
rumor to the effect that he had been cut off by the 
Snakes and his men all killed. Bv such false reports 
and appeals to their jealousy and prejudices, the 
Yakimas were wrought up to the fighting point 
and made ready to bear their part in the general 
outbreak. Similar arguments were used to inspire 
other Indians from California's northern boundary 
to the British line with similar passions, and a like 
eagerness to engage in acts of hostility. 

Thus it came to pass that Haller with his hand- 
ful of men met a determined foe, well equipped for 
battle. Leaving The Dalles on October 3, 1855 he 
fell in with the enemy three days later. The Indians 
were defeated in the first engagement, but on Sun- 
day, the :th, completely turned the tables upon the 
whites, who were surrounded hv a large and con- 
stantly increasing force. These were kept off by 
ba.TOnet charges until nightfall, when a retreat back 
to Ihe Dalles was decided upon. A running fight 
was maintained during the next day, but that night 
the Indians suffered a repulse, after which die 
whites were permitted to complete their journey 
without further molestation. The fighting on the 
retreat was all done by the advance guard, the rear 
guard having taken another trail, by which it 
reached The Dalles in safety. The loss on the expe- 
dition was five killed and seventeen wounded though 
much property had to be abandoned or destroyed 
Lieutenant Slaughter, as soon as he became aware 
of the defeat of Haller. prudently recrossed the 
Cascades to the White river country. 
T ^^""^7 ''''^^ °^ October 13, 1855, United States 
Indian Agent Olney wrote from Walla Walla to 
eTOvernor Curry, of Oregon, as follows : 
11 '2 ^T^J^ ^'■^'^' y°"'' attention to the fact that 
all the Indians north and south of the Columbia, 
this side of the Nez Perces and Spokanes, have 
either commenced open hostilities upon the whites 
orare concentrating their forces for that purpose.' 
1 just arrived at this place this morning from The 



les, and find the most alarming 



state of affairs 



as to the friendly relations heretofore existing 
between the Americans and the Walla Wallas, 
Palouses, Umatillas and Cayuses. I am doing 
all in my power to check the gathering storm ; but 
I fear nothing but a large military force will do any 
good towards keeping them in check. The regular 
force now in the country I do not consider sufficient 
for the protection of the settlers and the chastise- 
ment of the Indians. One thousand volunteers 
should be raised immediately and sent into this part 
of Oregon and Washington territories. Delay is 
ruinous. Decisive steps must be immediately taken. 
They must be humbled ; and in all conscience send a 
force that can do it effectually and without delay. 
These Indians must be tauglit our power. Tlie 
winter is the very time to do it." 

It would seem that Major Rains took the same 
view of the emergency and of the inadequacy of 
the regular force to meet it as did Mr. Olney, for 
he called upon Acting-Governor Mason, of Wash- 
ington territory, for two companies of volunteers, 
and upon Governor Curry, of Oregon, for four.' 
Both the Washington companies, when organized, 
were mustered into the service of the United States, 
though It was understood that one of them should 
be sent upon the mission for which it was raised, 
namely, the relief of Governor Stevens. The 
Oregon governor refused to have the men who 
volunteered in response to his call mustered into 
the regular service, so the identity of the Oregon 
volunteers was maintained throughout the war, 
though their leaders at all times expressed a willing- 
ness to act in harmony with the United States troops 
for the vigorous prosecution of aggressive warfare 
October 30th Major Rains set out from The 
Dalles with a force of three hundred and fifty regu- 
lars. November 1st Colonel Nesmith followed with 
a force which a few days later was increased to 
five hundred and fifty-three men. The experiences 
of both regulars and volunteers up to November 
12th. when both were in camp at the Ahtanum 
mission, were summarized thus in a despatch of 
that^ date from Major Rains to Governor Mason : 
"Here we are without a battle, except a skir- 
mish four days since with some forty Indians who 
defied us as we approached the Yakima river. We 
thought it was the prelude to the big battle with the 
whole of their force, and forded the stream to an 
island with our mounted troops, eighteen dragoons 
and eight prisoners. Here we commenced the 
action, firing on the enemv, and ordering up our 
artillery and infantry to ford the stream. Our troops 
made a rush into the water, but, being on foot, tried 
again and again to cross the river, but failed, the 
rapid current sweeping away two of our best men 
who were thus drowned ; whereupon I sent back to 
Colonel Nesmith for two companies of volunteers 
who, with our dragoons, drove headlong into the 
foaming current, and reaching the opposite shore, 
charged the enemy, who fled away over the hills 



INTRODUCTORY 



one of their balls striking, but fortunately not 
wounding, Colonel Nesmith's horse. 

"Late in the afternoon, after recalling all our 
forces to the south bank of the Yakima river, we 
heard, some distance on the plain, the reports of 
small arms (indication of a fight), and, taking two 
companies, we proceeded in that direction until some 
time after night, when, the firing having ceased, 
we returned to the edge of the timber and bivou- 
acked for the night. Next day we found a number 
of Indians around us on swift horses, who were 
driven off by our mounted volunteer companies. As 
we approached the mountain gorge, we found the 
Indians, about three hundred in number, on the 
hilltops beating their drums and shouting defiance. 
These were soon driven from their position and 
scattered by discharges from our howitzers. We 
cut off some of them by a proper disposition of our 
troops ; and two or more were killed. We continued 
our march to this place, sweeping the plains with 
our cavalry, dispersing, killing and wounding all 
the enemy we saw, and found the mission aban- 
doned. Captain Maloney not having arrived in 
conjunction with Colonel Nesmith (who himself 
went in command), we despatched one hundred and 
sixty-eight volunteers and regulars, on our best 
horses, to proceed in the direction of the Naches 
pass, and ascertain his whereabouts. We are await- 
ing their report ; for we cannot tell where the large 
body of the enemy is, unless they have gone that 
way to attack Captain Maloney's command." 

The same incidents and those immediately fol- 
lowing them are narrated in greater detail in an 
article in the Portland Daily Standard of the time: 

In the engagement at the Yakima river (mentioned in 
Major Rains' despatch). Captain Bennett's company (Com- 
pany F) and part of the Clackamas company (Company C) 
took part and were the first to cross the river and charge 
the enemy, who fled with great rapidity, so much so that 
the disabled state of the horses of the volunteers rendered 
pursuit unsuccessful. Captain Cornelius' company (Com- 
pany D) having become separated from the main body of 
the volunteers in the engagement at the river, encountered 
a superior force of Indians and fought them nearly a half 
day. He kept them at bay and succeeded in taking some 
cattle and driving them into camp that night. Two of his 
men were severely wounded. The damage inflicted upon 
the Indians was not known. In the attack the next day at 
the mountain gorge spoken of by Major Rains, otherwise 
called the Two Buttes. the number of Indians was not less 
than five hundred. About one hundred and fifty were 
counted upon the top of the hill, and the remainder were 
in the brush. By some misunderstanding of the orders 
given to surround them, a gap was left open ; and those 
made their escape. Two only were killed. Pursuit was 
of no avail. 

The regulars and volunteers encamped near the mis- 
sion, which, having been abandoned, it was conjectured 
that the main force of the Indians had either gone to the 
Naches pass to attack Captain Maloney, or up the Colum- 
bia to Priests' rapids. Colonel Nesmith. with a command 
of two hundred and fifty men, proceeded toward the pass, 
and after an absence of three days returned without hav- 
ing seen the enemy. He found the snow so deep as to 
prevent the forage of his animals, and was compelled to 



return. He found caches of Indian provisions, which he 
destroyed, and several Indian mares and colts, which were 
killed, as they would be of no service to the volunteers. 
Some wild Indian cattle were also found and killed, which 
furnished subsistence for the troops. In and about the 
mission were found vegetables and a variety of useful 
articles. 

On Colonel Nesmith's return, a council of officers was 
held, by which it was deemed inexpedient to proceed to 
Walla Walla, owing to the scarcity of forage, the weak 
condition of the animals, and the difliculty of crossing the 
Columbia with the sick and wounded. It was decided to 
return to The Dalles and recruit. After burning the mis- 
sion and a house owned by Kamiakin, the whole force, 
regulars and volunteers, took up their line of march for 
Tlie Dalles. On their way they met Captain Wilson's 
command (Company A) with the pack train of supplies, 
which train had suffered great hiss of animals and supplies 
by reason of the snows in the mountains, whicli in some 
places were four or five feet in dcptli. The expedition 
reached the Klickitat river, about twenty-five miles distant 
from The Dalles, on the ITth, and there encamped. The 
most cordial co-operation had existed between the regular 
and volunteer officers. All seemed animated with a com- 
mon interest in accomplishing the ends and objects of the 
campaign. 

Mention should be made of the fact that while 
Major Rains was af the Ahtanum mission he 
received a letter from Kamiakin, head chief of the 
Yakimas, making overtures of peace and friendship 
on certain terms. The reply of Rains was certainly 
vigorous enough and gave the chief an unequivocal 
statement of his position and intentions. It read as 
follows : 

Headquarters Yakima Expedition. 
Roman Catholic Mission, November 13, 18.5j. 
Kamiakin, Hyas Tyee of the Yakima Indians: 

Your talk by Padre Pandezy is just received. You 
know me and I know you. You came among the white 
people and to my house at The Dalles with Padre Pandozy 
and gave me a horse, which I did not take, as Panawok 
had given Lieutenant Wood another horse for him. You 
came in peace — we come in war. And why? Because 
your land has drunk the blood of the white man, and the 
Great Spirit requires it at your hand. 

You make the sign of the cross, and pray to the God 
of truth for mercy, and yet you lie when you say you 
"were very quiet, the Americans were our friends ; our 
hearts were not for war," until Governor Stevens changed 
your feelings ; for long before the treaty, which you agreed 
to, you proposed to the Walla Walla chief. Peo-peo-mox- 
mox, to go to war, and kill off all the whites. He told us 
so. You have been preparing for this purpose a very long 
time ; and your people agreed with the Cayuses, at the 
Walla Walla council, before the treaty was made, to mur- 
der all the whites there, which was only prevented by the 
Nez Perces disagreeing. 

You know that you murdered white men going to the 
mines who had done you no injury, and you murdered all 
persons, though no white man had trespassed upon your 
lands. Yon sent me a delegation to stop Hamilton and 
Pierce from settling in your country. I wrote them a 
letter and they left. You murdered your agent Bolon for 
telling you the truth — that the troops would come upon 
you for these murders. Has his death prevented their 
coming? I sent a handful of soldiers info your country to 
inquire into the facts. It was not expected that they 
should fight you, and they did right to return back. Your 
foul deeds were seen by the eye of the Great Spirit, who 
saw Cain when he killed his brother, Abel, and cursed him 
for it. Fugitives and vagabonds shall you also be, all that 



THE YAKIMA WAR 



remain of you, upon the face of the earth, as well as all 
who aid or assist you, until you are gone. 

You say now, "If we will be quiet and make friendship, 
you will not war with us, but give a piece of land to all the 
tribes." We will not be quiet, but war forever, until not a 
Yakima breathes in the land he calls his own. The river 
only will we let retain this name to show to all people that 
here the Yakimas once lived. 

You say that you will fight us with thousands, and if 
vanquished, those of you that remain will kill all your 
women and children, and then the country will be ours. 
The country is ours already, as you must see from our 
assembled army; for we intend to occupy it, and make it 
too hot to hold you. We are braves, and no brave makes 
war with women and children. You may kill them as you 
say, but we will not; yet we are thirsting for your blood, 
and want your warriors to meet us, and the warriors of all 
tribes wishing to help you, at once to come. The snow is 
on the ground, and the crows are hungry for food. Your 
men we have killed ; your horses and your cattle do not 
afford them enough to eat. Your people shall not catch 
salmon hereafter for you, for I will send soldiers to occupy 
your fisheries, and fire upon you. Your cattle and your 
horses, which you got from the white man, we will hunt 
up, and kill and take them from you. The earth, which 
drank the blood of the white man, shed by your hands, 
shall grow no more wheat nor roots for you, for we will 
destroy it. When the cloth that makes your clothing, your 
guns and your powder are gone, the white man will make 
you no more. We looked upon yon as our children and 
tried to do you good. We would not have cheated you. 
The treaty which you complain of, though signed by you, 
gave you too much for your lands, which are most all 
worthless to the white man ; but we arc not sorry, for we 
are able to give, and it would have benefited you. After 
you signed the treaty with Governor Stevens ;nid General 
Palmer, had you told us that you did not wish to abide by 
it, it would have been listened to. We wanted to instruct 
you in all our learning; to make a.xes, plows and hoes to 
cultivate the ground ; blankets to keep you from the cold ; 
steamboats and steam wagons which fly along swifter than 
the birds fly, and to use the lightning which makes the 
thunder in heavens to carry talk and serve as a servant. 
William Chinook, at The Dalles ; Lawyer, chief of the Nez 
Perces; Steachus, and Weattinattitimine, liyas tyce of the 
Cayuses, and many others of their people, can tell you 
what I say is true. You, a few people, we can sec with our 
glasses a long way off, while the whites are as the stars in 
the heavens, or leaves of the trees in summer time. Our 
warriors in the field are many, as you must see : but if not 
enough, a thousand for every one more will be sent to 
hunt you, and to kill you ; and my advice to you, as you 
will see, is to scatter yourselves among the Indian tribes 
more peaceable, and there forget you ever were Yakimas. 

(Signed) G. J. R.mns, 
Major U. S. A., Brigadier-General W. T., Commanding 
Troops in the Field. 

While these events were transpiring in the 
Yakima country, a movement had been made by 
Major Mark A. Chinn. who, with Company B, 
Oregon volunteers, proceeded to the mouth of the 
Des Chutes, where Company H, under command of 
Captain Taylor, was encamped. Proceeding toward 
the Walla Walla country with both companies, he 
arrived at Wells Springs on the 17th of Noveinber. 
Here he was met by a messenger from Narcisse 
Raymond, a French '-settler in Walla Walla valley, 
with the following communication addressed to the 
commander in charge of the forces en route to 
Walla Walla : 



November 14, 1855. 

Sir : However urgent and important the news I have 
to communicate, I almost despaired to despatch any from 
want of hands who were willing to risk life at this critical 
time; but Mr. McBean came to my assistance and offered 
the services of his son, John, who, in company with another 
man, will he the bearer of this. The news is gloomy and 
very different from what I had reason to expect when I 
left The Dalles on my way hither. Serpent Jaune (Peo- 
peo-mox-mox) has shown his colors, and is a declared foe 
to the Americans. He has taken possession of the fort and 
pillaged it, government as well as Hudson's Bay Company's 
property : has placed himself on the south side of the Walla 
Walla river, on the hills, guarding the road with a force, it 
is said, of a thousand. 

The young men on the Umatilla river are disposed for 
war, and John Whitford and Tolman instigate them to it. 
The chiefs of that place, at least the majority of them, are 
on the balance, and have not yet decided ; but Stockalah 
and Walattelekt, with their people, have joined the Cay- 
uses, and are doing all in their power to have them join 
against the Americans. The chiefs of this valley have 
remained firm and will not join the unfriendly Indians. 
Their Cduduct since Mr. OIney's departure has been praise- 
worthy, and they did all they could to prevent Mr. Brooks' 
house from being Inirned and pillaged, but in vain. The 
chief, Howlish Wampool, did it at the risk of his life. 

Two Nez Perce chiefs now here, Joseph and Red Wolf, 
desire me to tell you that all their tribe is for peace; that 
they will suffer no hostile Indians to remain among them. 
In justice to Pierre (Walla Walla chief), I beg to say that 
he stuck to his charge until forced away by Serpent Jaune 
and his people, but not until they had robbed three differ- 
ent times out of the fort. He was alone, and, of course, 
could not prevent them. As affairs stand, it is my humble 
opinion that it might not be prudent to make your way 
hither with the force at your command of one hundred 
and fifty men. I have requested the bearers of this 
despatch to proceed to The Dalles with the letters to the 
respective addresses to Messrs. Olney and Noble ; and 
placed as we are, a mere handful of men, destitute of 
ammunition, the sooner assistance is tendered to us the 
better, for Serpent Jaune daily threatens to burn our 
houses and to kill us, and he is not the only enemy we 
have to dread. 

In haste, I remain, sir. 

Respectfully, your obedient humble servant, 
Narcisse Raymond. 
The Commander-in-charge coming to Fort Walla Walla. 

Mr. Raymond and all the other settlers of the 
Walla Walla and Umatilla valleys had been directed 
by Indian Agent Nathan Olney to withdraw from 
the country as soon as a sufficient escort should 
arrive for them, and it was with intent to furnish 
this escort that Major Chinn was marching when he 
received the startling intelligence contained in the 
letter just quoted. This infomiation determined 
him to delay his march until he had received rein- 
forcements and artillery, so he moved next day to 
the Umatilla and established there a station which 
became known as Fort Henrietta. It was situated 
where plenty of water and timber could be obtained, 
as well as sufficient grass for horses, and it con- 
sisted of a tract one hundred feet square, picketed 
in with large, split timber, with bastions of round 
logs in two of the angles, also two corrals for 
horses and cattle. Major Chinn sent at once to 
Colonel Nesinith for the requisite reinforcements 
and artillery. On the 19th and 20th of November, 



73 



INTRODUCTORY 



the colonel sent forward three companies consist- 
ing of one hundred and seventy men. He endeav- 
ored to procure the howitzers from the regular 
army, but General Wool had just arrived on the 
scene and his advent brought to an abrupt termina- 
tion all hope of further co-operation between regu- 
lars and volunteers. The howitzers were, of course, 
refused. 

"The arrival of General Wool," says Evans, 
"defeated every project which looked to a winter 
campaign against the Indians. He even suggested 
that the combination of the commands of Rains and 
Nesmith, in the Yakima country, had been injurious 
to the service because the Indians were so over- 
awed by such a force, seven hundred men, that they 
fled upon the approach of the troops. General Wool 
ordered the regulars from Fort Dalles to Fort Van- 
couver, except a small garrison. He censured Major 
Rains for calling for volunteers, and also for going 
into the Yakima country to make war against the 
hostiles. He accused the territorial authorities of 
sinister and dishonest motives. While not accusing 
the whites in Washington territory of murdering 
Indians, as he did charge the whites with in the 
Rogue river country, yet he maintained that the 
war should only be carried on upon the defensive. 
To any proposition of the territorial authorities to 
chastise the Indians for past misdeeds, he was 
opposed, and should use his eft'orts to defeat them. 
In fact, he was so bitterly prejudiced against the 
two territories, their official authorities, their volun- 
teers and their people, that his sympathies were 
entirely with that savage race which it was his 
highest duty to keep in subjection. For the people 
who had the right to rely upon him for protection, 
he had no word of encouragement, no disposition 
to assist. At that time he was a greater marplot to 
the regaining of peace, and a more bitter foe to the 
Oregon and Washington people, than any hostile 
chief bearing arms against them." 

However, such succor as was in the power of 
Nesmith was, as before stated, promptly despatched 
to Fort Henrietta. The three companies joined 
Major Chinn on the 29th of November, but the com- 
mand was at once assumed by Lieutenant-Colonel 
Kelly, who accompanied the reinforcements. Decem- 
ber 2d, Kelly took the field with about three hundred 
and fifty men, designing to make a swift march to 
Fort Walla Walla and surprise the Indians who 
were supposed to be in possession of it. Kelly 
found "it had been pillaged by Indians, the build- 
ings much defaced and the furniture destroyed." 
Of his subsequent movements Colonel Kellv thus 
writes in his official report : 

On the morning of tlie 5tli, I despatched Second Major 
Chinn, with one hundred and fifty men, to escort the bag- 
gage and pack trains to the mouth of the Touchet. there to 
await my return with tlie remainder of tiie forces under 
my command. On the same morning I marched with 
about two hundred men to a point on the Touchet river 



about twelve miles from its mouth, with the view of 
attacking the Walla Walla Indians, who were supposed to 
be encamped there. When I was near to and making to- 
wards the village, Peo-peo-mox-mox, the chief of the tribe, 
with five other Indians, made their appearance under a flag 
of truce. He stated that he did not wish to fight ; that his 
people did not wish to fight; that on the following day he 
would come and have a talk and make a treaty of 
peace. On consultation with Hon. Nathan Olney, Indian 
Agent, we concluded that this was simply a ruse to gain 
time for removing his village and preparing for battle. I 
stated to him that we had come to chastise him for the 
wrongs he had done to our people, and that we would not 
defer making an attack on his people unless he and his five 
followers would consent to accompany and remain with us 
until all difficulties were settled. I told him that he might 
go away under liis Hag of truce if he chose; but, if he did 
so, we would forthwith attack his village. The alternative 
was distinctly made known to him; and, to save his people, 
he chose to remain with us as a hostage for the fulfillment 
of his promise, as did also those who accompanied him. 
He at the same time said that on the following day he 
would accompany us to his village; that he would then 
assemble his people and make them deliver up all their arms 
and ammunition, restore the property which had been 
taken from the white settlers, or pay the full value of that 
which could not be restored ; and that he would furnish 
fresh horses to remount my command, and cattle to supply 
them with provisions, to enable us to wage war against 
other hostile tribes who were leagued with tlieni. Having 
made these promises, we refrained from making the attack, 
thinking we had him in our power, and that on the next 
day his promises would be fulfilled. I also permitted him 
to send one of the men who accompanied him to his village 
to apprise the tribes of the terms of the expected treaty, so 
that they might be prepared to fulfill it. 

On the (ith, we marched to the village and found it 
entirely deserted, but saw the Indians in considerable force 
on the distant hills, and watching our movements. I sent 
out a messenger to induce them to come in. but could not 
do so. And I will here observe that I have since learned, 
from a Nez Perce boy, who was taken at the same time 
with Peo-peo-mox-mox, that, instead of sending word to 
his people to make a treaty of peace, he sent an order for 
them to remove their women and children and prepare for 
battle. From all I have since learned, I am well persuaded 
that he was acting with duplicity, and that he expected to 
entrap my command in the deep ravine in which his camp 
was situated, and make his escape from us. We remained 
at the deserted village until about one o'clock in the after- 
noon ; and. seeing no hope of coming to any terms, we 
proceeded to the mouth of the Touchet with a view of 
going from thence to some spot near Whitman's station, 
where I had intended to form a permanent camp for the 
winter. 

On the morning of the 7th, the command set 
out early for Whitman's station, Peo-peo-mox-mox 
and the other Indian hostages being still with the 
white men. Soon after a crossing of the Touchet 
had been effected, the battle began. There is dif- 
ference of opinion as to who fired the first shot. 
Kelly's report states that the Indians did, but Gil- 
bert quotes A. P. Woodward as asserting that to 
his knowledge one Jont, of Company ?>, committed 
the first hostile act. The question is of importance 
only as it bears upon the larger one of whether or 
not Peo-peo-mox-mox and his people were acting 
in good faith in negotiating for peace. .At any rate 
the firing soon became general, and all the com- 
panies except A and F. which were ordered to 



THE YAKIMA WAR 



remain with the baggage, began chasing the Indians 
eagerly. "A running fight was the consequence, the 
force of the Indians increasing every mile. Several 
of the enemy were killed in the chase before reach- 
ing the farm of LaRocque, which is about twelve 
miles from the mouth of the Touchet. At this 
point they made a stand, their left resting on the 
river covered with trees and underbrush, their 
center occupying the flat at this place, covered with 
clumps of sage brush and small sand knolls, their 
right on the high ridge of hills which skirt the river 
bottom." 

The few white men who outran their companions 
and reached this vicinity first were compelled by the 
murderous fire from savage guns to fall back, but 
soon rallied and made a charge upon the Indians 
in the brush, in which charge Lieutenant Burrows, 
of Company H, was killed, and Ca])tain Alunson, 
Sergeant-Major Isaac Miller and Private G. W. 
Smith were wounded. Reinforcements of whites 
arriving, the Indians were compelled to fall back 
two miles to a farmhouse, in attempting to carry 
which Captain Bennett, of Company F. and Private 
Kelso, of Company A, were killed. 

Continuing the narrative of the engagement, 
Colonel Kelly says in his report : "Howitzer found 
at Fort Walla Walla, under charge of Captain Wil- 
son, by this time was brought to bear upon the 
enemy. Four rounds were fired when the piece 
burst, wounding Captain Wilson. The Indians then 
gave way at all points ; and the house and fence 
were seized and held by the volunteers, and bodies 
of our men were recovered. These positions were 
held by us until nightfall, when the volunteers fell 
slowly back and returned unmolested to camp." 

During the first day's engagement, at about the 
hottest part of the action, an event occurred which, 
though not mentioned in Kell\ "s official report, has 
been the theme of niucli iliscussion. Peo-peo-mox- 
mox and his companiMns in captivity were, with one 
exception, killed by the guards and volunteers sur- 
rounding them, and whether this action was justi- 
fiable from the fact that the prisoners attempted 
to escape, or was wholly unwarranted, will never 
be ascertained with certainty. The eye witnesses of 
the affair are not in accord as to the facts. Indeed, 
it is quite probable that no one of them is able to 
give an absolutely correct and detailed statement of 
all that happened, such was the confusion and ex- 
citement prevailing at the time. Of this aflfair, 
Cilbert says: 

"The following is an account of it as given to 
the writer by Lewis Mc^Morris. who was present 
at the time and saw what he narrated. The hospital 
supplies were packed on mules in charge of Mc- 
Morris, and had just reached the LaRocque cabin, 
where the first engagement had taken place. The 
surgeon in charge had decided to use it as a hospital 
in which to place those wounded in the battle and 
Mc^lorris was unpacking the mules. Xear it the 



unfortunate J. M. Burrows lay dead, and several 
wounded were being attended to. The combatants 
had passed on up the valley, and the distant deto- 
nations of their guns could be heard. The flag of 
truce prisoners were there under guard and every 
one seemed electrified with suppressed excitement. 
A wounded man came in with a shattered arm 
dangling at his side and reported Captain Bennett 
killed at the front. This added to the excitement, 
and the attention of all was more or less attracted 
to the wounded man, when some one said: 'Look 
out, or the Indians will get away 1' At this seem- 
ingly everyone yelled, 'Shoot 'em! Shoot 'em!' and 
on the instant there was a rattle of musketry on 
all sides. 

"What followed was so quick, and there were 
so many acting, that McMorris could not see it in 
detail, though all was transpiring within a few 
yards of and around him. It was over in a minute, 
and three of the five prisoners were dead, another 
was wounded, knocked senseless and supposed to 
be dead, who afterwards recovered consciousness, 
and was shot to put him out of misery, while the 
fifth was spared because he was a Nez Perce. 
McMorris remembers some of the events that 
marked the tragedy, however, such as an impression 
on his mind of an attempt by the prisoners to escape, 
that started the shooting ; that everybody was firing 
because they were excited, and the target was an 
Indian ; that he saw no evidence of an attempt to 
escape, except from being murdered ; that they were 
killed while surrounded by and mingled among the 
whites ; and that but one Indian ofi^ered to defend 
his life. The prisoner oft'ering resistance was a 
powerful Willamette Indian called 'Jim' or 'Wolf 
Skin,' who, having a knife secreted upon his person, 
drew it and fought desperately. 'I could hear that 
knife whistling in the air,' said McMorris, 'as he 
brandished it, or struck at the soldier with whom he 
was struggling.' It lasted but a moment, when 
another soldier, approaching from behind, dealt him 
a blow on the head with a gun that broke his skull 
and stretched him apparently lifeless upon the 
ground. All were scalped in a few minutes, and 
later the body of Yellow Bird, the great Walla 
Walla chief, was mutilated in a way that should 
entitle those who did it to a prominent niche in the 
ghoulish temple erected to commemorate the 
infamous acts of soulless men." 

Gilbert also states that McMorris' account was 
confirmed by G. W. Miller and William Nixon, 
both of whom were present. 

A. P. M'oodward. now living at .Athena, and who 
was near by when the chief was killed, tells us 
that the facts, briefly stated, were these : When 
asked what should be done with the prisoners, 
Colonel Kelly had told the guard he "didn't care a 
damn." The prisoners were neither tied nor in any 
way confined, but were mingled with the volunteers. 
When the firing became warm, and several wounded 



INTRODUCTORY 



had been brought back to where the guard and 
prisoners were, some of the troops became bathy 
excited and called out. "Shoot the damned Indians 
and kill them !" Several shots were fired and two 
or three of the Indians fell, though they were not 
attempting to escape. Then Peo-peo-niox-mox 
sprang off his horse, and walking towards those 
who were firing, said : "You don't need to kill me 
— I am not Jesus Christ!" and with these words he 
fell. The biting sarcasm of the dying words of 
Peo-peo-mox-mox, if these were his words, can only 
be appreciated when we remember that they were 
uttered by a savage who could not be made to under- 
stand why the white men had. according to their 
own account, killed their own God. It should be 
stated, however, that in answer to a direct question 
as to whether any such language was used. Samuel 
Warfield, the slayer of Peo-peo-mox-mox, stated 
that the only foundation for the story was some- 
thing that occurred on the evening previous. Wolf 
Skin, he says, attempted to escape. He was imme- 
diately recaptured and while being tied to prevent 
a repetition of this attempt, said : "That is as 
much as could be expected of \ou. Christ died for 
his people, and I can die for mine," whereupon 
one of the volunteers rejoined. "Christ did not run," 
raising a general laugh. 

It is but fair to add the account of the killing 
given by i\Ir. Warfield. the man who actually took 
the life of the Walla Walla chieftain. .At the 
request of the writer, he furnished the following 
statement : 

".Amos Underwood and I were guards over the 
six Indian prisoners. Peo-peo-mox-mox, Klickitat 
Jimmy, or Wolf Skin, Nez Perce Billy and three 
others. .About four o'clock in the evening there 
were a number of soldiers around the guard and 
prisoners. Word was sent two or three times for 
those soldiers to come to the front ; but they did 
not go. Finally, Colonel Kelly came and ordered 
them to the front. I said to the colonel, 'I want 
to go to the front. What will we do with these 
prisoners?' He replied. 'Tie them and put them 
in the house, if they will submit to you : if not, put 
them in anyhow.' Major Miller was there present 
among the wounded, having been shot in the arm. 
Just at that time Wolf Skin pulled his knife from 
his legging and struck at Major Miller, cutting his 
arm as it was thrown up to ward oflf the blow. In 
an instant some one broke a musket over the 
Indian's head, killing him. Then the fight began. 
Five of the Indian prisoners were killed, either 
being shot or struck over the head with the guns. 
Peo-peo-mox-mox being the last one. T showed 
him how to cross his hands so that I could tie him 
and put him in the house as the colonel had told 
us, when he grabbed my gun and tried to wrench 
it around so as to shoot me. I jumped back and 
grabbed him by the collar and threw him down, 
still keeping hold of my gun. I also shot at him. 



but missed, he being too close. He caught me by 
the breeches leg and tried to regain his feet. I 
again jumped back from him as he tried to get up, 
struck him over the head with my gun, settling 
him for all time." 

This account of Mr. Warfield is probably sub- 
stantially correct as far as it goes, but it leaves 
open the question as to what incited Wolf Skin to 
draw his knife. One of the volunteers confessed 
that he became so excited by the fact that the whites 
at the front were being hard pressed and that some 
of them were killed and wounded that he completely 
lost his head and rushed back, shouting, "Shoot the 
Indians and kill them!" This and the attempted 
tying of their hands inspired the Indians with a 
belief that they would certainly be murdered, caus- 
ing them to offer resistance, with the melancholy 
results heretofore given. If this surmise is correct, 
neither the Indians nor their guards could be very 
much blamed, the real cause of the tragedy being 
the hare-brained man whose wild shoutings alarmed 
the Indian prisoners. It is hard to understand how 
the officers could justify their conduct in retaining 
the Indians at all any longer than they wished to 
stay. They came under flag of truce, and if Colonel 
Kelly's report is true, remained voluntarily as 
hostages, and when they were no longer willing to 
stay they should have been set at liberty. Nathan 
Olney. the Indian agent, is quoted as having said : 
"If you let Peo-peo-mox-mox escape, our hides will 
not hold shucks." Whether this was true or not, 
the whites were not justified in retaining any advan- 
tage gained by disrespect of a flag of truce and the 
honors of war, and the officers cannot therefore 
escape censure as being ultimately responsible for 
the massacre of the Indians. 

Next day the battle was renewed. No better 
narration of its subsequent events can be given than 
that furnished by Kelly's report, whic!i is therefore 
reproduced in c.vtcnso. 

Early on the morning of the Sth tiie Indians appeared 
with increased forces, amonntinR to fully six hundred war- 
riors. They were posted as usual in the thick hrush by 
the river — among the sage bushes and sand knolls and on 
the snrrotmding hills. This day Lieutenant Pillow, with 
Company .'\. and Lieutenant Hannon, with Company H, 
were ordered to take and hold the brush skirting the river 
and the sage bushes on the plain. Lieutenant Fellows, 
with Compan}' F, was directed to take and keep posses- 
sion of the point at the foot of the hill. Lieutenant 
Jeffries, with Company R, Lieutenant Hand, with Com- 
pany I, and Captain Cornoyer, with Company K. were 
posted on three several points on the hills, with orders to 
maintain them and to assail the enemy on other points of 
the same hills. .\s usual, the Indians were driven from 
their position, although they fought with skill and braverv. 

On the 9th they did not make their appearance until 
.about ten o'clock in the morning. aTid then in somewhat 
diminished numbers. As I had sent to Fort Henrietta for 
Companies D and E and expected them on the 1 0th, I 
thought it best to act on the defensive and hold our posi- 
tions, which were the same as on the 8th, until we could 
get an accession to our forces sufficient to enable us to 
assail their rear and cut off their retreat. An attack was 



THE YAKIMA WAR 



made during the day on Companies A and H, in the brush- 
wood, and upon B on the hill, both of which were repulsed 
with great gallantry by those companies with considerable 
loss to the enemy. Companies F, I and K also did great 
honor to themselves in repelling all approaches to their 
positions, although in doing so one man in Company F 
and one in Company I were severely wounded. Darkness 
as usual closed the combat by the enemy withdrawing 
from the field. Owing to the inclemency of the night, the 
companies on the hill were withdrawn from their several 
positions. Company B abandoning its rifle pits which were 
made by the men 'of that company for its protection. At 
early dawn of the next day the Indians were observed from 
our camp to be in possession of all points held by us on 
the preceding day. Upon seeing them. Lieutenant 
McAulifif, of Company B, gallantly observed that his com- 
pany had dug those holes, and after breakfast they would 
have them again; and well was his declaration fulfilled, 
for in less than an hour the enemy was driven from the 
pits and fled to an adjoining hill which they had occupied 
the day before. This position was at once assailed. Cap- 
tain Cornoyer. with Company K and a portion of Com- 
pany I, being mounted, gallantly charged the enemy on 
his right flank, while Lieutenant McAnliff, with Company 
B, dismounted, rushed up the hill in the face of a heavy 
fire and scattered them in all directions. They at once 
fled, to return to this battlc-lield no more, and thus ended 
our long contested tight. 

The winter following the battle of the Walla 
Walla was an exceedingly severe one, and the suf- 
fering of the soldiers was sometimes extreme. The 
late W. C. Painter, of Walla Walla, was wont to 
describe his experience of trying to sleep with scant 
shelter and scantier covering and the thermometer 
at twenty below zero. Mrs. Victor quotes one of 
the volunteers, whose name she does not reveal, 
as having said : 

"On the night of December 21st the snow fell 
from six to eight inches deep, and the mercury stood 
about twenty degrees below zero. Xext morning it 
fell to my lot to go on guard. My raiment consisted 
of an old slouch hat, an old coat, a flannel shirt, 
a threadbare pair of pants, and an old pair of shoes 
without socks. I had run through my shoes during 
the battle, but found an old pair in a. cache which 
answered the purpose. I donned my raiment, tied 
a string around my pants to keep them from slipping 
above my knees, and at six o'clock was ready for 
duty. My beat being one mile from camp, I trudged 
along through the snow until I reached my station, 
and then passed off the time as best I could. * * 
When I examined my feet, strange to say, they 
were not very badly frozen, only the tops and sides 
were raised up in blisters. Several of the boys 
who had no shoes took rawhide and sewed it up 
in .shape something like a moccasin. This beat bare 
feet to wade through the snow with. But the boys 
seemed to be content. Our tents were small and 
thin : our blankets were smaller and thinner. I had 
two of those long, narrow, thin blankets, one blue 
and one green, that were not long enough to reach 
from my nose down to mv feet, and a saddle 
blanket: this constituted my bed." 

But it is now time to return to Governor Ste- 
vens, who, as hitherto stated, had set out for the 



Blackfoot country upon completing his negotia- 
tions at the Walla Walla council. Having succeeded 
in inducing the dreaded Blackfeet to treat for the 
sale of their lands and started upon his return to 
Olympia, he had reached Hellgate in the present 
Montana, when a detachment of Xez Perces met 
him and gave him information of the war and his 
own isolated and iinperiled position. It would 
require all the tact, ingenuity and daring of this 
eminent man to run the gauntlet of these multiplied 
dangers in safety, but the doughty governor was 
equal to the task. How he acted under these trying 
circumstances may best be told in his own language : 

The result of our conference (with the Nez Perces) 
was most satisfactory. The whole party, numbering four- 
teen men, among whom were Spotted Eagle, Looking Glass 
and Tliree Feathers, principal chiefs among the Nez 
Perces, expressed their determination to accompany me 
and share any danger to be encountered. They expressed 
a desire that after crossing the mountains, I should go to 
their country, where a large force of their young men 
would accompany me to The Dalles and protect us with 
their lives against any enemy. 

Having replenished my train with all the animals to 
be had, on November 14th we pushed forward, crossed 
the Bitter Root mountains the 20th, in snow two and a half 
to three feet deep, and reached the Coeur d'Alene mission 
the 2.5th. taking the Coeur d'Alenes entirely by surprise. 
They had not thought it possible that we could cross the 
mountains so late in the season. 

With the Coeur d'Alenes I held a council, and found 
them much excited, on a balance for peace or war, and a 
chance word might turn them either way. Rumors of all 
kinds met us here : that the troops had fought a battle with 
the Yakimas and drove them across the Columbia towards 
the Spokanes, and that the Walla Wallas, Cayuses and 
LTmatillas were in arms, and that they had been joined by 
a party of Nez Perces. The accounts were of so contra- 
dictory a nature that nothing certain could be ascertained 
from them, excepting that the several tribes below were in 
arms, blocking up our road, and had threatened to cut off 
my party in any event. However, I determined to push 
on to the Spokanes. 

The Spokanes were even more surprised than the 
Coeur d'Alenes on seeing us. Three hours before my arrival 
they had heard that I was going to the settlements by way 
of New York. I immediately called a council; sent to Fort 
Colville for Mr. McDonald, in charge of that post of the 
Hudson's Bay Company; sent also for the Jesuit fathers at 
that point. They arrived. A council was held, at which 
the whole Spokane nation was represented. The Coeur 
d'Alenes and Colville Indians also were present. 

The Spokanes and Colville Indians evinced extreme 
hostility of feeling; .spoke of the war below; wanted it 
stopped ; said the whites were wrong. The belief was cur- 
rent that Peo-peo-mox-mox would cut ofif my party as he 
had repeatedly threatened. They had not joined in the war, 
but yet would make no promise to remain neutral. If the 
Indians now at war were driven into their country, they 
would not answer for the consequences ; probably many of 
the Spokanes would join them. After a stormy council of 
several days, the Spokanes. Coeur d'Alenes and Colvilles 
were entirely conciliated and promised they would reject 
all overtures of the hostile Indians and continue the firm 
friends of the whites. 

Having added to my party and organized, etc., we 
thence made a forced march to the Nez Perce country. 
Mr. Craig had received letters which informed me that the 
whole Walla Walla valley was blocked up with hostile 
Indians, and the Nez Perces said it would be impossible to 
go through. 



INTRODUCTORY 



I called a council and proposed to them that one hun- 
dred and fifty of their young men should accompany me 
to The Dalles. Without hesitation, they agreed to go. 
Whilst in the council making arrangements for our move- 
ments, news came that a force of gallant Oregon volun- 
teers, four hundred strong, had met the Indians in the 
Walla Walla valley, and after four days' hard fighting, 
having a number of officers and men killed and wounded, 
had completely routed the enemy, driving them across 
Snake river and toward the Nez Perce country. The next 
day I pushed forward, accompanied by sixty-nine Nez 
Perces, well armed, and reached Walla Walla without 
encountering any hostile Indians. Tliey had all been 
driven across Snake river below us by tlie Oregon troops. 

It is now proper to inquire what would have been the 
condition of my party had not the Oregon troops vigor- 
ously pushed into the field and gallantly defeated the 
enemy. 

The country between the Blue mountains and the 
Columbia was overrun with Indians, numbering one thou- 
sand to twelve hundred warriors, including the force at 
Priests' rapids under Kamiakin. who had sworn to cut me 
off ; it was completely blocked up. One eflfect of the cam- 
paign of the regulars and volunteers in the Yakima country 
under Brigadier-General Rains was to drive Kamiakin and 
his people on our side of the Columbia river, and thus 
endanger our movement from the Spokane to the Nez 
Perce country. Thus we had been hemmed in by a body 
of hostile Indians through whom we could have only forced 
our way with extreme difficulty and at great loss of life. 
We might all have been sacrificed in the attempt. For the 
opening of the way to my party I am solely indebted to 
the Oregon volunteers. Peo-peo-mox-mox, the celebrated 
chief of the Walla Wallas, entertained an extreme hostility 
toward myself and party, owing to imaginary wrongs he 
supposed to have been inflicted upon him in the treaty 
concluded with the Cayuses and Walla Wallas last June, 
and had been known repeatedly to threaten that I never 
should reach The Dalles. He was the first to commence 
hostilities by plundering Fort Walla Walla and destroying 
a large amount of property belonging to the United States 
Indian department. 

.'\t Walla Walla T fomul some twenty-five settlers — the 
remainder having fled to The Dalles for protection. With 
tliese were one hundred friendly Indians. Siieci.il Indian 
Agent B. F. Shaw, colonel in the Washington territory 
militia, was on the ground, and I at once organized tlie 
district, placed him in command and directed him, if nec- 
essary, to fortify, at all events to maintain his ground 
should the Oregon troops be disbanded before another 
force should take the field. The Nez Perce auxiliaries 
were disbanded and returned home. 

Thus we had reached a place of safety unaided, except- 
ing by the fortunate movements of the Oregon troops. 
Not a single man IkkI brcn ]i\ished forward to meet us, 
and though it was w 11 known we should cross the moun- 
tains about a certani iiin.', ,,iiil irrive at Walla Walla about 
the time we did. \\'h\ h.is tins'' Arrangements had been 
made' with Major Rains by -\ctniL:-( ;o\ ci no,- Afason to 
push forward a force undrr Coloiu 1 Sliaw lo meet me at 
Spokane about the time of my anuil tlnrc ,\ companv 
had been enlisted, organized and niarche<i to l-'ort Vancou- 
ver to obtain equipments, rations and transportation, 
which Major Rains had promised both Governor i\Iason 
and Colonel Shaw should be i)romptly furnished them. 
Some little delay ensued, and in the meantime Major- 
General Wool arrived, who innnediately declined equip- 
ping the company, as promised by Major Rains, and stated 
that he could not in any maimer recognize voliuiteers or 
furnish them equipments or transportation, and declined to 
supply their places with regular troops, of whom, at Van- 
couver alone, were some three hundred and fifty men. 

The report then goes on to make grave accu- 



sations against General Wool. "All history," says 
Professor Lyman, "abounds in instances of intense 
personal feuds and disagreements, but our Pacific 
coast history seems to have been especially fruitful 
of them. That between General Wool, with some 
of the officers who echoed his opinions, the regulars, 
in short, on one side and Governor Stevens, sup- 
ported by the volunteers and the nearly united 
people of the territory on the other, was particu- 
larly acrimonious." The following is an extract 
from Stevens' report showing the ground of his 
complaint against Wool : 

"When remonstrated with by Captain William 
McKay, in command of the coinpany to push 
forward to my assistance, when informed of the 
object for which the company was enlisted, and 
that if it was not pressed forward at once, or if 
some other force was not sent. Governor Stevens 
and his party would be in the most imminent danger, 
the general replied that in his opinion the danger 
was greatly exaggerated. That probably Governor 
Stevens would be able to protect himself, but if he 
could not, then Governor Stevens could obtain an 
escort from General Harney. 

"What a reply was that! A moiety of the 
Indians now in arms had defeated a detachment of 
one hundred United States regulars; Major Rains 
had placed on record his opinion that an insufficient 
force would be defeated by these Indians, and my 
party was supposed to number no more than twenty- 
five men. Yet Major-General Wool very coolly 
says, 'Governor Stevens can take care of himself.' 
So, too, in the remark that I could obtain aid from 
General Harney. Did General Wool know that the 
distance from Fort Benton to the supposed position 
of General Harney was greater than the distance 
from Fort Benton to The Dalles, and that to obtain 
aid from him would require not less than six months, 
and that an express to reach him must pass through 
the entire breadth of the Sioux? Such ignorance 
shows great incapacity and is inexcusable. 

"Mr. Secretary, Major-General Wool, com- 
manding the Pacific Division, neglected and refused 
to send a force to the relief of myself and party 
when known to be in imminent danger, and believed 
by those who were less capable of judging to be 
coming on to certain death, and this, when he had 
at his command an efficient force of regular troops. 
He refused to sanction the agreement made between 
Governor Mason and Major Rains for troops to be 
sent to my assistance and ordered them to dis- 
band. It was reserved for the Oregon troops to 
rescue us. 

"The only demonstration made by Major Rains 
resulted in showing his utter incapacity to command 
in the field. As has heretofore been said, his expe- 
dition against the Yakimas effected nothing but 
driving the Indians into the ver\ country through 
which I must pass to reach the settlements. 

"I therefore prefer charges against General 



THE YAKIMA WAR 



Wool. I accuse him of utter and signal incapacity, 
of criminal neglect of my safety. I ask for an 
investigation into the matter and for his removal 
from command." 

In January, 1856, Governor Stevens reached his 
capital at Olympia and found that the storm of war 
was raging on the west as on the east side of the 
Cascade range. In October, 1855, the Indian situ- 
ation became threatening, so much so that Acting- 
Governor Mason called for the organization of four 
additional companies, to be considered as a reserve 
force, their members a species of minute men, ready 
for immediate action in case of necessity. Block- 
houses were erected by the settlers and other defen- 
sive measures adopted. The war was given incep- 
tion in the manner usual to savages, namely, by the 
indiscriminate massacre of defenseless settlers. In 
a letter dated November 5th, Christopher C. Hewitt 
thus describes the dire results of the outbreak to 
the unoffending people of White river, upon whom 
the first blow fell. 

"We started Monday morning (October 29th) 
for the scene of action. After two days' hard work 
we made the house of Mr. Cox, which we found 
robbed. We next went to Mr. Jones', whose house 
had been burnt to the ground ; and Mr. Jones, being 
sick at the time, was burnt in it. The body of Mrs. 
Jones was found some thirty yards from the house, 
shot through the lower part of the lungs, her face 
and jaws horribly broken and mutilated, apparently 
with the head of an axe. The bones of Mr. Jones 
were found, the flesh having been roasted and eaten 
off by hogs. Mr. Cooper, who lived with Mr. Jones, 
was found about one hundred and fifty yards from 
the house, shot through the lungs. After burying 
the bodies, we proceeded to the house of W. H. 
Brown, a mile distant. Mrs. Brown and her infant, 
apparently ten months old, we found in the well, 
the mother stabbed in the back and head and also 
in the lower part of the left breast, the child not 
dressed but no marks of violence noticeable upon it. 
Mr. Brown was found in the house, literally cut to 
pieces. We next went to the house of Mr. King, or 
to the site of it, for it had been burnt to the ground. 
Mr. King and the two little children were burnt 
in the house, and the body of Mr. King, after being 
roasted, had been almost eaten up by hogs. Mrs. 
King was some thirty yards from the house. She 
had been shot through the heart and was horriblv 
mutilated. Three children were saved, one the son 
of Mr. King and two of Mr. Jones." 

On hearing of the outbreak. General Wool sent 
additional troops and the regulars and volunteers 
carried on such warfare with the wily Indians as 
the nature of the country would permit. But the 
winter season, which is very rainy on the sound, 
and the dense primeval forest that covered the land, 
rendered campaigning against an elusive enemy ex- 
ceedingly difficult and unsatisfactory. In the desul- 
tory fighting which followed the outbreak, a num- 



ber of regulars lost their lives, among them the gal- 
lant and manly Lieutenant William A. Slaughter, 
and though losses were also inflicted upon the In- 
dians, little was accomplished toward the winning 
of a permanent peace. 

Upon his arrival, Governor Stevens, with his 
usual vigor and resourcefulness, set about the 
onerous task of placing the territory on a satisfac- 
tory war footing. He contended that the volunteers 
who had been mustered into the service of the 
United States had been treated badly, so that it 
was proper that volunteers thereafter enlisted should 
be under the direction of the territorial authorities 
alone. As the term of enlistment of those volun- 
teers called out by Acting-Governor Mason was 
about to expire, he issued a proclamation calling 
for six companies, reciting as the occasion for his 
so doing that "during the past three months a band 
of hostile Indians had been spreading alarm 
amongst the settlers residing on Puget sound, mur- 
dering the families, destroying property, causing 
claims to be abandoned, and preventing the usual 
avocations of the farmer, whereby a large portion 
of the territory had become deserted ; and positive 
want, if not starvation, stares us in the face during 
the coming year." 

Three days after this proclamation was issued, 
an event happened which effectually proved that the 
call of the executive was not unwarranted. It had 
been impossible for the hostile Indians to secure the 
co-operation and support of all their race residing 
upon the sound, many remaining friendly to the 
whites. In order to win over to hostility these 
friendly and neutral tribes, a bold move was 
determined upon by the red men in arms, one 
"utterly inexplicable, considering their usual mode 
of warfare." At 8 :30 o'clock in the morning an 
attack was made on the town of Seattle, notwith- 
standing the fact that an American armed vessel 
was lying at anchor in the harbor. All day long 
the flring continued. Two white men were killed 
and a number of Indians, just how many could not 
be ascertained, though a shell from the United 
States ship (the Decatur) is said to have killed five. 
The Indians were not successful in their attempt 
to seize the town. Had they been, "thereby would 
have been settled the question by the great number 
of Indians upon the reservations who yet doubted as 
to which party should have their allegiance." 

The defeat on White river of the hostile chief. 
Leschi, by a force of friendly Indians under Pat- 
kanim on February 15th, brought the war practically 
to a close in the vicinity of Seattle and the White, 
Green and Snoqualmie rivers. Thereafter the scene 
of hostilities shifted to the Nisqually country, where 
Ouiemuth and Stehi were in command of the Indian 
enemy. Colonel Casey, of the regulars, was opposed 
to them and Major G. Ha\s, with a battalion of 
volunteers, was ordered to the scene to co-operate 
with them. March 10th the volunteers had a battle 



INTRODUCTORY 



with the red men on Connell's prairie, the details 
of which were reported by Hays as follows: 

At about eight o'clock this morning. Captain White 
with his company was ordered to tlie White river to build 
a blockhouse and ferry, supported by Captain Swindal and 
ten privates. He had not proceeded more than half a mile 
from the camp when he was attacked by a large Indian 
force, supposed to be at least one hundred and fifty 
warriors and a large number of squaws. I immediately 
ordered Captain Henness to his support with twenty men. 
Captain Henness moved with great rapidity, a tremendous 
volley of guns announcing his arrival. I became satisfied 
that an additional force was necessary, and despatched 
Lieutenant Martin, of Company B, with fifteen additional 
nten. The Indians by this time were seen extending their 
flank to the left with great rapidity. I then ordered Lieu- 
tenant Van Ogle, Company B, with fifteen men to check 
their flank movement, but before he could gain a position 
they had so extended their line as to make it necessary to 
send another party of twelve men under command of 
Captain Rabbeson, Vho succeeded in checking them. 
The fight by this time extended the whole length of our 
line, and one continuous volley could be heard from the 
Indian gmis on the hill and those of our men in the bottom. 
This firing continued some two hours. I saw the advantage 
which the Indians had in position, and determined to 
charge them. I ordered Captain Swindal to charge them 
from his position, which was central, and Captain Rabbe- 
son to make a simultaneous move against their extreme 
left, while Captain Henness and Captain White were 
ordered to hold the position which they occupied. 

This order was promptly obeyed and the charge made 
in the most gallant style by Captain Swindal against their 
center, and Captain Rabbeson against their left, through 
a deep slough, driving the enemy from their position and 
pursuing them some distance in their fliglit. Captain 
Rabbeson returned to camp, wliile Captain Swindal 
occupied a high ridge in the rear of the main body of the 
Indians. I ordered Captain Rabbeson to join Captains 
Henness and White, and directed Captain Henness to 
charge the Indians if he deemed it advisable. The Indians 
in front of Captains White and Henness were in strong 
position behind logs and trees and upon an elevation. It 
was deemed too dangerous to charge them in front. 
Captain Rabbeson was ordered to join Captain Swindal. 
make a flank movement to the right, and charge the enemy 
in their rear. This order was gallantly obeyed. Simul- 
taneously with this movement. Captains Henness and 
White charged them in front. The Indians were routed 
and were pursued for a mile or more along a trail covered 
with blood. It is believed that not less than twenty-five 
or thirty were killed and as many wounded. Tliey had 
been seen carrying ofif their wounded and dead from the 
time the fight commenced until it terminated. Withes and 
. ropes were found on the ground they occupied, which had 
been used in dragging off their dead into the brush. Hats, 
blankets and shirts were picked up with bullet holes in 
them stained with blood. They were forced to give up 
their drum, which they abandoned in their retreat. But 
two Indians were found dead on the field, one of whom was 
recognized as Chehalis John. The other was placed under 
a log, and has not yet been examined. The Indians had 
together their whole force. They picked their own 
ground. They brought on the attack without being seen 
by our troops. T regard the victory of this day as com- 
plete — a grand triumph. They exceeded us in numbers 
nearly if not quite two to one, and we whipped and drove 
them before us. We had four men wounded, all of whom 
will soon get well. 

After this battle the Indians on the sound were 
never again brought to a general engagement, 
though there was some desultory figliting. On the 



22<\ of May, Lieutenant-Colonel B. F. Shaw, who 
I was then in command of the volunteers, called a 
council of his officers to consider the advisability 
j of withdrawing from the sound, leaving the regu- 
' lars to maintain peace, and making an expedition 
I into the Inland Empire. The council unanimously 
decided in favor of the expedition, giving the fol- 
lowing reasons for such decision : 

"The mounted volunteers having crossed the 
mountains, the necessity of protecting the settle- 
ments west of the mountains devolved upon the 
United States infantry commanded by Lieutenant- 
Colonel Casey. Should the volunteers remain west 
of the mountains, they assumed that Lieutenant- 
Colonel Casey would be obliged to go east of the 
mountains and to join Colonel Wright, and that, 
while infantry were best adapted to the service west 
of the Cascades, the mounted volunteers could 
operate in the regions east. The Yakimas were the 
leading element of the hostile party. Their main 
strength must be broken before pursuing individuals 
or small parties. They asserted that if Colonel 
Wright did whip the hostiles with infantry, he could 
not follow them after a fight. If the volunteers 
remained west of the mountains, they were power- 
less to check an enemy over one hundred and fifty 
miles off. The volunteers must make a fight before 
going out of service. Sufficient troops would still 
remain west of the mountains to protect the settle- 
ments. It was necessary that depots of provisions 
should be established in the Yakima country before 
the winter. The Indians west of the mountains had 
been repeatedly defeated ; whilst those east of the 
mountains had never been checked." 

In conformity with this decision, Lieutenant- 
Colonel Shaw set out over the Cascades, via the 
Naches pass. But before tracing his operations on 
the east side it will be necessary to return to the 
Oregon volunteers whom we left in the Walla Walla 
country and review their further fortunes and move- 
ments, as also those of Colonel Wright and the reg- 
ulars under his command. Details of the winter 
campaign of the Oregon volunteer regiment need 
not be given. Much effort was expended in dis- 
covering caches of provisions and otherwise forag- 
ing for supplies. The Indians in December with- 
drew across Snake river, whither the volunteers 
could not follow them for want of boats. But in 
February six were constructed of whip-sawed 
lumber and calked with pine pitch, and in these, 
transported in wagons to the place where needed, 
the regitnent crossed the Snake twenty-five miles 
below the mouth of the Palouse, dispersing a small 
band of hostiles that opposed their crossing, and 
capturing their horses. .\n extensive survey of the 
country between the Palouse and Columbia rivers 
was made, then a part of the command returned to 
Walla Walla, but the main body under Colonel 
Thomas R. Cornelius, who in December liad suc- 
ceeded Colonel Xesmith, resigned, moved to a point 



THE YAKIMA WAR 



on the Columbia opposite the mouth of the Yakima 
river. CorneHus was delayed somewhat in his con- 
templated march into the Yakima country by lack 
of supplies, but on April 5th, with two hundred and 
forty-one efficient men, he started. Next day on 
Canyon creek the hostiles were met. No engage- 
ment took place that night. The following morning, 
however, Captain Hembree with a small detachment 
was attacked while reconnoitering, and Hembree 
was killed, after having despatched two Indians, the 
rest of the squad escaping back to camp and giving 
the alarm. Major Cornoyer pursued the enemy, 
came upon them toward evening in a fortified 
position, charged them and killed six of their num- 
ber. Thus by a loss of eight did the red men atone 
for the killing and subsequent mutilation of Hem- 
bree. 

On the 8th the command set out towards The 
Dalles. While encamped in the Klickitat valley they 
lost a number of their horses, but further than that 
experienced no reverses en route and inflicted no 
damage upon the Indians except the killing of two. 
In May the regiment was disbanded, but from it 
was formed companies, which, however, were also 
mustered out in August. 

We turn now to the operations of the regular 
troops east of the mountains, during the year 1856. 
In instructions to Colonel George Wright, issued in 
January, General Wool directed that two move- 
ments should be inaugurated as soon as climatic 
conditions should permit. "Expeditions should be 
prepared," said he, "at the earliest possible moment; 
that is, as soon as grass can be obtained, for Walla 
Walla and the Selah fisheries. As the snow will 
not allow the expedition to the latter so early by 
three or four weeks, the one to the former will be 
taken as soon as the season will permit, with four 
or five companies and three howitzers. It is desir- 
able that the expedition should be conducted with 
reference to selecting a proper position for a post, 
and to ascertain the feelings and dispositions of 
the several tribes in that section of the country. I 
do not believe they will continue the war a great 
while. The occupation of the country between the 
Walla Walla, Touchet and Snake rivers, and the 
opposite side of the Columbia, will very soon bring 
those tribes to terms. The occupation at the proper 
tirne of the Yakima country from the Ahtanum 
mission, and that on the river above and below the 
Selah fishery, will compel the Yakimas, I think, to 
sue for peace or abandon their country." 

It was such instructions as these that occasioned 
the unfriendly criticism of the people of the North- 
vyest. "Not a word," observed Evans, "as to chas- 
tising the perfidious murderers of our citizens, nor 
the enforcement of the treaties, nor for the punish- 
ment of hostile acts which had destroyed the busi- 
ness of the country and retarded its settlement — not 
a word as to checking raids and depredations on 
isolated settlers." It was such insulting instruc- 



tions as that sent to Colonel Wright at a later 
date — "Should you find, on the arrival of the troops 
in the Cayuse country, that a company is neces- 
sary to give protection to the Cayuse Indians from 
the volunteers, you will leave a company there 
with a howitzer" — that incited the positive hostility 
of feeling of the people toward Wool. 

March 11th Colonel Wright arrived at Fort 
Dalles. By the -JOth, he was ready to, and on that 
date he did, start for the Walla Wa'lla country. The 
folly of General Wool's orders became at once 
apparent. Had Wright made a vigorous movement 
against the ablest leader of the hostiles, Kamiakin, 
as he doubtless would have done if he had been 
mstructed to reduce the belligerent Indians to sub- 
mission, the Cascades tragedy would not have 
occurred. But the forces on the Columbia had been 
diminished by Wool's directions, two of the three 
companies at Fort Vancouver having been sent to 
Steilacoom about the middle of March, and on the 
24th the company at the Cascades having been sent 
away. The movement of Wright up the Columbia 
to The Dalles had brought it about that a large 
amount of stores and supplies were temporarily 
at the Cascades, and for them there was no other 
protection than a detachment of eight men under 
Sergeant Matthew Kelly. The watchful Kamiakin 
was fully aware of the conditions, and had made 
preparations accordingly. 

The settlements were on a narrow strip of bot- 
tom land on the north bank of the river. The south 
bank was precipitous, affording no opportunity for 
settlement. A saw-mill stood near the upper end 
of the portage; a little below were a number of 
houses and shops, among which was the store of 
Bradford & Company. Directly in front of this 
building's site is an island, and a bridge to connect 
It with the mainland was then in process of con- 
struction. The Bradford Brothers had been for 
some time building a tramway or species of wooden 
railroad between the upper' and lower cascades. 
Upon this workmen were engaged building another 
bridge. There was considerable activity in the little 
village, whose importance the Indian war opera- 
tions had greatly increased. Two steamers, the 
Mary and the Wasco, lay at anchor in the river on 
that eventful March morning, the quiet industry 
of which was to be so rudely disturbed. 

The usual activities had just begun when the 
blood-curdling savage war whoop awoke the echoes. 
Then came the sharp reports of many rifles all along 
the line of the settlements. Fortunately an ex- 
tended account of the attack on and defense of the 
Bradford store by one who was present and saw 
what he narrated has been preserved for later 
generations. It was embodied in a letter by Law- 
rence W. Coe, a partner of the Bradford Brothers 
in their store, to Putnam T. Bradford, who was 
east at the time : 



INTRODUCTORY 



On Wednesday, March 26th, at about 8:30 A. M., after 
the men had gone to their work on the two bridges of the 
new railway, most of them on the bridge near Bush's 
house, the Yakimas came down on us. There was a line 
about us from Mill creek to the big point at the head of the 
falls, firing simultaneously at the men ; and the first notice 
we had of them was the firing and crack of their guns. At 
the first fire, one of our men was killed and several were 
wounded. Our men, on seeing the Indians, all ran to our 
store through a shower of bullets, except three, who started 
down the stream for the middle blockhouse, distant one 
and a half miles. Bush and his family ran to our store, 
leaving his own house vacant. The Watkins family came 
into our store, after a Dutch boy (brother of Mrs. Watkins) 
had been shot in the house. Watkins, Finlay and Bailey 
were at work on the new warehouse on the island, around 
which the water was now high enough to run about three 
feet deep under the bridges. There was grand confusion 
in the store at first ; and Sinclair, of Walla Walla, going to 
the door to look out, was shot in the head and instantly 
killed. Some of us commenced getting guns and rifles, 
which were ready loaded, from behind the counter. For- 
tunately, about an hour before, there had been left with us 
for shipment below nine government muskets, with car- 
tridge boxes and ammunition. These saved us. As the 
upper story of the house was abandoned. Smith, the cook, 
having come below, and as the stairway was outside, 
where we dare not go. the stovepipe was hauled down, the 
hole enlarged with axes, and a party of men crawled up ; 
and the upper part of the house was secured. 

Our men soon got shots at the Indians on the bank 
above us. I saw Bush shoot an Indian, the first one killed, 
who was drawing a bead on Mrs. Watkins, as she was run- 
ning for our store. He dropped instantly. Alexander and 
others mounted into the gable under our roof ; and from 
there was done the most of our firing, as it was the best 
place for observation. In the meantime, we were barri- 
cading the store, making loopholes and firing when oppor- 
tunity presented itself. I took charge of the store, Dan 
Bradford of the second floor, and Alexander of the garret 
and roof. 

The steamer Mary was lying in Mill creek; the wind 
was blowing hard down stream. Then we saw Indians 
running towards her and heard shots. I will give you an 
account of the attack on her hereafter. The Indians now 
returned in force to us ; and we gave everyone a shot who 
showed himself. Tliey were nearly naked, painted red 
and had gims and bows and arrows. After a while, Finlay 
came creeping around the lower point of the island towards 
our house. We halloed to him to lie down behind a rock; 
and he did so. He called that he could not get to the store, 
as the bank above us was covered with Indians. He saw 
Watkins' house bum while there. The Indians first took 
out everything they wanted, — blankets, clothes, guns, etc. 
By this time the Indians had crossed in canoes to the 
island ; and we saw them coming, as we supposed, after 
Finlay. We then saw Watkins and Bailey running around 
the river side towards the place where Finlay was, and the 
Indians in full chase after them. As our men came around 
the point in full view, Bailey was shot through the arm and 
leg. He continued on and plunging into the river swam 
to the front of our store and came in safely, except for his 
wounds. Finlay also swam across and got in unharmed, 
which was wonderful, as there was a shower of bullets 
around him. 

Watkins came next, running around the point ; and we 
called to him to lie down behind the rocks ; but before he 
could do so he was shot through the wrist, the ball going 
up the arm and out above the elbow. He dropped behind 
a rock just as the pursuing Indians came around the point; 
but we gave them so hot a reception from our house that 
they backed out and left poor Watkins where he lay. We 
called to him to lie still, and we would get him off; but we 
were not able to do so until the arrival of the troops — two 
days and nights afterwards. During this time he fainted 



several times from cold and exposure, the weather being 
very cold ; and he was stripped down to the underclothes 
for swimming. When he fainted he would roll down the 
steep bank into the river; and, the ice-cold water reviving 
him, he would crawl back under fire to his retreat behind 
the rock. Meantime his wife and children were in the store 
in full view, and moaning piteously at his situation. He 
died from exhaustion two days after he was rescued. 

The Indians were now pitching into us "right smart." 
They tried to burn us out — threw rocks and fire brands, 
hot irons, pitch wood — everything onto the roof that would 
burn. But as the bank for a short distance back of the 
store inclined towards us, we could see and shoot the 
Indians who appeared there. So they had to throw for 
such a distance that the largest rocks and bundles of fire 
did not quite reach us ; and what did generally rolled off 
the roof. Sometimes the roof caught on fire ; and we cut 
it out, or with cups of brine drawn from pork barrels put 
it out, or with long sticks shoved off the fire-ball. The 
kitchen roof troubled us the most. How they did pepper 
us with rocks ! Some of the biggest ones would shake the 
house all over. 

There were now forty men, women and children in 
the house — four women and eighteen men who could fight, 
and eighteen children and wounded men. The steamer 
Wasco was on the Oregon side of the river. We saw her 
steam up and leave for The Dalles. Shortly after the 
steamer Mary also left. She had to take Atwell's fence 
rails for wood. So passed the day, during which the 
Indians had burned Inman's two houses, Bradford's saw- 
mill and houses, and the lumber yards at the mouth of 
Mill creek. At daylight they set fire to Bradford's new 
warehouse on the island, making it as light as day around 
us. They did not attack us at night, but on the second 
morning commenced again lively as ever. We had no 
water, but did have about two dozen of ale and a few bot- 
tles of whiskey. These gave out during the day. During 
the niyht, :i .^pukime Indian, who was traveling with Sin- 
clair aii'l w.is m tlic store with us, volunteered to get a pail 
of wattr from the- river. I consented, and he stripped 
himself naked, jumped out and down the bank, and was 
back in no time. We weathered it out during the day, 
every man keeping his post, and never relaxing his vigi- 
lance. Every moving object, bush, shadow or suspicious 
thing on the hillside received a shot. Night came again; 
we saw Sheppard's house burn. Bush's house was also 
fired, and kept us in light until four A. M., when, darkness 
returning, I sent the Spokane Indian for water from the 
river; he filled four barrels. He went to and fro like light- 
ning. He also slipped poor James Sinclair's body down 
the slide outside, as the corpse was quite offensive. 

The two steamers having exceeded the length of time 
which we gave them to return from The Dalles, we made 
up our minds for a long siege, until relief came from 
below. The third morning dawned ; and lo ! the Mary 
and the Wasco, blue with soldiers, and towing a flatboat 
loaded with dragoon horses, hove in sight. Such a halloa 
as we gave ! As the steamers landed, the Indians fired 
twenty or thirty shots into them; but we could not ascer- 
tain with what effect. The soldiers as they got ashore 
could not be restrained, and plunged into the woods in 
every direction ; while the howitzers sent grape after the 
retreating redskins. The soldiers were soon at our doors; 
and we experienced quite a feeling of relief in opening 
them. 

Now as to the attack on the steamer Mary on the first 
day of the fight. She lay in Mill creek, and no fires, and 
wind blowing hard ashore. Jim Thompson, John Woodard 
and Jim Herman were just going up to her from our store 
when they were fired upon. Herman asked if they had 
any guns. No. He went on up to Inman's house ; the rest 
stayed to help get the steamer out. Captain Dan Baugh- 
man and Thompson were on shore, hauling on lines in the 
upper side of the creek, when the firing of the Indians 
became so hot that they ran for the woods past Inman's 



THE YAKIMA WAR 



house. The fireman. James Lindsay, was shot through 
the shoulder. Engineer Buckminster shot an Indian with 
his revolver on the gang plank, and little Johnny Chance 
went climbing up on the hurricane deck, and killed his 
Indian with an old dragoon pistol ; but he was shot through 
the leg in doing so. Dick Turpin, half crazy, probably, 
taking the only gun on the steamer, jumped into a flatboat 
alongside, was shot, and jumped overboard and was 
drowned. Fires were soon started under the boiler and 
steam was rising. About this time, Jesse Kempton, shot 
while driving an ox team from the mill, got on board ; also 
a halflireed named Bourbon, who was shot through the 
body, .^ftcr sufficient steam to move was raised, Hardin 
Chenowcth ran up into the pilot house, and, lying on the 
floor, turned tlie wlioel a-: he was directed from the lower 
deck. It is alni...t ii,,(llr-x t(. say that the pilot house was 
a target for tlic Inili.m- I'he steamer picked up Herman 
on the bank alinvf. luinan's family, Sheppard and Van- 
derpool all got across the river in skiffs, and boarding the 
Mary were taken to The Dalles. 

In the same letter Mr. Coe thus narrates the 

incidents of the attack which was made on the 

Lower Cascades simultaneously with that on the 
store : 

George Johnson was about to get a boat's crew of 
Indians, when Indian Jack came running to him, saying 
that the Yakimas had attacked the blockhouse. He did 
not believe it, although he heard the cannon. He went up 
to the Indian village on the sandbar to get his crew, and 
saw some of the Cascade Indians, who said they thought 
the Yakimas had come ; and George, now hearing the 
muskets, ran for home. E. W. Baughman was with him. 
Bill Murphy had left the blockhouse early for the Indian 
camp, and had nearly returned before he saw the Indians 
or was shot at. He returned, two others with him. and 
ran for George Johnson's, with about thirty Indians in 
chase. After reaching Johnson's. Murphy continued on 
and gave Hamilton and all below warning; and the fami- 
lies embarked in small boats for Vancouver. The men 
would have barricaded in the warehouse, but for want of 
ammunition. There was considerable government freight 
in the wharf boat. They stayed about the wharf boat and 
schooner nearly all day, and until the Indians commenced 
firing upon them from the zinc-house on the bank. They 
then shoved out. Tommy Pierce was shot through the leg 
in getting the boats into the stream. Floating down, they 
met the steamer Belle with Sheridan and forty men. sent up 
on report of an express carried down by Indian Simpson in 
the morning. George and those with him went on board 
the steamer and volunteered to serve under Sheridan, who 
landed at George's place and found everything burned. 

The timely warning by Indian Jack enabled all 
the people to escape with their lives, though the 
houses were burned and much government property 
destroyed. 

But how fared the middle blockhouse, com- 
monly known as Fort Rains? As heretofore 
stated there were at this place eight soldiers under 
Sergeant Kelly. The commander of this squad 
had been warned the day previous that Indians in 
the vicinity were acting suspiciously but gave the 
matter no serious attention. When the attack came, 
the members of the detachment were quite widely 
scattered and one of the number, Frederick Ber- 
naur, had gone to the Upper Cascades for a can- 
teen of whiskey. This man, on attempting to re- 
turn, was shot through both legs, but managed to 



keep himself concealed, supporting his failing- 
strength with the whiskey until night, when he stole 
into the blockhouse. The others, as soon as the 
truth became known, rushed for the protection of 
the fortification, and all reached it except Lawrence 
Rooney, who was captured by the Indians. The 
few families in the vicinity of the blockhouse also 
sought its protection, but were not so fortunate, 
several of their number being severely wounded in 
crossing the line of Indian fire. "We had," said 
Sergeant Robert Williams in his narrative of the 
attack, "seven wounded and three killed. Among 
the latter was Mr. Griswold, who might have es- 
caped his death but for his overconfidence in the 
friendliness of the Indians toward him. The Ger- 
man boy, Kyle, mentioned in Mr. Coe"s narrative. 
was killed while riding on horseback down the road 
on the hill in front of us. The Indian that shot him 
stood by the side of a tree close to the road, his gun 
almost reaching to the poor boy, who fell instantly 
upon being shot. 

"Tom McDowell and Jehu Switzler and another 
man to me before unknown, were on their way 
from the Upper to the Lower Cascades, but before 
they had proceeded far they discovered hostile 
Indians. Being themselves unarmed, they made a 
desperate effort to reach the blockhouse, which 
they did in safety. They proved to our small force 
a valuable acquisition. The three gallantly aided 
us during the defense. After they had got in, the 
door was tnade secure by a bolt, and then a strong 
chain was drawn tight across. That being com- 
pleted, we gave our savage enemy a treat of canister 
shot, fourteen rounds in all, from our six-pounder 
gun, after which they precipitately retired. But we 
still, while in reach, presented them with a few 
shells. They retired back of the hills, out of range 
of our guns, to torture and put to a horrible death 
our unfortunate comrade (Lawrence Rooney), 
whom they had captured. We could not see them 
at it, but we heard his piercing screams. After they 
had accomplished this last inhuman and diabolical 
cruelty, the main portion left and went to the lower 
landing." 

The second day the Indians returned to the 
siege. The men in the blockhouse were thus pre- 
vented from getting water, of which the wounded 
especially were in dire need. Their necessities were 
relieved by the gallantry of Sergeant Williams and 
William Houser, who made their way to a saloon 
near by and succeeded in procuring some potables, 
but no water, also a small box of crackers. Next 
morning, the third day after the attack, relief came. 

The movements by which the horrible siege at 
the Cascades was raised must now receive brief 
treatment. The beleaguered people managed to 
send an express to Colonel Wright, who had pro- 
ceeded a few miles on his wav to the Walla Walla 
country, apprising him of what was happening in 
the rear. He forthwith turned back. Word also 



INTRODUCTORY 



reached Vancouver, conveyed by fugitives from the 
Lower Cascades, and soon Lieutenant Philip Sheri- 
dan, who later immortalized his name in the Civil 
War, was sent to the rescue with forty men. He 
descended the river in the steamer Belle, reached 
the Lower Cascades early in the morning of the 
27th, disembarked the men at a convenient place 
and sent the steamer back for volunteer assistance. 
It is worthy of mention that two volunteer com- 
panies were equipped in Portland and Vancouver 
and came to the scene, but were unable to engage 
actively in any conflict. Sheridan's position, after 
landing, was such that he could not advance upon 
the Indians in his front without crossing over a 
narrow neck of ground. He soon learned that the 
foe was on this narrow strip also. 

"After getting well in hand everything con- 
nected with my little command," says Sheridan, "I 
advanced with five or six men to the edge of a 
growth of underbrush to make a reconnoissance. 
We stole along under cover of this underbrush until 
we reached the open ground leading over the cause- 
way or narrow neck before mentioned, when the 
enemy opened fire and killed a soldier near my side 
by a shot which just grazed the bridge of my nose, 
struck him in the neck, opening an artery and 
breaking the spinal cord. He died instantly. The 
Indians at once made a rush for the body, but my 
men in the rear, coming quickly to the rescue, drove 
them back; and Captain Dall's gun (a cannon bor- 
rowed from an ocean steamer) being now brought 
into play, many solid shot were thrown into the 
jungle where they lay concealed, with the effect of 
considerably moderating their impetuosity. Fur- 
ther skirmishing at long range took place at inter- 
vals during the day, but with little gain or loss, 
however, to either side, for both parties held posi- 
tions which could not be assailed in flank, and only 
the extreme of rashness in either could prompt a 
front attack. My left was protected by the back- 
water driven into the slough by the high stage of 
the river, and my right rested securely on the main 
stream. Between us was the narrow neck of land, 
to cross which would be certain death. The posi- 
tion of the Indians was almost the counterpart of 
ours." 

Both belligerents remained in their respective 
positions all day and all night, but Sheridan had in 
the meantime conceived the plan of crossing the 
command in a bateau, which he had brought with 
him, to the south side of the Columbia, make his 
way up the mountain's base to a point opposite the 
middle blockhouse, cross there to the north bank 
and endeavor to get to the rear of the Indian posi- 
tion. How this hazardous plan was executed is 
best told in Sheridan's own language: 

"On the morning of the 28th the savages were 
still in my front, and, after giving them some solid 
shot from Captain Ball's gun, we slipped down to 
the river bank and the detachment crossed bv means 



of the Hudson's Bay boat, making a landing on the 
opposite shore at a point where the south channel of 
the river, after flowing around Bradford's island, 
joins the main stream. It was then about nine 
o'clock and everything thus far proceeded favora- 
bly. But an examination of the channel showed 
that it would be impossible to get the boat up the 
rapids along the mainland, and that success could 
only be assured by crossing the south channel just 
below the rapids to the island, along the shore of 
which there was every probability we could pull the 
boat through the rocks and swift water until the 
head of the rapids was reached, from which point 
to the blockhouse there was swift water. 

"Telling the men of the embarrassment in which 
I found myself, and that, if I could get enough of 
them to man the boat and pull it up the stream by a 
rope to the shore, we would cross to the island and 
make the attempt, all volunteered to go, but as ten 
men seemed sufficient, I selected that number to 
accompany me. Before starting, however, I 
deemed it prudent to find out if possible what was 
engaging the attention of the Indians, who had not 
yet discovered that we had left their front. I 
therefore climbed up the abrupt mountain side 
which skirted the water's edge, until I could see 
across the island. From this point I observed the 
Indians running horse-races and otherwise enjoying 
tliemselves behind the line they had held against me 
the day before. The squaws decked out in gay 
colors, and the men gaudily dressed in war bonnets, 
made the scene very attractive, but, as everything 
looked propitious for the dangerous enterprise in 
hand, I spent but little time in watching them and 
quickly returning to the boat, I crossed to the island 
with my ten men, threw ashore the rope attached to 
the bow and commenced the difficult task of pulling 
her up the rapids. We got along slowly at first, but 
soon striking a camp of old squaws, who had been 
left on the island for safety and had not gone over 
to the mainland to see the races, we utilized them to 
our advantage. With unmistakable threats and 
signs, we made them not only keep quiet, but also 
give us much-needed assistance in pulling vigor- 
ously on the tow-rope of our boat. 

"I was laboring under a dreadful strain of 
mental anxiety during all this time, for had the 
Indians discovered what we were about, they could 
easily have come over to the island in their canoes, 
and by forcing us to take up our arms to repel their 
attack, doubtless would have obliged the abandon- 
ment of the boat, and that essential adjunct to the 
final success of my plan would have gone down the 
rapids. Indeed, under such circumstances, it would 
have been impossible for ten men to hold out against 
the two or three hundred Indians ; but the island 
forming an excellent screen to our movements, we 
were not discovered, and when we reached the 
smooth water at the upper end of the rapids, we 
quickly crossed over and joined the rest of the men 



THE YAKIMA WAR 



who in the meantime had worked their way along 
the south bank of the river parallel with us. I felt 
very grateful to our old squaws for the assistance 
they rendered. They worked well under compul- 
sion and manifested no disposition to strike for 
higher wages. Indeed, I was so much relieved 
when we had crossed over from the island and 
joined the rest of the party, that I mentally thanked 
the squaws, one and all. I had much difficulty in 
keeping the men on the main shore from cheering 
at our success, but hurriedly taking into the bateau 
all of them it would carry. I sent the balance along 
the south bank, where the railroad is now built, 
until both detachments arrived at a point opposite 
the blockhouse, when, crossing to the north bank, I 
landed below the blockhouse some little distance 
and returned the boat for the balance of the men, 
who joined me in a few minutes." 

Hardly had Sheridan landed and effected com- 
munication with the beleaguered blockhouse, when 
the advance of Wright's returning command under 
Lieutenant-Colonel Edward J. Steptoe arrived. .\ 
conference between Sheridan and Steptoe resulted 
in the former's being sent with a reinforcement to 
the island he had just left to capture the Cascade 
Indians, who, it was thought, would flee to the 
island, while the Yakimas would retreat into the 
interior of their own country. .\s expected, the 
Yakimas and Klickitats fled precipitately on the ap- 
proach of Steptoe's command, and the Cascades, 
deserted by their quondam allies, fell into the power 
of Sheridan. Some of them were tried by military 
commission, tieing under treaty, they were ad- 
judged guilty of treason in fighting and nine were 
summarily hanged. The remainder of the Cascades 
were kept on the island under military surveillance. 

-April 28th Colonel Wright with five companies 
started into the Yakima country, and camping on 
the Xaches river on the 18th of May, he remained 
there about a month. He was visited at intervals 
by chiefs professing a desire for peace, but the 
Indian plan was to affect to have two parties, one 
wishing hostilities to cease, the other advocating 
the continuance of the war. Their strategy con- 
sisted in the use of dilatory tactics, playing one party 
m their own ranks against another and making 
representations, true or false, which would stay 
the hand of their opponent until they could collect 
sui)p!ies. In this they succeeded admirably. 

"The history of Wright's operations, as given in 
his reports," writes ■Mrs. Mctor, "shows a summer 
spent in trailing Indians from place to place, from 
fishery to fishery, and over mountains before 
thought impassable for troops, dragging after them 
their season's supplies and accomplishing nothing 
but to collect the noncombatants of the disafi'ected 
tribes upon a reservation in Oregon, where they 
were secure from the turmoil of war and at liberty 
to spy on either side." 

.As before stated, Lieutenant-Colonel Shaw, of 



the Washington volunteers, started for the Walla 
Walla country early in June. Arriving at the 
Yakima country while Wright was there, he offered 
to co-operate with the regulars, which offer was 
declined. He therefore continued his march to the 
Columbia at a point opposite the mouth of the Uma- 
tilla river. Seventy-five men of his command, under 
Captain Goif, had been sent to co-operate with 
Major Layton, of the Oregon volunteers, in raiding 
the John Day country. By capturing horses and 
supplies, these forces compelled many Indians, some 
of whom were supposed to be hostile and some who 
might at any time be induced to become so, to seek 
.the protection of the Warm Springs reservation. 

Acting upon Governor Stevens' instructions to 
"spare no exertion to reduce to unconditional sub- 
mission any hostiles within reach." Colonel Shaw 
determined to attack a force of the enemy whom he 
ascertained to be encamped in the Grand Ronde 
valley. Pushing rapidly over the mountains, he 
encountered the hostiles July ITth, and in a decisive 
battle drove them as fugitives in every direction. 
The story of this fight is vividly told by the colonel 
himself in the follow'ing language : 

We arrived in the Grande Ronde valley on the even- 
ing of the 16th and camped on a branch of the Grande 
Ronde river in the timber, sending spies in advance, who 
returned and reported no fresh signs. On the morning of 
the ITth, leaving Major Blankenship. of the central, and 
Captain Miller, of the southern battalion, assisted by Cap- 
tain DeLacy, to take up the line of march for the main 
valley, I proceeded ahead to reconnoiter, accompanied by 
Major Maxon, Michael Marchmean, Captain John and 
Doctor Burns. After proceeding about five miles we 
ascended a knoll in the valley, from which we discovered 
dust rising along the timber of the river. I immediately 
sent Major Maxon and Captain John forward to recon- 
noiter and returned to hurry up the command, which was 
not far distant. The command was instantly formed in 
order ; Captain Miller's company in advance, supported by 
Maxon's, Henness' and Powell's companies, leaving the 
pack train in charge of the guard under Lieutenant Good- 
man, with a detachment of Goff's company, under Lieu- 
tenant Wait, and Lieutenant Williams' company in reserve 
with orders to follow on after the command. 

The whole command moved on quietly in this order 
until within one-half mile of the Indian village, when we 
discovered that the pack train had moved to the left, down 
the Grande Ronde river. At this moment a large body 
of warriors came forward singing and whooping, and one 
of them waving a white man's scalp on a pole. One of 
them signified a desire to speak, whereupon I sent Cap- 
tain John to meet him, and formed the command in line of 
battle. When Captain John came up to the Indians they 
cried out one to another to shoot him, whereupon he 
retreated to the command and I ordered the four compa- 
nies to charge. 

The design of the enemy evidently was to draw us 
into the brush along the river, where from our exposed 
position they would have the advantage, they no doubt 
having placed an ambush there. To avoid this I charged 
down the river toward the pack train. The warriors then 
split, part going across the river and part down toward the 
pack train. These were soon overtaken and engaged. The 
charge was vigorous and so well sustained that they were 
broken, dispersed and slain before us. After a short time 
I sent Captain Miller to the left and Major Maxon to the 
right ; tlie latter to cross the stream and to cut them off 



INTRODUCTORY 



from a point near which a large body of warriors had col- 
lected, apparently to fight, while I moved forward with the 
commands of Captain Henness and Lieutenant Powell to 
attack them in front. The major could not cross the river, 
and on our moving forward the enemy fled after firing a 
few guns, part taking to the left and part continuing for- 
ward. 

Those who took to the left fell in with Captain Miller's 
company, who killed five on the spot, and the rest were 
not less successful in the pursuit, which was continued to 
the crossing of the river, where the enemy had taken a 
stand to defend the ford. Being here rejoined hy Captain 
Miller and by Lieutenant Curtis, with part of Ma.xon's com- 
pany, we fired a volley and I ordered a charge across the 
river, which was gallantly executed. In doing this Pri- 
vate Shirley, ensign of Henness' company, who was in 
front, was wounded in the face. Several of the enemy 
were killed at this point. We continued the pursuit until 
the enemy had reached the rocky canyons leading toward 
the Powder river, and commenced scattering in every 
direction, when, finding that I had but five men with me 
and the rest of the command scattered in the rear, most of 
the horses being completely e.xhausted, I called a halt and 
fell back, calculating to remount the men on the captured 
horses and continue the pursuit after night. 

I found the pack train, guard and reserve encamped on 
a small creek not far from the crossing, as I had previously 
ordered, and learned that a body of the enemy had fol- 
lowed them up all day and annoyed them but had inflicted 
no damage beyond capturing many of the animals which 
we had taken in charge and left behind. 

I learned also that Major Maxon had crossed the river 
with a small party and was engaged with the enemy and 
wanted assistance. I immediately despatched a detach- 
ment under Lieutenants Williams' and Wait, sending the 
man who brought the information back with them as a 
guide. They returned after dark without finding the 
major, but brought in one of his men whom they found hi 
the brush and who stated that one of the major's men was 
killed and that the last he saw of them they were fighting 
with the Indians. At daylight I sent out Captain Miller 
with seventy men. who scouted around the whole valley 
without finding him, but who unfortunately had one mail 
killed and another wounded whilst pursuing some Indians. 
I resolved to remove camp the next day to the head of the 
valley, where the emigrant trail crosses it, and continue 
the search until we became certain of their fate. The 
same evening I took sixty men, under Captain Henness, and 
struck up on the mountains and crossed the heads of the 
canyons to see if I could not strike his trail. Finding no 
sign, I returned to the place where the major had last 
been seen, and there made search in different directions 
and finally found the body of one of his men (Toolev) and 
where the major had encamped in the brush. From other 
signs it became evident to me that the major had returned 
to this post by the same trail by which we first entered the 
valley. 

Being nearly out of provisions, and unable to follow 
the Indians from this delay, I concluded to return to camp, 
recruit for another expedition in conjunction with Captain 
Gofif. who had. I presume, returned from his expedition 
to the John Day river. 

I should have mentioned previously that in the charge 
the command captured and afterward destroyed about one 
hundred and fifty horse loads of lacamas, dried beef, tents, 
some flour, coffee, sugar and about one hundred pounds of 
ammunition and a great quantity of tools and kitchen fur- 
niture. We took also about two hundred horses, most of 
which were shot, there being about one hundred service- 
able animals. 

There was present on the ground from what I saw. 
and from information received from two squaws taken 
prisoner, about three hundred warriors of the Cayuse, 
Walla Walla, Umatilla, Tyh, John Day and Des Chutes 
tribes, commanded by the following chiefs : Stock Whitley 



and Simmistastas, Des Chutes and Tyh; Chickiah, Plyon, 
Wicecai, Watahstuartih, Winmiswot. Cayuses ; Talikin, 
Cayuse, the son of Peo-peo-mox-mox ; Walla Walla and 
other chiefs of less note. 

The whole command, officers and men, behaved well. 
The enemy was run on the gallop fifteen miles, and most 
of those who fell were shot with a revolver. It is impossi- 
ble to state how many of the enemy were killed. Twenty- 
seven bodies were counted by one individual, and many 
others were known to have fallen and been left, but were 
so scattered about that it was impossible to get count of 
them. When to these we add those killed by Major 
Maxon's command on the other side of the river we may 
safely conclude that at least fort}' of the enemy were slain 
and many went oflf wounded. When we left the valley 
there was not an Indian in it and all signs went to show 
that they had gone a great distance from it. 

On the 21st instant we left the valley by the emigrant 
road and commenced our return to camp. During the 
night Lieutenant Hunter, of the Washington territory 
volunteers, came into camp with an express from 
Captain Got?. I learned to my surprise that the captain 
and Major Layton had seen Indians on John Day's river, 
had followed them over to Burnt river and had a fight with 
them, in which Lieutenant Eustus and one private were 
killed, and some seven Indians. They were shaping their 
course for the Grande Ronde valley, and had sent for 
provisions and fresh horses. I immediately sent Lieuten- 
ant Williams back with all my spare provisions and horses 
and continued my march. On Wild Horse creek I came 
across Mr. Fites, a pack master who had been left in camp, 
who informed me. to my extreme satisfaction, that Major 
Maxon and his command had arrived safe in camp and 
were then near us with provisions and ammunition. These 
I sent on immediately to Captain Gofif. I learned that 
Major Maxon had been attacked in the valley by a large 
force of Indians 'on the day of the fight : had gained the 
brush and killed many of them; that at night he tried to 
find our camp, and hearing a noise like a child crying, 
probably one of the captured squaws, had concluded that 
my command had gone on to Powder river and that the 
Indians had returned to the valley by another canyon. He 
moved his position that night and the next day saw the 
scout looking for him. but in the distance thought that it 
was a band of Indians hunting his trail. Conceiving him- 
self cut off from the command, he thought it best to return 
to this camp, thinking that we would he on our way back 
to Grande Ronde with provisions and ammunition. 

Meanwhile Governor Stevens was making every 
effort to sustain the friendly faction of the Nez 
Perces under Lawyer, and in this he was receiving 
the hearty co-operation of William Craig, a white 
man who had been adopted into the tribe. In Gov- 
ernor Stevens' opinion an important incident in 
preserving the friendship of the Nez Perces was 
the holding of the Walla Walla valley. He 
seems to have determined to follow' up the moral 
advantage gained by Shaw's victory by holding a 
council with all the Indians, friendly, neutral and 
hostile, whom he could induce to meet him in the 
Walla Walla country. Wishing to present a solid 
front against the Indians he endeavored strenuously 
to secure the hearty co-operation of the regulars. 
He accordingly held a conference with Wright at 
Vancouver, at which he learned that the colonel 
could not be present in person at the council but 
would send Lieutenant-Colonel Steptoe with four 
companies to reach the scene in time. Everything 
seemed propitious for a friendly co-operation. The 



THE YAKIMA WAR 



regular officers were, however, acting with duplic- 
ity, for they had received orders from General Wool 
such as would prevent any real co-operation with 
Stevens. 

At the close of his pow-wow campaign in the 
Yakima country, Wright, having failed to find any 
enemy to oppose, had reported to General Wool that 
the war was at an end. The latter had, on the 2d of 
August, issued an order to Wright in which he 
said: 

"The general congratulates you on your suc- 
cessful termination of the war with the Yakimas and 
Klickitats. * * * With the least possible delay 
you will conduct an expedition into the Walla Walla 
country. No emigrants or other whites, except 
the Hudson's Bay Company, or persons having 
ceded rights from the Indians, will be permitted to 
settle or remain in the Indian country, or on land 
not ceded by treaty, confirmed by the senate and 
approved by the president of the United States, ex- 
cepting the miners at the Colville mines. Those 
will be notified, however, that, if they interfere with 
the Indians, or their squaws, they will be punished 
and sent out of the country. It appears that 
Colonel Shaw, from Puget sound, with his volun- 
teers, has gone to the Walla Walla country. 
Colonel Wright will order them out of the country 
by way of Fort Dalles. If they do not go imme- 
diately, they will be arrested, disarmed and sent 
out." 

Had Stevens known of this order, he would not 
have relied on the regulars for assistance. But 
being ignorant of it, he proceeded into the heart of 
the Indian country without hesitation. Lieutenant- 
Colonel Steptoe left The Dalles with four companies 
August 20th, and on the 5th of the following month 
he established a camp five miles below the council 
ground. Stevens had made arrangements for "send- 
ing home the volunteers, to be mustered out of 
the service on the arrival in the valley of the regular 
troops," and thus unconsciously saved Steptoe one 
task enjoined upon him by Wool's order. 

On the evening of September 10th, Governor 
Stevens, now ready for the council, requested two 
of Steptoe's companies of troops and some moun- 
tain howitzers. Steptoe refused on the ground 
that he could not furnish them in consistency with 
the directions of his superior, and Stevens retained 
Captain Goff's company of volunteers as guards. 
The council opened on the 11th. It was decidedly 
stormy from the beginning, and by the 13th con- 
ditions became so alarming that Governor Stevens 
again addressed Steptoe. advising him that half 
the Nez Perces were hostile, as were practically all 
the other tribes, and stating that he deemed a 
company of regulars essential to his safety. Step- 
toe again refused and advised the governor to 
adjourn council to his (Steptoe's) camp. This 
under the circumstances Stevens could not help but 
do. While en route he met Kamiakin, who, he 



thought, would surely have attacked him had he 
known in time of his intended march. "Kamiakin," 
wrote he to the secretary of war, "had unquestion- 
ably an understanding, as subsequent events showed, 
with all the Indians except the friendly Nez Perces 
(al)out one-half the nation) and a small number of 
friendly Indians of other tribes, to make an attack 
that day or evening upon my camp. He found me 
on the road, to his great surprise, and had no time 
to perfect his arrangements. I had learned in the 
night that Kamiakin had camped on the Touchet 
the night before, and that he would be in this day. 
The council opened on the 10th. All the Indians 
were camped near. Kamiakin and his band were 
only separated from the council grounds by a 
narrow skirt of woods in the bottom of Mill creek." 

For several davs more Governor Stevens labored 
in vain to get the Indians to accept his terms of 
peace, namely, that they must throw aside their 
guns and submit to the justice and mercy of the 
government, surrendering all murderers for trial. 
The Indians would conclude no peace on other 
terms than that they should be left in possession of 
their territory as before the treaties. On the 19th 
Governor Stevens directed his march westward. 
His battle with the Indians on that date and the 
incidents of his return were thus summarized in 
his official report: 

"So satisfied was I that the Indians would carry 
into eflfect their determination, avowed in the coun- 
cils in their own camps for several nights previously, 
to attack me, that, in starting, I formed my whole 
party and moved in order of battle. I moved on 
under fire one mile to water, when, forming a 
corral of the wagons and holding the adjacent hills 
and the brush on the stream by pickets, I made my 
arrangements to defend my position and fight the 
Indians. Our position in a low open basin five or 
six hundred yards across [he was attacked on what 
is known as Charles Russell's ranch] was good, 
and with the aid of our corral, we could defend 
ourselves against a vastly superior force of the 
enemy. 

"The fight continued till late in the night. Two 
charges were made to disperse the Indians, the last 
led by Lieutenant-Colonel Shaw in person, with 
twenty-four men ; but, whilst driving before him 
some hundred and fiftv Indians, an equal number 
pushed into his rear, and he was compelled to cut 
his way through them towards the camp, when, 
drawing up his men, and aided by the teamsters 
and pickets who gallantly sprang forward, he drove 
the Indians back in full charge upon the corral. 
Just before the charge the friendly Nez Perces, fifty 
in number, who had been assigned to hold the ridge 
on the south side of the corral, were told by the 
enemy they came not to fight the Nez Perces but 
the whites. 'Go to your camp.' said they, 'or we 
will wipe it out.' Their camp, with the women and 
children, was on a stream about a mile distant, 



INTRODUCTORY 



and I directed them to retire, as I did not require 
their assistance and was fearful that my men might 
not be able to distinguish them from hostiles, and 
thus friendly Indians be killed. 

"Towards night I notified Lieutenant-Colonel 
Steptoe that I was fighting the Indians, that I 
should move the next morning and expressed the 
opinion that a company of his troops would be of 
service. In his reply he stated that the Indians 
had burned up his grass and suggested that I should 
return to his camp and place at his disposal my 
wagons in order that he might move his whole 
command and his supplies to the Umatilla or some 
other point, where sustenance could be found for 
his animals. To this arrangement I assented and 
Lieutenant-Colonel Steptoe sent to my camp Lieu- 
tenant Davidson, with detachments from the com- 
panies of dragoons and artillery with a mounted 
howitzer. They reached my camp about two 
o'clock in the morning, everything in good order 
and most of the men at the corral asleep. A picket 
had been driven in l)y the t-iiemy an hour and a half 
before, that on tlu- liill soutli of the corral, but the 
enemy was immediately dislodged, and ground pits 
being dug, all points were held. The howitzer 
having been fired on the way out, it was believed 
nothing would be gained by waiting until morning 
and the whole force immediately returned to Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Steptoe's camp. 

"Soon after sunrise the enemy attacked the camp 
but was soon dislodged by the howitzer and a charge 
by a detachment from Steptoe's command. On 
my arrival at the camp, I urged Lieutenant-Colonel 
Steptoe to build a blockhouse immediately, to leave 
one company to defend it with all his supplies, then 
to march below and return with an additional force 
and additional supplies, and by a vigorous winter 
campaign to whip the Indians into submission. 
I placed at his disposal for the building, my teams 
and Indian employes. The blockhouse and stockade 
were built in a little more than ten days. My Indian 
storeroom was rebuilt at one corner of the stockade. 

"On the 2;3d day of September we started for 
The Dalles, which were reached on the 2d of 
October. Nothing of interest occurred on the road. 

"In the action of the 19th my whole force con- 
sisted of Goff's company of sixty-nine, rank and 
file, the teamsters, herders, and Indian employes 
numbering about fifty men. Our train consisted 
of about five hundred animals, not one of which was 
captured by the enemy. We fought four hundred 
and fifty Indians and had one man mortally, one 
dangerously and two slightly wounded. We killed 
and wounded thirteen Indians. One-half of the 
Nez Perces, one hundred and twenty warriors ; all 
of the Yakimas and Palouses, two hundred war- 
riors ; the great bulk of the Cayuses and Umatillas. 
and an unknown number of the Walla Wallas and 
Indians from other bands were in the fight. The 
principal war chiefs were the son of Owhi, Isle 



de Fere and Chief Quoltonee ; the latter of whom 
had two horses shot under him, and showed me a 
letter from Colonel Wright acknowledging his 
valuable services in bringing about the peace of 
the Yakimas. 

"I have failed, therefore, in making the desired 
arrangements with the Indians in the Walla Walla, 
and the failure, to be attributed in part to the want 
of co-operation with me, as superintendent of Indian 
afifairs, on the part of the regular troops, has its 
causes also in the whole plan of operations of the 
troops since Colonel Wright assumed command. 

"The Nez Perces, entirely friendly last Decem- 
ber and January, became first disaffected in conse- 
quence of the then chief of the Cayuses, Ume- 
howlish, and the friendly Cayuses going into the 
Nez Perce country contrary to my positive orders. 
I refused to allow them to go there in December 
last, saying to them, T have ordered the Nez 
Perces to keep hostiles out of the country. If 
you go there your friends in the war party will 
come ; they can not be kept out. Through them dis- 
affection will spread among a portion of the Nez 
Perces.' Ume-howlish, mv ])ris()ncr, was sent into 
the Nez Perce country b\ C'iImhiI \\ right, and from 
the time of his arrival there' all tlic efforts made 
by Agent Craig to prevent the spread of tlisaffection 
were aborted. What I apprehended and predicted 
had already come to pass. Looking Glass, the 
prominent man of the lower Nez Perces, endeav- 
ored to betray me on the Spokane as I was coming 
in from the Blackfoot council, and I was satisfied 
from that time that he was only awaiting a favorable 
moment to join bands with Kamiakin in a war 
upon the whites, and Colonel Wright's management 
of aft'airs in the Yakima furnished the opportunity. 

"The war was commenced in the Yakima on 
our part in consequence of the attempt, first, to seize 
the murderers of the agent, I'.oldii. and miners who 
had passed through their ciinntr\ : and, second, to 
punish the tribe for making cuniiiion cause with 
them and driving Alajor Haller out of the country. 
It is greatly to be deplored that Colonel Wright had 
not first severely chastised the Indians, and insisted 
not only upon the rendition of the murderers, but 
upon the absolute and unconditional submission of 
the whole tribe to the justice and mercy of the 
government. The long delays which occurred in 
the Yakima, the talking and not fighting, this 
attempt to pacify the Indians and not reducing them 
to submission, thus giving safe conduct to murderers 
and assassins, and not seizing them for summary 
and exemplary punishment, gave to Kamiakin the 
whole field of the interior, and by threats, lies and 
promises he has brought into the combination one- 
half of the Nez Perce nation and the least thing 
may cause the Spokanes, Coeur d'.\lenes, Colvilles 
and Okanogans to join them. 

"I state boldly that the cause of the Nez Perces 
becoming disaffected and finally going into war, is 



THE YAKIMA WAR 



the operations of Colonel Wright east of the Cas- 
cades — operations so feeble, so procrastinating, so 
entirely unequal to the emergency, that not only 
has a severe blow been struck at the credit of the 
government and the prosperity and character of this 
remote section of the country, but the impression 
has been made upon the Indians that the people 
and the soldiers were a different people. I repeat 
to you officially that when the Indians attacked me 
they expected Colonel Steptoe would not assist me, 
and when they awoke from their delusion Kamiakin 
said, 'I will now let these people know who Kam- 
iakin is.' One of the good effects of the fight is 
that the Indians have learned that we are one 
people, a fact which had not been previously made 
apparent to them by the operations of the regular 
troops. 

"Is, sir, the army sent here to protect our people 
and punish Indian tribes who, without cause and in 
cold blood and in spite of solemn treaties, murder 
our people, burn our houses and wipe out entire 
settlements? Is it the duty of General Wool and 
his officers to refuse to co-operate with me in my 
appropriate duties as superintendent of Indian 
affairs, and thus practically assume those duties 
themselves? Is it the duty of General Wool, in his 
schemes of pacifying the Indians, to trample down 
the laws of congress ; to issue edicts prohibiting 
settlers returning to their claims and thus for at 
least one county, the Walla Walla, make himself 
dictator over the country?" 

From the refusal of the Indians to treat with 
Stevens, and their attack upon the party returning 
from the council, it would naturally seem that the 
end of the war was still far in the future. Not so, 
however. Colonel Wright proved more successful, 
and yet not more successful, in the efforts he soon 
after inaugurated to pacify the Indians than had 
Stevens. The man who pursues the policy of con- 
ceding to the adverse party all he can ask can 
hardly fail to be successful in negotiations. 

October 19th Wright was instructed by General 
Wool to proceed in person at the earliest possible 
date to the Walla Walla country and to attend to 
the establishing of a post there. In the order W'ool 
used the following significant language : 

"It is also of the highest importance that vou, 
the senior officer (the chief man), should see 'and 
talk with all the tribes in that region in order to 
ascertain their wants, feelings and disposition to- 
wards the whites. Warned by what has occurred, 
the general trusts you will be on your guard against 
the whites and adopt the most prompt and vigorous 
measures to crush the enemy before they have time 
to combine for resistance, also check the war and 
prevent further trouble by keeping the whites out 
of the Indian countrv." 

As to the post above referred to, the site selected 
for it was a point on the bank of Mill creek, six 
miles above its junction with the Walla Walla river. 



The rest of the order was duly complied with. A 
council was called and forty Indians condescended 
to attend, practically all of whom denounced the 
treaty of 1855 and Chief Lawyer, of the Nez Perces, 
as the one by whom, mainly, the Indians were 
induced to sign it. Wright seemed more than will- 
ing to condone the perfidious wretches who signed 
the treaty as a deliberate act of treachery, and then 
when they had lulled the whites into a feeling of 
security, began assiduously the work of dissemi- 
nating hostile feeling and of organizing a general 
war, for the purpose of exterminating or expelling 
the white race. His assurance to the Indians was: 
"The bloody cloth should be washed, and not a spot 
should be left upon it. The Great Spirit, who 
created both the whites and the red men, com- 
manded us to love one another. All past differ- 
ences must be thrown behind us. The hatchet must 
be buried and for the future perpetual friendship 
must exist between us. The good talk we have 
this day listened to should be planted and grow up 
in our hearts and drive away all bad feelings and 
preserve peace and friendship between us forever. 
Put what I say in your hearts and when you return 
to your homes, repeat it to all your friends." In his 
letter to General Wool reporting the proceedings of 
his council, Wright laid all the blame of the war 
upon the Walla Walla treaties. "Give them back 
those treaties." said he, "and no cause of war 
exists." 

Such maudlin sentimentality, such shameful 
truckling with the enemies of those it was Wright's 
duty to defend, seemed akin to treason. Indignant 
and hurt, Governor Stevens wrote to the secretary 
of war: "It seems to me that we have in this 
territory fallen upon evil times. I hope and trust 
that some energetic action may be taken to stop this 
trifling with great public interests, and to make our 
flag respected by the Indians of the interior. They 
scorn our people and our flag. They feel that they 
can kill and plunder with impunity. They denom- 
inate us a nation of old women. They did not do 
this when the volunteers were in the field. I now 
make the direct issue with Colonel Wright, that he 
has made a concession to the Indians which he had 
no authority to make ; that b}- so doing he has done 
nothing but get a semblance of peace ; and that by 
his acts, he has in a measure weakened the influence 
of the service having the authority to make treaties 
and having charge of the friendly'lndians. He has, 
in my judgment, abandoned his own duty, which 
was to reduce the Indians to submission, and has 
trenched upon and usurped a portion of mine." 

The citizens of the two territories, Oregon and 
Washington, were thrown into a furor of indig- 
nation by the conclusion of his shameful peace. The 
sacrifice of money and effort in equipping the volun- 
teers, the sacrifices of the volunteers themselves, the 
traversing of dusty plains, the scaling of lofty and 
forbidding mountains, the sufferings of that dread 



INTRODUCTORY 



winter campaign in the Walla Walla valley, the loss 
of life and limb, the brilliant and well-deserved 
victories of the volunteer arms — all these were for 
nothing. The regular officers step in and rob the 
country of all the fruits of victory, concede to the 
Indians everything they could ask, and then, to add 
insult to injury. General Wool says he hopes that 
Wright "warned by what has occurred, will be on 
his guard against the whites and prevent trouble by 
keeping the whites out of the Indian country," and 
that under the existing arrangements he doesn't 
"believe that the war can be renewed by the whites." 

Elwood Evans, who was himself a citizen of 
Washington territory at the time and a participant 
in some of its public events, may be assumed to 
have correctly summarized the general opinion of 
the people in the following paragraphs from his 
history of the Northwest: 

"That quasi peace was but the proclaimed con- 
tinuance of the assurance by the United States army 
officers to the hostile Indians, 'we came not into 
your country to fight, but merely to establish posts.' 
It now officially announced the close of a war by 
General Wool, which he had never commenced to 
prosecute as war. It was but the unblushing pub- 
lication of a policy inspired alone by him, and exe- 
cuted under his orders by officers whom he had 
handicapped in the enemy's country by instructions, 
the observance of which was but the triumph of 
Kamiakin. It was the official, humiliating conces- 
sion to the hostiles of everything that they had 
demanded, or had inaugurated a war to accomplish, 
viz., the keeping of white settlers out of their 
country — save alone the isolated fact, that the 
Indians had made no resistance to or protest against 
the establishment of military posts within their ter- 
ritory. That failure to protest against the erection 
of posts was the only evidence of passive submission 
by the hostiles : yet with what avidity was the fact 
seized by General Wool to assure him that he was 
occupying the Indian territon,' by his troops, and 
that those troops were remaining there in peaceable 
possession ! What a naked and barren victory, 
which proved too much ; for it meant nothing except 
that armed troops within fortified posts were the 
only white men who could occupy such country. 
It too palpably demonstrated a suspension of hos- 
tilities patched up by appealing to the Indian : 'Let 
my troops stay here ; and I will protect you and 
keep out the white settler.' 

"General Wool, in the execution of this plan of 
campaign by his army of occupation, not for making 
war, had effectually accomplished the aim of Kam- 
iakin in the instigation of the outbreak. The com- 
manding general had avowed upon several occa- 
sions his policy of protecting the hostile Indians 
against the whites, and of expelling them from and 
keeping them out of the country. In fact, there 
appears to have been a common object actuating 
both Kamiakin and General Wool : Both were 



equally determined that the whites should not settle 
in nor occupy the country of Kamiakin or Peo-peo- 
mox-mox ; both were equally hostile to the volun- 
teers of the two territories, who sought to save the 
country for white settlement ; both were averse to 
any hostile demonstrations against the Indians ; both 
were willing that Governor Stevens should be cut 
off and his party sacrificed, when official duty com- 
pelled his presence in the Indian territory ; both 
alike cordially hated the people of the two terri- 
tories. Could Kamiakin have asked more than the 
performance of Wool's orders? — 'Leave a company 
and a howitzer to protect the Cayuse Indians against 
the volunteers.' * * * 'Warn Colonel Shaw 
and his volunteers to leave the country ; and should 
they fail to comply, arrest, disarm and send them 
out.' How it must have delighted old Kamiakin 
when he had interpreted to him that interdict against 
white settlement: 'No emigrant or other white 
person will be permitted to settle or remain in the 
Indian country.' Glorious duty for American troops 
to protect the blood-stained murderers of our people, 
to stand guard that the spirit of treaties shall be 
violated, that Americans may not occupy America 
and every part of its domain !" 

The regulars soon discovered that they had been 
crying "peace, peace, when there was no peace," for 
it was not long until there began to be apprehensions 
of a renewed outbreak. These conditions obtained 
throughout the entire year 18.57 and during the 
winter of that year the Catholic fathers reported 
that they feared an uprising in the spring. The 
Spokanes and Coeur d'Alenes, among whom the 
emissaries of Kamiakin had been spreading dis- 
affection ever since the peace had been patched up 
in 18-56, announced that the soldiers must not show 
themselves in their country. It was the scheme of 
the wily Kamiakin to first unite the tribes in oppo- 
sition to the whites, then draw a detachment of 
soldiers into the country and treat them as he 
treated Haller in the Yakima valley. 

The plan worked admirably. He cultivated the 
friendship of Tilcoax, a skilled Palouse horse-thief, 
and induced him to organize a pillaging expedition 
against the stock belonging to Fort Walla Walla, 
well knowing that sooner or later a counter expe- 
dition must be made by the soldiers to recover the 
lost animals. He also caused the murder of Colville 
miners, hoping that the whites there would ask for 
troops. They did call for troops. Their petition 
could not be disregarded, and in May, 1858, Colonel 
E. J. Steptoe set out to the Colville country, disre- 
garding the warnings of the Indians that no whites 
would be allowed to travel through their lands. 
Steptoe, or more strictly speaking, his subordinates, 
committed a most egregious and incomprehensible 
blunder in starting from Walla Walla. On account 
of the great weight of provisions and baggage, a 
brilliant quartermaster conceived the idea of leaving 
behind the greater part of the ammunition, by way 



THE YAKIMA WAR 



of lightening the load. As Joseph McEvoy ex- 
presses it, the force was beaten before it left Walla 
Walla. 

The expedition was made in May. The wild 
torrent of Snake river was running bank full from 
the floods of summer as the command crossed. 
Timothy, a chief of the Nez Perces, with a few 
followers, was living then at the mouth of the 
Alpowa, and by his efficient aid the soldiers crossed 
the stream in good order and good time, and con- 
tinued on their way, the brave old chief accompany- 
ing them. 

On May 16th the force reached a place which 
George F. Canis, on the authority of Thomas B. 
Beall, chief government packer of the expedition, 
describes as low and marshy, with big swales and 
thickets of quaking asp abounding, and surrounded 
by hills without timber. Mr. Beall locates the place 
as near the present town of Spangle. There is. 
however, much difference of opinion among the 
survivors as to where all this happened. But wher- 
ever it was, there the Indians gathered with hostile 
intention. Steptoe, realizing the dangerous odds, 
decided to return. 

The next day, as the soldiers were descending 
a canyon to Pine creek, not far from where Rosalia 
is now located, Salteese, sub-chief of the Coeur 
d'Alenes, came up with an interpreter for a con- 
ference wdth Steptoe. The chief was making great 
professions of friendship, when one of the friendly 
Nez Perces struck him over the head with a whip, 
nearly knocking him from his horse. "What do you 
mean by speaking with a forked tongue to the white 
chief?'' demanded the Xez Perce brave. Salteese, 
very angry, rode away in defiant mood. No sooner 
were the retreating forces well in the canyon than 
the attack was made. Second-Lieutenant William 
Gaston's forces were the first to draw the fire of the 
enemy. Steptoe ordered Gaston to hold fire. When 
again asked for orders he gave the same command, 
but Gaston disobeyed and soon the firing became 
general. Gaston and Captain O. H. P. Taylor were 
in command of the rear guard, and, with amazing 
courage and devotion, kept the line intact, foiling 
all efforts of the Indians to rush through. Thev 
sent word to Steptoe to halt and give them a chance 
to secure more ammunition. But Steptoe deemed 
it safer to make no pause, and soon after those 
gallant heroes fell. A fierce fight raged for pos- 
session of their bodies. The Indians secured that 
of Gaston, but a small band of heroes, fighting like 
demons, got the body of the noble Tavlor. One 
notable figure in this death grapple wasDe May, a 
Frenchman, who had been trained in the Crimea 
and in Algeria, and who made havoc among the 
Indians with his gun-barrel used as a saber, but at 
last he, too. went down before numbers, crying. 
"Oh, my God, for a saber !" 

At nightfall they had reached a point as to the 
exact location of which there is much difference of 



opinion. Here the disorganized and suffering force 
made camp, threw out a picket line for defense, and 
buried such dead as they had not been forced to 
leave. In order to divert the Indians they deter- 
mined, having buried their howitzers, to leave the 
balance of their stores. They hoped that if the 
Indians made an attack in the night they might 
succeed in stealing away. The Indians, however, 
feeling sure that they had the soldiers at their mercy, 
made no effort at a night attack. But it is stated 
that Kamiakin, head chief of the Yakimas, urged 
them to do so. Had he carried his point, the night 
of May 17, 1858, would have been one of melan- 
choly memory. Another massacre w-ould have been 
added to the series of frontier outrages which have 
darkened our earlier annals. 

There was but one chance of salvation, and this 
was by means of a difficult trail which the Indians 
had left unguarded, as the Nez Perce chief, Tim- 
othy, discovered by reconnoitering, the savages 
rightly supposing it to be entirely unknown to the 
whites. But by the good favor of fortune or Prov- 
idence, Timothy knew this pass. But for him the 
next day would doubtless have witnessed a grim and 
ghastly massacre. During the dark and cloudy 
night, the soldiers, mounted and in silence, followed 
Timothy over the wretched trail. Michael Kinney, 
a well-known resident of Walla Walla, was in 
charge of the rear guard, and is our chief authority 
for some portions of this narrative. 

The horrors of that night retreat were probably 
never surpassed in the history of Indian warfare in 
the Northwest. Several of the wounded were lashed 
to pack animals, and were thus led away on that 
dreadful ride. Their sufferings were intense, and 
two of them, McCrossen and Williams, suffered so 
unendurably that they writhed themselves loose 
from their lashings and fell to the ground, begging 
their comrades to leave some weapons with which 
they might kill themselves. But the poor wretches 
were left lying there in the darkness. During the 
night the troops followed, generally at a gallop, the 
faithful Timothy, on whose keen eyes and mind 
their lives depended. The wounded and a few 
whose horses gave out were scattered at intervals 
along the trail. Some of these finally reappeared, 
but most were lost. After twenty-four hours the 
troops found that they had reached Snake river. 
Here the unwearied Timothy threw out his own 
people as guards against the pursuing enemy and 
set the women of his tribe to ferry the force across 
the turbulent river. This was safely accomplished 
and thus the greater portion of the command 
reached Walla Walla in safety from that ill-starred 
expedition. 

A dramatic incident which occurred on the 
evening of May SOth merits a brief narration. While 
the horses were being picketed and preparations 
were in progress for the night, the guards noticed 
a cloud of dust in the distance. In a short time a 



INTRODUCTORY 



band of mounted Indians, apiiroaching at full gallop, 
came into view, and the claltcring of the hoofs of 
their horses and the thick dust enveloping them gave 
the impression that the little band of soldiers, which 
had had such trying experiences and now seemed 
within reach of safety, was to be literally wiped 
from the face of the earth. Excitement ran high. 
The soldiers became greatly agitated, and orders 
to prepare for battle were about to be issued when 
the standard bearer of the oncoming horde, noting 
the confusion and mistrusting its cause, flung the 
stars and stripes to the breeze in token of friendly 
intentions. When the Indians swarmed into camp 
it was found that the banner was borne by none 
other than the ever-faithful Chief Lawyer. In the 
party were some of the sub-chiefs from Kamiah and 
noted members of the Nez Perce tribe. Steptoe 
declined to return to the contest with the hostiles, 
much to the disappointment of Lawyer, who clearly 
pointed out how Indian allies could be secured and 
an easy victory won over the confident and exult- 
ing Indians of the Palousc country. The Nez 
Perces had, no doubt, learned of the defeat of Step- 
toe by means of the wonderful system of signaling 
in vogue among the aborigines. 

The sequel of Steptoe's defeat furnished a more 
creditable chapter in the history of our Indian war- 
fare. General Clarke at once ordered Colonel 
Wright to equip a force of six hundred men, pro- 
ceed' to the Spokane country and castigate the 
Indians with sufficient severity to settle the question 
of sovereignty forever. On .August 15th Colonel 
Wright left Walla Walla on his northern campaign. 
In the battle of Four Lakes, fought on September 
1st, and in the battle of Spokane Plains, September 
.5th, he broke forever the spirit and power of the 
northern Indians. Lieutenant Kip's description of 
the former fight is so picturesque that we cannot 
resist the temptation to reproduce it. He says: 

"On the plain below us we saw the enemy. 
Every spot seemed alive with the wild warriors we 
had come so far to meet. They were in the pines 
at the edge of the lakes, in the ravines and gullies, 
on the opposite hillsides and swarming over the 
plains. They seemed to cover the country for 
two miles. Mounted on their fleet, hardy horses, 
the crowd swept back and forth, brandishing their 
weapons, shouting their war cries and keeping up 
a song of defiance. Most of them were armed with 
Hudson's Bay muskets, while others had bows and 
arrows and long lances. They were in all the 
bravery of their war array, gaudily painted and 
decorated with their wild trappings. Their plumes 
fluttered above them, while beneath skins and 
trinkets and all kinds of fantastic embellishments 
flaunted in the sunshine. Their horses, too, were 
arrayed in the most gorgeous finery. Some of them 
were even painted with colors to form the greatest 
contrast, the white being smeared with crimson in 
fantastic figures, and the dark-colored streaked with 



white clay. Beads and fringes of gaudy colors were 
hanging from their bridles, while the plumes of 
eagles' feathers, interwoven with the mane and tail, 
fluttered as the breeze floated over them, and com- 
pleted their wild and fantastic appearance. 

"'By Heavens! it was a glorious sight to see 
The gay array of their wild chivalry.' 

"As ordered, the troops moved down the hill 
toward the plain. As the line of advance came 
within range of the Minie rifles, now for the first 
time used in Indian warfare, the firing began. The 
firing grew heavier as the line advanced, and, aston- 
ished at the range and effectiveness of the fire, the 
entire array of dusky warriors broke and fled toward 
the plain. The dragoons were now ordered to 
charge, and rode through the company at inter- 
vals to the front, and then dashed down upon the 
foe with headlong speed. Taylor's and Gaston's 
companies were there and soon they reaped a red 
revenge for their slain heroes. The flying warriors 
streamed out of the glens and ravines and over the 
open plains until they could find a refuge from the 
flashing sabers of the dragoons. When they had 
found the refuge of the wooded hills, the line of 
foot once more passed the dragoons and renewed 
the fire, driving the Indians over the hills for about 
two miles, where a halt was called, as the troops 
were nearly exhausted. The Indians had almost all 
disappeared, only a small group remaining, appar- 
ently to watch the whites. A shell sent from the 
howitzer, bursting over their heads, sent them also 
to the shelter of the ravines. Thus the battle 
ended." 

In the battle four days later on Spokane Plains 
quite a number of the Indians were killed, and 
Kamiakin, the war chief of the Yakimas, was 
wounded. After resting a day the forces moved 
on up the river and encamped above the falls. 
While there they were visited by Chief Gearry, a 
fairly well educated, rather bright Indian, who pro- 
fessed to be against the war. There is reason to 
doubt the sincerity of these representations, how- 
ever. Colonel Wright talked plainly to him, saying 
that if he and the other Indians wanted peace they 
could have it by complete and unconditional sur- 
render. On the 8th the march was resumed. About 
ten miles east of Spokane, Indians were seen in the 
act of driving their horses to the mountains. The 
horses were captured and shot, with the exception 
of one hundred and thirty picked ones, which were 
kept for the use of the troops. Defeat in battle, 
the loss of their horses and the execution of a few 
Indians who had participated in murders completely 
humiliated the hostile tribes. Councils were held 
by Colonel Wright at the Coeur d'Alene mission 
and with the Spokanes, at which it was found that 
the Indians were prepared to enter a treaty of entire 
submission to the whites. 



THE YAKIMA WAR 



In closing his extensive report of this campaign, 
Colonel Wright summarized its results as follows: 

"The war is closed. Peace is restored with the 
Spokanes, Coeur d'Alenes and Palouses. After a 
vigorous campaign, the Indians have been entirely 
subdued, and were most happy to accept such terms 
of peace as I might dictate. Results: (1) Two 
battles were fought by the troops under my com- 
mand, against the combined forces of the Spokanes, 
Coeur dAlenes and Palouses, in both of which the 
Indians were signally defeated, with a severe loss 
of chiefs and warriors, either killed or wounded. 
(2) One thousand horses and a large number of 
cattle were captured from the hostile Indians, all of 
which were either killed or appropriated to the 
service of the United States. (3) Many barns 
filled with wheat or oats, also several fields of 
grain, with numerous caches of vegetables, dried 
berries and camas, were destroyed, or used by the 
troops. (4) The Yakima chief, Owhi, is in irons, 
and the notorious war chief, Qalchen, was hanged. 
The murderers of the miners, the cattle stealers, 
etc. (in all, eleven Indians), were hanged. (5) 
The Spokanes, Coeur d'Alenes and Palouses have 
been entirely subdued, and have sued most abjectly 
for peace on any terms. (6) Treaties have been 
made with the above-named nations. They have 
restored all property which was in their possession, 
belonging either to the United States or to indi- 
viduals. They have promised that all white people 



can travel through their country unmolested, and 
that no hostile Indians shall be allowed to pass 
through or remain among them. (?) The Indians 
who_ commenced the battle with Lieutenant- 
Colonel Steptoe contrary to the orders of their chief 
have been delivered to the officer in command of 
the United States troops. (8) One chief and four 
men, with their families, from each of the above- 
named tribes, have been delivered to the officer 
in command of the United States troops, to be taken 
to Fort Walla Walla and held as hostages for the 
future good conduct of their respective nations. 
(9) The two mounted howitzers, abandoned by the 
troops under Lieutenant-Colonel Ste]:)t()c, have been 
recovered." 

Thus ended the Indian wars of the fifties in 
Oregon and \\'ashington. The era of robberies, 
depredations, murders and warfare was by this 
campaign effectually brought to a close in the 
Yakima and Walla Walla countries, making the 
opening of both to settlement possible. General 
Newman S. Clarke, who had succeeded General 
Wool in the command of the Department of the 
Pacific, and who, in the earlier days of his admin- 
istration, had shown a disposition to inaugurate a 
similar policy, had completely changed front, even 
going so far as to recommend the confirmation 
of Governor Stevens' Walla Walla treaties. These 
treaties were confirmed. 



PART II 

SKAGIT COUNTY 



PART II 

SKAGIT COUNTY 



CHAPTER I 



PERIOD OF SETTLEMENT 



The first dawn of settlement on the shores of 
Puget sound has already had brief description in 
these pages — the agricultural operations of the 
Hudson's Bay Company, the coming of Michael T. 
Simmons, the founding of Olympia. Steilacoom, 
Seattle, Port Townsend and Bellingham, the settle- 
ment on Whidby island. Forces at work to pro- 
duce the complete Americanization and subjuga- 
tion of the sound were, we have seen, first retarded 
and then promoted in their operation by the discov- 
ery of gold in California in IS-tS. Ten years later 
they were given fresh impetus by the discovery of 
gold on Eraser river, and in 1861 they were again 
retarded by the outbreak of the Civil War. 

It was after the Eraser river excitement began 
its influence and before the inception of fratricidal 
strife that the first permanent settler commenced 
the task of home-building in what is now the county 
of Skagit. In a land where the sound of the loco- 
motive's whistle had never yet been heard, where 
roads of any kind were not in existence and where 
waterways were practically the only means of 
travel, it is not surprising that an island should be 
chosen as the site of this early settlement. Fur- 
thermore, on Fidalgo was one very potent attrac- 
tion to those who would follow husbandry in a 
densely timbered country. At the head of Fidalgo 
bay was a fern-covered prairie of considerable 
area, a prairie which it is said had been a 
favorite camping-ground with the Indian tribes 
for unknown ages. It had early attracted 
the attention of roving white men from San Juan 
county and other settlements on the sound. 
Charles W. Beale tells us that in the winter 
of 18.5S-9, he, with Horace Martin and William 



McFarland, hunted all over Guemes island, where 
were abundance of deer and other game, as well as 
thousands of wolves, and that in the spring of 1859, 
he, together with his cousin, Robert ]3eale, Charles 

Pearson, John Hughes, Brown, and 

Lieutenant Robert H. Davis (nephew of the cele- 
brated president of the Southern Confederacy), 
visited this fern prairie on a hunting expedition. 
Pleased with its appearance, they decided to estab- 
lish permanent headquarters there. Lieutenant 
Davis squatted on what is now the Munks place ; 
Charles W. Beale took land adjoining him on the 
north and all united in the task of erecting a cabin 
on the imaginary boundary line between the two 
claims, which cabin was occupied by all for a time. 
Soon, however, a relative of Davis came from the 
South and took the dissolute young lieutenant home. 
Davis gave up his wild ways, reentered the army 
and in the Civil War won distinction for bravery 
and efficiency as a soldier in the Southern cause. 
His place was taken by William Bonner, of Utsa- 
lady, who sold his rights in December, 1859, to 
William Munks, the consideration being sixty dol- 
lars and a silver watch. Mr. Munks' residence on 
the island continued until his death, although he 
was absent considerable during the early years, 
working wherever he could find employment. It 
is said that Mr. Munks always claimed to be the 
first permanent settler and that he was very proud 
of the title, sometimes ap])lied to him, of "King of 
Fidalgo Island." His claim as to priority of settle- 
ment is, however, disputed. 

Late in 1859 a man named Josiah Larry came to 
the island and squatted on the place afterward 
known as the Compton farm. Having put up a cabin 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



of shakes, he departed, expecting to return. In the 
meantime, however, Enoch Compton arrived and 
thinking that Larry had abandoned his claim took 
the place and established a permanent residence 
upon it. Larry returned two or three years later, 
found his place occupied and quietly retired, set- 
tling some time afterward on the mainland at the 
mouth of what is still known as Joe Larry's slough, 
which forms the southern boundary of the Samish 
flats. Mr. Beale states that Munks and Compton 
came together to the island and that the schooner 
General Harney* brought their cattle from Whatcom. 
Mr. Compton has always claimed that he settled on 
Fidalgo island at a much earlier date than 18.59, 
but that circumstances prevented his first settle- 
ment from proving permanent. He says that, in 
1853, he and one John Carr (or Carey) located on 
what was later the home of the Munks family ; that 
they built a cabin in a grove and occupied it to- 
gether, one claiming the land to the north of the 
cabin, the other that to the south. Mr. Compton 
raised a crop of potatoes on his land, then he and 
Mr. Carr went to Whatcom to work and Carr died 
there. ' 

The disaffection of the Indians at this time, 
which finally crystallized into the war of 1855-6, 
made it unsafe for whites to dwell upon Fidalgo 
island, so Mr. Compton did not return as he had 
intended, but remained near Whatcom until the 
outbreak of hostilities, when he volunteered for 
service against the Indians. He was one of the 
men who were engaged in the boundary survey and 
it is said that he met Mr. Munks while on that 
work. 

But to return to Charles W. Beale. It will be 
remembered that he took, in the spring of 1859, a 
claim adjoining that which eventually became the 
Munks place. He states that he remained with his 
claim until 1862, then placed it in charge of his 
cousin, Robert, and went north. Returning after 
a stay of five years in the British possessions, he 
found that Robert Beale had become hard pressed 
for funds and had sold the place to George Cagey 
for seventy-five dollars. The subsequent history 
of Robert Beale may be summarized as follows : 
After disposing of his cousin's rights, he purchased 
from a man named Joseph Little, for the paltry 
consideration of five dressed deer skins, worth 
about two dollars and a half each, a squatter's title 
to another tract of land, and held it until 1869. He 
then sold to Robert Becker for six hundred dollars 
and went to California for his health. Returning 
later to Puget sound, he was killed in combat with 
a huge bear, which succumbed to the wounds in- 
flicted by his knife. Charles W. Beale located 
across the bay from the main settlement, and the 
land which he then took is still occupied by him. 
He is authority for the statement that in 1868, the 
smoke from great forest fires throughout the coun- 



try became so dense that navigators could not see 
a boat length ahead, and that birds, suffocated by 
the thick, black smoke-clouds of the upper air, fre- 
quently fell onto the decks of vessels and into the 
water, dead. From July 16th to September 3d, 
there was not a drop of rain, and then came another 
dry spell lasting till October 22d. Crops did not 
ripen that year because of excessive smoke in 
the atmosphere. The summers during those early 
years were usually characterized by dense smoke, 
but as civilization has advanced on the sound more 
and more care has been taken to prevent great fires 
in the forest, and now the smoke seldom becomes 
thick enough, even during the driest summers, to 
cause serious inconvenience. 

To make a complete roll of the early settlers of 
Fidalgo, Guemes and the other islands of Skagit 
county would be ne.xt to impossible, but among the 
earliest were William Munks, Enoch Compton, 
Charles W. and Robert K. Beale, of whom mention 
has already been made ; H. A. March, credited with 
arrival in 1863 ; James Cavanaugh, Shadrach and 
Richard Wooten, H. C. Barkhousen, George Ens- 
ley and George Cagey, all coming between that year 
and 1867. At that time James Matthews and H. P. 
O'Bryant were living on Guemes island, opposite 
the site of Anacortes. 

A little later, perhaps about 1869, came William 
Allard, who settled near the Wooten brothers just 
.south of the present Anacortes ; Eldridge Sibley, 
on the site of the Nelson school, Samuel McCarty 
and James Lathrow. One arrival of the later six- 
ties was John T. Griffin, who settled at the head of 
the bay. His wife, Mrs. Almina Richards Griffin, 
has the distinction of being the first white woman 
to locate on Fidalgo island, .\ccording to Carrie 
M. White, she "was a bright, enterprising woman 
of marked character and was born and educated in 
New England." "Leaving all her relations," con- 
tinues Miss White, "she started from Boston for 
California during the gold excitement in that state. 
On the ship in which she rounded the Horn she met 
in its first mate her future husband, Mr. John 
Griffin. After life on California gold-fields Mr. Grif- 
fin came in 1864 to Whatcom, where his wife fol- 
lowed him in about two months, to take charge of 
the district school which had been presided over by 
Mr. Edward Eldridge. Mrs. Griffin was the first 
woman to teach in Whatcom county and had charge 
of this school for about two years. When she came 
to Fidalgo, the men welcomed her as the first white 
woman on this island by making a 'bee' and clear- 
ing some land for her and hers." It must not be 
supposed that the men who preceded the Griffin 
family to the island were all celibates. On the con- 
trary, most of them were married, but to Indian 
women. The scarcity of white women on Puget 
sound during the early days resulted in many alli- 
ances of white men with the dusky aboriginal 
maidens. 



PERIOD OF SETTLEMENT 



Other arrivals of the late sixties or early seven- 
ties were William Deutsch, Henry Havekost, Will- 
iam Gray, Oliver Lynch, Henry L. Seebert, 

Walker, Orlando Graham, who took a claim on the 
north end of the island near Ship Harbor in 1873, 
William R. Griffin, Dr. W. Y. Deere, G. W. Cran- 
dall, S. B. and C. Best, Captain George B. Hill, 
Hazard Stevens, son of Washington's first terri- 
torial governor, William H. Woodard, Henry J. 
White, George H. Thomas, John Langley, Thomas 
Sharp, Mathias Anstinsen, Frank Thorp, John 
Schultz, Albert L. and Frank Graham, Marcus 
Christianson, J. C. Glover, and no doubt others. 
Some of these, especially Hazard Stevens, Captain 
Hill and William R. Griffin, were attracted to the 
island by its prospect of being the terminus of the 
Northern Pacific Railroad. 

Miss White states that when she arrived in No- 
vember, 18T3, she found only eight white women, 
namely, Mesdames H. A. March, G. N. Crandall, 
Robert Becker, S. B. Best, A. R. Griffin, Jennie 
Howard, Oliver Lynch and Ada Lynch Church. 
The settlers of this period on the east side of Guemes 
island whose names can be recalled were Edward 
and Horace J. Ames, William Hill, William Brun- 
ton and Amos Johnson. Mrs. Willfong became 
the island's pioneer white woman about 1872. 

The occupation of these early pioneers was 
farming mostly. From a diary kept by William 
Munks, to which the compiler was kindly given 
access, it appears that in the summer of 1863 he 
raised oats, corn and wheat, as well as onions, po- 
tatoes and other vegetables, also that he made con- 
siderable butter and set out apple, cherry and other 
fruit trees. Mr. Munks also notes having assisted 
some of his neighbors in getting ready to raise 
crops. 

Even before the dawn of the _\ear 1870. some 
farm machinery was in use on Fidalgo island, 
though it was probably of a primitive kind. Mr. 
Munks had a mowing machine in the spring of 
1869 and on the 8th of September following he 
bought a thresher — a very small, one horse-power 
concern. In the year 1870, Mr. Munks entered in 
his diary this item: "August 29— Bought stuff at 
Whatcom." The significance of the entry is not 
very clear, but it is the opinion of some that the 
"stuff" purchased was stock for the establishment 
of the first store on the island. At any rate Mr. 
Munks did have a store about this time in a board 
house, situated at the lower edge of his place. He 
is likewise to be credited with having served as 
Fidalgo island's first postmaster. His appointment 
was received January 24, 1871; he gave bonds the 
8th of the ensuing Februarv and was handed the 
mail key April .5th. The first mail was broug-ht to 
the island by the steamer Mary Woodruff, which is 
thought to have made her first trip February 25, 
1868. .Another steamer which visited Fidalgo bay 
at regular intervals was the Ruby. 



Progress on Fidalgo island during the early 
seventies appears to have been quite rapid. Its 
lands were surveyed about 1871, giving the old 
pioneers who had long held their property by squat- 
ter's right a chance to secure a more satisfactory 
title, and encouraging others to come. Long be- 
fore this, the agricultural possibilities of these lands 
had been fully demonstrated. Excellent crops of 
grain, hay and potatoes were being raised annu- 
ally and orchards were in full bearing. It is claimed 
that at the territorial fairs, exhibitions from the 
island carried ofif more premiums than those from 
any other portion of the territory. 

Practically all the government land was taken 
by 1873, the inhabitants were enjoying semi-weekly 
communication by steamer with the outside world, 
while in their own settlement they had two stores, 
two blacksmith shops, a wheelwright's shop, a post- 
office and a good public school. 

At a very early date certain facts and considera- 
tions which have exerted a powerful influence in 
the later history of the island began to make them- 
selves felt. The superior excellence of Ship har- 
bor had been known perhaps even before the United 
States vessel, Massachusetts, began making it her 
headquarters — a circumstance which is said to 
have given it its name. It did not escape the notice 
of the able and energetic Governor Isaac I. Stevens, 
who had been a staunch advocate of the northern 
route for the proposed railroad to the Pacific. In 
the interest of this great enterprise he examined 
carefully all the harbors of the sound and de- 
spatched numerous exploring expeditions to the 
various passes through the mountains, "going over 
the whole ground with a zeal and thoroughness, a 
degree of enthusiasm and pride in the performance 
of his great work which for all time have marked 
Stevens the first hero of the territory." The result of 
this investigation was the choice by Stevens of Fi- 
dalgo island as the proper terminus and Ward's 
pass, at the head of the south fork of the Skagit 
river, as the most desirable gateway to the Pacific. 

The railway company did adopt that route (as 
may be learned from the records of the interior 
department) and adhered thereto until financial 
difficulties in the early seventies all but ruined it, 
compelling concessions to the Oregon congressmen 
in order to save its land grant. Quite extensive 
land holdings along the shore of Ship harbor were 
secured by Hazard Stevens, son of the governor, 
as attorney for interests in close touch with the 
railway company, and the .^nacortes farm was se- 
cured for his mother, the governor's widow. It 
remained the property of the .Stevens family until 
1877. when the clouds became so thick over the 
Northern Pacific Railway project that it seemed 
the road would never be completed : then it was sold 
to Mrs. Anna (Curtis) Bowman, "the lady of Ship 
harbor," who was the first white woman to settle 
permanently on that part of the island. She built a 



100 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



wharf and store on her newly acquired property. 
In 1879, through the influence of Frances Fuller 
\'ictor, a postoffice was established there to which 
the maiden name of Mrs. Bowman, slightly cor- 
rupted in the interest of euphony, was applied, and 
thus the city of Anacortes had its inception. 

The settlement of Guemes island, just across the 
channel from tlie north end of Fidalgo, began a 
little later than that of its larger neighbor. About 
18G6 Humphrey P. O'Bryant located on the island, 
purchasing his claim for forty dollars of a French 
trapper, who, it is supposed, was the first settler. 
James Matthews, owner of the adjoining claim, was 
the only other white man there at the time. About 

1871 came John J. Edens, a farmer and logger, 
Amos Johnson and John and Solomon Schriver, in 

1872 and 1873, and later Ames, Hill and Brunton 
before mentioned. In 1876 a copper prospect was 
discovered, which gave quite an impetus to Guemes 

■ island, causing the eyes of the surrounding settle- 
ments to turn in that direction. In the winter of 
1877, six experienced quartz miners worked on it 
for a time, and it is said that specimens of the ore 
taken to Portland by a mining man named C. L. 
Walters gave forty-five dollars in copper, eleven 
dollars in gold and nine dollars in silver. On 
O'Bryant's claim, opposite Anacortes, between two 
hundred and two hundred and fifty feet of tunnel 
were driven, but the mines never did become pro- 
ducers ; nevertheless, the effect on the settlement 
of this island was felt. In 1878, there were more 
than thirty people on its thirty square miles of terri- 
tory, most of them in comfortable homes. They 
had a precinct organization, and connection with 
the outer world once a week by the staunch little 
mail steamer Despatch. In 1889, twenty-eight 
votes were cast in Guemes precinct, twenty-two of 
which were Republican, the remainder Democratic. 
One of the settlers who came to Guemes island 
about 1878 was not of the industrious and desirable 
type, to which practically all the others belonged. 
He may have been industrious enough, hut in a 
bad cause. This was Larry Kelly, "King of Smug- 
glers." one of the most notorious characters that 
ever lived on Puget sound, the principal in many a 
thrilling adventure, many a battle of wits with 
custom-house officers. He lived for years in a little 
cabin on the southwest corner of the island, plying 
his nefarious vocation. He is now in the toils, 
having been arrested recently in Seattle for smug- 
gling- 

Although the beginning of permanent settle- 
ment on the mainland was not till after the first 
pioneers had established themselves on Fidalgo 
island, the magnificent valley of the Skagit did not 
escape notice entirely, while the country to the 
north and the south was settling up. Indeed there 
is very good authority for the statement that an at- 
tempt was made to appro])riate a portion of it as 
early as 1855. The would-be settlers were a jiarty 



from Island county, consisting of Winfield Ebey, a 
brother of the well-known Colonel I. N. Ebey, 
George Beam and wife, Walter Crockett and Mrs. 
Mary Wright, a sister of Colonel Ebey, who after- 
ward became Mrs. Bozarth. All were newcomers to 
the sound except Crockett. They were looking for 
a suitable location to run cattle and horses and 
diought the\' had found such a place on the north 
fork just above the spot where the bridge now 
spans that stream. T. P. Hastie, who was well 
acquainted with them on Whidby island, says the 
site of their settlement is known beyond dispute, 
as a large cedar tree, which is still standing, at one 
time bore the names or initials of the party. Claims 
were staked out and preparations begun for the 
erection of cabins. There is no doubt of the inten- 
tion of these people to form a permanent settlement, 
but the execution of their designs was cut short by 
the Indian difficulties which culminated in the war 
of 1855-6. The ladies returned to Coupeville in 
haste after only one night's stay in the valley, being 
thoroughly frightened b\- the unfriendly demonstra- 
tions of the Indians. 

No doubt the Skagit river received many visits 
from prospectors during the Frasets river excite- 
ment. In an old copy of the Northern Light we 
find the following notice of one of these gold hunt- 
ing expeditions: "Major Van Bokkelen, who called 
upon us Wednesday (the date of the paper is July 
17, 1858), informs us that the day before he left 
Port Townsend, A. S. Bufifington, J. K. Tukey and 
others, old settlers of this territory, returned from 
the valley of Skagit river. They stated that in the 
first twelve miles of the river they met with ob- 
structions consisting of three rafts, after passing 
which they prospected the bars, and invariably 
found gold. When the party reached the forks of 
the river they went up the northern branch to Mount 
Baker and fell in with several Indian camps." 
Mr. Hastie says he remembers this party. While 
they found gold widely distributed, it was not in 
paying quantities. 

It is not easy to determine who was the first to 
establish a permanent settlement on the mainland of 
Skagit county. The honor is generally supposed 
to belong either to Samuel Calhoun or Michael J. 
Sullivan, but there are those who think that both 
these men may have been antedated by others. Mr. 
Calhoun, now a resident of Hopewell Cape, New 
Brunswick, has very kindly taken great pains to 
write out for the compilers an account of his settle- 
ment and pioneer experiences. He says that while 
working as a shipwright at L'tsalady, he was seizetl 
with a desire to find out what was across the bay in 
the gap he saw between the hills ; so. in the spring 
of 18(j3, he hired an Indian to go with him on an 
exploring expedition. The Indian had been dubbed 
Sam Gallon on account of his having once stolen 
a gallon of whiskey and swallowed the same in an 
incredibly short time. Thev crossed the bay and 



PERIOD OF SETTLEMENT 



ascended Sullivan slough, following the right-hand 
branch, to the vicinity of Pleasant Ridge, where, in 
a beautiful red cedar grove, they encamped for the 
night. Next morning Mr. Calhoun sent the Indian 
with his canoe to the mouth of the north fork, 
while he himself climbed a tall tree on Pleasant 
Ridge and took a view of the surroundings. "I 
was fairly delighted with the prospect," he writes. 
"I thought it the most beautiful sight that I had 
ever beheld. 'Here,' I said to myself, 'is a country 
within range of my vision that will support a mill- 
ion people. Here is my home where I shall spend 
the remainder of my life.' " He then made his way 
to the mouth of the river, wading tule swamps and 
creeks, found his Indian, returned to Utsalady and 
began preparations for settlement. 

The country appealed to Mr. Calhoun as it 
would to few others from the fact that he was fa- 
miliar as a boy with marsh land and had seen con- 
siderable diking done. He failed not to note the 
apparent richness of the soil, the protection from 
surf which the islands afforded, the nimierous 
sloughs and creeks offering facilities for water 
transportation. All in all he considered those 
Swinomish tide lands the best body of tide marsh 
he had ever seen. 

As the site for his home, Mr. Calhoun chose an 
old Indian encampment close to Sullivan slough, 
but above the reach of the tides. His claim is now 
the home of Isaac Dunlap. He was fortunate in 
finding an excellent garden spot of about three- 
quarters of an acre, in which he planted potatoes 
and garden seeds brought from Utsalady. That fall 
he had all the vegetables he could use and some to 
give away. After planting the garden, he went to 
Utsalady to work for three or four weeks and it 
was upon his return from this trip that he first 
met Michael J. Sullivan. Mr. Sullivan had settled 
on a place near by. He might easily have been 
there when Calhoun first came and escaped notice, 
for had he been a smuggler and hiding away from 
custom-house officers he would have been compara- 
tively safe in the secluded retreat he then occupied. 
Mr. Sullivan has himself been interviewed regard- 
ing the time of his settlement, but he is not now very 
good at remembering dates. 

In bringing lumber from Utsalady to build a 
house, Mr. Calhoun came near being shipwrecked, 
but notwithstanding the fact that his Indian com- 
panion became paralyzed with fear and could render 
no assistance, he managed by heroic exertions to 
get his boat, his lumber and his Indian safelv to 
shore. Before the close of 1863, he had bui'lt a 
house for himself and assisted Mr. Sullivan to fix 
up his. The following spring the work of diking 
began. Calhoun and Sullivan together diked sixtv 
acres on the latter's claim and Mr. Calhoun was 
engaged in enclosing a forty-acre tract on his own 
land when the season closed! The white men in the 
other neighborhoods of the sound were very nuich 

7 



inclined to ridicule these efforts to make a farm on 
nuul fiats, where the tides overflowed, but when the 
first immense crops were harvested they saw their 
error. 

At the time this settlement was made the Swin- 
omish Indians were in rather bad repute among the 
whites. It was said that a year or two before a 
surveyor named Hunt, while on his way from Penn's 
Cove, Island county, to Whatcom, was killed- by 
them, they fearing he might work some evil incan- 
tation upon them with his instruments. They were 
also credited with having killed an old and some- 
what insane man who hadbuilt a cabin close to the 
banks of the Swinomish slough, and stories were 
rife of persons who were known to have attempted 
a passage of the slough and were never heard of 
after. But notwithstanding all these reports, the 
two settlers were not molested by Indians, though 
their old chief came to Calhoun after his house was 
built and wanted to know what he was going to 
do there. When informed, he said : "You must be 
a fool. Don't you know that in winter, when the 
big winds come, the water will be two or three feet 
high all over the ground?" Mr. Calhoun said he 
knew it, but that he intended to throw up the earth 
higher than that and keep out the water. The chief 
then asked if he did not know the land belonged 
to the Indians. "No," said Calhoun, "according to 
the idea of the Bostons the Indians' land is on the 
reservation." The chief replied that that was the 
Bostons' ciiltiis iva wa (bad talk) and that he could 
drive out the white men or kill them if he chose. 
"That is true," replied Calhoun, "but if you should 
the soldiers would come with fire-ships and kill 
many of you." The Indian admitted that such 
would be the probable result. He accepted Mr. 
Calhoun's proffered hand and the friendship there 
begun was never broken. 

It was long before the Swinomish flats began 
to settle up with any degree of rapidity. Notwith- 
standing Mr. Calhoun's glowing picture of them, 
they were to most people a dreary waste. "Perhaps," 
writes Miss Linda Jennings, "few pioneers in the 
history of our country ever attempted to build homes 
in a more uninviting region. The people of the 
older settlements of the sound knew of this stretch 
of marsh and many of them had seen it, but they 
thought it absurd to try to reclaim such a desolate 
tide-swept waste. At high tide, the Indians paddled 
their canoes wherever they wished over what are 
now the finest farms in Washington. The marsh 
was ramified by countless sloughs, big and little, 
many of them long since filled and cultivated over. 
In the summer, tule. cattail and coarse salt grass 
flourished and it was the home of many thousands 
of wild fowls and muskrats^ — an ideal hunting- 
ground for Indians. Before any one located here, 
the settlers of Fidalgo island used to visit the Swin- 
omish in summer and cut the wild grass for hay. 
The first settlers were the objects of much ridicule 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



from their friends in thq neighboring settlements. 
When we consider the great dikes that must be built 
around their claims we can understand why it 
seemed an almost impossible task." 

For the first few years Messrs. Sullivan and 
Calhoun were the only white settlers in their neigh- 
borhood. The next permanent settlers, Mr. Calhoun 
sa\ s, were John Cornelius, Robert White and James 
Harrison. At an early date two men named Rollins 
and McCann, natives of New Brunswick, took what 
afterward became the Dodge place, in Dodge valley, 
near the mouth of the north fork of the Skagit. 
Thev are said to have diked in a few acres between 
the site of the present residence on the place and 
George Aden's. Thomas P. Hastie says they bought 
cattle of him on Whidby island as early as 1869 and 
gives it as his firm conviction that they antedated 
both Calhoun and Sullivan in settlement in Skagit 
county. Shortly after 1869, they disposed of their 
land to E. T. Dodge and turned their attention to 
logging, McCann on Camano island and Rollins in 
Humboldt county, California. 

Notwithstanding all the difficulties, the Swin- 
omish country began to settle up quite rapidly in 
the late sixties and early seventies, when the feasi- 
bility of diking it, and its immense fertility began 
to be demonstrated. 

The first trading post on the Swinomish flats 
was established in May. ]8('>7, upon the site of the 
l^resent city of La Conner, by Alonzo Low, now a 
resident of Snohomish. Low and Woodbury Sin- 
clair engaged in the mercantile business at Snoho- 
mish City in 1864, and opened the Swinomish branch 
as stated, with Low in charge. The enterprise 
failed, however, and was abandoned fourteen 
months after its establishment. Low gave the build- 
ing to a mulatto named Clark, who lived with an 
Indian woman, in consideration of Clark moving 
the goods and a yoke of oxen (taken by Low in 
payment of a debt) back to .Snohomish. This was 
accomplished by boat. 

Thomas Hayes is the next .Swinomish trader 
of whom we have record. The exact time of his 
appearance is not known, but it must have been 
very shortly after Low abandoned the region in 
the summer of 1868. It was during his time that 
the Swinomish postoffice was established. When 
J. S. Conner came, succeeding Hayes (or Hays), 
this postoffice was either abandoned and the La 
Conner postoffice created, or the name was changed 
to La Conner. 

Laurin L. Andrews, at present cashier of the 
Bank of La Conner, tells us that when he first 
visited the place in the fall of 1870, he found at 
what is now La Conner, J. S. Conner and family, 
keeping a store and postoffice in their residence 
building which stood on the spot now occupied by 
Caches' brick block ; Archibald Seigf ried and family, 
conducting a boarding-house in a building on the 
site of the Corner saloon ; J. I. Conner, a cousin of 



J. S., operating a little trading vessel, the True Blue, 
with headquarters at the village; back on the flats, 
Michael Sullivan, Samuel Calhoun, E. T. Dodge and 
family ; Robert White and family, near Sullivan ; 
Harvey Wallace, at Pleasant Ridge ; James William- 
son in the same locality ; John Cornelius and family 
at Pleasant Ridge ; James Harrison, on what is now 
the Armstrong place ; and on the reservation. Dr. 
W. Y. Deere, government farmer in charge of the 
Swinomish tribe. Deere was not a physician. His 
title was given him on account of his having at one 
time served as a hospital steward. 

The first white women to settle on the Swinomish 
flats were Mrs. J. O. Rudene, formerly Mrs. John 
Cornelius ; Mrs. Edwin T. Dodge, Mrs. Denison, 
Mrs. Robert White, Mrs. J. S. Conner and Mrs. 
Archibald Seigfried. The last-named lady was the 
mother of the first child born on the flats, but un- 
fortunately it did not live. In May, 1871, Maggie, 
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert White, was born. 
It is thought that she was the first white native of 
the flats to live, if not the first in the county. Mrs. 
Charles Hubbs, sister of Mrs. Rudene, is deserving 
of mention among the early pioneer women, though 
her home was on the reservation opposite La 
Conner, where her husband was serving as telegraph 
operator. 

The year 1871 brought a number of settlers, 
among them Isaac Jennings and family. Those 
settlers Mr. Jennings was able to recall as living 
on the flats at that time, in addition to the ones 
already mentioned, were the following: The [Man- 
chester family, south of La Conner ; William Wood- 
ward, a bachelor north of La Conner ; Edward 
Bellou, a bachelor in the same locality ; a bachelor 
known as "Pink Man ;" the Terrace family, Michael 
Hintz, James O'Laughlin, Charles Miller, C. -A. 
D'Arcy, G. W. L. Allen, Isaac Chilberg, a minister 
named Thompson, who used to preach occasionally 
at the McCormick farm, Laurin L. Andrews, a 
young merchant on the reservation, and Thomas 
Calhoun. In addition to these there were Mr. and 
Mrs. Harvey Wallace, on Beaver marsh, near 
Pleasant Rid.ge ; Albert and Milton Learner, brothers 
of Mrs. Wallace, and John Wallace. Mrs. David 
Leamer, mother of Albert and Milton and of Mrs. 
Wallace, settled near Pleasant Ridge in October, 
1871, and still resides there. Frederick Eyre was 
also in the country, though not a settler at that 
time. David Culver came to the flats about 1872 ; 
James Gilliland was in charge of the telegraph 
station at La Conner in 1872 and for many years 
afterward. 

The Swinomjsh settlement was not without some 
of the conveniences of civilized life in the late sixties 
and early seventies. Already two of the sound 
steamers were contending for their trade, the fifty- 
ton side wheeler, Mary Woodrufif, John Cosgrove, 
captain, and the J. B. Libby, John A. Suffern, 
captain. They plied between Seattle and Whatcom, 



PERIOD OF SETTLEMENT 



via the inside route as it was called — Swinomish 
slough — making the round trip every week. At this 
time the freight was three dollars and a half a ton, 
but there were instances when the fierce competition 
between the two forced it down to a dollar or even 
less. The service, however, was not very satisfac- 
torv. E. A. Sisson says the Libby often got stuck 
on 'the flats at Hole in the Wall near La Conner or 
at the upper end of Swinomish slough and would lie 
there contentedly for two or three days, charging 
the passengers a good rate for their board. In the 
spring of 1868, Mr. Calhoun finished a small, flat- 
bottom schooner, named the Shoo-Fly, suited to 
transferring logging camp outfits, lumber, etc., in 
shallow water. 

Another of the conveniences of this early period 
was a telegraph wire to the reservation. Mr. Cal- 
houn says that after the trans-Atlantic cable had 
twice broken, people began to think it a failure, and 
a telegraph company commenced to run a line along 
the coast through Washington territory to British 
Columbia and Alaska to Behring straits, expecting 
to cross to Asia and thence to Europe. The subse- 
quent success of the Atlantic cable put an end to 
this scheme, but the Swinomish people nevertheless 
had telegraphic connections which they would not 
otherwise have enjoyed for several years. About 
the middle si.xties, a postoffice was established on the 
reservation, making it no longer necessary for the 
pioneers to go to Utsalady for mail. Still later one 
was secured on the site of La Conner (it was named 
Swinomish postoffice) with Thomas Hayes as its 
first postmaster. 

The value of the country as a grain-raising 
district began to be realized very soon after diking 
commenced in 1864. Mrs. Rudene, then Mrs. John 
Cornelius, is quoted as saying that when she came 
from Whidby island in IS'es, Mr. Sullivan showed 
her a splendid field of oats, which he claimed were 
the first grown on the Swinomish flats. In the fall 
of 1869, three men had considerable crops of grain 
to be threshed, Michael Sullivan, Samuel Calhoun 
and E. T. Dodge. There was no threshing machine 
on the mainland, so Mr. Calhoun went to Whidby 
island and brought men, horses and machine. Sul- 
livan's crop was threshed first, then Calhoun's, then 
Dodge's. Calhoun got twelve hundred bushels of 
barley from twenty-one acres, and both the other 
gentlemen realized much better returns than they 
had expected, so the scoffers at those establishing 
farms on the mud flats were efifectually silenced. In 
18T6 Mr. Calhoun brought a steam thresher to the 
flats, the first that was ever imported into western 
Washington, and 1877 Whitney, Sisson & Companv 
imported the second machine. 

The north end of Swinomish flats was not much 
behind tlie La Conner country in settlement. The 
first settler in the vicinity of Padilla bay was James 
McCIellan, a bachelor from California, who located 
about the year 1869 on the place now known as the 



Smith ranch, but which he named Virgin Cove. For 
months his only neighbors were a family of Indians, 
who regarded him as an intnider on their lands, for 
they claimed by right of inheritance all the country 
between Indian slough and the Samish river. 
Several times Mr. McCIellan thought these Indians 
were plotting to harm him but he put on a bold 
front, showed no fear and was not molested. It is 
almost certain that no white family would have been 
so patient with one whom they regarded a tres- 
passer. 

McClellan's first white neighbor was Jacob High- 
barger, who came about ISTO with his Indian wife 
and family. Next year McClellan's former partner 
in the stock business in California, M. D. Smith, 
rejoined him. The partnership was renewed. They 
diked a portion of their marsh land, but unfor- 
tunately in building the dike struck a layer of sand 
which permitted the salt water to leach through, so 
that good crops could not be raised until an outer 
dike was built. In the fall of 1870, William H. 
Trimble took a claim for himself and one for G. W. 
L. Allen adjoining the farm of Smith & McCIellan. 
A year or so later Allen built a fine house on an 
elevated site and brought his family to live in it. 
In 1873, Samuel McNutt and Albert Jennings took 
claims which were later purchased by John Ball, 
diked by him and made into a fine large farm. Jen- 
nings was a railway engineer, employed in Oregon, 
so the burden of holding residence upon this prop- 
erty fell upon his wife and little boy. 

Some time about 1870 or 1871, Michael Sullivan 
sold for one thousand six hundred dollars at the 
river bank the crop of barley raised on forty acres 
of diked land. The story went clear to Pennsyl- 
vania. R. E. Whitney, E. A. Sisson and others 
heard it and soon began planning to migrate to the 
sound basin. Whitney arrived at Padilla in August, 
1873, bought the right of a man named White, filed 
a preemption, and with Mrs. Whitney began resi- 
dence in a pioneer shack. For many years after he 
was one of the leading men in the great work of 
tide land reclamation, one whose faith never 
wavered, who knew no discouragement. In Dec- 
ember following his arrival, he was joined by two 
cousins, E. A. Sisson and A. G. Tillinghast, whom 
he took into partnership, forming the firm of Whit- 
ney, Sisson & Company. This partnership was 
finally dissolved in 1877, not, however, until it had 
expended much money, labor and effort in diking 
land. The work was discouraging enough at first. 
The company, together with Trimble, Highbarger 
and .'Mien, constructed three miles of dike and 
several expensive dams across sloughs, using seventy 
thousand feet of lumber and paying forty dollars a 
month and board for men. During the winter of 
1873-4 four of these costly dams went out, the salt 
water was let in and cultivation was delayed another 
year. They were rebuilt in 1874, and in 187.5 the 
first crop, twenty acres of oats, was produced. The 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



destruction of the dikes was so discouraging to 
Messrs. Tillinghast and Sisson, that they offered to 
donate a year's work to be allowed to withdraw 
from the company neither owing nor owning a cent, 
but Whitney would not listen to any such propo- 
sition. He insisted that all go ahead, which they 
finally decided to do. 

In 1873, Whitney, Sisson & Company built the 
old "White House" on Bay View Ridge, and as 
showing some of the conditions of life in those days 
it may be related that the lumber was brought from 
Utsalady by the steamer Linnie, which dumped it 
out in the bay two miles from land. The captain 
did not know the bay nearer shore and would not 
go in, but he did not forget to charge two dollars 
and fifty cents a thousand for such service as he 
was willing to render. The men rafted the lumber 
and poled it to shore. On March 13, 1873, the 
house was raised, the entire neighborhood being 
present and taking part. It still stands, a landmark 
of the early days, reminder of many a pioneer 
gathering and festive occasion. 

The land around the head of Padilla bay con- 
tained more peat and hence was more difficult to 
bring into cultivation than that contiguous to La 
Conner. Some of it was so soft that, besides under- 
draining, it required years of time in which to settle 
so that it would bear up teams in the spring and 
threshing machines in the fall. As comparatively 
little of the flats was diked in the early seventies, 
there was no communication, except by water, with 
La Conner. For the double purpose of avoiding 
danger in times of rough weather and of shortening 
the distance, a canal a half mile long was dug, con- 
necting Indian and Telegraph sloughs. 

While the initial attempts at the development of 
the beautiful archipelago now constituting the 
western portion of Skagit county, together with that 
of the tide flats on the Swinomish, were in progress, 
enterprising adventurers and fortune hunters were 
beginning to realize the possibilities of the great 
Skagit valley above the region of the tide flats. 
Families soon followed. The first white women to 
reach the region lying back of the flats, were Mrs. 
William Gage and her two daughters, now Mrs. 
Keen and Mrs. Narl ; Mrs. Brice, Mrs. Jasper Gates, 
Mrs. D. E. Kimble and Mrs. M. J. Kimble, soon 
followed by Mrs. Charles Washburn, Mrs. August 
Hartson and Mrs. Isaac Lanning. It is interesting 
to recall that these ladies were the first to come to 
that portion of what is now Skagit county on a 
steamboat. The little steamer Linnie, on which they 
came, was the first to reach the big jam near Mount 
Vernon, arriving late in 1870. 

The first religious service ever held in that com- 
munity was conducted by Charles Washburn and 
D. E. Kimble in a house now owned by Mr. Tink- 
ham. The first baptism occurred near Peter Vander 
Kuyl's house in a little slough on the north fork of 
the Skagit, Rev. B. N. L. Davis performing the 



ceremony, and the recipients of it being Mrs. 
Mahala Washburn, who later became Mrs. C. C. 
Hansen, now deceased, and Mrs. Somers, now Mrs. 
James Caches. 

The first house to be built in the Skagit valley 
was erected in 1863 on the claim of W. H. Sart- 
well, now owned by Magnus Anderson, about five 
miles below Mount Vernon. Among the first settlers 
in that same general region were the following upon 
the south fork of the river: Joseph Lisk, William 
Kayton, George Wilson, John Wilbur, E. McAlpine, 
L. Sweet, A. G. Kelley, R. I. Kelley, J. Wilson and 
Joseph Wilson ; and on the north fork : John Guinea, 
William Hayes, William Houghton, Joseph Mad- 
dox, William Brown, H. A. Wright, Peter Vander 
Kuyl, Franklyn Buck and Magnus Anderson. J. 
V. Abbott, now dead, located May 5, 18(55, and soon 
after came David Anderson, who located on what 
afterward became known as the old McAlpine place, 
upon which Skagit City grew. It is said by some 
that Mr. Underwood was the first settler on the 
north fork locating in or before 1865 on the place 
afterward taken up by Peter Vander Kuyl. We find 
also some conflicting statements as to who is entitled 
to the honor of being the first white child born on 
the Skagit. Some claim it for the child of Charles 
Washburn, while others claim that Oliver C. Ting- 
ley, son of S. S. Tingley, born June 6, 1870, is 
entitled to tha;t distinction. The first man already a 
pater familias is said to have been Thomas R. Jones, 
whose claim was near that of Mr. Tingley on the 
north fork of the river. 

We have already seen that the first cabin in that 
neighborhood was built by W. H. Sartwell, who was 
assisted in the work by Orrin Kincaid and Mr. 
Todd. The three men soon formed a partnership 
and established in the cabin a trading post for the 
purpose of exchanging goods and merchandise with 
the Indians for furs. The difficulty of purchasing 
goods, however, by reason of the exorbitant charges 
of the wholesalers at Seattle and Olympia, who 
wished to monopolize the Indian trade themselves, 
rendered this first mercantile venture on the Skagit 
unprofitable, and soon after Mr. Kincaid went to 
California. In the meantime Mr. Todd died and for 
some time Sartwell was alone on that immediate 
portion of the river. 

Thomas P. Hastie homesteaded his present place 
near Fir in June, 1870. coming over from Whidby 
island. He lived on the place on and ofif until he 
proved up in 1872. In 1870 he found the following 
settlers in his neighborhood : North fork of the 
Skagit, Franklyn Buck, DeWitt Clinton Dennison, 
Gus Lill, Samuel S. Tingley, Magnus Anderson, 
William Brown, Joseph L. Maddox, Thomas R. 
Jones, Peter Vander Kuyl, Moses Kane, John 

Guinea, Quinby Clark, Fay, T. J. Rawlins and 

Charles Henry ; south fork, Orrin Kincaid, living 
on the present Wilson ranch, William Sartwell, who 
came with Kincaid, on an adjoining ranch, Joseph 



PERIOD OF SETTLEMENT 



Wilson, William Johnson, William Smith, Alonzo 
Sweet, opposite the site of Skagit City, Joseph Lisk, 
William Kayton, George or "Long" Wilson, Will- 
iam McAlpin, at the site of Skagit City, and Will- 
iam Alexander, who later sold out to Robert and 
W. L. Kelly. William Brown had settled in 1863 
at the mouth of the slough to which his name was 
applied, and Maddox about that year also settled on 
the north fork just above Brown's slough. 

Beginning about 1870 there was a rapid influx of 
men with families into tlie regions of the lower 
Skagit. At that time it was considered impracti- 
cable to locate above the big jam near the site of 
the present Mount Vernon, and most of the settlers 
took claims in the dense timber back of the lower 
river rather than try the regions above which have 
since become so attractive. True to the genuine 
American idea those early settlers soon began to 
establish schools, churches and other civilizing 
agencies. In a building erected for a barn on the 
ranch of D. E. Kimble the first school in the Skagit 
valley was taught by Ida Lanning, a daughter of 
Isaac Lanning, who had located near by in 1869. 
She was followed a year after by G. E. Hartson, 
afterward and until the present time one of the 
leading citizens of Mount Vernon. Contemporary 
with Miss Lanning was Zena Tingley, now Mrs. 
J. D. Moores, who taught in what afterward was 
called Skagit district, where she gathered her young 
charges in a cabin belonging to Joe Wilson. 

There were many Methodists among those early 
settlers, and a Methodist organization was effected 
about 1870 by Rev. M. J. Luark, who was soon 
after succeeded by Rev. J. M. Denison. 

At that early day Skagit City seems to have been 
the center of operations. At tlie Union hall in that 
place all manner of public assemblages, religious 
meetings, political conventions, entertainments. Good 
Templars' meetings, balls and socials, festivals and 
fairs were accustomed to gather. The Skagit City 
of that time was about half a mile above its present 
location. It seems to have been the general ren- 
dezvous for canoes, scows, booms of logs, and 
steamboats in so far as they appeared at all The 
removal of the big jam from the vicinity of Mount 
Vernon a few years later destroyed the prestige of 
Skagit City. 

Practically the entire region then open to settle- 
ment was heavily timbered, and the work of clearing 
land, difficult at all times, was increased many fold 
by the lack of teams. To obviate this diiificu'lty in 
so far as possible logging bees became the accepted 
social and industrial means of ridding the country 
of unnecessary timber. Some of the old settlers, 
however, record their conviction that the guests at 
the logging bees used more energy in disposing of 
the bountiful viands which the host provided than in 
ridding his claim of the impeding logs. Neverthe- 
less the pleasure and the social entertainment 
afforded by those old logging bees was a great com- 



pensation for the hard tread-mill of life at that time 
and place. 

The nearest postoffice during the first period of 
settlement on the lower Skagit was Utsalady (mean- 
ing "land of berries" in the Indian tongue), but as 
soon as possible La Conner became the center of 
mail service. Most of the settlers were obliged to 
go or to send to Coupeville to get supplies. A man 
named Campbell, in 1868, established a small store 
at the forks of the river, where he kept and disposed 
of the standard goods for cash, a rather large 
amount of the latter being necessary to effect a 
trade for such patrons as had run out of their 
regular store. This pioneer storekeeper of the 
Skagit had the untoward habit of spirituous im- 
bibition to an unhealthy degree. On one occasion 
when he had reached a satiated condition, in his 
strenuous efforts to handle a barrel of sugar, which 
constituted his whole stock in trade, he managed 
to dump it in the river and to follow it immediately 
himself. A Siwash, who was not quite so drunk, 
extricated him from the watery depths. After some 
tedious worji the barrel of sugar was also landed. It 
had absorbed so much water as to be turned to 
molasses, in which condition he disposed of it at 
advantageous prices to the hungry Indians. Camp- 
bell soon disposed of his mercantile interests to J. J. 
Conner, and he in turn sold out to D. E. Gage, 
who is still engaged in merchandising at Skagit 
City. 

The first date at which the Skagit valley country 
took any part in an election was 1871, there being 
at that time but one precinct in the entire valley. 
There was a total vote of sixty-one in the election 
for delegate to congress, the candidates being that 
silver-tongued spellbinder, Selucius Garfield, and J. 
V. McFadden. In spite of his eloquence and the 
fascination which Garfield wielded over all with 
whom he came in contact, his lack of steadfast 
principle and his personal bad habits had by that 
time so affected his general reputation that his com- 
petitor was chosen. 

In those early days potatoes constituted the legal 
tender of the community. In the rich new lands 
and the soft, moist climate of the Skagit and its 
outlying islands these indispensable vegetables 
yielded most prolifically and were sold in large quan- 
tities to the trading sloops which visited that part 
of the sound. Money being very scarce it became 
a common thing to accept potatoes as legal tender. 
Practically the only way of getting out of or 
into the Skagit valley was by boat. Canoes and 
sailboats would frequently intercept the steamer 
Mary Woodruff, then running from Whatcom to 
Seattle and stopping at Utsalady. The fare at that 
time from L'tsalady to Whatcom was five dollars, 
and it took three days to make the trip. There was 
no regular steamboat service upon the Skagit river 
itself until 1874, when the Fanny Lake, in com- 
mand of Captain John S. Hill, began making regular 



106 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



monthly trips between Seattle and Skagit City. 
Her arrival at the latter place was the chief event 
of the month to the inhabitants, who always 
gathered almost to a man, woman and child to 
witness it. 

The great log jams in the Skagit river in the 
vicinity of the site of Mount Vernon, one extending 
a mile above that point and the other about half a 
mile below, long prevented settlement in the upper 
part of the valley, but in 1877 Harrison Clothier and 
Edward English founded the town of Mount 
Vernon, Mr. Clothier purchasing ten acres of Jasper 
Gates, which he platted for the purpose. He became 
the postmaster at Mount \'ernon in September of 
1877, the mail being carried in a skiff from La 
Conner to Skagit Cit)' and thence by foot to Mount 
Vernon. In 187(3 the great work of removing the 
jams on the river had been undertaken by settlers 
and loggers and two years later the steamer Wenat 
made a trip to Mount Vernon, Henry Bailey being 
captain. 

The logging business, which became so important 
a factor in the development of the Skagit valley, 
seems to have come into existence on the lower river 
as early as 1871. By the year 1875 there were 
hundreds of men engaged in logging at various 
points in the Skagit and Samish regions. 

For a new region the Skagit valley seems to 
have been somewhat singularly free from aft'rays 
and crimes. The only recorded murder of very 
early date occurred at Skagit City in the winter of 
1869-70. A certain trader named John Barker had 
come to the valley during the previous year and had 
erected a shake shanty on the island near the 
junction of the forks. Among other merchandise 
in which Barker dealt was the ever-present and 
ever-destructive whiskey, with which he supplied 
whites and Indians alike. Immediately across the 
north fork a band of Indians had established them- 
selves and made some small clearings upon which 
were erected rude huts. One morning Barker was 
found lying in his shanty, his throat cut and his 
store ransacked. Shortly afterward some goods 
supposed to have been a part of the stock were 
found in the possession of Quinby Clark, who lived 
near, but before any investigation had been under- 
taken, Clark left the region. It is said that some of 
the south forkers formed a mob in the meantime 
and hanged two Indians, supposing them to be the 
guilty parties. It appeared by subsequent investi- 
gation that Clark had shortly before wanted to get 
a squaw for whom thirty dollars was demanded, and 
that right after the murder he raised the necessary 
money. Also a subsequent investigation of the 
store showed plainly that the robbery and murder 
had been committed by a white man, for things 
which Indians would have taken were left and those 
wfhich a white man would have taken were gone. 
Barker had been a Mason and the members of this 



fraternity spent three years in seeking the supposed 
murderer, but without avail. 

As typical of the history of the Skagit as well 
as of other pioneer communities we may well make 
a brief reference here to the experience of D. E. 
Kimble and family, the first home-builders in the 
region adjacent to what is now Mount Vernon. 
Their fomier home had been in Illinois, whence Mr. 
Kimble with his wife and five young children came 
in 1868 to Whidby island. In December of 1869 
Mr. Kimble, having formed the impression that his 
fortune would be better made in a new region than 
in the comparatively well-settled Whidby island, 
came to the Skagit valley seeking a home. Earlier 
attempts, so Mr. Kimble relates, had been broken up 
by the belligerent Indians who made their head- 
quarters there. When Mr. Kimble with his family 
located in the region he found sixteen squaw-men 
in the valley, the names of whom have already been 
given in the list of early settlers. In his quest for 
a location which should entirely satisfy his wishes 
Mr. Kimble pursued his explorations up the river 
to the lower end of the big jam and established him- 
self upon the spot which has been his home ever 
since, adjoining the city of Mount Vernon. Settlers 
were obliged at that time to go clear to Olympia to 
file upon government land. With the Kimbles came 
the families of Jasper Gates and William Gage, the 
partA' chartering the steamer Linnie, as already 
narrated, for the purpose of carrying their families 
and possessions to their new homes, paying fifty 
dollars for the service. Mr. Kimble learned from 
the Indians that the big jam had been in existence 
from time immemorial. So solidly was this jam 
packed that it could be crossed at almost any point 
in its entire extent and upon it had grown a veritable 
forest, in some instances trees of even two or three 
feet in diameter growing upon what was merely a 
mass of rotten debris with no lodgment in the earth 
at all. Underneath the tangled mass of logs, moss, 
bushes and trees the impetuous torrent of the Skagit 
forced its way in some places in furious cataracts, 
in 'others in deep black pools filled with fish, which 
could, however, be reached at very few points by 
sportsmen. Upon their home carved out of the wil- 
derness, Mr. Kimble and his family toiled for all 
those years clearing the fat. wet soil, setting out 
trees and converting the wild land into rich clover 
meadows and garden tracts, gradually accumulating 
a competency. 

The settlement of the upper Skagit valley, while 
partaking of the same general conditions which 
operated in the lower, was in the nature of the case 
later in time and in the main slower in progress 
than the portion of the valley contiguous to the 
sound. It was, however, discovered at quite an early 
day that the upper Skagit valley was rich in the 
precious metals as well as in coal and iron and pos- 
sessed also vast stores of the finest timber, while the 
land once cleared would \ield, under the influence 



■ ^ " 


^^^^^H^v .^^di^^^i^ ^H 


■E.. ■ -^^^ 








pp 



DESCRIPTIVE AND HISTORICAL 



PERIOD OF SETTLEMENT 



of the genial climate, the finest crops of all kinds. 
Hence the more adventurous class of pioneers and 
prospectors early turned their attention to securing 
the advantages so lavishly bestowed. 

A. R. Williamson, one of the first hop-growers 
in the Pu}allup valley and later the pioneer hop- 
grower of the Skagit, is credited with having been 
the first settler on the upper Skagit above the jam, 
settling in 1871, or, some say, 187-.'. Mr. William- 
son lived for a number of years near Lyman, where 
he died November 6, 1883. The next settler above 
the jam appears to have been Rev. B. N. L. Davis, 
a Baptist minister, who, soon after Williamson's 
advent, took up his abode on the south side of the 
river at the point where the Great Northern bridge 
spans the Skagit. In 1879 Davis rented William- 
son's hop ranch and two or three years later made 
himself widely known on the coast by netting some- 
thing like forty thousand dollars for his hops one 
season. Immediately afterward he entered the stock 
business on an extensive scale, at one time bringing 
seven carloads of registered Holstein cattle to his 
Skagit river ranch from the eastern states, thus 
introducing that stock in this county. He also 
brought out some very highly bred horses at this 
time. 

In 1873 Amasa Everett, a native of Maine and 
for some time a resident of Minnesota, came to 
Skagit county, late 'that fall joining Orlando Gra- 
ham, another Minnesotan, who had taken a claim on 
Fidalgo island in the spring of that year. These 
men, together with Lafayette S. Stevens, a Nevada 
miner who came to the Skagit country about that 
time to prospect, are deserving of a special place in 
any history of the Skagit region, for they were the 
discoverers of the coal mines of the upper valley. 
During the summer of 1874 Graham and Everett, 
wiiile working on the Swinomish flats, met Stevens 
and the trio went on an expedition in the latter part 
of September. 1874, to the vicinity of what later 
became the site of Hamilton. These men had seen 
samples of gold brought by the Indians to the lower 
river and hoped to strike a fortune in the precious 
metal, though Graham, not being a miner, said he 
would look for coal. Having reached the vicinity 
of Hamilton they learned from some Indians with 
whom they talked that there was some sort of a 
peculiar black metal in the mountains thereabouts. 
Investigations showed this to be coal and that great 
discovery was made. 

On this trip, while prospecting. IMr. Everett was 
struck by a rolling rock, which broke his leg. His 
partners, called to the place bv the Indian com- 
jianion of Mr. Everett, set the broken limb by the 
rude surgery of the frontier, but upon his return to 
civilization the doctors deemed it necessary to am- 
putate it and Everett was accordingly taken to 
.Seattle by Graham, where the operation was success- 
fully performed. Stevens made regular trips in 
and out of the coal region throughout the succeed- 



ing winter. In the meantime, James O'Laughlin 
and James J. Conner were added to the company, 
which then filed upon one hundred and sixty acres 
of coal land. In 187.5, finding reasons to believe 
that the mines were worthy of the investment of 
capital, the partners, together with a force of 
laborers, sunk a shaft a hundred feet in depth by 
which they took out twenty tons of coal, which they 
shipped to San Francisco. They made a number of 
improvements of permanent value in connection 
with this. However, they were obliged to trans- 
port their coal in canoes to the head of the big jam. 
There they cut a road through the forest two miles 
in extent around it, then loaded the coal upon the 
steamer Chehalis, which had come up for that pur- 
pose. This coal mine remained comparatively un- 
developed through lack of capital for two years, and 
then Conner, having secured additional resources, 
pushed it successfully for a number of years, ulti- 
mately selling or bonding an interest to San Fran- 
cisco parties under the name of the Skagit-Cum- 
berland Coal Company. 

In October of 1875 Mr. Everett, in company 
with Stevens, Graham and John Rowley, a coal 
miner, went up the river nearly to the present loca- 
tion of Marblemount. They found only two settlers 
on the river above the jam. Rev. B. N. L. Davis, 
who had been for some months stopping on a place 
at the site of the present Great Northern bridge, 
and A. R. Williamson. 

The men named were the only settlers on the 
river above Mount X'ernon prior to 1875, although 
Lafayette Stevens had staked out a claim at what is 
now Sterling, where he subsequently lived, while 
Otto Klcment had also staked a claim near the pres- 
ent site of Avon, upon which, however, he made no 
permanent settlement. The claim established by 
Everett, in is;."), was at the confluence of Baker 
river (formerly called the Nahcullum) with the 
Skagit river, on the north side of the river ; while 
Rowley took a place directly across the Skagit. 
r>oth erected cabins, although both at the time were 
bachelors. The winter was spent by Everett and 
Rowley in prospecting for gold, which they found 
at many points but not in pa\ing quantities. Con- 
trary to the general reputation of the Skagit Indians, 
these caused the two "solitary settlers no trouble, 
Everett having secured their acquiescence to his 
staking a claim by agreeing to start a store. At 
first the Indians would consent to his taking but a 
small piece of land, but suhsc(|uently, for a consid- 
eration of tweni\-ti\e dollars, allowed him to take 
a whole strip of boltuni land ni ninety acres. Ever- 
ett and Rowley went through the usual experience 
of early settlers in clearing of little patches of land 
and starting of gardens and in splitting out shakes 
for buildings. I3oth being good carpenters they 
found it profitable to split the beautiful straight 
cedar logs which abounded there into doors, which 
thev would take down the river and sell to the in- 



110 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



coining settlers for four dollars apiece. They also 
would make cedar oars, for which they could get 
from boatmen two dollars a pair. A few years 
later Rowley became noted also as the discoverer 
of the Ruby Creek mines. 

Worthy of special notice in connection with the 
early settlements as pioneers in special callings, are 
the following : John Cornelius, a government sur- 
veyor who came from Whidby island to the Skagit 
country and surveyed Lummi island, the Swinomish 
flats, the Samish country and the first settled por- 
tion of the Skagit valley ; James Caches, a merchant 
of La Conner in l.s:;i; Otto Klement, the pioneer 
merchant of L>nian ; Dr. John S. Church, who 
located at La Conner in 18T3, the first physician in 
the Skagit valley ; and Dr. G. V. Calhoun, another 
of the earliest physicians on the flats. 

In respect to the earliest logging undertakings 
in the Skagit country, it may be stated that Dan 
Dingwall is believed to have started a logging 
camp on Samish island in 1867. Two years later 
Edward Barrington and James Follansbee estab- 
lished a camp on Kayton's slough opposite the 
present town of Fir. In 187 "2 Thomas Moore and 
Alfred Densmore located a camp on the south fork 
of the Skagit a mile above the junction. The camp 
of William Gage, a mile and a half below Mount 
Vernon, was established in 18T4. These consti- 
tuted the logging camps established prior to 1875. 
Mr. Kimble informs us that there were no destruc- 
tive forest fires until after logging had been for 
some time in progress, the reason of this, according 
to his statement, being that the timber in the Skagit 
valley was so dense that vegetation never became 
dry enough for the fire to seize upon it, therefore, 
not until logging had exposed the woods to the sun 
and wind and created a mass of dead, dry limbs and 
refuse were forest fires prevalent. 

Several of the pioneers of 1873 who located at 
some of the smaller points in the valley may prop- 
erly be named at this point. Among these was 
William Tracy, of Edison, who filed on a claim 
near Conway, although he subsequently abandoned 
it and engaged in mining for several years ; Charles 
Villeneuve, proprietor of the St. Charles hotel at 
Sedro-Woolley, also located on the present site of 
Conway, and Thomas Jones located at a point near 
Villeneuve on the south. Mrs. Villeneuve was the 
first white woman in that neighborhood. In a short 
time Thomas Moore, John Moore, Robert Gage and 
Mr. McAlpine established themselves in the vicinity 
of Villeneuve, both Thomas and John Moore being 
accompanied by their wives. As illustrating the 
difficulty of carrying on improvements at that time 
we may note the fact that it took Mr. Villeneuve 
four days to bring a raft of sawed lumber from 
L'tsalady to his place on the Skagit. The house 
which he then built was the first constructed of 
lumber in that region. It is stated by the old settlers 
that in the vicinity of what became known in a short 



time as Mann's Landing, now Fir, there was an old 
Indian burial place. After the usual custom of 
the Indians, the bodies were wrapped in blankets 
and placed in canoes which were sustained on plat- 
forms in the trees. The curious statement is made 
that some of these Indians had long, fiery red hair. 
Mr. Mlleneuve conducted the first store and post- 
office at Conway, while his wife devoted herself to 
establishing and maintaining a school for the place. 

As denoting something of the status of the 
Northern Pacific railroad and the selection of a 
western terminus, together with the drift of public 
sentiment about the land grant, it is quite interesting 
to observe in the Ilcllingham Bay Mail of August 2, 
1873, the following resolutions by citizens of the 
Skagit and Whatcom regions: "Whereas the North- 
ern Pacific Railroad Company has located its west- 
ern terminus at Commencement bay in Pierce coun- 
ty, W. T., and whereas the withdrawal of lands for 
the benefit of said railroad north of Pierce county, 
to-wit: in King, Kitsap, Snohomish, Island and 
Whatcom counties, which include vast coal fields 
and large tracts of timber and rich agricultural 
lands ; and whereas said withdrawal is retarding the 
growth and development of said counties ; Therefore 
be it Resolved, That the interests of said counties 
and justice to the inhabitants thereof demand an 
immediate vacation of said withdrawal. Resolved, 
That a copy of these resolutions be forwarded to 
the Hon. Willis Drummond, Commissioner of the 
general land office and Hon. C. Delna, Secretary 
of the Interior." 

We find as early as 187:5 the first rumblings of 
the movement which, as will be hereafter related 
in full, eventuated in the division of Whatcom 
county and the establishment of Skagit. In the 
Bellin'gham Bay Mail of October S-"), 1873, a corre- 
spondent at La Conner makes mention of the fact 
that a petition had been circulated which was en- 
trusted to Hon. Walter Crockett, a member of the 
legislature for Island county, calling upon the 
legislature to pass a bill for the erection of a new 
county. The petition names William Dean of Sa- 
mish, H. A. March, of Fidalgo, and J. F. DArcy, 
of Stillaguamish, as commissioners in case the 
county is established. To offset this movement a 
meeting was held in Sehome remonstrating against 
any such action on the part of the legislature. 

As early as 1873 the farmers upon the tide 
lands of the Swinomish were beginning to be re- 
warded for their exceedingly hard toil in diking 
and clearing those fertile swamp lands. Some of 
them reported yields of over one hundred bushels 
of oats to the acre and several secured for their 
first crop from three thousand to five thousand 
bushels, enough at the prices then prevailing to put 
them in comparatively comfortable circumstances. 
Among these early farmers of the Swinomish 
whose crop yields are noted in the Bellingham 
papers were Thomas Calhoun, John Cornelius, 



PERIOD OF SETTLEMENT 



Michael Hiiitz and James Harrison. Very unfor- 
tunately disaster followed hard upon the successful 
crop season of that year; for on January 18, 1874, 
came the famous high tide, as a result of which 
several of the most important dikes and dams were 
destroyed and much destruction of property in the 
way of buildings, implements and' stock resulted. 
Messrs. McClellan and Seigfried, together with 
the Whitney and Sisson company of Padilla, lost 
their dikes and their farms were covered with salt 
water, which meant the loss of at least a year's 
time. 

We have now sketched the most important facts 
in the beginnings of the island region, of the Swi- 
nomish flats, of the Padilla Country, of the lower 
Skagit and of the upper Skagit, and may trace for 
a few pages the interesting history of the Samish 
region, one of the most productive and attractive 
parts of this whole favored county. The Samish 
valley consists of a belt of tide lands skirting the 
river, slough, bay and island all bearing the same 
name. The chief town of the region and the oldest, 
is Edison, founded in the early seventies upon land 
originally located by Ben Samson and Edward 
McTaggart. The possibilities of the Samish coun- 
tr}- had early attracted the attention of explorers, 
one of the earliest of these being John H. Fravel. 
He passed through the country as early as 1858 
and was engaged for some time in 1861 in erecting 
poles for the proposed great international telegraph 
line through Alaska, subsequently taking up his 
claim in the year 1871. His settlement was ante- 
dated, however, by others. There seems, also, to 
be some authority for the statement that William 
Jarman established a residence upon the prairie, 
which later received his name, as early as 1866, 
while Wesley Whitener and John Gray began oper- 
ating a logging camp in 1867 on what is now 
known as Blanchard slough, and James Hutchins 
was engaged in fishing on what afterward became 
the Whitehill place. Among the settlers of 1869 
may be mentioned Ben Samson, William Wood, 
Daniel Dingwall, George Forbes, Nathaniel Mor- 
gan, Watson Hodge, John Straighthoof, Joseph 
Hall, John Cornell, Captain John Warner, Joe 
Larry, Ben Welcher. William J. Brown and Thomas 
Hayes. The pioneers of 1870 were David Lewis, 
John Miller, William Hanson, Edward McTaggart, 
"Big" Brown. "Little" Brown (W. J.), William 
Dean and George Coffin. The years 1871 and 1873 
were marked by the incoming of a great number of 
settlers. 

Daniel Dingwall seems to have been the pioneer 
merchant of the Samish country, having established 
a store in partnership with Thomas Hayes, in the 
fall of 1869 on Samish island adjoining the Siwash 
slough. This Siwash slough was so called from 
the location upon it of two thousand Siwashes en- 
gaged in fishing and hunting. Thev had a house 
twelve hundred feet long by seventv-five feet wide. 



Thomas Hayes remained in partnership with Ding- 
wall but a short time and was succeeded in the 
partnership by William Dean, who also in a short 
time relinquished his share in the business to Ding- 
wall and started a store of his own in 1873. Mr. 
Dingwall became postmaster of what became 
known as the Samish postoffice in 1870. 

Everything in the Samish country depended on 
the diking system and this vitally important under- 
taking was inaugurated by John Muller in 1871, 
by whom sixty acres were inclosed upon the place 
now occupied by Nathaniel McCullough near the 
Samish. Daniel Sullivan reclaimed a hundred and 
sixt}' acres during the same year at a cost of thir- 
teen thousand dollars. Both Muller and Sullivan 
had land producing bountiful crops of oats in 1872 
and 1873. Ben Welcher introduced soon after a 
diking machine, which was operated for five dollars 
per rod, and with this they diked for Messrs. Ding- 
wall and McTaggart. It may be noted here that 
according to the recollection of William Wood the 
first diking done in the Samish region was by 
Messrs. Wood, Emery and Stevens. 

It did not take the settlers of the Samish long to 
inaugurate public schools. As nearly as can be 
ascertained the first school was held in 1873 in a 
house belonging to Mr. Cutler * on his old claim 
east of the Wood place, afterward occupied by Mr. 
Samson. There were seven scholars in the first 
school, consisting of the children of the Stevens and 
Wood families, Mary Stevens, Mr. Stevens' oldest 
daughter, being the teacher. Two years later a 
regular district was established, district number 
eight, Messrs. Wood, Legg and Emery being the 
first directors and Mr. Stevens the first clerk. 

Among the notable early settlers of the Samish 
was Captain J. M. Warner, who was also more 
than a decade later the earliest settler of the upper ' 
Samish, on what is now known as Warner's prairie, 
a region of great fertility but so difficult of ap- 
proach by reason of the dense timber and swamps 
as not to be inviting to settlers. 

Record has been found of but one crime during 
that early period of the Samish countrv. This 
occurred in the summer of 1873. The sla3-er was 
William Hanson and the victim Patrick Mahoney. 



*NoTE.— Mr. Cutler, his pioneer associates on the 
Samish say, was the San Juan settler who precipitated the 
noted struggle between Great Britain and the United 
States for the possession of that rich archipelago. Cutler, 
it is claimed, killed the pig ever which the initial litigation 
immediately sprang up, then fled by boat to the mainland, 
finally making his way down into the almost primeval 
Samish region to escape the officers. He died early in the 
seventies upon his claim there, leaving no heirs so far as 
known. Among his possessions sold at the time to pay 
a few debts he left was the identical double-barreled shot- 
gim, of fancy English manufacture, which Cutler used to 
shoot the pig. This weapon came into the hands of David 
P. Thomas, one of Cutler's neighbors, who still resides near 
Edison, and is prized by him very highly as an object of 
historical interest. 



112 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



Hanson had been in 01yni])ia to act as a witness for 
Daniel Sullivan in land business. Upon his return 
he found reason to susjiect his Indian wife of ques- 
tionable relations with Mahoney, and as a result 
promptly emptied his shotgun into the latter. The 
wound i>roving fatal, Hanson was tried, convicted 
of manslaughter and sentenced to two years in the 
penitentiary. 

This year may be regarded as closing the first 
era of settlement in the various centers of i)rogress 



in that portion of Whatcom county which subse- 
(|uently became Skagit county. As is unavoidable 
in all such cases where the earliest settlers have in 
many cases passed away and where written records 
have been destroyed and lost, statements are some- 
what conHicting as to names and dates. We have, 
however, endeavored as far as possible to harmonize 
these conllicts and to present such a continuous nar- 
rative as will he essentially correct both in details of 



CHAPTER II 



SKAGIT COUNTY, 1871-8;? 



In the year ISil the effects of the linaneial 
crisis of the preceding year in the hlast were felt 
in an especial degree by reason of the fact that as 
a result of it the Nortliern Pacific Railroad Com- 
pany was compelled to suspend building operations 
and with this suspension immigration ceased in 
great measure ; therefore the large speculating and 
investing class which had been coming to the Puget 
sound region in previous years and had been dis- 
tributing money freely by purchases of many kinds 
were for a period after the financial panic conspic- 
uous for their absence. The llellingham P.ay Mail 
of August "^i), 1871, notes the fact that not only is 
the local market on Puget sound greatly depressed 
by those conditions but that even their ordinary 
normal market in San h^rancisco is weakened by the 
competition oi San I'^ancisco firms and companies 
who owned most of the vessels used in the carrying 
trade between the sound and California. The Mail 
expres.ses the conviction that that uufortiuiate con- 
dition of affairs will continue until the building 
ojierations of the Norlheni Pacific are revived, 
and this revival it deems depeiuknt njjon some fav- 
orable action by congress on behalf of the railroad: 
it therefore urges united action by the jK-ople of 
the territory in favor both of the railroad directly 
and of government aid for it. 

The first of the series of efforts on the part of 
the people of the Skagit to secure the removal of 
drift and jams from the Skagit river seems to have 
been instituted in the year 187 I. .\ formal |ietition 
was presented to congress at that time asking for 
an appropriation of twenty-five thousand dollars 
for the ]wri)ose of improving the river. 

The Taimarv of Is:,". w;is notable for a decree 



The cold spell lasting from the i>th of that month 
to February 4lh. A weather record kept by 
E. A. Sisson gives three degrees above zero as the 
coldest of the period, but during the entire time the 
thermometer was below the freezing point and at 
one time there was a fall of several feet of snow. 
This is remembered as the severest spell of weather 
to last so long, in the history of Skagit county. 
It was followed by a late, cold spring, with an ac- 
cumulation of snow in the mountains so great that 
when it was increased by the autumnal snowfall 
the conditions were all provided for a tlootl in the 
river in case of sudden warm winds. The warm 
winds came on the ■'.")th of Becember, and the Ska- 
git river had the highest water known in its history, 
completely flooding llu' Hats for the first time since 
their settlement. 

The llellingbam Hay Mail of April 10, 1875. 
presents a bird's-eye view of Whatcom county in- 
cluding, of course, a valuable picture of the general 
state of affairs in the Skagit region at that date. 
The writer notes the reclamation and cultivation of 
a considerable part of the tide flats on the north 
side of the Skagit river and mentions the fact that 
La Ct)nner, then the base of supplies for the entire 
region, had three general mercliandise stores be- 
sides warehouses and wharves. Special mention 
is made of the following men as active in the de- 
velopments of that period ; namely, Messrs. Cornier. 
Dodge, Whitney, Calhoun, Sullivan, Smith, White, 
Staev, Poison, Cornelius, Mc.\li>ine. Sartwell, Mad- 
dow,' Wallace, Hall and Allen. 

The writer also visited I'idalgo island, noticing 
the Swinoniish Indian reservation in the southern 



SKACilT COUNTY, 1874- 



part and the white settlements in the northern, 
classing the land iield i)y tiie latter as the garden 
spot of Whatcom county. He made mention of 
the fine farms of Messrs. H. C. Barkhoiisen, H. A. 
March, S. 1!. Best, William Munks, William Cran- 
(lall, II. J. White, J. A. Compton, Robert Becker, 
Shadrach Wooten, H. Sibley and others. He also 
crossed to Guemes island and visited the places be- 
longing to Messrs. Edcns and O'Bryant ; likewise 
<alie<I at Cypress island on his round and viewed 
the well-impruvcd farms of Mr. Kittles and Mr. 
Tillon. He found also, interesting improvements 
in progress in the Samish country, observing what 
he regarded as some of the finest timber in the 
territory, and noting approvingly the ranches re- 
cently reclaimed and in process of cultivation be- 
longing to Messrs. Muller, McTaggart, Stevens, 
Larry, Dean, Dingwall, Whitehill and Legg. He 
referred to the liellingham r>ay stone quarry at the 
foot of the Cluickanut range, and visited and de- 
scribed the coal, the stone and tlie timber lands 
extending nortlnvanl to llie limits ol" wli.at is now 
Skagit county. 

The progress of development of the coal mines 
is indicated by the fact that on April 23, 187.'), the 
company shipped its first coal by the schooner Sa- 
liina. The cost of delivering that first shipment 
below the jam was about ten dollars per ton, which 
was so great as to leave no profits, but in a short 
lime the construction of the new road so diminished 
I he expense as to leave a goodly margin to the com- 
j)any. After the completion they were able to 
transport from one hundred to two hundred tons 
per month to a shijjping point. 

A valuable reminiscence by James H. Moores 
preserves a statement of the scale of prices in 1876, 
which may be found interesting in comparison with 
l)resent prices. Sugar, he says, was 8 ])Ounds for 
$1 ; flour, $7 a barrel ; tea, 50 to 60 cents per pound ; 
nails, 7 cents a pound ; butter, 75 cents a pound ; 
hay, $]■! per ton; oats, ranging all the wav from 
$17 to $;J0 per ton; potatoes, $18 to $20 per ton; 
carrots, .$15 ])er ton; salt, 1 cent per pound; beef, 
hardly obtainable at any price. Wages for ordi- 
nary labor ranged from $-10 to $75 per month. 

Reference has been made in earlier pages to the 
initial attemjjts toward securing government aid 
for the great work of opening the Skagit river. 
Tiie government agent estimated the probable ex- 
])ense of the work at a hundred thousand dollars. 
( Ireat credit is due to certain citizens of the county 
for the initiation and final completion of this task. 
A company for the purpose was organized, consist- 
ing of James Cochrane, Donald McDonald, Marvin 
.Mimiick, Joe Wilson, John Quirk, Daniel Hines, 
Fritz Dibbern and Demiis Storrs, Wilson and Mc- 
Donald being the original promoters. To raise 
money for starting their undertaking Wilson and 
McDonald mortgaged two lots in Seattle belong- 
ing to Mr. Wilson. The others joined at various 



times in the enterprise. Their first theory was to 
reimburse themselves by the sale of the logs which 
would be loosened from the jam, but the logs 
proved to be so badly strained by the pressure that 
they did not yield much merchantable timber. 

.Another proposed inii)rovement allied to the 
removal of the big jam was the building of a levee 
along the north side of the Skagit river from the 
Sound waters to the head of the jam. This im- 
provement would be practicable if the jam were 
removed. It was estimated at that time liial the 
total cost of the proposed levee would not exceed 
ten thousand dollars, but this proved to be a gross 
underestimate, as the work is not yet completed 
and the ten thousand dollars has jiroved but a dro]) 
in the bucket. 

The great jam consisted of two divisions, the 
lower beginning at the old Kimble homestead be- 
low Mount X'ernon and extending up the river to 
a point about opposite the present Kimble resi- 
dence, a distance of perhaps half a mile. The 
upper part of the jam was considerably larger, be- 
ginning about half a mile above the upper end of 
the lower jam and extending over a mile. The 
lower one was believed to be at least a century old 
and was probably much older, while the upper one 
was to all appearance of comparatively recent for- 
mation. It was increasing in size very rapidly. 
Dennis Storrs, to whom we are indebted for much 
valuable information respecting this matter, states 
that within three \'ears after his arrival a quarter 
of a mile of debris had accumulated at its upper 
end. Beneath and between the tangled mass of 
debris the river was obliged to force its passage 
and in places beneath the lower jam there were 
twenty-four feet of water at the lowest stage. The 
material of the jam was mainly green timber, but 
in many places sediment had accumulated to such 
an extent as to permit the growth upon it of a 
perfect jungle of brush and even of large trees. 
.\t many points, often concealed from the view of 
the explorer by brush, there were open shoots into 
the sullen, treacherous depths below. David E. 
Kimble relates that on one occasion while he was at 
work on the jam with others, one of the party 
suddenly disappeared into one of those holes. The 
other men rushed as rapidly as possible to a larger 
expanse of water some distance below, but Mr. 
Kimble, remembering a small opening between the 
trees nearer by, hastened to it. Just as he reached 
it he saw an agitation of the debris at the place and 
thrusting his arm into the water he grasped the 
struggling man and succeeded in rescuing him from 
death. 

Not only was the big jam a great impediment to 
navigation, but it was also a continual menace to 
the fields and stock and buildings of the settlers on 
the lowlands on either side of the river. On account 
also of the great difficulty of making roads through 
the forest this im]HMlinient to river connmmication 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



almost prevented settlement at points on the river 
above; furthermore, the removal of the jam was 
the sine qua iioii of the lumber industry above it. 
The scanty resources of the early settlers seemed to 
forbid their carrying the task to completion, but 
they made most energetic, even heroic and finally 
successful efforts to meet the emergency. The ter- 
ritorial legislature had sent memorials to congress 
urging an appropriation for the opening of the river 
and Orange Jacobs, the congressional delegate in 
1875, secured the sending of General Mickler to 
investigate conditions, but nothing resulted from 
his visit, and it became apparent that the settlers 
must, after all, depend mainly upon themselves for 
accomplishing the heavy task. The people of 
Mount Vernon generously supported the efforts of 
the company, whose initiatory work has already 
been described, and in the summer of 1876 sub- 
scriptions were started for its assistance. The 
Northern Star of December IGth notes the fact 
that the men had at that time been working nearly 
a year, had removed nearly a half mile of the jam 
and had reduced the portage distance one and one 
half miles. The paper describes the magnitude of 
the task by stating that the men were compelled 
to cut through from five to eight tiers of logs, which 
generally ranged from three to eight feet in diam- 
eter, representing a total cutting out of a space 
thirty feet deep. The following paragraph from 
the Star, well expresses the nature of the work in 
progress: "To say that the jam loggers are doing 
their work thoroughly and well conveys no ade- 
quate idea of the magnitude and thoroughness of 
the work done. What they have received from sale 
of logs taken from the jam and contributions from 
citizens will only partially pay actual expenses, yet 
these men should have more than this as a 
suitable recognition of their great work. We think 
the general government, even if it declines to grant 
them a money recompense for their services, could 
well afford to grant each of them a whole section 
of timber land to be located above the jam on its 
removal and upon proof of the fact at the general 
land office." 

In the progress of the work the jam loggers 
met with many narrow escapes from death by 
crushing or drowning and were subjected to con- 
stant losses of tools. Sometimes Nature assisted 
and sometimes hindered their work. Floods some- 
times wedged the loosened logs still tighter and 
undid the work of many days, while on the other 
hand a flood in 1877 suddenly dislodged a section 
of the jam which they estimated at not less than 
five acres and carried it out to sea. Sometimes 
trees four feet in diameter were snapped off like 
so many pipe stems. 

Six months were required of these faithful and 
enterprising loggers to cut a two hundred and fifty 
foot channel through the lower jam and over two 
years more were consumed in cutting a channel a 



hundred and twenty feet wide through the upper 
jam. On account of the narrowness of this it was 
two or three times closed up again by the moving 
drifts, but with the aid of the loggers above, a 
passage way was maintained and gradually widened. 
By the s'ummer of 187!) the drift was sufficiently 
open to allow of any ordinary navigation, although 
not for ten years was the vast accumulation of 
debris essentially removed from the river. 

It should be remembered as an added reason 
for paying an unstinted tribute to the men who 
performed this great task that at that early day 
they were destitute of the modern agents which 
would now be employed for such a task, such as 
dynamite, swinging frames, crushers, etc. Brain 
and brawn, patience and judgment, with scant}' 
resources of mone\- and little financial gain then 
or since, were the distinguishing features of this, 
the greatest undertaking of the kind in the history 
of the county. It is rather a melancholy reflection 
that the stalwart partners who had undertaken and 
successfully executed their work found themselves 
at the expiration of their three years of anxious and 
harassing toil for the public benefit rather than for 
their own, each a thousand dollars in debt. About 
the only return which they received was between 
eight and nine hundred thousand feet of timber, 
which was salable at from four to five dollars a 
thousand and subscriptions of eight hundred 
dollars from Seattle merchants and another of 
several hundred dollars from settlers in the flats. 
The vastly greater proportion of logs dislodged 
were worthless for commercial purposes. Although 
great interest was taken by the general public in 
the work, and profuse expressions of praise and 
gratitude were lavished upon the heroes of the 
big jam, the actual contributions received amounted 
to comparativelx- little. Congress has been petitioned 
from time to time to make some recompense, but 
without avail and not even has opportunity 
been given those men to acquire public lands on 
any special terms. The old saying that republics 
are ungrateful is unfortunately illustrated in this, 
as in some more noted cases. Of the seven men 
who at one time or another expended their time 
and strength in the great task of removing the 
Skagit jam, three are still living, Joseph S. Wilson, 
Dennis Storrs and James Cochrane. Fritz Dibbern, 
Daniel Hines, Marvin Minnick, John Quirk and 
Donald McDonald have passed away. 

The year 1876, which was a great crop year in 
general throughout the Pacific Northwest, witnessed 
the heaviest shipments of grain from the Skagit 
country known up to that time. The Caches 
Brothers, merchants at La Conner, at one time 
shipped fifteen hundred and fifteen sacks of oats 
on the steamer Panama to San Francisco and by the 
steamer Dakota three thousand eight hundred and 
forty, and thev continued to make similar shipments 




SKAGIT COUNTY INDUSTRIES 



SKAGIT COUNTY, 1874-83 



every two weeks throughout the fall ; also shipped 
about fifty bales of hops raised on the Skagit river. 

The steamer Libby was, during the same season, 
making a weekly trip from La Conner to Seattle 
transporting grain, while several schooners were 
constantly engaged in carrying away the bountiful 
products of the season. 

At that date there were in the near vicinity of 
La Conner the following farms well diked and cul- 
tivated, with the following owners and the amounts 
belonging to each : Michael Sullivan, lOt) acres ; 
J. S. Conner, 400 ; E. T. Dodge, 300 ; Samuel Cal- 
houn, -3:0; Dr. G. V. Calhoun, 160; Walker & Gill. 
IGO; Leando Pierson, 160; James Harrison, loO ; 
James Caches, 120; John Cornelius, 100; Thomas 
Lindsey, 100 ; Culver estate, 100 ; Aden place, 100 ; 
Whitney, Sisson & Company, 130 ; John Ball, 40. 
About two thousand acres additional within less 
than four miles of La Conner were in process of 
preparation for diking during the next year. It 
was found at that time that the average cost of 
building a substantial dike four feet high, with a 
base of eight feet in breadth and two and a half 
feet wide at the top, was two dollars per rod and 
until the dikes were solidly settled some additional 
cost, perhaps twenty-five cents a rod, would be 
necessary for repairs each year. It had been dis- 
covered even prior to 1876 that those dike lands 
would yield astonishing crops of oats, barley and 
vegetables, although at the present time the yield 
is much larger than at first. In 1876 the average 
for oats and barley was sixty bushels per acre, 
while the same lands at the present time often pro- 
duce upwards of a hundred laushels on the average. 
In 1876 Calhoun Brothers alone sold four hundred 
tons of oats and barley, besides retaining a con- 
siderable quantity for seed and home consumption 
and losing about forty tons through the wreck of a 
vessel, all of this being the product of three hun- 
dred and twenty acres. E. T. Dodge raised two 
hundred tons of hay and a hundred and fifty tons 
of barley and oats on his place during the same 
year, at the same time making large quantities 
of butter, two hundred and twenty-eight pounds per 
cow a year, which sold at forty cents per pound. 

So remarkable was the yield of those Swino- 
mish tide flats that the enterprising owners deemed 
it worth while to publish sworn statements of the 
yield upon certain places, some of which statements 
were published in the Star of December 16. 1876. 
Robert Kennady, foreman of Samuel Calhoun's 
ranch, made affidavit that one hundred and sixty 
acres of land yielded over fourteen thousand 
bushels of oats, and another field of twenty-three 
acres yielded over twenty-three hundred bushels. 
J. S. Conner made affidavit that sixty bushels of 
barley and from seventy to seventy-five bushels of 
oats per acre were the average yields and he esti- 
mated that there were upwards of a hundred and 
fifty thousand acres in the Skagit valley and delta 



which could be made equally productive by the 
same cultivation. 

The correspondent of the Star of September 
30, 1876, gives a very picturesque account of a 
journey afoot from Skagit City to La Conner, and 
particularly of the n-gion about Pleasant ridge. 
The farm of John Cornelius, bordering upon and 
including a portion of that ridge, aft'orded the 
traveling correspondent a view so picturesque and 
attractive and one giving such suggestions of 
wealth and productiveness that he waxes enthu- 
siastic in his encomiums upon it. Immediately 
about Pleasant ridge there were at that time the 
following producing places: C. J. Chilberg, 160 
acres; Nelson Chilberg, 80; Robert Kennadv, 160; 
C. H. Chamberlain, 160; Isaac Chilberg, 160; 
Albert Learner, 160 ; Samuel Calhoun, 160 ; John 
Cornelius, 120. Extending towards the Swino- 
mish and Sullivan sloughs were lands ready for 
cultivation of the following amounts : J. S. Conner, 
140 acres; Jerry Sullivan, 172; M. J. Sullivan, 40; 
George Aden, 60 ; the Culver estate, 60 ; Dodge & 
Lindsay, 200 ; D. B. Jackson, 300 ; Isaac Jennings, 
160; Edward Ballou, 160; Charles Muller, 160; 
Robert White, 80; J. F. Terrace, 80; James H. 
McDonald, 160. This made a total in the vicinity 
of Pleasant ridge and thence onward toward the 
sloughs of two thousand seven hundred and fifty- 
two acres. 

From the interesting and rapidly unfolding 
agricultural developments of that year we turn 
our attention to the mineral developments of the 
upper valley. The Star of December 16, 1876, gives 
an interesting account of the original discovery of 
the coal mines by Messrs. Everett, Stevens and 
Graham, already described, and goes on to prophesy 
that when a prosperous town is built up in that 
vicinity with iron furnaces, machine shops, etc., a • 
railroad may join the belts of land between the 
Skagit, Stillaguamish and Snohomish. .'\t that 
time there had been three claims located in the coal 
regions, the Skagit, the Cascade and the New 
Cumberland. The coal had been thoroughly tested 
and was found to be of the finest quality, but pend- 
ing the removal of the big jam it was not profitable 
to work the veins. The Skagit mine was situated 
on the east face of the mountain directly above 
the Hatshadadish creek and within a mile of the 
landing. The coal vein dipped at an angle of sixty 
degrees. Three shafts had at that time been sunk, 
seventy, twenty-five and twenty feet deep, respect- 
ively, with an entrance a hundred and twenty feet 
above the bed of the creek. Seven strata of coal had 
been uncovered, each running from two to eight 
feet in thickness. The Cascade lay from one-fourth 
to one-half mile from the tunnels of the Skagit 
claim and the entrance to it was three hundred and 
fifty feet above the level of the river. Four veins 
had there been uncovered, dipping at an angle of 
twelve degrees. Two tunnels had at that time been 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



driven, niic .si'vciily iiiid diu' scvciity-six ki't in 
linj^lli. 'I'lu' ])iiiu-i|)al vein lu'iv w;is six fci-t Uiick 
and (if ])nro, solid rn.d. I'lu' Ni-w Cunibcrlaiul 
i-laini. divided fidin llu- ollicrs i.v i..irillc creek, 
was ojiened liy a Iniinrl :i Iniiidnd and lifty feet 
hm^i, and tlu-'.o.d wis L.tuid l<. I.c ..f a (|uality 
(■i|ual lo llic Ik-sI liir (nknii;, fnr^m^ ;in<| nieclian- 

■Ininiiin in.m ilic (■noiniaKin>; cmI devclop- 
iiiniis 1(1 ilidsc nl ihe precious nielais we find an 
inin.shut; hisl.Mv of Kold discovery. Jn 1H77 a 
|Mii\, (iiiisislin^ of ( )tlo Klenu'iil, t'liarles von 
I're.sscMliii, Jiilui human, Jnlin Uovvk'y and l'"rank 
Scoll, s<i h'llh fi-oni MonnI W-inon in canoes 
manned l.\ Indians lo .■xplore Ihe iipjier Skaf^it. At 
llic innnlli ..I wlial llu' Indians called (lie Nalicnl- 
liiiii Mv.i, wlii.li Kleni.iil i-enanied I'.aker river, 
Ihe |iail\ dcliaikcd and Inlldvved llie Indian trail 
lo llie liead of (lie Ska^il, wlience lliey crossed the 
ni.'iin |■id^;(• of the Cascade niounlains, thence de- 
scending Ihe canyon of (he Slehekin lo Lake Chelan. 
After sonic lime siieiil al.oiil I ake Chelan and the 
valley of the Methow lli-v ivlnmed lo the Skaf^it 
river. In Ihe vicinity <<i llie porla^;e ihcir boats 
npMl and lliev InsI all tlieir provisions, bnl they 
IoiiikI llial "( ,isc adc Cliarlie," an Indian witli 
^^ll,.ln lli(\ had Irll a supply of provisions on tlie 
r..ik(i inn, h.id hceii falllilnl lo his tnisl and after 

plicl li<mi Ihrs,' si. .MS ( .isr.i.lc ( liarlii' then 
lianspdil.-d Ihciii III laiHu's In what r. ii.i\v known 
.r. ( ..MnkiH's l.indiiii' .It llie he. id nl c .muk- iiavi^'ation 
nil Ihe river, when' tliev hiiill ,i lo^ lint and inade 
a set oi sluice lioxcs (d' Ininber cut out by a whip- 
saw, with wliicb to iirospcct for f-old, Tliey fomul 
no ^dlil in that vicinity to aiiioiint to anytliing. At 
the month nl l\iil)\ creek, however, tbcy discovered 
fine speciiiuiis n| ihc precious inet;d, bnt in the 
meantime wiiilei had descended upon the mnnnt.ains 
and the j,;Toniid was cnyned with simw, s,> the party 
rclnrncd lo Moinil \'ernnn. 

i''ebrnary I, iS'lS, the t^old hunters resumed 
exiiloratioiis, the ii.iitv this lime consistiii)^ of Otto 
Klenient, John I'nnc.ni, John Rowley, Ceorpe 
San^;-er and Rolieii .'^li.iip, riic\ hrlook theniselves 
to a point lifteen miles Imm ( inndall's landint;- and 
there discovered ,i eniinns ii.ilnral fe;iture', the 
remains of a nalur.al hridi^c, indicated by the over- 
han^ini;- rocks of the canyon, Ihiildiuf;' at that jioinl 
.•I cal)in, which became known as the Tniinel House, 
as a place of storage for tlieir snrplns provisions, 
they repaired to Unby creek, with llie exception of 
Klement, who retnnied to Mount Vernon. Tills 
expedition w^is not productive of ,iny f;ri'al discov- 
eries of gold, but indications were encouraijinj;- 
enonpli to lead them and others to return during' 
llie sea.son of :tS';!) and in that year Albert Uacon 
and others put in a wing dam and washed out gold 
dust to llie value of lifteen hmidred dollars, from a 
claim to which tlicv gave the name of Nip and 



Tuck. In the meantime Rowley, Duncan and Saw- 
yer had o|)ened a claim on Canyon creek ten miles 
above Nip and Tuck from wliicli they took a 
thousand dollars in gold dust. John Sutter and 
Willard (!obb also took a prominent part in the 
develoi)ments of that year. When the fortunate 
miners returned to Mount Vernon with their 
l)recious dust the excitement which inevitably fol- 
lows gold discoveries broke out and raged at fever 
lieat in all the land of the Skagit. During the close 
of :l.S<!) and the beginning of .1880, throngs which 
some have estimated as high as five thousand, dis- 
regarding the rains and the snows of winter, sought 
the new Jsldorado in canoes, skifTs, scows and on 
foot. Much sulTcring and many accidents, as might 
be exiHcted, ensued. David 15all and eleven others 
undertook to run the portage in a canoe and were 
upset into the rushing lorrent. Six of the men, who 
could swim, essayed to reach the shore individually, 
but were all droyviied, while the other six, who could 
not swim, clung to the cinoe and were washed 
ashore and saved. The bodies of the lost were 
afterwards recovered far down the rapid river and 
wen- buried on the bliifTs above Mount Vernon. 
/MIhtI 1,, I Irah.ani, of Anacortcs, who joined the 
rush In ihcse niitics, says that fully four llioitsand 
men \isiled llie region, the majority of the claims 
beiiiL; on ( aii\nii and Ruby creeks, where al.so most 
nl the wmk w.is (Iniic. I'"ew of the argonauts real- 
ized llkir Impes in gold discoveries, and later in the 
si-ason llu- army broke nj), some of them proceeding 
ovi'i- the Cascade mountains nntil they readied Fort 
I loi)e, I!. C., where they renewed their mining 
operations, the renuiinder descending the Skagit 
lo their former places. Tt is recorded by some who 
look i)art in that sborldived (piest for gold that in 
the spring of 1880 the simw in ili.il |.art of the Cas- 
cade mountains was from IweUc in ihirly feet deep 
and it is as.scrtcd that slumps cm be found there at 
the present time of trees cut by men standing on 
the snow, which are from fifteen lo thirty-five feet 
in heighl. It will be remembered that the Hoods 
of I SSI) were the greatest in the history of the Col- 
umbia valley and other regions fed from the Cas- 
cade mountains, with the cNccplion of the great 
Hood of ISDI. 

.Although the Rnhy creek niiius did imt realize 
fully the hopes of the prospectors lliere was in the 
aggregate a very considerable quantity of gold dust 
taken out. Clothier & English, for example, 
received twenty-five hundred dollars in gold dust 
in exchange for goods which they sold at their 
branch store at Coodall's landing. Several steam- 
boats succeeded in stemming the strong current of 
the Skagit as far as the iiortage, thus demonstrat- 
ing the remark.ible navigability of the Skagit river; 
for I'ortagc is more than a hundred miles from the 
month. An indirect result of the Ruby creek gold 
escilemenl was the demonstration of Ihc great 



SKACir COUNTY. 1874-83 



agri- 



cxtcnt and vast resources m tinil)i.r .i 
iiiltiire of llie noble Skapit valley. 

The years 1877 and ISIS wne somewhat 
clouded by tbe general hard linu's wliicli prevailed 
over the entire country ; nevertheless there was 
steady progress in all manner of improvements. 
Among various miscellany of those years we gather 
from the newspapers valuable sketches oi the i)rog- 
ress of enterprises here and there in all the 
standard lines of business. A correspondent of the 
Star gives a glowing picture of the inherent beauty 
as well as great improvemenls in the Hayview 
settlement, lie finds a steam thresher at work on 
the ranch of Whitney & Sisson, who had at that 
time ui)wards of ;iO() acres under dike. In the same 
vicinity W. H. Trimble had 50 acres; J. Iligh- 
bargcr, 75; G. W. 1.. Allen. (15; and Ball & .Smith, 
100. '{"he general yield in the vicinity t)f iJayview 
was eighty bushels to the acre of oats and barley, 
except, rather curiously, in case of fall oats, which 
crows had attacked in countless numbers, pulling 
up at least one-half of ii, .-md seriously diniiuishing 
the yield. 

The peripatetic Star man has jjreserved an inter- 
esting picture of the ai)pearanee of the work in 
progress at that time upon the Skagit jam. He 
found two flourishing logging camps, one belonging 
to Mr. Hanscomb and anotlier to William (jagc. 
lioth these men had been enabled by the work done 
even at that time on the jam to get out timber of 
magnificent quality previously unavailable. The 
correspondent noticed one tree without crook or 
knot from which were cut four twenty-four foot 
tuts, scaling upwards of six thousand feet of clear 
lumber each. Both Mr. Hanscomb and Mr. Gage 
li.iid the highest tribute to the invaluable work of 
the jam loggers. The correspondent also visited 
the store just opened by Messrs. Clothier & English 
and the hotel just built by Mr. Shott, which 
together constituted the beginnings of the city of 
Mount Vernon. The correspondent also becomes 
acquainted with D. E. Kimble and G. E. Hartson, 
pioneer .settlers of that district, and meets Mrs. 
Jones, Mrs. Gage and Mrs. Isaac Lanning and Ida, 
the daughter of the last named, who were among 
the first white women to reach the Skagit river 
valli-y above the delta, their entrance to the region 
being in or jirior to 1870. The correspondent notes 
the fact that although he had been all over that 
region but a few months previous, he found most 
remarkable changes accomplished. He says that 
but six months before the region of the Nooka- 
eliamps was just beginning to be si)oken of, but at 
tile lime of this second visit there were twenty or 
nil ire claims taken on that stream. Seven years 
e.iilior, he says, there was scarcely a score of claims 
in the whole Skagit valley, but in 1877 there were 
about .seven hundred settlers in the valley, of whom 
l»robably nearly two hundred were white women. 

The earliest settler in the vieinitv of llirdsview 



was Charles von I'ressenlin, who ni.ule his location 
at that point in May, 1.S7;. At Ihal lime lliere were 
five settlers above him on tbe river and two between 
him and Mount Vernon, llu' latter place being his 
postoffice. The timber and brush were so dense 
upt)n his place that he was conipelled to cut a i)ath- 
way even to transport a .sack of Hour to his cabin. 
Ten million feet of timber were cut from Mr. von 
Tresseiilin's claim, one o[ the first to be logged on 
the upp.r river. In ISTS H. I). Minkler built a 

w.Her p..wr, null ,e ,s..nlli smK' ,.f llie river, 

•■""I ""■ 1"'^' l"'st..n,ee on the upper i.v.r w.'iS 
established at llirdsview in ISSI), Mr. M inkier being 
the first postmaster. Indians in that vieinitv always 
held th.-il they were not treaty Indians, and they 
did nut ennseiit to the ac(|uisition of l.-uid bv the 
whites. \ eciniest between the.se Indians ;m(i Mr. 
Minkler fur the mill site was ultimalelv carried U> 
Secretary of the Interior Hitchcock an<l leeentlv 
decided by him in favor of the Indians. TIk n.niie 
of Birdsview was not derived, as might be snppused, 
from any ornithological connectinn. Imi h.ini the 
factthat'Mr. Minkler's first name, uin.li w.i, Hud 
•sey, was commonly abbreviated to llird, and jrdiii 
this the town took its name. One of the i)ioneers 
of Birdsview still living there is .August Kem- 
inerich, who located his claim on l''ebrnar\ II, ISIS. 
lie slates that it was eighteen \e:iis l„'f.,re there 
was any contiinious wagon m.-id ddwn ihe rivei'. 

in ])ursuanee of this skeU'li nl the wninns e.irU 
settlemenls of the Skagit country we ni;i\ \\n\r iIh- 
beginnings of the Sedro-Woollev seitUnuiii .is lIu' 
work of Joseph 1 larl .-md l);ivid ILitew Ixiili n.ilives 
of England and the latter e\ president ol die 
Skagit I'ioneer as.soei.itinn, who eslal.lislied ilieni- 
selves one mile southwest of the |)resenl town in 
Augu.st, 1h:s. Mr. Batey's wife, Georgian.'i l'..iies, 
and Iwo sons, John Ilem-y and Bruce, joined liini in 
IH.so. James M. Yoimg, John Duffy, ■fhonias 
Coiiniev ,ind Toni Taggart became t'Slablished in 
Ihe same ve.ir a few miles east of Mr. Batev's 
location, and in the fall of that year also William A. 
Dunlop and William Woods, former friends of 
Mr. I'.aley, look u]) claims adjoining him on the 
east. They found the woods at that time swarming 
with bears, cougars, coons and other wild animals. 

Other settlers of 1878-0 and IHSO in the npp<-r 
Skagit valley were John Stewarl, William (.ohlson. 
John Kelly, Stephen Benson and sons |eii\ .nid 
Dan, after whom Benson slough is n:mi.'.l. I.viii.n, 

l^m'n,,' [•■m'meli VallNeel" ( u Im's ' ili!!!!^ ''was lor 
a liin.' Ihe nnlv while l.iniilv on tJi,- river hehv.vn 
Sterling an<l j.vnian). fr.nik \<. Il.nnillon, |ohn 
M. Roach, .S. .S. Tingl.'y, .\liel,.„l and J.,lnil)av 
and Josei)h Zook. 

While the settlements out of which the towns 
of Sedro-Woolley, Hamilton, Sterling, Lyman and 
I'.irdsview grew were thus sha|)ing them.selves, the 
enstomary organized inslitntioirs of civilized so- 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



ciety were in process of formation in the older por- 
tions of the Skagit country. Prominent among 
these were the courts. We find that the district 
court met at La Conner on June 4, 1878, at which 
time Hon. J. R. Lewis was the chief justice, and 
judge of the third district of the territory. G. W. 
L. Allen was sheriff of Whatcom county and How- 
ard H. Lewis, clerk. In the absence of Prosecut- 
ing Attorney W. H. White, G. M. Haller was 
appointed by the court to handle the state's cases, 
while Isaac N. Power, Robert Newman and J. T. 
Bowman were appointed bailiffs. A seal was 
adopted bearing as a motto a sheaf of wheat and the 
words, "District Court of Whatcom county, W. T." 
James F. D'Arcy and John L. Dale were admitted 
to practice law at the bar of the territory; Fred- 
erick Eyre and Edward McTaggart were admitted 
to citizenship. The principal case that came be- 
fore the court at that session, that of an Indian 
named Taws, charged with murder, resulted in a 
verdict of guilty of manslaughter and a sentence to 
five years in the county jail. George Connor was 
tried for "exhibiting a pistol in a rude, angry and 
threatening manner in a crowd of two persons," 
and upon conviction thereof was sentenced to six 
months in the county jail and a fine of ten dollars 
and costs. Whatcom county at that time was suf- 
fering from the inconvenience of possessing no 
county jail and was obliged therefore to board her 
prisoners in the Jefferson county jail. In connec- 
tion with court history it may be noted that from 
time to time discussion of the location of the court 
and with this the allied question of county division, 
was agitated. In the Bellingham Bay Mail of Feb- 
ruary 15, 1879, we find mention of the question and 
the varying propositions made as to its settlement. 
Some proposed to abolish the United States court 
at Steilacoom and to confer jurisdiction on the 
court at La Conner for the counties of Whatcom, 
Snohomish and the proposed county of Allen, while 
others advocated the establishment of the court at 
Utsalady. If that measure could not be effected a 
dissatisfied element in Whatcom county insisted 
that the district court should be abolished or re- 
moved to Whatcom, which measure they admitted 
would probably result in a division of the county 
along the line of the Chuckanut hills. The estab- 
lishment of the county seat at Whatcom and the 
district court at La Conner seems to have been of 
the nature of a compromise between the chief 
centers of population. It was estimated that the 
entire taxable valuation of the county was about 
seven hundred thousand dollars, about one quarter 
of that being north of Whatcom. The Mail advo- 
cates great concessions to the people of the southern 
part of the county, for it prophesied that without 
such concessions county division would follow and 
quite likely Ferndale on the Nooksack river might 
succeed in capturing the county seat of the north- 
ern county. 



An event of importance in the development of 
the region was the restoration at this time to the 
public domain of lands along the unbuilt portion of 
the Northern Pacific railroad. This was pro- 
claimed by a notice from the general land office 
published in the Mail of August 2, 1879, to the 
effect that on and after September 1, 1879, all of 
the odd-numbered sections in the counties of Sno- 
homish, Whatcom, Island, Jefferson, and part of 
King, not earned by the railroad company, should 
be restored to the public domain. The restored 
sections as well as the even-numbered sections not 
included in the railroad grant were rendered sub- 
ject to preemption at the rate of one dollar and 
twenty-five cents per acre, except in the case of 
timber, coal or mining lands already fixed at a 
higher rate. To those who had already purchased 
railroad lands at two dollars and fifty cents an acre, 
the government granted a rebate of one dollar and 
twenty-five cents an acre. It had been anticipated 
that this proclamation would produce a great rush 
for the acquisition of the lands indicated, but so 
much of them had already been secured in antici- 
pation of the withdrawal that there was no great 
rush. It was estimated that the shortening of the 
Northern Pacific route across the territory of 
Washington reduced the amount of land earned 
within the forty-mile limit by alwut four million 
acres. 

Among the interesting miscellaneous events 
chronicled by the press of that time was the voyage 
of the steamer Josephine to the upper waters of the 
Skagit. Captain Smith was the skipper of the gal- 
lant little steamer and the party consisted of the fol- 
lowing persons : Benjamin Stretch of Snohomish ; 
C. P. Farar of Seattle; C. Dodge of the firm of 
Ebey & Company of Seattle ; Thomas Prosch of 
the Seattle Intelligencer; J. B. Ball and daughter 
of the Skagit river, and the following from various 
regions bound for the gold mines : Frank Cohn, 
William Tracy, John Ryan, William Durley, J. T. 
Armstrong and his two sons, James H. and T. N., 
J. D. Lewis, Philip Thomas, Alonzo Lowe, Philip 
Keach, William Druitt, Charles Sperry, John 
Carnes, Albert Bacon, Henry Ellis, J. D. Dowe, 
August Graham and Mr. Robinson. Various other 
people, on business or pleasure bent, joined the 
steamer as she proceeded up the river. 

There were at that time four trading points 
upon the river, Mann's Landing, three or four miles 
above the mouth; Skagit City, four miles farther; 
Mount Vernon, and Ball's Landing, now Sterling. 
At the last-named place the steamer stopped for the 
night. On the next day the steamer called at Wil- 
liamson's hop ranch, and an hour later at the coal 
mines near the present site of Hamilton, where a 
distressing accident occurred, casting a gloom over 
what was expected to be one of the most happy 
events of the season. James H. Armstrong, while 
sitting insecurely upon the upper deck of the 



SKAGIT COUNTY, 1874-g 



steamer, fell in some manner into the swift and icy 
current and was drowned. Every effort was made 
to rescue him, but such was the swiftness of the cur- 
rent that the boats which were launched were up- 
set; life preservers thrown to the drowning man 
failed to come within his grasp and the cook of the 
steamer who bravely leaped in and tried to save 
him could not reach him and was all but drowned 
himself. Attempts at rescue and even the securing 
of the body proved to be unavailing and the steamer 
proceeded as far as Minkler's saw-mill near Birds- 
view. The water was then at its lowest stage, or 
the steamer might easily have gone a number of 
miles further up. 

In preserving this general picture of the evolu- 
tion of our county we should not neglect to notice 
its social life. Pioneers are proverbial for genial 
hospitality and openhandedness. It is safe to say 
that in the rude surroundings and meager resources 
of early times there is more of genuine, whole- 
souled, hearty social life than amid the artificial 
make-believes with which the people of more pol- 
ished and elegant conditions are obliged to surfeit 
themselves. As an illustration of the entertain- 
ments and reunions common in the pioneer settle- 
ments of Skagit county, we may draw upon material 
furnished by a correspondent of the Mail during 
the year 1879, who describes the meetings of a 
literary society held in a public hall near the resi- 
dence of R. E. Whitney of Padilla. Mr. Whitney 
was himself the president of this society and he 
seems to have been as efficient and helpful in the 
social as he is already known in these pages to have 
been in the business life in his section. The pro- 
gram of that society consisted of musical selections, 
select readings, presentation of dialogues, reading 
of the "Country Chronicle," the organ of the so- 
ciety, whose editor was changed at each meeting, 
in order to distribute the responsibility, and which 
abounded in social gossip, flashes of wit and humor 
and choice scraps of original poetry. After these 
miscellaneous features had been disposed of came 
the grand chef-d'oeuvre of the evening, which was 
the debate. At Christmas, 1878, this society con- 
ducted a neighborhood festival, at which all the 
ordinary joys of the season were experienced. An 
introductory address by the president and Christ- 
nias carols by the singers were followed by the ap- 
pearance of Santa Claus with a bountiful supply of 
the customary goodies for the children, which the 
adults did not scorn to receive, and after this two 
heavily laden trees yielded up their coveted loads. 
Mr. Whitney rendered a piece entitled "The 
Wolves," which was followed by a song, "Remem- 
ber the Poor," sung by Messrs. R. E. Whitney and 
H. E. Dewey and Misses Eva Baker and Letty 
Upson. Upon the statement by the president that 
there was one suffering family in the community a 
generous contribution was immediately forthcom- 
ing for the sake of taking Christmas to their doors. 



After this came songs and declamations for a short 
time, and then the company all repaired to the 
wide-open Whitney mansion, where a bountiful re- 
past had been spread. After the enjoyment of this 
essential feature of the occasion by all, the even- 
ing's festivities were closed by the presentation of 
"Hamlet's Ghost" and the perfonnances of the 
"Blackville Club," by most of those present. 

A melancholy event of the year 1879 was the 
accidental drowning of John Imbler at the Devil's 
Elbow of the Skagit, opposite B. N. L. Davis' 
place. Imbler had settled at that point the year 
previous and was an esteemed pioneer. He was 
on his way up river to James Cochrane's logging 
camp when his boat capsized. 

The business which next to lumbering has be- 
come the greatest industry of the Puget sound 
region is of late development. We refer to the 
fishing industry. The sound and the streams enter- 
ing it, particularly the Skagit, were known from the 
first to be swanning with the finest of salmon, yet 
there was in the early days no market accessible, 
but an abundant supply of fish could be secured for 
local needs by any one who had a boat of his own. 
The pioneer of the fishing business on the upper 
Skagit seems to have been James H. Moores. He 
was located on the west bank of the Skagit just 
above Mount Vernon and in 1879 he put in the first 
gill net on the river, at the head of the channel 
which opened into the upper jam. It proved a 
great success, he putting up fifteen barrels of his 
first catch, which he sold at ten dollars a barrel. 
The salmon caught there were of what is known 
as the Tyee variety, weighing as high as forty 
pounds. The business, however, was seriously in- 
terfered with by the Indians, who repeatedly robbed 
the nets and in the end got away with the nets 
themselves. Many others soon followed Mr. 
Moores in the fishing business, until now, as is well 
known, the largest salmon canneries in the world 
are located in the western portion of Skagit county. 

The year 1880 was marked by the heaviest snow- 
fall ever known in the Puget sound country. Dur- 
ing the month of January five feet of snow fell at 
Seattle, twenty-six inches on the Skagit delta, two 
feet and a half at Mount Vernon and eight feet at 
Goodall's Landing on the upper Skagit. As a result 
of the enormous accumulation of snow in the moun- 
tains the river ran bank full throughout the summer, 
scarcely varying a foot in height during a period of 
six weeks. One result of the unusual and contin- 
uous height of the water was the encouragement of 
steamboat navigation, and the subject of steamboat 
navigation leads up to the fortunes of the Skagit 
mining district during the year and thereafter. 

We have sketched the progress of those mines 
to the year 18S0 and have seen that the excitement 
had collapsed and the thousands of gold seekers 
gathered there had scattered. Nevertheless there 
were a number of men with greater staying quali- 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



ties who remained. On Canyon creek seven com- 
panies were in existence and engaged in the con- 
struction of a number of ditches and flumes. The 
gold found in that district was of remarkably fine 
quality and commanded the highest price for gold 
dust at the mints. Nuggets were frequently found 
running from five to thirty dollars in value. The 
Ruby creek mining district was formed in the 
spring of 1880, George Sanger being elected re- 
corder and a postoffice was established with Martin 
Coltenbaugh as the first carrier, or some say a man 
named Nelson. He charged twenty-five cents per 
letter for his services. In July the Slate creek 
mines, which have since become much more pro- 
ductive than those of Ruby creek, were discovered. 
Sanger, the first recorder mentioned in the forego- 
ing, was killed by a rock slide in Alaska in recent 
years. 

In July, 1880, the steamer Chehalis, Captain 
Thomas Brannin, made the trip up the river to The 
Dalles in two days and a half, attaining the highest 
point ever reached by a steamboat, but a few days 
later, the Josephine, Captain Denney, reached nearly 
as high a point. These steamers were both of one 
hundred tons burden and their successful voyage 
demonstrated the possibilities of navigation on the 
Skagit. One result of the travel back and forth to 
the mines was the demand for numerous way 
stations and provision stores up and down the 
Skagit valley. Amasa Everett's place at the mouth 
of Baker river and David Batey's near the site of 
Sedro-Woolley, together with many other places 
carved out of the timber, met the demand by becom- 
ing supply stations, but the largest mercantile estab- 
lishment anywhere above Mount Vernon at this 
period was that of Clothier & English at Goodall's 
Landing, succeeding Edward Goodall, who had had 
for a short time previously a store at the same place. 
Albert L. Graham says that Ruby City, laid out on 
twenty feet of snow, likewise had a small store for 
a short time during the excitement. The fare on 
the steamers from Mount Vernon to the portage 
was at first twelve dollars, subsequently dropping 
to eight, and it took about two days to make the 
trip. While there has been in later years a consid- 
erable amount of gold taken from the Ruby creek 
mines, they have never attained the first rank as 
wealth producers. 

In 1880 Frank R. Hamilton and wife settled at 
the mouth of Baker river, his neighbors being 
Theodore Sunter, a half brother of Mrs. Hamilton, 
Eli Frome, Amasa Everett, Orrin Kincaid and S. 
Anderson. Sunter's mother was the first white 
woman to settle in the neighborhood and Mrs. Ham- 
ilton the next. While bringing a bull up the river 
at this time, Hamilton and Frome blazed out a 
trail which in later years became the course of the 
river road. 

This period of settlement was marked in 1881 
bv a fracas with the Indians in connection with the 



survey of the government land, the Indians on the 
upper river objecting to the survey and finally 
breaking the surveyor's instruments. Amasa 
Everett was overheard by some of the Indians to 
advise the surveyors to kill them if they persisted 
in their opposition and the result was an attack on 
Everett by two Indians. He, in self-defense, 
opened upon them with his revolver and seriously 
wounded both, escaping in the night down river 
with Willard Cobb in a canoe. Everett gave him- 
self up at once and was tried at Mount Vernon for 
the shooting, but acquitted. The general body of 
the Indians sustained Everett and later held a great 
pow-wow with him, at which they adjusted their 
differences by his paying a small amount for the 
two Indians shot and the Indians paying him an 
equivalent amount for things stolen from his cabin. 
Colonel Pollock, a government agent, came soon 
after with an escort of forty soldiers under com- 
mand of Lieutenant Culver Simons from Port 
Townsend, and the local Indian agent to investigate 
the trouble. It has been stated that Colonel Pol- 
lock offended Mr. Everett and the Indian agent by 
much boastfulness and self-importance, and as a 
consequence they arranged with the Indians to test 
the courage of him and his party as they went down 
the river. The Indians accordingly located them- 
selves in an ambuscade, from which they fired 
upon the valiant colonel, taking pains to land no 
bullets dangerously near the boat, and the colonel 
and party made time down the river which beat all 
records before or since. As we shall see later on it 
was many years before the survey of the upper river 
was completed. 

The consequence of the ever-increasing busi- 
ness and population of the upper Skagit was a 
memorial addressed to the postmaster-general of 
the United States for improved mail facilities, 
which memorial was indited as follows : 

MEMORL-^L 



SUS.\N, W. T. 

To THE Honorable Postm,\ster-General of the United 
States : 

Your memorialists, the Legislative Assembly of the 
Territory of Washington, respectfully represent : 

That the mail facilities afforded to the people of the 
northern portion of the county of Snohomish and the 
southern portion of the county of Whatcom, including 
the valleys of the rivers Stillaguamish and Skagit, arc 
inadequate to the growing demands ; that the aforesaid 
tract of country is rapidly settling up, and the commercial 
and social interests of the people demand increased and 
more regular mail service. That they are now supplied 
once a week from mail route No. 43,108. The mail is car- 
ried in small open boats and often delayed by stormy 
weather. 

That steamers ran regularly twice each week over 
the route hereinafter proposed, and that the mail can and 
will be carried without much expense to the government. 

Therefore, your memorialists pray that a mail route be 



M ^H^^PP^^^^-^ 


iMi 


^ 


^'w^ 






MM 




^C:'Jr'''-'l^ 


■J^B 




\^ 


MJ 


'^^j;r'TW(C_^i .imil';, '1 






■': 


^'^ 




Irff^' ."^--v.i^'JHuHf. <% 


BltE»^ t -^cnW 




iHk^v ^^3BK^W^ 


.,„^ 






""^liiili 





\(;i r Ki\'i-K viiavs 



SKAGIT COUNTY, 1874- 



cstablishcd with service thereon twice each week from 
Miikiltco on route No. 4:?.108; thence to Tulahp, thence to 
Port Susan, to Stanwood. Utsalady, Skagit City, Mount 
Vernon, SterHng and Lyman, a (hslance of ahiuit sixty 



Wherefore, your memorialists as 



hity 



■ I'a>se.l Ihc 1 liuise of Representatives Nov. 2-', 18K1. 
Geokge Comegys, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
Passed the Council Nov. 23, 1881. 

II. F. Str.mton, 

President of the Council. 
.■\pproved Nov. 2lt, m\. 

The petition was duly ^rallied and tlic now mail 
route established. 

The oat farmers of the Skagit wi're in the con- 
dition sometimes called being "in clover," in their 
crop sales of 18H0; for the price of that leading 
staple of the agricultural section was thirty dollars 
per ton. It is also worthy of record that self-bind- 
ers were introduced that year for the first time. 
Two of these were owned jjy John Rail and R. E. 
Whitney and two others by parties whose names 
seem to have escaped record. /\11 were wire bind- 
ers. The prosperity of the farming class con- 
tinued right on for the two years following, and 
in 1882 the price of oats stood again at thirty dol- 
lars per ton, only two dollars and a half below the 
highest San Francisco mark. At the same time 
there was much com])etition in the carrying trade, 
especially between the O. R. & N. steamships and 
the comiwny centered at Utsalady, the latter em- 
ploying sailing ships in which they undertook to 
transport freight for two dollars and a qnarler jx-r 
ton, a price below the cost to the steamshiiis. ,\s 
a result of this the farmers were making money 
during those years beyond any jirevious experience. 
At this time their timothy hay was selling for 
twelve dollars a ton. 

Hut continuous |)rnsperily. to adn|ii the old 
Greek superstition, is likely to incur the eiiniity of 
the gods and we accordingly find that diu-ing the 
very same year that prices of jiroducts were so 
high and freight charges .so low many of the farm- 
ers suffered disa.strous losses by the great flood of 
the summer of 1882. The preceding winter and 
spring had been in a measure an imitation of that 
of 1880, and a similar summer of sudden heat pro- 
duced the inevitable catastrophe. E. A. Sisson, 
to whose diary we arc indebted for this and much 
other valuable matter, has preserved a record of 
his impression that the damage to the countrv was 
greater than in the flood of 1880, although tlie lat- 
ter was a greater flood in general. In the vicinity 
of Sullivan's slough the agricultural district was 
entirely under water and the crops totally de- 
stroyed. On the Swinomish the fine farrns of 
Messrs. Lindsey, Armstrong, Poison, Rail, Sodcr- 
berg and Calhoun were overflowed anrl crops de- 
stroyed, while on the r.cavcr rnar.sb, five miles from 



La Conner, the water was higher than ever before 
known, ^lr. Leamer"s i)lace was six feet under 
water and his crop, of course, entirely ruined. The 
dikes were broken down in several places, and the 
country extending from the delta northward to- 
ward I'adilla presented the appearance of a vast 
lake. It is estimated in the Northwest Enterprise 
of June lUh that about twenty-five hundred acres 
of land were inimdated and that the loss sustained 
was not less than a hundred thousand dollars. The 
upper vallev was not especially damaged by this 
Hood, the river being at least two and one-half feet 
higher in LS^!) and 1880. 

The farmers were not the only stilTerers from 
the great Hood, for the loggers sustained corre- 
siiouding losses and the north and south forks of the 
Skagit river were both choked with drift. The jam 
ui)on the south fork extended all the way from the 
.sound to b'ir, a distance of three miles, not only 
the main channel but what are known as the I'Ve.sh- 
water slough, the Deep slough and the Crooked 
slough being choked to such a degree as to bar 
navigation. Steamboat slough, however, was left 
open, and through that boats continued to pass. 
As a result of the creation of this great jam a public 
meeting was held to inaugurate measures for its 
removal at which Thomas P. Ilastie presided. A 
committee of investigation reported that at least 
ten thousand dollars would be necessary to perform 
this work. B. A. Chilberg, J. T. Wilbur, Jo.seph 
Wilson and Olof Poison were apiiointed a com- 
mittee to solicit subscriptions for this pu.rjwse. 
About twenty-five hundred dollars was subscribed, 
but after using this .sum dissensions arose in the 
api)lication of the funds and the prosecution of the 
work, as a result of which the eiiteri)rise was finally 
abandoned, and the removal of the drift was left to 
the oi)erations of Nature. Not until the year IDO.^ 
did she comjilete her task of removing the drift, but 
it gradually disappeared here and lliere and new 
channels were formed aroimd il, so that the river is 
now free to the ingress and egress of vessels of 
ordinary size. 

Attention has heretofore been devoted to a i)res- 
entation of the developments in the mining and 
agricultural interests. We must now place beside 
those another of even greater magnitude in Skagit 
county, namely, the lumbering interest, which had 
been steadily advancing during the years from ISWi 
onward, though the low i)rice of logs (four dollars 
a thou.sand) during the latter |iart of the decade of 
the seventies was somewhat discouraging to the 
industry. With the opening of the year 1883, 
however, there was a very marked rise in the price. 
On March 21st there was not a single log left in the 
boom at Utsalady and the price offered reached 
seven dollars per thousand. The increased activity 
in all lines of enterprise which characterized that 
year caused an increased demand for building ma- 
terial and the logging business was ,-ictivc ibrough- 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



out the year. The following enumeration of log- 
ging camps existing in 1882 is derived from the 
current records of the year: Joel Miller upon the 
eddy above the present location of the Great North- 
ern bridge ; Charles Jackson half a mile above Bur- 
lington ; Scott Jameson, Birdsview ; Day Brothers, 
at Lyman; J. B. Ball, at Sterling; Clothier & 
English, at Blarney lake on the Nookachamps ; 
Pippin & Jacobs, above Birdsview ; Samish Lumber 
Company, consisting of Richard Holyoke, John 
McPherson, Melburn Watkinson, William Tracy 
and Martin Thorpee at the Samish ; Patrick McCoy, 
Samish; Clothier & English, Samish; Spencer 
Young, Skagit delta ; Millett & McKay, Burlington. 
The last named was one of the most extensive log- 
ging companies in the Puget sound basin. This 
company acquired fourteen hundred acres of land, 
on which they logged until 1887, filling orders for 
the Tacoma Mill Company. They got out the first 
large order given in this county for cedar timber, 
consisting of six hundred thousand feet of logs at 
five dollars and a half per thousand. In August, 
188;i, Millett & McKay built the pioneer logging 
railway in Skagit county at their Burlington camp. 
This company also introduced the use of donkey 
engines in handling logs in Skagit county and in- 
augurated the towing system upon the Skagit river, 
the first steamer to tow' rafts under their orders be- 
ing the Alki, Captain McCall, which began opera- 
tions in 1883. During the months of July, August 
and September, Inspector McTaggart scaled about 
fifteen million feet of logs, while there were still 
awaiting scaling at the close of September fifteen 
million more. It was estimated that the total out- 
put of logs for that year was fifty million, with a 
value of three hundred and twenty-five thousand 
dollars. The second logging railroad on the Skagit 
was introduced the succeeding fall by William 
Gage, a road a mile and a half in length. These 
roads were built of 3x5 inch maple rails, on which 
cars were used capable of carrying 8,000 feet of 
tim1)er, often more. It was found that this system 



of handling logs constituted a great saving in ex- 
pense. It is stated that there were in active opera- 
tion during the year 1882 fifteen logging camps, 
this enumeration including those given as estab- 
lished during that year, and besides a number of 
those of preceding years. These camps employed 
from fifteen to eighteen men each and from ten to 
twenty-five yoke of oxen. 

The lumbering business of Skagit county up to 
this time had consisted mainly of logging, the logs 
being taken to the large mills at Tacoma, Seattle 
and L'tsalady for sawing. Minkler's saw-mill at 
Birdsview was the first in what is now Skagit 
county. In 1882 a combined saw and grist-mill, 
run by water power from Campbell lake, was estab- 
lished by Frank Benn and Marcus Christianson at 
Deception Pass and found an immediate demand for 
the products of both grain and lumber. 

A very deplorable accident occurred at La 
Conner on November 33, 1882, by which one of the 
most prominent citizens of the Swinomish slough 
lost his life. On that day, J. S. Kelly was just 
boarding the steamer from his small boat, intend- 
ing to go to his home on the slough, when in some 
manner the small boat was turned about suddenly 
and thrown against the side of the steamer. Mr. 
Kelly was precipitated into the water and appar- 
ently without a struggle sank to rise no more. Late 
that evening the body was discovered and conveyed 
to La Conner, at which place the funeral was held 
three days later under the auspices of the Masons 
and the A. O. U. W. Mr. Kelly had come to the 
Swinomish country from Island county in 1876 and 
had become so respected and useful a member of 
his new home that his untimely death was a matter 
of deepest regret to all. 

With the close of the year 1882 was completed 
another stage in the evolution of the great Skagit 
country, at that time still a part of Whatcom 
county, but, as we shall see, destined soon to con- 
stitute a new county in itself. 



CHAPTER III 



SKAGIT COUNTY, 1883-9 



The multiplication of counties in one of our 
growing western states is by a process of fission, 
like the propagation of the polyps and other low or- 
ders of life. Upon the first establishment of Wash- 
ington territory there were but four counties, Clark, 
Thurston, King and Walla Walla. The vast areas 
occupied by each, becoming subject to the inflow 
of population, began to show lines here and there 
along the streams, sounds, bays and mountain 
chains, representing natural points of separation, 
and so almost immediately there began to be the 
pressure for division. With the beginning of the 
epoch of the eighties, the increasing population 
about the mouth of that superl) stream of the Skagit, 
the largest and finest of the rivers of the sound 
basin, began to feel that they were paying a dis- 
proportionate amount of money into the treasury 
and receiving benefit in inverse ratio. The rugged 
range of the Chuckanut formed a barrier betwixt 
the two parts of the county, and along the line rep- 
resented by that chain of hills the battle for county 
division raged. 

The first actual attempt at county division is 
mentioned in the Northwest Enterprise of Septem- 
ber 15, 1883, where reference is made to the circu- 
lation of a petition at La Conner for a new county 
out of southern Whatcom. The petition called for 
a division line on the Chuckanut mountains, running 
west thence between Cottonwood and Guemes 
island, thus bringing Guemes, Cypress and Fidalgo 
islands into the new county. The petition also con- 
templated making La Conner the county seat. 

The circulation of this petition seems to have 
excited the wrath of the Whatcom Reveille, which 
paper makes the observation that if their friends in 
the southern part of the county were spoiling for 
a fight there was no good reason why they should 
not have it. The Whatcom paper announces that 
it will not object to a dividing line between town- 
ships 35 and 36, but that to place it a single mile 
north of that means a fight. The Reveille declares 
that the north half of the county is neither dead nor 
sleeping and that if the southern half invites a com- 
bat the north half will buckle on her armor and go 
in. The paper also invites a reader to stick a pin 
into the added proposition that the north half will 
go in to win. It seemed to think that the location 
of the district court at La Conner was a vulnerable 
point of attack in the case of difference and warned 
the representatives, both of whom resided in the 



southern half of the county, to heed those 
"pointers." 

This somewhat vigorous onslaught by the 
Whatcom paper drew some caustic observations 
from the Puget Sound Mail and the Northwest 
Enterprise. The Mail observes that if the Reveille 
reflects the sentiments of the people of the northern 
half of the county this constitutes an additional 
argument for division, for sections apparently so 
antagonistic should dissolve partnership. The Mail 
rejects the "arrogant assumption that the sun 
rises and sets in and about the town of Whatcom" 
and declares, moreover, that the division line which 
the Reveille would allow would give the northern 
county five tiers of townships and the southern 
only three ; also it would cut the Samish settlement 
in the center, cut Guemes island in the center and 
also cut through the Skagit river. Therefore the 
Mail insists that whenever county division does 
come it must be along the northern boundary of 
township 36. 

The Northwest Enterprise seems to have been 
a sort of peacemaker in the controversy and to have 
counseled a slow and deliberate investigation. It 
suggests that ambitious towns may be seeking local 
benefit and ambitious individuals may be striving 
for offices, but that hasty establishment of a new 
county will entail burdens which could well be 
postponed for a few years. 

With the meeting of the new legislature in the 
fall of 1883, Councilman Power and Representative 
Kincaid, of the southern district of Whatcom coun- 
ty, were placed upon the standing committee on 
county matters, and this of course gave them a good 
opportunity for the introduction of such measures 
as ultimately resulted in county division. Early in 
the session Councilman Power introduced the ex- 
pected bill for the division of Whatcom county. 
It contemplated the division line on the Chuckanut 
range between townships 36 and 37, commencing 
ac the mid-channel of Rosario straits, and provided 
for a special election of officers on the second Tues- 
day of the following January. H. P. Downs, F. E. 
Gilkey and H. A. March were named as the com- 
missioners to conduct the election and effect the 
organization of the county. There was also to be 
a division of the public property of the old county 
and the new county according to the taxable valua- 
tion in each section. La Conner was to be the 
county seat until a majority vote of the people of 



128 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



the new county should otherwise determine. The 
court was to be continued at La Conner and What- 
com county was to be annexed to the proposed new 
county for judicial purposes. This bill and partic- 
ularly the last clause of it would seem to be the red 
rag to the bull, which the Whatcom Reveille had 
already warned the people of the southern part of 
the county from Haunting. 

The fight on the division bill seems to have 
waxed hot from the time of its introduction. The 
Puget Sound Mail of October 20, 1883, notes that 
the most active opponent of the bill was Council- 
man Hale of Thurston county, who, the paper 
declared, was interested in real estate at Whatcom 
and was hand in glove with the delegation from the 
"Lime Kiln" club then lobbying at Olympia. 

October 21th the council bill for the organiza- 
tion of the new county of Skagit was voted upon 
in the council and lost by a vote of eight to four, 
but on November ]r)th Kei)rcsentative Kincaid in- 
troduced an identical bill into the house. It passed 
that body November 21th by a vote of eleven to 
seven and November 28th the same bill was pre- 
sented to the council and passed b}' a vote of seven 
to five. This sudden winning of victory where 
defeat seemed assured is said to have been the re- 
sult of a brilliant coup on the part of the advocates 
of the measure. It appears that after the defeat 
of the bill in the council the Whatcom lobbyists had 
gone home, and thereupon the new hill was intro- 
duced and rushed through before they had time to 
find out what was in progress. 

The rather sudden and gratifying accomplish- 
ment of the hopes of the people of the southern 
part of Whatcom county led the Puget Sound Mail 
of December 1st to make some very facetious re- 
marks by way of "rubbing it intn" its Whatcom 
contemporaries. The Klail dolivers itself as 
follows : 

"Verily, as our Whatcom cniilemporary has 
truly remarked, 'he laughs best that laughs last.' 
Wherefore do we cachinnate most audibly. To 
make the above more clear it may be well to state 
that the bill for the division of Whatcom county 
has passed. Therefore the bill, having passed 
both houses, is now the law of the land ; and we 
now live, breathe and have our material being in 
the county of Skagit, which same is in the terri- 
tory of Washington. As we write this we are 
reminded of the fact that this is Thanksgiving day. 
Our friends. President Arthur and Governor 
Newell, 'biiilded better than they knew,' it strikes 
us, when they named the day, albeit they may never 
have heard of Whatcom county. By the way, 
where is Whatcom, anyhow?" 

The bill which thus formally organized the 
county of Skagit was introduced by James N. 
Power in the council and Orrin Kincaid in the 
house and received the apiiroval of William A. 



Newell, governor of the territory. The bill is as 
follows : 



To Cri;.\tk and Organize the County of Skagit. 
Si'ctioii 1. Be it enacted 1)y the legislative assembly 
of the territory of Washington : That all that portion of 
the county of Whatcom, in the territory of Washington, 
lying anil situate south of the dividing line between 
towuhliips :V; and a? (conniivncing at nii<l-ch:inncl of th'e 
Rds.iriii .li;ill'. .iihI niiMiiii;; <;i ^1 \v',i rd In llir siniljuit of 

tllr I 1 .. .I<lr I .Ml-r ,,l 1,1111 I , hi lllr (ll\ l(hng liuC 

lulu. > i; .11.1 .-iliilv ..I W li.il .Mhl llir rMiiuties of 

Isl.-iiiil .mmI :-.iM'l li li.\ and llic saiiu' is hnrhy organ- 
ized into a .|Miair ...iiiiiy, to be known and designated 
as the coiiMii ..i si. I'lil : Provided, That so much of 
Lummi and l.li-a i lauds as lie south of the dividing line 
between said lowiislnp., M and 37 shall belong to What- 
com county. 

Sec. 2. That H. P. Downs, F. E. Gilkcy and H. A. 
March are hereby appointed a board of commissioners to 
call a special election for coiuUy officers f. a ,aid Skagit 
county, and to appninl the moessarv judL;. aal m iH.inrs 
thereof. Said election slialM.e hrld on ih. ...anl ha dav 
in January, A. D. IWS I. .-Mid iKiliia- iluTr..!" J.all l.a paMi^lu-d 
in one or more nru -pap. is vmiImh iha pia .m iiniits of 
Whatcom county, f'n ai l.a-i nun . .m-as mua ua,-ks. S;ud 
election shall be ciMi.ln.l. ,| and rclinn, ill. 1. of inadc as is 
now provided by law; rr..\Hl((l. Ihal llu r.iiirns shall 
bo made to the coiiiiiiis,i.ai<a s a l'..rcsaiil, wli.. hall .aiuass 
the returns and (UTlara iIh' la'snli, and i^-ii.' ..inii.ai.', u( 
election to the i)ers.ins sn clcaUal di llic s.x.i.il ...nnty 
offices of said Skagit county within ten days after the 
date of said election. 

Sec. 3. That the justices of the peace and consta- 
bles, school and road district officers, who are now elected 
as such in the precincts of Whatcom county hereby set 
apart as Skagit county, be, and the same are hereby 
declared justices of the peace and constables, school and 
road district officers of Skagit county. 

Sec. 4. That the district court, now established and 
holding terms at La Conner for the territory embraced 
within the present limits of Whatcom county, shall con- 
tinue at La Conner as the district i. .nil f. .r Ska.i;il county; 
and the county of Whatcom is li<i.!.\ mn. \.-.l in said 
Skagit county for judicial and le.yi Inn. |.iii|...srs and all 
laws at present applicable to the couiit.\ of W lialcom, rela- 
tive to the powers and jindndiction or otherwise of said 
district court, shall continue in full force and eflfect the 
same as if said counlv had not been divided and the title 
of said coiinu rlian:.^.d as lurrin pia.vi.Ual. 

Sec. .". I li.ii III.' i.Minu seal ..f s.ii.I .Skagit county is 
hereby temp, .i .n iK I....1I..I ai l.aCoiiiui-, at which place it 
shall reniain iiiilil l.n-.iud pcniiaiuiitly elsewhere in said 
county, by vole of the qualilied electors thereof; for which 
purpose a vote shall be taken at the next general election 
in 1884, and the ofiicers of election shall receive said vote 
and canvass the same and announce the result in like 
manner as the result of the vote for county officers, and 
the place receiving the highest number of votes cast shall 
be declared the permanent county scat of tlie said county 
of Skagit : Provided, That until' siieli permanent location 
of the county seat, the board of coinil\ roinniissi..iiers shall 
erect no public buildings, but shall nnl ..r lease such 
rooms for comity ofiiccs as may be lueiss.iry for tlie public 
service. 

Sec. G. That all taxes levied and assessed by the 
board of county commissioners of the county of What- 
com for the year 1883, upon per.sons or property within 
the boundaries of the county of Skagit, shall be collected 
and paid into the treasury of said Whatcom county for the 
joint use of the county of Whatcom and Skagit as herein- 
after provided. 




DKVELOI'ING TllK l.UMBI'R JNDUSl 



SKAGIT COUNTY, 1883-9 



Sec. 7. That the county auditors of Whatcom and 
Skagit counties are hereby constituted a board of appraisers 
and adjusters of the real and other property of the county 
of Whatcom, and for this purpose shall meet at Whatcom 
on tlie first Monday of l'\lini.iry, 1884. They shall ap- 
praise the value of tin- cmhii h'.use. safes and real estate 
of the county, and asorrtain the balance in the county 
treasury, over and al)i)\e Ur > .ut-taiidiug warrants upon 
said treasury at that date, and shall aw.ir.l I., llie county 
ot Whatcom one-half and to the countv -i Sl.,!-ii .me-half 
of such property and funds so appraised .md aMirtained: 
Provided, That if both auditors can nut agree upon the 
appraised valuation of such property they sliall elect a 
citizen from an ajoining county as arbitrator to adjust 
the difference between them. Then the auditor of Whatcom 
county shall draw a warrant on the treasury of said county 
m favor of the said county of Skagit for the amount so 
agreed upon as its proportion of the property : Provided 
further. That all taxes remaining unpaid upon property 
within the boundaries of SI-.:i:4U .'innii. at the date of 
settlement herein provided f'n, -.hall 1h iinncd over to the 
auditor of Skagit county tn be e.ill.ihd by the proper 
officer of said county as now prcivided by law. 

Sec. 8. The several county ofiicers, to be elected at 
llie special election provided for in this act, shall qualify 
by taking the oath of office within ten days after the date 
of their certificate of election so issued and shall give 
bond for the faithful performance of tlieir duties, subject 
to the approval of the board of county commissioners of 
said Skagit county, as is now provided by law, and shall 
hold office until their successors are elected and qualified 
at the ne.xt general election. 

Sec. I). The board of county commissioners to be 
elected under the proxisiniis of tliis act shall hold their 
first quarterly meeliuL; •in tin- I'lrst Monday in February, 
A. D. 1884, any two .it wlioni -;liall constitute a quorum 
for the transaction of l)usiness. The said board shall have 
power to fill all vacancies occurring in said board, or in 
any county office of said county of Skagit, by reason of 
failure to qualify or otherwise, in the manner provided by 
the general laws of the territory : Provided, That the 
board of counl\ eomnn-Monrr- and other officers of What- 
com county xhill r-niiiimr i,i , m rcise and perform their 
respective duties, for boili Whatcom and Skagit county, 
the same as if not divided, until their successors for 
Skagit county shall have been elected and qualified as 
herein provided : Provided further. That the board of 
county commissioners of Whatcom county shall have 
power to fill all vacancies by reason of the resignation or 
withdrawal of any officer of said county residing within 
the precincts or boundary of Skagit county hereby set 
apart. 

Sec. 10. The auditor of Skagit county shall have 
access to the records of Whatcom county for the purpose 
of transcribing and indexing such portions of the records 
of property as belong to Skagit county without cost, and 
his certificate of the correctness thereof shall have the 
same force and effect as if made by the auditor of What- 
com county. 

Sec. 11. The counties of Whatcom and Skagit shall 
continue in their relation to the counties of Snohomish, 
Island and San Juan in the matter of legislative districts 
until otherwise provided by law. 

Sec. 12. All acts and parts of acts in conflict with 
tlie provisions of this act are hereby repealed. 

Sec. 13. This act will take effect and be in force from 
and after its passage and approval. 

Approved November 28, 1888. 

One of the most serious disasters of the year 
1SS;3 could have been prevented bv the exercise of 
greater care on the part of the bo'iler inspectors of 
the steamer Josephine, which ran between Seattle 



and the Skagit river. January 16, 1883, just as 
tlie passengers were eating dinner the boiler ex- 
ploded, tearing the vessel in pieces, so that all but 
the cabin and part of the hull sank. Those who 
remained on the floating portion were rescued and 
taken ashore. There were nearly thirty people 
on board at the time of the accident, including the 
crew, over half of whom were killed or wounded, 
and many of the bodies were not recovered for 
several days. The killed included the following: 
Captain Robert Bailey, Purser John Turner, Stew- 
ard, Amador Bolina, Assistant Steward David 
Sparks, Deck Hand Johnson, Fireman Kavenaugh, 
E. E. Cannon, a - commercial traveler for Bates, 
Reid & Company, of San Francisco, Sam Babbit 
and A. G. Kelley, who lived a few days after the 
accident. Another disaster of a similar nature 
occurred about the same time, resulting in the loss 
of the steamer Gem. A jury was impaneled to 
inquire into the loss of these boats, and the decision 
was that the accident on the Josephine was due to 
carelessness of the boiler inspector, also to low 
water in the boiler, and that the destruction of the 
Gem was likewise due to carelessness. 

Another steamboat disaster occurred on the 
19th of April, when the Fannie Lake, Captain Hill, 
ran into a rock in Dead Man's riffle on the Skagit 
and knocked a hole in her bottom so large that she 
sank in a few minutes. It does not appear that 
any one was injured. The boat was subsequently 
raised, but with much difficulty and at great ex- 
pense. ^ 

While these misfortunes were occurring to the 
steamers named, other steamers were in process of 
construction and establishment upon the Skagit 
route. The W. K. Merwin, named from its builder, 
was launched at Seattle on March 22d. It is re- 
corded that during the christening exercises Cap- 
tain Olney, immediately after breaking the bottle of 
champagne over the bow of the steamboat, fell 
overboard. Another early river steamer was the 
James McNaught, Captain Fred Dwyer. After 
July 1st there was a regular mail route on the 
Skagit river which included Mukilteo, Tulalip, Ut- 
salady. Fir, Skagit City and Mount Vernon. 

The iinpetuous torrents of the upper Skagit and 
especially its chronic habit of going on ,a flood at 
frequent intervals had caused enormous accumula- 
tions of drift and snags around the delta at its 
mouth, forming quite an impediment to naviga- 
tion. For the purpose of remedying the difficulty 
an appropriation of twenty thousand dollars was 
made by the United States government for build- 
ing and operating a snag boat, but it is stated that 
the money was all used up in constructing the 
boats and that nothing was left for operating them. 

While improvements in the line of steamboat 
navigation were in progress there began to be 
efforts looking toward proper means of communi- 
cation up the Skagit river. There was at that time 



132 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



a good trail along the north side of tiic Skagit as 
far as Baker river, and from that point there was 
a passable trail to the Sauk river, where it parted, 
one branch crossing the mountains to the Wenat- 
chee and the other to the Skagit river gold mines. 
These trails, tb(nigh difficult to travel, were in con- 
stant use. The jilaces with postofficcs or stores 
along the trail were Mount Vernon (on the south 
side of the river), I'.all's C^ani]), Lyman, VVill)urtoii 
and r.irdsview. The proixDscd wagon road was to 
unite those different places and at or near Miller's 
camp was to be joined by the La Cornier wagon 
road. The densely timbered character of the region 
made it a difficult country for settlers to attain the 
comforts and conveniences of life. The North- 
west l':nter]>rise of May 12, ]H8;i, makes an ener- 
getic i)lea in behalf of the incoming homeseekers, 
])ointing out the innumerable trials and vexations 
to which they were subjected, and urging the estab- 
lishment of a light draught steamer service, with 
head(|uarters at I -a Conner or Anacortes, to reach 
places where it was plain there were to be flourish- 
ing settlements in the near future. 

The summer of 1883 seems to have been remark- 
able for its extraordinary dryness. A pall of smoke 
from the raging forest fires hung over the land- 
scai)es of I'ugef sound and the hay and oat croi)S 
were for almost the only time in the history of the 
innnly seriously shortened. Valuable timber was 
desU(')yed and several of the logging camps were 
inil into serious danger and loss. As has usually 
I)e4;u the case these fires were mainly due to the 
carelessness of hunters and campers. y\n army 
worm pest, the worms working by night, destroyed 
half the oat crop on the Samish in 188.3, also in- 
juring numerous gardens on the Hats. 

The i)res.sure of the incoming immigration led 
to a demand for the surveying of the country about 
the river Sank, but the surveyors were attacked and 
driven from the region by the Indians living there- 
abouts. Those Indians claimed that they had never 
been included in any treaty, had never ceded their 
lands lo the United States and that they would not 
yield their possessions until satisfied by the proper 
indemnity from the government. 

The year 1883 wilnes.sed also a great advance 
in the (jevelopment of the Swinomish tide flats, 
lands which at the present time are one of the 
wonders of (he workl for their enormous produc- 
tion of oats. The I'uget Sound Mail of October 
27, 1883, states that the land under cultivation 
aggregated about ten thousand acres and that the 
average yield of oats was about sixty thirty-six- 
pound bushels to the acre. The average price paid 
by the buyers in 1883 was twenty-seven dollars and 
fifty cents per ton. The oat harvest was extensive 
enough to deni.uid a half do/en uew steam thresh- 
ers in addition to the ihr/A-u already owned in the 
neighborhood. 

The months of NoveinluT and IVcemlKT. 1883, 



were marked by freshets on the Skagit river, which 
caused much loss in logs, cattle and houses. The 
water stood all over the streets of Mount Vernon 
and in places in the valley reached a depth of seven 
feet. The Hood being the greatest, however, on the 
south side of the river, which was least developed, 
the loss was not great in the aggregate. 

The drowning of Mr. Walker, a pioneer settler 
living near Sauk, at the time of this freshet, is 
worthy of record. Mr. Walker, his wife and three 
flaughters were descending the river and when at a 
Ijoint a mile bel6w Lyman the boat was upset. The 
father successively swam with his wife and two of 
the girls to safety and finally returned to the boat 
for the youngest daughter, whom he proceeded to 
take to a nearby snag. The tremendous clfort ex- 
hausted him, however, so completely that upon 
reaching the snag the hero sank to a watery grave, 
sacrificing himself that his loved ones might live. 

I'Tom a report prepared by ICldridge Morse, of 
Snohomish, and issued in 188 1 by the federal 
department of agriculture we learn that of about 
(irj.OOO acres of tide lands upon the east side of 
I'uget sound 32,000 were in Skagit county, and of 
21!) miles of dikes constructed prior to the year 
188r), MO were in the same county. The total cost 
of these dikes was estimated at $312,000, of which 
^ITfi.OOO was expended in Skagit county. The 
clearing and diking of these lands was done largely 
by cooperation among the farmers themselves. One 
very import.-fnt work, however, both for navigation 
and for the diking of the tide lands, was beyond the 
reach of private enterprise alone and government 
aid was demanded for its accomplishment, namely, 
the removing of snags and jams from the mouth of 
the Skagit river and the channel adjoining. The 
loggers took the initiative in starting the work. In 
response to calls ]niblished in the Mail and the News 
a meeting was called of all interested parties at 
Skagit City in June, 1884, at which Dr. G. V. Cal- 
houn was elected chairman, Harrison Clothier 
secretary, and A. Morrison, James Gilligan, 
M. Anderson, Michael McNamara and Frank lUick 
were ai)])ointed a committee to solicit subscriptions; 
Richard Ilolyoke, L. Wallen and W. C. Ewing to 
investigate the cost of removing the jam. It gives 
the reader .something of a conception of the magni- 
tude of this undertaking to learn that the area of 
land which would be affected by the removal was 
estimated at eighty thousand acres, including the 
swamp and timber land east of the south fork of 
the Skagit, together with the delta of that river, the 
Swinomish flats, the Beaver and Olympia marshes, 
and the townsbii) lying on the Nookachamps creek. 
At an adjourned meeting held on July 12th, R. Hol- 
yokc, L. Wallen and John Swcnson were appointed 
an executive committee to take general charge of 
the work, and D. \i. Gage was appointed treasurer. 
The finance connnittce reported that over two thou- 
sand dollars had already been subscribed. The 



SKAGIT COUNTY, 1883-9 



iiivcstipfation committee recomnieiulcd that the work 
should inchule the removal of all drifts from the 
main river, that a channel he freed from snags and 
o])cncd into Deep slough and that a sheer boom be 
placed opposite the head of the slough in order to 
work all logs down the slough and into deep water. 

Although this work upon the jam seems to have 
been started with judgment and devotion, it was 
not carried out in full. Resources were scanty and 
dissensions finally arose which checked the work. 
The Skagit News of September 30th urged public 
subscriptions for its continuance, incidentally not- 
ing the fact that the use of dynamite for blowing 
out the logs had been found a most economical ex- 
pedient. The issue of October 14th states that a 
sudden flood had swept two million feet of logs out 
of the river and had then formed a new jam a half 
mile in extent at the head of the old one. It urged 
a combination of both farmers and loggeis to 
undertake the essential task of coping with the 
(lifticulty. Mention is made in a later issue of the 
same jiaper of the work of the government 
snag boat in the removal of snags from the river 
all the way from Lyman to its mouth, but (he work 
was not completely and thoroughly accomplished. 

In sjiite of the obstacles ])rescnted by snags and 
jams there were three boats plying upon the Skagit 
river in IKS I, the Quincy, the (Jlide and the Wash- 
ington, each of which made semi-weekly trips. 

The logging business was, as might be supposed, 
one of very great importance even at that early day. 
The lumber camps in operation in 1881 were those 
(if William Gage, Thibert & Company, Longfellow, 
three belonging to Hall at I'.larney lake, Nooka- 
champs and Sterling, rcsj)ectivcly, Millet & McKay, 
Charles F. Jackson, lilock & Jackman, Day 
nrothers, Clothier & English and Oliver /Vnderson. 
The great rush to secure farms and mines seems 
to have somewhat curtailed the lumbering business 
at that time and during the latter part of the year 
the lumber market, being somewhat glutted by the 
enormous output from different portions of the 
sound, became quite low. As elsewhere noted, this 
low condition of the lumber trade lasted for some 
time and in a measure affected the prices of all 
kinds of produce unfavorably. 

An Jnrlian fracas in April, 1881, is perhaps 
worthy of a passing notice. A well-known Indian 
named Charley, with a friend known to the whites 
as Jim Roder, met a certain Indian named Johnnie 
of the Swinomish tribe, between wiioni and Indian 
Jim ill feeling had long existed. Charley endeavored 
lo act as peacemaker between the two enemies and 
met with the fate which unfortunately f)ften over- 
takes peacemakers, for the Indian Johnnie fired 
upon him and he fell apparently mortally wounded. 
Jim followed the would-be assassin as he endeavored 
to escape and attacking him with a knife killed him 
on the spot. Taking the still breathing Charley 
to his boat, he carried him to Guemes islanrl, where 



as soon as the death of the Swinomish Indian had 
been discovered the members of his tribe broke 
forth, demanding cither a ransom of two hundred 
dollars or the life of Jim. The whites ui)on the 
island interfered, telling Jim and his friends that 
they would arm themselves if necessary to resist 
any attack. The Swinomish Indians, returning to 
the Samish, left behind them the threat that they 
would nuike away with any man, Indian or white, 
who should venture to go to their coimtry from 
Guemes island. The next day the Guemes Indians, 
armed and painted, even the women being armed 
with knives, went to Anacortes, taking the wounded 
Charley with them. His wounds were very serious, 
but did not i)rovc fatal. Me was considered a re- 
markably intelligent and reliable Indian and was a 
great favorite with the whites, who felt much indig- 
nation at the occurrence, though it does not appear 
that anything further was done to carry the matter 
to an issue. 

Now that the question of county division was 
settled in accordance with the wishes of the inhabi- 
tants of the Skagit, they addressed themselves to 
the execution of the provision of the act which had 
l^rovided for the ])crmanent establishment of a 
county seat, and the inevitable fight for county-seat 
honors, the next topic in the history of Skagit 
county, was instituted. 

H. P. Downs, who was chosen as the first audi- 
tor of the county, had his office in the lower floor 
of the school building at La Conner, which was 
still the temporary county scat. The office did not 
at that time own a safe and the auditor used a soap 
box, nailed on the wall of his eight by twelve room, 
for the preservation of the county records. Mr. 
Downs recalls the surprise whicji was felt by most 
of the people that Mf)unt Vernon should have ven- 
tured to enter the fight for the county seat, for La 
Conner was then a place of some size, while Mount 
N'ernon was but a hamlet buried in the heavy timber 
along the shore of the river. Mr. Downs says that 
P>. L. Martin, one of the La Conner workers, took 
a trif) to Mount Vernon in the interest of La Conner. 
Coming back utterly disgusted, Mr. Martin declared 
that La Conner had no chance. "Why," said he, 
"all they have to do over there is to shake the bushes 
and the voters come stringing out of the woods in 
all directions!" 

The Anacortes influence was thrown against 
Mount Vernon. The Northwest l^nterprise of 
September 27, 1881, sums up the situation by declar- 
ing that not above five hundred inhabitants could be 
found on the river above Mount Vernon, including 
farmers, loggers, trappers and Indians, while at 
least fifteen hundred actual settlers lived on the 
delta of the Skagit and the island adjoining. The 
Enterprise declares, moreover, that the navigation 
of the Skagit is so obstructed by jams and snags 
that Mount Vernon is difficult to reach, and that the 
cnTiimunitics along the shore line of the sound will 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



never consent to the establishment of a county seat 
at Mount Vernon merely to benefit that town and 
the straggling inhabitants of the upper Skagit at 
the expense of every one else. At about the same 
date the Skagit News gave very forcible reasons for 
the support of Mount Vernon, declaring in the 
first place that all the miners, together with the 
settlers from Ruby creek to the mouth of the river, 
l)referred that town; that Mount Vernon had the 
l>cst site, being on the south slope of an upland be- 
yond the reach of floods, with room enough for 
Seattle with Tacoma at its back, and moreover that 
there was no place in the county which had so large 
a list of heavy tax-payers. It claimed that the river 
was the most important artery of travel in the county 
and that the general interests of all concerned 
would be best subserved by a county seat upon its 
banks. 

Other candidates for the county seat entered the 
field as the campaign proceeded. Avon, Bayview 
and Atlanta presented reasons satisfactory to the 
inhabitants of each for their superiority over all 
other claimants, but the Skagit News continued its 
very vigorous and skillful fight for Mount Vernon, 
its various issues for October contain summaries of 
the advantages possessed by that town and the in- 
significant benefits to accrue from any other loca- 
tion. The campaign practically became Mount Ver- 
non against the field, and the river people had the 
advantage of united action, whereas the coast 
people were divided in their allegiance among 
several rival places. The result was that at the 
election, which took place on the 4th day of Novem- 
ber. 1884, Mount Vernon received two hundred and 
and fifty majority. The two great features of the 
election seem to have been the great strength of the 
combined river interest and vote and the strong 
sympathy between the Samish country and the river 
country. Not only was Mount Vernon successful 
in the struggle for the county seat, but the three 
county commissioners chosen were all from river 
precincts. 

The count\'-seat question monopolized the at- 
tention of the people, but inasmuch as the general 
election held here was the first in Skagit county it 
is a matter of interest to record the fact that the 
vote on the various officers denoted a very indepen- 
dent class of voters, for there were both Democrats 
and Republicans elected b\- somewhat surprising 
majorities. 

Among miscellaneous news items of interest 
during that time when the interests of the people 
of the county were so largely absorbed in the county 
seat election we find note of the fact that the iron 
ore, outcropiMngs of bituminous coal, and deposits 
of lime of fine quality at various points in Skagit 
county were attracting large attention from capital- 
ists. C. S. Torkelson of Tacoma was at that time 
interested willi a number of Knglish capitalists in 



investigating these mines and in projecting railway 
connection between them and Ship harbor. 

The records of December, l.s,S4, show that the 
weather was of unprecedented coldness. Snow fell 
from six to eight inches in depth and the thermom- 
eter ranged from ten to twenty degrees above zero. 
People took advantage of the unusual occurrence 
to extemporize sleighs of every description, and the 
children and even some of the grown folks spent 
most of their time in coasting the streets and build- 
ing winter palaces. The unwonted spectacle ap- 
peared upon the Swinomish slough of a stranded 
hay schooner driven ashore by the north wind and 
high tide. There was much suffering and loss of 
cattle unprovided with food or shelter. The Skagit 
river was frozen and all supplies for Mount Vernon 
and the upper Skagit had to be carried in sleighs, a 
fact which gave intense satisfaction to the people of 
La Conner. The cold period was terminated on 
January 8th by the sudden bursting forth of the 
characteristic warm winds of the Puget sound 
country and the snow and ice vanished as suddenly 
as they had come. Floods followed the break up, 
but these lacked two feet of reaching the highest 
water mark and no great damage ensued. As the 
winter had been conspicuous for severity, the spring 
following was conspicuous for the prevalence of 
clear and beautiful weather, there being, according 
to contemporaneous reports, seventeen cloudless 
days, and no rain whatsoever at Anacortes. 

As the spring and summer of 1885 progressed, 
the enterprising people of Skagit county turned 
their attention again to clearing the logs and jams 
from the river and continuing the work of draining 
and clearing the marshes. The channel had become 
clear enough by May of that year to permit the pas- 
sage of steamers. Much of the money for this pur- 
pase had been raised by popular subscription, and 
to Thomas P. Hastie and Jacob Hayton a large 
share of the credit for securing this fund is attrib- 
uted, especially to the former who served without 
recompense. While the river was being made suit- 
able for the transportation of the products of the 
country, the farmers were busily engaged in prepar- 
ing land for the increase of those products. Work 
on the 01ym])ia marsh was in progress and the Joe 
Larry slough was cleared out for about two miles. 
The cost of this work was not so great as might have 
been expected. The main ditches represented a cost 
of not to exceed a dollar an acre, while the expense 
of clearing and breaking the land and cutting the 
lateral ditches was estimated at not over ten dollars 
per acre. This marsh, with its sub-divisions, covered 
an area of about five miles by three miles and a half 
and, as has lieen proven since, was of the most pro- 
ductive nature. 

Some records derived from the auditor's office 
of the year 1885 in respect to population and valua- 
tion of property are worthy of permanent preser- 
vation. The total population of J-^kagit county was 




VIEWS TAKEN TN THE SKAGIT FORESTS 



SKAGIT COUNTY, 18S3-!) 



given as 2,816, of which 2,618 were white, 170 half- 
breeds, 26 Chinamen, and 2 negroes. There were 
1.835 males and 1,081 females. The voting popula- 
tion was 1,501), and in this number were 428 women, 
tor it must be remembered that at that time woman 
sutTrage prevailed under territorial laws. The 
number of married people was 825, while the worthy 
scribe facetiously records that the number that 
wanted to be married was 1,991. Even then the 
Puget sound country was beginning to show some- 
thing of the extraordinary rapidity of increase in 
population which has so characterized it in later 
years. We find that the per cent, of increase in 
population for the two years prior to 1885 in the 
fifteen counties then forming western Washington 
was 47.8, while the rate of increase in Whatcom and 
Skagit counties was 61.1 per cent. The valuation 
of property for the county was given in 1885 at 
$950,730, and the number of names on the roll was 
over one thousand. 

Probably there has never been a summer in the 
historv of Puget sound in which destructive forest 
fires have not raged, and the summer of 1885 was 
certainly no exception to the rule. Fires on Guemes 
and Fidalgo islands swept through some of the mag- 
nificent fir trees two or three hundred feet in height, 
destroying not only standing timber but wood, rails, 
fences and buildings. At the same time the Samish 
country was ravaged by destructive fires. Over a 
thousand acres of land in that vicinity were swept 
clean of all improvements, loggers were driven out 
and all their operations interrupted for that year. 
Clothier & English and McElroy were the greatest 
sufferers. These fires continued their destructive 
work and the entire sound country was wrapped in 
a pall of smoke until September 26th, when drench- 
ing rains and southerly gales put out the fires, 
cleared the smoke, brought back the sun and stars, 
released the smoke-beleaguered ships and steamers 
and ministered consolation to all the inhabitants of 
the sound country. 

The reports which are gathered from the Skagit 
News of the harvest season of 1885 indicate that the 
crops of hay, fruit and oats for that year were fine 
in quality and large in amount. The oat yield was 
from eighty-five to a hundred bushels to the acre, 
in a few instances much exceeding even the latter 
figure, and there was also a very heavy crop of hops, 
but the price of the latter commodity was so low 
that they scarcely paid for picking. 

We find in the Skagit News of October 6th a 
summary of the logging business for the vear 1885, 
which gives a total output of 204,000 feet of logs 
per day, divided among the following camps : Jack- 
son & Duncan, 10,000 feet; Day Bros., 18,000; 
McElroy & O'Brien, 8,000 ; L. B. Roe, 20.000 ; Ball 
& Barlow. 35,000; A. H. Lindstedt, 10.000; C. F. 
Jackson, 25.000; Millett & McKay. 35.000; Long- 
fellow Brothers, 25,000 ; Clothier & English, 18,000 ; 
sundry smaller camps. 10.00(1. 



Although Skagit county did not take any special 
part in the anti-Chinese demonstrations which 
marked the sound history in 1885, yet as both Skagit 
and Snohomish counties, together with all the re- 
gions contiguous to Seattle and Tacoma where the 
chief agitation occurred, were directly or indirectly 
affected, it is fitting that the records of this year 
should embrace a brief view of that event. '1 he 
following account is condensed from that of Elwood 
Evans, in his history of the Northwest. 

In 1885 there were 3,276 Chinese in the territory 
of Washington, the large majority being in the chief 
cities upon the sound. They were almost exclusively 
men and were employed as domestic servants and 
laborers in mines, railroads and public works of all 
kinds. A great prejudice arose against these 
Chinese laborers among white laborers, on account 
of the supposed clannishness of the Chinese race, 
their refusal to abandon their national peculiarities 
and their inability to adapt themselves to American 
ideas and methods. A clamor arose that this 
country should be settled by free American laborers 
and that these should not be brought into competi- 
tion with Chinese cheap labor. The Knights of 
Labor largely took the initiative in this movement 
and organized meetings, chiefly of working men, 
which passed denunciatory resolutions and advocat- 
ed forcible means, if necessary, to rid the country 
of Chinamen. Supporting this outcry were many 
politicians and prominent citizens who thought that 
they could please the organized working men by 
joining in the struggle against the Chinese. The 
congressional law prohibiting the coming of Chinese 
to this country was at that time in force and the 
agitators declared not only that no more Chinamen 
should come to the country but that even those here 
should go. 

The first actual outbreak against the Chinese oc- 
curred at Squak valley in King county on the night 
of September 5, 1885. There were thirty-seven 
Chinese hop-pickers employed by Wold Brothers 
on their ranch. A certain number of white men 
and Indians, some being armed, went to the ranch 
and threatened the Chinese with injury if they 
attempted to labor. Wold Brothers very naturally 
protested against this interference with their help 
and the party retired, declaring, however, that if 
they found the Chinamen there after a day or two 
they would drive them out. Two days later a party 
of thirty Chinamen on their way to the Wold ranch 
were intercepted and so intimidated that they turned 
back and left the valley. That same night a party 
of whites and Indians went onto the Chinese quar- 
ters on the Wold ranch and in response to what they 
claimed was a shot from the Chinese camp began 
firing upon the closely huddled tents of the China- 
men. Three Chinamen were killed in this foray and 
the others left the place. Those who participated 
in the riot and murder were subsequently indicted 
and tried, but acquitted. On the in'ght of the 11th 



SKACrr COUNTY 



(,f Si-iili'iiili.T .-I liiiilclini; ...-.■npicl l.v Cliiiiaincn 
wdi-kiiiK l"i 111'' (ticT.nii liii|.M. vein. Til ( unipaiiy in 
the Cd.-il iKck inmc ".i-. liiiincl .nid alioiit fifty 

('lliiiani.'li wriv iliiv.n I i llir place 

I |ii(,iij;li()Mt llif iiiniiilis (if August, September 
and ( )( liihcr llirir liad l)i-<ii a coiiliimous series of 
lai-KcIv all.'iidrd piiMu nir.liuj^s at (i:c upcra-lioiise 
ill Tacoiiia and l.^irhliihl processions licariiip ban- 
ners wiiieli displ.ivrd ..nil ( liinese opinions wori<ed 
ii{, .1 .Miilinii.il piililii r\, ilciiicnl, ( )n Sepleniher 
•.■,,lli .1,1 .Hill ( liiiH',,^ ,.iii;M( :.'. nu-l al Seallle, which 
,1,., |;||, ,1 ih.ii III,' ( Iiinr;,e iiiiisl l.c expelled from 
III,. ,,,„i,lM. \ mas', iiie.'init; held al Taroina on 

!,'nin,',llee'\'l' r,ll'r,'n"was"'appni'nled io expel 'lli'e 
CJiinese liom |lul ,ilv. Noliees were serve.l on the 
Chinese, w.nnin;' lliciii Io leave within thirty days. 
The she'iill .il I'lcice county announced to the ^ov- 
ci 11,11 al ili.ii nine llial he would lie al)le to preserve 
ihc pi.ii ,■ .111,1 would he sii|iporte<l hy the citizens in 
(Mil, lai, hnl in s|)ile of these assurances tile major- 
il\ III ihe peo|)le of 'racoina were in sympathy with 
llie anii Chinese movement. I'A'en the mayor had 
hcen an aclive propagandist of (he crnsade aj,'ainst 
Ihe CiiinaiiHii I'cw people in Tacoma, however, 
siippo.sed ih.il llie llneats made would actually be 
(■Ncinled, lull on Ihe iiiornin|,' of November lid, upon 
.1 ..irii.d r.iven 1>\ ihe blowiiif; of steam whistles in 
(lie ,,11 shops and loimdrv, several lnmdred men 
.isseiiiM,,! .111,1 luairh.'d in line thron^h the city, 
■jjies,. men wen! Io Ihe Chinese <pi;irlers, packed 
up 111,. ,M„„ls of Ihe ( )rient.ils .ind escorted them 
Io l.aUe'vicw on Ihe Norlheni I'acinc railroad, 
uIkii.c Ihey were sent to I'ortlanil. Neither the 
sill iill nor his deputies nor the city oHicials made 
the .slinhtesl elTorl Io preveiil (his 'iiioceediiifr. It 
is, lu)w<'\'<i . \\oiili\ ,.i leiiiembrance that no one 
was injure,!, noi ,lhl ilic p.ii lieip;mls in the riot .seem 
Io have aii\ ,.lli|.| pnipose than the peacefnl and 
,pii,.| iiiii.u.il of llie iiiembers of the obnoxious race 
Willi, .111 iiiiniv to lliiir persons or ])ro|)erly. After 
ih.il p,. pill. II cNcliisiiMi of ( ■hin.-unen from Tacoma 
ii,>iie live! in Ilial ( il\ oi even in I'ierce comity for 
m.iiiN \e.iis. .\ nuiulicr oi cili/eiis were indicted 
lor conspiracy to inliniid.ile, under what is known 
as the Kn-klnx act, but allhouf^h the matter was 
jiaraded in the courts for several terms, none of tlie 
ca.ses was ever tried. < >ii the lib and (Uli of No- 
vember a number of Clini,.,,. ..Ii.inliis, toj;-ether with 
stores and residences fiom winch (hoy had been 
removed, were destroved bv tire. 

The history of the proceedini.'S in Seattle, where 
an .-mli Chinese meetiiit;- was held Noveiiiher 'lib, 
was vei V dillcKMil from'lhal ,it Tacoma. Those who 
l.umcl 111,, ciii.iiciiicni of law were warned liy 
the e\pciience oi Ihe latter city, and took steps to 
prevent, if possible, its repetiti(Mi. SherilT John fl. 
McCraw, sn!)se(|iientlv f;iivernor of the state, sum- 
moned bis deputies to"nieet at the court lu.nse under 
arms, and ouipanies inider Captains ( ireen and 



llaiiies were made subject to his call. IVesidcnt 
Cleveland issued a proclamation declaring that an 
emer(.;ency had arisen which justified the employ- 
ment of military force to sujjpress domestic violence 
and enforce tlic execution of the laws of the United 
States, and acc()rdin).;ly ten companies of troops 
were desiiatcbed from Vancouver to Seattle. By 
order of Ceneral John (iibboii, commander of the 
department, several of these companies were sub- 
secinetitly ordered to Tacoma, where they took into 
custody, to be escorted to Vancouver, several citi- 
zens who had been arrested by the United States 
ni.Msli.il for i)articipation in the Tacoma riot. At 
llie direction of Ceneral (iibbon. Sheriff McGraw 
oii;.ini/.e(l his voliiiiteer deinilies into three military 
com])anies. iMfteen ])ersons were indicted for con- 
spiracy to deprive the Chinese of equal protection 
of the laws liut their trial, which was concluded 
January 10, IRSfi, resulted in the acfjuittal of all 
parties. The (Ith of hVbruary a mass meeting was 
lield ;it which plans were formed which eventuated 
on ill,, iicxi ,l,i\ in llie movement of a large number 
of men to the ( limis,. ipiarlcrs and the is.suance of 
,111 ,>rder to them that they must leave Seattle. 
Their goods were packed ancl they were marched in 
little s(|iiads to the wharf of the steamship Queen 
id' the I'acilic to be transported to San iM-ancisco. 
The leaders of the movement wei\' attempting to 
r.iise money to |)rocure tickets for jKiying the fare 
of Ihe (liinamen, but during the afternoon a writ 
of halicas coipus was issued rccjuiring Captain 
AlcNan.Kr ,.| the sti'amship to i)roduce the China- 
men li.lorc 111,, comt. lie responded that he could 
not in , ,Misei|iience of the mob in the streets, but 
the iie\l m.uiiiiiL; the Chinamen were brought before 
the court where most of tliem expressed their pref- 
I'lence to go to S.in I 'i.iucisco, hence were re- 
turned to the .ship. About .i hundred, however, pre- 
fi'rred to remain in Seallle and started to return to 
their former houses, whereupon the crowd attempt- 
ed to drive them toward the railroad station. 
Captain Ceorge Kinnear's company of deputies 
defended the Chinese and in the struggle with the 
mob which ensued one of Ihe latter was killed and 
two were wounded. The crowd then ceased their 
elTorts and the C'hinese were taken back to their 
homes. As .-i result of this fracas both Covernor 
S(|iiire and I'resident ('leveland issued iiroclama- 
tioiis declaring the cil\ to be in a state of insurrec- 
tion and under in.irlial l.iw. (ieiieral C.ibbon ar- 
rested a number of |iers,>ns who had p.-irticiiiated in 
the Seallle ri,>l, which iheivfore iail.sl of its 
purpose. 

.\ similar attenii)t was made in ( )lym|)i:i, where 
live arrests were made. The trial of these at the 
June term of court resulted in the conviction of all 
and the sentence of each to pay a fine of five hun- 
dred dollars, with the costs of proceedings, and to be 
subjected to six months' imprisonment. Thus 
ended ihe .icnte sl.ige of anli Chinese agit.ition upon 



SKAGIT COUNTY, 1883- 



139 



I 'iiget sound, but for a number of years the general 
sentiment of the region was strongly opposed to 
anv increase in the Chinese population, or even in 
ihu privileges of the members of that race. 

The year 188G seems to have been comparatively 
unproductive of special events or changes in Skagit 
county, but there was a rapid ongoing in all the 
various industries. As has happened probably every 
> car in the history of Puget sound, there were high 
tides and floods such as people are wont to think 
tlic most remarkable of all time but it would seem 
from the reports that on January 21th the really 
higiicst tide known up to that time since records 
have been kept swept the coast-line of the county. 

I I overtopped the dikes by several inches, destroyed 
a great deal of property and greatly damaged the 
crop prospects for the ensuing year. The damage 
was especially felt in the vicinity of Padilla. Im- 
iiicdiately following this remarkable tide occurred a 
s])cll of .severe cold, during which the Skagit river 
was blockaded with ice and a large part of the 
cduntrv having been inundated by the high tide and 
ice having been formed upon this Hooded area, the 
farmers, especially on the tide flats, were subjected 
lo very serious inconvenience. 

Among the valuable undertakings of the early 
part of the year 188G was that of the Skagit River 
IV'lejjhone Company, incorporated with a capital 
stock of five thousand dollars, for the purpose of 
Iniilding and operating a tele])lione line between the 
mouth of the Skagit river and the settlements on the 
junction of the Sauk river with the main stream. 
Unfortunately, however, it failed vi realization. 
More successful was the establishment of the Pacific 
Postal Telegraph Comi)any's line, built through 
Mount Vernon to Whatcom, and ultimately connect- 
ing Seattle with New Westminster. The first 
operator u])on this line was Thomas Payne, and the 
first telegrai)h office at Mount Vernon was in Hart- 
son's ])rinting office. 

The following outline of the mail contracts in 
Skagit county will give the reader a clearer concep- 
tion of the gradual establishment of centers of 
business and communication in tiie ever-growing 
regions which comjKxsc the county : Route 43,091, 
from Seattle via Tulalij), Fir, Stanwood, Utsalady, 
and Skagit City to Mount Vernon, a distance of 
seventy-five miles and back, three times weekly, 
awarded to George W. (jorc for $2,500 ; route 
4H,1()|, from Skagit City to La Conner, ten miles and 
hack once a week, awarded to Henry A. Wright for 
$118; route 'i;5,105, from Mount Vernon via Bay- 
view and Padilla to La Conner, twelve and a half 
miles and back twice a week, awarded to 
W. J. McKcnna for $18.'); route 4:5,107, from 
Mount Vernon via Avon, Sterling, Lyman and 
Hamilton to P.irdsview, forty-two miles and back, 
twice a week, granted to Adolph Behrens for $690 ; 
route ■4:{,108, from Samish to Edison, seven miles 
and back, three tinies a week, granted to E. C. 



Brown for $135; route 43,109, from Edison to 
Prairie, fourteen miles and back, once a week, 
granted to J. M. Estes for $15J9 ; route 43,098, from 
Seattle via Coupcville, Phinney, Oak Harbor, De- 
ception, La Conner, Eidalgo, Anacortes, Guemcs, 
Samish, BcUingham, and Sehonic to Whatcom, a 
hundred and forty-three miles and back, three limes 
a week, granted to the ( ). U. & N. Company for 
$5,000. 

As indicating something of the accumulation of 
wealth in the county and also preserving llie names 
of those who especially were concerned with the 
large property interests at that lime a list of all who 
]3aid taxes on $5,000 or over is given a place here : 
Mrs. L. A. Conner, $(;0,5()3 ; Ball & Barlow. $3(i,- 
073; J. & G. Gaelics, $-^0,'237 ; Puget Mill Comi)auv. 
$17,f)00; Samish Company, $10, 127 ; B. N. L. Davis. 
$10,389; W. S. Jameson, $1(),206; Hansen & Jen- 
sen, $Hi,05(); Clothier & ICnglish, $13,202; R. L. 
Kellev, $13,131 ; S. S. I'.ailey, $12,970; Washington 
Mill Company, $12,000; R. E. Whitney, $11,350; 
Mortimer Cook, $11,0.38; Jack.son & Walker, $10.- 
730; P.lakely Mill Company, $9,750; Richard Hol- 
yokc, $8,180; 1',. L. Martin, $8,050; Rus.sell A. 
Alger, $7,000; James A. (iilliland, $7,005; J. ( ). 
Rudcnc, $0,993; Daniel Sullivan, $0,784; R. H. 
I'.all, $6,588; Mrs. M. 11. Mailer, $0,'1.50; John Mil- 
ler, .$0,185; G. V. Calhoun, $5,995; Olof Poison, 
$5,071; William (iilmore, .$5,3!)3 ; E. ( 1. Aniens, 
$5,310; Malcolm McDougall, $5,280; L. L. An- 
drews, $5,100; Michael Sullivan, $5,072. 

In summing uj) the indnslrial conditions for the 
year now under consider.'ition mention may be made 
of the inmieuse ])roduction of oals u|)on the three 
great oat-producing districts, the Stillagnamish, 
the Swinomish and the Samish. Their combined ])ro- 
duction amounted to two hundred anrl thirty-two 
thousand .sacks of oats, over half of which was 
shipi)cd to San hrancisco. The i)rice ranged from 
nineteen dollars to twenty-two dollars ])er ton. 

Skagit county i)artcx)k with the fUher ])ortions 
of the Puget sound country in the railroad plans 
and excitement which marked the closing jjortion 
of the decade of the eighties. The Skagit News of 
November 30, 1880, .sets forth the fact that Skagit 
valley will surely have direct communication with 
Seattle at some early |)eriod. Doubt was expressed 
as to the building of the t!anfield road, of which so 
nnich was said at that time, the reason assigned 
being that the Canadian Pacific road would not 
allow any road to conned with it which it coifld not 
control. It was pointed out that the sin-voy of the 
Canfield party crossed the Skagit near Sterling and 
followed up the valley of the N(}()kacham])s, and the 
opinion was expressed in the paper that the comple- 
tion of that road wotfld make an important city out 
of Sterling, as well as mark an epoch in the history 
of the county in general. 

It seems to have becr)me ajipaii'Ml w ith the prog- 
ress of the new ye.ir of 1887 tli.1t the Canfield road 



SKAdir coiiN'rY 



(11. vl III,-, I llii- ( 

illlllK'IKT:. U.HiM 

llclliM^liain I..M 
silliMll.HM.n Ml M 
Urn- i( iiillM I.f 



,1,1 tins l;u-l ^;;,vr mm- Iu sm,,,.- 
r Sl<;ij;il New. and ih, uld 
Kcvcill.', ill win. li 111.- I..iin<r 

I.I i..,-i.l w.Mil.l n.-v.-r 1)0 bllill. 
.ml III.- I:i. I llial all llic Scuttle 
,-,.- Mi.l, a l.nil.lniK up nf llu' 
II V a-, w.MiM f.,ll.nv liio oiii 
anli.-l.rs aim.-,, mm. I lli:il tluTi- 
cli-.l llial Sealllc will silppnrl 



Scalllc X- Wcsl C.iasl Uailway (niii|iaiiv. It 
lis I., lie aKifcil I>V Im'IIi papers e..iniueiiliiif; 
II III.- -ail>|.-.l llial Canli.'l.l w.ml.l s.-ll lie, Iran 
.,- I.. III.- S.-alll.- .'<- W'.-.l I ..a-, I \ -.iiiv.-Mii!; 



(liUiii^; and cleiiriii^r and transformed it into a beaii- 
lifnl and highly priMluelive area, liy a most 
lanieiilahle aecideni Mr. Whitney was fatally in 
jni.-.l lliiii- \<-ais .ifhi .-nleriiii,' upon this (.(real 
ini.l.-il.ikiiii;. 111 isii.l III.- island was divided up 
inl.i s.-v.-n laiiiis .ni.l s.il.l j.ir .alionl seventy ihoii- 
s;uid <|..llars, an. I il is n.iw .in<- ..f ih.' K.'inli'ii si'ots 
..f lhel-eKi..ii. 



tie.s W( 
Sl<aj,Mt 



\s 


I p.ii 

II aii.l 
1.. III. 


\\. 


il.l Ih- 


1 II. 1 


ineaiis 


Ihe 


News 




1 of at 



..I ,...il lau.l 
.il iKMii this 
111.- I..-SI Ih.il 



ver 


• already approaching 
i-esnited. 


llu 


records of tlic year 


^ 


( ..nn.-i III .1 sal i. 




..1 Mill.-r lia.l ha.l a 


'A\ 


.linnit; wliieh the for- 
11 with a knife. I'or 


r,, 1 


I's ciilerin^ the saloon, 


Il 1 


i.-k.-.l np Insl ;i hrick 

1 u Lull III' liMl'li-il -Il 


uli 


.h i.-aill,-.| ■rh..inps.)ii 



111.- SU.iril .'^aw Mill .ni.l M.niii l.i. Iiii in.. Com 
in. ..I uiiu-li Ih.- ,,lli..i-, u.-i,- .r, l,.ll..ws'-' I'l-esi- 
il, I- ( .. Pn^dish ; vi. .- pi .--ailriil . ( Ml., kl.nu-nl ; 

is e..n.-.-in maleiiali/.-.l ml i.- ..I llu- pi.iiu-er 

V mills of the eoimlv In Ihis e..iineetioii also 
s inleresling- lo lu.le lli.il in llu- I'.dl of ISSC. Mor- 
uT C.uik esl.-ihlishe.l al S.-.li.., llu- e..iinlv's first 
lud.- mill. 
I'.-ih.ip-. .1 lilll.- sk.-l.-h 1.1 111,- inii.iiL.ilil,- ,i,-.i 



...n W I 



\\\ 



il.-.l h 



lower en.l ..f I'a.lilla l.av is .ip 
Diirint;- the winlir ..f ISS; K'l. 

seven hnndre.l .uh-s, ver\ l.i\ 
dimenll to snh.l.i.-. I,., llu- Mini ..I UmiiU I \m . llum 
.san.l live Imiuli..! ,l,.ll.ii.,, II.- ■,p,-ii| l.-n lli..n.saiul 
.l..ll.ns in i.-.l.immu- il II u.is ..■.-lu-i .illv eon.sid- 
.-i.-.l l.N 111-, h 1.11,1-. .h, .1 \.-M iisk\ niuK-il.ikiiiM, espe- 

h..ii..w .ill 111.- iii,.ii,-N |,„ li,,il, llu- l.nul aiul Ihe ini- 
pi.'\.-nu-iil-., hill In in;, a m.m ol lii-meiidoiis eiierf<-y 

auj;nialiii); a s\sli-m ,il i e.l.im.ili. m ol the laiul liv 



hrank H.-iiii. .i ln-.l,iii,l,i 

an.l then a .iispi.l,.i, Im,i1 

■niomp.s.,n. Ill 111.- Iivlii . 

.h-.-w his knil.- .111,1 slal.lu-.l 11.-1111 In llu- i-x.il.- 

meiil ,.|' 111.' iiH.iii.-iil llu- <i,>u.| imne.l np.m 

'11 ips.,11 an.l lu-.iiK h.-.il hii .l.-alh heiore the 

oHii-.-rs e.inl.l im-I ..,iiIi,.I. la-iiii iiaviii}; ilicd .soon 
all.-r. 111. mips. HI u.i. iii,li,-|,,l |,>i iiinrder, and was 
.Ljiven a trial, al uliu li, ,,mh.ii \ l,i wli.-il w<-re at lirsl 
sii|)posed lo he the faels m llu- ease, llu- l(-slim.m\ 
proved that Thompson ha.l aele.l in sel f .l.-f,-ns,- 
.111.1 he w.is ae(|nittcd of the charKe. 

In l.ss; the lenislatnre pa.s.sed a hill pr..vi.lin,.; 
Ihal all .-onrts .d' reeord should he held al llu- .-.mnl\ 
s.-al. This eanse.l llu- n-ni..val ..f llu- .hsiriel e.mrl 
ri-.im I. a C.miu-i I., .\l.mnl \ .-rii,.n, a \.-i-\ ,t;|-:ili 

ori|.;inal cotmt\ seal. 

The lej^isl.alive sessi.m n< l.s.s; ,s l,,.,k iin.ler 
consi(lerali..ii a hill win, h i.-viv.-.l Ihe ol.l strn^;-);Ie 
hetwcen \\'li.il.,mi .ni.l .SL.ioji. ,„„- pr.ividill^;- for 
taking;- the m,.ii1i Ii.i ,,| hiwnships in Ska,!;it coiint\ 
an.l r.-sl,,iino lli.ni I,. \\li.il,-,mi. Tlu- .Sk.-i-il 
\,-\\s ,l,-n,miu.-s lliis .IS .111 all.-mpl.-.l r..l.l.,-i-\ an.l 
.illiihiil,-s II .-illu-i I., a .l.-sii.- .m llu- pail ..f llu- 
l,.\Mi ,.l WliaL.mi I., sm.illur llu- .i.si.irations for 
,.miil\ s.-al h. in. IIS .m llu- pari ..I' 1 .\ n.len, or to the 
Imi.l.-n ,,t I. IN. Ill, 111 np,.n \\h.il.-..iii ,-oinily (which 

on the (1..11.II ) .111.1 llu-ii ,-,ms,-,|n.-iil .1,-sire I,, seeiire 
Ihe assislaii.,- ,,1 llu- n.-h ,'^.iniish \all,-\ an.l ..tlier 



Ihe W'haU-.Mii 
the fact that al! the inh.il 
Cypress and ."-^inckiir li.i.l 
the IcR-islalnre askin.i; .n 
e.mnlv, allnhnliiiL; this slal 



11.- II..I.-S uhh salislaelu.n 
i.ihil.iiils ,,| 111,' islands of 



1,1 Whatcom 
I, I llu- removal 



SKAGIT COUNTY, 188:)-!) 



of the county seat and district court to Mount 
\\rnon. It also declares that (iuemcs island will 
join the request for annexation. To these com- 
iiKiits of the Whatcom paper the Skagit News re- 
spnnds with characteristic energy, and it seemed 
that another conllict was hrewing, hut to the great 
satisfaction of the peoi)le of Skagit the hill was de- 
feated in the house hy a vote of fourteen to seven. 

( )ne of tile numerous sleamhoat accidents whicii 
siiin to have characterized the history of the sound 
occurred on the 1st of Ajjril, ]88h'. The hoilers 
of the steamer l>oh Irving exploded at a point 
called Hall's ril'lle in the Skagit river one mile he- 
low Sterling. Hiram J. ( )lney, the captain, and 
llirnian 1 laroldson, the (ireman, were instantly 
killed, while a deck hand named Andrew Johnson 
and the Chinese cook were severely injured. The 
engineer was the only jjcrson to esca])e entirely and 
even he was severely shaken up. I'orlunately 
there were no ])assengcrs upon the hoat, an mnisual 
occurrence, hut she was heavily loaded with hay 
and grain, which, together with the steamer itself, 
was a total loss. C"a])tain ( )lney was well known 
and highly esteemed upon the sound, wliere he had 
been engaged in steanihoaliiig for ;i number of 
years. 

There was a rapid development in the upper 
p.irl of the county during the summer of 1888. 
rile liltlc town of Lyman had become the center of 
a very active pojjulation of both loggers and farm- 
ers, and between it and Moimt Vernon there were 
.seventeen logging camj)s, em])loying two hundred 
and forty-three men. Another region which 
started then upon a career of development whicli 
has rendered it one of the attractive and jiroductive 
regions of the Skagit country was Walker's val- 
ley, which was settled by Iliigh Walker in 188K. 
He and some of the settlers who came later spent 
eighty-seven days in cutting a road to Mount Ver- 
non. 

Kailn,ads an.l nnn.,rs ..f railroads continued 
lo be in the air. Senator Canlield would bv no 
means admit that his road was dead, and is rejiorted 
in the Seattle Enterprise as .saying that he exiiected 
to bnild from Seattle to Lowell on the Snohomish 
river, thence to the Skagit at a point half-way be- 
tween Mount Vernon and Sterling, and from there 
in a straight line to Whatcom. .Another companv, 
the I'nget .Sound, Skagit & lui.stern. was incor- 
I'orated and the articles of incorporation were filed 
in the auditor's office on SeiHember !(;, 1888, the 
incori)orators and trustees being John Cam|)bell. 
of ICngland. and II. W. Wheeler. [."M. Moore, and 
W. L. McMillan, of Seattle. The aim of the com- 
pany was to build a road from liurrow's bay in 
Skagit county U> Camp Si)okane on the Columbia 
river in Lincoln comUy. Like man\ .inolber great 
enterprise of that excited time, tliis rem.ained n 
I)ai)er i)roi)osition. 

The Skagit X'ews of December 10, 1HH8, quotes 



from the Washington i'armer an article whicli gives 
so clear a view of the logging interests of Skagit 
county that it seems worthy of reproduction in 
part. .Among other things the writer describes 
the Moating wharf in Samish bay as follows; "It 
is at this lloat that one of the most extensive log- 
ging camps in Washington territory receives its 
su])plies. This lloat is two mill's from the end of 
the logging road known as the Hlanchard railway 
and the road is two miles from the village of 
luli.son. The track is four miles long, a standard 
gauge, with steel rails and a full-Hedged steam loco- 
motive and thirty logging cars. Tlic camp works 
an average of ninety men, who get out seventy-five 
thousand feet of logs |)er day, working about eight 
months in the year, m.iking the amnial outinit 
eighteen million feel, sold at seven dollars per 
thousand, or a total of one hundred and twenty-six 
thou.sand dollars per ainium. The jiay-roll of the 
camp is about one hundred and eighty dollars per 
day. Jujr moving logs in places too rough for 
cattle, two stationary donkey engines are used. 
The com])any is now having made a steam skidder, 
.such as it uses in Michigan and California. The 
contrivance co.sts about ten thou.sand dollar.s. It 
consists of a twenty horse-jjower engine, set near 
a marsh or deep ravine, and from it is run a large 
cable stretched tightly from tree to tree. ( )n this 
cable there are three liietal carriages, and from them 
dro]) i)rongs or grappling hooks which clutch the 
logs and hoist them clear of the ground and then 
they are run to the dumping-])lace." 

The writer then enumerates eleven camps in 
the vicinity of Ivdison and I'.ayview which em|)loy 
two hundred and twenty men and get out thirty- 
eight million feet of logs annually. Upon the Ska- 
git river he found nineteen camjjS eini)loying fom- 
hundred men and getting oiU eighty million feet a 
year. He says that the average logging camp con- 
tains sixteen men and one team of seven yoke of 
oxen. The total expense of a camj), he .says, was 
sixty dollars jier day, and the value of the output a 
hundred and fifty (lollars |)er day. Thus the i)ro- 
prietor would make a profit of ninety dollars per 
day upon his investment if he owned the timber. 
If he did not own the timber stnmpage would cost 
him sevent_\-five cents per thousan<l. 

Inasnnich as the close of the year 1888 marks 
the end of the period of territorial history and 188!t 
witnes.sed the inauguration of statehood', it will be 
found of interest to preserve a record here of the 
increa.se in the value of i)roperly for the years 188:! 
to 18.S8 inclusive. 

188;; 

\'alue of l;mds $ ].'),',, 21. 1. 00 

Value of improvements 27 ,'.l\C> .00 

\ aine of p.rso„;il pi-oi)ertv \',>S>\:'u JH) 



Value of all properly. . 
Total amount of taxes. 



.$ ;)0!),!tI8.00 

(■,,H\r,.'.)\ 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



1884 

Acres assessed 1"3:J,168 

Acres improved 9,303 

Value of lands $ 515,907.00 

Value of improvements 95,843.00 

Value of jK-rsonal i)roperty 291,131.00 

Value of all ])roperty $ 902,870.00 

Total amount of taxes 16,233.41 

1885 

Acres assessed 149,548 

Acres improved 11,375 

Value of lands $ 530,610.00 

Value of improvements 148,777.00 

Value of personal property 284,669.00 

Value of all property $ 9.54,056.00 

Total amount of taxes 19,040.43 

188G 

Acres assessed 182,553 

Acres improved 12,772 

Value of lands $ 664,457.00 

Value of im]irovemcnts 174,272.00 

Value of personal ])ropcrty 356,651.00 

V.-dne of all property $1,195,380.00 

Total anioimt of taxes 25.4 61.51 

1887 

Acres assessed 1SS.I36 

Acres improved 1 1,576 

Value of lands $ 682,472.00 

Value of improvements 183,304.00 

\'ahu' of personal property 379,797.00 

\ aluc of all property $1,345,573.00 

Tola! .-unouut of taxes 25,213.24 



1888 



operly. 



.$i.4(io,(ioi.on 



I'rom the available census returns it appears 
that the population in 1885, was 2,816; in 1887, 
3,686; in 1889, 6,111. The immense preponder- 
ance of males over females in the last year is ob- 
servable, there hcino; -|,|0S of llie former and 1,703 
of the latter. 

The great event of the year 1S,S9 for both the 
territory of Washington and the county of Skagit 
was the acquisition of statehood and the constitu- 
tional convention leading thereto, l^or the purpose 
of electing delegates to the convention the territory 
was divided into districts. The wrath of uiany peo- 
ple in Skagit county was aroused by the fact that it 
was divided between Wiiatcom 'and Snohomish 



counties, thirteen precincts being assigned to the 
former and ten to the latter. Skagit people seem 
to have anticipated evil consequences for them- 
selves, as they were also disposed to attribute sinis- 
ter motives to somebody in thus smothering their 
identity with their neighbors of the north and south. 
Their fears, however, were unfounded, for at the 
general election held on May 14th, three Skagit 
county men were chosen: Harrison Clothier and 
Thomas Hayton from the district comprising Sno- 
homish and southern Skagit, and James Power from 
the district comprising Whatcom and northern 
Skagit. 

Mr. Power became somewhat distinguished in 
the constitutional convention for the provision 
which he introduced for a confirmation of all United 
States patent titles to tide and overflowetl lands. 
The general practice of the government had been 
hitherto to yield such lands to the states upon their 
admission, therefore many considered the confirma- 
tion of these titles to be in the interest of land-grab- 
bers upon the sound. Eastern Washington dele- 
gates, headed by George Turner, op])osed the 
Power provision on that ground but Mr. Power 
succeeded in convincing the convention that the 
claimants to those tide lands were worthy citizens, 
that the lands had in many cases already been re- 
claimed, and that to jeopardize title to them would 
work a great injustice to the settlers. Snohomish 
and Skagit counties were the ones chiefly affected 
by this provision and the lands under consideration 
constituted some of the fairest and most productive 
portions of those counties. 

A brief glance at the resources of Skagit 
county, as manifested in 1889, may be fitting at 
this point, .\lready, probably, sufficient attention 
has been given to the vast lumbering developments 
of the decade then closing. They were well known 
to the world. l!ut the latent possibilities of the 
coal and iron deposits upon the Skagit river were 
little known at that time. The facts in relation to 
this feature of Skagit county were brought out in 
a very interesting manner in the form of a printed 
report by Muir Picken, a mining engineer, and by 
hiiu submitted to a senatorial committee consisting 
of .Senators .\lIison, Hoar, Dolph, Hale and Pugh, 
which met in Seattle, June 1, 1889. This report 
states that at Conner's on the Skagit river there are 
three distinct measures of bituminous coal which 
are upon the same line passing through .\aniamo, 
I'ritish Columbia, and belonging to the cretaceous 
epoch, being a first-class bituminous coking coal, 
r.elow the coal measures, the report contiiuies, are 
iron measures of a good quality of brown hematite 
iron ore, carrying from forty-five to fifty per cent, 
of metallic iron. There were four of these iron 
lodes which, by their claimants, were styled re- 
spectively the Tyee, the Mabel, the Last Chance 
and the Tacoma. Mr. Picken said that the coal 
:ui(i iron region was eighty miles in length by 



SKAGIT COUNTY, 1883-9 



twenty-four miles in breadth. The Conner mine 
was subsequent!)- bonded by the Skagit-Cumberland 
Coal Company of San Francisco, which sent W. A. 
Jones about the 1st of Alay to enter upon the work 
of development on a large scale. lie built at once 
a Hume six hundred feet long with a seventy-foot 
head, carrying a volume of water sufficient to fill a 
thirty-inch pipe, which carried the water from the 
head to the "Knight's" wheel of the compressor. 
The compressor was sufficiently large to furnish 
four hundred and fifty horse-power, by which the 
manager e.xpected to run three Sj^-inch Rix 
& Furth drills. The steamer Bailey delivered 
three loads of machinery which they at once began 
to use in the sinking of a tunnel three thousand feet 
deep. The supply of coal lay in such a position 
that it could be very cheaply and rapidly brought 
to the surface and placed within reach of transpor- 
tation. For some reason, however, the Cumberland 
Coal Company did not remain permanently in the 
business of developing these properties, and they 
have been idle for many years. With rapidly in- 
creasing wealth, population and productions, and 
with brightening hopes for the future, Skagit 
county, with her sister counties, joined the tri- 
umphant march into statehood. The event of en- 
trance ui)on statehood was one of so great imjxir- 
tance that it requires a brief account at this point in 
our history. The i^ossibilities of the territory of 
Washington were obviously so vast to the people 
living within it that they could not understand the 
comparative indifference with which the law-mak- 
ers in Washington had viewed for a number of 
years their eager demands to be admitted to the 
union, but the fact of the case was that the great 
majority of people east of the Rocky mountains 
were then in gross ignorance of the possibilities of 
the Pacific states. Some of them are not much 
better at the present time. With increasing popu- 
lation, however, the pressure became too great to 
be resisted and on February 23, 1889, a bill grant- 
ing statehood to Washington, Montana, North 
Dakota and South Dakota became a law. 

Under the enabling act seventy-five delegates 
were to be chosen from the different portions of the 
territory who should meet in the capital on the 4th 
of July for the purpose of adopting a state consti- 
tution. The enabling act specified that this consti- 
tution must be republican in form and must make 
no distinction in civil or political rights on account 
of race or color, and must be in harmony with the 
Constitution of tlie United States and the Declara- 
tion of Independence. The act also specified that 
the state constitution must provide for complete 
religious toleration, disclaim all right and title to 
all unappropriated public lands and to all Indian 
tribal lands, provide for the assumption and pay- 
ment of the debts and liabilities i)f tile territorV 



and establish and maintain a system of public 
schools open to all children of the state and free 
from sectarian control. The act also provided that 
a constitution should be submitted to the voters at 
an election to be held on the first Tuesday in Octo- 
ber, and that if adopted it should be forwarded to 
the president of the United States and if satisfac- 
tory that he should then issue a proclamation de- 
claring the state admitted into the Union. The 
enabling act also provided for the transfer to the 
state of all the unapjjropriated sixteenth and thirty- 
sixth sections in each township for the maintenance 
of common schools ; granted fifty sections of unap- 
propriated lands for the erection of public buildings 
at the capital ; provided that five per cent, of the 
proceeds of the sale of public lands which should 
be sold by the United States subsequent to the ad- 
mission of Washington into the Union should be 
paid to the state as a permanent school fund ; 
granted seventy-two sections of land for mainte- 
nance of a university ; granted ninety thousand 
acres for the support of an agricultural college, and 
one hundred thousand acres each for a scientific 
school, a state normal school, and for a capitol 
building; and granted to the state charitable, edu- 
cational, ])enal and reformatory institutions which 
should be established, two hundred thousand acres. 
The foregoing were the important provisions of the 
enabling act, though there were a number of others 
naturally involved in them. 

In accordance with the provisions of the enab- 
ling act the constitutional convention having been 
duly chosen, met as specified on the 4th of July 
and continued in session till the 34th of August. 
They then submitted the results of their work to 
the voters for acceptance or rejection. Two sep- 
arate articles, one providing for female suflfrage 
and one for prohibiting the sale of intoxicating 
liquors, were also submitted with the constitution. 
The constitution was accepted by the voters of the 
territory by a vote of thirty-eight thousand, three 
hundred and ninety-four to eleven thousand, eight 
hundred and ninety-five. It was a general matter 
of surpri.se that the vote against acceptance was so 
large. Both the woman suffrage and prohibition 
clauses were rejected. 

At twenty-.seven minutes past five o'clock on the 
llth day of December, 1889, President Harrison 
signed his proclamation announcing that Washing- 
ton had become a state of the Federal Union. The 
name of President Harrison and that of Secretary 
of State James G. Blaine were signed to this proc- 
lamation with a pen made from Washington gold 
in a holder of ebonized laurel made within the state 
of Washington itself for that special purpose ; and 
the great commonwealth of Wa.shington received 
its just recognition as being worthy of a place in 
the bright constellation of states. 



CHAPTER IV 



SKAGIT COUNTY, 1889-97 



The winter of 1889-90 was a very cold and 
severe one in Skagit county, more so than at most 
other points on the coast. "Dad" Patterson, a 
well-known citizen of Mount Vernon, is authority 
for the statement that for twenty-seven days that 
city was cut off from all communication with the 
outside world. Steamboat navigation was entirely 
blockaded by the masses of ice in the river, and as 
for railroads, there were none in Mount \'ernon at 
that time. 

With the closing of the decade of the eighties 
and the opening of the succeeding one and with the 
entrance of Washington into statehood, began a 
lieriod in Skagit county the most active and the 
most excited that that part of the world has ever 
witnessed. This activity and excitement were man- 
ifested in many ways; by the rapid growth of 
towns, the soaring of land above prices that were 
normal or even reasonable, the inauguration of all 
sorts of industrial enterprises, the unprecedented 
rush of immigrants. Concerning the last point we 
oliserve the following item in the Skagit News of 
March IS, 1S89: "At no time in the past has Skagit 
county received the number of immigrants that are 
now pouring in. Every boat comes loaded with 
home seekers. A year from now good available 
government land will be scarce. The prospective 
opening of several railroads will assist materially 
in the settlement of the county." In fact, the activ- 
ity in railroad enterprises was the most noticeable 
indication of the general activity. Throughout the 
county rights of way were being surveyed and 
graded, conii-)anies formed and plans for railroads 
drawn up, many of which roads were built only on 
pajicr, though several of them actually materialized, 
at least in part. One of the latter was the Seattle 
& Northern. The company projecting this road 
had been incorporated in Seattle in November, 
1888, the incorporators being W. H. Holcomb, of 
Portland, Elijah Smith, J. PI. Benedict, Charles F. 
Tagg, J. T. tilnev. Prof. W. Smith, E. L. Frank 
and E. S. Hoolev,' of New York, T. J. Milner and 
J. C. Haines, of Seattle, and H. L. Tibballs, Jr., of 
Port Townsend. The capital stock of the company 
was five million dollars, its object to build a rail- 
road from Seattle via Whatcom to the Canadian 
boundary line anil branches from the Skagit river 
cast up that river and the Sauk to Spokane and 
from the Skagit river west via Fidalgo island to 
Ship harbor and Admiralty PTcad on Whidbv 



island. Only a small part of these extensive plans 
were eventually executed. Active work was begun 
in June, 1889, under the management of Captain F. 
Hill and by the 1st of August twenty miles of the 
road from Ship harbor to the Skagit valley were 
graded and bridged. This much was required to 
fulfill the terms of a contract by which a large 
amount of land on the islands was to be acquired ; 
then the work was suspended until the spring of the 
following year. Many of the contracts for bridges, 
trestles, telegraph lines, cars, etc., were let to the 
Oregon Improvement Company, the real financial 
backer of the enterprise ; others to the San Fran- 
cisco Bridge Company and to Tatum & Bowen of 
Portland. Two thousand rails which had been 
lying on Ballast island were shipped north and laid 
as fast as possible and another consignment was 
ordered from the East. On August 5th the road 
was put in the hands of the operating department 
and regular trains commenced running daily be- 
tween Auacortes and Sedro, at the latter of which 
places junction was made with the Seattle, Lake 
Shore & Eastern railroad. The Seattle & North- 
ern continued to within six miles of Hamilton, 
where it suddenly ceased, to the great distress of 
the people of that place, the reason for the suspen- 
sion being that the Oregon Improvement Company 
was financially embarrassed and unable to continue 
the work of construction. In the early part of Jan- 
uary, 1891, however, work was resumed under the 
direction of a receiver ; about two months later the 
track was laid as far as Hamilton and soon after 
trains were running to that place. The service on 
the new road was excellent and was duly appre- 
ciated by the peo]ile of the county. 

The Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern was pro- 
gressing rapidly during this period. In December, 
1889, a number of contracts were let for the clear- 
ing and grading of fifteen miles immediately south 
of the Skagit river and thirty miles north of it. 
Nearly two thousand men were put to work on 
these sections. 

Another railmad that was iiuite active in the 
Skagit valley at this time was the Fairhaven & 
Southern. There was considerable rivalry between 
this road and the Seattle & Northern, also the Seat- 
tle, Lake Shore & Eastern or West Coast, as this 
branch of it was generally designated. In Decem- 
ber, 1889, the Fairhaven & Southern and the West 
Coast were both fighting for the possession of a nar- 





.OGGTXr;" AND "CLT'ARING" 



SKAGIT COUNTY, 1889-97 



row pass around McMurray lake. The crew of the 
former road was encamped near and was expect- 
ing to go to work on the pass the next day before 
tlie otlicr crew could get to it, but during the night 
a force of men under Earle & McLcod came up by 
pack train from Fir, went into camp in the vicinity 
of (lie pass without making any demonstration and 
the next morning before sunrise made their way 
through the woods to the pass and were in full 
possession fifteen minutes before the Fairhaven & 
Southern crew arrived. P>y this coup the Fair- 
haven & Southern or Bennett road, as it was somc- 
liiiH's named, was deprived of this route, whicli it 
was obliged to leave to the West Coast. The first 
train on the Fairhaven & Southern into Sedro was 
on the 34th of December, ]889. This railroad was 
sold the following year to the Great Northern, 
which was beginning to spread its mighty arm over 
the county. The formal transfer occurred on the 
'?Olli of February, 1891. The western branch of 
the Great Northern, which was being built at this 
time, was commonly known as the Seattle & Mon- 
tana railroad. It extended from Seattle along the 
coast through Mount Vernon to New Westminster 
in Tiritish Columbia. To secure its construction 
through their city the citizens of Mount Vernon 
granted it a right of way and one hundred acres of 
land. In September, 1890, new camps were estab- 
lished all along the line, so that there was scarcely 
a mile between Seattle and the Skagit river upon 
which work was not being done. In September, 
1891, the track-laying machine began laying track 
between the Skagit and .Stillaguamish rivers, the 
only unfinished section at the time, and it was com- 
pleted and the last spike driven on the T2th of Oc- 
tober at a point one mile south of Stanwood, though 
there were still about twenty-one miles to be bal- 
lasted before trains could be run over the line. 
This was finished in November. The Seattle 
Chamber of Commerce held an excursion on the 
27th of that month on the occasion of the formal 
opening of the road, in a train of nine coaches and 
.1 dining-car, all gayly decorated. Music was fur- 
nisJK'd by the First Regiment band of Seattle. The 
excursion proceeded through Mount Vernon, where 
Judge J. T. Ronald of Seattle delivered a short 
address, and then on to the end of the line at New 
Westminster. Thus was celebrated the opening 
of an important branch of one of the greatest rail- 
roads on the continent, a oiilroad which has done as 
much, perhaps, as any other one agency to develop 
the resources and stimulate the growth of the 
Northwest. Skagit county, while disappointed in 
in the hope that the main transcontinental line of 
llic Great Northern would traverse her territory, 
was nevertheless benefited to a very great degree 
by its close proximity and bv the branch line con- 
necting with it. The Great Northern was com- 
pleted on the 6th of January, 189.1, the last spike 



being driven at a point thirteen miles west of Stev- 
ens pass in the Cascades. 

Besides the substantial railroads which have 
been mentioned, there was a multitude of others 
which, as a result of the general excitement of the 
times, were projected, but most of which did not 
materialize. One of these was * known as the 
Samish, Skagit Valley & Spokane Railroad Com- 
pany, incorporated in April, 1889, with a capital 
stock of three million dollars. On April 8, 1890, 
the Ship Harbor & Spokane Ivills Railroad Com- 
pany was incorporated, with a capital stock of six 
hundred thousand dollars, its object to build a rail- 
road from Puget sound to Spokane. The trustees 
were J. M. Buckley, William H. Holcomb and J. K. 
Buckley. About the same time a company known 
as the San Juan de Fuca Ship Canal & Railroad 
Company was incorporated by H. C. Walters, John 
Marshall, Theodore Wygant, F. K. Arnold, Lee 
Hofifman and William A. Bantz, with a capital of 
two million dollars. This was a boom scheme and 
never materialized into anything substantial. An- 
other of the same character was the Northwestern 
Railroad Company, of which the principal promotor 
was Richard Nevins, Jr. This company proposed 
to build a railroad about one hundred miles long 
with Mount Vernon as the center and extending 
east from that point to the Hamilton coal mines, 
and west to La Conner, to Edison and to a connec- 
tion with the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern. Still 
another boom scheme was the La Conner, Mount 
Vernon & Eastern Railroad Company, incorporated 
by Leonard C. Whitfield, Milton Van Dvke and 
Richard Hussey, of Seattle, with a capital stock of 
seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Its pur- 
I)ose as set forth was to construct a railroad from 
La Conner through the Cascades to the Columbia 
river. 

By the number and magnitude of these schemes 
one can gain some idea of the eager excitement into 
which the entire region was thrown, an excitement 
equaled at no other time in the history of the 
county. But it was not confined to railroads. 
Every interest and every industry partook of the 
general fever. The price of land rose to unex- 
ampled heights and the number of real estate trans- 
fers was greater than ever before. This was par- 
ticularly the case with town property. In this con- 
nection we note the following in the Skagit News 
of January 1,3, 1890: "At no time in the history of 
the state has there been such a boom in town lots 
as at present. The boom is not confined to one 
locality, but the whole sound country is flooded with 
embryo towns and additions to towns already es- 
tablished. This property is held by active real 
estate agents, who, in flaming advertisements, paint 
the glowing future of their particular localitv and 
enumerate railroads by the score which are partic- 
ularly anxious to build in their town. Of course, 
m some instances, their statements are warranted 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



by the facts, but in a great many cases the boom 
originated in the fertile mind of the real estate shark 
who is anxious to unload his property at an enor- 
mous profit. It seems that so long as there are 
suckers the real estate men will continue to hook 
them. In fact, they bite with such rapidity that 
they fall over each other in their attempt to get at 
the bait. There will be a crash in the real estate 
market one of these days and many a victim will 
suffer from the effects of this wildcat speculation. 
The history of the California boom seems to have 
conveyed lio lesson to Washington investors." 

New towns and additions to towns were spring- 
ing up by the score. Every one who had property 
that could be platted into town lots had the same 
surveyed and sold it readily at an enormous profit. 
Plats of new towns and additions were filed at the 
auditor's office at the rate of five or six a week. 
During the period from the 1st of Januar_\', 1890, 
until the middle of March the following plats were 
filed: Fidalgo, Birdsview, Dyer's plat of Lyman, 
Haller's second addition to Edison, Riverview addi- 
tion to Avon, Cumberland, First addition to Sedro, 
Central addition to Sedro, City of Anacortes, Con- 
over's plat of Anacortes, Fidalgo addition to the 
city of Anacortes, Fairvicw addition to Anacortes, 
Central addition to Anacortes, Colver's addition to 
Anacortes, J. H. Havekost's addition to Anacortes, 
Grand View addition to Anacortes, First addition 
to the city of Anacortes, J. M. Moor's addition to 
Anacortes, Hagadorn & Stewart's first addition to 
Anacortes. E. O. Tade's first addition to Anacortes, 
Kyle's addition to Anacortes, Mrs. Mary Eubank's 
first addition to Anacortes, Kellogg & Ford's addi- 
tion to Anacortes, G. Kellogg's addition to Anacor- 
tes, Pleasant Slope addition to Anacortes, King's 
first addition to Anacortes, Tuttle & Buckley's plat 
of Anacortes, Nelson's addition to Anacortes, Bur- 
don's first addition to Anacortes, City of North 
Anacortes, Seattle Syndicate's f^rst addition to 
Anacortes, Chapman's addition to Anacortes, Fi- 
dalgo Bay addition to Anacortes, Parson's addition 
to Anacortes, Whitney's first addition to Anacortes, 
Wood's plat of North Anacortes, Philips' addition 
to the city of Fidalgo, Carlyle's addition to Fidalgo, 
Bowman's Central Ship Harbor water-front i^lat 
of Anacortes, Griffin's first addition to Anacortes, 
Curtis' first addition to Anacortes, Beale's addition 
to Anacortes. 

It will be observed that of these forty-two plats, 
thirty-two were in the city of Anacortes. It was 
here that the tumult and fever of speculation raged 
fiercest. People came by trainloads to view the 
town site and pick up land which they hoped to sell 
in a short time at double or treble the cost. Fabu- 
lous sums were spent in these speculations. In a 
few months the population of Anacortes rose from 
a few dozen to several thousand. Broad streets 
were laid out and brick blocks erected. The city 
was incorporated as a city of the third class, a 



mayor and council were elected and the other de- 
partments of city government carried on. On the 
Fourth of July, 1890, a celebration was held such 
as had seldom or never been seen before in the 
county, the fireworks being the most gorgeous ever 
displayed on that part of the sound. Thousands of 
people were present. Anacortes was indeed a 
most lively and jirosperous city until the boom 
finally broke, when many men were ruined, hun- 
dreds of thousands of dollars being lost. However, 
it is now one of the most thrifty, prosperous towns 
along the coast. 

There were other booms of much smaller di- 
mensions throughout the county, while some places 
escaped them almost entirely. Mount Vernon, the 
county seat, which had been rather quiet for some 
time, began picking up, but in a steady and healthy 
manner. The building of the Great Northern 
railroad through the city, for which the citizens 
gave land and cash to the amount of sixty-five 
thousand dollars, gave a great impetus to business 
operations of all kinds. Its population was be- 
tween nine hundred and one thousand. 

In October, 1890, a company was formed, 
known as the Skagit County Agricultural Society, 
in which W. J. McKenna was one of the prime 
movers. Its capital stock was twenty-five thousand 
dollars, and its object to hold an annual comity fair 
and stock competition at Bayview. Many of the 
farmers and others interested jjurchased stock, but 
unfortunatel)' the enterprise did not succeed. 

The rapid growth of the county may be indi- 
cated by the increase in population since the previ- 
ous year. In 1889 there were G.lll people in the 
county; in 1890, 8,730, being an increase of '^,019. 

In the winter of 1889-90 two important memo- 
rials were presented to congress dealing with the 
improvement of navigation in the Swinomish chan- 
nel and Skagit river. The first was offered by 
Representative Edens and was as follows : 

"Your memoralists. the legislature of the state 
of Washington, would respectfully represent that 
the growing commerce of Puget sound, more es- 
pecially between Olympia, Tacoma and Seattle on 
the one hand, and La Conner, Anacortes. Fair- 
haven, Bellingham, Sehome and Whatcom on the 
other, require certain dredging improvements in 
the Swinomish channel, dividing Fidalgo island 
from the mainland, in Skagit county, and connect- 
ing Skagit bay on the south with Padilla and 
Bellingham bays on the north. This route affords 
safe and sheltered navigation along the eastern 
shores of Puget sound between the principal cities 
above referred to. Owing to a few bars in Swino- 
mish channel, most of the numerous steamers now 
plying in these waters and carrying hundreds of 
passengers daily have to go through Deception pass, 
between Whidby and Fidalgo islands, which pass 
being verv narrow, with perpendicular rocks on 
either side and a swift raging current at certain 



SKAGIT COUNTY, 1889-97 



stages of the ebb and flow of the tide, is dangerous 
to navigation. It is therefore essential that Swi- 
nomish channel be improved so as to avoid the 
perils of the Deception pass route. Besides the 
advantage of the Swinomish channel as a through 
line from one end of the sound to the other, it is 
the local outlet for the products of Skagit county, 
the most important agricultural county of western 
Washington, producing, as it does, some eight 
thousand tons of hay and twenty thousand tons of 
grain annually. It is estimated that one- hundred 
thousand dollars judiciously expended in dredging 
the channel would render incalculable benefit to the 
commerce of Puget sound ; and we respectfully 
ask that congress appropriate that sum for the pur- 
pose, and in so doing we only voice a recommenda- 
tion already approved and endorsed by the boards of 
trade or municipalities of the cities of Olympia, 
Tacoma, Seattle, La Conner and Whatcom, and 
petitions numerously signed by the people along 
the line." 

Appropriations for the purpose stated in this 
memorial were later made by congress to the 
amount of about seventy-five thousand dollars. The 
work was a most important one and added greatly 
to the commercial importance of Skagit county. 
Almost at the same time with the above memorial 
another, concerning a matter of almost equal con- 
sequence, was presented by Senator Paine, which 
read as follows : 

To the Honorable the Senate and llonsc of Representatives 
of the United States: 

Your memorialists, the legislature of the state of 
Washington, do most earnestly and urgently request your 
honorable body to appropriate one hundred thousand dol- 
lars for the improvement of the Skagit river. 

The Skagit river, which empties into Utsalady bay, 
one of the large sheets of water forming Puget sound, is 
the largest river in western Washington. Its drainage 
basin contains 2,800 .square miles, including 300 square 
miles of fertile valley land nearly level, and is covered with 
dense forests, principally of fir. cedar, spruce and cotton- 
wood. The river varies' in width from ."iOO to fiOO feet and 
can, by judicious expenditure of one hundred thousand 
dollars, be made navigable for a distance of 90 miles for 
steamers drawing from five to six feet of water. This 
accom,plished, Skagit valley will become one of the most 
productive and richest valleys in the United States, and 
will give employment and support to a population of fifty 
thousand persons. Its present population is about five 
thousand. 

The iron ore already discovered and located in the 
mountains, at whose base the river courses, is estimated 
by experts as sufficient in quantity and quality to supply 
the wants of the United States for centuries. Contiguous 
to these iron mountains are vast deposits of limestone. 

The great coal fields of Skagit valley are unsurpassed 
in quality. The veins now open and awaiting transpor- 
tation facilities, there being no railroad in the valley, are 
the Bennett, showing a thirty-foot face, the Cumberland, 
showing a fifteen-foot face, and the Conner, showing a 
twelve-foot face. These three mines would, inside of 
sixty days, if the necessary improvements prayed for are 
made, furnish the nxarkets of the world 1,.W0 tons of coal 
daily, and the additional mines that would be opened wo\tld 
swell the output of coal in the valley TlOOO tons daily. 



The coal can be floated down on barges to Utsalady bay 
and then loaded on ocean vessels ready for shipment to 
any port in the world. Iron, coal and limestone in con- 
tiguous mountains insure the building of large iron works 
in this valley. 

The Skagit river, once made a navigable highway to 
the ocean, will protect the producer against exorbitant 
freight rates in the future, and accelerate the opening of 
its manifold resources now lying dormant. 

Besides its vast wealth in minerals, there are floated 
down the Skagit river from fortv to fifty million feet of 
logs yearly. . . , , 

Its soil is of the richest, producmg ui hay from three 
to four tons per acre ; oats from % to 130 bushels per acre. 
Its fruits are equal to those of California. Sugar beets, 
potatoes and other roots are wondrously prolific in growth. 
A fine quality of tobacco is also raised. 

The granting of the prayer of your memorialists will 
open up the vast resources of this valley, for which your 
memorialists will ever pray. 

About this time there were soine agitations in 
Fidalgo and Guemes islands against the Chinese. 
A meeting was held on December 28th in Anacortes, 
at which a number of resolutions were adopted, in 
which were detailed at length all the objections 
against this unwelcome race. The principal ones 
were that they were non-assimilative, that they sent 
all their earnings to China and were therefore a con- 
stant financial drain upon the country, that their 
cheap labor was ruinous and destructive to all com- 
petition, that their moral habits were frightful and 
degrading to all with whom they came in contact. 
Therefore the citizens of Fidalgo and Guemes 
islands jjresent at this meeting resolved at once to 
take measures to get rid of the Chinese who were 
already on the islands and to ])revent the advent of 
any more. Their action, however, ceased with the 
resolution, as nothing more definite was ever done, 
though the Celestials remained away from the 
islands until the establishment of the canneries. 
Even then the eniployers secured the citizens' per- 
mission to introduce Chinese labor. 

The logging industry was quite active during 
1890, about 46,000,000 'feet being cut during the 
season. Some 327 men were employed, 114 o.xen, 
30 horses, and 25 miles of tramway and skid roads. 
The largest outfit in the entire region was that of 
I'.lanchard & Sons, whose output was about 
20,000,000 feet of logs. They had a five-mile railroad 
of standard gauge and six locomotives, and the value 
of their rolling stock and improveinents was 
$100,000. They owned 1,400 acres of timber land 
and employed 100 men. Other loggers in the 
county, with their outputs, were Mitchell Thibcrt, 
3,000,000 feet: Vike & Company, 1,000,000 feet; 
Clothier & English, 5,000,000 feet ; Eugene Taylor, 
2,000,000 feet ; W. F. McKav. 6.000,000 feet ; Reed 
& Blodgett, 3.000,000 feet; H. D. Cole, 4,000,000 
feet ; George O'Brien. 3,000.000 feet ; and Ferguson 
Brothers. 

In the summer of 1890 public attention was 
attracted by an attempted highway robbery, which 
occurred on the 4th of .Atignst. On the evening of 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



that day Captain W. A. Jones, who had just re- 
turned to Hamilton from Seattle with the monthly 
pay for the men in the Skagit-Cumberland coal 
mines, crossed the river on the ferry and started to 
walk to his office, which was about a hundred rods 
from the edge of the river. He had gone about 
half the distance when there suddenly appeared in 
front of him a masked man who leveled a revolver 
at his head and ordered him to throw u]) his hands. 
Captain Jones had no alternative, so he promptly 
complied. He was then driven before the gun to 
one side of the road, where the highwayman pro- 
ceeded to blindfold him, tie him to a tree and relieve 
him of the money which he was carrying to the 
mine. This done he warned him not to make any 
noise and started back to the road. He had chosen 
a very inopportune time for doing so, however, for 
on stepping out of the woods he walked into a party 
of miners, who, hearing the shouts of Captain Jones, 
at once attacked the robber. The latter immediately 
pulled his gun and commenced shooting, at the same 
time trying to make his escape, but one of the miners 
seized him by the arm and another hit him over 
the head with a paddle, knocking him down so that 
he was easily secured. The deputy sheriff, T. F. 
Moody, soon appeared on the scene and took the 
fellow to Mount Vernon, where he was lodged in 
the county jail. His name was found to be Joe 
Frey. He had been seen once or twice in Hamilton, 
where he probably discovered the method of pay- 
ment at the mines. 

The men who happened along in the nick of time 
and captured the robber were Hans Brendt, Geo. A. 
Hanson, John D. Allen, Samuel Drake and Pat 
McGee. They were each presented with a hand- 
some revolver by the Skagit-Cumberland Coal 
Company as a token of gratitude for their deed. 

The year 18!)0 was also marked by a smallpox 
epidemic which raged almost exclusively among 
the Indians during the summer. Scores of them 
died of the dread disease, the mortality being un- 
usually high. The woods were full of afflicted and 
dead Indians. Corpses floating down the river were 
often seen. People at last became afraid to venture 
into the woods or along shore and the county hired 
men to hunt for these unfortunates and attend them, 
to bury the dead, and to burn potlatch houses and 
other property that the infection might be stopped. 

The most interesting event that happened in 
the spring of 1891 was the organization of the Ska- 
git County Pioneer Association. Such organiza- 
tions are always of the greatest interest in western 
communities, where the memory of early hardships 
and early struggles and sacrifices and achievements 
yet remains. The pioneers may be passing away, 
but they leave behind them a memorial in their deeds 
which will be remembered and venerated as long 
as memorA' endures. The first meeting of the old 
settlers of Skagit county was held in Moimt Vernon 
on April 2r)th, and Orrin Kincaid was elected its 



chairman, G. E. Hartson its secretary. A committee 
was appointed, consisting of G. E. Hartson, Otto 
Klement and B. N. L. Davis, to draw up a con- 
stitution. It was then decided to postpone perma- 
nent organization until the next meeting, which 
would be held at Skagit City on June 6th, when a 
picnic and grand reunion would also be held. 

The 6th of June began unpropitiously, there 
being a down-pour of rain in the morning but in 
spite of this the meeting was a great success. After 
addresses by Hon. Orrin Kincaid and G. E. Hartson 
on the object of the organization, a recess was taken 
for dinner. In the afternoon the meeting was again 
called to order and the serious business of the day 
transacted. The by-laws were first read and adopt- 
ed. These stated one of the objects of the organiza- 
tion to be "the preservation of data incident to the 
early settlement of Skagit county." They also 
limited the membership to "all persons who were 
residents of Skagit county prior to and including 
the year 18T5, and continued such residents for a 
period of at least one year, and all persons who 
located claims in said county prior to or at any time 
during said year upon which they have since resided 
for a period of not less than one year." 

The date for the annual meetings was fixed for 
the first Saturday in August, the next meeting to be 
held in 1893. The officers elected for the first year 
were : Hon. Orrin Kincaid of Mount Vernon, presi- 
dent; T. P. Hastie of Skagit City, first vice-presi- 
dent; J. H. Nash of Fir, second vice-president; 
Jasper Gates of Fir, third vice-president; G. E. 
Hartson of Mount Vernon, secretary and treasurer. 

The following is a list of the members enrolled 
at the first meeting: James H. Nash, Thomas P. 
Hastie, Clara Hastie, William Gage, Henry A. 
Wright, Charles Villeneuve, Richard Garland, Peter 
Kuyl, Etna Garrett, J. M. Zeiller. Clarinda Gates, 
Mary J. Fritz, Ida Guiberson, B. A. Villeneuve, 
G. E. Hartson, Maggie Davis, Laura Hastie, Ella 
Washburn, Eleanor Jones, Mary A. Jones, Charles 
W. Jones, Augustus Hartson, Jasper Gates, G. P. 
Pritchard, Franklyn Buck, Elijah Watkins, Otto 
Klement, J. V. Abbot, Orrin Kincaid, Esther Smith, 
Sarah Gates, F. B. Watkins, Mahallah Hansen. 
James Abbott, Emily L. Gage, Mattie liuck, 
Edward Jones, Thomas J. Jones, Maria Knox, Mar\ 
Gates. Matilda Hartson, Harrison Clothier. Kate Fl. 
Washburn, Rebecca Hartson, Oliver Tingley, J. R. 
H. Danir, S. G. Tingley, D. L. McCormick, William 
Dale, James J. Conner, N. P. Christenson, Mathilda 
Christenson, Robert Christenson, Laura Christen- 
son, William A. Moores, D. E. Kimble; honorary 
members, Mollie Klement, C. C. Hansen, William 
Knox. 

In the spring and sunmier of 1891 the question 
of better wagon roads received considerable atten- 
tion. On May 5th a meeting of those interested in 
this matter was held in the Mount \'ernon court- 
house, E. K. Matlock being chairman. The county 



SKAGIT COUNTY, 



commissioners were invited to be present and were 
presented two petitions signed by several hundred 
citizens, the first asking for an appropriation of 
twenty thousand dollars for the construction of the 
Cascade and Monte Cristo roads ; the other that a 
proposition to bond the county for four per cent, of 
its valuation in order to raise money for the im- 
provement of roads be submitted at a special elec- 
tion. These projects were never carried out as the 
commissioners did not see fit to make an appropria- 
tion of such size for such purposes. The Monte 
Cristo road was finally built, though neither Skagit 
nor Snohomish county contributed much toward its 
construction, the work being done mostly by the 
Monte Cristo Mining Company. 

About this time there was a scheme advanced to 
form a new county out of the eastern part of What- 
com, Skagit and Snohomish counties, to be known 
as Cascade county and to have Sauk City as county 
seat. This scheme was a result of the boom times, 
however, and was never carried out. 

On July 2G, 1891, occurred one of the most de- 
plorable tragedies in the history of the county, and 
one which was shrouded in considerable mystery. 
It was a shooting afifair near Woolley, in which one 
man, George W. Poor, a deputy sheriff of King 
county, was killed outright, and two others, J. E. 
Terry, a Seattle ex-policeman, and J. C. Baird, an 
inspector of customs at Woolley, were wounded. 
The facts as given were these: 

A band of contraband Chinamen were discov- 
ered in the vicinity of Woolley and on Saturday, the 
25th, Inspector Baird sent for James Buchanan, an 
inspector at Blaine, to come and assist him in their 
capture. On Sunday evening Deputy Sheriff 
George W. Poor and Customs Inspector Taylor 
Holden arrived from Seattle, and happening to meet 
Baird, informed him that they were after some 
Chinamen. Holden went to the hotel at Sedro, 
while Poor went on up the Seattle, Lake Shore & 
Eastern track. Baird and Buchanan followed him 
for .some distance and saw him enter the woods and 
soon after reappear in company with J. E. Terry 
and nine Chinamen. Baird went up and com- 
manded them to surrender, saying that he was a 
United States officer. He was answered by several 
revolver shots, one of which inflicted a scalp wound. 
Baird and Buchanan immediately returned the fire 
so effectively that Poor was hit in the heart, and 
immediately killed, while Terry was badly wounded. 
The Chinamen escaped in the meantime but were 
captured the following day. Baird, Buchanan and 
Holden were all arrested. The jury at the inquest 
held on the body of Poor brought in a verdict that 
he met his death by a gun-shot wound inflicted by 
J. C. Baird, but no charge was made. 

The statements made by the different parties 
in the conflict did not agree in every particular. 
The version given by Terry was as follows: "I 
located nine Chinamen who had illegally crossed 



the border and were making southwest. I immedi- 
ately sent for Taylor Holden to come up and help 
me take them. He did come and brought Deputy 
George Poor with him. I explained everything to 
them and a little after ten o'clock we started down 
the Lake Shore & Eastern track. After going a 
short distance Holden concluded to go back and 
watch Sedro and left us. I was to make the arrest. 
Poor and myself pushed on, located the Chinamen 
and placed them under arrest. We then started 
back to Sedro and had proceeded but a short dis- 
tance when I made out two men standing on a little 
knoll some little distance ahead of us. Almost im- 
mediately they began firing at us. The first shot 
went in front of me and I jumped sideways. Then 
I got it in the stomach. I was hit four times in all. 
Poor cried out three times : T have these men under 
arrest! I am a deputy sherifif!" Then George got 
it and he fell saying, 'He has shot me.' When the 
last bullet struck me I sprang into the brush. Then 
I heard one of the men say, 'We have killed him ; 
let us get out,' and they left. They went up the 
track and for town on the run. I knelt at George's 
side and saw that he was dead. I made my way 
back to town, fainting from loss of blood as I 
reached here. I do not know who did the shooting, 
but I understand that Inspectors J. C. Baird and 
James Buchanan are the two who did it." 

According to Baird's story he was convinced that 
Terry was a smuggler and was trying to contrive 
the escape of the Chinamen. He claimed to have 
had previous proof of this, and also that Holden 
was implicated with him in the smuggling business. 
His account of the battle was as follows: "At the 
junction of the railroad and township wagon road, 
as we heard them coming, we hid in the brush, and 
when they came opposite I rushed out and con- 
fronted Terry with my revolver and told him I was 
a deputy customs collector and arrested them in the 
name of the United States. As soon as I spoke 
each of the men fired three shots at me in quick 
succession, and Buchanan and myself returned the 
fire. I shot at them as long as they stood their 
ground, but shot only at Holden and Terry. They 
suddenly took to their heels, while Poor stood his 
ground and shot me in the head. It was not a seri- 
ous wound. It stunned me and I fell to the ground. 
I then commenced firing at Poor. Pretty soon he 
dropped and at the same moment I sprang upon the 
prostrate form. When he fell he threw up his hands 
and said, 'You have shot me and I am a deputy 
sherifif!' They fired between fifteen and eighteen 
shots and Buchanan and I fired ten. I found in 
Poor's pocket a false beard and some colored eye- 
glasses." 

The trial of Baird and Buchanan for the murder 
of Poor resulted in their being exonerated of all 
guilt, and discharged by Judge Tern'. The sym- 
pathy of the crowds that packed the court room 
seemed to be generally in their favor and against 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



Holden, but a great deal of sympathy was also 
expressed for Poor, who was thought to have been 
innocent of any intentional wrong, though perhaps 
the dupe of the two men with whom he was associ- 
ated in the capture of the Chinamen. 

Collector of Customs Charles M. Bradshaw, 
of Port Townsend, upheld Baird, considering that 
he only did his duty. Baird was retained in the 
service, while Holden was discharged, though pre- 
vious to this time Mr. Bradshaw had regarded him 
also as one of his most trustworthy deputies. 

It was in the fall of 18i)l that the Bar Associa- 
tion of Skagit county, which is still in active exist- 
ence and numbers among its members all the prac- 
ticing lawyers of the county, was formed. A 
meeting was held in the court-house at Mount 
Vernon on September Sth, when organization was 
effected and a constitution adopted. The following 
officers were elected : George M. Sinclair, president ; 
B. B. Fowle. vice-president ; D. H. Hartson, secre- 
tary, and Thomas Smith, treasurer. A committee 
on by-laws was appointed, consisting of B. B. 
Fowle, Major Moore and J. Henry Smith. The 
charter members of this association were the fol- 
lowing: George M. Sinclair, Thomas Smith, Henry 
McBride, Major A. M. Moore, J. M. Turner, B. B. 
Fowle, A. M. Cunningham, Wvlie Jones, Sevmour 
Tones, D. H. Hartson, E. C. Million, J. P. Houser, 
W. H. Perry. Geo. A. Joiner, W. Y. Wells, J. C. 
Waugh, A. W. Salsbury, J. Henry Smith, Frank 
Ouinby and Henry McLean. 

The year 1891 was a rather unfortunate one in 
the agricultural line. The harvest season was very 
poor, resulting in serious damage and in some cases 
almost total failure to the hop and oat crops, and to 
add to the misfortune the price at that time was not 
very high. The price of land and the demand for 
it were very good, however, as is shown by the sale 
of some school land on November '^ith, at which 
acreage to the value of over two hundred and thirty 
thousand dollars was sold, the highest price paid 
being one hundred and twent\-six dollars per acre. 

The immense growth of the C( unity during 1891 
and the two previous years may be indicated by the 
assessment rolls. The amount of land assessed was 
372,40,5 acres, and the amount of improved land, 
22,044 acres. The assessed valuation of the land as 
equalized by the board of county commissioners 
was $5,229,861 ; the equalized valuation of improve- 
ments on land, $341,786; of town lots. $o, 572.936 ; 
of improvements thereon, $401,575; railroad track, 
$995,085 ; personal property. $1,003,630. The entire 
equalized valuation of all property was, therefore, 
$11,610,873. This was a tremendous increase since 
1888, at which time the assessed valuation, was 
$1,460,601. This increase was largely the result 
of the widespread and unprecedented booms with 
which the county was filled during this period and 
when these booms broke, there was an immediate 



decline of two or three million dollars in the aggre- 
gate valuation of property. 

In 1892 the county commissioners undertook 
two important improvements, namely, the building 
of bridges across the Swinomish slough and the 
Skagit river at IMount \'ernon. The contract for 
the first was let to John Wilson, of Burlington, for 
four thousand six hundred dollars, and a contract 
for piling the slough from the bridge to the high- 
lands beyond was also let, the successful bidder 
being Fred Ross, of Mount Vernon. This work 
was expected to cost about three thousand dollars. 
The most important bridge was that on the Skagit, 
for which there had long been a demand, as there 
was no way to get across the river except by the 
ferry or the railroad. The question of building a 
wagon bridge had come up three years before, at 
which time the commissioners had submitted a prop- 
osition to levy a special tax of one mill for that 
purpose. The matter had dragged on, however, 
until August, 1892. when the contract for the bridge 
was finally let to Westerman & Yeaton of Seattle, 
for twenty-nine thousand dollars. It was expected 
that it would be completed by the beginning of the 
following year. 

The year 1892 was an exciting one throughout 
the county. The old question of county-seat 
removal, which has been a burning one in so many 
counties, was the absorbing topic of the year. For 
some time a number of cities had been casting en- 
vious eyes at Mount \'ernon and wondering how 
they could gain the coveted honor, one of these 
being Sedro, which by virtue of its central position, 
considered itself the most suitable. Another was 
Burlington, but the most ambitious and the most 
dangerous aspirant was the famous .'Knacortes. It 
is true that the fortunes of Anacortes were begin- 
ning to wane, that the boom which had built it had 
passed its height ; nevertheless it was a dangerous 
rival and was accordingly feared by Mount Vernon. 

The fight put up by Anacortes was a desperate 
one, for the citizens of that place felt that its pres- 
tige was at stake. They endeavored to prevail 
upon Sedro to withdraw from the race, but gener- 
osity is a trait not generally present in county-seat 
struggles, and it was not in this case. In May a 
number of circular letters were sent out from 
Anacortes to prominent citizens throughout the 
county, worded as follows: 

.\nacortes. April 20, 1892. 

Dear Sir : — The Anacortes Business Men's Association 
has been formed for the e.xpress purpose of removing the 
county seat of Skagit county from Mount Vernon to 
Anacortes. 

This we will undertake to do if you will give us your 
aid. The executive committee have deemed it advisable 
to request lot owners to submit to an assessment of $10 
a lot in order to create a campaign fund to carry on this 
work and we hope that you will see it to your advantage 
cheerfully to respond. 

The fight will be a "hot one." but we can assure you 



SKAGIT COUNTY, 1889-97 



of its successful termination, provided the necessary en- 
couragement is given us. It is not necessary to go into 
detail as to the advantages to be gained by making Ana- 
cortes the permanent county seat of Skagit county ; it is 
apparent to all, and it is conceded that it will be of inesti- 
mable benefit to the county at large. 

Several months ago a few gentlemen met informally 
and discussed this subject and concluded our chances were 
good. They increased in number from day to day, get- 
ting the ideas of our best business men, until they gained 
in strength and confidence sufficient to warrant a perma- 
nent organization, which was effected in March, after the 
consultation with the managers of the landed interest, 
who endorsed our plans and guaranteed their financial aid. 
Our membership now comprises all the business men of 
the town. Politics are not "in it." We are a unit, with 
only one purpose. Tlie executive committee have control 
of afifairs. They worked quietly and systematically, accom- 
plishing all desired ends. A vast amount of preliminary 
work has to be done. The committee has no further 
desire for secrecy, and after a careful canvass of the 
county, are prepared to say witliout hesitation that we 
will win the fight with your help. 

It is the duty of the executive committee to receive 
and disburse all moneys. The well known character of 
these gentlemen is a guarantee to you that the business in 
hand will receive most careful attention. 

Kindly make your remittances to Mr. T. B. Childs, 
treasurer, or to Bank of Anacortes. 

Trusting you will give us a prompt and favorable 
reply, we are. Yours truly, 

H. D. Allison, John M. Pl.\tt, 

Secretary Ex. Com. President. 

P.csides this letter, petitions were circulated 
throughout the county, asking that the question of 
the removal be submitted at the next election, which 
petitions were presented to the county commission- 
ers in August. The town of Sedro also circulated a 
petition of similar import. 

The people of Mount X'ernon organized to meet 
and resist the opposing forces. They brought for- 
ward every possible objection to removal, the cost 
of doing so, which they claimed would be at least 
fifteen thousand dollars, though each of the rival 
towns proposed to pay that expense in case of suc- 
cess; the loss of the lands and buildings already 
owned in Mount Vernon by the count}-, the cost of 
new ones in a new county seat, the central location 
and easy accessibility of Mount \'ernon and the 
distance and inaccessibility of Anacortes. Further- 
more, Mount Vernon claimed that Anacortes was a 
boorn town run by a few corporations, and that it 
was in their interest alone that the county seat should 
be removed thither. 

The election at which this momentous question 
was decided was held on November 7th, and resulted 
as follows: ]\Iount Vernon, 867 votes; Anacortes, 
873 ; Sedro, 636 ; Burlington, 164. Anacortes thus 
received a plurality but in order to secure the re- 
moval, three-fifths of all the votes cast were neces- 
sary, and these none of the cities succeeded in 
obtaining, therefore to the great joy and triumph of 
Mount Vernon and the grief and tribulation of the 
other towns, the county seat remained at the former 
place. 



The population of Skagit county in 1892 was 
8.960. being an increase over 1890 of only 230. 
There were almost twice as many men in the county 
as women, showing the comparative newness of the 
country. In spite of the small increase agriculture 
had evidently prospered, for the number of acres in 
cultivation had increased from about 16,000 in ISOO 
to about 44,000 in 1892. The agricultural .sections 
had been unaffected to any great extent by the 
booms, but had gone on developing steadily and 
naturally. It was in the towns that the full force 
of the booms was felt — in the towns like Anacortes, 
where real estate prices rose to several times the nor- 
mal value and then as suddenly dropped. In 1890 
the boom had been at its height; now it was begin- 
ning to collapse and premonitions of the hard times 
which followed so close on its heels were beginning 
to be felt. Not only in Skagit county but in the 
whole Northwest many an enterprise, which had 
begun during the years of plenty with many fair 
promises of success, proved unable to sustain itself 
and went down in failure. 

The assessment returns for 1892 show a valua- 
tion of $7,769,177, of which the valuation on lands 
with their improvements was $3,606,001. and on 
town and city lots with their improvements, $2,332,- 
305. The following year the assessed valuation of 
the county was still less, being only $6,476,066. 
The principal decrease was in town and city lots, of 
which the valuation was $1,544,990. The reason 
for this was that much land which had been assessed 
the year before as town lots was now assessed as 
acreage property, also, that owing to the hard times 
the price of land was lower. 

The winter of 1892-3 was noted all over the 
sound country for very disastrous floods. A great 
amount of damage was done to property and rail- 
road traliSc was stopped for a week at a time. The 
first flood occurred in November. About the middle 
of that month there was a very heavy rain-storm, 
and on the night of the 18th a warm Chinook wind 
blew, which melted an immense amount of snow in 
the mountains. By the morning of the next day 
the Skagit river was bank full and still rapidly 
rising. Millions of feet of logs and a great amount 
of drift were brought down so thickly that it was 
impossible for the steamers to run. A huge mass 
of this drift lodged against the pier which was just 
being built for the new bridge at Mount \'ernon 
and an enormous jam formed, which in a short time 
stretched clear to the east bank, a distance of two 
hundred feet. Men worked all night trying to 
loosen it, but it grew larger every moment, and 
early in the morning of the 20th the pier could stand 
the strain no longer and with a sudden snap gave 
way. By midnight of the 19th the river was half 
way up the dikes, and men turned out and worked 
ior the rest of the night strengthening them and 
filling up the low places. P.ut their efforts were in 
vain. By four o'clock the water was running over 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



the top of the dike and compelling the people hastily 
to seek safer places. 

In a short time the entire sonth part of town 
below Kincaid street was flooded to a depth of 
nearly three feet and the furnaces of all the shingle 
mills in town were submerged, as well as that of the 
electric works, which were obliged to shut down. 
Below town the dikes were destroyed in several 
places and the country for miles around was flooded. 
The towns of Fir and Skagit City had several feet 
of water in them. In the opposite direction Sedro 
and Hamilton were both flooded and considerable 
damage was sustained. Railroads were washed out 
in every direction. No trains ran on the Great 
Northern for five days, and other roads fared 
equally as bad. On the Seattle & Northern an 
engine ran into a washout and was overturned, 
killing the fireman, whose name was Ed Cole. 
The flood was not confined to the Skagit river but 
extended to all the rivers of western Washington. 
Considerable loss of stock was sustained throughout 
the county and Dennis Storrs lost several hundred 
dollars' worth of hops, but the most serious single 
loss was the bridge pier, upon which nearly two 
thousand dollars' worth of work had been done. 

In the latter part of January and the first of 
February another spell of unusual weather, in the 
form of a cold snap was experienced. The ther- 
mometer reached the lowest point in the history 
of the county, though the cold weather did not last 
so long as in the severe winter of 1875. It began 
on January 30th, when the temperature fell twenty 
degrees within two hours and the following morn- 
ing the thermometer registered ten degrees below 
zero, which was the lowest point reached. During 
the 30th and 31st the river was full of floating ice, 
which was backed up at the mouth by the tide and 
formed a solid blockade which soon extended far 
above Mount Vernon. For two or three days the 
thermometer continued about zero, after which the 
cold slowly moderated. 

A project that attracted considerable attention 
among the people of Skagit county during the first 
few months of 1893 was a proposed motor line, 
known as the Mount Vernon, Bayview & Northern 
railroad. The president of the company was Har- 
rison Clothier, the general superintendent J. B. 
Moody, and the route as laid out extended from 
Mount Vernon to Bayview through Avon and 
through a tract of valuable timber land, which it 
was proposed to open up, also through some fine 
agricultural land. Contracts for right of way for 
this road were secured and quite a large amount of 
subscriptions and subsidies pledged by the people 
living along the route, which subscriptions and 
promises of subsidies became void, however, as the 
road was never built. 

There were a number of important court pro- 
ceedings during 1803. One of them was the trial 
of David C. Moody for the murder of ]. F. Warner, 



a crime which had been committed in Hamilton in 
the fall of the previous year. The facts in the case, 
as brought out in the trial and published in the cur- 
rent newspapers, were as follows : J. L. Warner 
was the owner of the electric light plant of Hamil- 
ton and the power for running this plant was furn- 
ished by the shingle mill of Campbell & Edwards. 
David C. Moody was the night watchman at this 
mill and was also supposed to keep up steam for 
running the electric light plant, but one night he 
failed to do this and Mr. Warner came over to see 
what was the matter. Moody said that there was no 
wood and when Warner pointed out some that was 
lying across the street he replied that it was not his 
business to carry wood. After a few more words 
Warner went after Edwards, one of the owners of 
the mill, who came with him in a short time and the 
altercation with Moody was renewed. Finally 
Warner, losing patience, seized his adversary by 
the neck, whereupon Moody instantly drew a revol- 
ver and shot Warner dead. 

At the trial, which began on the 23d of Feb- 
ruary, the lawyers for the defense. Million & Hou- 
ser, tried to show that the fatal shot was fired in 
self-defense and while in fear of bodily injury. 
The prosecution was conducted by Prosecuting 
Attorney Joiner in an able manner. The impression 
created by Moody was an unfavorable one as he 
seemed constantly afraid of committing hiiuself. 
The trial which lasted only three days, resulted in 
a verdict of manslaughter, and the prisoner was 
sentenced by Judge Henry McBride to nineteen 
years in the penitentiary. 

Another case of great interest and considerable 
intricacy was the famous one of the Wilbur Indian 
heirs for the possession of their heritage. It ap- 
peared that Wilbur had married an Indian woman 
and later an American and now both claimed to be 
his heirs. The superior court decided in favor of 
the Indian, as appears from the following findings 
of fact by Judge McBride, which form a highly 
interesting, romantic and humorous narrative. 

Having been engaged for. lo. these many days in the 
pleasant task of instrncting juries as to the proper measure 
of damages in horse trades and listening to the plaintive 
appeals of those who rashly enter into contracts at a time 
when the ownership of a town lot in the impenetrable 
forest brought to the happy possessor visions of untold 
wealth, it is a relief to the heart to turn aside from con- 
templation of these engrossing subjects and dwell u|)on the 
tale of innocence and love unparalleled by the evidence in 
this case. 

It appears that away back in 18GT, when many of the 
towns, now ambitions for county seat honors, were as 
yet unknown to fame, and the swelling bosom of the 
Skagit was still unvexed by the rude touch of floating 
leviathans of commerce, the deceased, John T. Wilbur, 
hailing from the effete East, first made his appearance 
upon the scene. 

One day in the early summer of the year aforesaid 
the said Wilbur, while presumably in search of clams — 
although the evi<lence is strangely silent upon the point — 
espied sporting upon the sand spit near I'tsalady a dusky 





IN SKACUT CC)UNTY 



SKAGIT COUNTY, 1889-9? 



maiden of the forest, whose supple limbs had been marred 
by the heat of thirteen summers, and whose cheeks were 
uiicaressed by aught save the gentle zephyrs. Deeply im- 
pressed by her visible charms of person, and being of a 
bold and venturesome spirit, he then and there resolved to 
have her for his own. He made a liberal offer, but she, 
modest maiden, not considering it a good plan to yield 
too readily, rejected with seeming disdain his amorous 
intention. He returned to his lonely ranch on the Skagit, 
there to devise strategems new to encompass his end. He 
heard sweetly guttural accents in the sighing of the wind, 
: nil in the floating mist he even beheld her voluptuous 
fnrni. Later on, with a retinue consisting of two noble 
tvi\ men from Snehosh — ah, the nnisic of these Indian 
names — he set out to visit his sable enchantress at her 
home upon tlic lir-clad hillside of the Swinomish reser- 
vation near the banks of the murmuring slough of the 
same name. Arriving there without incident worthy of 
relating, he raised his former offer, now tendering her 
parents the princely sum of fifty dollars. But they looked 
coldly upon his suit, and the dutiful Kitty would not sur- 
render herself to his ardent embrace unaccompanied by 
llie paternal blessing. The d.itc- can not be determined 
fr.iui the evidence, hut Killy, who ought to know, says it 
\\;i- just when the salmon were IxHiuuing to run. Desiring 
1.) lie e.xact in all things, it occurred to the court that it 
might be well to continue the hearing of this case for a 
few years while studying the habits of the salmon, but 
the litigants, anxious for the spoils, iplijciii'd. An attorney, 
when a fee is in sight, seems to care hut little for scientific 

( )nce again he returned to his lonely ranch. There in 
the solitude of his cabin, with no one to spread his 

state of single iiiiM.' .c'lii. . imiil ,ii Imvlli li.- iM,-i-inined 

to make our l;i.l ,lr ,,,,,,, ,,,... , I In In,,, lir would gO 

ni st.-ile, so lir .Mii.jilir.l '■(■|ii|>" I'.iouM, wlio li;i(l taken 
unto liiiii.ill ,1 ,1 will' a child of the stream and the forest, 

( iiH J,i\ ,1 l\iiiy lay upon the bank viewing her own 
clianii'^ .1^ rcilicir.l in the water of the Swinomish she 
was startled by the approach of a canoe, containing one 
amorous swain, "Chip" Brown, Mrs. Brown, and a large 
number of Indians from a neighboring tribe, hired for the 
occasion. On one side were arranged Kitty, her father, 
mother, relations and friends, and Joseph, tribal chief; 
on the other. Wilbur, "Chip" Brown, Mrs. "Chip," and 
bis mercenary train; and the prize contended for was 
none other than Kitty herself. Mrs. "Chip" being detailed 
to act as interpreter, advanced to the center, and the battle 
of words, which was to decide the fate of the dusky 
maiden, began. The interpreter, the court is grieved to 
say — peace be to her ashes ! — abused her position of trust to 
descant upon the charms and graces of Wilbur, and, inso- 
much as she herself had tasted the delights of wedded 
life with a paleface, Ikt words Irul p;rc:it wi-iirlit 'Twas 
long doubtful to which -.I'l'' m.Ioia womM m. Iim.-, Imt at 

an opportune monu-ni, Williur iMiii.ilf ,h1\,i ij; with 

sixty dollars in his outstnlrh,-,! |,;i|iii, ih.- ImIiI.- was won. 
Chief .Ins,|,1i iliouyju the sale a good one and her father 
was s:iii,ihJ Willi ilio price; so the money was divided 
between liri mil, i.l.itions and Kitty, according to the laws 
of her Irilie, w,e, ., wife. 

Counsel insists that the evidence is insufficient to war- 
r.iiit the conclusion that the marriage was according to the 
oiistoni then in vogue upon the Swinomish reservation, 
C(jntending that Indian testimony i; iiiircjiahle. In their 
zeal they seem to forget thai lli, i, inihui, is corroborated 
by that of one of our most (-.1, , mnl , iii ,■,,-,, one who has 
served the people in various cipe mh ..i inisl. lie came 
here in 1863, and his detailed i.iieiiM m ,^\„] Uic wit- 
ness stand ought to convince ihe iim 1 le|iin,il that in 
early days he made a most care I III imK i.i I imIi.im . iistoms 
relative to marriage and divoi.e \\ In iliei In, investiga- 
tions were carried on for the |inrpose of satisfying the 



promptings of a natural curiosity, or took an experimental 
turn, the court is not advised. 

Immediately after the division of the spoils the wed- 
ding feast, the memory of which is cherishecl as one of the 

1110, t KloriiMi, events in Ihe aiin.ils of ll,e Irilie, took place. 

W h ll I le.i I lli.il ,||||.,1 h.ue l„e,i' Im, lilll,- Bob, IIOW 



ead ai 



that memorable occasion they 1 
sugar." 

To prevent others from becoming discouraged, it 
might be well to add that Wilbur ran up the price, and 
that sixty dollars is the highest sum on record jiaid for 
a wife. Besides, Kitty belonged to a family of distinction. 
Neither should anyone who is desirous of imit.aliug Wil- 
linr's e\,iiiii>le hesitate over long because his dusky enslaver 
-nil ' \,i' ivMee. The court recalls some fairer daughters 
oi I ve \\\,., said "No" more than twice, and — what is 



According to the customs of this tribe, good taste re- 
quires three proposals. The first time the sighing swain, 
if an Indian, offers a pair of blankets or a canoe; if a 
white man, cash. The second time he must raise the an — , 
I mean, he must increase the offer, and the third time he 
must sling in some additional inducement in the shape of 
worldly goods. The third lime is the crucial test — if he 
is rejeekil then he knows it will he useless to apply, ll 
uill lie .ill, lived that the 'intulored denizen of the forest 
h.is an aiK.nilage over his paleface brother in this— he 
iiiKlerst.nuls when the word "No" is to he taken in its 
literal significance. 

If the bargain turns ont to he a had one the husband 
can return his wife and reeei\e hack his canoe or blankets 
or whatevi-r llie p'ln'hase price consisted of. This should 
be calleil lo lie .iiiiiiiioii of our law-makers. 

Tlu' iinii III iins marriage was three children, one 
girl and t,^., Ih.v Hie girl is dead, hut the hovs are still 
alive ami lom uilli l.illv in lli.- pelilion 1,, Ii.im' r.inKham 

appoillleil .nil II Ihil ol Ihe e.l.il,- .il llir ,|eie.i ei|, wIlO 

departed lln hie I ,<iiii,u ,il III l',i, r • leii le.ii, ago. 

Sarah J. Willcox, then in the wilds of central New York. 
Many a loving missive passed between them, until finally 
in 187(j she came out here and married Wilbur, and Kitty, 
turned adrift, found .solace in the arms of another. 

The bone of contention between Mrs. Wilbur No. 1 
and Mrs. Wilbur No. 2, and their respective counsel, is 
the ranch, now worth $10,000, where Wilbur and "Chip" 
Brown first devised the scheme that resulted in the trans- 
lation of Kitty from the hainits of her childhood to the 
abode of the paleface. 

There is much in this case worthy of comment, did not 
the stiff formulas and cast iron rules of law forbid an 
excursion into the realms of fancy and philosophy. 

In conclusion, the court finds that Kitty is still alive 
and well, although somewhat tanned by exposure to the 
elements, and that all the partii's lo this aelion w.iiil the 
ranch. 

These findings are necessarily brief, but. such as they 
are, it is hoped that, if this case goes up, they may serve 
as a guidance to the supreme court in determining the 
intricate (juestious involved. lliCNRY Mc'Brii)K, 

Enter. Judge. 

Dated March -'II. I.-'H:!. 

While the court iiichilj^'-eil in tiiis vein of fanciful 
humor, it ttirned out to be a dift'erent case for poor 
old Kitty. The ca.se was carried to the supreme court 
where the decision of the lower court was reversed. 
The grounds for reversal and for deciding against 
Kitty were that while the marriage between her and 
Wilbur had been made according to the Indian 
custom, it was nevertheless void, since there was a 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



territorial law in effect at that time prohibiting the 
inarrias:c of white men with Indian women. It 
was true that the law was rejiealed a short time 
after, but the marriafje was not repeated, and was 
consequently held to be illegal and void, and so 
Kitty went without the inheritance, though, by 
compromise, her children received each a portion of 
the estate. 

There were a nuniljcr of miscellaneous occur- 
rences during this period which may be briefly 
mentioned. In December, 1892, the Fidalgo Eleva- 
tor and Wafehouse Company made the largest ship- 
nifiil of (lilts ever made from the county. Ten 
tlmnsaiul sacks were taken from Fidalgo City and 
tlirre thousand four hundred from Anacortes by the 
steamer Umatilla, and transported direct to San 
Francisco, this being the first season in which 
reshipments were not made at Seattle or Tacoma. 

The Skagit County Shingle Association was 
organized on the l^ith of January, 185)3, at Burling- 
ton, and all of the twenty-two mills in the county 
were either represented or signified their intention 
of joining. It was the aim of the association to act 
in concert with the state association. The following 
officers were elected : P. A. Woolley, president ; 
E. A. Fladd, vice-president ; C. E. Brand, secretary 
and treasurer. J. S. Munday. of Fairliaven, was 
appointed eastern agent for Si-ai^it cnnnty shingles, 
with headquarters at Kansas litw Missouri. The 
output of shingles from the count\ at that lime was 
about sixteen cars per day. 

In December, 1803, the county commissioners 
negotiated the sale of one hundred thousand dollars 
funding bonds of the county. The purchasers were 
E. H. Rollins & Sons of Boston, and they paid par 
and a premium of one thousand dollars. The bonds 
were payable in twenty years, but redeemable after 
ten years, and bore interest at the rate of six per 
cent., payable annually. 

The stringency in the money market was so 
.severe in 1893 that the shingle manufacturers were 
obliged to adopt a scheme by which they could keep 
their mills in operation without advancing any 
money. The scheme was to deposit bills of lading 
in the First National Bank of Mount Vernon when- 
ever a shipment was made, then for seventy-five 
per cent, of the value of these bills of lading the 
bank would issue certificates, which would be used 
as money and redeemed as soon as payment for the 
shingles was made. The shingle men used these 
certificates or scrip for some time with great suc- 
cess, but finally the discount on them became so 
great that the plan was abandoned. 

In spite of the hard times, the county commis- 
sioners carried on a number of important enter- 
prises, one being the erection of a court-house on 
the corner of Pine and First streets on land pur- 
chased of D. F. Decatur. The plans of W. A. 
-Samnis, of .\von, were accepted. The dimensions 
of the Iniilding were to he fiftv hv one hundred and 



fourteen feet, with two stories and a basement, and 
the contract for its construction was awarded to 
R. S. Downer and William Peacock for thirteen 
thousand five hundred and eighty-five dollars. 
Work was begun immediately. 

Another important improvement was the com- 
pletion of the wagon bridge across the Skagit 
river at Mount Vernon, which was accepted by the 
commissioners and o])ened to the public on June 
19th. It is the only wagon bridge across the main 
river and one of the best constructed in the state. 
The total cost was thirty-five thousand two hundred 
and fifty dollars, of which the cit\- of Mount Vernon 
paid ten thousand dollars and llic count\ tlie rest. 

The crops of 1893 were not very encouraging. 
The oat crop was about up to the average, but the 
hops yielded little more than half a crop, the princi- 
pal reason for this being the wet weather in the 
spring. (Jn the place of Dennis Storrs, the most 
extensive hop grower in the valley, the yield was 
about twelve hundred pounds per acre, or half the 
ordinary yield. 

In the fall the farmers on the lower Skagit did 
considerable work in the way of reclaiming marsh 
lands by building ditches and improving the drain- 
age system. Hundreds of acres were improved, 
which, without the drainage, were worth practi- 
callv nothing, but with it from one hundred and 
lift)- dollars to two hundred dollars per acre. These 
improvements to agricultural lands are one of the 
most substantial means of adding to the wealth of 
a comity. The wealth of Skagit county increased 
in this way during that year about a million dollars. 

In the beginning of ISO-f a temporary improve- 
ment in the condition of affairs in the county 
became noticeable. A number of saw and shingle 
mills, which had been shut down for some time, 
resumed operations, and a few others that had been 
running light increased their output. There was 
also promise of considerable building. In the spring 
and early summer, however, Skagit county suffered 
from a series of floods such as had never been seen 
before in the county. That, it will be remembered, 
was the year of the great floods, throughout the 
entire Northwest, when the Columbia and its tribu- 
aries broke all records and overflowed farms and 
towns, causing incalculable damage. 

The Skagit river was not far behind. It rose 
two separate times ten inches higher than the oldest 
settlers had ever known before. On May 24th the 
water had already risen .so high that the levees in 
the lower part of Mount \'ernon were in danger of 
being overflowed. In the face of this calamity all 
the men in town, of all professions, turned out and 
worked all night strengthening them and stopping 
small leaks where the water seeped through, but the 
water rose higher and higher, and by the following 
morning a small stream wa? flowing into First 
street. .\ large number of citizens immediately 
began Iniilding a dike to keep it from going any 



SKAGIT COUNTY, 1889-9? 



159 



further. The water, however, rose as fast as the 
dike did, and work as hard as they could their 
efforts were in vain. About four o'clock in the 
afternoon the dike near Jarvis & Metcalfs mill gave 
way and a short time later the temporary dike in 
the street broke in a number of places. Instantly a 
tremendous flood of water began pouring through 
the streets in the southern part of the city. Fences 
and sidewalks were torn up and more than half the 
people in that part of town were compelled to leave 
their houses and seek ntiii^v on :l neighboring hill, 
where a large school liuildnig and several empty 
houses were standing. l"or three days torrents 
of water poured through the town. Many of the 
houses it was impossible to reach without a boat. 
In the flat part of the town only one block, that on 
which the bank was situated, remained entirely 
above water. Many of the sidewalks floated and 
were used as bridges in getting around town. Bus- 
iness was entirely suspended, the first floors of many 
of the buildings being submerged. Every one was 
busy trying to save his property from being carried 
away. 

Great as was the loss to the citizens it was noth- 
ing compared to that sustained by the farmers lower 
down the river, whose crops were completely de- 
stroyed. For days and nights together they worked, 
part of the time waist deep in water, trying to keep 
the dikes from bursting, and in some places new 
dikes were built on top of the old ones. At Gage's 
place on the west side of the river the soil was of a 
quicksand nature and had to be put in sacks before 
it would stay. In spite of the most tremendous 
exertions, some of the men working twenty-four 
hours on a stretch, their efforts were in nearly every 
case useless. The raging torrent rose beyond con- 
trol and, overwhelming all resistance, inundated the 
whole of the low lands between Mount Vernon and 
the sound. The delta of the Skagit disappeared. 
At Dannemiller's place below Avon the big dam 
gave way, completely flooding the Reaver marsh, 
and the Olympia marsh suffered a like calamity. 

The railroads also suffered severely, numerous 
sections of track being washed out on both the 
Great Northern and the Seattle & Northern, and 
trains were unable to run for several days. The 
Great Northern railroad bridge was constantly in 
danger of being demolished by log jams which 
lodged against it. The wagon bridge at Alount 
Vernon proved its excellence by resisting the strain, 
though it received some tremendous knocks. At 
one time a large jam formed against it which could 
not be dislodged until the steamer Clan McDonald 
came along and. by the exercise of great skill on 
the part of its captain, succeeded in clearing away 
the mass of logs. 

On the 28th the water began to subside and fell 
slowly about three feet, but on the 1st of June it 
turned again and began to rise. The 1st and 2(\ 
were i)oth warm davs and much snow was melted 



in the mountains, so that within three days the 
water was again within an inch of its previous mark. 
The scenes of the first flood were repeated, but the 
people, having had the experience once, were better 
prepared. The loss of stock was considerable, one 
man. Captain Keen of Skagit City, losing twenty- 
eight head of cattle out of a band of thirty. The 
farm lands were again flooded, making the destruc- 
tion of the crops still more irretrievable. On the 
2d a very severe storm of wind, with thunder and 
lightning, swept over the whole sound country, and 
the steamer Clan McDonald, which had just left 
Seattle and was in the midst of it, came near being 
swamped. The storm did not strike Mount Ver- 
non squarely, but McMurray, Montborne and Ham- 
ilton got the full benefit, and at the last place the 
Episcopal church was overturned. 

The Great Northern managed to run a train 
both ways between Mount Vernon and Seattle on 
the 3d of June, the first train for several days and 
the last for several more, as the rising flood soon 
submerged a large part of their track for the 
second time. 

On June 7th there were two unfortunate drown- 
ing accidents, the first of which happened early in 
the afternoon. N. P. Swanberg was crossing Dry 
slough in a canoe with his wife and youngest chiUl, 
when the canoe suddenly capsized. The father, in 
trying to save his child, was drawn to the bottom 
by the current and both were drowned. Mrs. 
Swanberg held herself afloat by seizing hold of the 
canoe and was rescued by two men. Mr. Swanberg 
was a farmer who had comfe from Sweden ten 
years before. 

The other accident partook in some respects of 
the nature of a crime. Four Indians, a man and 
wife and two children, were camped a short dis- 
tance above Mount Vernon. In the evening a man 
named Petit came along and filled the Indians with 
liquor, after which he claimed to be a deputy 
United States marshal, scaring them so that they all 
four got into their canoe and started down the 
river. In some way the canoe was overturned, and 
the man and one of the children immediately sank 
to the bottom, while the woman, with the other 
child, managed to reach the shore. 

In the middle of June the river again com- 
menced rising, but fortunately the weather 
remained cool and the water went down again. 
Many of the farmers, whose lands had been flooded, 
had reseeded and were expecting fairly good crops. 
It would seem as though they had had misfortune 
enough and might be allowed to gather what was 
left in peace, but the river was remorseless. In the 
first part of July another freshet occurred, which 
again flooded the farming country to a depth in 
many places of several feet, this time ruining the 
crops completely. The hops, which were mostly 
on higher lands, did not suffer so severely, though 
heavy losses of hops were sustained by Messrs. 



SKAGIT CUUXTY 



Wiles and IJaimcmillcr tuar Avon. llic entire 
loss inllictcd upon tlic people of llie Skaf,Ml valley 
by these floods was cstinialed at half a million 
dollars. 

One thing was shown conclusively by the disas- 
trous results of the floods, and that was the abso- 
lutely necessity of substantial dikes. A great many 
meetings were soon held to consider this question 
and to mature plans for the construction of such 
dikes ; new diking districts were organized, and the 
work of building barriers against the water was 
carried on during the rest of that year and the fol- 
lowing year. At the present time the river is sub- 
stantially diked from its mouth to points beyond 
Woollcy, most of the work having been done in 
those years. Another matter that received atten- 
tion was the necessity of a better system of ditches, 
so that water which overflowed or collected in the 
low places could be readily drained off. 

Another very important and much-needed im- 
l)rovcmcnt whicli was brought to the minds of the 
lieojilc of the Skagit valley by the great flood was 
the clearing out of the obstructions at and near the 
mouth of the Skagit river. For a number of years 
a large bar had been forming, which had been con- 
stantly growing in size, owing to the accumula- 
tion of snags and debris which gathered on it, thus 
obstructing the channel and causing the farm lands 
on cither side to be overflowed. In addition to 
that, navigation was rendered unsafe. The people 
of the valley had at different times contributed 
large sums, aggregating over one himdred thou- 
.sand dollars, for the improvement of the river, 
while the government had done but little. A public 
meeting was held in Mount Vernon on July 9th, at 
which resolutions were drawn up urging an appro- 
priation of twenty thousand dollars for the purpose 
of clearing the river of these obstructions, of which 
resolutions a copy was sent to each member of 
congress. 

The Northwest .Agricultural Society was organ- 
ized at Whatcom in July, with a capital stock of 
five thousand dollars. This society included in its 
field of operations the three counties of Whatcom, 
Skagit and San Juan, and it was expected that it 
would prove of great beuelil to the agricultural 
interests of these comities. 

Another society of a similar nature was formed 
in the same month at Mount X'crnon, namely the 
Skagit Comity Horticultural Society, whose object 
was the advanceiuent of knowledge concerning hor- 
ticulture and jiomology. The original members 
were Mrs. 15. N. L. Davis, Mrs. I.. Ward, George 
Davis, D. F. Decatur, H. P. Downs, S. A. Downs, 
]-:. Ruck, F. C. Ward. J. F. Cass, L. R. Freeman, 
IT. A. March, A. G. tillinghast, Fred Eichholtz, 
Oscar Varny, L. D. Hodge, F. L. Crampton, J. P. 
Millett and Mrs. J. P. Millett. This society gave 
.•m exhibit on September 30tli, which was a decided 



success ami spoke well for the estlutic advancement 
of the county. 

Another calamity must he added to the already 
long list for the disastrous year of 1891. This was 
a forest fire which swept over the upper Skagit and 
Sauk valleys in the latter part of August. Some 
hay and many buildings, as well as a great amount 
of valuable cedar timber were burned. The fol- 
lo<ving men lost part or all of their buildings, in- 
cluding their houses, namely, on the <Sauk, F. 
Szrinski, 11. C. Crockett; on the Skagit, George 
Perrault, J. McCorkendale, James Logan, Frank 
liackus and William Newby. The Cascade school- 
house also was destroyed. 

The year 1895 opened with another serious dis- 
aster, on this occasion high water coming not only 
from the mountains but from the sea as well. On 
January 12th occurred the highest tide known for 
years. Salt water swept over the dikes at the 
mouth of the Skagit covering the Swinomish and 
Samisli flats and all the fertile low lands for many 
miles along the coast. The disaster was not con- 
fined to Skagit count)' but extended long distances 
north and south, being very severe in Snohomish 
county. The Skagit river was very high at the 
same time, rising to within fifteen inches of the 
high-water mark of the year before, flooding all 
the low lands south of Mount Vernon, though little 
damage resulted to the agricultural lands, owing 
to the time of year. It was very different with the 
coast lands, however, covered as they were by salt 
water, for it would take a year at least to work the 
salt out of the land so that a normal crop could he 
jiroduced. Only a half crop was raised that season 
on the flooded portion of the flats. 

The Cireat Northern track was swept out in 
several places by the high tide and no train reached 
Mount Vernon from the south for four days. The 
Seattle & Northern track at Whitney station was 
covered by three feet of salt water. 

In the first part of August, 1895, the western 
part of the county was swept by forest fires, which 
burned a number of buildings on Fidalgo island, 
and threatened the town of Anacortes. The Seattle 
& Northern trains were delayed by trees falling 
across the track, and the Seattle, l.ake Shore & 
ICastern trains were sl(i|i|ie(l altogether for several 
days. 

Eighteen hundred and ninety-five was alto- 
gether a very unfortunate year. E. A. Sisson, one 
of the most prominent farmers in the county at the 
jiresent time, is authority for the statement that in 
that year the ])rice of grain fell below the cost of 
producing it, in some cases selling as low as eight 
dollars and fifty cents per ton, while the average 
cost of production was between eight and nine 
dollars. He also says that nearly every piece of 
])ro])crty in the county was mortgaged. 

In the fall another memorial was presented to 
congress, ]ir;i\ing for favorable consideration and 





THE FISH INDUSTRY 



SKAGIT COUNTY, 1889- 



immediate action on the question of the removal of 
the obstructions at the mouth of the Skagit, one of 
the most important questions before the people of 
Skagit county and one demanding immediate atten- 
tion. The reasons for removing the obstructions 
were given fully and clearly. The memorial is of 
interest and value, not only in itself but in the 
information which it gives, hence is here repro- 
duced in part. 

MEMORIAL 

To the Senate and House of Representatives : 

The undersigned citizens of Skagit county, State of 
\\ a-hington, believe that a fair consideration of the condi- 
tiniis surrounding the Skagit river and tributary country 
will induce such liberal action on the part of Congress as 
will meet the requirements of our present environments 
and prevent any disaster in the future such as we have 
suffered in the past. 

The surveys already made and the map attached hereto, 
sustain the statement that there are tributary to Skagit 
river about forty townships, or over fourteen hundred 
square miles of land. Of this large area about one-fourth 
is strictly agricultural, about the same quantity is coal and 
mineral, and the remainder is timber land. A large pro- 
portion of this country is now, and all of it, when developed, 
must be largely dependent for its commerce on this impor- 
tant river. It is navigable for light draft steamers from 
its mouth to Sauk City, a distance of about seventy miles, 
and at some seasons to Marblemount, fifteen miles above 
Sauk City. 

A diking system has been rendered necessary by the 
filling in of the bed and mouths of the river, from causes 
which will be explained and ought to be remedied. The 
.system already constructed and maintained, embraces one 
hundred and fifty-eight miles of dikes, and has cost in 
money and labor expended in construction the large sum 
of three hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars. All of 
this has been expended by owners of land in the Skagit 
valley, including the residents of towns liable to inunda- 
tion. 

Before the mouth of the river began to be obstructed, 
the accumulating waters of the greatest freshets did not 
overflow the banks. A channel varying in depth from 
twelve to twenty feet was a sufficient outlet for all the 
water that passed in swift torrents from the mountains 
and highlands of the North and East. Resolute and indus- 
trous settlers reduced to cultivation the fertile lands of 
the Skagit valley, and made subservient to man, the thou- 
sands of acres that were a few years since inhabited by 
the beaver, and other animals whose pelts excited the 
cupidity of the hunter or the Indian. We do not believe 
that the famous lands of the Nile, or any other in the world 
are more fertile and productive. For years, these lands 
without fertilizers, have yielded an average of one him- 
dred bushels of oats to the acre, and the hay crop on the 
higher lands will average four tons; fruits and vegetables 
grow in profusion, and their flavor and richness are unsur- 
passed. But all of this has involved a large expenditure 
of money and unrelenting toil and patience on the part 
of our people. 

Unless the congress of the United States shall make 
an appropriation sufficient to clear out the mouth of the 
Skagit river, a very large proportion of this country must 
be abandoned. 

We call your attention to the fact that since Novem- 
ber, 1892, the floods in the Skagit have four times swept 



over the banks, broken the dikes and inundated the sur- 
rounding country. The destruction of property by the 
overflow of November, 1892, and January, 189.5, was not 
very great, but the overflow in May, 1894, and June of 
that year, entailed a direct loss on the people of the 
Skagit valley, as shown by estimates attached hereto, 
appro.ximating one-half million of dollars. 

The town of Wt. Vernon was entirely flooded, small 
boats and rafts navigated the streets, and the people were 
driven from their homes for safety in the hills. The 
damage to public and private property was great, and 
the suffering from e.xposure and sickness was distressing. 
All of these overflows have been caused by the ponding of 
the water in the river, resulting from the obstruction and 
closing the channels of the North and South Forks, above 
mentioned. There is comparatively little danger from loss 
from the overflow in the winter, but in May and June, 
when the crops are most promising, the genial weather 
and hot suns melt the snow in the mountains, and the 
creeks and small rivers and mountain streams empty their 
waters into the Skagit, which sweeps down with terrible 
fury, completing its destructive mission. 

It is a well-known fact in this section, and the rec- 
ords of the War Department show, that some years ago, 
and when Washington was a territory a large and formida- 
ble jam of logs, trees and other debris had collected about 
ten miles from the mouth of the river, and near where 
Mount Vernon now stands, entirely obstructing navigation. 
At a great expenditure of money and labor, the people resi- 
dent in the Skagit valley removed the jam. so that steam- 
ers passed up and dow-n the river in safety. Under the 
license of Territorial law, and with the knowledge of the 
officers of this great government, obstructions known as 
log booms have been placed in the river and near the 
mouths, since which time the difficulties and dangers that 
now surround us have arisen, and have been allowed to 
continue. 

Under the law, the General Government has ample 
jurisdiction in all matters affecting navigable waters, and 
we can only accotmt for its failure to exercise that juris- 
diction in this instance, from the neglect to bring the 
matter to your attention, and to press it with the zeal 
that its importance demands. 

The earnest efforts of our people to protect them- 
selves, and the temporary relief that has been afforded by 
the construction and maintenance of our diking system, 
may to some extent account for the neglect that hereto- 
fore surrounded this destructive nuisance, but the situation 
has now assumed such grave consequences, that it can- 
not longer be overlooked or permitted to continue. 

Until the obstructions in the river, and at its mouth, 
arc removed, the further construction and maintenance of 
our diking system cannot protect us; until the channel of 
the river shall be restored, as it was before obstructions 
were permitted to be made and to stand, the navigation of 
the Skagit must at all times be uncertain and dangerous ; 
and in a very few years must cease altogether. 

We do not believe that an intelligent examination into 
this matter will show that its importance has been over- 
estimated by us; nor is this the first time that we have 
endeavored to bring it to your attention. Memorials from 
our people have already been forwarded to congress, 
praying some action on behalf of this section, and at the 
last session of our legislature, a joint memorial of that 
body was unanimously passed for the same object. 

Thoroughly impressed with the justice of this appeal, 
we respectfully submiit it to your good judgment and 
earnestly hope for an early and favorable consideration 
by your honorable bodies, and by such other authorities as 
shall have this matter in immediate charge. 

The annals of Skagit county for 1895 were 
darkened by a bloody shooting affray, in which one 
man was killed and three others wounded. The 



164 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



circumstances were as follows : Edwin Baldwin and 
his stepson, Ozro Perkins, had been running a 
ferry and freight boat between Samish and Edison, 
as the large steamers did not stop at the latter place. 
In the fall of ISitl, however, they abandoned the 
work, and it was taken up by John White with 
another boat. White employed as an assistant an 
ex-Confederate soldier named Alonzo Wheeler. 
Later on Baldwin and Perkins decided to resume 
operations, and when they did so, the rivalry that 
sprang up between the two parties was intense and 
bitter, finally, on the 9th of August, 1895, breaking 
out into open and bloody warfare. On that day. 
just before the arrival of the steamer State of 
Washington, White and Wheeler started down to- 
ward the warehouse on the wharf at Samish. Just 
then Baldwin and Perkins appeared, accompanied 
by Ulysses Loop, a son-in-law of Baldwin, and a 
man named Worden. White and Wheeler walked 
along the approach to the warehouse until they 
arrived at the stairway leading down to the place 
where White kept his boat. The latter then started 
down this stairway, while Wheeler went on toward 
the warehouse. He was soon overtaken by Bald- 
win, Perkins and Loop, and then the firing began. 
It could not be ascertained positively who fired the 
first shot, but it was soon seen that Wheeler was 
seriously injured and was trying to escape. White, 
as soon as he heard the shooting, started to 
Wheeler's rescue but was knocked senseless by a 
blow on the head with an iron bar in the hands of 
Worden. Wheeler's pursuers overtook him and 
after knocking him down beat and kicked him in a 
brutal manner. At that moment Wharfinger Dean 
came up and succeeded in flrawing them oflf, though 
he was himself threatened by them. 

The scene on the wharf after the battle was a 
fearful one. Wheeler was lying nearly dead with 
three frightful bullet wounds, one through the right 
lung, one through the abdomen and one through 
the ankle ; he was also bruised in many places. 
White's scalp was torn open by the blow on his 
head. Baldwin was struck by two bullets, one on 
the forehead and one in the left arm. Perkins was 
hit on the head and on the breast. When the 
steamer arrived Wheeler was placed on board and 
taken to Anacortes, where he was placed under 
medical treatment. He survived for a few days 
only, dying on the loth. 

On the day after the battle Sheriff Perkinson 
went to Samish, where he secured all the others and 
Ijrought them to Mount Vernon. The preliminary 
hearing was comi)leted on August 17th before 
Justice .\nable. John White, who had taken no 
active part in the conflict, was discharged. Worden 
was charged with assault with a deadly weapon 
and bound over in the sum of two thousand dollars. 
.\t the trial following he turned state's evidence 
and was discharged. The other three, Baldwin, 
i'erkins and Loop, had also been charged with the 



same crime, but since the death of Wheeler it was 
changed to murder in the first degree, and they 
were each bound over in the sum of ten thousand 
dollars. 

The trial of Baldwin, Perkins and Loop began 
on October :iM, Judge Henry AIcBride presiding. 
It attracted considerable attention throughout the 
county. Eminent lawyers appeared on both sides. 
Prosecuting Attorney Geo. A. Joiner was assisted 
by J. T. Ronald, ex-mayor of Seattle, while the 
defense was conducted by Messrs. Sinclair & Smith, 
assisted by Colonel Lindsay and Judge Turner of 
Seattle. Two days were consumed in securing a 
jury, after which the addresses of the counsel and 
the hearing of the witnesses were begun. Archie 
McRea, J. Lewis of Edison, John Eckenberger and 
John White all testified to having heard Perkins 
and Baldwin make threats against the life of 
Wheeler and a number of other witnesses testified 
to the bad feeling between the men. Captain Dean 
stated that he .saw the fight, and that the defend- 
ants attacked Wheeler, also that he saw no revolver 
in Wheeler's hands during the melee. Wheeler, 
in his dying statement, which was accepted as evi- 
dence, said that he had been attacked by the 
defendants and struck with canes and clubs ; that 
he tried to escape but was closely pressed ; that he 
finally drew a revolver and shot at Baldwin ; that he 
then ran around the warehouse but was pursued 
and shot. The defense tried to prove that Wheeler 
was the aggressor and that Baldwin fired only in 
self-defense. The defendants all stated that 
Wheeler fired the first shots, also that he warned 
them to keep off the dock, claiming, moreover, that 
there was no agreement between them to attack 
Wheeler. 

The case came to an end November 1st, and the 
following day the jury brought in a verdict of man- 
slaughter against all the defendants. They were 
sentenced by Judge McBride on November 13th, 
Baldwin to ten years in the penitentiary, Perkins to 
five and Loop to one year, and each to pay a fine 
of one dollar in addition. The costs in the case 
amounted to two thousand four hundred and fifty 
dollars and five cents, besides the sheriff's cost bill. 

During the winter of 1895-6 a number of at- 
tempts were made to organize a county immigra- 
tion association, which attempts were not eminently 
successful. Officers were elected, as follows: 
President, H. S. Conner; vice-president, F. L. 
Crampton ; secretary, H. P. Downs ; treasurer, R. 
O. Welts. Some preliminary work was done, but 
the support was not enthusiastic, and the enterprise 
gradually died out. 

In 1896 there was a movement to organize the 
county into townships according to a state law pro- 
viding for such organization whenever the inhabi- 
tants elect. There was an election held to decide 
the question, at which six hundred and eighty-seven 
votes were cast in favor of township organization 



SKAGIT COUNTY, 1897-1905 



and four hundred and fifty-five against, but in 
spite of this decided majority, the matter was for 
some reason allowed to drop. 

By 1896 there had begun to be considerable 
improvement in the general condition of affairs. 
The crops for that year were very good, and the 
price of oats had risen from ten dollars and fifty 
cents to twelve dollars per ton, but the year did not 
pass by without the usual floods, which occurred 
that season in the middle of Novcniiifr. ( )n the 
12th and 13th Chinook winds bk-w. which melted 
large amounts of snow that had accumulated in 
the mountains, and in a short time the Skagit river 
was raging. For a time the water threatened to 
overflow the new levees along Mount \'ernon's 
front, but a large number of men turned out with 
picks and shovels and built dikes along the top of 
the levees. Ry these means the town was saved 
from being flooded. The opposite side of the river 
was not equally fortunate, however, for two breaks 
occurred, one near F. C. Ward's place, the other 
at the home of Dennis Storrs, letting a flood of 
water over the whole region ; a building at Hamil- 
ton and one at old Sedro were destroyed ; railroad 



traffic was suspended for nearly a week; six hun- 
dred feet of the Great Northern track between the 
bridge and Burling'ton were washed out, while 
between Mount Vernon and Stanwood over a mile 
was destroyed. 

An attempt at murder, of a dastardly and fiend- 
ish nature, was committed at Prairie at about two 
o'clock on the morning of December 5th. C. L. 
LePlant, J. C. LePlant and L. B. Walters were 
sleeping soundly in one room of the LePlant 
brothers' home, when some one exploded a charge 
of dynamite under the house and blew it into splin- 
ter. Strange to say, the occupants were practi- 
cally uninjured, though the floor of the room was 
entirely blown away, allowing them to drop to the 
bare ground below. A heavy cook stove was 
thrown from the next room clear over the bed and 
fell next to where the wall had been. C. L. Le- 
Plant was the first to recover his senses and he im- 
mediately dug the other two out from the mass of 
debris to find that fortunately none of them had 
received any worse injuries than a few bruises and 
a bad shaking up. It was never discovered who 
the cowardly would-be assassin was. 



CHAPTER V 



SKACilT COUNTY, 1897-1905 



The year 1897 witnessed a general revival of 
business that was very gratifying after the long 
period of stagnation, and once more the buzz of the 
saw-mills and the hum of industry were heard 
throughout the county. The Skagit News of July 
26th says: "It is said that these days the Skagit 
county shingle-mill men are about as happy as 
shingle men can get over the prosperous condition 
of their business and the encouraging outlook for 
the future. Every mill in the county is running full 
time and many of them putting in from twelve to 
fourteen hours a day with 'snags' of orders ahead." 
This was a great and very pleasing change from the 
former dullness and every one was pleased with the 
prospect that the back of the hard times was broken 
and that business had once more started into life 
and activity. 

The attention of the courts was occui)ied for a 
time in 1897 by an Indian murder case. In July 
four Indians, Charlie Moses. Johnnie Tommy, 
Johnnie Town, and John Enich, all Skagit Indians, 
were arrested for the murder, on tlie .->th of ?ilav, 



of Kelly Annan, a Nookachamps Indian. At the 
trial Johnnie Town and John Enich turned state's 
evidence and told their story of the killing, which 
was as follows: The four Indians had made a 
drive of shingle bolts for Joe Richardson from 
Hamilton to Mount Vernon, and had started back 
in their canoes from Mount Vernon early in the 
afternoon, accompanied by their wives and also 
by Kelly Annan. In the evening they camped 
about half a mile above the Great Northern bridge 
and proceeded to fill up on whiskey. In a short 
time a quarrel broke out between Johnnie Tommy 
and Kelly Annan, in which the latter threatened to 
bewitch the former. At this moment Charlie Moses 
came up and struck Kelly Annan two blows on the 
head with an ax : then Johnnie Tommy cut his 
throat with a knife, whereupon they weighted the 
body with a bag of sand and sunk it in the river. It 
seems that Paul Jesus, a brother of Kelly Annan, 
heard of the afifair, but was pacified by a number of 
presents. 

Charlie Moses and Johnnie Tommv admitted 



166 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



being camped at the place specified, but denied that 
thev had had any whiskey or that Kelly Annan had 
been with them,' saying that they had not seen him 
for a long time, f he^trial of the two Indians was 
completed in October and on the 12th they were 
sentenced by Judge Houser, Charlie Moses receiving 
four years in the penitentiary and Johnnie Tommy 
five. The counsel for the defense, Messers. Sinclair 
& Smith, appealed the case to the supreme court, but 
the final decision and sentence, delivered in April, 
1898, were the same as those delivered in the first 
instance. 

It was in 1897 that the news of the wonderful 
Klondike discoveries caused such wild excitement 
throughout the Northwest. Not since the days of 
California had such a fever of excitement been seen. 
Men bv the hundreds forsook their occupations and 
joined the grand rush to the gold-fields of the North. 
Skagit county, being on the line of the Alaska 
travel, received its full share of glowing tales of gold 
and wealth ; and. led by these tales, many of her 
citizens embarked in the search for the gold and 
the wealth. In July and August a large number left 
for the Klondike, among them L. D. Metcalf, Jack 
Papin, J. K. Thomas, ]. W. Trilliman, Joe Stroud, 
James Eastwood. Peter Jamison, J. N. Parker, L. D. 
Ferguson, Dennis Storrs, Fred Siegel, Amber Thi- 
bert, Im-c(1 P.onchier. Mark Rowan. H. C. Frizclle, 
Kcv ritnian, I'rank Stackpole, T. M. Gares, J. M. 
McCrcary, \\'. S. Riblett, Ole Dickson, C. S. Moody, 
Dr. ]. X. Harris, James Dunlap, John Matson, John 
Lucicv. Arthur Everett, John "P.ridcott, William 
IMoss. [uhn Matlev, Tohn" Llovd, b:ngene Tavlor, 
Fred Slack, R. O.'Welts, Will Kn,.x, V. A. Gard- 
ner, W. E. Harbert, all of ^l.umt \ cnmn ; Robert 
Woodbum, Richard P.all of La Gunner; Wiley 
Roach of Lyman ; W. V. Wells, Douglass Allmond, 
Peter E. Nelson, Daniel Sullivan of Anacortes ; 
George Reed of Burlington ; William Hefifron of 
Hamilton ; R. Lambier of Sterling, and Charles 
McDowell of WooUey. The Skagit News of Au- 
gust 2d remarked that it was only the near approach 
of winter that kept almost the entire male popula- 
tion of Skagit county from joining the grand rush 
and predicted that if the favorable reports con- 
tinued the county would lie almost depopulated in 
the spring. 

And yet it is certain that only a small portion of 
these hopeful adventurers achieved a fortune, while 
those who stayed at home, at least some of them, did, 
if we may judge bv the following from the Skagit 
News of August 9th : "Talk about your Klondikes, 
they are nothing to a fish trap among the islands 
of northwest Washington. One trap, owned by 
Rolla Davis, furnishes enough fish to keep the Ana- 
cortes cannerv employed all the time. From a sin- 
gle raising ten thousand fish were taken, netting 
its owner eight hundred dollars, and there were 
twenty thousand fish left in the trap. Mr. Davis 
has a contract for three years at eight cents apiece. 



It is estimated that he will clear thirty thousand dol- 
lars this season." 

In November a most unusual and astonishing 
event occurred, namely, a flood in the Skagit river. 
November ITth there was a very warm Chinook 
wind ; on the following day the river rose rapidly, 
and early the next morning began pouring over the 
levees. The people of Mount \ernon rushed out 
and tried to stop the flood by raising the levees, but 
their efforts were of no avail ; then they rushed 
back to their houses and places of business and tried 
to secure their goods against damage. A few were 
unsuccessful even in this. Buildings were flooded 
and sidewalks torn up and debris washed through 
the streets all over town, the southern part, as 
usual, suffering the most. A break occurred there, 
letting in a rush of water which carried everything 
before it with tremendous force. Several exciting 
experiences were recorded by the News, probably 
the most exciting being that of Mr, Winkler, who 
was in his house when the break occurred, directly 
in the path of the torrent. The house was turned 
around and broken in two. Mr. Winkler didn't 
have time to make his escape, but was obliged to 
jump up and stand on the door-knob while the 
water rose up to his chin. At length the door-knob 
broke off. so Mr. Winkler swam to the window and 
cliiulHil up astride of the lower sash. He remained 
in this position with the water up around his waist 
f<ir several hours, until finally a boat was snubbed 
down to him and he was rescued. Several other 
men were rescued from house-tops and stumps, two 
after remaining all night on the latter. 

Between Mount Vernon and the sound the 
levees were overflowed in all directions, but fortu- 
nately thq damage was not very severe, being con- 
fined principally to oats and hay which had not been 
placed high enough to escape the water. The wagon 
bridge at Mount Vernon, which had stood so many 
hard knocks, was injured by a huge jam of logs so 
that it could not be used for several days. Steam- 
boat slough, the only navigable channel at the mouth 
of the river, was blockaded and it was with diffi- 
culty that steamboats made their way through. 
The coast-line of the Great Northern was over- 
flowed and trains delayed, but the damage was not 
so great as usual. 

The outbreak of the war with Spain in 1898 
was heralded in Skagit county by the same enthusi- 
astic patriotism that was shown in every other 
county in the state and in the LTnion. A number of 
the young men of Skagit volunteered at once in the 
service of their country. Three of them, Frank B. 
Lippincott, George H. Caches and J. G McGlinn 
left on the steamship Senator on May 11th, and 
those who went at other times were Edwin Fred- 
lund, of Mount Vernon ; William Chambers and 
Harry Craig, of La Conner; Frank Brown and 
Nicholas Polly, of Sedro-Woolley. Caches and 
McGlinn were enrolled in Company B of Seattle, 



SKAGIT COUNTY, 1897-1905 



167 



Lippincott in Company E of North Yakima, Fred- 
luncl in Company G, Chambers in Company H, 
Craig with the First Idaho vohmteers, and Brown 
and Polly also with the First Washington. Polly 
was seriously injured at the attack on Pasig church 
near Manila and never recovered from the eft'ects. 
Eighteen hundred and ninety-eight was a pros- 
]ierous year, with good crops and business activity. 
In the fall the people celebrated their good fortune 
bv holding a county fair, which began October 6th 
and lasted three days, proving a grand success. 
The beautiful and varied displays showed the great 
resources of Skagit county to be such as the inhabi- 
tants themselves liad not realized. The attendance 
during the three days was fully six thousand. 

Prosperity and excellent conditions continued 
through the following year in constantly increasing 
measure. The News of December 25th gives a 
summary of the events of the county for that year 
which was, in part, as follows : 

"The spring was very late and many crops were 
in danger of being ruined by the late rains. A 
portion of the Olympia marsh was inundated nearly 
all year. We had rains in July, a rather unusual 
occurrence. The ranchers, however, had planted 
their grain early and a fairly good crop was the 
result. Between intermittent showers, the merry 
hum of the separators was heard late into (Ictober. 
In some places the grain was first class and in 
others it was wiry and tough and frequently clogged 
the machines. The yield of oats ran as high as one 
hundred and fifteen bushels to the acre in some 
localities and seldom below eighty. The late rains 
lodged the grain, and it did not ripen as early as 
usual. The cost of harvesting was increased by 
the necessity of hiring men to raise the grain. There 
were about twenty-five threshing outfits at work 
during the summer. Several new ones were brought 
into the county at the commencement of the season. 
The oats were of a darker color than usual, but 
they were well filled out. While the yield of oats 
was large, that of hay was smaller. In some in- 
stances hay was ruined in the shock by its being 
too wet weather. The price of hay ranges from 
six dollars per ton upward, and oats from fifteen 
dollars per ton up. 

"Many ranchers are paying more attention to 
dairying than they have in the past. Several of 
them have bought new separators and increased 
their herds of cows. The Alaska trade has created 
a demand for packed butter, and a great deal of 
Washington product is shipped there. As a rule, 
the farmers are getting better stock and disposing 
of the inferior animals as soon as convenient. This 
is noted in horses as well as in cattle. Where they 
had light stock they have in almost every case been 
replaced by a heavier animal. 

"The salmon industry has taken wonderful 
strides the past year. The addition of new canner- 
ies at Anacortes brought up the amount of salmon 



canned. Last year 3,350,000 salmon were canned 
in the different canneries in the county. These 
salmon filled 205,000 cases, and as there are four 
dozen cans in a case there was a total of 9,840,000 
cans. They retail in the East at 25 cents a can. The 
valuation here was about $1,000,000. Two thou- 
sand five hundred sacks of clams were put up, 
making a total of 7,360 cases. The salmon caught 
on the river was mostly sold to Seattle houses and 
placed on ice and shipped East. The money from 
these drift-net men is no small item in itself. 

"The state hatchery at Baker was sold to the 
government and is now being run steadily. An 
appropriation was made for a hatchery to replace 
the one sold, but Commissioner Little has neglected 
to put it in. The Skagit is the largest river on the 
sound and is entitled to more than a passing glimpse 
by the fish commissioner. More salmon ascend this 
river than all the creeks on the sound put together. 
A state hatchery is in operation at Samish lake. 

"The shingle and lumber industry in on the in- 
crease. A large mill is being equipped at Mount 
Vernon. Seven hundred million shingles are being 
cut each year, and forty-five million feet of lumber. 
During the year almost through there were running 
twenty-nine shingle mills and fourteen lumber mills, 
employing about five hundred and fifty men. To 
supply these mills with material, and also outside 
mills, twelve hundred men were needed in the 
shingle bolt and logging camps. Business in the 
shingle and lumber trade has been quite brisk for 
the past year. Good prices and lots of orders made 
the mill men smile. 

"A railway line has been surveyed around 
Chuckanut mountain by the Great Northern and 
active work will soon commence. They have also 
purchased a right of way up the Skagit valley and 
will build up as far as Sauk. This proposed exten- 
sion means much for the county." 

The fall of 1899 was rendered memorable in 
many parts of the Union by the return of the soldier 
boys from the Philippines. Skagit county also had 
its returning heroes, and a reception was held in 
their honor at Mount Vernon on November 16th. 
The soldiers whose gallantry was thus honored were 
Corporal George Caches, Company B, First Wash- 
ington volunteers. Corporal William Chambers, 
Company H of the same regiment. Corporal Edwin 
Fredlund, Company G. Private Garfield McGlinn, 
Company B, Private Frank B. Lippincott, Jr., Com- 
pany E, Sergeant Harry Craig, of the First Idaho 
volunteers ; also two soldiers not from Skagit, Ser- 
geant McCarty, Company H, Eighth infantry and 
Corporal Abbey, Company B, Fourth infantry. 

Corporal Fredlund had had charge of the regi- 
ment signal service at Pasig church, during the bat- 
tle of Fay-Tay, and also at the advance on Morong, 
the only times that the Washington volunteers were 
ever used in the special service. Private McGlinn 
had received honorary mention for special merito- 



168 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



rious services upon liis (liscli:irj;c. Tlic reception 
was held in llie Mount Vernon opera-liouse, the 
chairman beinj; Hon. M. P. Kurd. Eloquent ad- 
(h-esscs vvi're dehvered by Hon. J. C. Waugh and 
Mom. II. N'. Thompson, and an original poem enti- 
tled "IIk- Washington Volunteer," was recited by 
llu' anlluir, W. I'". Robertson. A number of patri- 
otic uuisical .selections were rendered by the glee 
club, consisting of Professor David, Addison Davis, 
W. S. Packard and J. Haddock Smith. 

There were several important court proceedings 
in IH!)!), one of the most noteworthy being the trial 
of Joe 1 lem-y for the murder of Andrew K. Jack- 
sou. The circumstances of the affair, as described 
by eye-witnesses, of whom there were several, were 
as follows: Joe Henry, who was an educated half- 
breed, was the postmaster at Urban on Sinclair 
island, or Cottonwood island, as it was also named. 
TluTc liad been trouble between Henry and Jackson 
lor some time, (be latter apparently being the ag- 
j;ressor. On the morning of the l.'Uh of March 
Henry started down to the beach to get the mail 
from the steamer I'.uekeye. He had a paper for 
Jackson which he brought over to where the latter 
was standing and dropped at his feet, whereuiion 
Jackson began calling him vile names, followed him 
<lown to the edge of the water and struck him a 
lua\\ blow on ilie chest. Henry then picked up a 
stone and threw It at his assailant, which caused the 
latter to aitaek him still more violently. Jackson 
threw Henry into the water, forcing his head below 
the surface and striking him in the face whenever 
he tried to escaiie. Innally the men were separated 
li\ ('. r.. l.utz. who happened to be near and Henry 
went u|i to his hou.se, secured a rille and shot Jack- 
son, who was following him. through the body so 
that he died in a few niiiuites. then gave himself 
up to the authorities. .\t the trial the prosecution 
wa.s conilucteil by (.'ounty .\ttorney M. P. Hurd, 
assisted by 1".. P. I'.arker of Mount \'eruon, while 
lion. John V. D.^-e of Seattle and 11. D. Allison of 
Anacortes appeared for the defense. It took the 
jury only fifteen minutes to decide on a verdict of 
"not guilty." 

Oi a more serious nature was the murder of 
D. M. Woodbury, of .\nacortes. at that place on 
September Tth. This was perhaps the most cold- 
blooded crime in the history of Skagit county, and 
the long and hard-fought trial which ensued was 
watched with intense interest. The following 
accoimt of the crime was written by an eve-witiiess 
and aiipeared fir.st in the Seattle Post-Intelligeneer : 

0, ^^, WoiHlliiiry. :i proiiiinent attorney and one of the 
most enleniri,<itig men of this resion, was shot by Al. 
Hamilton at ahont throe o'clock. 

Hamilton hail a quarrel with Billv Londerville and, 
it is said, threatened to kill him. Londerville, who was 
once on trial at 'Paconia for shootins Miles Rrotten. a 
|)0licen)an. complained to City Marshal Becker of his 
threats, and Becker had intended lockim; Hamilton up 
nntil he cooled off. hut Hamilton resisted' arrest, and as 



he was armed with a revolver and showed light, Becker 
concluded to dekiy taking him into cuNlody until a less 
dangerous moniiiit. I'lu- marshal st.irleil up the street 
for help and llauultciu fnllnwod, nu-.iiiwluk- nudciug threats. 
I''inally the marshal reached tlie hank building, in which 
City Attorney Allison had his office, and went upstairs 
to sec the attorney, Hamilton continuing to follow. In 
this building are several offices, including those of D. M. 
\V<iodbury, Miss 'I'rolson, the telephone agent, and Doug- 
l;l^^ AlliiiMiid \lhiiiind heard loud talking in the hall 

.iiiil liiKilU IhmicI s(.nu- one say: "You , if vou move, 

I'll blow \. .111 lua.l off." At this he rushed out of his 
office and I'ouikI llauiilton covering Becker with a revolver, 
the distance luiween the two men being perhaps fifteen 
feet. .Mlniund advanced to within about ten feet of Ham- 
ilton, when the revolver was leveled at hiui, and Hamilton 
said, "If you move again, I'll kill you" this situation 
lasted several seconds, when Woodbur> lanic (.ut of his 
office and said: "What is all this abmit"" Hamilton 
told Woodbury to throw up his hands, punctuating his 
remarks by oaths. Woodbury started to speak further, 
when Hamilton swung his revolver from .Mlmond and 
fired, the distance between the two men being eighteen 
or twenty feet, and Woodbury fell instantly. Allmond 
started forward to close on Hamilton as the latter turned 
his revolver toward Woodbury, but after the shot was fired 
Hamilton quickly covered Allmond again. Woodbury, 
who had fallen, called: "Boys, I'm shot. He has killed 
me." After a few seconds more Hamilton glanced toward 
where Woodbury lay and Allmond jumped backward 
through a door and to an open window, where he called 
to people on the street below to send for a physician, that 
Woodbury was shot. When he returned to the hall, 
Hamilton had started to run downstairs. Becker follow- 
ing. At the top he collided with H. D. .-Vllison. Half-way 
down he met \\. Kasch. pointed the revolver at him and 
ordered him to get out of the way. .-Ks be passed, Ka.sch 
tripped him and he fell downstairs. .\t the bottom Becker 
jumped on him and at this point Martin McDonald came 
in from the outside and grabbed Hamilton's right arm and 
the revolver was taken away. Hamilton was then lodged 
in the citv jail and taken later to Mount Vernon by Sheriff 
Wells. 

Mr. \\'oodbin"y lingered in great pain until the 
10th, when he dieil. Hamilton, a man of the 
worst type, already had a long record with the 
police, being known to them under four different 
names: Al. Hamilton, Al. Hawkins, Al. Harris 
and Al. Thomas. He was said to be a deserter from 
the English navy. He had committed numerous 
acts of robbery and piracy and had been charged 
with two murders, his nefarious operations extend- 
ing over the whole of Puget sound. 

The court convened for the trial of Hamilton at 
Mount N'ernon Xovember 6th. and after nearly a 
week a jury was secured. The prosecution was 
conducted by County .Attorney Hurd, assisted by 
Judge Mc Bride, and the defense by Colonel Lindsay 
of Seattle and J. B. Wright. The defense made a 
hard fight to convince the jury that Hamilton had 
beeti doped and committed the crime while not in 
the full possession of his senses, but the jury would 
not be convinced, and on Xovember 14th returned 
a verdict of giiilty of murder in the tirst degree. 
On Xoveiuber '21 th Judge Houser sentenced the 
prisoner to be hanged on Friday. February 9, 1900. 
P.efore the execution took place, however. Colonel 
Lindsay succeeded in securing a stay of proceed- 



SKAGIT COUNTY, 1897-1905 



ings, pending an appeal to the supreme court, which 
to the great surprise and disgust of every one, re- 
versed the decision of the superior court, the 
grounds being that there was an error in the in- 
structions of the trial judge concerning insanity. 
This decision necessitated a new trial, going over 
the whole ground once more. A change of venue 
to Whatcom county was secured by Lindsay and 
Wright, and at that place the trial was held in 
May, 1901. It was conducted on the same lines 
as the first and was very hotly contested. The jury 
were retired only thirty-five minutes before they 
rendered a verdict of guilty of murder in the first 
degree. For the second time the death sentence 
was passed upon Al. Hamilton, this time by Judge 
Neterer on July 17th. He was sentenced to be 
hanged on Friday, August 16th, but the case was 
again carried to the supreme court. This time the 
decision of the lower court was sustained, and the 
sentence of death was carried out at Whatcom on 
May 23, 1902, more than two years and six months 
after the crime for which he paid the penalty had 
been committed. Hamilton died in a manner befitting 
him — without fear or remorse. He mounted the 
scafifold steadily and his last word was a curse. 

In 1900 the branch railroad from Sedro-Wool- 
ley to Belfast, known as the Fairhaven & Southern, 
was torn up and discontinued. The branch from 
Sedro-Woolley was leased and run in conjunction 
with the Great Northern. 

The Great Northern at this time was beginning 
to employ Japanese laborers in its gangs, and the 
citizens who were prejudiced against the Japs, tried 
to prevent their working. On June 25th a large 
number of Mount Vernon citizens waited upon the 
Japanese who were employed on the railroad and 
requested them to take their departure, which the 
latter did without delay. A few days later, however, 
another crew was sent up from Seattle, with the 
request that they be given protection. It was re- 
ported that a plan was formed to treat this crew the 
same as the first, but it did not mature and they were 
not molested. 

In July the farmers of the county were greatly 
alarmed by an invasion of large multitudes of 
strange worms, later determined to be the army 
worms, which traveled in cohimns by night all over 
the western part of the state, destroying every green 
thing in their path. They lasted several weeks and 
the farmers began to think they would have no 
crops left, but fortunately the damage was confined 
to small patches and consequently was not very 
great in Skagit county. 

A horrible accident occurred on September 11th 
on the railroad trestle south of Sedro-Woolley. One 
of the workmen, who had been drinking heavily, 
fell asleep on the track and when the train came 
along he was run over and crushed and mangled 
in a frightful manner. He could not be identified. 



but it was believed that he had no relatives in this 
country. 

One of the most sensational murders in the his- 
tory of the county was that of William Corsage 
by his wife, Jennie Corsage, on December 14th. 
Corsage, a heavy drinker, was in the habit of 
cruelly abusing and maltreating his wife, even 
threatening several times to kill her, and she had 
been in constant fear of him during their married 
life. On the evening of December 14th he re- 
turned home drunk and after mistreating her 
started to go to bed. Mrs. Corsage got a pistol 
and shot Corsage while he was lying in bed, wound- 
ing him so that he died a short time afterward, 
then immediately gave herself up. When speaking 
of the crime, she said, as quoted by the News of 
December 17th : "He came home early in the even- 
ing and commenced to abuse me, being in an intox- 
icated condition. He struck me in the face three 
times, knocking me down and then proceeded to 
kick me. I told him that I would leave him and he 
said, 'If you do, I will follow you and kill you ; I 
would rather have you take my life' — which I did 
about ten o'clock, after he went to bed. After 
having a quarrel with him, I went to the next room 
and after sitting there for half an hour, a sudden 
thought struck me to kill him. I got his pistol and 
going to the door of the room in which he was 
lying I fired the shot. I am not sorry that I killed 
him, as he is better off than to live the way he did." 
The sympathy of the community seemed to be on 
the side of the woman. 

The trial of Mrs. Corsage occurred in February, 
1901. The state was represented in the case by 
Prosecuting Attorney Hurd, and the defense by 
Attorneys John F. Dore of Seattle and Henry 
McLean of Mount Vernon. A number of wit- 
nesses, including a son and daughter of Mr. and 
Mrs. Corsage, testified to the ill treatment of Mrs. 
Corsage by her husband. The defense argued that 
the deed was committed under an impulse of insan- 
ity, while the prosecution maintained that the wom- 
an was in no danger when she did the deed, but 
had had time to deliberate and therefore her action 
was not the result of a sudden impulse or passion. 
The jury was out fourteen hours and finally decided 
on a verdict of manslaughter, with a recommenda- 
tion for leniency. Mrs. Corsage was sentenced on 
March 10th to one year and six months in the state 
penitentiary and to pay a fine of five dollars. Her 
attorneys asked for a new trial but it was denied, 
whereupon the case was carried to the supreme court. 

That the population of Skagit county had been 
growing constantly was evinced by the census of 
1900. which showed 14,872 people, divided among 
the different precincts as follows: Avon, 718 ; Bay- 
view, 427; Belfast, 206; Birdsview, .331; Burling- 
ton, 525; Cascade, 138; Cavanaugh, 2; Clear Lake, 
500; Cokedale, 131; Cullum, 204; Cypress, 30; 
Ferry, 30 ; Fidalgo, 99 ; Fidalgo Citv, 152 ; Fir, 699 ; 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



Fredonia, 176; Guemes, 97; Hamilton, 563; La 
Conner, 1,083; Lake, 191; Lookout, 143; Lyman, 
353 ; McMurray, 443 ; Mansford, 20 ; Mount Baker, 
213; Mount Vernon, 1,120; Perley, 8; Point Wil- 
liams, 83; Prairie, 367; Samish, 744; Sauk, 251; 
Sedro, 310 ; Sedro-Woolley, 885 ; Ship Harbor, in- 
cluding Anacortes, 1,483 ; Sinclair, 21 ; Skagit, 531 ; 
Tingley, 67 ; WooUey, 335 ; Swinomish Indian reser- 
vation, 375. 

The year 1901 was one of the most prosperous 
in the history of the county. The crop of oats was 
immense, one of the best ever known, and the price 
twenty-two dollars per ton. The fishing industry 
also was blessed with a season such as it had never 
before known, the run of salmon being so large 
that in some cases fish were offered for one cent 
apiece with no buyers. The canneries were obliged 
to take the fish they had contracted for at the begin- 
ning of the season at fifteen cents each. In connec- 
tion with the fishing industry the following from 
the Argus of August 3d is of interest: "Children 
from ten to twelve years old are making better 
wages in the canneries now than the ordinary lab- 
orer in the harvest fields of the eastern part of the 
state. The run of salmon this year is the largest 
known in the history of the fishing industry on 
the Pacific coast. The output of the canneries at 
Anacortes amounts to fifteen thousand cases daily, 
which at the low estimate of four dollars per case 
would be valued at sixty thousand dollars per day, 
and the actual value of the daily output of the Ana- 
cortes canneries will probably be considerable 
more." 

A good deal of the attention of the people of 
Skagit county was occupied in 1901 by the county 
fair for that year, which was held on October 3d, 
4th and 5th. Early in September a new fair asso- 
ciation had been formed for the purpose of purchas- 
ing ground and erecting buildings in which annual 
exhibitions and sports would be held. The capital 
stock of this association was fifteen thousand dol- 
lars. The board of trustees selected to conduct the 
business, consisted of fifteen members, who, for the 
first year, were W. A. Lowman of Anacortes ; C. P. 
Dickey of Bay view : H. A. Alarch of Fidalgo; J. O. 
Rudene and Charles Nelson of La Conner; N. J. 
Moldstad, E. C. Million, I. E. Shrauger.G.W.Reed, 
C. A. Risbell. H. R. Hutchinson, Charles Clary and 
William Dale of Mount Vernon ; E. Hammer of 
Sedro-Woolley, and T. P. Hastie of Skagit City. 
These trustees elected as president, N. J. Moldstad; 
secretary, J. L. Anable, and treasurer, I. E. Shrau- 
ger. The management of the 1901 fair was placed 
in the hands of an executive committee, consisting 
of N. J. Moldstad, I. E. Shrauger, C. A. Risbell, 
William Dale and H. R. Hutchinson, with the last 
mentioned as general superintendent. The time for 
arranging and preparing for the fair was brief, but 
the managers did themselves great credit. While 
the displays were not of mammoth size thev were 



very excellent and the large number of people 
who attended, nearly two thousand on the last day, 
were well pleased. 

It was on September 6th that the world was 
shocked by the news of the cowardly assassination 
of President McKinley, who breathed his last on the 
14th. Memorial services at Mount Vernon were 
held in the opera-house at eleven a. m., September 
19th, under the direction of the mayor and city 
council. The school children attended in a body, 
also the Grand Army of the Republic and the 
Woman's Relief Corps. Addresses were delivered 
by Rev. Arthur Hale and Rev. Fernando C. Eldred. 
All public offices were closed during the day. A 
similar service was held at Anacortes. 

On Christmas night an extremely heavy wind 
storm passed over Skagit county and the rest of the 
sound country. Fences were torn down, trees 
blown over, so that trains were delayed for some 
time, and telegraphic and telephone communication 
destroyed, but fortunately, few houses were injured 
and little other damage was done. 

The first important event in 1903 was a serious 
railroad accident, the railroad bridge between Mount 
Vernon and Burlington collapsing on January 17th, 
as a freight train was crossing. The engine was 
nearly across when the bridge went down, but the 
bank was so steep that the cab was entirely sub- 
merged. Four cars, loaded with shingles, also went 
into the river. The engineer, Thomas Heathering- 
ton, of Everett, and the fireman, Doren, of Everett, 
were killed, but the brakeman, McConnehanin, 
escaped with a few ribs broken. The bridge had 
been known to be weak and was being repaired at 
the time but was not considered at all dangerous. 

The attention of the courts was occupied during 
part of February by the case of Charles Lindgrind, 
accused of the murder of George Leake, a very 
sickly old man, on the night of August 30, 1903. 
The state was represented by Prosecuting Attorney 
Waugli and M. P. Hurd, while Henry McLean was 
appointed by the court to represent the defendant. 
The principal witness was Charles Thomas, who 
testified to having found Leake outside his house in 
a terribly cut and bruised condition. Leake had 
described the man who had assaulted him so that he 
was easily identified. The injured man was removed 
from his house near Whitney to Fidalgo island, 
where he died in a few days. The trial of Lind- 
grind resulted in a verdict of guilty of murder in the 
second degree. 

There was considerable agitation during the year 
in regard to an exhibit from Skagit county at the 
St. Louis Exposition, and a number of meetings 
were held at different times by those interested. 
Patrick Halloran of Edison was elected president 
of the World's Fair club, Gus Hensler of Anacor- 
tes, secretary, and C. E. Bingham of Sedro-Woolley, 
treasurer. The women of the county also organ- 
ized with the following officers : President, Mrs. 



SKAGIT COUNTY, 1897-1905 



Frederick Ornes ; vice-president, Mrs. E. M. Hou- 
ser; secretary, Mrs. W. B. Ropes; treasurer, Mrs. 
George D. McLean. The county commissioners 
appropriated one thousand dollars on condition that 
two thousand dollars additional be raised, but the 
question of the exhibit, unfortunately, did not re- 
ceive the support it deserved and would probably 
have received if it had been brought before the 
attention of the public at an earlier date. It had 
been hoped to prepare a joint exhibit with Whatcom 
county, but on the 23d of February, the officers of 
the Fair club having already resigned it was defi- 
nitely decided not to prepare the exhibit and What- 
com county was so informed. 

There was some excitement in Skagit and What- 
com counties in the fall of 1903 about the large ex- 
tensions to the forest reserves made in those coun- 
ties. These extensions interfered seriously with 
business interests and with the rights of settlers, 
so naturally a large number of protests were circu- 
lated through the two counties and almost universally 
signed. These, when forwarded to Washington, 
resulted in most of the withdrawals being again 
thrown open. 

There were a number of important events dur- 
ing 1904, which are so recent that they are still 
fresh in the memory of the inhabitants. One of the 
most important was a transaction carried out by 
the commissioners and the county treasurer, R. O. 
Welts, by which bonds to the amount of one hun- 
dred thousand dollars were refunded, fifty-eight 
thousand dollars of which were held by the state 
and forty-two thousand dollars by Eastern parties. 
They had been issued on the 1st of December, 1894, 
and bore interest at the rate of six per cent. The 
state offered to refund the bonds, and on June 1st a 
new issue was made bearing interest of 3^ per cent. 
By this means a large amount of interest was saved. 
The new issue was for twenty years, with the priv- 
ilege of refunding after the first year. 

On June 20th the most successful jail break in 
the history of the county occurred at Mount Ver- 
non, when three prisoners escaped from the county 
jail. They were A. H. Johnson, a horse thief, and 
L. H. Garbe and George Reilly, burglars. All 
three of the men were just about to be sent to the 
state penitentiary at Walla Walla, Johnson and 
Reilly for five years each and Garbe for about 
eleven months, having already served out a good 
share of a two-year term. They had been in an 
attempted break about two months before. They 
were evidently furnished by friends on the outside 
with tools for their escape, with which they drilled 
through the bars of their cage, then, making their 
way to the jail yard, dug a hole in the brick wall 
through which they effected their exit. A number 
of posses were immediately sent in pursuit. John- 
son and Garbe were captured in a short time at 
Rockport, and Reilly was traced to the British line 
but escaped capture. 



One of the most interesting and pleasant events 
of the year was a pioneers' celebration and reunion 
at Sedro-Woolley on August Cth, brought about 
largely by the efforts of the Commercial club of 
that place, Mr. and Mrs. David Batey and several 
prominent residents. Mr. Batey, of Sedro-Woolley, 
acted as chairman, and Mayor Bingham made the 
welcoming address. In the morning a number of 
pleasing speeches were delivered and anecdotes of 
early times told. Those who spoke were Captain 
Fred Dwyer of Lyman, Commodore H. A. March, 
W. H. Burdon of Fidalgo and Senator Emerson 
Hammer. W. F. Robertson also recited a poem on 
"The Pioneer." At noon the meeting adjourned to 
a neighboring grove, where delightful refreshments 
were served, which the old pioneers enjoyed to the 
full, not the least enjoyed being a load of water- 
melons donated by Ivlayor Bingham. But the best 
part of the occasion was the renewing of old friend- 
ships and old ties, as many of those present had not 
seen each other before for twenty or twenty-five 
years. In the afternoon a permanent pioneers' asso- 
ciation was organized, the officers elected for the 
year being : President, David Batey ; vice-president, 
Mrs. Georgiana Batey, M. D. ; secretary, Charles 
Villeneuve ; treasurer. Captain Fred Dwyer. The 
date set for the next meeting was August 5, 1905. 

Although anticipating a little, it may be said that 
the meeting was held this year pursuant to adjourn- 
ment and that it proved an altogether agreeable and 
pleasant reunion. The officers elected were: 
Thomas P. Hastie, of Skagit City, president; Mrs. 
Ira Brown, of Sedro-Woolley, vice-president ; E. A. 
Sisson, of Padilla. secretary ; and Patrick Halloran, 
of Mount \'ernon, treasurer. The reports showed 
a membership of about one hundred and thirty. 

On the 16th of August an unfortunate fire 
burned the steamer Elwood, which was unloading at 
Avon at the time, to the water's edge, the crew nar- 
rowly escaping with their lives. The Elwood was 
owned by Captain H. H. McDonald and was one 
of the most popular boats on the river. Her place 
was taken by the Skagit Queen, still in operation 
under Captain McDonald, running between Mount 
Vernon and Seattle. 

The fourth annual county fair was held October 
5th, f)th. 7th and 8th. The officers of the fair asso- 
ciation were : President, N. J. Moldstad ; vice-presi- 
dent. William Dale ; secretary, E. W. Ferris ; 
treasurer, I. E. Shrauger. Executive board : L. J. 
Ward.N. J. Moldstad, F. G. Pickering, H. R.Hutch- 
inson, William Dale. H. R. Hutchinson was super- 
intendent of exhibits and L. J. Ward superintendent 
of races. The officers of the ladies' department 
were : President, Mrs. R. W. Williams ; vice-presi- 
dent, Mrs. A. C. Lewis ; secretary, Mrs. W. S. 
Packard ; treasurer, Mrs. George D. McLean. The 
exhibits were all excellent. 

The year 1!104 was a very prosperous one for 
the agriculturist, the oat crop being much better 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



than that of the year before, and the price excep- 
tionally high, being twenty-five dollars and twenty- 
six dollars per ton. The hay crop also was good 
and sold for a fair price, while the hop crop was 
above the average and the price was very high, 
rising to thirty cents a pound. The yield was in 
some cases a ton an acre. 

The winter of 1904-5 brought a very high tide 
on the sound, which occurred on the SDth of Decem- 
ber. While it fell a few inches short of the high tides 
of 1886 and 1895 it was high enough to overflow 
the dikes at the mouth of the river and at La Conner 
and cover that town and many farms with water. 
At first it was feared that the damage was great. 



but it turned out to be inconsiderable. The farms 
on the delta suffered the most, some of them being 
covered with debris. A few pigs also were lost. 
Occurring at the time of year that it did, it was 
believed that the salt would be washed from the 
ground by the winter rains, and this supposition 
seems to have been well founded for the crops of 
the current year were phenomenal. The industrious 
people of Skagit county are in the full enjoyment 
of an abundant prosperity. Their faith in the country 
which has caused them to stick to it through diffi- 
culties and disaster and hard times, has been abun- 
dantly rewarded, and yet greater victories are to 
be achieved in the rosy future. 



CHAPTER VI 



POLITICAL 



.\lthough Skagit county did not come into offi- 
cial existence until November 28, 1883, that being 
the date upon which Governor Newell approved the 
creating act, nevertheless fur many years previous 
the lower half of Whatcom county was dominant 
politically. Nor was it less prominent in paying 
taxes, wherein lies the principal cause of its inhab- 
itants seeking complete political independence. As 
early as 1878 the residents of the Swinomish flats 
and the Skagit valley had attained sufficient power 
to secure the establishment of this newly created 
judicial district's headquarters at La Conner. Then 
came a more energetic movement for county divi- 
sion, which reached high tide in 1883, when Editor 
James Power, of the Mail at La Conner, was elected 
councilman for Whatcom, Snohomish and Island 
counties, and Orrin Kincaid of the upper Skagit 
valley was selected Whatcom and San Juan's joint 
representative. The rest of the county ticket elected 
that year were: Commissioners, B. H. Rruns, John 
J. Edens and Isaac Dunlap, Republicans ; auditor, 
C. Donovan, Democrat ; sheriff, James O'Loughlin, 
Democrat ; treasurer, William T. Coupe, Republi- 
can ; probate judge, Harry J. White, Republican; 
superintendent of schools, G. E. Hartson, Republi- 
can ; surveyor, Alexander Charles, Republican. 
Both Power and Kincaid were also elected by 
strong Republican majorities. 

Of those elected, at least eight were residents of 
this end of the county. Thus fortified, the struggle 
for division went forward with renewed vigor, yet 



so quietly that the actual passage of the creating 
act came with a swiftness and a strength that could 
not be overcome. Representative Kincaid intro- 
duced the successful measure after one brought in 
by Councilman Power had met defeat in the upper 
house and the bill's opponents had considered the 
project shelved. In this connection it is worthy of 
mention that Kincaid's Democratic opponent in the 
campaign of 1882, Harrison Clothier of Mount Ver- 
non, gave his whole support to Kincaid and his 
colleague in the legislative struggle over the bill. 

When the creation of Skagit was at last effected 
pursuant to law. Special Commissioners H. P. 
Downs, F. E. Gilkey and H. A. March met Decem- 
ber 5, 188:!. with Harrison Clothier as acting clerk, 
and called a special county election to be held the 
second Tuesday in January following for the pur- 
pose of selecting a full corps of officers. In 
view of the fact that this election was the first held 
in Skagit county, the records thereof are submitted 
in some .detail. The conventions of both parties 
were held at La Conner and were unusually har- 
monious. In fact, a conference of Democrats and 
Republicans was held, as the result of which the 
Republicans made no nominations for sheriff and 
assessor, while the Democrats made no nomina- 
tions for auditor and the office of coroner and 
wTeckmaster. The Republicans met Saturday, Dec- 
ember 23, 1883, with James Power as chairman and 
P>. L. Martin as ^secretary, full delegations being- 
present from every precinct, except Sterling. J. F. 



POLITICAL 



Dwelley was elected chairman and W. W. Tinkham 
secretary of the Democratic convention, which met 
on the iSth of December, at the same place. The 
election passed off quietly Tuesday, January the 
Sth, a heavy rain falling all day long and a light 
vote being cast throughout the county. A list of 
the county precincts together with the total vote in 
each for the office of auditor is herewith given : La 
Conner, 143 ; Samish, 30 ; Fidalgo, 41 ; Ship Harbor, 
23; Guemes, 10; Mount Baker, 13; Skagit. 45; 
Mount Vernon, 119; Sterling, -13; Upper Skagit, 
29 ; Baker, 14 ; total, 515. 

The official vote as returned by the board of can- 
vassers w^s as follows : Auditor, H. P. Downs, 
Republican, 515, no opposition; sheriff, James 
O'Loughlin, Democrat, 490, no opposition; asses- 
sor, James O'Loughlin, Democrat, 423, no opposi- 
tion ; treasurer, John McGlinn, Republican, 239, F. 
D. Cleaves, Democrat, 341 ; probate judge, H. J. 
White, Republican, 360, W. W. Tinkham, Demo- 
crat, 212; superintendent of schools, G. E. Hartson, 
Republican, 262, Miss Josie Bradley, Democrat, 
304; surveyor, A. M. White, Republican, 241, 
George Savage, Democrat, 333 ; coroner, J. A. Gilli- 
land. Re]nihHcan, 3:i(). no op]i(isition ; commission- 
ers, Isaac Dunlap, John J. Ivlcns, T. S. Newlands, 
Republicans, :m1, 259 and 2"i7 votes respectively, 
Harrison Clothier, James Callahan, E. Hammond, 
Democrats, 328, 217 and 228 votes respectively. 

As provided for in the act creating the county, 
the newly elected board of commissioners, Isaac 
Dunlap, John J. Edens and Harrison Clothier, held 
its first meeting February 4, 1884, at the temporary 
county seat at La Conner. Permanent organiza- 
tion of the board was effected the following day, 
John J. Edens being chosen chairman. The first 
business after the bonds of the various county 
officials had been accepted, was that of receiving a 
petition signed by J. M. Galliher and twenty-two 
others, praying for the establishment of a road from 
the end of Fourth street, in the town of La Conner, 
southerly to the hill opposite the town and thence 
southeast to the line between townships 33 and 34 
north, range 2 east. The board appointed Thomas 
F. TJndsey, A. Carlson and Lyie Wallace viewers 
to act with George Savage, county surveyor, in 
establishing this, the first county road. This same 
day another road, leading from James Harrison's 
farm, via Dodge valley, to the Skagit river, was 
established by the board. It is interesting to note 
also- that the sheriff was ordered to put all prisoners 
to work at hard labor. .A.t the board's session on 
the Sth, one thousand dollars were appropriated as 
the county's share in payment of the construction 
of the Sullivan slough bridge in accordance with 
a promise made the preceding .August by the old 
county board. This synopsis of the proceedings 
covers practically every transaction of importance 
made by the board before its adjournment February 



Sth. Harrison Clothier was detained from attend- 
ance at this first session. 

Again May 5th the board met, all the comission- 
ers being present and also H. P. Downs, auditor 
and ex-officio clerk. Ferry licenses were granted 
Porter Durley, Milton B. Cook, Frank Ledger and 
Thomas S. Newlands, all operating on the Skagit 
river. For the purpose of preserving one of the old 
rate schedules, that fixed for Porter Durley's ferry 
at Skagit is herewith given : Two horses and wagon, 
loaded, $1.50; same with empty wagon, $1.00; 
horseman, $0.50 ; footman, $0.10 ; cattle and horses, 
loose, $0.25 each ; hogs and sheep, loose, $0.10 ; 
packages, under 100 pounds weight, $0.10 ; packages 
weighing over 100 pounds, $1.50 per ton. 

The board at this session created nine new vot- 
ing precincts, Franklin, Padilla, Point Williams, 
Avon, Cullum, Sauk, Birdsview, Prairie and Decep- 
tion, .^t this session also venires of jurors to serve 
the district court during the June and December 
terms, 1884, were drawn and the lists are given 
below : 

(June term) Grand — C. P. Woodcock, Noah 
Nelson, G. W. Johnson, James Harrison, J. B. 
Knox, G. E. Hartson, O. N. Lee, D. H. Byrnes, W. 
H. Burton, Frank Benn, G. W. L. Allen, M. B. 
Cook, David Batey, John M. Roach, S. A. Boyd, 
J. C. Beasley, Xavier Bartl, James Callahan, Nels 
Christensen, .\dam Carlson, Martin Dunbar, 
Charles Moore, Milas Galliher, George V. Brann, 
Fletcher W. Conn. 

Petit — Frederick Anderson, H. Dewey, T. S. 
Hurd. F. E. Gilkev, H. W. Poor, M. Anstinson, 
William Whalie, W. J. McKenna, J. V. Abbott, 
T. J. Rawlins, Adelbert Ford, John Gilligan, F. 
Storer, William Woods, B. D. Minkler, Charles 
Conrad. John Hoffman, Otto Kalso, George T. 
Jeffries. S. W. Pyle, David Fulk, James Gilligan, 
R. H. Putman, James Young and James Caches. 

(December term) Grand — L. L. Andrews, J. P. 
Brewster, W. A. Bell, C. F. Babcock, James Eu- 
bank, W. J. Brown, H. C. Barkhousen, William 
Gray, James F. Matthews, G. D. Neville, Magnus 
Anderson, Emmet Van Fleet, J. R. H. Davis, F. R. 
Hamilton, H. E. Daggett, Calvin Alverson, J. H. 
Moores, Charles Hansen, John A. Bruseth, R. H. 
Ball, J. D. Bannon, Anthony Barrett, J. H. Chil- 
berg. Thomas Crumrine and Jasper Gates. 

Petit — Andrew Osberg, C. Otis, William Gear. 
.Allan ]\IcGibbon, James McCain, Thomas R. Jones, 
E. C. Brown. C. C. Best, William Allard, William 
B. Edens, John Peterson, Valentine Adam, T. S. 
Conmey. .Adam Huff, J. G. Jenni, John Isaacson, 
H. A. March, Edward .Ames, George Maw, B. L. 
Martin, Nelson Kellev, P. C. Eubank, O. N. Bab- 
cock, S. P. Olson and Edward Good. 

The burning issue of the campaign in the fall 
of 1884 was the question of permanently locating 
the county seat. .As the details of this struggle are 
given in full elsewhere, it is not necessary" here to 



1T8 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



enter into a lengthy account. La Conner, as the 
oldest town in the county and situated in the princi- 
pal farming district, with easy access to the sound, 
set forth its claims for precedence in strong terms, 
but within the preceding few years the chief town 
of the Skagit river had come rapidly to the front as 
the trading center of a small but rapidly growing 
farming community and headquarters for a large 
number of extensive logging camps extending up 
and down the river. On the surface La Conner 
appeared to have an easy victory, but, as one de- 
jected La Connerite put it, "all you'd have to do up 
at Mount Vernon was to shake the bushes and 
voters would scurry in from farms and camps that 
we didn't dream existed." The fact of the matter 
was that the valley had been growing much more 
rapidly than the inhabitants of the tide fiats had 
thought possible, and the population of the logging 
cani])s had been underestimated. From the follow- 
ing vote by precincts, the supporters of each town 
and the relative strength developed may be easily 
seen : 

La Conner : Prairie precinct, ; Samish, 46 ; 
Point 'Williams, 8; Mount Baker, 16; Padilla, 41; 
La Conner, 267 ; Guemes, 39 ; Ship Harbor, 32 ; 
Fidalgo, 32 ; Deception, 31 ; Franklin, 27 ; Skagit, 4 ; 
Mount Vernon, 5 ; Avon, 12 ; Sterling, 2 ; Upper 
Skagit, 4 ; Birdsview, 1 ; Cullum, ; Sauk, ; total, 
567. 

Mount Vernon : Prairie precinct, 27 ; Samish, 
72 ; Point 'Williams, 12 ; Mount Baker, 13 ; Padilla, 
3; La Conner, 17; Guemes, 1; Ship Harbor, 2; 
Fidalgo, 4 ; Deception, ; Franklin, 9 ; Skagit, 130 ; 
Mount Vernon, 253 ; Avon, 53 ; Sterling, 58 ; Upper 
Skagit, 85; Birdsview, 31; Cullum, 10; Sauk, 16; 
total, 796. 

The Democratic county convention was held in 
Odd Fellows' building. Mount Vernon, September 
4, 1SS4, and a full ticket nominated. A little later, 
Walter Crockett, of Island, was chosen as this dis- 
trict's Democratic nominee for councilman, while 
E. D. Warbass, of San Juan, was nominated joint 
representative. The Republicans met in La Conner, 
August 26th, and among other resolutions adopted 
one declaring in favor of the forfeiture by the 
Northern Pacific of all unearned land grants. The 
Republican nominee for councilman was E. C. Fer- 
guson, and for joint representative from Skagit, 
Whatcom and San Juan counties, Dr. S. Manly of 
Whatcom. Of these candidates the Skagit News 
said in its issue of September 16th. "Both party 
tickets are now before the people giving general 
satisfaction as much from the even-hauled distri- 
bution of offices over the county as from the ability 
of most of the candidates nominated. It is not 
necessary to go through the entire list of candi- 
dates. It is essential only to say that the county has 
intelligent, capable men to manage its affairs and 
we are glad that such men have been presented 
by both sides." At the election which followed. 



Warbass, with 141 majority in Skagit and San 
Juan, was met in Whatcom by Manly's 200 
majority and defeated ; Crockett, carrying Island, 
Snohomish and Skagit by 358 majority, was like- 
wise defeated, there being over 400 majority against 
him in Whatcom. The official vote in this county 
follows : 

Delegate, J. M. Armstrong, Republican, 653, 
Charles S. Voorhees, Democrat, 706 ; joint council- 
man, Walter Crockett (elected). Democrat, 806, E. 
C. Ferguson, Republican, 555 ; joint representative, 
Dr. S. H. Manly, Republican, 623 , E. D. Warbass, 
Democrat, 711 ; prosecuting attorney, John J. Cal- 
houn, Democrat, 844, L. V. Rosser, Republican, 
534; auditor, H. P. Downs, Republican, 1,138, W. 
W. Tinkham, Democrat, 210 ; treasurer, F. D. 
Cleaves, Democrat, 842 , F. M. Walsh, Republican, 
506 ; sheriff, James O'Loughlin, Democrat, 750 , S. 
T. Valentine, Republican, 609 ; assessor, W. J. Mc- 
Kenna, Republican, 902 , John H. Chilberg, Demo- 
crat, 401 ; probate judge, J. F. Dwelley, Democrat, 
652 , H. J. White, Republican, 701 ; superintendent 
of schools, G. E. Hartson, Republican, 901 , R. L. 
Jacks, Democrat, 458 ; commissioners, W. H. Gil- 
more, Thomas P. Hastie, D. B. Minkler, Repub- 
licans, 701, 807 and 1,011 votes respectively, James 
Gilligan, G. W. L. Allen and P. Downey, Demo- 
crats, 774, 232 and 401 votes respectively ; surveyor, 
A. M. White, Republican, 565, G. A. Savage, Dem- 
ocrat, 807 ; wreckmaster, J. S. Church, Republican, 
804, Michael Hurley, Democrat, 550 ; coroner, J. S. 
Church, Republican, 801, Michael Hurley, Demo- 
crat, 550 ; county seat, La Conner, 567, Mount 
Vernon, 796 ; church tax, yes, 579, no, 547. 

In 1885 the question of dividing Skagit county 
into commissioner districts coming before the 
people for consideration, a convention was held at 
Mount Vernon, December 8th, for the purpose of 
crystallizing popular opinion on that subject. Of 
69 delegates apportioned to the various precincts, 37 
were present, 6 from Samish. 3 from Sterling, 1 
from Point Williams. 7 from Skagit, 3 from Avon, 
4 from the upper Skagit and 13 from Mount 
Vernon. Augustus Hartson acted as chairman, V. 
A. Marshall as secretary. A resolution was unani- 
mously adopted as follows: 

"Resolved, by the people of Skagit county, in 
convention assembled, that we are opposed, in the 
present unsettled and undeveloped condition of this 
county, to its division into commissioner districts 
without due time for consideration by the people, 
but we are in favor of the legislature passing an 
enabling act by which the question of such division 
shall be submitted to the voters of the county at 
the next general election." Byron Barlow was 
chosen to present a copy of this resolution to 
Skagit's representative and councilman, and to con- 
fer with them upon the question considered by the 
convention. 

On the 13tli of July, 1886, a special election was 



POLITICAL 



held to determine in which precincts the sale of 
intoxicating liquors should be allowed and in which 
not allowed. Five precincts went for prohibition; 
Avon, Franklin, La Conner, Mount Baker and 
Deception. The remainder, Birdsview, Lyman, 
Sterling, Alpine, Padilla, Samish, Fidalgo, Ship 
Harbor and Guemes decided in favor of continuing 
the license system. 

As the fall election approached, a new party 
came into being in this section, the People's, com- 
posed of persons dissatisfied with the policies of 
each of the dominant organizations. The Skagit 
division of the party held a county convention at 
Skagit City, September 20th, effected an organ- 
ization with Peter Kuyl, George H. Turner, John 
Lorenzy and J. N. Brown as its central committee, 
and made the following nominations: Sheriff, 
John W. Duncan ; assessor, Peter Egtvet ; coroner 
and wreckmaster, John Siegfreid. For the remain- 
ing offices, the People's party endorsed Republican 
and Democratic nominees. The Republicans con- 
vened at La Conner, August 31st, the Democrats 
at Mount Vernon, September 25th. For joint rep- 
resentative for Skagit and Snohomish counties, the 
Democrats put up M. J. McElroy of Stanwood, the 
People's party, D. O. Pearson, also of Stanwood, 
and the Republicans, J. H. Irvine. 
The official vote was as follows: 
Delegate, C. M. Bradshaw, Republican, 674, C. 
S. Voorhees, Democrat, 390, W. A. Newell, People's 
partv, 175 ; prosecuting attorney, H. A. Fairchild, 
Republican, 707, T. C. Austin, Democrat, 527; 
joint councilman, John P. McGlinn, Republican, 
715, J. H. Lewis, Democrat, 457 ; representative, 
J. H. Irvine, Republican, 471, M. J. McElroy, Dem- 
ocrat, 532, D. O. Pearson, People's party, 237; 
probate judge, Henry McBride, Republican, 550, 
Harrison Clothier, Democrat, 683 ; commissioners, 
Patrick Halloran, Republican, 863, J. O. Rudene, 
Republican, 802, J. M. Young, Republican, 822, 
Jasper Gates, Democrat, 332, Frank Benn, Demo- 
crat, 492, Dan Sullivan, Democrat, 312; sheriff, 
L. L. Andrews, Republican, 694, John Purcell, 
Democrat, 549 ; auditor, H. P. Downs, Republican, 
807, S. P. Brooks, Democrat, 430 ; treasurer, E. K. 
Matlock, Republican, 615, M. Hurley, Democrat, 
613 ; assessor, Peter Egtvet, People's partv, 179, 
T. J. May, Democrat, 306, W. J. McKenna, Repub- 
lican, 745 ; surveyor, H. E. Wells, Republican, 854, 
George Savage, Democrat, 378 ; school superin- 
tendent, R. O. Welts, Republican, 731, G. S. Blake, 
Democrat, 510 ; coroner, James Vercoe, Republican, 
702, P. O'Hare, Democrat, 417 ; wreckmaster, Eli 
Rhoades, Republican, 692, P. O'Hare, Democrat, 431. 
Skagit county in 1888, according to the official 
count, cast 1,199 votes, excluding one that was 
thrown out on account of two ballots being folded 
together. In 1886, with woman suffrage in force, 
the total vote was 1,239, or only 39 more than the 
vote of 1888. The Republicans were first in the 



field with their ticket, holding a county convention 
at Mount Vernon, September 1st. The Democrats 
met at La Conner on the 22d, while October 27th 
the Prohibitionists made an unsuccessful attempt 
at Mount Vernon to nominate a ticket, unsuccess- 
ful because of an insufficient supply of candidates. 

The vote in Skagit is herewith presented : Dele- 
gate, John B. Allen, Republican, 768, Charles S. 
Voorhees, Democrat, 383, Roger S. Greene, Pro- 
hibitionist, 28; adjutant-general, R. G. O'Brien, 
Republican, 738, H. Butler, Democrat, 433, Brown, 
Prohibitionist, 17 ; brigadier-general, A. P. Curry, 
Republican, 740, J. J. Hunt, Democrat, 421, Vroo- 
man. Prohibitionist, 17 ; prosecuting attorney, 

Henry AIcBride, Republican, 783, Austin, 

Democrat, 382 ; joint councilman, J. B. Ault, Re- 
publican, 679, M. J. McElroy, Democrat, 480 ; joint 
representative, John J. Edens, Republican, 789, 
F. H. Hancock, Democrat, 382 ; probate judge, 
Charles Von Pressentin, Republican, 608, F. D. 
Cleaves, Democrat, 549 ; commissioners, P. Hall- 
oran, J. M. Young, I. Dunlap, Republican, 711, 
779 and 707 votes respectively, H. P. O'Bryant, R. 
E. Cochrehan, Pat McCoy, Democrats, 432, 354 
and 481 votes respectively ; sheriff, E. D. Davis, 
Republican, 697, Thomas Costello, Democrat, 473 ; 
auditor, H. P. Downs, Republican, 615, M. Mc- 
Namara, Democrat, 551 ; treasurer, E. K. Matlock, 
Republican, 762, B. N. L. Davis, Democrat, 409; 
assessor, W. M. Dale, Republican, 596, James 
O'Loughlin, Democrat, 573 ; surveyor, Henry Vin- 
ing. Republican, 831, George Savage, Democrat, 
17 ; school superintendent, T. R. Hay ton, Republi- 
can, 748, G. S. Blake, Democrat, 423 ; coroner, 
James Vercoe, Republican, 752, Doctor Gilkey, 
Democrat, 121 ; wreckmaster, M. B. Dunbar, Re- 
publican, 709, Samuel Ginnett, Democrat, 456. 

The call for delegates to a constitutional con- 
vention to be held at Olympia in July, 1889, in 
anticipation of early statehood, necessitated the 
holding of a special election in Skagit the latter 
part of May. This county was embraced in both 
the 16th and 17th districts. Only 876 votes were 
cast in the county, which was nearly one-third less 
than that cast at the preceding general election. In 
the 16th district, James Power, Edward Eldridgc, 

Laws, De Mattos, McGinnis and J. 

J. Weisenberger received^ respectively, 813, 570, 
152, 413, 559 and 736 votes, electing Power of 
Skagit, and Weisenberger and Eldridge of What- 
com. The vote in the 17th district resulted: Har- 
rison Clothier, 565; Thomas Hayton, 394; Albert 

Schooley, 373; Comegys, 350, and Griffiths, 

321 ; electing Clothier and Hayton of Skagit and 
Schooley of Snohomish. 

The result of the fall election showed an in- 
creased Republican majority. The Skagit county 
convention met at Mount Vernon, Thursday, 
August 39th, and selected as its standard bearers: 
Thomas Pavne of Mount Vernon, for state senator ; 



180 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



J. J. Edens, of Guemes, and B. D. Minkler, of 
Lyman, for representatives ; and J. B. Moody, 
county clerk. The Democrats held their conven- 
tion at the same place, September 3d, and placed 
in nomination for state senator, W. E. Schricker of 
La Conner; for representatives, Harrison Clothier, 
Mount Vernon, Captain O'Toole, Birdsview; for 
county clerk, John P. Millett. These special tickets 
were necessitated by the entrance of Washington 
into statehood. 

The official vote was as follows : Representative 
to congress. John L. Wilson, Republican, 955, 
Thomas Griffiths, Democrat, 501 ; governor, E. P. 
Ferry, Republican, 949, Eugene Sample, Democrat, 
566 ; lieutenant-governor, Charles E. Laughton, Re- 
publican, 956, L. H. Plattor, Democrat, 560; secre- 
tary of state, Allen Weir, Republican, 956, W. H. 
Whittlesey, Democrat, 563 ; state treasurer, A. A. 
Lindsley, Republican, 957, M. Kaufman, Democrat, 
560; state auditor, Thomas M. Reed, Republican, 
968, J. M. Murphy, Democrat, 551 ; attorney- 
general, W. C. Jones, Republican, 957, H. J. 
Snively, Democrat, 561 ; superintendent public in- 
struction, R. B. Bryan, Republican, 809, J. H. 
Morgan, Democrat, 579 ; land commissioner, W. 
F. Forrest, Republican, 958, Goodell, Demo- 
crat, 562 ; supreme judges, R. O. Dunbar, Repub- 
lican, 966, E. P. Hoyt, Republican, 956, T. L. 
Stvles, Republican, 931, T. J. Anders, Republican, 
955, E. D. Scott, Republican, 956, W. D. White, 
Democrat, 556, J. L. Sharpstein, Democrat, 561, 
J. B. Reavis, Democrat, 558, J. P. Judson, Demo- 
crat, 562, Frank Ganahl, Democrat, 557 ; superior 

judges, J. J. Weisenberger, Republican, 888, 

Winn, Democrat, 636 : county clerk, J. B. Moody, 
Republican, 936, J. P. Millett] Democrat, 577 ; state 
.senator, Thomas Payne, Republican, 768, W. E. 
Schricker, Democrat, 734 ; representatives, B. D. 
Minkler. Republican, 885, John J. Edens, Repub- 
lican, 928, Harrison Clothier, Democrat, 675, Cap- 
tain W. D. O'Toole, Democrat, 520 ; for the consti- 
tution, 1.173, against the constitution, ill ; for woman 
suffrage, 404, against woman suffrage, 944 ; for 
prohibition, 499, against prohibition, 846 ; state 
capital, Olympia, 1,209, North Yakima, 42, Ellens- 
burg, 81, Seattle, 17; bridge tax, yes, 335, no, 734. 

The campaign of 1890 was initiated early in 
July by the organization of the Skagit County Dem- 
ocratic Society with the following officers : Fred 
Pape, president; Samuel L. Bell, vice-president; 
W. E. Schricker, treasurer ; John Doser, secretary ; 
executive committee, the president, vice-president, 
secretary and the following: H. Clothier, Captain 
W. D. O'Toole, R. E. Cochrehan, William Murdock, 
H. D. Wells, J. C. Beasley and Robert Sharp. The 
club did good work and no doubt to its efforts is 
due much credit for the victories won by the party 
later in the year. The Democrats held their countv 
convention at .A^nacortes, Wednesday, October 1st. 
The Republicans convened in the same city Sat- 



urday, September 20th, both parties placing com- 
plete tickets in the field. The struggle was waged 
upon national issues for the most part. 

The official vote follows : Representative in con- 
gress, John L. Wilson, Republican, 983, Thomas 
Carroll, Democrat, 708, Abernathy, Prohibitionist, 
72 ; state capital, Ellensburg, 108, North Yakima, 
66, Olympia, 1,501; state senator, Samuel Bell, 
Democrat, 785, John J. Edens, Republican, 1,007, 
Haggard, Prohibitionist, 94 ; representatives, G. E. 
Hartson, Republican, 750, William McKay, Repub- 
lican, 1,112, W. E. Schricker, Democrat, 932, J. B. 
Wiley, Democrat, 504, Flagg, Prohibitionist, 97, 
Gray, Prohibitionist, 84 ; auditor, T. R. Hayton, 
Republican, 705, Fred Pape, Democrat, 1,097, Skal- 
ing^, Prohibitionist, 84 ; sheriff, E. D. Davis, Repub- 
lican, 1,122, Sharp, Democrat, 717, Elliott, Prohi- 
bitionist, 62 ; treasurer, B. N. L. Davis, Democrat, 
1,018, R. O. Welts, Republican, 779, Decatur, Pro- 
hibitionist, 78 ; clerk, W. T. Lucas, Democrat, 624, 
J. B. Moody, Republican, 1,191, Dudley, Prohi- 
bitionist, 66 ; assessor, James Becraft, Democrat, 
751, W. M. Dale, Republican, 1,038, Breese, Prohi- 
bitionist, 72 ; county attorney, H. D. Allison, Re- 
publican, 663, Seymour Jones, Democrat, 1,074, E. 
C. Million, Independent, 47, Spear, Prohibitionist, 
97 ; surveyor, W. J. Brown, Democrat, 652, A. G. 
Mosier, Republican, 1,010, White. Prohibitionist, 
209 ; superintendent of schools, J. W. Gilkey, Dem- 
ocrat, 875, J. M. Shields, Republican, 885, Howell, 
Prohibitionist, 103 ; commissioners, first district, F. 
W. Conn, Democrat, 911, O. Smith, Republican, 
777, Best, Prohibitionist, 116; commissioners, 
second district, J. T. Mason, Republican, 859, 
Charles Moore, Democrat, 865, Daggett, Prohi- 
bitionist, 86 ; commissioners, third district, C. von 
Pressentin, Republican, 926, George Savage, Dem- 
ocrat, 835 ; coroner, A. C. Lewis, Democrat, 679, 
Doctor Tozier, Repubhcan, 1,048, Walter, Prohi- 
bitionist, 87. 

The campaign of 1892 is noted in the political 
history of Washington as being its most memorable 
struggle, with the possible exception of that of 
1904. In Skagit county the campaign's asperities 
were accentuated by a county-seat fight in which 
Mount \^ernon, Anacortes, Sedro and Burlington 
were the rival candidates. As is usually the case in 
presidential years, party lines were very distinctly 
drawn upon national issues and dominated local 
politics. Party organizations within the state had 
by this time been matured, consequently the cam- 
paign was carefully planned and methodically 
carried on. Here, as elsewhere in the state, torch- 
light processions illumined the night and enthu- 
siastic mass meetings addressed by noted speakers 
were frequently held. 

As to the county-seat fight it is sufficient at 
this point to say that Mount Vernon's rivals were 
comparatively new towns, which had grown with 
remarkable rapidity during the preceding two or 



POLITICAL 



three years, and that each presented its claims in 
the strongest light possible. However, under the 
provisions of the constitution, a three-fifths vote 
was necessary to re-locate a county seat, and this 
proved Mount \'ernon's salvation. Sinclair, Cypress, 
Guemes, Ship Harbor, Fidalgo, Fidalgo City and 
Point Williams precincts went solid for Anacortes. 
casting only three votes for Sedro and one for 
Mount Vernon. Of the other twenty-five precincts. 
Mount Vernon cast 367 votes for itself, Sedro and 
Woolley 267 votes for Sedro, and Burlington cast 
84 votes for itself. The total vote was : Anacortes, 
873; Mount Vernon, 867; Sedro, 636, and Burling- 
ton, 164. The county seat was therefore retained 
by Mount Vernon and no effort has since been made 
to remove it. 

The year 1893 marked the advent of the 
People's party upon the political stage. A county 
organization was formed in Skagit at Mount 
\'ernon, August 6th, at which E. L. Clark presided 
as chairman and G. W. Angel acted as secretary. 
In accordance with the recommendation of this 
medium the party held a county convention at 
Burlington, Friday, September 3d, and placed in 
nomination a complete ticket. Reform and more 
extended participation in the business and social 
life of the country by municipalities and the central 
government were the slogans of this new third 
party. However, the People's party in this county 
in 1892 did not rise above third place, and did not 
elect a single candidate except John Lorenzy as 
constable in the Mount Vernon precinct. 

Republicans met in county convention at Bur- 
lington Saturday. July 30th, while the Democrats 
convened at the same place a week later. Both 
parties placed unusually strong tickets in the field. 
The Prohibitionists cast only seventy votes in 
Skagit county in 1893. a falling off of nine votes in 
two years, showing that this party was an unim- 
portant factor in the campaign. One of the prom- 
inent local features this year was the struggle for 
judicial honors in this district, because of the 
creation of a new judicial district out of the counties 
of Skagit and Island. Henry McBride had been 
appointed, March 10, 1891, to fill the vacancy caused 
by the transfer of Judge Winn to Whatcom county. 
Under the provisions of the constitution a new judge 
must be elected at the next succeeding election to 
fill the unexpired term, so it was necessary to elect 
two judges, one for the regular term and another 
to act until the 9th of January, 1893. By mutual 
agreement E. C. Million of Mount Vernon was the 
only man placed in nomination for the short term. 
He served a little more than a month, holding court 
during the greater part of that time and handling 
several important cases. 

The official vote of Skagit county was as follows : 
President, Harrison, Republican, i.24S. Cleveland, 
Democrat, 943, Weaver, People's party, 665, Pro- 
hibitionist candidate, 70 ; congressmen, William 



Doolittle, Republican, 1.137, J. L. Wilson, Repub- 
lican, 1,303, "Thomas Carroll, Democrat, 898, James 
A. Munday, Democrat, 877, M. F. Knox, People's 
party, 668^ J. C. Van Patten, People's party, 683, 
Newberry, Prohibitionist, 69, Dickinson, Prohi- 
bitionist, 69 ; governor, John H. McGraw, Repub- 
lican. 1,103, Henry J. Snively, Democrat, 793, C. 
W. Young, People's party, 899, Roger S. Greene, 
Prohibitionist, 139 ; lieutenant-governor, Frank H. 
Luce. Republican. 1.146, Henry C. Willison, Demo- 
crat. 851, C. P. Twiss, People's party, 746, D. G. 
Strong, Prohibitionist, 86 ; state auditor, Laban R. 
Grimes, Republican, 1,148, Samuel Bass, Democrat, 
873, Charles C. Rudolph, People's party, 694, 
Christian Carlson, Prohibitionist, 73 ; secretary of 
state, James H. Price, Republican, 1.167, John Mc- 
Reavy, Democrat, 864, Lyman Wood, People's 
party, 703, W. H. Gilstrap, Prohibitionist, 69; 
treasurer, A. Bowen. Republican, 1.000, Harrison 
Clothier, Democrat, l.lol, W\ C. P. Adams, 
People's party, 650, G. W. Stewart, Prohibitionist, 
(53 : attorney-general, W. M. C. Jones, Republican. 
1,188, Richmond H. Starr. Democrat, 860, Govnor 
Teets. People's party, 677, Everett Smith, Prohi- 
bitionist, 78; superintendent of public schools. 
Charles W. Bean. Republican, 1,158, John H. Mor- 
gan, Democrat. 876, John M. Smith, People's party, 
681, W. M. Heiney, Prohibitionist, 71; land com- 
missioners, W. T. Forrest, Republican, 1,181, Free- 
born S. Lewis, Democrat, 867, T. M. Callaway, 
People's party, 091, R. M. Gibson, Prohibitionist, 
67 ; public printer, Oliver C. White. Republican, 
1,183, Joseph A. Bordon, Democrat, 851, A. J. 
Murphy, People's party, 670. W. H. Boothroyd. 
Prohibitionist, 71; judges of supreme court, Elmon 
Scott, Republican, 1,187, Thotnas J. Anders, Repub- 
lican, 1,109. William H. Brinker, Democrat, 850. 
Eugene K. Hanna, Democrat, 787, Frank T. Reid. 
People's party, 699, G. W. Gardner, People's party, 
647 : judge of superior court, ]. N. Turner. People's 
part\-. 1>)48, E. C. Million! Democrat, 775, H. 
McBride, Republican. 1,558 ; representatives, M. P. 
Hurd. Republican, 1,398, J. B. AIcMillin, Republi- 
can, 1,019, Jackson, Democrat. 884. William 

D. O'Toole. Democrat, 954, O. Ball, People's party, 
663, E. L. Clark, People's party, 718 ; county audi- 
tor, Fred Blumberg, Republican, 938, F. E. Pape, 
Democrat, 1,434, George Crosby, People's party, 
510 ; sheriff, E. H. Vaughn, Republican, 996, James 
O'Loughlin, Democrat, 1.307. L. A. Boyd, People's 
party, 674 ; prosecuting attorney, George A. Joiner, 
Republican, 1,373, I. E. Shrauger. Democrat. 814, 
J. P. Houser, People's party, 687 ; assessor, H. C. 
Howard, Republican. 1,333. W. T. Lucas. Democrat, 
938, G. M. Reed. People's party, 593 ; superinten- 
dent of schools, J. M. Shields,' RepuWican, 1,090. 
J. W. Gilkey, Democrat. 1,038, Mrs. McKenzie, 
People's partv, 683 ; clerk. George A. Noble, Repub- 
lican, 1,111, P. S. Hogan. Democrat, 1.180, G. W. 
Angell. People's party. 573; treasurer. James Dun- 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



lap, Republican, 1,292, Albert Taylor, Democrat, 
954, Eichholtz, People's party, 575; sur- 
veyor, J. W. Meehan, Republican, 1,229, J. C. Par- 
sons, Democrat, 861, R. H. Stevens, People's party, 
673 ; coroner, W. B. Dunbar, Republican, 1,260, J. 
A. Dorman, Democrat, 838, L. A. Blackwell, Peo- 
ple's party, 634 ; commissioner, first district, John 
Dale, Republican, 1,096, F. W. Conn, Democrat, 
943, Frazer, People's party, 787; com- 
missioner, second district, J. W. Dicks, Republican, 
1,241, Fred Graham, Democrat, 630, H. A. Wright, 
People's party, 871 ; commissioner, third district, 
John Sutter, Republican, 1,388, R. E. Cochrehan, 
Democrat, 756. J. B. Wiley, People's party, 575; 
wreckmaster, Tom Sharp, Republican, l,03i, John 
Benson, Democrat, 707. 

Notwithstanding the rapid growth of the Peo- 
ple's party during the next two years the balance 
of power remained with the Republicans in the 
campaign of 1894, as the power of the Democratic 
party declined proportionately. From this it will 
be seen that the new third party was drawing its 
recruits principally from Democratic ranks, fore- 
shadowing the complete merger of the two parties 
two years later when the fusion ticket swept county 
and state. 

The Republicans were first to hold their con- 
vention, assembling at Sedro, September 6th. A 
full ticket was nominated. Of local interest are 
the fifth and sixth planks of the platform adopted, 
which read as follows: 

"Resolved, That we pledge the best efforts of 
our representatives in the state legislature to use 
all honorable means to secure an appropriation for 
opening a public highway through the Cascade 
range for the connection of Skagit county with the 
mineral stores of that mountainous range and the 
agricultural districts of Okanogan and Stevens 
counties. 

"Resolved, That it is the sense of this conven- 
tion that the assessment of real estate of this county 
annually imposes an unnecessary expense and bur- 
den on our citizens, and that our representatives 
be instructed to use their utmost endeavors to secure 
an amendment to our laws so that an assessment 
of real property be made not oftener than once in 
three years." 

The senatorial district convention was held at 
Anacortes, September 29th, and Fred C. Harper, of 
San Juan county, nominated. 

On the 22d of September the Democrats and the 
Populists convened respectively in Anacortes and 
Burlington, holding harmonious conventions. No 
local issues of especial importance were brought 
out by either party. From the official vote, which 
follows, the results at the polls may be ascertained : 
Judge supreme court, R. O. Dunbar, Republican, 
1,165, M. J. Gordon, Republican, 1,110, J. L. 
Sharpstein, Democrat, 489, Thomas N. Allen, 
Democrat, 466, J. M. Ready, People's party, 952, 



H. L. Forest, People's party, 900; state senator, 
Fred C. Harper, Republican, 1,039, Fred E. Pape, 
Democrat, 670, E. C. Nordyke, People's party, 981 ; 
representatives, Herbert S. Conner, Republican, 
1,174, A. M. Moore, Republican, 1,097, Chas. 
Moore, Democrat, 428, John J. See, Democrat, 512, 
John Z. Nelson, People's party, 1,050, W. T. Mor- 
rison, People's party, 912 ; prosecuting attorney, 
George A. Joiner, Republican, 1,144, D. M. Wood- 
bury, Democrat, 485, J. P. Houser, People's party, 
1,034 ; commissioner, second district, L. L. Andrews, 
Republican, 596, N. W. Carpenter, Democrat, 303, 
Grant Knight, People's party, 441 ; commissioner, 
third district, Thomas Conmey, Republican, 247, 
George A. Henson, Democrat, 133, John P. Flick, 
People's party, 282 ; county clerk, F. B. Lippincott, 
Republican, 1,045, Paul S. Hogan, Democrat, 876, 
William T. Flagg, People's party, 771; auditor, V. 
J. Knapp, Republican, 945, Harrison Clothier, 
Democrat, 711, Hiram Hammer, People's party, 
1,034; sherifif, P. J. Maloney, Republican, 1,032, 
James O'Loughlin, Democrat, 594, W. E. Perkin- 
son. People's party, 1,066 ; treasurer, James Dunlap, 
Republican, 1,266, Daniel Sullivan, Democrat, 415, 
Oscar Ball, People's party 996 ; assessor, H. C. 
Howard, Republican, 1,126, F. W. Conn, Democrat, 
618, N. S. Cody, People's party, 936; school super- 
intendent, W. B. Davis, Republican, 1,254, Lewis 
Sandell, Democrat, 390, J. P. Edwards, People's 
party. 1,020; coroner, M. B. Dunbar, Republican, 
1,212, J. A. Dorman, Democrat, 463, John W. Ben- 
son, People's party, 946 ; wreckmaster, Thomas 
Sharp, Democrat, 596, A. J. Crookham, People's 
party, 985 ; surveyor, J. W. Meehan, Republican, 
1,167, H. H. Barber, Democrat, 632, J. T. Lohr, 
People's party, 852. 

In political circles the year 1895 in this state 
was marked by the formation of a notable geograph- 
ical combination, known as the Northwestern County 
.Association. It \vas occasioned by the candidacy of 
Honorable John S. McMillin, of San Juan county, 
for the United States senate. He was defeated by 
John L. Wilson, but the political combination then 
formed for his support remains to this day. Among 
its prominent achievements were the selection of 
Henry McBride of Skagit as lieutenant-governor, 
and Albert Mead of Whatcom as governor in 1904. 

The spectacular, epoch-making campaign of 
1896 is still vivid in the memory of all but the very 
young. There have been few campaigns, probably, 
which have so completely engrossed public atten- 
tion and which have so profoundly stirred the 
American people. For two things it will take a 
most important place in .American history if for 
nothing else, namely, the apparently permanent 
settlement of the financial policy of the United 
States and the institution of what has been termed 
the "campaign of education," whose most promi- 
nent feature is the distribution of an almost incom- 
prehensible amount of printed matter. 



POLITICAL 



The local Republicans initiated the campagn 
Tuesday, August 11th, in Skagit News hall, Mount 
Vernon, by the organization of a McKinley club, 
with a charter membership of seventy-five. Its 
officers were: President, G. E. Hartson; vice-presi- 
dent, W. F. Patten ; secretary, Frank Farrar ; 
treasurer, W. S. Ribblett ; executive committee, 
James Kean, A. L. Crawford, J. F. St. John, R. 
W. Williams and J. W. Prilliman. The county 
convention was held in Mount Vernon five days 
later. As was expected, the silver question resulted 
in the organization under one banner of all who 
favored Bryan's financial doctrine. The People's 
party, the great mass of Democrats and the Silver 
Republicans united here in Skagit, as elsewhere in 
the United States, forming a fusion party. The 
Fusionists held their county convention at Burling- 
ton, September 30th, and nominated a ticket com- 
posed of seven Populists, four Democrats and two 
Silver Republicans. Later J. P. Houser. a former 
member of the People's party, was nominated for 
the superior judgeship of this district, while the 
Republicans selected Henry McBride for the same 
position. 

At the polls on election day the Fusionists 
swept the county, as will be seen from the official 
vote which follows : Presidential electors, L. B. 
Andrews, Solomon Smith, John N. Conna, W. K. 
Kennedy. Republicans, 1.36S, 1,265, 1,361 and 
1,255 votes respectively, Thomas Burke, George 
Stapleton, Yancey C. Blalock, Wilbur S. Year- 
sley, Democrats, 50, 45, 41 and 40 votes respectively, 
Nathan Caton, Isaac Maxwell, John B. Hart, De- 
witt C. Newman, People's party," 1,573, 1,564, 1,557 
and 1,554 votes respectively, D. T. Denny, J. J. 
Ashby, R. F. Whittum, O. G. Gist, Prohibitionists, 
28, 22, 22 and 21 votes respectively, Chas. Goddard, 
Boyd Teeter, John B. Redford, P. H. Peter, Na- 
tional party, 3, 3, 2 and 3 votes respectively ; repre- 
sentatives in congress, S. C. Hvde, Republican, 
1,217, W. H. Doolittle, Republican, 1,346, James 
Hamilton Lewis, People's party, 1,646, William C. 
Jones, People's party, 1,593, C. A. Slayer, Prohi- 
bitionist, 27, Martin Olsen, Prohibitionist, 20 ; gov- 
ernor, P. C. Sullivan, Republican, 1,306, John R. 
Rogers, People's party, 1,615, R. E. Dunlap, Prohi- 
bitionist, 64 ; lieutenant-governor, John W. Arra- 
smith. Republican, 1,248, Thurston Daniels, Peo- 
ple's party, 1,580, T. A. Shorthill, Prohibitionist, 39, 
A. C. Dickinson, National party, 3 ; secretary of 
state, James H. Price, Republican, 1.381, Will D. 
Jenkins, People's party, 1,564, C. L. Haggard, Pro- 
hibitionist, 32 ; treasurer. J. A. Kellogg. Republican, 
1.27 2, C. W. Young, People's party. 1.563, John 
Robin, Prohibitionist, 38 ; auditor, J.' E. Frost, Re- 
publican, 1,284, Neal Cheetham, " People's party, 
1,554, C. C. Gridley, Prohibitionist. 30 ; attorney- 
general, E. W. Ross, Republican, 1,397, Patrick H. 
Winston. People's party. 1.531. Everett Smith, 
Prohibitionist, 48; judge supreme court, John P. 



Hoyt, Republican, 1,357, James B. Reavis, People's 
party, 1,585, E. H. Livermore, Prohibitionist, 38; 
commissioner public lands, William T. Forrest, Re- 
publican, 1,326, Robert Bridges, People's party, 
1,596, A. E. Flagg, Prohibitionist, 45 ; superinten- 
dent of public instruction, E. L. Brunston, Repub- 
lican, 1,331, Frank J. Browne, People's party, 1,600, 
C. E. Newberry, Prohibitionist, 43 ; state printer, 
O. C. White, Republican, 1,365, Gwin Hicks, Peo- 
ple's party, 1,571, Homer L. Bull, Prohibitionist, 
33 ; state representatives, R. H. Ball, Republican, 
1,161, Emerson Hammer, Republican, 1,301, Frank 
Wilkeson, People's party, 1,586, John Z. Nelson, 
People's party, 1,538; superior judge for Skagit 
and San Juan, Henrv McBride, Republican, 1,370, 
J. P. Houser, People's party, 1,604; sheriff, W. E. 
Gilkey, Republican. 1.324, J. P. Millett, People's 
party, 1,637 ; clerk, F. B. Lippincott, Republican, 
1,178, L. A. Boyd, People's party, 1,671; auditor, 
E. S. Dodge, Republican, 1,396, H. Hammer, Peo- 
ple's party, 1,583; treasurer, W. R. Wells, Republi- 
can, 1,376, Oscar Ball, People's party, 1,498; prose- 
cuting attorney, M. P. Hurd, Republican, 1,358, I. 
E. Shrauger, People's party, 1,507 ; assessor, J. J. 
Stiles, Republican, 1,345, Paul S. Hogan, People's 
party, 1,617; superintendent of schools, W. B. 
Davis, Republican, 1,306, B. R. McElreath, Peo- 
ple's party, 1,583; surveyor, C. H. x\llerton. Repub- 
lican, 1,264, Henry Gay, People's party, 1,587; cor- 
oner, B. R. Sumner, Republican, 1,369, J. L. 
Hutchison. People's party, 1,5^6; commissioner, 
first district, John Dale. Republican. 1,197, Gus Hen- 
sler. People's party, l,(i(M ; commissioner, third dis- 
trict. Otto Klement, Republican, 1,355, A. H. 
Rogers, People's party, 1,503; wreckmaster, D. H. 
Byrnes. Republican, 1.463 ; for constitutional amend- 
ment, 786, against constitutional amendment, 475 ; 
for township organization, 687, against township 
organization, 455. 

The sun of the People's party reached its zenith 
in 1896, however, and, politically, the year 1898 is 
noted as marking the beginning of its decline. The 
Democrats. Populists and Silver Republicans met 
in joint convention at Burlington, August 20th, and 
after a spirited debate, fusion was effected, except 
in the case of a large number of Populists who 
bolted and formed an independent aggregation. As 
finally agreed upon the Populists were granted the 
state senatorship and the county offices of auditor, 
assessor, clerk, one county commissioner, both repre- 
sentatives, superintendent of schools, surveyor and 
coroner. 

The bolters, commonly known as "middle-of- 
the-roaders," held a convention at Burlington Sat- 
urday, October 1st, nominated a full ticket, which 
polled so few votes as to be hardly classed as a 
party, and adopted the following platform: 

"Whereas, We have seen with sorrow and indig- 
nation the late People's party convention of the 
state of Washington and of the county of Skagit 



184 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



turned over soul and body to the Democratic party 
of said state and county, by the most disreputable, 
high-handed and outrageous proceedings that ever 
disgraced any political convention in the state of 
Washington or in the county of Skagit. 

"Whereas, The following are a few of the many 
footprints of the blackest trails of absolute de- 
bauchery and abject shame which marked the pro- 
ceedings of those bodies and the latent and obscure 
movements preceding it: 

"First, the neglect and refusal of the chairman 
of the state central committee and members thereof, 
in our own and several of the counties, in not giving 
the proper information in calling the state, county 
and primary election, the design of which was to 
keep the true reformers from the polls and attend- 
ing the elections. 

"Second, the packing of the caucuses in the most 
scandalous manner, wherein sinister aims and means 
were used that life-long reformers in nearly every 
couHty and precinct were displaced and over-ridden 
by men who were never known to vote the reform 
ticket. 

"Third, we point to the unprecedented and scan- 
dalous action of the court-house caucus that ap- 
pointed the committees of three Fusionists each in 
every precinct, for the purpose of keeping reformers 
out of the county and state conventions, thereby 
giving the Democrats absolute control. 

"Fourth, we point to the unprecedented action 
of the chairmen of the committees of the county 
convention in using every device in their power to 
subserve the combination bosses, under circum- 
stances calculated to suppress a free expression on 
the part of true reformers ; and combining and con- 
spiring to have our deliberations squashed and 
flooded by a lot of fusion hirelings and Democratic 
bosses. 

"Fifth, that every cunning and device known to 
man's intelligence and ingenuity has been and is 
being brought to bear by the ring bosses and their 
agents to tear down and destroy and annihilate, if 
need be, the Rural Home, the only reform paper in 
the county. 

"Now, therefore, in view of the above facts, we 
declare that we repudiate the whole proceedings of 
the county convention, and declare to the county 
that the result of the triple convention held in 
P.urlington, Skagit county, Washington, on the 
•^Oth day of August, 1898, does not express the 
sentiments of the reformers of Skagit county." 

The Republicans met at Woolley, September- 
10th, and nominated their standard bearers. The 
campaign was a comparatively quiet one and on 
election day the following vote was cast according 
to the official returns of the board of canvassers: 
Representatives. Francis W. Cushman. Republican, 
1.329, Wesley L. Jones. Republican, l.:^21. James 
fTamilton Lewis, Fusionist. 1.31o. William C. Jones, 
Fusionist. 1,086, C. L. Haggard. 39. A. C. Dickson, 



36, Walter Walker, 32, M. A. Hamilton, 31; judge 
of supreme court, T. J. Anders, Republican, 1,387, 
Mark A. Fullerton, Republican, 1.363, Benjamin 
I*". Hueston, Fusionist, 1,078, Melvin M. (jodman, 
I'usionist, 1,044, Thomas Young, 62, Thomas 
Lawry, 44 ; state senator, Emerson Hammer, Re- 
publican, 1,474, John Z. Nelson, Fusionist, 1,042 ; 
state representatives, N. H. L5eals, Republican, 
1,4;!4, J. H. Parker, Republican, 1,414, Frank Wil- 
keson. Populist, 1.017, Charles Hide, Populist, 1,067 ; 
sheriff, Edwin Wells, Republican, 1,368, J. P. Mil- 
lett, Populist, 1,044, William E. Perkinson, Inde- 
pendent, 162; clerk, James Haddock Smith, Repub- 
lican, 1,314, L. A. Boyd, Populist, 1,238; auditor. 
Grant Neal, Republican, 1.387, W. T. Flagg, Popu- 
list, 1,151 ; treasurer, James Dunlap, Republican, 
1,529, J. T. Squires. Populist. 1,034 ; prosecuting 
attorney, M. P. Hurd, Republican, 1,359, I. E. 
Shrauger, Populist, 1,191; assessor, William Dale, 
Republican, 1,340, Grant Knight, Populist, 1,207 ; 
school superintendent, Susan Lord Currier, Rei)ub- 
lican. 1.413, B. R. McElrcath. Populi.st. 1.1 4S; 
surveyor, John W. Meehan, Republican, 1,373, 
Henry Gay, Populist, 1,145 ; coroner. James Vercoe, 
Republican, 1,414. A. Garl. Populist. 1.073; com- 
missioner, first district, Melville Curtis, Republi- 
can, 1,392. Ernest Kasch, Populist, 1,106; commis- 
sioner, second district, W. J. Henry, Republican, 
1,418, H. A. Dannemiller, Populist, 1,107 ; for single 
tax amendment, 512. against single tax amendment, 
1,001; for woman suffrage, 714, against woman 
suffrage, 905. 

The Fusionists held their count\ convention in 
1900 at Mount \ernoii, .Saturda\ . August ISth, 
adopting the name of the old-time party, however. 
A month later at the state Democratic convention 
in Seattle, Ex-Judge E. C. Million of Mount 
Vernon was nominated as a justice of the supreme 
court. The Republicans of Skagit were likewise 
honored by having one of their number. Henry 
McBride, also of Mount Vernon, selected as the 
party's candidate for lieutenant-governor. Their 
county convention was held at Mount Vernon, July 
28th. In comparison with the preceding national 
election that of 1900 was somewhat undemonstra- 
tive, although it is noticeable that when election day 
arrived a full vote was cast by a people seriously 
intent upon correctly solving the problem of self- 
government. 

The vote in Skagit, as officially returned by the 
canvassing board, was : Presidential electors. Re- 
publican, 1,814, Democrat. 1.220. Prohibition, 65, 
Social Labor. 29. Social Democrat. 115; represen- 
tative in congress. Francis W. Cushman. Repub- 
lican. 1.762. We.slev L. Jones, Republican, 1.763, 
1'. C. Robertson, Democrat. 1,244. J. T. Ronald, 
Democrat. 1,191, Guy Posson, Prohibitionist. 62, 
J. A. Adams. Prohibitionist. 55. Walter Walker, 
Social Laborite. 29. Christian F. La'rson. Social 
Laborite, 31, William Hogan, Social Democrat, 111, 



POLITICAL 



Herman F. Titus, Social Democrat, 112; judge of 
supreme court, Wallace Mount, Republican, 1,694, 
R. O. Dunbar, Republican, 1,760, E. C. Million, 
Democrat, 1,329, Richard Winsor, Democrat, 1,243, 
Everett Smith, Prohibitionist, 64, Thomas Young, 
Social Laborite, 39, Frank Martin, Social Laborite, 
36, D. M. Angus, Social Democrat, 106, J. H. May, 
Social Democrat, 104 ; for judge of supreme court 
(unfinished term of Merritt J. Gordon), William H. 
White, Democrat, 1,361 ; governor, J. M. Frink, 
Republican, 1,611, John R. Rogers, Democrat, 1,434, 
R. E. Dunlap, Prohibitionist, 63, William Mc- 
Cormick, Social Laborite, 24, W. C. B. Randolph, 
Social Democrat, 115; lieutenant-governor, Henry 
McBride, Republican, 1,680, William E. McCroskey, 
Democrat, 1,313, C. I. Hall, Prohibitionist, 70, Matt 
Matson, Social Laborite, 37, E. S. Reinert, Social 
Democrat, 106; secretary of state, Samuel H. 
Nichols, Republican, 1,749, James Brady, Demo- 
crat, 1.347, J. W. McCay, Prohibitionist, 70. Will- 
iam Hoag, Social Laborite, 25, James H. Ross, 
Social Democrat, 114; state treasurer, C. W. May- 
nard. Republican, 1,758, W. E. Runner, Democrat, 
1,338, C. C. Gridley, Prohibitionist, 75, Eric Norl- 
ing. Social Laborite, 22, J. J. Fraser, Social Demo- 
crat, 114; auditor, John D. Atkinson, Republican, 
1,765, L. J. Silverhorn, Democrat, 1,234, A. W. 
Steers, Prohibitionist, 68, F. B. Graves, Social 
Laborite, 37, Charles S. Wallace, Social Democrat, 
117; attorney-general. W. B. Stratton. Republican, 

1.739, Thonia.^ Wiiico, Democrat, 1.340, Ovid A. 
Byers. rrnliiliitionisi, ; 1, JmIui I'.llis. Social Laborite, 
30, David Phipps, Social I )cm(icrat. 114; superin- 
tendent public instruction. R. I!. LSryan, Republican, 

1.740, Frank J. Browne. Democrat, 1,367, A. H. 
Sherwood, Prohibitionist. 63, Raymond Blond, 
Social Laborite. 26. John A. Kingsbury, Social 
Democrat, 111 ; commissioners public lands, 
Stephen A. Callvert, Republican, 1,745, O. R. Hol- 
comb. Democrat, 1,233, J. C. McKinley. Prohi- 
bitionist, 75, W. L. Noon, Social Laborite, 30, 
Jerome S. Austin. Social Democrat, 115; state 
representative. J. M. Harrison, Republican, 1.738, 
F. O. Ehrlich, Republican, 1.663. Will A. Lowman, 
Democrat. 1,327. George A. Heusen, Democrat, 
1.331; judge of superior court. George A. Joiner, 
Republican. 1.585, J. P. Houser, Democrat. 1,539; 
sheriff, Edwin Wells, Republican. 1,846. J. P. Mil- 
lett. Democrat. 1,389; clerk, J. H. Smith, Repub- 
lican, 1,814, W. A. Hammack. Democrat. 1,311 ; 
auditor, Grant Neal, Republican, 1.901, F. R. 
Shafer, Democrat, 1,246; treasurer, R. O. Welts, 
Republican, 1,688, John L. Anable, Democrat, 1,444; 
prosecuting attorney, M. P. Hurd, Republican, 
1.88.8, John L. Corrigan. Democrat. 1.343 ; assessor, 
William Dale, Republican, 1.773, John W. Martin, 
Democrat, 1,350 ; school superintendent, Miss Susan 
Lord Currier. Republican, 1.910, Miss Phi Smythe. 
Democrat, 1,830; surveyor. John Meehan, Repub- 
lican. 1.743, Henry Gay, Democrat, 1,380; coroner' 



B. R. Sumner, Republican, 1,743, A. C. Lewis, Dem- 
ocrat, 1,337 ; county commissioner, second district, 
W. J. Henry, Republican, 1,866, Charles Nelson, 
Democrat, 1,374; commissioner, third district, D. 
M. Donnelly, Republican, 1,722, Norris Ormsby, 
Democrat, 1,378. 

Before the next campaign, Skagit county was 
honored by the elevation of Henry McBride to the 
governor's chair, Governor John R. Rogers having 
died. He entered upon a notable term in January, 
1903, during which he became the recognized leader 
of the railroad reform forces in the state. Febniary 
6th following his induction into office. Governor 
McBride appointed Grant Neal, auditor of Skagit 
county, to membership in the state board of audit 
and control. The county commissioners appointed 
Fred Bluniberg to fill the resulting vacancy in their 
board. 

The Republican county convention was held at 
Anacortes, August 30, 1902; the Democrats con- 
vened at Sedro-Woolley, September 13th, and the 
Socialists, who this year entered the lists, met at 
Sedro-Woolley on the 36th of September. The 
Socialists made no nominations for the offices of 
prosecuting attorney, superintendent of schools and 
surveyor. The Prohibitionists also held a county 
convention, August 36th, at Mount Vernon, but 
did not place a full county ticket in the field or 
make legislative nominations. The party polled a 
very small vote, which does not appear in the 
official returns presented below : 

Judge of the supreme court, Hiram E. Hadley, 
Republican, 1,945, James Bradley Reavis, Democrat, 
1,045, Thomas Neill, Socialist, 157, William J. 
Hoag, Social Labor, 14 ; representatives, Wesley 
L. Jones, Francis W. Cushman, William E. Humph- 
rey, Republicans, 1,933, 1,935 and 1.904 votes re- 
spectivelv. George F. Cotterill, O. R. Holcomb, 
Frank B'. Cole, Democrats, 1,104, 1.067 and 1,081 
votes respectively, J. H. C. Scurlock, D. Burgess, 
George W. Scott, Socialists, 163, 155 and 163 votes 
respectively, A. H. Sherwood, W. J. McKean. O. 
L. Fowler, Populists, 37, 38 and 35 votes respec- 
tively, Jense C. Martin, William McCormick, Hans 
P. Joergensen, Social Laborites, 14, 15 and 14 votes 
respectively ; state senator. Emerson Hammer, Re- 
publican, 1,790, A. C. Lewis, Democrat. 1,388; state 
representatives, F. O. Ehrlich, N. J. Moldstad, E. 
E. Butler, Republicans, 1,465, 1.563 and 1,634 votes 
respectivelv. Pat McCov, C. P. Dickey, W. G. 
Beard, Democrats, 1,643, 1,413 and 1,373 votes 
respectively. E. E. Spear. J. C. Stone, Emil Herman. 
Socialists. 156, 154 and 149 votes respectivelv; 
sheriff, C. A. Risbell. Republican, 1,579. E. L. 
Rowland. Democrat. 1.513, E. W. Thurston. Social- 
ist, 150. George Heathman. Populist. 31 ; clerk. W. 
B. Davis. Republican. 1.834. J. H. Chilberg. Demo- 
crat. 1.365. H. J. Brann, Populist. 35; auditor. Fred 
L. Bluniberg, Republican, 3.003, John Melkild. 
Democrat, 1,070, L. W. Smith, Socialist, l-".: : 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



treasurer, R. O. Welts, Republican, 1,968, Daniel 
Sullivan, Democrat, 1,115, Fred Keino, Socialist, 
145; prosecuting attorney, J. C. Waugh, Republi- 
can, l,tS35, John L. Corrigan, Democrat, 1,469, Will- 
iam H. Perry, Populist, 33; assessor, F. F. Wil- 
lard. Republican, 1,744, Charles Elde, Democrat, 
1,370, John Batdorf , Populist, 34 ; superintendent of 
schools, J. Guy Lowman, Republican, 1,674, Annie 
McGreal, Democrat, 1,354; surveyor, T. G. Hastie, 
Republican, 1,480, Henry Gay, Democrat, 1,627; 
coroner, B. R. Sumner, Republican, 1,799, J. M. 
Warner, Democrat, 1,190, S. P Walsh, Socialist, 
135; commissioners, first district, Melville Curtis, 
Republican, 1,506, Nick Beesner, Democrat, 1,622; 
commissioner, third district, D. M. Donnelly, Re- 
publican, 1,523, George A. Henson, Republican, 
1,577. David Evans, Socialist, 108, Warren W. 
Bagley, Populist, 28. 

The death of Sherifif Risbell in August, 1904, 
made the appointment of a citizen to fill that position 
necessary, and when the board of county commis- 
sioners met it named W. A. McKenna, a well-known 
Republican of Mount Vernon, for the place. 

The Republican party held its county conven- 
tion April 16, 1904, at Sedro-Woolley. In the 
platform that was adopted the following plank 
appears endorsing the candidacy of Governor Mc- 
Bride, who aspired to be his party's nominee for 
the gubernatorial chair: 

"We heartily commend the fearless and ener- 
getic administration of Governor Henry McBride, 
the tribune of the people, and endorse the policy 
that he has pursued in trying to secure a more 
equitable division of taxes between the railroads 
and other property owners, and safe-guarding the 
interests of the people from unjust encroachments 
of great corporations. We approve the campaign 
for justice to the people of the state of Washington 
being pursued by Governor McBride, and we in- 
struct our delegates to the state convention to be 
held on May 11th to use all honorable means to 
secure his nomination as governor of the state of 
Washington." 

The story of McBride's defeat in the convention 
at Tacoma is a matter of state history too recent 
to necessitate rehearsing. Upon the death of the 
convention's nominee for sheriff, C. A. Risbell, 
Charles Harmon was appointed to fill the vacancy. 

The Democrats held two conventions ; one, the 
first, April 30th, to select delegates to choose state 
delegates to represent Washington at the national 
convention held in St. Louis, and another, July 
30th, to place the regular legislative and county 
ticket in nomination. From the abstract of the 
official returns given below the names of the 
victorious local candidates may be easily gleaned 
and an accurate idea obtained of the present politi- 
cal complexion of Skagit: 

Presidential electors, Samuel G. Cosgrove, L. 
B. Nash, George W. Bassett, Al. L. Munson, 



Herman D. Crow, Republicans, 3,031, 3,023, 3,033, 
3.021 and 3,014 votes respectively, Fred Thiel, 
John C. Carney, John Trumbull, J. S. Darnell, 
Simon Peter Richardson, Democrats, 880, 880, 876, 
878 and 876 votes respectively, DeForest Sanford, 
O. Lund, D. M. Angus, P. R. Pratt, D. G. Crow, 
Socialists, 284, 283, 282, 384 and 282 votes respec- 
tively ; representatives, William E. Humphrey, 
Wesley L. Jones, Francis W. Cushman, Republi- 
cans, 2,893, 3,886 and 2,900 votes respectively, 
Howard Hathway, James Anderson, W. T. Beck, 
Democrats, 1,002, 1,010 and 1,007 votes respectively, 
T. C. Wisewell, H. D. Jory, George Croston, 
Socialists, 260, 260 and 260 votes respectively; 
judges of supreme court, Frank H. Rudkin, Mark 

A. Fullerton, Republicans, 2,866 and 2,951 votes 
respectively, Alfred Battle, Democrat, 1,052, Will- 
iam McDevitt, D. W. Phipps, Socialists, 256 and 
256 votes respectively ; governor, Albert E. Mead, 
Republican, 2,647, George Turner, Democrat, 1,377, 
D. Burgess, Socialist, 255 ; lieutenant-governor, 
Charles E. Coon, Republican, 2,673, Stephen Jud- 
son. Democrat, 1,343, Sigmund Roeder, Socialist, 
339 ; secretary of state, Samuel H. Nichols, Repub- 
lican, 3,807, P. Hough, Democrat, 1,079, George E. 
Boomer, Socialist, 242 ; treasurer, George G. Mills, 
Republican, 2,798, George Mudgett, Democrat, 
1,092, Bernard Goerkes, Socialist, 336 ; auditor, 
Charles W. Clausen, Republican, 2,798, R. Lee 
Purdin, Democrat, 1,071, A. F. Payne, Socialist, 
243 ; attorney-general, John D. Atkinson, Repub- 
lican, 2,778,' Charles H. Neal, Democrat, 1,117, 
O. C. Whitney, Socialist, 246 ; commissioner of 
public lands, E. W. Ross, Republican, 2,805, Van 
R. Pierson, Democrat, 1,085, J. F. LaClerc, Social- 
ist, 243 ; superintendent of public instruction, R. 

B. Bryan, Republican, 2,736, Walter D. Gerard, 
Democrat, 1,132, Frances C. Silvester, Socialist, 
239 ; state representatives. R. Lee Bradley, Repub- 
lican. 2.449, N. J. Moldstad, Republican, 2,484, J. 
O. Rudene, Republican, 2,419, Pat McCoy. Demo- 
crat, 1,673. J. C. Stitt. Democrat, 1,529, W. A. 
Lowman. Democrat, 1,564, Wiltse Brown, Socialist, 
217, E. E. Spear, Socialist, 217; judge of superior 
court, George A. Joiner, Republican, 2,513, J. P. 
Houser, Democrat, 1.488 ; sherifif, Charles Harmon, 
Republican, 2,972. Charles E. Storrs, Democrat, 
1,002, Frank Day, Socialist, 216 ; county clerk, W. 
P.. Davis, Republican, 2.759, George Chapman, 
Democrat, 1,182, Beecher Koch, Socialist, 213; 
auditor, Fred Blumberg, Republican, 2,496, E. W. 
Ferris, Democrat, 1,493, L. W. Smith, Socialist, 
201 ; treasurer, Patrick Halloran. Republican, 
2,409. Fred E. Pape, Democrat, 1,574, Jordon 
Johnson, Socialist, 210 ; prosecuting attorney, J. C. 
Waugh. Republican, 2,338. C. P. Gable, Democrat, 
1.640; assessor. F. F. Willard, Republican, 2,764, 
A. D. Quint, Democrat, 1.156. John Shannon, 
Socialist. 208 ; superintendent of schools, J. Guy 
Lowman, Republican, 2,757, T. H. Look, Democrat, 




- - 


] 


1 w 


1 





CITIES AND TOWNS 



1,234; surveyor, John W. Meehan, Republican, 
2,702, S. D. Temple, Democrat, 1,223, George 
Savage, Socialist, 213; coroner, J. C. LeI'lant, Re- 
publican, 2,381, George Moran. Democrat, 1,535, 
W. H. Benson, Socialist, 217; commissioners, first 



district, James Dunlap, Republican, 2,456, Nick 
Beesner, Democrat, 1,555, J. A. Kennedy, Socialist, 
196; commissioner, second district, R. M. Moody, 
Republican, 2,533, John H. Weppler, Democrat, 
133, A. B. Coriel, Socialist, 200. 



CHAPTER VII 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



MOUNT VERNON 

Mount \'ernon, the capital of Skagit county, has 
had even more than the usual vicissitudes of a new 
city upon Puget sound and of a county seat. Many 
of the events in connection with the struggle of 
this town to secure and retain the location of the 
county seat are detailed in the general chapters of 
the history of Skagit county. It is rather our pur- 
pose in this sketch of the city itself to give more 
of what may be called its dnnicstic life, its scenic 
environment and its husiru'ss opportunities. 

It may be said first of all that Mount Vernon 
has a beautiful and attractive location. The site 
adjoins and in part includes elevations beyond the 
reach of the desolating floods, with which the snow- 
fed Skagit at times harries the fertile valley. The 
river itself, so swift in all its upper parts, is brought 
to comparative calm a few miles above Mount Ver- 
non by the influence of the ocean tides ; and by im- 
provements in the removal of snags and drift 
the town is at all times accessible to steamers of 
large size. Surrounding Mount Vernon on all 
sides lie beautiful and fertile lands originally 
clothed with a dense forest, but redeemed by the 
hand of industry and rendered productive to a 
degree which has caused the town itself to become 
the most important distributing center in all the 
region about. 

Mount \'ernon is somewhat peculiar among the 
cities of the sound in that it combines the charac- 
teristics of a seaport, of an agricultural and horti- 
cultural center and of a distributing point for both 
mines and lumber camps. 

To Jasper Gates and Joseph F. Dwelley is to 
be credited the first settlement upon any part of 
the land upon which Mount Vernon now stands. 
Gates preceding Dwelley a short time. That was 
in the year 1870. Several settlers joined them- 
selves to the community within the next year, and 
in 1872 there was a sufiicient number of children 



in the pioneer community to demand a school. A 
hut originally built for a barn, just below what is 
now D. E. Kimble's place, was the location of the 
first school. After one term had been taught in 
that building the district built a log-cabin school- 
house on the Wells place, afterward the property 
of George W, Rowley. The first teachers in this 
cabin were Ida Lanning, G. E. Hartson and, after 
an interval of a year, L. M. Wood. It may be said 
in connection with the log school-house that it was 
used until 1880, when it gave way to a frame 
school-house erected on the bench of land near 
the present residence of Dr. H. P. Downs. After 
four sessions of school had met in the new build- 
ing it was superseded by a building erected at the 
foot of the hill upon land afterward on the Great 
Northern riglit of way. Still later this building, 
in turn, was replaced by the elegant brick struct- 
ure upon the Mount Vernon heights, and it is now 
used as a part of the Mount Vernon Commercial 
club building. 

Turning back again from this brief glance at 
the evolution of the school buildings in the town, 
we may take up the thread of our narrative by 
noting the fact that the actual founding of the 
town of Mount Vernon was in March, 1877. 
Messrs. Clothier & English may be called the 
godfathers of the new town, inasmuch as they 
were responsible for the laying out of the town 
site and for bestowing upon it the sacred name 
of the spot where the father of our country now 
lies entombed. The first town site embraced but 
ten acres, and that was purchased of Jasper Gates 
by Clothier & English for one hundred dollars, 
Messrs. Clothier & English brought a small stock 
of goods to their new home and are therefore enti- 
tled to be called the pioneer business men of the 
place. So conspicuous a part did these two .gen- 
tlemen, both collectively and individually, bear in 
the entire history of their town that is fitting to 
draw upon the valuable reminiscences with which 



190 



SKAGIT COUx\TY 



they have furnished us in connection with that 
period of the history. Harrison Clothier came to 
Skagit county in September, 1875. He returned a 
year later and became the teacher of the school 
on the Kimble place named. He had but twenty 
pupils. At that time W. H. Fouts was the county 
superintendent of schools. 

After completing- his term of school in Febru- 
ary, 1877, Mr. Clothier, believing the place a good 
one for gathering a profitable trade, associated with 
himself a former pupil in their home in the same 
eastern state, E. G. English. The location of the 
little store with which Kle.'-srs. Clothier & English 
inaugurated the business history of Mount Vernon 
was upon the land where the creamery now stands. 
At that time the shore extended some forty or fifty 
feet further into the river than at present and there 
was a small island near the store. The bank of the 
stream began washing away in 1880 and the proc- 
ess of erosion has continued until it is now within 
a few feet of the creamery building. The town 
site as laid out by the pioneer merchants consisted 
of two tiers of blocks, the street upon the river 
bank being called Front street and the next one 
back Main street. The entire town site was densely 
•covered with timber and brush. The plat of that 
original town site was never dedicated by its own- 
ers and through the negligence of the surveyor it 
was never recorded. In 188.5 a new plat was made 
and filed. 

The first residence built upon the town site was 
that of William Brice. This was located upon 
Mr. Brice's claim on the north edge of the town 
site. Two logging camps were established upon 
this old Brice claim. One of these was operated 
by Joseph Hanscomb, David and Robert Horn 
and the other by William Gage. 

The march of improvement in the little settle- 
ment continued and in November of 1877 Mr. 
Clothier was appointed postmaster. He was suc- 
ceeded four years later by his partner, E. G. 
English. 

In the natural course of events restaurants. 
saloons and hotel.=i tread hard upon the heels of 
the first store. Jonathan Shott seems to have been 
the pioneer hotel-keeper. His first hotel was 
located, in the spring of 1877. on the east side of 
Front street near the store. It seems not to have 
been a palatial edifice, inasmuch as its total cost 
did not exceed one hundred and fifty dollars. But 
the habitues of the place were not very numerous 
nor were they overly fastidious in their tastes. 
Martin Coltenbaugh, who had been a cook at the 
Gage logging camp, built a hut next to Shott's 
hotel which he used as a restaurant. Sad to relate, 
but inevitable, this same building was opened at 
the beginning of the next year by John A. Bievel 
as a saloon. 

Those were primitive days in a business way. 
The principal trade done by Clothier & English 



was in handling furs and hides. Sometimes as 
high as thirty-five or forty dollars' worth of beaver 
skins would be received at the store in a single 
day. There was, however, very little money in 
circulation. 

The transportation business was also in the 
same primitive condition as other things. The big 
jam on the Skagit river interfered at that time 
with the passage of steamboats, although the lum- 
ber used in the construction of buildings at .Mount 
Vernon in the year 1877 was brought up by the 
little steamer Fanny Lake. Nevertheless the un- 
certainty in the movements of steam.boats com- 
pelled the mail carriers to go from Mount Vernon 
to Skagit City in a canoe. Jasper Gates was 
awarded the contract in 1877 to carry the mail 
weekly upon this canoe route. He received for his 
services the bountiful salary of one dollar and 
fifty cents per week. This amount from the gov- 
ernment was supplemented by a subsidy from 
Clothier & English. 

The little hamlet of Mount \^ernon seems not 
to have made extraordinary progress during the 
year 1878. But one dwelling house was erected 
during that year, and that was by John Gilligan, 
a logger. The year 1879 seems to have witnessed 
some additions to the population of the town, and 
Michael McNamara felt justified in erecting a 
new hotel built of rough lumber, at a cost of a 
few hundred dollars, upon the second lot south 
of the store and christened the Ruby house. This 
name was derived from the newly discovered Ruby 
creek mines, which played an immense part in a 
short time in the development of the entire region. 
A drug store was erected at about the same time, 
conducted by Dr. D. Y. Deere. 

The excitement attending the mining discov- 
eries on Ruby creek made the year 1880 one of 
much growth in the little town, but the mining 
resources did not prove to be stable and the col- 
lapse of the excitement left a dead calm again 
brooding over the forests of Skagit. A new hotel, 
however, known as the Mount Vernon hotel, had 
been erected by Clothier, English & Klement dur- 
ing the busy season. 

On the first day of January, 1881, there was 
a permanent population of about seventy-five peo- 
ple. New logging camps were established near 
the town by Oliver Anderson, and Moore & Dens- 
more; but the logging business was at that time 
not profitable on account of the very low price 
of logs, which during the most of the period was 
only four dollars a thousand. 

Among sundry interesting things called to mind 
from that early epoch by Air. Clothier is one of 
the famous flag pole of Mount Vernon. A short 
time before the Fourth of Julv, 1877, Mr. Clothier 
was standing in company with John Lorenzy on 
what bv courtesy and great expectations they desig- 
nated as Front street, looking at a beautiful green 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



cedar tree six feet in diameter at tlie base and 
rising as straight as an arrow into the sky to a 
height of more than two hundred feet. Lorenzy, 
ahhoti<Th a man then sixty years old, proposed to 
trim the limbs from this tree and transform it into 
a flag pole. It wae a difficult thinq; to accomplish, 
particularly as at the times of his attempts the 
tree was swaying in a high wind. But he suc- 
ceeded in his purpose, and upon the Fourth of 
July Old Glory flew from a position one hundred 
and forty-seven feet above the ground. This was 
the regular flag pole of the village until July, 
1891. At that time th6 great fire which raged in 
and, about Mount Vernon so damaged the historic 
landmark that it was necessary to saw it oflF. With 
tears in his eyes Mr. Lorenzy felled the stateh' 
staff, to which he had attached the flag fourteen 
years before. 

In every growing community we may expect 
' to find fraternal orders. Even in the rude begin- 
nings of Mount Vernon in 1RS2 we find that the 
Odd Fellows were moving with characteristic en- 
ergy in the formation of the first lodge in that part 
of the county. It was formally instituted on 
October 14th. A large delegation of prominent 
members of the order were present to assist in 
instituting this lodge. Among them were Gov- 
ernor Newell. T. N. Ford, Judge Hewitt and Cap- 
tain George D. Hill. The officers chosen for this 
lodge, known as Mount Vernon lodge. No. 3.3, 
were H. C. Leggett, N. G. ; Henry Cooper. V. G. ; 
Philip Bartlett, secretary, and David O'Keefe, 
treasurer. At about the same time a lodge of 
Masons was organized at Skacrit City, but shortly 
afterward moved to Mount ^'ernon. 

The years 1S83 and 1884 seem to have con- 
stituted a period of beginnings in many respects, 
for during that time the first physician, Dr. H. P. 
Montborne, the first firm of lawvers, McNaught 
8i Tinkham. the first l->,1-■>rlr^■ in rhar.TA of Vik 
Lung, the first barber, L. B. Knauss, and the first 
meat market, in charge of Moody & Hendricks, 
came into existence. More important in many 
respects than any other enterprise of that time was 
the establishment of the Skagit News, to which 
much credit is due for preserving the facts of local 
history, which ever S;ince its establishment has 
taken a prominent part in the affairs of its section, 
and which has been especially conspicuous in the 
energy with which it has striven fnr the advance- 
ment of it.<5 town. This important paper was estab- 
lished in March, 1884, by William C. Ewing, a 
son of General Ewing, who had come from New 
York to grow up with the new West. Mr. Ewing's 
first office was over the store of Clothier & English, 
and in many ways they as.sisted him in his under- 
taking. 

Schools and churches must not be forgotten 
in any summary of the events of one of our towns. 
We find the school censusi of June 21, 1884, to 



show an enrollment in the district of forty-five, 
nineteen boys and twenty-six girls. C. H. Kimble 
was clerk of the district and E. D. Davis was the 
teacher. The first church organization was effected 
in that same fruitful year of 1884. April 27th 
was the date, the church was of the Baptist denom- 
ination, and the clerg}'man who organized it was 
Rev. F. B. Homan. It was not until five years 
later, however, that there was any church building. 
( )n the I'th of November, 1SS9, a very comfort- 
able and tasty church, built at a cost of two thou- 
sand five hundred dollars, was dedicated by the 
Baptist denomination. The Methodists effected the 
organization of a small class in 1886, and in June 
of 1890 dedicated a church, the value of which 
was estimated at three thousand dollars. During 
the period in which these church societies were 
without buildings they maintained services* in the 
public school or the Odd Fellows' hall. The 
Christian church was the third in Mount Vernon 
and cost about two thousand dollars. These three 
may be called the pioneer churches of the city. 
Those of later date will be referred to hereafter. 

Of all the early buildings in Mount Vernon 
probably the most interesting and costly was the 
Odd Fellows' hall. This was used as the first 
public town hall, also as a court-house for a time 
and as the meeting place of all the churches not 
provided with church edifices. This building is 
still standing on Main street and may of all others 
be called the historic spot of Mount Vernon. It 
\\-as dedicated on April 27. ISS."). The event of 
the various ceremonies of the day and the festivities 
of the evening constituted the most notable occur- 
rence of the kind up to that time in the history 
of the town. There were a number of visitors 
from other towns. The steamer Glide brought a 
number of members of the grand lodge from Seat- 
tle. It then made a special trip to La Conner, 
bringing from there nearly forty Odd Fellows 
and Daughters of Rebekah. The Arrow came 
from Utsalady with an additional instalment, while 
the Josephine transported a delegation of the fra- 
ternity from Snohomish. Not only by steamer 
but by small boats visitors gathered at Mount 
\'ernon. and not only by water but bv team, horse- 
back and afoot, farmers, loggers and miners gath- 
ered to participate in the ceremonies. The oration 
was delivered by J. T. Ronald and was received 
with great profit and interest by the audience. 
Captain George D. Hill officiating, the ceremony 
of dedication then took place. The four heralds 
were R. C. Allen, of the north, D. Young, of the 
south, .A.. E. Hummer, of the east, and J. W. 
Belyea, of the west. Thus took place an event long 
remembered by the inhabitants of the little burg. 

The selection of Mount Vernon in November, 
1884, by the voters of the county as a permanent 
county seat may be said to have sealed the destiny 
of the town and to have rendered its place secure. 



192 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



The peculiar advantage held by Mount Vernon 
and demonstrated both in this struggle with La 
Conner and the subsequent struggle with Anacortes 
was due to its central location with reference to 
the mining, logging and farming communities of 
the eastern and central part of the county and to 
the fact that while not upon the shore of the sound 
it was sufficiently accessible to it to enable it to 
partake of the advantages of the sound towns. 
Its success in the fight for the county seat was due 
also to its solid support, whereas its various rivals 
had divided and conflicting constituencies. 

After the turning of the years 1SS4 and 188.T 
it may be said that the first era of Mount Vernon 
was passed and that its subsequent history was of 
the nature of normal and substantial evolution. 

Business enterprises of increasing magnitude 
shaped themselves in the year 1887 and thence 
onward. One of the most important movements 
affecting the general progress of the community 
was the foundation of the Skagit Saw-mill and 
Manufacturing Company. This is especially inter- 
esting by reason of the fact that it was a popular 
movement, ilUistrative of the true American in- 
stinct of getting in and creating values by the 
initiative of the community without waiting for 
outside aid. The meeting in which the movement 
started was a public one held in the office of the 
probate judge at Mount Vernon on the 16th of 
April, 1887. H. P. Downs having been chosen 
chairman and H. Clothier secretary, a bodv of 
directors consisting of E. G. English, H. P. Downs, 
Otto Klement, Jasper Gates, G. E. Hartson, E. K. 
Matlock and O. Kincaid, were elected to file arti- 
cles of incorporation. It was voted to fix the value 
of shares in the corporation at fiftv dollars, and to 
issue four hundred non-assessable shares, thus 
making the capital stock of the corporation twenty 
thousand dollars. A year passed before the organ- 
ization reached a definite business status and in 
June, 1888, an agreement was made between the 
corporation and David F. Decatur which provided 
that the citizens of the place should provide twenty- 
seven hundred dollars for the purchase of a mill site 
and the construction of a boom for holding logs. 
Mr. Decatur on his part 'agreed to build a saw- 
mill which should have a boiler of at least eighty 
horse-power and should include a planer and shin- 
gle machine, and to operate the same for a period 
of five years. Mr. Decatur had come a short time 
previous from Boston and seemed to be an ener- 
getic and capable man. The machinery for the mill 
was brought from Seattle and when established 
had a cutting capacity of thirty-five thousand feet 
per day. The outfit included the planer and shin- 
gle mill stated and also a lath mill, the shinele mill 
having a capacity of fifty thousand shingles per 
day. When nm at its full capacity the mill would 
require the services of forty-four men. The estab- 
lishment of this enterprise had a very important 



bearing on the concentration of buainess at Mount 
Vernon. Mr. Decatur, however, retained his inter- 
est but a short time and then sold his rights to 
Clothier & English in partnership with Dunham 
& Collins. The latter two gentlemen took charge 
of the mill and proceeded to operate it with suc- 
cess and profit. 

While these attempts at the founding of a 
great saw-milling enterprise were in progress. 
Mount Vernon was alive to the vital need of secur- 
ing railroad connections. The citizens of the place 
took up this vital subject with the same energy 
that had characterized their previous undertak- 
ings. A mass meeting was held on July 31, 1889, 
to consider the question of offering some induce- 
ments to some one of the railroads to build to 
Mount Vernon. Colonel Hufty was elected chair- 
man and F. D. Cleaves secretary of this meeting. 
A committee was appointed to receive contribu- 
tions and to negotiate with the railroad companies 
with respect to the location of their lines. Of the 
results of the great period of railroad construction 
of that time sufficient notice has already been 
taken in the general chapters on county history. 
Suffice it to say that the Great Northern railroad, 
in response to the generous contributions of the 
people of the place, built their line through the 
town and constructed buildings which have been 
of great business advantage to the county-seat city. 
A strenuous effort was made by the citizens of the 
town to secure the location of the Seattle, Lake 
Shore & Eastern railroad. A very liberal subsidy 
amounting to four hundred acres of land and one 
hundred and thirty town lots and six thousand and 
three hundred dollars in cash was secured. The 
estimated value of this subsidy at that time was 
about seventy-five thousand dollars, but all persons 
well informed considered that the completion of 
the railroad would at least treble its vahie. But, 
as the event proved, this railroad, acquired soon 
after by the Northern Pacific, passed several miles 
east of Mount Vernon, making Sedro-WooUey its 
special point. 

Naturally allied with railroad connections are 
telegraphic connections. In Noveml^er of 1890 a 
third telegraphic line was completed, connecting 
Mount Vernon with Seattle. With the establish- 
ment of railroad and telegraph communications. 
Mount \'ernon fairly entered upon her second stage 
of progress. Tliroughout the years 1888 and 1889 
the incoming tide of home-seekers and prospectors 
for business and of parents seeking school advan- 
tages for their children so overtaxed the capacity 
of the place in respect to buildings as to lead cap- 
italists to consider as never before the profits of 
building. There was much public discussion of 
the need of a building and loan association, 
although it was some time before this need was 
met. At that time there were hundreds of men 
employed in the various logging camps surround- 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



ing the town whosic wages ranged from forty to 
one hundred and twenty-five dollars per month 
with board, and whose needs in business and social 
ways were beginning to constitute a great stock 
in trade for the town. As a result of this pressure 
for buildings Captain M. A. McCall, a pioneer of 
1878, erected, in the summer of 1889, the first 
brick building in Blount Vernon or, in fact, in the 
county. This building cost about eight thousand 
dollars, and is occupied at the present time by the 
First National bank. During the next year Clothier 
& English, J. F. St. John, Jasper Gates and Mrs. 
McCall entered upon the construction of brick 
buildings. All of this new building led to such a 
demand for materials as greatly to increase the 
steamboating trade of the river, so that in 1889 
there were no less than fifteen steamboats plying 
upon the river between Mount Vernon and the 
sound. 

The next natural stage in the development of 
our town was incorporation. By the time that the 
city had reached a population of one thousand there 
had become a general demand that it should lay 
aside the bib and tucker of infancy and put on the 
grown clothes of cityhood. But when application 
was made to the district court for incorporation. 
Judge Hanford, being of the opinion that the gen- 
eral incorporation law was unconstitutional, de- 
clined to grant the petition. However, the matter 
did not rest and at a meeting of the citizens held 
on March 2.5, 1889, a board of trustees, E. G. 
English, C. D. Kimball, J. B. Moody. Jasper Gates 
and G. E. Hartson, were designated by vote of the 
meeting for the proposed city. Judge Hanford still 
refusing to sign the articles, the matter was obliged 
to rest until the inauguration of the state of Wash- 
ington and the revision of the incorporation law. 
Accordingly, on Febniary 11, 1890, a public meet- 
ing was held for resuming the work of incorpora- 
tion. Of this meeting H. P. Downs was elected 
chairman and G. E. Hartson secretary. The senti- 
ment of the meeting was in favor of incorporation 
under the old law, but it appears that this was 
subsequently reconsidered and changed. Jasper 
Gates, E. G. English. Otto Klement, Captain Deca- 
tur and J. B. Moody were then chosen trustees 
to define the boundaries of the proposed incorpora- 
tion, circulate petitions for signatures and present 
the matter in due form to Judge Winn at the next 
session of court. 

In April a petition was presented to the board 
of county commissioners asking that all necessary 
steps be taken to organize the citv under the act 
of the state of Washington of 1890. This petition 
was headed bv D. F. Decatur. Mrs. Ida Priest. J. L. 
Anable, J. R St. John and'V. E. Campbell," and 
contained one hundred and one additional signa- 
tures. When presented to the commissioners a 
flaw was discovered, in that no notice had been filed 
stating the time when the petition was to be pre- 



sented to the board. At a special meeting of the 
commissioners the amended petition was favorably 
acted upon, and it having likewise received the 
approval of the court, June "27. 1S90, was desig- 
nated as the date for the first city election in 
Mount Vernon. 

At this election the proposition for incorpora- 
tion carried by a vote of eighty-seven to twenty- 
five, and the following city officers were chosen : 
Mayor, C. D. Kimball ; councilmen, J. B. Moody, 
G. E. Hartson, L. R. Martin, M. McNamara and 
William Murdock ; treasurer, V. E. Campbell. This 
first council met on July 7th — all being present, 
the members were duly inducted into their offices — 
and appointed the following additional officers of 
the city government: F. E. Pape, police judge; 
E. H. Vaughn, marshal, and F. G. Pickering, 
clerk. 

As all the people of the state of Washington 
are aware, some of them painfully so, the years 
1890 and 1891 were boom years. Mount Vernon, 
however, went through less of the wildcat specula- 
tion than almost any other of the towns of Puget 
sound. The solid and substantial nature of her 
resources caused less dependence on speculative 
excitement, and therefore during the boom years 
she soared less and fell less than any other town 
in the county, with the possible exception of La 
Conner. Those two eventful years were marked 
by several most important advances. Among other 
important enterprises we may note the establish- 
ment of the Mount Vernon Electric Light and 
Motor Company, with a capital stock of one hun- 
dred thousand dollars. Its board of directors was 
composed of A. Behrens and Harrison Clothier of 
Mount Vernon, and G. E. Brand, J. R. McKinley 
and H. B. Thistle of Fairhaven. The company 
put in an excellent plant and operated it to the 
advantage of both themselves and the city until 

I the present owners bought them out. 

j Additional enterprises inaugurated at the same 
period may be summarized as follows: First 
National bank of Mount Vernon, with a capital 
stock of .$.50,000 ; The Skagit Saw-mill and Manu- 
facturing Company, with a plant costing $30,000 
and a capacity of forty thousand feet of lumber 
a day ; the planing mill of J. A. Hammack, at a 
cost of $3,000 ; Stephenson's grist mill, the first in 
the county, at a cost of $4,000 ; the Cascade steam 
laundrs', owned by Tash & Head, at a cost of $2.. 500 : 
the cigar and confectionery store of C. G. High- 
tower, $600; grocery' store of Frank Ashcroft, 
$5,000 ; dry goods store of A. Kristoferson, $4,000 ; 
clothing store of E. Galb & Company, $6,000; 
Grand Central hotel of S. Bacon, furnished at a 
cost of $3,000 ; the Great Northern hotel of G. N. 
Smiley, with furniture of an equal value ; the hard- 
ware store of R. A. Drake, $3,000 ; Hotel Brooklyn, 
in charge of Blanche Lorenzy, with furniture worth 
$3,000 ; the Cash grocery company of John Gray. 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



$4,000; dry goods and grocery store, in charge 
of Mrs. M. McDowell ; Jacob Hayton's dry goods 
and grocery store, $6,000; A. S. Bailey's furniture 
store, $3,000 ; the new newspaper, the Mount Ver- 
non Chronicle, $2,000; R. K. Dunham, tailoring 
establishment, $1,000; J. E. Longfellow, harness 
and saddlery store. $1.500 ; C. L. Sweenev. bakerv. 
$1,000; Cook & Miller, bakery. $600;Cassel & 
Sheehy, Washington restaurant, $500; Harry Vine, 
restaurant, $500 ; Hottel & Zwinden, Castle saloon, 
$;i.500: Ward & Hurley, saloon. $'?.000. The fol- 
lowing new business buildings also were erected 
during that period: The Behrens & Moodv block 
at a cost of $6,000 ; the St. John block, at a cost of 
$4,000, with a one-storv business building adjoin- j 
ing, at a cost of $1,000 ;'the block of Captain M. D. [ 
McCall, at a cost of $4,000. with the Cash grocery i 
store adjoining, at a cost of $1,000; the two-storv | 
building of V. E. Campbell, at a cost of $3,500'; j 
the two-storv building of A. S. Bailev, at a cost t 
of $1,600; E. H. Vaughn's two-story 'building, at I 
a cost of $"2,()00 : the remodeling of the Cirand Cen- \ 
tral hotel, owned by Carpenter & Pickens, at a 
cost of $4,000; the Great Northern hotel, erected 
bv I. AI. Sniilev. at a cost of $:>.0()0 ; the two-story 
building of G. E. Hartson. at a cost of $2,500; the 
postoffice building of C. D. Kimball, at a cost of 
$4,000; the two-story block of A. M. Elkins. at a 
cost of $:i,000. During the same year a hnu'lred 
and one residences were erected at a cost of about 
$85,000. 

While private enterprise was doing so much 
for the advancement of the city, the city govern- 
ment was improving a number of the streets by 
grading and sidewalking. at a total expenditure 
of about twenty-five thousand dollars. As may well 
be supposed the result of this period of great activ- 
ity was to transform the raw and somewhat ragged 
town into one of comfort and beautv. 

In the midst of this period of animation and 
prosperity a great disaster befell the citv in the 
fonn of a fire. This was Mount Vernon's first 
big fire. This occurred in the early morning of 
July 13, 1891. The fire originated in the north 
wing of the Washington hotel. The hotel was 
entirely consumed, together with fifteen business 
buildings and two residences, representing a total 
loss of about forty thousand dollars, with compar- 
atively little insurance. The part of the city cov- 
ered by the fire was the oldest business portion. 
Unfortunately the fire engine had been broken a 
few days before and hence the fire company was 
powerless. The steamer Bailey, which most fortu- 
nately was lying at the wharf.' saved the city from 
almost entire destruction. One of the deck hands 
of the Bailey, whose name was Herbert Comb'; 
is mentioned most gratefully by the people of 
Mount Vernon for his heroism in climbing to the 
top of the warehouse with the fire hose and retain- 
ing his position within twelve feet of the fire, which 



was so intense that his clothing caught fire, yet 
he still retained his post until the crisis was past 
and the fire had been checked at the dangerous 
point. Jack McGraw, G. B. Allen and Purser Fox 
seem to have been equally deserving of praise for 
their bravery in fighting successfully to a stand- 
still a fire which threatened to obliterate entirely 
the county-seat city. 

The great expectations of the people of Mount 
\'ernon as to the completion of the Great Northern 
railroad were realized August 12, 1891. The track- 
laying machine had entered the city limits the night 
before and at ten o'clock of that day the rails were 
laid across Kincaid street, the principal thorough- 
fare of the city. Just as the first rail crossed the 
street a signal was given, the fire alarm turned on, 
the church bells rang and thirty steam whistles 
added their wild toots to the general burst of 
sound. From the throats of the assembled and 
excited hundreds there went up a general shout 
of jubilation at the long-expected fulfillment of 
the dream of railway connection with the world. 

The same active year of 1891 witnessed also 
the construction of the present school building. 
It was built upon a lot purchased by the city from 
John P. Millett for the sum of six hundred dollars. 
The contract price of the building was twelve thou- 
sand dollars, and the contract was awarded to 
W. J. Henry. 

In connection with the construction of build- 
ings it is ver\- fitting to notice briefly the erection 
of the present Mount Vernon opera-house. This 
was built during the summer of 1892, Messrs, 
Peacock & Dalton being the architects and build- 
ers. This opera-house would be a credit to a very 
much larger city than Mount \'ernon. The audi- 
torium is fifty by sixty feet in floor space, and thirty 
feet in height. The seating capacity of the theater 
is eight hundred and fifty, while the stage covers 
an area, twent}--three by fifty feet. 

Among the various organizations of public ben- 
efit which marked the period of progress was the 
Board of Trade or. as it became ultimately known, 
the Chamber of Commerce. A^arious preliminary 
efi^orts during the years 1890 and 1891 finally event- 
uated in 1892 in a formal organization. M the 
first regular meeting of the Chamber of Commerce 
a membership of forty-four was duly recorded 
and the following officers chosen : President. H. P. 
Downs ; vice-presidents, T. N. Turner, G. E. Hart- 
son. J. P. Millett. M. D. McCall. The executive 
committee chosen consisted of Otto Klement. J. N. 
Turner. G. E. Hartson. C. F. Moody and Jacob 
Hay ton. 

There is little to record of the dark year 
of 1893. To all appearance in Mount Vernon, as 
in other towns of our state, people have little satis- 
faction in recalling the events of that down-hill 
time. 

One abortive and samewhat comical event is 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



recalled by the citizens of the time, and that is a 
mass meeting on April 24, 1894, in accordance 
with dodgers distributed throughout the day which 
were as follows : 

"mass meeting * 

"A meeting of the citizens of Mount Vernon 
is hereby called to meet to-morrow, Tuesday even- 
ing, April 24th, at half past eight o'clock at the 
court-house for the purpose of considering the 
present depressed financial and commercial condi- 
tion of the land. 

"Free seats reserved for the ladies. 

"Speeches by leading business men. 

"This meeting is for all, regardless of party." 

This meeting was not open to the charge of be- 
ing a packed meeting, for no chairman or committee 
of organization or, in fact, any one at all to run it 
had been provided. The court-house was crowded 
almost to suffocation and after vain attempts to 
elect a chairman and frame some plan of discussion 
the meeting broke up amid tumultuous laughter 
and general disorder. The question of who called 
that meeting became one of the stock conundrums 
in the city of Mount Vernon. 

During the same summer an enterprise was 
undertaken, as the result of the popular need and 
a popular demand, which was of much interest and 
much importance in the growth of the city. This 
was the construction of the new dike. The great 
flood of 1894 had inundated the lower parts of the 
town and had also caused much damage to the 
farmers on the fiats. A i^art of tlie money neces- 
sary for this essential work was raised by public 
subscription. The dike as finally constructed 
extends from Ledger hill to a connection with 
other dikes «hich now make a continuous levee to 
the mouth of the Skagit river. The work was com- 
pleted in November, 1894, and it is estimated that 
it added a hundred ncr cent, to tlie value of tlie 
farms protected by it. 

Another public enterprise of the same period 
was the effort for the establishment of a city water 
system. A special election was held on November 
30th upon the proposition of issuing bonds for 
the establishment of such a system. This proposi- 
tion was carried by a vote of ninety-six against 
fift\'-nine, only two votes, more than the required 
three-fifths majority. But though thus approved, 
the attempt at a city water system failed, on account 
of the inability to float bonds during those hard 
times. After an unsatisfactory experience of sev- 
eral years an excellent water system was estab- 
lished in 1902 by the Alount \'ernon Water and 
Power Company, of which X. M. Hill is the local 
manager. Water is obtained from springs issuing 
from the hills east of town and is stored in a 
concrete reservoir at an elevation of about one 
hundred and forty feet above the river. It affords 



a plentiful supply of pure water and furnishes 
excellent fire protection. 

Mount Vernon occupies an unfortunate pre- 
eminence in respect to the number and destructive- 
ness of the fires that have occurred. We have 
already narrated the first of these. It was 
followed by a number of others. On April 20, 
lS!)."i. the shniglc mill owned by the Mount X'ernon 
Shingle and Lumber Company was destroyed with 
a loss of twenty-one thousand, dollars, with an 
insurance of six thousand and eight hundred dol- 
lars. The loss of this mill was a heavy blow to 
the productive interests of the town. On August 
12th of the same year the Pioneer shingle mill was 
wiped out, representing a loss above the insurance 
of about three thousand and five hundred dollars. 
Pursuing the fire history of the town to the present, 
we find that on .Anril 2. is!),*^. there was a destruc- 
tive fire in the Cloud & Hufty block, from which 
the St. John block and adjoining buildings were 
also reached by the flames. There was a total loss 
in this fire of fifteen thousand seven hundred and 
fifty dollars, partially covered by insurance. On 
September 28, 1900, the old original town of Mount 
Vernon was entirely destroyed. The historic 
Clothier & English store, the Ruby house and the 
Mount Vernon house were the victims of this fire. 
It was attributed by the public either to drunken 
Indians or hoboes. Still again a visitation of what 
writers with lurid imaginations often refer to as 
the "fire fiend" destroyed a business block occu- 
pied by the New York Racket store. The Mount 
Vernon Mercantile Company's store and the Davis 
Hardware store on the opposite side of the street 
ignited before the fire engine had gotten i'lto 
working order and caused a loss to its various 
occupants of nearly twenty thousand dollars, par- 
tially covered by insurance. .Still again on Novem- 
ber 25, 190.3, a fire raged in Mount Vernon, destroy- 
ing the Golden Rule department store, the Salva- 
tion Army barracks, and the second-hand store of 
J. L. Hayes. A high wind caused this to threaten 
the entire town, but the exercise of prompt and 
skilful work by the fire department checked the fire 
in the midst and saved the city from any large loss. 

The first years of the new century have wit- 
nessed a steady and substantial, though not rapid 
gain on the part of the capital city of Skagit 
county. The vast timber and mineral resources 
of the county, as elsewhere narrated, have offered 
opportunities for both capitalists and laborers and 
Mount Vernon has received its full share of the 
influx of both classes. All lines of activity have 
met with substantial rewards and especially it may 
be noted that the public and social life of the city 
has steadily progressed. A more perfectly organ- 
ized Commercial club was inaugurated in Novem- 
ber of 190.-?. This took the place of the old Board 
of Trade and has been a success from its start. 
The officers chosen at its first regidar meeting 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



were : Colonel B. Hiifty, president ; Dr. F. B. 
West, vice-president ; E. W. Ferris, secretary ; 
D. H. Moss, Jr., treasurer. The governing board 
consisted of Doctor Cassel, J. A. Munch, N. J. 
Moldstad, E. P. Barker and M. P. Hunt. This 
club now occupies a home in the business part 
of the city which contains reading room, library, 
card room, reception parlors, billiard room and 
bowling alley. This is one of the most infliuential 
organizations in the city of Mount Vernon. 

The fraternities of Mount Vernon, of whose 
inception we gave a brief mention on an earlier 
page, have gone on increasing to the present day 
until there are now the following orders: The 
Mount Vernon lodge, No. 23. of the Odd Fellows ; 
Skagit Valley lodge of Odd Fellows, recently con- 
solidated with the former; the Mount Vernon 
Masonic lodge; the Skagit lodge. No. 18, of the 
Knights of Pythias ; Lodge 21 of the Rathbone 
Sisters; the D. A. Russell Post, No. 35, of the 
W. R. C; Mount Baker lodge, No. 36. A. F. & 
A. M. ; Mount Vernon chapter, No. 17. R. A. M. ; 
Woodmen of the World, Mount Vernon camp. 
No. 374 ; Brotherhood of American Yeomen, Home- 
stead No. 298; Fraternal Order of Eagles. Moun- 
tain Aerie No. 261 ; Mount Vernon union of 
W. C. T. U. ; M. W. A., camp 6,307 ; A. O. U. W., 
lodge No. 64 ; Order of Washington, Success union 
136; Lodge of Rebekahs. 

We gave earlier in this sketch a narration of 
the building of the pioneer churches of the city. 
Those were the Methodist, Baptist and Christian. 
Other churches have been added from time to time 
until the city is now well supplied with churches. 
These, with their pastors, are at the present time 
as follows: Episcopal, Rev. F. C. Eldred ; Meth- 
odist, Rev. A. W. Brown ; Baptist. Rev. Harrv 
Ferguson; Catholic, Rev. Father M. J. Woods'; 
Swedish Baptist. Rev. .Andrew Swartz ; Free Meth- 
odist, Rev. S. P. Westfield; Ignited Presbyterian, 
Rev. G. E. Henderson: Christian, without settled 
pastor at present; Salvation Army. All of these 
churches have buildings except the Free Meth- 
odist. 

We have made frequent reference to the news- 
papers of Mount Vernon. These at the present 
time are the Skagit News-Herald, issued each 
Monday, Ralph C. Hartson editor and manager; 
the Argus, issued Fridays by Frederick C. Ornes, 
publisher and editor; and the Puget Sound Post, 
a semi-weekly established in the fall of 1905, 
Charles A. Taylor editor. All are Republican. 

From the vitally imoortant aspect of its educa- 
tional developments Mount Vernon mav well be 
a source of pride to its inhabitants. It has an 
excellent school building of the value of fourteen 
thousand dollars, and rents three buildings for the 
maintenance of the additional schools demanded 
bv the rapidlv growing population. There is an 
excellent high school under the management of 



Professor G. A. Russell. This high school main- 
tains a regular four-year, up-to-date course, which 
entitles its pupils to admission to the best colleges 
in the state. The total number of pupils enrolled 
during the year closed was five hundred and fifty- 
four. In addition to the public schools there is 
an excellent business college, known as the Mount 
Vernon business college, under the management 
of Professor F, S. Wolfe. 

Of the six banks now in existence in Skagit 
county the only national bank is situated in Mount 
\'ernon. This is the First National bank of Mount 
Vernon and it was established on March 3, 1891, 
being the successor of the Skagit River bank, started 
three years earlier by J. A. Cloud and Colonel B. 
Hufty. The ofiicers of the bank at the present 
time are D. H. Moss, Jr.. president ; R. G. Hanna- 
ford. cashier, and W. S. Packard, assistant cashier. 
It gives one some conception of the substantial 
nature of business in Mount Vernon to learn that 
the deposits of this bank amounted to three hun- 
dred and twenty-three thousand two hundred and 
thirteen dollars in May, 1905. 

As a matter of permanent interest we present 
herewith a summary of the business houses and 
industries of Mount Vernon at the present date, 
1905. Mills: Siwash Shingle; Little Mountain 
Shingle Company (lumber also) ; Cedardale Lum- 
ber Company (lumber only). (It may be said in 
connection with the Siwash Shingle mill that it 
is one of the largest in the state, cutting nearly 
two hundred thousand shingles per day.) Cement 
stone block factory, W. S. Anable ; wood-working 
factory. Maris & Bowron; undertaking parlors, 
F. H. Stackpole ; house movers, Kimble & Elkins ; 
wood yard, E. D. Kimble ; fish market, Lewis Hat- 
ter ; musical instruments : Sam Berger ; William 
Evans ; abstract offices : Skagit County Abstract 
Company, F. G. Pickering, manager : Dale & Shea ; 
insurance and real estate : C. P. Whitney ; G. W. 
Marble ; J. Haddock Smith ; shoe repairing shop, 
L. Kempf; harness and saddle store, John Neigh- 
barger ; boat-building esitablishment, P. J. Pritch- 
ard ; bicycles and repairing stores: F. T. Schoon- 
over; L. L. Luce; crockery store, William McAllis- 
ter ; books, stationery and sundries : Postoffice Book 
store, G. E. Hartson, proprietor: Kimball & Son; 
W. B. Ropes ; paints,, oils and wall paper. Hooper 
&• Decker Company; bank. First National; jewelry: 
J. Petzelberger ; A. J. Schirrmann ; photographers: 
Stephens & Whitney: Mrs. L. R. Martin; W. F. 
Robertson ; cigar factory. Airs. Henry Lange ; bot- 
tling works, William Harbert ; livery stables : 
Frank Esser ; The River Front, by Robert H. John- 
son ; veterinary hospital. Dr. C. S. Phillips, D. V. S. ; 
feed store and wharf. W. E. Harbert : blacksmiths : 
C. W. Crawford; J. W. Norton; W. F. Storie ; 
machine shop and foundry, Walter McNicol : farm 
implements, W. F. Storie; gentlemen's furnishing 
store, F. E. Hunt ; hardware : Davis Hardware 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



Company; T. R. Hayton ; shoes. Jacob Anderson; 
Racket store, L. L. Cotton ; restaurants : Popular, 
J. S. Anderson; Olympia Cafe, Joinville; Louvre 
Cafe, W. T. Johnston ; Miller Cafe, Frank Monda- 
han; drug stores: Mount Vernon, J. A. Munch, 
proprietor; the Owl, Union Drug Company. D. B. 
Hall, manager; pool and billiard room, W. H. 
Perry; lunch counter. Frank Bellaire ; furniture 
and second-hand goods : D. F. Orcutt ; J. B, Laugh- 
lin; T. L. Hayes; W. H. Wilgus ; meat markets: 
Patterson, Parker & Company; West Brothers; 
Joseph Ouandt; groceries and bakeries: N. B, 
Johnson & Sons ; P. J. Pedersen ; groceries : B. D. 
Moody: Mount Vernon Trading Union (co-opera- 
tive) ; groceries and shelf hardware, E. Branch- 
flower; general merchandise: Golden Rule Depart- 
ment store: ]\Iount \"ernon Mercantile Company; 
F. H. Thome; barber shops: James Kean ; L. R. 
Martin; Bailey & Cook; confectioneries: A. B. 
Pierce; A. H.' Montgomery: Mrs. M. S. Frizell ; 
Larrv Parkinson; Charles Anable ; tailor shops: 
C. R. Rings ; Karl Schoeffle ; A. C, Malcolm ; John 
Kendall ; dry goods : N. J. Moldstad ; G. W. More- 
Ian ; transfer companies : Merchants' : Mount Ver- 
non : express agency, George Lassley ; laundries : 
Skagit Steam Laundry; Lee Yan ; Blount \^ernon 
Electric Light Company, W. H. Franklin, man- 
ager : Mount A'ernon Water and Power Company, 
Norman Hill, manager ; Sunset Telephone and Tel- 
egraph Company. D. L. Savidge, manager: Postal 
Telegraph Company, I. D. Miller, manager: Inde- 
pendent Farmers' Telephone Company, D. B. Hall, 
manager (this Independent Telephone Company is 
one of the most interesting and successful enter- 
prises in the county) ; boarding houses: Mrs. Etta 
Ford: Mrs. John Carfield; Mrs. F. S. Spooner; 
^frs. Anna Nelson ; lodging houses : Mrs. Sophie 
Claussen : Mrs. N. E. Pickens ; George Moran ; 
hotels : ^filler hotel ; Costello & Wood : The Louvre, 
William Patterson : The Kimball, Mrs. C. D. Kim- 
ball : The ]\Iount Vernon. George Sidney ; Spring- 
brook Gardens. H. R. Hutchinson & Son: Shetland 
Pony Farm. Fred Blumberg. 

One of the large enterprises of the city is the 
Mount Vernon creamery, organized April 1. 1904. 
This is under the management of Jules Fredlund. 
William Harbert is president of the company and 
Robert Fredlund vice-president and treasurer. 
This is the largest creamery in the county, putting 
out sixteen thousand pounds of butter per month. 

We should mention here the Skagit County Fair 
Association, under whose management is a fine 
race-course on the southern edge of the city limits, 
with convenient buildings and grandstand and fine 
grounds. N. J. Moldstad is president and E. W. 
Ferris secretary of the association. 

The postmaster of INIount Vernon is G. E. Hart- 
son ; assistant. Mrs. Mathilda Hartson. There are 
five free rural delivery lines. 

The following professional men may be named 



here : Lawyers : Smith & Brawley, Hurd & Brickey, 
Shrauger & Barker, Million & Houser, David Ham- 
mack, ''McLean & Wakefield, J. C. Waugh, E. W. 
Ferris; physicians: Drs. A. C. Lewis, R. J. Cassel, 
A. J. Osterman, J. W. Alkire; dentists: W. M. 
King, W. D. Good; civil engineer, John W. 
Meeham. 

The present city government of Blount Vernon 
consists of the following: Mayor. I. Shrauger; 
treasurer, R. G. Hannaford ; clerk. Charles E. Kim- 
ball ; attorney, David Hammack ; marshal, William 
Zimmerman ; council, Benjamin Dav. A. G. Young, 
F. H. Stackpole, E. S. Phipps. W. F. Storie. There 
is an efficient volunteer fire company, of which 
John Kauble is chief. 



In the tremendous tide of progress and increase 
of wealth and population which characterize the 
present decade we scarcely realize the small and 
what would seem to us of the present the slow 
beginnings of the pioneer towns of thirty or forty 
years ago. Yet those seemingly slow beginnings 
marked the true heroic age of our history. In the 
hardships, loneliness, warm-hearted hospitality and 
pathos of the pioneer communities we find all that 
is noblest and best in the traits of our common 
humanity and particularlx (if typical American life. 
Therefore not one of tiic tnwns, large or small, not 
even one of the hamlets ur isolated farm-houses 
or lumber camps lacks its record of interest and 
of value. 

Each town of which we here present a sketch 
has its own peculiar claim to our attention. La 
Conner, the subject of the present review, is dis- 
tinguished among the towns of its section for busi- 
ness stability, the natural outgrowth of its immedi- 
ate surroundings. 

Although many explorers and sailors had looked 
upon the scenes which now are so fair, no one had 
deemed it worth while to land and permanently 
establish himself until 1807. 

The first trading post on the Swinomish flats 
was established in May. IStiT. upon the site of the 
present city of La Conner, by Alonzo Low. now a 
resident of Snohomish. Low and Woodbury Sin- 
clair had engaged in the mercantile business at 
Snohomish City in 1864. and opened the Swinomish 
branch, as stated, with Low in charge. The enter- 
prise failed, however, and fourteen months after 
its institution was abandoned. Low gave the build- 
ing to a mulatto named Clark, on condition that 
he would move the goods and a yoke of oxen (taken 
b\ Low in payment of a debt) back to Snohomish. 
This was accomplished by boat. 

Thomas Hayes is the next Swinomish trader 
of whom we have record. The exact time of his 
appearance is not known, but it must have been 
verv shortlv after Low abandoned the region in 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



the summer of 1868. It was during his time that 
Swinomish postoffice was established. Then, in 
1869, John S. Conner and his wife, Louisa A. 
Conner, came from Olympia by boat to the point 
upon which the town subsequently grew. Mr. 
Conner purchased the Indian trading post at that 
point from Mr. Hayes and Swinomish postoffice was 
either abandoned and La Conner postoffice estab- 
lished or there was a change of name. The mercan- 
tile business inaugurated by I\Ir. Conner at the time 
of the purchase of this trading post became the 
foundation of the new town. On the 1st of Janu- 
ary, 1870, Mr. Conner brought his entire family to 
the point, Mrs. Conner being the only white woman 
at that time in that community, and Mr. Conner 
the first permanent settler. Mr. Conner was born 
in Ireland in the year 1838, and had acquired an 
excellent education, being qualified to pursue the 
varied avocations of lawyer, teacher, farmer and 
merchant. As he looked abroad at the surround- 
ings of his new home he saw with prophetic vision 
the possibilities of the future. The town which he 
could see in his mind's eye lay along the Swinom- 
ish slough, just across which stretched the beauti- 
ful alternating hills and plains of Fidalgo island. 
Lying immediately between Swinomish slough on 
the west and Sullivan slough on the east rose a 
picturesque rocky hill, from which extended an 
entrancing scene of primitive beauty. Beyond 
Sullivan slough extended the delta of the Skagit 
river, green and beautiful with its marsh grass and 
tangles of brush and occasional strips of timber, 
yet to all appearance unavailable for farming pur- 
poses by reason of the overflowing tides and floods. 
Yet Mr. Conner could anticipate the reclamation 
of those- fertile tracts and could see then as plainly 
as we can now a beautiful little city clustering 
about the base of the rocky acropolis to supply the 
needs of a future great population. 

In 1870 La Conner postoffice succeeded the old 
Swinomish postoffice. Mr. Conner becoming the 
postmaster. The name was derived from the ini- 
tials of Mrs. Conner's name as a prefix to the 
family name of Conner. The land upon which the 
town was located was taken up by J. J. Conner, a 
cousin of J. S., in 1872, and in the" same year the 
town itself was laid out by him. Subsequentlv he 
sold the town site to his cousin. J. S. Conner, who 
from that time was the principal proprietor of the 
place. It may be noted in this connection that J. S. 
Conner, after having successfully engaged in many 
enterprises connected with the development of the 
place and the region adjoinins: and having accu- 
mulated an extensive fortune, died in 188.5 and was 
succeeded in the management of his great estate 
by his son, Herbert S.. now one of the most prom- 
inent citizens of the place. Mrs. Conner is .still 
living upon the spot which she has seen grow from 
a wilderness to a flourishine communitv. 

From A. G. Tillinghast. who came to La Conner 



in December, 1872, we derive a picture of the 
condition of the little place at that time. Directly 
across the Swinomish slough lay the Indian reser- 
vation in charge of John P. McGlinn. L. L. An- 
drews was conducting a trading post at the agency, 
and on that side there was then a substantial little 
wharf. On the La Conner side the only buildings 
in existence were the store and house of Mr. Con- 
ner, a little hotel kept by Mr. Marsden, a tin shop 
managed by James O'Laughlin and a blacksmith 
shop by a man called Abner McKean. A telegraph 
office was also located at the agency in charge of 
James A. Gilliland. the linesman being James Will- 
iamson. In 1873 there arrived at the little place 
two men who have been most intimately connected 
with the business development of the town. These 
were James and George Caches. They purchased the 
store of Mr. Conner and from that time on con- 
ducted the leading mercantile establishment of that 
part of the county. They were in partnership until 
the year 1900, when George retired from the busi- 
ness, leaving James in entire control. It early 
became apparent that the land in the near vicinity 
of La Conner would, in case diking operations 
were successful, become very valuable. It is a 
matter of some surprise to find that within the 
very next year after Mr. Conner's arrival he had 
reclaimed a small body of land, from which he 
began shipping oats and barley in 1874. To illus- 
trate the immense advance in prices of those Swi- 
nomish tide lands it may be said that a place of 
a hundred and twenty acre.S' two miles and a half 
from La Conner was sold in 1873 for twelve hun- 
dred dollars, and that same place could not now 
be purchased for less than fifteen or twenty thou- 
sand. In 187-1 the Caches brothers began making 
shipment? of grain on a larger scale than had been 
known before, the first of a great series of ship- 
ments which has continued uninterruptedly and 
increasingly to the present day. 

Like other portions of the archipelago the lands 
adjoining the Swinomish slough were subject to 
a very great rise and fall of the tide. At flood 
tide the slough is navigable by vessels of not more 
than nine feet draught, while at low tide there is 
water enough for small boats only. This condition 
of navigation led to efforts from early days to 
secure congressional appropriations for improving 
the channel. In 1890 congress appropriated $122,000 
for the improvement of the slough and the dredg- 
ing of the bars at either end. During the present 
year (190.5) Major Millis. United States engineer 
at Seattle, has asked for an appropriation of 
$1.50.000 in order that he may continue the im- 
provements on a larger scale. Inspector Thomas 
Huddleson estimates the value of exports passing 
through the slough in the ^•ear 1903 at $959,000 
and the imports at $.514.000 ; for the vear 1904. 
exports $1,330,000 and imports $464,000. The 
bulk of this great trade is handled at La Conner. 



CITIES AXD TOWxXS 



203 



As we set this fact of the present beside the busi- 
ness conditions of 1873 we form some conception 
of the prodigious percentage of increase in the 
trade of the place. 

In taking up again the thread of the narrative 
in respect to business, developments we may note 
than in 1875 another prominent business man of 
La Conner, Joseph F. Dwelley, came to the place 
and opened a furniture store. Throughout the 
decade of the seventies business and professional 
men were adding themselves to the population and 
.in 1878 we find the following list derived from the 
Snohomish Star of March 6th: Hotels, the La 
Conner, J. J. Conner, proprietor; the Maryland 
House, John McGlinn, proprietor; general merchan- 
dise stores. Caches Bros, and L. L. Andrews; boat 
builders. Church & Bowman, Potter & Chandler; 
drug store, Joseph Alexander; physicians, Drs. 
T. C. Mackey, I. N. Powers arid J. S. Church; 
lawyers, W. R. Andrews, A. W. Engle and L. 
Thomas. The same paper contains an item of a 
political-social-business nature worthy of a passing 
notice. It seems that there was an attempt at 
that time to start a Chinese laundrv' in the town. 
Public sentiment was against it and the Washing- 
ton literary society, which met in the public hall, 
and to attend which members came from all over 
the flats when the weather did not forbid, took up 
for debate the question of the Chinese laundry. 
After a heated discussion an agreement was signed 
by which those present pledged themselves to dis- 
courage by every lawful means the admission of 
Chinamen to the place and to abstain from employ- 
ing in their own houses the Chinese in any capacity 
whatever. 

From the nature of its location La Conner is 
a steamboat town rather than a railroad town. 
From the time of its founding to the present there 
have been steamboats and sail boats, canoes, row- 
boats and SfCOws of every size and order, and at 
the present time there is daily steamboat commu- 
nication with all the principal ports of the sound. 
The town is well provided with wharves and ware- 
houses and in all respects the shipping interest is 
of a promising character : and with the completion 
of the government improvements heretofore re- 
ferred to the town will be as accessible as any in 
the entire sound region. Although there is as yet 
no railroad to the place, one franchise for a railway 
has already been granted and another company is 
about to apply for a franchise. 

We may complete this account of the business 
growth of La Conner from the earliest times by 
incorporating here the following list of professional 
and business men and firms of the present time: 
Physicians: Dr. G. E. Howe. Dr. A. R. Bailey: 
dentist. Dr. J. N. Harris : lawyer, J. S. Corrigan ; 
general merchandise: James Caches. T. A. 
Livingston & Company: The Fair Depart- 
ment Store. I\TcGowan & Coddiiigton : groceries : 



L. W. Vaughn & Son, Nelson & Pierson ; 
meat markets : The West Butchering Com- 
pany ; T. C. Boyd & Company ; hardware and im- 
plements : Poison Implement and Hardware Com- 
pany; drug stores: D. B. Hall; La Conner 
Drug Store; millinery: Mrs. W. H. Parsons; 
machine shop, blacksmith and repairing: Roseland 
& Hamburg Bros. ; confectionery stores : Henry 
Peterson, Frank Brown, Mrs. George Hall ; ware- 
house and storage : La Conner Warehouse Com- 
pany, owned by the farmers of the region and hav- 
ing a capacity of one hundred and twenty-five thou- 
sand sacks of grain ; Chilberg Warehouse, D. L. 
McComiick, R. H. Ball ; dry goods and furnish- 
ings : B. L. Martin; restaurants: W. H. Angel, 
The Farmers'; jewelry: H. Humphrey; undertak- 
ing parlors : J. E. Peck ; harness shop and imple- 
ments : H. W. Rock ; blacksmith shop : Blade & 
Seagren ; bicycle and repairing store : Peter Win- 
gren ; barbers : J. P. Johnston, W. H. Boyce, George 
Linkhardt ; merchant tailors : J. G. Almberg, Mitch 
Clossen ; photographer : O. J. Wingren ; storage 
and commission house: Guy W. Conner, who also 
acts as agent for the La Conner Trading and Trans- 
portation Company, running a daily line of boats 
to Seattle, the Fairhaven being the regular passen- 
ger steamer ; drv goods and clothing store : C. & 
S. Goldsmith; hotels: Hotel McGlinn, J. P. Mc- 
Glinn, proprietor; Hotel La Conner, Mrs. J. Gipple, 
proprietor ; Alma House ; Puget sound seed gardens 
and store : A. G. Tillinghast ; livery stable : R. L. 
Richardson : boot and shoe store : G. E. Wersen ; 
junk store : R. A. Coffer. 

One of the most important business concerns 
of La Conner is the La Conner Lumber Company, 
of which J. C. Foster and N. G. Turner are the 
proprietors. This consists of a saw-mill with a 
capacity of twenty thousand feet of lumber a day, 
with a shingle-mill attachment. This mill has had 
rather an interesting history in that it was a semi- 
public enterprise. It was inaugurated in 1889 by 
a joint stock company known as the Pleasant Ridge 
Mill and Threshing Company. In 1900 this mill, 
then having come into possession of Ezra Brothers, 
was burned. The citizens of La Conner bought 
the site and remains of the machinery for thirteen 
hundred dollars and gave a long lease as a subsidy 
to Foster & Turner, who constructed the present 
mill. 

La Conner is well supplied with electric power, 
telephone service and water system. The electric 
power is the property of the La Conner Electric 
Light and Power Company, of which Peter Win- 
gren is the manager. The plant was establi.shed in 
1893 by J. S. Bartholomew, who sold out the same 
year to Mr. Wingren. The telephone system is 
ample, consisting of two different plants, one. the 
.Skagit \'alley Telephone Company, with eleven 
separate lines operating out of La Conner, estab- 
lished in 190? by Frederick Eyre, who is still acting 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



as secretary of the company ; the other, the Sunset 
Telephone and Telegraph Company, of which 
Henry Peterson is the local manager. The water 
works of La Conner are in the hands of the La 
Conner Water Works Company, of which the prin- 
cipal stockholders are ex-Governor McBride and 
H. S. Conner, Peter Wingren being the manager. 
The water supply is derived from springs on the 
Swinomish reservation and is piped across the 
slough and pumped to a reservoir upon the hill. The 
citizens are now actively agitating the question of 
municipal ownership of their water system. Re- 
cently J. G. Foster was granted a franchise to 
establish a new system, taking its water from the 
Skagit river. 

Passing from the business enterprises of La 
Cot\ner to its municipal history, we find that like 
several of the towns of the region La Conner has 
passed through the stages of incorporation, disin- 
corporation and reincorporation. On November 20, 
1883, the legislative act incorporating the city was 
approved by the governor and became a law. This 
provided for incorporation with the following 
limits : "All of the plat of the town of La Conner, 
as recorded in the office of the auditor of Whatcom 
county, together with an addition of six hundred 
feet on the southern end of said plat of the same 
width as, and extending in the same general direc- 
tion as, said plat ; also an addition of sixty rods on 
the northern end of said plat of the same width as, 
and extending in the same direction as, said plat ; 
all of the above-described land being and lying in 
section 36, township 34 north range 2 east in 
Whatcom county." The legislative act named as 
temporary officers : Mayor, L. L. Andrews ; coun- 
cil, G. V. Calhoun, B. L. Martin, James Caches, 
J. S. Church and F. S. Poole ; marshal, Cylon Otis ; 
clerk and assessor, Sophus Joergensen. 

The impression gained ground during the years 
immediately following incorporation that the 
town had been a little hasty in assuming 
cityhood and as the result of a petition 
signed by a majority of the citizens the 
legislature passed an act, approved January 6, 
1886, to repeal the old act. After this repeal the 
town remained without organization until the close 
of the year 1888. On December 10th of that year 
by the direction of the district court incorporation 
was effected and the following trustees appointed 
by Judge Bovle: Perrv Poison, J. S. Church, B. L. 
Martin, R. H. Ball and W. E. Schricker. This 
was but a temporary organization and in 1890 a 
petition was presented to the trustees of the town 
to provide for municipal incorporation under the 
new state law, as a result of which May 2d was 
designated as the date for an election upon the 
question of reincorporation. The election was held 
on the date designated and resulted favorably to 
incorporation. On Mav 24th a regular municipal 
election of officers was held, resulting in the choice 



of G. V. Calhoun for mayor, W. E. Schricker, 
Perry Poison, H,. S. Conner and James Caches as 
councilmen ; L. L. Andrews as treasurer. The city 
officials of La Conner at the date of this publica- 
tion are as follows : R. H. Ball, mayor ; J. S. Church, 
clerk ; J. L. Corrigan. attorney ; E. R. Anderson, 
treasurer; I. F. Savage, marshal: A. L Dunlap, 
J. H. Chilberg, N. A. Nelson, Ole Wingren and 
W. E. Schricker, councilmen. In connection with 
the municipal life of La Conner it may be noted 
that the city owns a comfortable, two-story frame 
building for municipal purposes, which stands upon 
the hill opposite the Catholic church. It was built 
fourteen years ago. There is also a fraternal hall 
built in 1890 by th^ Masons and Odd Fellows at 
a cost of six thousand dollars, which is used as a 
place of public gatherings of all sorts. 

One of the most important agencies in any city 
is its newspapers. Few communities in the state 
of Washington are lacking in that indispensable 
factor in public influence. La Conner's newspaper 
is the Puget Sound Mail, one of the best weekly 
papers in the state, edited by F. L. Carter and 
published by Carter & Carlson. It is the oldest 
paper north of Seattle, having been originally estab- 
lished at Whatcom in 1873 and removed to La 
Conner in 187 9 by its founder, J. W. Power. 

Perhaps the one feature of every new Western 
town in which the general body of citizens takes 
the greatest interest is the school system. La Con- 
ner is not behind other towns of her order in the 
character of her schools. The first public school 
in the vicinity of La Conner was organized in the 
fall of 1873, Dr, J. S. Church being the first teacher, 
and the first location being the old house belonging 
to Isaac Jennings northeast of the town. The direct- 
ors of the first school were L. L. Andrews and Rob- 
ert White. Among the pupils of that earliest school 
were H. S. Conner, two girls of the Jennings family, 
four children of the D'Arcy family, two of the 
Miller family and two children of Robert White. 

Mrs, J, F, Dwelley taught a private school in 
La Conner proper in 1875. and the same year 
David Culver succeeded her. It is quite probable 
that J. S. Conner's private school, maintained by 
him in his own home principally for the use of his 
own family, preceded both Mrs, Dwelley's and 
Mr. Culver's schools. J. D. Lowman, who has 
since become one of Seattle's prominent citizens, 
was one of Mr. Conner's early tutors. The first pub- 
lic school within the limits of La Conner was opened 
by Miss Ida Learner, now Airs. E. A. Sisson, of 
Padilla, in January, 1876, being held in a small 
building on the site of McGlinn's hotel. The fol- 
lowing May she resigned. 

The district did not own a school building 
until 1876, In that vear a building erected the 
year before by the Grangers was purchased by the 
district and used thence onward until the erection 
of the present building. The present commodious 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



and well-equipped edifice was completed in 1903, 
its total cost having amounted to about six thou- 
sand two hundred dollars. The present enrollment 
of pupils in the eight grades of the primary and 
grammar school departments is a hundred and sev- 
enty-two. The high school was organized in 1896 
and has an enrollment at the present time of fifty. 
The high school provides a curriculum of four 
years and stands in the same grade as to work 
with other high schools of the state, being upon 
the accredited list of the colleges of the state. The 
faculty of the high school consists of W. A. Nich- 
olas, principal and instructor in science and civics ; 
Zoe Keith, instructor in mathematics and Latin, 
and Lena Tucker, instructor in history and English. 
The instructors in the lower grades are May B. 
Pickett, Anna F. Miller, Helen M. Simpson and 
Lucy A. Cook. 

As is the case with all our Western communi- 
ties. La Conner has a full quota of churches and 
other fully organized religious agencies. The first 
church service ever held in La Conner was in the 
summer of 18T1. This was conducted by a Presby- 
terian minister named Thompson. In the following 
year Rev. B. N. L. Davis, of the Baptist denomina- 
tion, who had located on a claim near the present 
site of the Great Northern bridge, and who was 
actively engaged in ministerial work throughout the 
Skagit valley, made occasional visits to the La 
Conner region for the purpose of holding services. 
The Baptist church building was dedicated in 188-1 
by Rev. A. B. Banks. A new church was built at 
a cost of between five and six thousand dollars in 
liiO.i, under the pastorate of Rev. Harry Ferguson. 
The Methodists also were represented soon after 
by Rev. J. N. Denison, widely known at that time 
and since as an indefatigable church organizer 
throughout western Washington. The various 
church services were held in the town hall or 
school building at first, or when these were not 
available some one of the hospitable homes of the 
early settlers was open without regard to denomina- 
tion. 

In Atwood's "Glimpses of Pioneer Life" we 
find an interesting reference to the first coming of 
Mr. Denison to La Conner. The writer relates that 
Dr. J. S. Church, while passing along a street or 
what then passed for a street, saw a young man, 
evidently a newcomer, sitting in front of a store and 
upon inquiry the young man introduced himself 
as J. N. Denison, a Methodist preacher, appointed 
to succeed Rev. M. J- Luark, who had been the 
first Methodist preacher in that circuit, although it 
would not appear that Mr. Luark had actually held 
services in La Conner. According to Atwood's 
narrative this first visit of Mr. Denison was in 
1874. Dr. Church at once took the stranger home 
with him and the Sunday following he conducted 
service in the house of Airs. Conner. The Meth- 
odist pastors on the Skagit circuit for some years 



after that were Revs. C. Derrick, Thomas McGill, 
B. F. Van Deventer and W. B. McMillin. Mr. Van 
Deventer entered upon the construction of the pres- 
ent Methodist church building in 1883. This was 
completed and dedicated by Rev. J. N. Derfson, 
December 6, 1885. The first church building 
erected in La Conner was the old Catholic church 
in 1872 under the direction of Father Prefontaine, 
of Seattle, and the money for this pioneer church 
was secured largely by the efforts of Mrs. Louisa 
A. Conner, who solicited among the farms and log- 
ging camps on all sides. The old church is aban- 
doned at the present time. The churches now exist- 
ent in La Conner are the Catholic, Rev. Matthew 
Woods, rector ; the Bethesda Baptist church, E. B. 
Pace, pastor ; the Methodist church, George Amey, 
pastor, and the Swedish Lutheran church, G. A. 
Anderson, pastor. 

Like all our other towns. La Conner is well pro- 
vided with fraternal organizations. The ]\Iasons 
seem to have been the pioneers in the establishment 
of lodges, having effected an organization January 
6, 1883. This first lodge met in the upper story 
of Dwelley's furniture store. The name of the 
lodge was Garfield lodge, from the name of Presi- 
dent Garfield, who had died the preceding year at 
the hands of an assassin. The first officers of that 
lodge were Thomas J. Rawlins, master; J. S. 
Church, S. W. ; W. A. Stevens, J. W. ; S. B. Best, 
S. B. ; J. A. Gilliland, J. D. ; Sophus Joergensen, 
treasurer ; L. L. Andrews, secretary. Other lodges 
have grown up in the town with the process of 
time and there are at the present time the follow- 
ing, with the chief officers of each: W. of W., La 
Conner camp. No. 449, G. H. Lane, C. C. ; E. R. 
Anderson, clerk. I. O. G. T., Oatland lodge. No. 
81, Clara Hughes, C. T. : Glen Otis, secretary. M. 
W. A.. La Conner camp. No. 8973, W. A. Carlson, 
consul ; J. P. Johnston, clerk. Royal Neighbors, 
Howard camp. No. 1409, Mattie Valentine, oracle; 
Mrs. Charles Martin, recorder. I. O. O. F., Delta 
lodge. No. 32. D. B. Hall, N. G.; E. E. Stotler, 
secretary. Rebekahs, Esther lodge. No. 33, Pearl 
Bates, N. G. ; Airs. I. A. Dunlap, secretary. Ma- 
sons, Garfield lodge. No. 41, J. N. Harris, W. N. ; 
L. L. Andrews, secretary. A. O. U. W., Swinomish 
lodge. No. 17, Joe Otis, M. W. ; J. F. Dwelley, sec- 
retarv. G. A. R., Larabee post. No. 18, Robert 
Moore. P. C. ; J. F. Dwelley, adjutant. W. C. T. U., 
Mrs. Rhoda Caches, president; Mrs. G. A. Gwyer, 
secretary. 

Among the most important institutions of La 
Conner and indeed of the entire Skagit country 
is the Skagit County bank, a private institu- 
tion, the oldest in Skagit county, established in 1886 
by W. E. Schricker. This bank occupies a fine, 
two-story brick building in the main comer of the 
town, the first brick building erected in the town. 
This bank has a paid up capital of fifty thousand 
dollars and at the present time a surplus of thirty 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



thousand dollars. It has its correspondents in Se- 
attle, Portland, Chicago and New York, and from all 
points of view it is the most important financial insti- 
tution in that part of Skagit county. The cashier, 
W. E. Schricker, and the assistant cashier, L. L. 
Andrews, have commended themselves in a peculiar 
degree to all the people of the community for their 
broad and liberal policy, for their courteous con- 
duct of business and for the genuine good influence 
which they have in every phase of the city's life. 

La Conner is to be felicitated on her compara- 
tive freedom from any kind of disasters. But two 
fires of any account have occurred in the towm and 
even these were not of serious moment. One of 
these in early years destroyed the old McGlinn hotel 
and another on July 5, 1900, destroyed the saw-mill 
operated by Ezra Brothers. Although there have 
been several disastrous floods, notably those of 1880, 
1884 and 1894, and several high tides, which 
wrought more or less damage, yet there has been no 
destruction of property by the elements at any 
time sufficient to check seriously the march of im- 
provement. 

Of the famous multiplex struggle for the pos- 
session of the county seat, in which La Conner, Ana- 
cortes and Mount Vernon bore the leading part, suf- 
ficient notice has been taken heretofore. Suffice it to 
say in brief that upon the creation of Skagit county 
in 1SS4 La Conner became the county seat and 
retained that position until Mount \'ernon gained 
it by the vote of the county. But although thus de- 
prived of the official headship of the county, La 
Conner has continued to be one of the wealthiest, 
most substantial and attractive places in western 
Washington. Its present population is estimated in 
the recent publication of the state board at seven 
hundred and fifty, representing a substantial gain 
over the preceding years. 

ANACORTES 

None of the Puget sound cities has had more to 
excite our interest than Anacortes, "The City of 
Necessity." or the "Magic City." Its history,' be- 
yond that of any other city in the Northwest, is 
wrought with incidents of romance and excitement 
almost incredible. It has passed from insignifi- 
cance to prominence and from one extreme to an- 
other with singular rapidity. 

The geographical location of Anacortes is an 
excellent one for a large city. Situated as it is on 
the northern end of Fidalgo island on Guemes 
channel, it forms the natural outlet for the entire 
region of country tributary to the Skagit river. It 
is nearer the entrance of Puget sound than any 
other port on the sound. The harbor is deep 
enough for the largest ocean vessels, the depth 
being from nine to twelve fathoms in the middle 
and not less than four or five near shore. Con- 
cerning this channel we give the following extract 



from an article in the Northwest Enterprise of 
January 20, 1883, by Amos Bowman, a civil en- 
gineer, a government geologist and engineer and 
one of the first settlers on the island : 

"Aside from its central location on the water 
of the Fuca Mediterranean, on the eastside main- 
land, or continental shore, and the head of Fuca 
strait, where all other imaginable approaches by 
land or sea must either meet or pass, the first 
feature to impress itself upon the mind of the ob- 
server is the fact that, standing anywhere you like 
upon the Fidalgo shore, Ship harbor has the ap- 
pearance of being, as it really is, for all practical 
purposes, a perfectly land-locked harbor. The 
second striking circumstance is the fact that from 
this sheltered body of water are seen radiating 
five or six different channels, or water ways, each 
of them possessing individual merits, either of 
direction for local commercial traffic or of facility 
of approach for coasting and sea-going craft from 
any direction, north, south, east or west. Here a 
smuggler or a pirate might lurk, if he designed 
striking in any direction. These peculiarities, com- 
bining a perfectly land-locked shore with a series 
of outlets in all desirable directions, make Ship 
harbor, with its accessory good qualities, the best 
harbor on Puget sound and rank it among the best 
in the world. For facility of approach from the 
open sea it is unequaled for the reason that Fuca 
strait is itself unequaled as an approach to more 
sheltered waters from the open sea ; the prevailing 
direction of the winds in regard to it and the wide 
unobstructed entrance leaving for it every weather 
fair to come and go. Coasters from north to 
south, or from south to north, making use of Fuca, 
Rosario and Johnstone straits, have not a mile to 
go out of their way to approach a common point, 
the nearest by any practicable route from the salt 
water to the great interior valleys of the Columbia 
and Frazer rivers." 

Anacortes, or Ship harbor, as it was named at 
that time, was in early days practically a dense 
forest. The earliest settlers came about 1860, and 
were Messrs. William Munks, Enoch Compton, 
H. P. O'Bryant, Charles W. Beale and Shadrach 
and Richard Wooten. Others came in later, in- 
cluding Orlando Graham and sons, Albert L. and . 
Frank, William Allard, T. Henrj' Havekost, 
Alfred Bowen. George M. Johnson and a few 
others. In 1876 Amos Bowman came. It is to 
this man above all others, perhaps, that Anacortes 
owes its existence. He and his wife bought one 
hundred and sixty-eight acres, built a wharf and a 
store and established a postoffice and newspaper. 
His most important and effective work was prob- 
ably the printing of a map of Puget sound and 
the region around Anacortes, predicting its rail- 
road future. This map he scattered broadcast in 
1882 and the years following, with noteworthy 
results. In 1877, upon the establishment of a post- 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



office at this point, as narrated elsewhere, Anacor- 
tes received its name. It is derived from the maiden 
name of the Mrs. Anna (Curtis) Bowman. 

Anacortes first came into prominence in the 
seventies as a prospective railroad terminus, and 
concerning this the following account is given by 
Mr. Bowman in the Anacortes Progress of August 
14, 1890 : "Tacoma came into view as a terminus, 
as every one knows, from purest accident. The 
great undertaking of building the Northern Paci- 
fic railroad encountered the financial storms of 
187";; and got shipwrecked; and Tacoma was the 
port which saved the enterprise. It is also well 
known by all the older citizens that the Northern 
Pacific railway graders had already passed Tacoma 
some six or seven miles across the Puyallup and 
into the valley of the Stuck river, when 'Skookum' 
(Elijah) Smith and General Sprague were dele- 
gated to bviy up lands at the nearest available point 
on Puget sound, at which to make the terminal im- 
provements which were required by the act. in order 
to hold the land grant. At that time "Skookum' 
Smith, General Sprague, General Hazard Stevens, 
Captain George D. Hill, B. B. Tuttle and \ictor 
Tull, with some others, had already secured the en- 
tire water front of Ship harbor, and had so far ar- 
ranged matters that, but for the panic, the Northern 
Pacific would undoubtedly have built their line and 
located their terminal works at Anacortes. Other 
cliques, however, of the Northern Pacific Company 
had bought up lands all along the route with ter- 
minal pretensions. Among these were Holmes har- 
bor, Coveland, Coupeville, all on the inner side of 
Whidby island, and the northern end of Whidby 
island fronting on Deception pass. Other persons 
outside the Northern Pacific Company had laought 
up Mukilteo. * * * 

"It was in 18T6 that the Canadian Pacific explor- 
ations first solved the problem of the Canadian route. 
I was engaged in geological exploration in connec- 
tion with the government railway exploration and 
was then, for a short time, a resident of Seattle. My 
knowledge of the Northern Pacific approaches to 
Fuca straits, along with the knowledge of the Vic- 
toria Hudson's Bay men. of the agricultural impor- 
tance of this country around the outlet of the Skagit, 
attracted my attention to this place. On examining 
the harlx)r for terminal purposes, which was the 
first work I did here, I was agreeably surprised to 
find every condition around the "Anacortes place' 
nearly perfect, and in the spring of 1877 I purchased 
it from Miss Maud Stevens, of Boston, a sister of 
General Hazard Stevens, for the sum of one thou- 
sand dollars. I immediately began making improve- 
ments in earnest, looking 'to its final development 
for railway purposes. My own education and ex- 
perience as a civil and mining engineer enabled me 
to work straight to the mark. Everybody knows 
how the publication of the "Northwest Enterprise' 
and its circulation of the "map of Fuca's sea or 



Puget sound' accomplished the work of spreading 
information of the claims of Ship harbor for railway 
purposes on the sound. The 'Enterprise,' now the 
"Progress' newspaper, placed that map in the hands 
of every western railvva\- engineer and railway com- 
pany and director between Xew York and San Fran- 
cisco, including everybody else, who had eyes to see, 
in Oregon and Washington. Among these people 
James McNaught and Henry V'illard were inter- 
ested parties, being in a position to know all about 
the earlier steps taken at this place regarding ter- 
minal matters. 

""Perhaps I have not done full justice to myself, 
however, in stating that Ship harbor had, at the 
time of my settlement here, gone completely out of 
sight and out of memory almost as a terminal prop- 
osition. Bringing it to the notice of Villard and 
the McNaughts appeared to most people to be en- 
tirely de novo — except for the assertions of the 
'Enterprise,' rather magnifying the connections of 
the Jay Cooke regime with Ship harbor in 1870-7"3. 
In truth, no official connection nor action of an\ 
kind was ever had, going further than the initiator} 
steps. These were unofficial, but they were genuine ; 
and to this day it is very confidently asserted by the 
participants from the spoken words of leading offi- 
cials that they would surely have landed the ter- 
minus on these shores had not Jay Cooke failed. It 
is my belief that neither the McNaughts nor Villard 
would have given a thought to Ship harbor in 188"<!- 
88 had its claims not been definitely and prominently 
brought into notice by the "Northwest Enterprise' 
with its map. It did its work of advertising effect- 
ually and enconomically. The "newspaper in the 
woods' had a history that will bear telling. 

'"I myself procured, about 1878, the original 
Northern Pacific map and profile from Fidalgo 
island by way of Skagit pass and Wenatchee river 
to the big bend of the Columbia, made about 1873. 
The surveys were made by engineers Brown, Ward 
and Til Sheets at different times in the years preced- 
ing 1872. I found them buried among other North- 
ern Pacific records in the old Tacoma terminal 
building, now the freight house, on the dock at 
Tacoma. They were considered of so little conse- 
quence that they were given to me, a stranger, with- 
out hesitation. Among the numerous parties that 
visited Anacortes in the first few years after the 
publication of the 'Enterprise' and its map (from 
1883 to 1886) were M. V. B. Stacy, Henry Villard, 
James and Joseph McNaught and John L. Howard. 

'"Nearly all of the prominent people who are now 
identified with Anacortes first appeared upon the 
scene at that time. About 1885 Villard sent agents 
here to procure terminal facilities, and who did act- 
ually procure, quietly and silently, under Mr. Stacy's 
management, about three thousand acres by pur- 
chase. The work was done chiefly by Frank Seidell, 
of Seattle, with the assistance of Orlando Graham. 
Stacv first came to me and I recommended Graham 



210 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



as a valuable coadjutor for acquiring properties in 
the interest of a railway enterprise. While I dis- 
tinctly remember this fact along with the proposi- 
tion to buy me out for ten thousand dollars (not 
entertained), I had no further knowledge of the 
enterprise and was not a confidant of the projectors. 
The McNaughts figured in it a little, 1 think, but 
subordinately. A large number of the most promi- 
nent men of Puget sound were brought into con- 
nection with it by Mr. Stacy, \early all the older 
Northern Pacific landholders had sold out except 
Captain George D. Hill and Ivlward L. Shannon. 
About that time Villard's financial difficulties inter- 
vened and again nullified tJiis second land scheme of 
the Northern Pacific people at Ship harbor. 

"In 1888 the present railway building was begun ; 
originally by VV. H. Holcomb of the Oregon Rail- 
way and iSJavigation Company, of Portland, and 
Milner of the Oregon Improvement Company, of 
Seattle. I had, for half a dozen years, ceased ex- 
penditures at Anacortes, though not entirely the 
circulation of the 'Enterprise" map ; leaving it and 
time to do the work — that of populating the back 
country before doing anything further. I was 
engaged on P>ancroft's history at San Francisco 
and afterward was tracing the coal measures in 
P>ritish Columbia when word came to me that these 
men were in search of me and would initiate rail- 
road works on condition of receiving a certain land 
grant. This rc(|uircd grant of about two thousand 
acres was raised ciiicll\ by myself and wife, assisted 
by the Rev. Albert Taylor, Orlando Graham and 
H. P. O'Bryant, tramping over Fidalgo and Guemes 
islands for about three weeks, with Messrs. Cal- 
houn and Hopkins as notaries. The non-resident 
water front owners at Seattle had been previously 
trained in line by the McNaught P.rothers and E. 
L. Shannon. The entire subsidy of about twenty- 
five hundred acres of land will have been earned by 
the Oregon Improvement Company August 15th. 

"Almost immediately after the signing of the 
subsidy contract a revolution took place in the com- 
pany, or railway building organization, which under- 
took the contract for building thirty miles. Milner 
and Holcomb were both slu-lvcd. and the Oregon 
Improvement Company, with Elijah Smith at the 
head, came to the front. After January 1, 1889, 
to date, Elijah Smith and the Oregon Improvement 
Company have carried out the work and brought 
us out of the woods to our present flattering status, 
as the terminus of at least one, and probably two 
or three transcontinental railroads. 

"The business was initiated bv Holcomb and 
Milner as a Union Pacific enterprise. Milner and 
Harry Tibbals, Jr., represented that they were in- 
structed by their superiors as managers controlled 
by the Northern Pacific. The engineers who laid 
out the road were Messrs. Williams and Temple: 
they came here from Denver and Omaha, as 
Northern Pacific engineers, and are now engaged 



on the Union Pacific near Olympia. Milner is now 
superintendent of the Great Northern. They are all 
personally interested in the success of Anacortes, 
and, although referred to last in this connection, 
ought to have been mentioned first." . 

In 1882 the following establishments were in 
operation at Anacortes : Amos P>owman & Com- 
pany, civil and mining engineering, pile driving, 
scow building, real estate, loans, etc.. notary public, 
general store; E. Hammond, ship builder; J. C. 
Sullivan, pile driver and builder; Edward Mc- 
Taggart, notary public; E. Sibley, justice of the 
peace, wagon shop and wheelbarrow factory ; (_). 
Harolson, boots and shoes; William Allard, black- 
smith and tinsmith ; Mrs. (J. Harolson, carpet 
weaving. 

The only means of communication between Ana- 
cortes and the outside world at that period of her 
history was by water. Practically every one upon 
Fidalgo and the other islands of the group had his 
own row-boat or sail-boat and was com])aratively 
independent in reaching any desired point. I'.ut we 
find as early as April "^(5. 1879, reference by the 
r>ellingham Bay Mail to the fact that Messrs. Bow- 
man & Johnson had put up a wharf, which stood 
between what is now Ocean dock and Q street. 
From that point the steamers Phantom and Tacoma 
were gathering a boom of logs bound for the 
Tacoma mills. 

With the establishment of I'nited States mail 
service there came to be regular steamship routes 
to Anacortes, and in iss-.' wc find that the Chehalis, 
Captain Brownfield, the WclcoiiK-. Captain Brannin, 
and the Dispatch, Captain .Monroe, were making 
regular trips to and from Seattle, Whatcom. Port 
Townsend and Semiahmoo. The Northwest Enter- 
prise informs us in April of 188:! that three first- 
class steamers were stopping at Anacortes four 
times a week each, two of them carrying mails. 
The Hope seems to have been the leading steamer 
of the fleet. In December of the same year a tri- 
weekly mail service on the Seattle, Anacortes and 
Whatcom route went into effect. The steamers 
were the Washington, the Idaho and the Evangel. 
It is worthy of notice that Captain Beecher was 
master of the Evangel. The year 1883 witnessed 
also the completion of the first large wharf at Ana- 
cortes, a structure a hundred feet long, having a 
runway the same length. John C. Sullivan being the 
builder. Wages seem to have been good at that 
time, as the carpenters on the wharf received five 
dollars per day. 

With the steady increase in business came the 
demand for a regularly platted town site. This 
important work was executed by H. B. Gates, 
assisted by G. Gerhard and a staff of five men. 
This first town plat was on the island opposite 
Kelly's Point and occupied a belt of about two miles 
fronting the Guemes channel and extending back 
about three-quarters of a mile. The avenues were 




VIKWS TAKKN ON FIDALGO ISLAND 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



a hundred feet wide and the cross streets eighty 
feet. The original plan contemplated a grand 
avenue two hundred feet wide running the whole 
length of the island. 

From the Northwest Enterprise of October 6, 
l.S!S;i, we gather the fact that the town site enter- 
prise, though promoted directly by Messrs. M. V. 
B. Stacy, James McXaught, P. H. Lewis, John 
Collins and others, was in reality under the control 
of officials of the Northern Pacific Railroad Com- 
pany. This seems to have been one of the earlier 
observations upon the designs of that company, 
which has assumed such gigantic proportions in 
later years, to secure terminals upon Puget sound. 
It forecasts, also, the condition which was to result 
in such boundless expectations, feverish booms and 
blasted hopes in the history of Anacortes a few 
years later. 

After the first era of development upon Fidalgo 
island, of which we have been speaking, a compara- 
tive calm seems to have brooded over the beautiful 
archipelago, but it was destined to be broken by 
the tremendous activities which sprung suddenly 
into existence with the great boom period of 1889 
and the years immediately following. The idea had 
been taking shape in the minds of a number of 
people that the terminus of the first transcontinental 
railroad would be upon Fidalgo island and during 
the year 1889 a sufficient number of people became 
possessed with the same idea at the same time to 
precipitate one of the most extraordinary booms 
known, even in that time, upon Puget sound. That 
was the heroic age of Anacortes. Those beautiful 
solitudes extending from Cap Sante to Deception 
pass, upon which a few farmers, lumbermen, store- 
keepers and steamboat men had been carrying on a 
quiet, though substantial trade, became suddenly 
transformed into one of the most typical of all 
typical western boom towns, where the boomer 
boomed, the promoter promoted, the gambler 
gambled, the grafter grafted, and the sucker sucked. 
In 1886 a considerable portion of Fidago island 
was still government land. Even land with title was 
held usually at no more than from $-2.0n to $10.00 
per acre. In the early part of 1889 a jirice of $90, 
$100 or $150 per acre began to be the common 
thing, while within a few months later prices began 
to soar to $300, $400 or $500, or almost anything 
that the owner had the nerve to ask, for apparently 
purchasers were willing to take land with no ques- 
tions asked and with unmeasured hopes of the 
future. It was the general impression at that time 
that the Northern Pacific, the Union Pacific and the 
Canadian Pacific were going to make a race for 
Anacortes. 

The name, the "Magic City," seems to have been 
acquired during that period by Anacortes, and 
indeed the development of the city during a period 
of about nine months was such as to justify the 
name. \\'e find it recorded in a contemporary paper 



that in January of 1890 there was a population of 
40, on February 1st of 500, on March 1st of 2,000 
and on March 'l5th of 3,000. In 1889 there were 
practically no buildings or street improvements. A 
year later Anacortes had 2 completed wharves and 

3 more under construction, 3 miles of graded streets, 
2 banks, 3 saw-mills, 2 sash and door factories, 

4 grocery stores, 3 general merchandise stores, 3 
drug stores, 3 boot and shoe stores, 8 tobacco stores, 
2 stationery and book stores, 3 bakery and confec- 
tionery stores, a three-story brick printing-house, 12 
hotels, a theater, a costly school-house projected, 
several churches, 27 real estate houses, 2 news- 
papers, the Daily Progress and the Anacortes 
American, besides the other customary miscel- 
laneous lines of business. During a period of less 
than a year it was estimated that there were ex- 
pended the following sums : On clearing of land, 
$250,000; street improvements, $100,000; new 
buildings, $500,000 ; water-works and street rail- 
ways, $300,000 : railroad terminals and wharves 
$270,000; or a total of nearly a million and a half 
dollars. 

During the first era of the boom a considerable 
portion of the population was obliged to live in 
tents. The Anacortes Progress of February 15, 
1890, notes the fact that there were 141 houses and 
110 tents, with a population of 2,110, with additional 
floaters to the number of about 200. That was a 
palmy period for steamboats nmning to Ship harbor, 
they carrying passengers by the hundreds, many of 
them beyond their lawful capacity. 

Lots dnrii^ that period went up almost to 
fabulous prices. In the business portion of the city 
lots thirty by one hundred feet sold as high as three 
thousand dollars. Acreage tracts on Burrows bay 
brought twelve hundred dollars per acre. Even 
Hat island. Burrows island and Cypress island, 
though merely volcanic rocks rising almost sheer 
from the water, were eagerly purchased by specu- 
lators as city property. 

Even in that period of excitement and feverish 
speculation, there were some prophecies of possible 
"busted" booms. The Skagit News of April 28, 
1890, lifts a voice of warning to the effect that the 
boom was at the point of collapsing. The reporter 
asserts that he found at that writing a population, 
aside from railroad laborers, of only five hundred. 
In spite, however, of the reaction which seems to be 
indicated, the reporter prophesied a steady and con- 
tinual growth in all manner of legitimate improve- 
ments. One thing which led the observers of that 
time to anticipate substantial growth was that some 
of the shrewdest investers in Seattle and elsewhere 
were largely interested in Anacortes real estate. 
Among such we find mention of Governor Ferry, 
John Collins, P. H. Lewis, Judge Hoyt, John Mc- 
Graw, Jesse George, Kinnear brothers. Governor 
Squire, General Sprague, Allen C. Mason, Dexter 



214 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



Horton, Arthur Denny, James McNaught, Judge 
Roger S. Greene and M. V. B. Stacy. 

A matter of interest in connection with the 
growth of Anacortes is the various plats of the 
original town and the successive additions, which 
ultimately became piled up to a bewildering extent. 
It would appear from the records of the auditor's 
office of Skagit county that the first regular plat 
was filed about January 1, 1889, by C. H. Shaw, 
to cover a town known as Ship harbor. This plat 
comprised the southeast 34 of the southeast 34 of 
section 21, township 35, range 1, adjoining Guemes 
passage. A year later a plat was filed in the 
auditor's office which contained five acres, divided 
into two blocks by a street eighty feet wide, each 
block containing twenty-two lots, thirty by one 
hundred and twenty-five feet. This plat was filed 
by C. T. Conover, and is stated by the Skagit News 
of January 13, 1890, to be the true original plat 
of the city of Anacortes. However, the railroad 
company's plat, filed on the 21st of January, 1890, 
contained two hundred blocks and constituted an 
enormously larger area for city purposes. 

Addition followed addition, until by the close of 
the year 1890 there were sixty-three regularly 
platted additions filed in the auditor's office. 

The great primary impelling agency of the boom 
at .-\nacortes was railroads. It was the expectation 
that Anacortes would become a transcontinental 
terminal, which caused the swarms of investors to 
gather upon Fidalgo island. The Oregon Improve- 
ment Compan\- entered upon the construction of a 
railroad from Anacortes to the Skagit coal mines 
in 1888. The force of nearly one thousand was 
under the direction of Captain F. .\. Hill. The 
course taken by this pioneer railroad was from the 
northwestern end of the island, about one mile from 
Green point, whence it pursued a generally south- 
eastward direction toward Fidalgo bay. It emerged 
on the bay shore near Lamb creek, whence it fol- 
lowed in a southeasterly direction the shore-line to 
Weaverling's spit, where a trestle four thousand feet 
in length spanned the bay to Munk's place. Its 
direction from there was south of east to the Swin- 
omish slough, across which a drawbridge was con- 
structed to Telegraph island and thence to the main- 
land on the Whitney place; from there the road 
continued directly east to the Skagit river. This 
road, the Seattle & Northern, was a standard gauge 
and extended from .\nacortes to Hamilton, a dis- 
tance of thirty-six miles. 

The great question just at that time seems to 
have been whether or not the Northern Pacific 
would build into .\nacortes. A meeting was held 
on April 11, 1890, in the office of D. .\. McKenzie & 
Company, which seems to have been the first defi- 
nite move toward securing a subsidy to induce the 
Northern Pacific to build into the town and locate 
tenninal buildings. The company proposed to carry 
out these plans if they could have a subsidv of five 



hundred acres of land. The Progress of August 
14, 1890, quoting from the Seattle Post- Intelligencer, 
states that the Northern Pacific had concluded a 
contract for the acquisition of the Seattle & 
Northern, and through the Seattle, Lake Shore & 
Eastern, which crossed the Seattle & Northern at 
Woolley, the Northern Pacific trains could at once 
enter Anacortes, and this established its position 
as the lower sound terminus of the Northern 
Pacific railroad. The Northern Pacific dock, depot 
and freight house were completed on the last day 
of October at a cost of about twenty-five thousand 
dollars. On November SSth the official consum- 
mation of making Anacortes a terminus of the 
Northern Pacific railroad was celebrated by a great 
excursion from Portland and points upon the upper 
sound. It is worthy of notice that the railroad 
company accomplished this work thirty-five days 
ahead of the time stipulated in the land subsidy 
donation of five hundred acres. Elijah Smith is 
quoted as saying at that time: "By this deal Ana- 
cortes at last becomes the sound terminus of the 
Northern Pacific. Anacortes was selected as the 
terminus by Jay Cooke and Engineer J. Milner 
Roberts, but the plans were defeated by Cooke's 
failure. Afterward, under the ascendency of Mr. 
Villard, the plan was again endorsed by General 
Thielson, but defeated by the Tacoma land syndi- 
cate element in the Northern Pacific management." 

It is a matter worthy of preservation that an 
order was issued, dated Portland, Oregon, .April 
23, 1891, signed jointly by A. S. Dunham, president 
of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern, and J. M. 
Hannaford, general manager of the Northern 
Pacific, providing that all transcontinental business 
destined for Anacortes should be subject to the same 
rates and regulations as that for Seattle and Ta- 
coma. This order might perhaps be considered 
the formal recognition of .\nacortes as a terminal 
point. 

While this vitally important work of securing 
transcontinental connections was in progress of con- 
summation, an electric railway was in progress from 
Anacortes to Fidalgo City. The articles of incor- 
poration for the Anacortes and Fidalgo City Elec- 
tric Railway were filed in June, 1890, providing for 
a capital stock of two hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars, and having the following officers : Presi- 
dent, Joshua Pierce ; vice-president, H. S. Colver ; 
secretary, C. B. Holman ; treasurer, Julius S. Potter. 
The company secured a land subsidy from interested 
property owners on condition that they should com- 
plete the road by January 1, 1891. There were 
some delays in securing rails, but nevertheless the 
work was completed and the first car run from 
Anacortes to Fidalgo City on March 29, 1891. The 
total expenditure for this road was two hundred 
thousand dollars, and the total length of road about 
thirteen miles, .\lthough thus built under such 
favorable auspices, the reaction following the boom 




ISli CANNING PLANT. ANACORTES 




ii;n SCHOOL building, anacortls 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



so affected business that the road was abandoned 
as soon as the land subsidj- had been safely secured. 

Another ambitious local line was projected by 
a company of which T. B. Childs was president, 
Frank W. Spear vice-president, C. R. Donnell sec- 
retary and Amos Bowman treasurer. This was to 
be known as the Anacortes Skagit motor line and 
was to include three lines north, east and south 
from Bayview and ultimately to reach La Conner. 
This project, however, never materialized. 

While the work of railroad construction was 
thus absorbing a great part of the attention of the 
people at Anacortes, they were by no means indif- 
ferent to the fact that their steamboat connections 
were even more important. The Progress of March 
15, 1890, gives an interesting item in respect to the 
arrival of the great ocean steamer, Umatilla, under 
Captain Holmes. The steamer arrived on March 
11th and, being the first ocean steamship that had 
landed at the Anacortes wharf, about a thousand 
people were present to greet her. This event was 
looked upon as a great triumph for the reason that 
sonie jealous rivals had represented that large ships 
could not enter the bay. The regular sound 
steamers at that time making landings at Anacortes 
were the Idaho, Hassalo and Sehome, of the Union 
Pacific system ; the State of Washington, Fairhaven 
and Skagit Chief, of the Pacific Navigation Com- 
pany, and the Washington and Eliza Anderson, of 
the Puget sound and Alaska route. 

With the rapid growth of Anacortes came the 
important question of municipal incorporation. The 
first steps in this direction were taken February 8, 
1890, when a mass meeting was held to consider 
the advisability of incorporating. J. L. Romer was 
elected president and J- B- Fithian secretary of the 
meeting. A unanimous resolution was adopted in 
favor of immediate incorporation. In November 
a petition was prepared by E. G. Caldwell and W. 
E. Jones, which was signed by a large number of 
residents and presented to the county commissioners. 
The corporate limits as proposed in this petition 
included all that part of Fidalgo island north of the 
southern line of section 27, township 35 north, 
range 1 east, extending from Burrow's bay east to 
Padilla bay. The commissioners accepted this 
petition and the first city election was held January 
28, 1891. The total vote cast was 555 and resulted 
in the election of the following officers : Mayor, 
George F. Kyle ; councilmen, W. W. Bailey, Ben- 
jamin Goodwin, Thomas A. Long, Cicero C. Park- 
man, Rienzi E. Whitney and F. V. Hogan ; treas- 
urer, Austin Lathrop ; assessor, Henry C. Howard ; 
health officer, Dr. R. Armstrong. There were 353 
votes in favor of incorporation and 39 against. 

.\nacortes did not become a citv, however, with- 
out some difficulty. In February an injunction 
against incorporation was filed by Elijah Smith, the 
chief grounds being lack of legal procedure. This 
injunction was granted by Judge Hanford, and con- 



sequently entirely new proceedings were necessary. 
They resulted in final success. 

May 21st another election was held. The results 
of this election were as follows : Mayor, F. V. 
Hogan; councilmen, W. W. Bailey, R. E. Whit- 
ney, A. P. Sharpstein, John Semar, T. H. Ander- 
son, W. H. Johnson ; treasurer, John Piatt ; assessor, 
W. G. Beard; health officer, J. M. Mettler; city 
clerk, Paul W. Law ; attorney, Wiley E. Jones ; 
marshal, Richard Trafton ; chief of police, W. V. 
Wells ; engineer, J. C. Otis ; street commissioner, 
John McCracken. Another injunction was averted 
only by all the candidates for councilmen signing 
an agreement not to tax that portion of the city 
west of sections 23 and 26 for five years. A grand, 
though rather impromptu display and celebration 
was held on May 2Sth in commemoration of the 
successful incorporation of the city. Several of 
the newly elected officers inaugurated their term 
in a brilliant manner by making speeches. 

A very important organization established about 
this time was the chamber of commerce, the first 
meeting of which was held on June 11, 1890. 
The capital stock of the organization was twenty- 
five thousand dollars. The men who signed them- 
selves as incorporators and trustees at this meet- 
ing were R. E. Whitney, E. H. Morrison, H. M. 
Benedict, J. M. Piatt, A. Bowman and A. Taylor. 
Captain F. V. Hogan and J. L. Romer added their 
names a few days later. The officers elected were : 
President, F. V. Hogan ; vice-president, R. E. 
Whitney ; secretary, B. Goodwin ; treasurer, John 
M. Piatt. 

The school facilities of .\nacortes were at first 
naturally somewhat limited. The first school build- 
ing was erected in the summer of 1883, the money 
being raised by a special tax. This school became 
known as the Nelson school, and is still in use. 
On March 10, 1890, as the number of children had 
become vastly increased, a school was organized 
under Mrs. S. F. Griffith. The finest school build- 
ing in the city is the high school building, known 
as the Columbian school, which was built in 1891 
at a cost of something over sixty thousand dollars. 
It is a fine three-story building with a basement, 
dimensions one hundred and five by one hundred 
and twentv-six feet. The school board consisted of 
Noah Nelson, H. C. Hutton and C. R. Donnell, 
with W. J. Hagadorn clerk. More recently a third 
school-house has been added, known as the Robert- 
son school, erected four years ago. There are 
four teachers in the high school at the present time, 
Fred D. Cartwright being the superintendent, seven 
in the Columbian school, two in the Nelson school 
and one in the Robertson school. 

There were two newspapers in operation during 
the boom times, the Progress and the American, the 
latter of which is still a potent factor in the life 
of the community. The former was a daily owned 
by Amos Bowman and was the successor of his 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



former paper, the Northwest Enterprise. The 
Progress was established in 1890, and the American 
also appeared that year, its first issue coming out 
on May 15th. The proprietors were Douglass 
Allmond and Fred H. Boynton. 

The two banks of Anacortes did a rushing busi- 
ness during 1891 and 1893. The first one was the 
private bank of John M. Piatt, the pioneer banker of 
the city. On the 7th of September, 1801, this bank 
was organized as a state bank, with a capital of 
fifty thousand dollars, under the name of Bank of 
Anacortes. J. M. Piatt was appointed president 
and manager; F. A. Hill, vice-president, and H. 
L. Merritt, cashier. The First National bank of 
Anacortes was organized in November, 1890, with 
a paid up capital of fifty thousand dollars. The 
officers were : President, Fred Ward ; cashier, H. 

E. Perrin; assistant cashier, V. J. Knapp. The 
directors were Fred Ward, Henry J. White, Geo. 

F. Kyle, E. L. Shannon and H. E' Perrin. During 
the liard times of 189;? and following lx)th these 
banks failed, the Bank of Anacortes first, with 
practically a total loss. 

The great boom broke almost as suddenly as it 
had begun. Times were very quiet in the latter part 
of 1891, and the following year the town was sus- 
tained chiefly by a fight for the county seat. This 
fight has been described at greater length else- 
where. In 1893 the hard times struck Anacortes 
with full force and many were the ruined fortunes 
and hopeless failures scattered along the shores of 
Fidalgo bay. Business was completely paralyzed 
and the spark of life left in Anacortes was feeble 
indeed. However, a spark did remain, which was 
fanned by a few devoted souls who had confidence 
in the future of the place. Its excellent harbor 
and manufacturing facilities were such that a re- 
vival of a more substantial nature was almost 
certain. 

In the late nineties a number of fish canneries 
were established at Anacortes, the Fidalgo. Bell 
Irving owner and Frank Lord manager, being the 
pioneer institution. These were followed a little 
later by saw-mills and shingle mills. These enter- 
prises stimulated others and gradually Anacortes 
again entered upon the road to substantial pros- 
perity. In 1900 the population was given as one 
thousand four hundred and seventy-six. At the 
present time it is about four thousand. A great 
part of the recovery and recent developments are 
due to the energetic and faithful work of the Com- 
mercial club, whose present officers are: President, 
W. T. Odlin ; secretary, C. W. Brandon ; assistant 
secretary, Lee E. Dodge ; treasurer, R. J. Petersen ; 
executive committee, R. Lee Bradley, H. H. Soule, 
Charles Templer. The city's two codfish plants 
are yearly curing and shipping one-half the Bering 
sea codfish used in the United States. Anacortes 
has nine large fisheries, six salmon canneries, two 



codfish plants and one cold storage plant. The 
salmon canneries consist of the Alaska Packers 
Association, with a capacity of 100,000 cases yearly ; 
the Fidalgo Island Packing Company, the pioneer 
in this line, with a capacity of 100,000 cases yearly ; 
the Northern Fisheries Company with a capacity 
of 100,000 cases yearly ; the Apex Canning Company 
with a capacity "of 35,000 cases yearly ; the White 
Crest Canning Company with a capacity of 30,000 
cases yearly, and the Porter Fish Company with a 
capacity of 75,000 cases yearly. The Pacific Cold 
Storage is of large capacity and ships every \ear 
many thousands of pounds of fresh salmon which 
are put in mild cure and prepared for the German 
market. There are seven shingle mills which cut 
1,300,000 shingles daily; three large box factories 
and three saw-mills, one with a capacity of 175,000 
feet daily, another with a capacity of 100,000 feet 
daily and a third with a capacity of 50,000 feet 
daily. Two of the box factories are among the 
largest on the coast and the third is of average 
size. The city has one planing mill of modern 
capacity, also a fine creamery, a fruit cannery and 
cider vinegar factory. 

Anacortes has two banks, the Citizens' bank, 
established in 1899 by W. T. Odlin & Company, the 
present managers and owners, and the Bank of 
Commerce, established in June, 1904, by Messrs. 
E. S. Martin and W. G. Smith, with a capital of 
twenty-five thousand dollars. The oflficers of this 
bank are: President, J. H. Mason; vice-president, 
John Ball; cashier, E. S. Martin; assistant cashier, 
W. F. Coulson. 

Two wharves, that of the Pacific Coast Steam- 
ship Company, the pioneer and largest one, and that 
erected in recent years by Melville Curtis, one of 
the city's prominent pioneer business men, handle 
the buik of the shipping. Thousands of sacks of 
oats from the flats, scores of cargoes of fish, boxes, 
coal and general merchandise pass over these docks 
annually, the business increasing by leaps and 
bounds in recent years. 

Of the present efficiently organized city govern- 
ment. W. T. Odlin is the head, serving his second 
term as mayor. The city owns an excellent city 
hall, constructed of brick and two stories high, 
which also houses a fire equipment. 

There are five churches in Anacortes, the Pil- 
grim Congregational, Rev. Horace J. Taylor, 
pastor; Westminster Presbyterian, Rev. W. A. 
Stevenson, Ph. D., pastor; Christ Church, Episco- 
palian, Rev. R. H. Barnes ; St. Mary's, Catholic, 
Rev. Father Le Roux; First Methodist Episcopal. 
Rev. W. S. Hanlein. There is also a Christian 
Science society. The first of these to be established 
was the Pilgrim Congregational church, which was 
incorporated in November, 1887, by M. Louise 
Taylor, Horace J. Taylor, Jemima Hagadorn. 
George Hagadorn and Carrie M. White. The West- 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



minster Presbyterian church society built a church 
building in 1891. Amos Bowman donated two lots 
for this purpose fronting on Fifth and Sixth streets. 
The Methodist church was also built about the same 
time. 

The various fraternal lodges are well repre- 
sented at Anacortes. The first to come into existence 
was that of the Good Templars, who were organized 
on April 13, 1890, by Grand Chief Templar Bushell. 
On January 23, 189i, the Masonic lodge was organ- 
ized and Island Lodge No. 74, Knights of Pythias, 
was instituted jNIay 15th, of the same year. 

The full list of lodges in active operation at 
Anacortes at the present time, is as follows : I. O. 

0. F., Anacortes Lodge, No. 94; Rebekah Lodge, 
Mt. Erie, No. 85; W.^O. W., Tyee camp, No. 453, 
A. O. U. W., Anacortes Lodge, No. 78 ; F. O. E., 
Anacortes aerie. No. 249 ; K. of P., Island Lodge, 
No. 74; F. and A. M., Fidalgo Lodge, No. 77; 

1. O. F., Anacortes Lodge, No. 1173; D. of H., 
Anacortes Lodge, No. 19; K. O. T. M., Fidalgo 
Tent, No. 96; L. O. T. M., Anacortes Lodge, No. 
29 ; W. C. T. U. ; M. W. A., Anacortes Lodge, No. 
9635; G. A. R., General Emorv post. No. (37; W. 
R. C, Martha Washington Circle, No. 6 ; I. L. M. 
and T. A., Local, No. 522 ; A. O. of F., Court Ana- 
cortes, No. 9000; I. O. G. T., Anacortes Lodge, 
No. 5. 

Anacortes is supplied with a water system, which 
was inaugurated by the Oregon Improvement Com- 
pany in 1891. In 1901 the people being dissatisfied 
with their water supply, met and subscribed fifteen 
thousand dollars for the purpose of purchasing the 
water works and vesting the control of it in a 
citizens' committee. Lender the operation of this 
committee, it was in the following year brought 
under the control of the present company, of which 
the officers are Douglass Allmond, president; P. E. 
Nelson, vice-president, E. P. Barker, secretary, and 
Gus Hensler, treasurer. The same company con- 
trols the electric light system. 

Anacortes has an active and efficient volunteer 
fire service, the organization of which dates back 
to 1890. For a city that has had the remarkable 
ups and downs of Anacortes, there is little to record 
in the way of disaster of fire and flood. The most 
notable of the fires occurred in 1891 and 1902. The 
first of these, on December 25th of 1891, resulted in 
the destruction of Bowman's hotel and the Bayside 
building. That of 1902 was on August 11th and 
resulted in the destruction of an entire block of 
business houses on the west side of Commercial 
avenue between Second and Third streets. Nothing 
but the horoic work of the volunteer firemen saved 
the entire business part of the city from destruction. 
Fortunately the buildings destroyed, with their con- 
tents, were quite fully covered by insurance, so the 
local loss was relatively small, being only about six 
thousand dollars. 



SEDRO-WOOLLEY 

In no town in Skagit county is there a more 
pleasing appearance of thrift than in Sedro-Woolley, 
a town of clean, gravelly streets, pleasant, home-like 
and handsome residences, a progressive populace, 
energetic business men, magnificent scenic environs 
and much tributary wealth. The visitor who now 
surveys the town and surroundings and looks upon 
the distant scene can hardly realize that had he 
visited the place a few years earlier his view would 
have been cut off by the stately conifers only a few 
rods distant from the center of the town (a forest 
primeval except for the logging roads radiating 
from the village) and that stumps everywhere would 
have told of a time, not far in the past, when the 
small town site itself was a forest — the home of the 
deer, the bear and the cougar ; at times, perhaps, 
the scene for a night of the nomadic Indian's camp. 
No boomer's art has wrought the change. It has 
come speedily, to be sure, but in response to the 
demands of progressive industry, a result of acquis- 
itiveness seeking its legitimate satisfaction, the out- 
growth of natural wealth, appropriated in a natural 
way. 

Though the Sedro-Woolley of to-day is a town 
of comparatively recent growth, it is after all not 
far from three decades since the first settlement was 
made upon its site and about two since the insti- 
tution of its first place of business. In August, 
1878, David Batey and Joseph Hart began hewing 
out homes in that part of the Skagit valley jungle ; 
a month later these pioneers of civilization were 
joined by William Dunlop, and before the close of 
the year William Woods had added himself to the 
community's population. A little later came Mr. 
Batey's family. Mr. Batey's wife. Dr. Georgiana 
Batey, has the distinction of being the pioneer phy- 
sician in the region and one of the first in the 
county. The existence of these few home-builders 
was at first very precarious, and the clash with the 
opposing interests of the lumbermen was constant. 

The pioneer town builder did not arrive until 
1884. This was Mortimer Cook, a somewhat eccen- 
tric man, but possessed of no little ability to win 
success in the commercial and industrial world. In 
1885 he opened a general store in the first build- 
ing erected in what later became known as Sedro. 
of which structure David Batey has the distinction 
of having been the builder. It faced on what was 
afterward known as Water street, x^t the same 
time Cook purchased forty acres of land upon which 
the town was later platted, buying it from W. Scott 
Jameson, the Port Gamble mill owner, who had 
"scripped" it some time before. Mr. Cook's great 
ambition was to bestow upon the new town a name 
such as no other town in America should have, and 
if such could be found he cared little whether or 
not it was euphonious or elegant. He eventually 
concluded to name the place "Bug," and even went 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



so far as to direct that goods shipped from Seattle 
be consigned to that address. Mr. Batey painted 
the name on a sign which was then hung on the end 
of the building at the boat landing. One settler 
wished the town named "Charlotte," it is said, and 
went so far as to have a sign with that name painted 
in Seattle. About this time some one suggested 
that the syllable "hum" would probably be affixed 
by outsiders in jest; furthermore, Mrs. Cook and 
other ladies interested strenuously objected to the 
undignified name, and the founder of the town was 
prevailed upon to accept the name Sedro, a corrup- 
tion of the Spanish word for cedar. Mrs. Batey 
is said to have discovered the name in an old Spanish 
dictionary she had and to have suggested it. Certain 
it is that the name is not only euphonious but very 
apt, as innumerable cedars of magnificent form grew 
originally on and around the site. Its peculiar 
spelling was adopted to satisfy Mr. Cook's insistent 
desire for uniqueness. 

On January 1, 1886, a postofifice was established 
at Sedro with Mr. Cook as postmaster, and in the 
fall of the same year he built a large shingle mill 
on the bank of the river : the first in the county and, 
it is claimed, the first on the sound to ship shingles 
East. The mill was a ten-block with one hand 
machine and would have produced, if operated ac- 
cording to present methods, not far from two hun- 
dred thousand shingles daily, but owing to the inex- 
perience of the crew not more than eighty thousand 
were cut. A wharf was built on the river about 
simultaneously with the mill. The next business 
house to be established at Sedro was the store of 
Smith Brothers on Jameson avenue, at that time, 
1889, a mere clearing in the timber. The same 
spring the Sedro Drug Company, of which A. E. 
Holland was manager, put up a drug store. Thus 
was inception given to the town. 

The years 1889-90 were lively ones at wSedro. 
the effects of the general boom being felt there as 
well as elsewhere on Puget sound. Three rad- 
roads were in process of construction, the Fairhaven 
& Southern, upon which trains were running into 
Sedro by Christmas, 1889 ; the Seattle, Lake Shore 
& Eastern, now the Northern Pacific, and the Seattle 
& Northern, now a part of the Great Northern 
system. All of these roads crossed in the vicinity 
of Sedro. Naturally a great impetus to business 
enterprises of various kinds was imparted by this 
railroad activity. 

One of the first things to be done in an ambitious 
and progressive town is to plat plenty of land into 
streets, alleys and lots, and this was done at Sedro 
with a vengeance. The original town site company 
was anticipated in its designs by Norman R. Kellv, 
who owned the land adjoining Cook's town site on 
the north. The county archives show that Kelly 
filed, April 29, 1889. a plat of the town of Sedro, 
and the following January platted the first addition. 
The plat of old Sedro was filed for record October 



17, 18"89, by the Fairhaven Land Company, of which 
Nelson Bennett was the head. This company had 
made an arrangement by which it should take Cook's 
forty acres, eighty acres from William Woods and 
a like amount of William Dunlop's liomestead. plat 
the whole into town lots, exploit the town, divide 
the proceeds of its sales with the in-iLiinal land 
owners, and at the end of eighteen months divide 
the property remaining unsold. Notwithstanding 
the fact that Kelly's plat was the first filed, his part 
of the town was usually referred to as "Kelly's 
plat of the town of Sedro," or sometimes as Kelly- 
ville, while the Fairhaven company's portion was 
for a time at least considered the town proper. 
There were, of course, a number of additions to 
the town as originally platted. 

A large number of business enterprises were 
started at this time, especially during the summer of 
1889, including many saloons and dance halls. 
Before the completion of the railroads most of the 
lumber for building purposes was brought down the 
river from Lyman and Birdsview. The Sedro Press, 
in its first issue, that of April 18, 1890, gives, 
through its advertising columns, an incomplete sum- 
mary of the business establishments of the town, 
which is of permanent interest. In the general 
merchandise business were mentioned Mortimer 
Cook and the Sedro Mercantile Company, of which 
latter K. S. and O. S. Paulson were proprietors. 
The real estate business was represented by Hugh 
Harrod, F. S. Crosby & Company, Thomas Smith, 
Fairhaven Land Company, managed by Joseph M. 
Blain ; Devin & Mosier, and A. E. Holland. The 
Sedro dray line was under the proprietorship of 
Martin Gillespie. Thomas Smith was the only 
lawyer mentioned. There was no dearth of hotels, 
however. The Sedro. first of all in time, built in 
February. 1890, and managed by McDonald & Rees : 
the Seattle, b>' Sigmund Clein ; the Delmonico, by 
Mrs. Martha La}'den. and the Bank Fxcliange hotel, 
by Mrs. Mary E. Frederichs. were all bidding for 
business, and moreover the Fairha\eii Land Com- 
pany was at that time building a new liotel. The 
dressed meat business was represented b\- Robert 
Grossman. There were two painting establishments. 
A. W. Rounds and J. C. Haynes proprietors respec- 
tively ; the hardware business was represented bv 
Waltz & Bell, while Woods & Company kept a 
furniture store. There were four restaurants listed, 

managed respectively by Smith & Barr, Carr, 

Wallace Andrews and j- A. Vernon ; also the lodg- 
ing house of Henry Waterman. A. G. Mosier and 
H. S. Devin, in addition to their real estate busi- 
ness, conducted an engineering and surveying busi- 
ness. P. H. Smith & Brothers had opened their 
store and were also engaged in railroad contracting. 
Flagg & Tozer advertised as druggists. A Sedro 
ferry company, organized by Joseph M. Blain and 
A. E. Holland, is mentioned as having done good 
service by bringing the lake country into closer 





,^ 


-. ■ V ^ " -Ai v,fe,i---i' r-li 


-S'i.r -■ i.1 ipJMiH ra*!* iSJP^ 


V "''^f^^M^MMimd^^M^ ■■ 


^SRiilK 


lianMHg^Sa^ 


^^^i^^^^"^^^^^^ J 



)K()-\VO()LLEY, WASHINGTON 




INDUSTRIAL FORCES INVADE THE PRIMEVAL FORESTS 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



connection with the town. The First Bank of Sedro. 
Edwin C. Foltz, manager, and W. J. Thompson, of 
Tacoma, president, was also doing business in April, 
1890. In 1890, also, David Batey and Joseph Hart 
organized the Sedro Saw and Planing Mill Com- 
pany and erected an extensive plant near the town. 
Later a shingle department was added. Unfor- 
tunately this important enterprise was destroyed by 
fire a few years later. 

It will give the reader a clearer apprehension of 
the topography of this town to know that the old 
town of Sedro was located upon the river and that 
the old Fairhaven & Southern railroad, now aban- 
doned, passed directly to and through it, Sedro 
being the terminus. In 1890 the Fairhaven & 
Southern built a depot in Sedro between McDonald 
and Cook avenues, a structure twenty-four by sixty 
feet, saiil to have been a better depot building than 
those at that time in Seattle and Tacoma, tliough if the 
truth be frankl}- admitted that was saying very little. 
After having existed about a year and a half in all the 
glory of a booming town and after attaining a popu- 
lation of about five hundred people, the old town 
relapsed into a condition which has been designated 
by an eminent statesman as one of "innocuous 
desuetude.'" This collapse seems to have been the 
result of the establishment of Kelly's town, lying 
northwesterly from the old town. The town of 
Woolley made its start at a point still further north- 
west. The Fairhaven & Southern railroad almost 
exactly bisected all three of these town sites, while 
the Seattle & Northern and the Seattle, Lake Shore 
& Eastern crossed each other, and also the Fairhaven 
& Southern, exactl\- in the center of Woolley. 

.A. prominent factor in the development of Sedro 
and the adjoining community at that era was the 
Sedro Land & Improvement Company, incorporated 
in the summer of 1890, its chief members being 
W. S. Jameson, E. O. Graves, W. E. Bailey, (korge 
H. Heilbron, Abraham Barker, J. B. Alexander, 
John Craig and C. B. Wood. It had during the 
summer of 1890 a hundred men engaged in clearing 
and grading the streets. This corporation attested 
their confidence in the community by shortly after- 
ward erecting three immense modern blocks in 
Kelly's town, which would rival the buildings of 
the present. The Hotel Sedro, costing probably six 
thousand dollars, occupied one corner, while 
opposite it stood the Pioneer block, providing 
quarters for the company, the bank, a drug store 
and the printing office, besides private offices. A 
little south on the same street the company built 
the Washington block, the home of Paulson 
Brothers' store, the postoffice and other business 
enterprises. The Pioneer was the largest of the 
buildings. They were all destroyed by fire during 
the middle nineties, their loss being niourned as a 
great disaster. 

The first regular election in Sedro occurred on 
the -Ith of March, 1891, and resulted in the election 



of the following city officers: Mayor, George W. 
Hopp; councilmen, A. E. Holland, George Bros- 
seau, A. G. Mosier, Gus Pidde, A. A. Tozer ; treas- 
urer, Edwin C. Foltz. The vote for incorporation 
was seventy-two ; against, three. 

An item of general interest in connection with 
Sedro is the fact that a vigorous effort was made to 
enter the town as a candidate in the county-seat 
contest of 1892. J. B. Alexander, Thomas Smith, 
H. L. Devine, W. A. Woolley and A. B. Ernst con- 
stituted the committee in charge of the campaign, 
and it is stated that over thirty thousand dollars 
were raised to meet campaign expenses. When 
the election took place it was found that Sedro had 
polled over six hundred votes, taking third place, 
and being but little behind Anacortes and Mount 
Vernon. 

In connection with this period in the history of 
Sedro it is also interesting to note the establishment 
of St. Elizabeth's hospital, the first institution of its 
kind in the county. Upon the decline of the old 
town, the Hotel Sedro was transformed into, the 
institution above named and, considering the time, 
was a remarkably well-equipped one, well managed. 
Dr. M. B. Mattice was placed in charge with Dun- 
can Ferguson as nurse and Mrs. Huntley as matron. 
This hospital is still in existence anrl in a thriving 
condition. 

But while all these developments were in 
progress in Sedro, a rival for the trade of the sur- 
rounding country had been springing up, one des- 
tined to handicap for a time the development of the 
pioneer town, but later to join with it in the out- 
working of a nobler destiny than either could hope 
to have achieved alone. This was Woolley. Prob- 
ably the first public mention of it was a reference 
in the Skagit County Logger of April 24, 1890, in 
which the paper stated that a new town was start- 
ing at the junction of the railroads, which would, 
presumably, be named Hilltown. However, its 
founder, Philip A. Woolley, says that his plans had 
been shaping themselves for months before that. 

In September, 1889, shortly after coming to the 
sound, Mr. Woolley purchased from Ole Bozarth 
and George Nelson a timber claim which they in 
turn had purchased from Chris Olson, the tract 
consisting of forty-four acres. Of a man named 
Moore, he purchased forty more, all of which he 
platted June 3, 1890, as the town site of Woolley. 
There was no haphazard about this enterprise, for 
Mr. Woolley had become aware of the lines which 
the railroads would follow through the vallev. In 
the fall of 1889, on the unplatted tract, he had 
already commenced the construction of a combina- 
tion saw and shingle mill with a capacity of forty 
thousand feet of lumber and two hundred thou- 
sand shingles a day, the first work being the cutting 
of ties for the Great Northern. The Fourth of July, 
1890, witnessed a celebration at the mill yards which 
might be considererl as the christening ceremony of 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



the new town. On that day, in the presence of prob- 
ably forty people, a fir flag pole one hundred and 
four feet in height was raised, from the top of which 
a new flag, presented by Mr. WooUey, soon floated. 
At Sedro, that same day, the Fourth was celebrated 
by the trimming of a cedar tree to a height of two 
hundred and twenty-six feet as a flag pole. That 
accomplished, Old Glory, forty by sixteen feet in 
size, manufactured by the ladies of the community, 
was flung to the breeze amid the acclamations of 
the patriotic spectators. 

Woolley postoffice was established about August 
1, 1890, the mails at first being carried up from 
Sedro on the backs of Mr. Woolley's sons. The 
first street to take any regular shape was Northern 
avenue, opposite the proposed site of the union 
depot, but Metcalfe street, leading to Sedro, later 
became, as it is at the present time, the leading 
thoroughfare of the town. Next after Mr. Wool- 
ley's various buildings, the first business structure 
was one of the omnipresent saloons, this one being 
erected by J. W. Peake in May, 1890. Soon after 
Douglass & Ormsby erected a drug store, and 
Doherty's meat market was opened. The first hotel 
in Woolley was known as the Keystone, built and 
managed by a man named Carr, and in 1891, Mr. 
Waldron, of Fairhaven, built the Osterman house, 
which received its name from the lessee who ran it 
for several years. In addition to Woolley's mill at 
Woolley, and Batey & Hart's mill on Batey slough, 
Davison & Millett, in 1890, opened a third near by 
the others. 

The first city election in Woolley took place in 
1891, upon its incorporation, and resulted in the 
election of the following officials: Mayor, William 
Murdock ; treasurer, William Doherty ; councilmen, 
Norris Ormsby, David Moore, George Gregory, 

Goosie ; clerk, Philip Woolley. This was a 

temporary election, however, and was followed in 
December by the regular one. which resulted as 
follows: Mayor. Philip A. Woolley; clerk. Rev. 

Rouse; treasurer, William Doherty; council- 
men, Philip Woolley, William Cook, Norris Ormsby, 

Robertson. 

One active agency in the concentration of busi- 
ness in the vicinity of Woolley. after the decline of 
the old town of Sedro, was the development on a 
large scale of the Bennett coal mines, six miles 
northeast, now known as the Cokedale property, 
which, together with the three saw-mills near the 
town and two additional ones a few miles away, 
created such a demand for labor that by the summer 
of 1891 there were probably not less than two thou- 
sand men engaged in work in the community. At 
the same time the establishment of trains on the 
three railroads centering there brought Woolley 
especially into very close connection with the out- 
side world, really a remarkable asset of such a young 
town. That social progress was being made rapidly 
is evidenced by the organization. Mav 24, 1891, 



of Mount Baker Lodge, No. 73, Knights of Pythias, 
at Woolley, with forty-eight charter members. As 
officers there were elected: J. Y. Terry, past chan- 
cellor; W. T. Lucas, C. C. ; A. F. Means, V. C. ; 
H. E. Dennis, prelate ; W. T. Odlin, M. at A. ; P. 
L. Woolley, M. of F. ; D. E. Moore, M. of E. ; A. B. 
Ernst, K. of R. and S. ; G. T. Gregory, O. G. ; 
Andrew Wilson, I. G. 

Woolley was visited by several disastrous fires 
in the early part of its career, one of the first being 
May 26, 1891, and resulting in the total destruction 
of the Hotel Alexandria, at a loss of about $3,500, 
the insurance being $1,400. April 26, 1893, occurred 
a far more serious fire in which nearly the whole 
of the business part of the town was consumed, 
entailing a loss of nearly $20,000, only partly cov- 
ered by insurance. The fire started in some 
mysterious manner in the saloon of Joseph Mat- 
thews. The heaviest losers were Austin & Ruel, 
hotel building and contents, loss $5,000. insurance 
$1,300; Davison & Millett, loss $4,000, being the 
buildings occupied by J. W. Peake, Central meat 
market. Chamberlain Brothers and William 
Doherty, insurance, $2,800 ; F. A. Douglass, drug 
store and stock, loss $3,500, insurance $1,000 ; Ford 
& Hosch, saloon, $2,.500, insurance $1,500; J. C. 
Ames, barber shop, loss $250 ; Ben Willard, res- 
taurant, $250, and many others, who suffered in a 
less degree. 

These losses, combined with the general depres- 
sion which hung like a heavy nimbus cloud over the 
entire industrial world from 1893 to the close of 
1896, effectually checked the rapid growth of both 
Sedro and Woolley. The rivalry between the two 
towns, which had existed from the inception of the 
latter, continued almost unabated during the years 
of industrial standstill, but as time went on it 
became apparent to the discerning that the best 
interests of both would be better conserved by 
mutual co-operation and a less active indulgence in 
the ignoble passion of jealousy. The folly of main- 
taining two municipal governments with two sets 
of officers must have impressed the citizens of both ; 
furthermore, it is said that a "Twin City Business 
league" was at work in the interests of the union 
and harmony. Toward the close of the nineties, 
after the financial clouds had moved away and the 
rays of the sun of prosperity were again lighting 
and warming towns and country, a definite move- 
ment was inaugurated for a formal joining of hands. 
One matter upon which it was hard to agree was 
that of a name for the new town. "What's in a 
name?" asks Shakespeare. "A rose by any other 
name would smell as sweet," but a change of name 
means loss of identity — oblivion — and it is a trait 
of human nature to war against that. The represen- 
tatives of either place were unwilling that their 
home town, for which they had struggled and 
planned should be nominally wiped off' the map. 
Several votes were taken to decide whether the name 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



should be Sedro, Woolley, Denver or something else, 
but those who were defeated in the elections refused 
to abide by the result. It was eventually agreed 
that the name should be a union of the two old 
names, as the town should be a union of the two 
old towns, and the postal authorities, though ex- 
ceedingly loath to permit the postoffice to bear a 
long, hyphenated name, finally acquisced in the 
interest of harmony. 

December G, 1898, a petition asking that steps 
be taken toward union was presented to the county 
commissioners and pronounced legal and acceptable. 
An election was then held to decide the matter, 
which resulted in favor of the union and incorpor- 
ation, so the two towns were duly incorporated by 
the commissioners December 19, 1898, under the 
name of Sedro-Woolley. The amount of land em- 
braced in the limits of the new town was 580.5 
acres. The first officers elected to serve were: 
Mayor, Xorris Ormsby ; treasurer, William Doherty; 
councilmen, D. M. Donnelly, Henry Hosch, Charles 
MUeneuve, M. B. Mattice and F. A. Douglass. 

Since the union the progress of Sedro-Woolley 
has been more than satisfactory, even beyond the 
hopes of its citizens. During 1901 new buildings 
were put up to the value of $70,000, while improve- 
ments to buildings amounted to $32,450. For the 
year ending March 1, 1903, $65,000 were spent in 
building improvements, exclusive of the cost of 
sidewalks, fences, etc. One of the most important 
improvements was an excellent water system, which 
was begun in 1902, and recently completed at a 
cost of about $25,000. The system includes eight 
miles of mains and has a capacity of not less than 
350,000 gallons per day, which is several times more 
than is needed at present. The water is secured 
from the mountains lying on the opposite side of the 
Skagit, being piped across that broad river. An 
electric-light plant was also constructed at a cost 
i)f about $25,000, and twelve arc lights placed on 
the streets as a commencement. One of the most 
important industries established at this time was the 
iron works, which cost $10,000, and upon which 
$10,000 more have since been expended. Other 
recent industries worthy of special mention are the 
cement works of Smith & Munro and a brick- 
making plant, with a capacity of 35,000 bricks a day. 

In accordance with American ideals, the school 
made its appearance in the towns of Sedro and 
Woolley simultaneously with the appearance of set- 
tlers. The pioneer school of Sedro was held in 
1889, upon the segregation of the district, in the 
old home of William Woods, near the residence of 
Charles LeBallister, and was taught by William 
Bell. Mr. Bell's wife was formerly Edith Peck. 
A peculiar feature of this pioneer school-house was 
the use of both the lower and upper floors, when the 
sudden influx of population came, under one teacher, 
whose desk was placed on a platform arranged so 
that he could look after both floors at the same time. 



Mrs. P. A. Woolley is entitled to the distinction of 
having taught the first school in Woolley, it occupy- 
ing the rear end of the commissary house belonging 
to the mill. This was in the summer of 1890. She 
had twenty-two pujMls at one time, some of whom 
walked a distance of two miles through the heavy 
timber to enjoy the privileges offered. There was as 
yet no district incorporated and Mrs. Woolley 
generously contributed her services for the public 
good. A new term was opened in November, 1890, 
George Raymond being the teacher. The upper 
story of the cook house was used as the school 
room this time, and Mr. Woolley himself bore a large 
share of the expense of maintaining the school. In 
the spring of 1891 the district was formally organ- 
ized, the first board of directors being David Moore, 
George Gregory and Frank Douglass. Mr. Woolley 
erected a building for day school, Sunda_\-school 
and church purposes, but it was superseded soon 
as a school-house, although used for seven years 
for Sunday-school purposes, during all of which 
period Mrs. Woolley served as superintendent. 

The present school system of the city is an 
excellent one, the teachers being among the best in 
the county. There are two buildings in the con- 
solidated district, vtalued with their contents at 
twenty-eight thousand three hundred dollars, and 
during the last school year there was an average 
enrollment of 497 pupils, of whom 228 were boys 
and 269 girls. The teachers were: Ira Gerdon, 
principal ; Mary Parcell, Edith Monoir, Sadie Hub- 
bell, Queenie Stair, Margaret Campion, Elsie Pct- 
turam, Clara Burkee, M. J. Hyde, Violet Bourgett, 
Leota Meredith ; and in the kindergarten, Alice 
Harrison. The high-school building is a handsome 
structure, situated nearly in the center of the city. 

The city has four churches, the Presbyterian, 
of which Rev. George H. Haystead is pastor ; 
Methodist, Rev. J. H. Carter, pastor; Baptist, with 
a non-resident pastor, and Catholic, Rev. Vr. 
George S. Vangoethen. Of these, among the first 
to be organized was the Presbyterian, the first 
services being held in 1889 in an old tent shack at 
old Sedro by Rev. George Raymond. The charter 
members were Mrs. George A. Brosseau, Mrs. 
Mortimer Cook, Dr. and Mrs. Gill and Mrs. Gillis, 
the first named of whom still resides at Sedro- 
Woolley. The First Presbyterian church was built 
near the hospital in 1892. There was another society 
of the same denomination in Woolley which held 
services at first in the rear end of P. A. Woolley's 
store. It was known as the House of Hope society 
and its charter members were: Mr. and Mrs. P. A. 
Woolley. Mr. and Mrs. Culp, Mr. and Mrs. Hegg, 
Miss Ivate Woolley and W. A. Woolley. When the 
combination school and church building was erected 
by Mr. Woolley, services were held in it. In 1897 
these two societies merged and the old First church 
was removed to its present location and remodeled, 
the structure and furnishings now being worth at 



226 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



least four thousand dollars. The Baptists were 
organized in 1891 with twelve or fifteen members by 
Rev. E. G. Wheeler, the travcliriQ- evangelist, and 
services were held for a Inni; tiiiu- in an old store, 
bought for the purpose. The tirsl resident pastor 

was Rev. Rouse. The Catholic church is of 

more recent date, being established only about three 
years ago. 

However, the pioneer church society of the com- 
munity is the Methodist,, organized in 1884 by Rev. 
W. B. McMillan at the home of David Batey. There 
were sixteen charter members. Immediately the 
Bateys gave the use of their old home for church 
purposes and for the Sunday-school, and that was 
used until 1886. The first service held in Sedro 
was held in that year at the home of Mortimer 

Cook by Rev. Dobbs of Whatcom. After being 

held successively at the VanFleet school-house and 
in the old Sedro hotel, services were at last trans- 
ferred to the societ)'s own building, erected in 
1892 in the First Addition to Sedro, where it still 
remains. The building is the best of its kind in the 
city, valued at approximately five thousand dollars. 

There are two excellent newspapers in Sedro- 
Woolley, the Skagit County Times and the Skagit 
County Courier, the former published and edited 
by W. H. Pilcher, the latter owned by Foster & 
Totten, U. E. Foster being the editor. Both are 
well-equipped offices. The Courier has recently 
installed a txpesetting machine. 

The present city officers are : Mayor, C. E. Bing- 
ham : councilmen, M. B. Mattice, C. C. \''illeneuve, 
George Ratchford, W. W. Caskey, David Donnelly, 
F. R. Fowler, J. B. Holbrook ; clerk, H. Hammer ; 
city attorney, I. H. Seabury ; treasurer, Q. P. Reno ; 
day marshal, J. C. Munro ; night watchman, Jasper 
Holman ; street superintendent, H. H. Shrewsbury. 
The fire department is a good one, consisting of 
two companies, of which Jasper Holman is chief. 
It manifested great efficiency in the last serious fire 
which occurred on May 5, 1900, resulting in the 
burning of seven store buildings. It was only by 
the heroic efforts of the fire department that the 
bank building and several others were saved. The 
loss approximated seven thousand dollars, a portion 
of which was covered by insurance. 

The fraternal orders are well represented in 
Sedro-Woolley by the F. & A. M. and O. E. S. : 
K. of P. with a uniform rank; I. O. O. F. and 
encampment, D. of R. ; A. O. U. W., D. of H., 
M. W. A., R. N. A., Eagles, Ancient Order of For- 
esters, Order of Pendo. Besides these there are 
several clubs : The Commercial ; the Hoo-Hoo, as 
the lumberman's association is named ; the Shingle 
Weavers' union; W. T. Sherman Post No. 41. and 
the W. R. C, and the women's societies, P. E. O. 
and W. C. T. U. 

There are a number of large lumber and shingle 
mills in and near the city, among them being the 
Heininger's with a capacity of 150,000 shingles per 



day; Burns' Shingle Company's, 90,000 per day; 
Green Shingle Company's two mills, 300,000 ; 
Clark & Lennon's, 150,000'; D. J. Cain & Company's, 
80,000 ; J. M. Hoyt's, 80,000 ;' Sterling Mill Co'm- 
pany's, 150,000; Sedro Shingle Company's, 100,000; 
Grand Rapids Shingle Company's, 150,000, and the 
Childs Lumber Company's. There are also a num- 
ber of logging camps in the vicinity of the town. 

The following is a list of the business men and 
establishments in the city at the present time : K. S. 
Paulson, general merchandise ; George Wicker, 
blacksmith; W. J. Thompson, livery; J. W. Kyle, 
groceries ; J. W. Nance, bicycles, guns, etc. ; J. W. 
Hayson, jeweler; Third street market, C. Mc- 
Donald, proprietor ; home bakery, Mrs. W. H. Wal- 
lace ; Charles Howe, manufacturing shoe dealer; 
Peoples' market, Paul Paluski, proprietor ; the 
Leader grocery, Earl Boynton, proprietor ; J. W. 
Peake, tailor; John Ross, confectionery and cigars; 
Skagit Furniture Company, Ennis & Taylor ; Cres- 
cent bottling works, James Clark ; Popular restau- 
rant, Fred Wack ; First National bank, August 
Peterson, president, Fred -Bentley, cashier, Henry 
Johnson, assistant cashier ; A, M. Devener, under- 
taker ; Stark & Huffman, tailors; Sedro-Woolley 
Harness Company, L. S. Livermore, manager; D. 
Dalton, confectionery and cigars ; Skagit Realty 
Company, H. L. Devin and C. J. Wicker; Grand 
Rapids Shingle Company, John Munro, president 
and manager ; P. Boynton & Son, general merchan- 
dise ; Ames & Davis, barbers ; Jacob Lederle, con- 
fectionery and cigars ; Joseph Lederle, shoemaker ; 
A. E. Holland, druggist ; C. E. Bingham & Com- 
pany, bankers, C. E. Bingham, president, O. P. 
Reno, cashier, William West, assistant cashier ; 
Fritsch Brothers, hardware and furniture ; Frye, 
Bruhn & Company, wholesale butchers ; C. M. Cole, 
bakery; R. K. Dunham, tailor and employment 
agency; Union Mercantile Company, general mer- 
chandise. Senator E. Hanmier, president, F. A. 
Hegg, W. W. Caskey, A. W. Davison and J. C. 
Roe ; Mott & Company, druggists, Paul Rhodius, 
manager; Caddington & McGowan, dry goods and 
clothing ; Frank Benecke, newsdealer ; Central 
barber shop, Sid. C. Hoover, proprietor; William 
Thomsen, cigar factory ; Charles Nye, confectionery 
and cigars ; Mrs. F. Herron, millinery ; P. C. Adams, 
gents' furnishings ; .\. D. Bauer, shoes and repair- 
ing ; Sedro-Woolley Tea Coni|)any. P. C. Philips, 
proprietor; M. Levy, gents' fnrnishings ; E. Reno, 
bicycles and sporting goods; ( )siennan hotel, Hugo 
Bauman, proprietor; J. W. Sadler, paints and wall 
paper; C, J. Cramer, jeweler; Harris Condy, 
jewelry ; Todd's meat market, William Todd, prop- 
rietor ; W. B. Pigg, confectionery and cigars ; Orian 
Hightower, confectionery and cigars; Morris 
Schneider, dry goods and clothing ; Howard & 
Reynolds, general merchandise ; F. A. Douglass, 
druggist; Pressentin Hardware Company, O. K. 
Pressentin, manager ; Sedro-Woolley Transfer 



CITIES AND TOWxNS 



Company, J. B. Holbrook and Xorris Ormsby ; 
Frank J. Hoehn, livery; Ratchford & McCabe, 
blacksmith ; Skagit Improvement Company, electric 
lights and water, William Morgan, president; 
Sedro-Woolley Iron Works, foundry and machine 
shop, F. R. Faller, president. Clay Gould, secretary ; 
Cory Shingle Company, Philip Cory, president; 
I-'orest House hotel, Mrs. J. Hubbell ; Pioneer lodg- 
ing house, Henry Hosch, proprietor; Vendome 
hotel, Frank Bergeron, proprietor; K. W. Rings, 
tailor shop; R. McKay, barber shop ; Skagit Com- 
mission Company, hay, grain and feed, John Gould, 
proprietor ; Keystone hotel, Charles Hill, proprietor ; 
Cira}-'s Harbor lodging house, Mrs. A. A. Chapman, 
proprietor ; Sedro-Woolley creamery, Robert E. 
Reid, manager ; Sedro Ice and Cold Storage Com- 
pany, Dave Donnelly, manager ; Sedro-Woolley 
I'.ottling works, A. C. Kick, manager ; D. R. Kinsey, 
photographer ; Mrs. Hastings, photographer ; steam 
laundry, Ed. Burns, proprietor ; attorneys : Gable & 
Seabury, Wilbra Colman, William Perry ; Morrow 
Credit Companv, T. J. Morrow, president; dentist. 
T. S. Baldridge'; M. B. Mattice. M. D. ; C. C. Har- 
"baugh, M. D. ; C. M. Frazer, M. D. ; B. F. Brooks. 
M. D. ; dray line, C. Ingham ; Shrewsbury Lumber 
Company, H. H. Shrewsbury, manager. 

From the foregoing general review of the busi- 
ness establishments of .Sedro-Woolley, it will be 
seen that the town has all the staple lines well rep- 
resented and has not a little manufacturing, with the 
stimulus to commercial prosperity which a pav roll 
always gives. The railroad connecting it with Rock- 
port makes it the natural outlet for the rich up-river 
country with its wealth of timber and agricultural 
products and whatever the future may win from the 
coal and iron deposits there. A goodly share of the 
prosperity which flows from the development of 
Skagit valley's great natural resources will always 
come to Sedro-Woolley. afiving.it permanence and 
the sinews of growth. The rapidity with which it 
has grown in recent years is seen from the fact 
that in 1900 it had eight hundred and eighty-five 
inhabitants and on July 1, 1904, according to a 
reliable census, two thousand one hundred and 



twent)-. Perhaps it would be too much to say that 
the town is maintaining this ratio of increase, but 
it is still forging ahead at a rapid pace. It has much 
to render it attractive to the home builder, a beauti- 
ful site, broad streets, well laid out, a thrifty citi- 
zenship, good school facilities and a large and 
increasing number of elegant modern homes. 



THE T.\LE OF TWO CITIES. 

On the banks of the mighty Skagit, 

In the haunts of the Siwash and shig, 

Some time in the early eighties 

Rose a brisk little town, called Bug. 

There are tales of the valor and prowess 
Of these knights of the saw and the a.x. 

\\'ho made through the forest primeval 
Tlie first irretraceable tracks. 

Tliere are tales of soul-stirring adventure ; 

Of bears that were bigger than barns; 
Of salmon of whale-like proportions — 

But I cannot spin all of these yarns. 

.\nd the little town grew so pretentious 
That it no longer fitted its name : 

So. out of regard for the cedars. 
It finally Sedro became. 

Now. to the northeastward of Sedro, 
Rose WooUey ; and lo ! there began 

A strife that was long and unhappy — 
Raging fiercely, as clan against clan. 

But Woolley kept creeping southeastward, 
And Sedro kept creeping northwest 

Until it grew plain to all people 
That peaceable union was best. 

So they formally buried the hatchet 
And all was henceforward serene ; 

For the two became Sedro-Woolley, 
\\'ith only a hyphen between. 

And I sing of a glorious future, 

Well worthy the deeds of the past : 

Here's three cheers for our own Sedro-Woolle\'- 
Long may its prosperity last ! 



Mrs. W. T. Odlin. 



CHAPTER VIII 



CITIES AND TOWNS {Continued) 



BURLINGTON 

It was in the fall of 1882 that John P. Millett 
and William McKay entered the dense forest of 
cedar, spruce, fir and smaller timber and, disturb- 
ing the deer, bear and cougar, erected a shack and 
made ready for the establishment of a logging camp 
on the ground upon which now stands the impor- 
tant town of Burlington. From a viewpoint mid- 
way between the town of to-day and the solitary 
shack of 1882, one gains an interesting glimpse of 
the beginnings of Burlington as it stepped toward 
its seat in the sisterhood of Skagit county com- 
munities. Such a viewpoint was enjoyed by the 
editor of the Skagit News when in the issue 
of his paper of July 27, 1891, he recorded his visit 
to Burlington in the following language : 

"After taking a walk over town we found a num- 
ber of fine new buildings, some completed, others 
under course of construction and some just being 
commenced. One of the most notable buildings, 
and one which is nearing completion, is a large two- 
story building; the lower room is to be used as a 
school-room and the upper one for a hall. The 
building is being put up by the town company to 
be used for public schools until a district school 
building can be built. Arrangements are being 
made to vote bonds at an early date. The enroll- 
ment of school children in the district is upward of 
seventy-five. The M. E. church has the founda- 
tion laid for quite a large building, which will be a 
beautiful structure when completed. A couple of 
foundations have already been laid for warehouses 
near the railroad crossing, in which grain and farm 
products will be stored for shipment. The Sedro 
Mercantile Company moved into their two-story 
building about four weeks ago, with a $10,000 stock 
of general merchandise. The proprietors. Poulson 
Brothers, were not at home, but from all appear- 
ances we should judge that they were doing a good 
business. On Fairhaven avenue the Rowley house 
is located, with A. Rowley as proprietor. It is a fine 
two-story building: near it on the same avenue 
JAr. Rowley is just completing another two-storv 
building which will be fitted up for a billiard hall, 
and his entire business is run on a strictly tem- 
perance basis. The Burlington house, on Ana- 
cortes avenue, is a two-story building, and run 
imdor the management of W. A. Gould. The house 



seemed to be well patronized. Opposite the Bur- 
lington house is located Shaughnessy's restaurant, 
with Thomas Shaughnessy at the helm. He has 
also five acres in the town site which is nearly all 
under cultivation. His potatoes are as fine as can 
be found in the county. We next called at the 
Pioneer store of T. G. Wilson, the future postmaster 
of Burlington. Mr. Wilson carries a large stock 
of general merchandise, and is making a specialty 
of handling giant and Judson powders. He is 
doing a good business. Information has been re- 
ceived from Washington City that the postoffice 
would be established in a few days." 

Before turning back in point of time to a consid- 
eration of the first period in the development of 
Burlington from a logging camp site to its position 
at the time the editor wrote the statements quoted 
above, it may be well to record a few annotations 
which will fix in the mind of the reader acquainted 
with the present day Burlington the buildings and 
men referred to by the editor. The town company 
building referred to is now the Maccabee's hall, and 
it stood first on Orange street. The Sedro Mercantile 
Company's store building had been erected in 1890 
by Joseph Woods & Company. Mr. Shaughnessy, 
starting a year after the visit of the editor, was 
proprietor of a butcher shop and meat market for 
several months and in 1S9;> he built the World's 
Fair saloon and hotel, now the Great Northern. 
Mr. Wilson had bought ait Mr. Burton, who es- 
tablished the business only the spring previous to the 
editor's visit, and Mr. Burton had embarked in the 
general store business onlr the year before. 

The shack built by John P'. Millett after the 
establishment of the Millett & McKay logging camp 
late in the fall of 1S82 was the first human habita- 
tion on the ground where the people of Burlington 
live. It was located a little to the southwest of the 
junction point of the railroads of to-day. and in it 
Mr. Millett and his family lived until late in the 
eighties. The first timber claims on the site of 
the present town of Burlington were taken early 
in the year 1883. William McKay held the land, 
which included Little Mamtain. while across the 
line where Fairhaven avenue has since been made 
was the claim of Larry Gilfoy. on which Mr. Mil- 
lett's cabin was erected and on which the railway 
station of the present day lias since gone up. Look- 
ing from Anacortes avenue across the Gilfoy claim. 



"" - '.^"'2l.?^^T-:,'.. 


-. ^.-^""^S'^Jgu" ,. "' - 


' , ' ■*■ • '.rV'v , ■ • ■ "" " 


r a ** '■ ^ 




IN SKAGIT COUNTY 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



one could see the land of "Smoky" Smith, while in 
the same direction, with Little Mountain as the 
viewpoint, one beholds the land which formed the 
Millctt timber claim. 

There was little done in the way of settlement 
of the land during the period when timber and 
logging were the chief industries. Isolated facts 
concerning this period of development have been 
obtained from an article from the pen of Frank 
Umbarger, which appeared in the School Bulletin in 
the issue of March, 1903. Mrs. John P. Millett 
was the first white woman to reside in the locality 
of Burlington. The best of the timber was logged 
from the town site by Mr. McKay in 1883, but it 
was not until the closing days of 1890 that he 
platted the town site, recording his plat on New 
Year's Day of 1891. It was in the summer of 1890 
that the first railroad train passed through Burling- 
ton over the Seattle & Northern. Though the Great 
Northern was not surveyed until that year, its 
through trains were running early in 1891. The 
first saw-mill was erected by T. L. Fox in the 
winter of 1890-1, and in the latter year Dale & 
Company manufactured the first shingles, using a 
threshing machine engine for power. It was about 
this time that the first saloon was opened in the 
place. Burton & Son establishing it on Anacortes 
avenue in buildings which were consumed by fire 
on Christmas night. 189(i. The first postoffi'ce at 
Burlington was established early in the year 1891, 
T. G. Wilson being the first postmaster. The school 
district was established May 1, 1891, Miss Clara 
Garl being the first teacher. 

The advent of the railroad gave a great impetus 
to the settlement of the town of Burlington and 
vicinity, for it afiforded transportation for men and 
merchandise. While Burlington has never felt the 
impetus of boom days nor the depression of col- 
lapsed booms, its growth as a commercial center 
opened with the orderly laying out of the town 
site in 1891 and the subsequent advertising of its 
natural advantages and resources by the town site 
company. Soon after Mr. McKay had platted his 
logged off land, George D. McLean, then a resident 
of Mount Vernon and the western agent of Roswell 
Skeel of New York City, purchased fourteen hun- 
dred acres of Mr. McKay's property and com- 
menced the formation of the town site company. T. 
W. Soules of Mount Vernon secured an interest in 
the companv and Mr. McKay, by the terms of the 
purchase of his land, retained an interest, but in 
the course of a short time all interests were ab- 
sorbed by Mr. Skeel. The two hundred and forty 
acres which were platted into the town site proper 
were placed on the market at low figures and the 
mducements held out were attractive to prospective 
buyers who noted the natural resources of the con- 
tiguous territory and saw the advantages to accrue 
from the development of railway traffic. The one 
thousand one hundred and sixty acres remaining 



out of the original purchase from Mr. McKay have 
been divided into one, five and ten-acre tracts and 
placed on the market as suburban property at 
prices low enough to warrant purchase for purposes 
of residences, small farms and market gardens. 
Thus was the settlement of Burlington as a center 
of activity made easy b}- the men who controlled 
the land where the town has grown. 

But Burlington is more than an artificial town 
site and the creation of real estate speculation. It 
possesses advantages not surpassed and only occa- 
sionally equaled as a place of permanent commercial 
activity. Being the junction point of the Seattle, 
Bellingham & Vancouver and the Rockport, Bur- 
lington & Anacortes branches of the Great North- 
ern system, the town is easy of access for commerce 
from outside points. The railroads have tapped the 
sources of agricultural production in the vicinity 
by making possible the easy transportation of the 
yield of the fields, while at the same time they have 
made easy of access articles of consumption. Lying 
to the northwest of the town is the Olympia farming 
district, a large area of rich and fertile agricul- 
tural lands, which, though more recently brought 
to the attention of settlers than some other sections 
of Skagit county, are none the less remarkable for 
their powers of production. To the west and south, 
extending to the Skagit ri\cr. are other rich farming 
lands which arc rapidl\ becoming productive 
and conveying their xields to the central ship- 
ping point at Burlington. To the northeast and 
east of the town the land is less settled, though scat- 
tered through the tract of timber are to be found 
numerous smaller holdings of farm land which are 
sending their products to town. 

As early as 1893 the inhabitants of Burlington 
proposed incorporation as a municipality. The 
movement failed because the community could not 
muster the required population. The subject of 
incorporation Ia\- dormant for a number oif years 
and no organized movement was inaugurated until 
June Ifi, 1902, when Burlington became a town of 
the fourth class. The first mayor was F. W. Weide- 
man. and the first city council was composed of 
Zachariah Warfield, Orson Pease, William Hurley. 
Michael Hogan and David Koch. At the time of 
incorporation the town census showed that two 
hundred and sixty persons composed the popula- 
tion. Burlington now has, some say, three times 
that many, and the cause of this influx of people 
lies solely in general conditions. No municipal 
works have as yet been undertaken by the town, 
yet much progress in the way of street grading and 
i.mprovement has been made. A stone crusher has 
been purchased at a cost of five hundred dollars 
and is in operation every day in preparing rock for 
macadamizing the principal streets of the town. 
A quarry situated within the town limits furnishes 
rock of a quality very desirable for road building 
and the streets are kept in good condition. 



232 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



The present officers of Curlington are: Mayor, 
I. J. Howe ; treasurer. A. E. Henry ; clerk, D. Ben- 
nett ; attorney, George D. Greene; councilmen, J. 
R. Koch, G. E. Heathman, Sr., W. H. Whitney, F. 
Fritsch and John Forst ; pohce judge, O. A. Pease; 
marshal, V. Tourtillotte. 

The railroad has been a very important factor 
in the rapid development of the town of Burlington 
and of the farming country of which the town forms 
the chief center. The first depot of the Seattle & 
Northern was erected in 1890 and stood at the 
crossing of Anacortes avenue. The first building 
of the Great Northern was erected the following 
year and was a mere shack at the Orange avenue 
crossing. One Sunday morning a few years later 
the people of Burlington awoke to find that they 
had a new railway station, the fine structure which 
had stood at Bellville, two miles north of Burling- 
ton and on the line of the Great Northern, hav- 
ing been moved during the night on flat cars and 
brought down to the junction of the two roads 
at Burlington. The removal of this depot had not 
been heralded and the citizens of Burlington were 
as much surprised as was Samuel Bell, on whose 
land it had been built as a part of right of way con- 
sideration. This building did duty as a union sta- 
tion until it was burned, when the present structure 
was erected. The town enjoys excellent railway 
and transportation facilities, the number of daily 
passenger trains being ten. There are six trains on 
the Seattle line, three each way, and four on the 
Skagit valley branch, two being trains from and to 
Anacortes. Communication is maintained with 
Sedro-Woolley, five miles up the vallev, by a twice- 
a-day stage service, operated by Ira lirown. 

To turn again to the development of commer- 
cial activity in Burlington, the first business building 
in the town was the twin structures already referred 
to at the southeast corner of Anacortes and Fair- 
haven avenues, occupied as store and saloon by E. 
D. Burton & Son. The building was erected in the 
spring of 1890 and was destroyed by fire on Christ- 
mas night, 1896. In 1891 the Sedro Mercantile 
Company established itself in the Joe \\'oods & 
Company building, which was later occupied by 
Emerson Hammer and is now the home of Thomas 
Collins' saloon. In the same summer F. W. Weide- 
man opened a hardware store on Orange street, 
just west of Anacortes avenue. While this was 
going on a building was erected at the intersection 
of Orange street and Anacortes avenue by a man 
who left town before engaging in business. In 
1891 the first meat market in the town was opened 
liy John Deneke & Brother. Among the mutations 
of the years which have elapsed since the first busi- 
ness houses were established have been changes in 
the character and importance of the thoroughfares 
of the settlement. At one time Orange" street 
seemed destined to be the leading business street of 
Burlington, but it had to give wa\- before Ana- 



cortes avenue, which in its turn has seen the great- 
est business activity transferred to Fairhaven ave- 
nue. The years of these early business ventures 
were those of feverish activity regarding the des- 
tiny of the town on the part of the pioneer mer- 
chants. At the close of the year 1891 there were 
probably not over three hundred people in Burling- 
ton, but with the coming of the following years 
more settlers arrived in the surrounding country, 
transportation facilities opened up and business 
man and farmer alike knew that Burlington had 
come to stay. The subsequent history of the town 
has been one of steady and conservative advance- 
ment. 

It has been only within comparatively recent 
years that manufacturing has flourished in Bur- 
Hngton, but at present the town boasts of three 
shingle mills, which are capable of turning out 
220,000 shingles per diem. The O. L. Bridgeman 
mill was established in 1901 and has a daily capac- 
ity of 60,000. ■ The Burlington Alill Company, un- 
der the management of David Bennett, established 
in 1901, is turning out 100,000 shingles each twenty- 
four hours. The Burlington Electric Company's 
mill was established in 1901 by local people and has 
a capacity of 60,000 shingles daily. In connection 
with the last-named establishment, of which I. J. 
Howe is the manager, there is operated an electric 
plant which cost $10,000, and which furnishes pub- 
lic and private lighting. 

A list of the leading establishments of the town 
at this date would include the following : Hotels : 
the Northern, with C. H. Harpst as proprietor; 
the Travelers' Home, built in 1903, with Orson 
Pease as proprietor, and the Ludin house, operated 
by .Albert Ludin ; lodging houses, Mrs. Madge 
Warfield and Thomas Shaughnessv ; general stores : 
J. F. Shilder, established inV.iOO: F. W. Weideman, 
established in 1891. and nnw dealing in paints, oils 
and house furnishings, in addition to the original 
hardware business, and J. H. Knutzen & Son, who 
succeeded to the business of E. K. Barnard in 
September of 1901; confectionery stores: Harry 
Knutzen ; Otto Engbaum ; Chamberlain & Company, 
and Mrs. Ada Rusk ; meat markets. Burton & 
Knutzen and Ebeling Brothers : barber shops, E. 
M. Simpson and J. O. Forst : tailor. A. Lindbery ; 
drug store. A. E. Henry, established in June, 1903; 
physician. Dr. Fred S. Schacht ; attorney at law, 
George D. Greene ; dry goods. W. F. Schacht ; 
millinery, Mrs. John Doughty: bicycle shop, E. 
Reno, with E. A. Tucker as manager; Racket 
store, J. B. Koch; blacksmith, T- W. Clark; con- 
tractor and lumber dealer. R. H. Ilopkins ; three 
saloons. The old town site company is still in ex- 
istence, with George D. AIcLean as general man- 
ager, I. J. Howe as resident manager, and Ros- 
well Skeel of New York proprietor. 

Burlington has an opera house with a seating 
capacity of several hundred. The opening of the 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



Skagit State bank in May of 1905 filled a want long 
felt by the business people of the town and vicin- 
ity. The Burlington Journal is another one of the 
semi-public institutions in which the citizens take 
pride and interest. This paper was established in 
1899 by H. L. Bowmer & Son, but in the beginning 
of 190.5 it passed into the hands of Thomas Howe. 

Since that May day of 1891 when Miss Clara 
Garl opened the first school in Burlington, the 
school has occupied a prominent place in the local 
politics of the town. In 1892 a commodious new 
school, two stories high, with basement, was erected. 
It has since been rebuilt, and now has eight com- 
modious rooms. There is talk of the erection of a 
high school in the near future. 

In the early days of the growth of the town 
its people recognized the need of the tempering 
effect of religious influences and services and in 
1891 two thousand dollars were raised for the pur- 
pose of erecting a church for the Methodist Epis- 
copal denomination. A substantial frame build- 
ing resulted, to which in more recent years a par- 
sonage has been added at a cost of eight hundred 
dollars. The society is entirely out of debt. Rev. 
J. W. Kern is pastor. The Episcopal denomina- 
tion is represented by St. Mark's church, which 
has a neat frame structure, built several years ago 
at a cost of two hundred dollars. As yet there is 
no resident rector, but the organization is kept up 
by the members and already more ambitious plans 
for work are talked of by the leading adherents of 
the church. There is also a society of Catholics in 
Burlington which receives ministrations at intervals 
from visiting priests. The Evangelical Lutheran 
Zion church society was organized last year and 
a frame edifice with stone foundation was erected. 
The pastor is Rev. Theodore Goeswein, whose work 
is meeting with a hearty response on the part of 
the church membership. 

Of fraternal organizations Burlington has her 
quota. The Odd Fellows are represented by Bur- 
lington lodge. No. 19, and Valley lodge. No. 67, 
Daughters of Rebekah. The Maccabees have a 
local tent and an auxiliary hive. Burlington camp. 
No. 8996. Modern Woodmen of America, was or- 
ganized on the 2ith of July, 1904. and now has a 
membership roll containing twenty-eight names. 



At various points in this work we have described 
the character of the lands in western Skagit county 
bordering the sound. We have seen the great de- 
velopment which these regions have enjoyed 
through the diking, clearing and cultivating of the 
rich lands subject to overflow which border the 
streams, sloughs and iplets of that portion of the 
county. We have also seen how the timber re- 
sources, the pastoral resources and the commercial 
resources work there hand in hand with the agricul- 



tural, thereby producing a variety of industries and 
a general strengthening of enterprise such as can- 
not be easily matched in many other portions of the 
state. In natural response to demands created by 
these varied industries there have grown up at many 
places small, yet active and enterprising towns, 
which, even more than the large cities, represent 
the vital forces concerned in the upbuilding of the 
great state of Washington. 

A type of these numerous small towns may be 
found in Edison, located in the far-famed Samish 
valley in Skagit county. Edison, which derives its 
name from that of the "Wizard of Menlo Park," is 
located upon both sides of the north branch of the 
Samish river, which is also called Edison slough. 
It is about a mile from the bay and, at high tide, is 
accessible to steamers of medium draught. Im- 
mediately around the town is the reclaimed tide 
land, while rising slightly above those lands is a 
belt of fertile valley densely timbered in its native 
state, but, cleared first by the hands of the loggers 
and then of the fanners, now a rich farming region. 
A few miles to the south of it lies the picturesque 
Bayview ridge, and at about an equal distance 
northward may be seen the green heights of the 
Chuckanut hills. Far to the eastward, dominating 
the entire landscape, tower the majestic peaks of 
the Cascade mountains. 

Edison's beginnings may be said to date from 
the year 1869, when several settlers took up their 
abode on the tide-swept flats and began reclaim- 
ing them from the sea. Among these men were Ben 
Samson, who took the claim upon which the town 
site of Edison was later platted. A year later came 
Edward McTaggart, who settled immediately north- 
west of Samson and adjoining him. Gradually 
others gathered around this nucleus until the set- 
tlement became so large that a postofiice was de- 
manded. To further this project Mr. McTaggart 
called a meeting for the consideration of the mat- 
ter. It was held at the AIcTaggart place March 
26, 18T6, forty-six settlers being present, and a peti- 
tion drawn and signed asking for the creation of 
Edison postofiice with Edward McTaggart as post- 
master, he suggesting the name of Edison in honor 
of the celebrated electrician. The ofiice was estab- 
lished the following June with Swen Johnson as the 
first mail carrier. For a long time the office was 
kept in the house of D. P. Thomas, situated in a 
little grove on the northwest side of the slough 
opposite Samson's place. 

The opening of the postoffice naturally led to the 
establishing of a trading post for the convenience of 
those on the flats, the honor of being the pioneer mer- 
chant belonging to Captain A. J. Edwards, a sloop 
trader. His little store was opened about the year 
18S0, or perhaps a year later, directly on the slough, 
occupying a small tract of land donated for the 
purpose bv Mr. McTaggart. Mr. McTaggart savs 
that Dan Dingwall built' Edison's first hotel in 1883 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



on a little tract of his (McTaggart's) claim ad- 
joining that on which the store stood, though some 
claim that this hotel was erected a little earlier. 
At any rate, Dingwall did erect a hotel and lodging 
house there about that time especially for the con- 
venience of his force of loggers at work on the 
slough. 

Not very long after this Dingwall failed and 
through foreclosure proceedings his property passed 
into the hands of Colonel Granville O. Haller, the 
well-known Coupeville pioneer, who also at the 
same time came into possession of Samson's claim. 
Upon a part of that property, the Samson land. 
Colonel Haller, in 1.S86, platted the original Edison 
town site, consisting of only four acres or even 
less. More land has been platted from time to 
time by the Haller interests, which still own the 
greater portion of the site, as also much surrounding 
property. A small tract of the McTaggart claim 
is also included in this site. 

Settlement in those early years progressed slowly 
as the reclamation of the flats and the densely 
timbered bench lands was expensive. All traveling 
was done in canoes, row-boats and flat-boats, says 
Mr. McTaggart, as the flats were so badly cut up 
by sloughs and the ground was so slimy and spongy 
that land traveling was an impossibility. In 1885 
a bridge was built across the south branch of the 
Samish, half the cost being paid by the county and 
half by the settlers, the latter's portion being guar- 
anteed by Mr. McTaggart. Just previous to this 
in the year 1881, the settlers built another bridge 
across the North Samish near Edison, using cedar 
logs for bents and cedar logging for flooring. 
William Dean did the pile driving. This bridge 
proved a valuable improvement indeed. A dike 
was also early completed across the flats to Samish 
island, alifording the interior easy connection with 
the Seattle-Whatcom steamers on the sound, and 
ferry boats established between the island and the 
mainland. The late Swen Johnson was the first 
ferryman,_ followed by Joseph and Charlie Mat- 
thews, William Brown and son and John White suc- 
cessively. Too much praise cannot be given those 
early navigators, for the labor of rowing against 
tides, winds and during storms, waiting, etc., was 
extremely exhausting and trying. 

The Bellingham Bay Mail of April 37, 1878, 
contains a mention of the prospective immediate 
establishment of the town and postofifice at Edison. 
In the Skagit News of February 9, 1886, we find 
mention of the place as a "lively little town, beauti- 
fully situated on Edison slough." It is there stated 
that William Gilmore had become the leading mer- 
chant and was doing at that time an immense gen- 
eral merchandise business with the entire region 
thereabouts. We learn from other sources that 
Mr. Gilmore, with his three sons, William N., John 
A. and Hugh J., had come to Edison from Seattle 
in the summer of 1882. He bought out the pioneer 



store of A. J. Edwards, which was situated almost 
behind the present Gilmore store. Mr. Gilmore con- 
ducted this business until 1900, when his death 
occurred and the business passed into the hands 
of his two oldest sons, who continue it to the pres- 
ent. In 1884 Thomas Cain's saloon and Boyce & 
Churchill's store were erected. A year later Boyce 
sold out his interest to Churchill, who was suc- 
ceeded in turn by John Doser. This business seems 
to have undergone many changes, W. H. Peters, W. 
E. Gilkey and George Zimmerman conducting it by 
turns; and in 1891, having in the meantime fallen 
again into the hands of Mr. Doser, the store was 
burned but rebuilt by Doser two years later, still 
again becoming the property of Wheeler Brothers 
of Blaine. Among other early business men of the 
place was Howard J. Lee, who sold out subse- 
quently to Iddins & Company, who still conduct 
the business. Charles Taggart and W. E. Gilkey 
were in partnership in the mercantile business from 
1891 to 1896, when Taggart retired and Gilkey 
conducted the business until 1903, when he was 
succeeded by E. E. Rodgers, who still conducts the 
business. Among the other early business enter- 
prises may be mentioned that of Dave Webble, who 
became the first blacksmith in 1885. The next ho- 
tels to be started after that of Dingwall were the 
Edison hotel of 1884 or 1885 and the Union hotel 
in 1887. The former was conducted by Michael 
Glenden until its destruction by fire in 1891. The 
proprietor of the Union hotel was Thomas Cain 
and he is still in business at the old stand. 

We learn that in 1886 D. P. Thomas was acting 
as justice of the peace and also as postmaster. 
There were at that time also four inails a week, 
three from Samish and one from Prairie. The mail 
from Prairie was carried on horseback and that 
from Samish by row-boat across the bay, a dis- 
tance of five miles. 

The year 1888 was marked by the coming to 
Edison of the first physician of the place, Dr. j. L. 
Jackson. In March, 1891, the first druggist ap- 
peared in the person of O. A. Loomis, His store 
was burned in ls!i:;, Itut was rohuilt in 1895 and 
George Halloran purchased thv liu>incss. 

On January '.' .l. Ism:!. Rdisnn was visited bv a 
disastrous fire. This fire originated in the ware- 
house of Colonel Haller and quickly spread to ware- 
houses belonging to Orrin Smith and John Doser, 
together with the general merchandise store of the 
latter, including all its contents. Thomas Cain's 
saloon. Loomis's drug store and J. A. Jonak's har- 
ness shop were destroyed also, with all their con- 
tents. This was the only serious fire which ever 
visited the town and it entailed a loss of about 
twenty thousand dollars. The burned buildings 
were, however, soon replaced and the prosperity of 
the place was not afifected. 

During the years following the foundation 
period of which we have spoken Edison has gone 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



on with steady improvement corresponding to the 
growth of the country immediately tributary to it 
until it has become one of the most substantial and 
well built of the small villages of the county. The 
different lines of enterprise which have been dem- 
onstrated to be singularly successful in the region 
round about are farming, gardening, dairying, log- 
ging and milling. The Samish flats produce the 
most prolific crops of hay, oats, fruit and vegetables. 
Among the last it has been shown that sugar beets 
of the finest quality can be produced and there has 
been much talk of starting a beet-sugar factory in 
the town. The farmers live in elegant homes and 
have all the surroundings to make life attractive 
and prosperous. 

The dairy ranchers are equally prosperous with 
the general farmers, since the rich, succulent grasses 
and clovers of the land redeemed from the swamps 
and forests will maintain cattle throughout the year 
so generously that cows have been known to pro- 
duce milk to the value of six dollars per month for 
the whole twelve months. 

\Mthin three miles of Edison are located four 
large mills, the Winner mill at Bow, the Sound 
shingle mill above Bow, the Blanchard shingle and 
saw-mill a short distance north of Edison, and the 
Edison mill company's establishment in Edison it- 
self. In addition to the great business opportuni- 
ties of the land are equally remunerative ones upon 
and under the water. Great quantities of salmon, 
besides herring and smelt, are found in the waters 
of the sound and the sloughs connected with them. 
One special industry which is in process of in- 
auguration at Edison is the oyster business. The 
shallow waters adjoining Samish island furnish the 
natural home for the very finest of these luscious 
bivalves and it is only a question of time when this 
business will rival that of Olympia or Toke Point. 

Turning to the special business directory of 
Edison, we find one of the most important to be 
the steamboat business. The steamers Clara Brown 
and Edison make regular trips, besides which other 
boats call as business justifies, while a continual 
stream of sloops, scows and small boats may be 
seen in the sloughs and bay. The business enter- 
prises of the town proper are as follows : General 
merchandise : John Berentson, Gilmore Brothers & 
Company, Iddins Brothers & Company ; hardware, 
Unger & Loop: blacksmith shops: Klesper & New- 
land, A. Lindquist: hotels: the Edison, ^Irs. A. J. 
Whittle: the Central, JMrs. Thomas Toner; drug 
store, George Halloran ; confectionery, Oscar A. 
Loomis ; livery, Lamaster & Englebretson ; doctors : 
Dr. Josiah Jones ; J. L. Jackson : contractors : John 
A. White ; Patrick Callopy ; Silas Daniels : harness 
shop, J. A. Jonak ; real estate and insurance, James 
A. Halloran : barber, Edward Watkinson ; meat 
market, Kosack & Triebess ; Edison creamen-, F. 
M. Kaupish, manager, expending four hundred 
dollars a week for cream ; Edison Lumber Company, 



Lockhart & Roberts, proprietors ; the Samish Water 
and Supply Company, consisting of Thomas Cain, 
G. O. Halier, Robert P. Carter, Patrick Smith and 
John Doser, organized in 1890, reorganized in 1901 
and providing an excellent water supply from 
Whitehill creek on Chuckanut mountain three and 
a half miles north of the town. 

The social and mental life of Edison, as repre- 
sented by its schools, churches and fraternal orders, 
is such as to be highly gratifying to the fortunate 
inhabitants of the place. 

The first school district was organized in 1874. 
The first school building is still standing in front 
of the Hall place directly east of town. The land 
upon which it was built was donated by John Mor- 
gan and the materials for the building were con- 
tributed by William Dean, Edward McTaggart and 
Daniel Dingwall. The first teacher was Charles 
Setzer, who came there from Orcus island. The old 
building was used until the erection of the present 
structure in 1892, when it was turned into a ware- 
house, which use it still fulfills. The present at- 
tractive and well-located building, standing upon 
the bank of the river and surrounded with beautiful 
trees, was erected at a cost of four thousand dollars 
and located upon land given for the purpose by 
Colonel Halier. The district has now maintained 
for a year a union high school. The school board 
at present consists of John Gilmore, John Dale and 
Nicholas Shumaker. The present principal is Pro- 
fessor A. Knapp and the assistants W. A. Robinson 
and Mrs. W. A. Robinson. The enrollment of 
scholars for the past year was sixty-one. 

There are three churches in Edison, the Cath- 
olic, the Lutheran and the Congregational. The 
Congregational was the pioneer in time, being 
founded in 1889 by Rev. George Baker, but the 
church building was not erected until 1892. The 
Catholic church was both organized and established 
in the present church building in 1890. This church 
is now conducted in connection with the La Conner 
church in charge of Rev. Father Woods. The 
Lutheran church is located at a point two miles 
south of Edison, but ministers to the members of 
that denomination in and around the town. The 
present pastor of the Congregational church is Rev. 
W. A. Hughes, who succeeded Mr. Baker May 1, 
1905. 

The fraternities of Edison are the Edison lodge. 
No. 45, I. O. O. F., and the Fraternal L^nion, No. 
154. The former was organized February 21, 1887, 
with five charter members, Jacob Harden. Edward 
Ames, W. E. Gilkey, D. P. Thomas and W. H. 
Ewen. In 1890 this lodge erected the Odd Fellows' 
hall, which is also employed as a place of public 
gatherings. The present officers are : C. N. Iddins, 
P. G. ; J. A. Jonak, N. G. : Dr. Josiah Jones, V. G. ; 
J. E. Bland, secretary, and A. S. Lockhart, treas- 
urer. There are now twenty-nine members. The 
Fraternal Union consists of forty members, and its 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



officers are: George Halloran, fraternal master; J. 
R. Cowell, justice, and J. E. Bland, secretary. 



The site of Bow, a thriving young village 
on the Great Northern, seven miles north 
of Burlington and on the eastern edge of 
the Samish region, was homesteaded by Will- 
iam J. Brown in 1869. In 1899 the Great 
Northern railway placed a corps of surveyors 
in this region, who ultimately ran a line from Belle- 
ville via Brown's place to the extreme western 
point of Chuckanut mountain, thence up the shore 
to Bellingham. This survey was later adopted and 
in 1901 the railway company began building this 
"cut-off," finishing it the following year, and soon 
thereafter abandoning the old route over the moun- 
tain further east. To furnish the Samish district, 
recognized as one of the richest sections of the 
county, with a new station in place of the one 
abandoned, the company established Bow. It erected 
a station building in the fall of 1902, and appointed 
Henry Christianson resident agent. From the es- 
tablishment of this station the real existence of the 
village dates. 

However, before the building of the railroad 
there had been a small settlement near Bow, known 
locally as Brownsville. It resulted from the build- 
ing of a saw-mill on the Brown place in 1892 by 
the Howard-Butler Company, and the erection the 
same year of a school-house nearby. Several log- 
ging camps in the surrounding region contributed to 
the stability of the settlement, and gradually the 
number of ranchmen in the district increased. The 
postoffice did not come until July, 1901, or until 
after the railroad had been assured, and the service 
did not commence until just one year later, when 
E. E. Heusted assumed the duties of postmaster. 
The postoffice and station were named Bow, at the 
suggestion of Mr. Brown, after the great Bow 
railroad station of London. England. 

The same year the postoffice was opened Ben 
Gardner built the Bow hotel, first known as the 
Gardner house. The next spring, McDougall & 
Brown built a saloon and that summer W. Nelson 
Crenshaw established the Bow department store in 
a shake house. At that time, also, the Winner Shin- 
gle Company built a shingle mill on the Brown 
farm, thus giving the town proper its first industry. 

By 1904 Mr. Brown concluded that the time 
was ripe for the formal institution of a town, so 
platted twelve acres of his ranch into the town 
site of Bow. E. E. Heusted opened a grocerv 
store, a saloon was built, George McMillan erected 
a blacksmith shop and Shadel & Smith placed their 
meat market in service, all before the close of the 
year 1904. 

Since the first of the present year Bow has 
added to its business establishments another general 



store, a public hall, a restaurant and a bicycle shop, 
besides securing two rural free delivery routes at- 
tached to the postoffice. As it is the only railroad 
station between Burlington and Whatcom county, 
naturally its shipping and traffic are of considerable 
magnitude. The town has connection by stage twice 
a day with Edison, which lies three miles west, al- 
most on the bay. 

A summary of the business houses of Bow 
would include the following : General stores, W. N. 
Crenshaw, W. H. Benson ; grocery and postoffice, 
E. E. Heusted ; hotel and livery stables, John Peter- 
son ; restaurant, Mrs. T. D. Welch ; blacksmith shop, 
George McMillan; meat market, Shadel & Smith; 

barber shop, bicycle store, Christianson; 

two saloons, also the shingle mill of the Winner 
Shingle Company, capacity eighty thousand a day, 
Alexander McGaskill, manager. Patrick McCoy's 
large logging camp lies only a mile south. 

Aside from its strategic location as a business 
and shipping point. Bow has a rich tributary farm- 
ing country, which, however, is not very extensively 
improved at the present time. 



Avon has never known a railroad boom, some- 
thing rather unusual for a town on the western 
frontier and in the Puget sound country. It is the 
result of a demand on the part of a prosperous 
farming community for a central point where sup- 
plies may be obtained and where the products of the 
rich fields may be marketed. Without the advan- 
tage of the railroad, it has become a thriving town, 
being the shipping point for such of the produce 
of the fecund Olympia marsh as does not demand 
shipment by rail, and the supply point for a con- 
siderable area of rich country. 

In its early days Avon permitted no saloons. 
Some stormed at this, but the men with power 
looked about them to the rich agricultural prospect 
and held firmly the conviction that a town could 
be made without the drawing forces of the bar 
and the bottle. Their faith has been justified and 
the people may now pride themselves on the fact 
that Avon is what it is without artificial forcing of 
any kind. 

'The first setder on Avon's site, W. H. Miller, 
came and took up land about 1882. The town 
builder, however, was A. H. Skaling, who, a little 
later, bought a part of Miller's land. Settlers 
poured into the Olympia marsh ; they needed sup- 
plies ; there was no transportation save by the 
river, and Mr. Skaling opened his pioneer store 
October 27, 1883. The new trading point was thus 
noticed by the Northwest Enterprise : 

"Avon is the name of the new town which has 
been platted by A. M. White of Anacortes on the 
great bend of the Skagit river, three miles above 
Mount Vernon, on the property of A. H. Skaling, 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



and a new store and postofiltce have been opened 
there. A hotel has also been erected, kept by W. A. 
Pitts. The steamer Ouincy brings the mails to the 
place twice a week from Seattle. A. M. Flag-g is 
constructing a residence at this place and will en- 
gage in boat building. The nearest approach of the 
C)lymi)ia marsh to the Skagit is at Avon, and the 
place is destined to become the shipping point of 
that productive region." 

A little later the Skagit News of .\pril S, 1884, 
contained an advertisement which read : 
"a temper.\nce town 
"The new Town of Avon 
"is situated on the great bend of the Skagit and 
on the west side of the river. It is at the intersec- 
tion of the La Conner, Bayview and Olympia marsh 
roads with the river roads; all of which roads lead 
to rich agricultural districts. '^ * * * This 
town has been started on temperance principles. 
A clause in the deeds prohibits the sale of liquor 
on the premises. A lodge of Good Templars, hav- 
ing over fifty members, has just been established. 

"Apply to Arthur H. Skaling." 

Naturally one of the first things demanded by 
the people of a temperance town would be a church, 
and the first movement for such an institution was 
thus chronicled in the Skagit News of March 11, 
1884 : 

"At the meeting of the Avon conference of the 
Methodist Episcopal church three hundred and 
thirty dollars were subscribed for the erection of 
a church at that place. A. H. Skaling has donated 
a lot." 

At the time the above was written a "city direc- 
tory" of Avon would have read something like this : 
A. M. Flagg. boat builder ; William A. Pitts, pro- 
prietor of the Avon hotel ; .\. H. Skaling. proprietor 
general store. But the earnestness of the early 
Avonites is indicated by the fact that in August 
of 1884 the foundations of the church edifice had 
been laid and Rev. W. McMillan was at work as 
pastor actively in the field. Though the clause in 
the deeds relating to absence of liquor license has 
been revoked by the owners of the town site, the 
fact remains that there is not a saloon in the town. 

In July, 1889. the business establishments at 
.^von consisted of the general stores of A. H. Skal- 
in*, the pioneer merchant, and of the Graham 
Brothers, H. W. and Fred S., who had just come 
in ; the meat market of T. N. Ovenell : the imple- 
ment store of J. W. Dicks, and the Pitts hotel. Two 
years later the Skagit News described the situation 
in and around Avon as follows : 

"Surrounded by highly productive fanns and 
magnificent forests of fir and cedar, Avon reaps 
golden harvests from these sources. The land is 
with little excention level and covered with a deep, 
rich, black soil, and the land settled upon by the 
early pioneers is a blooming and productive garden. 



and is a rich reward to the settlers who were will- 
ing to come into the wilderness a few years ago 
and endure privations and hardships. Until re- 
cently there has been a lack of saw-mills at Avon, 
and consequently lumber had to be shipped in on 
the river from other points. Some of the early 
settlers built their houses out of hand-made boards, 
or 'shakes,' and many lived in the primitive log 
cabin. This period is passed now, however, as two 
saw-mills with a cutting capacity of thirty thou- 
sand feet each day, and a shingle mill with a cut- 
ting capacity of forty thousand per day are run- 
ning-" 

The mills mentioned, the first ventures in their 
respective lines in Avon, were those since well 
known as the establishments of M. B. Jacobs. The 
town hall, now known as Liberty hall, was erected 
in 1886 and was then considered an ornament to 
the town, of which few of its contemporaries of 
equal size could boast. In 1891 the Avon Record 
was published and was rated as an excellent paper 
for a town of its size, but its editor, W. E. Boyton, 
saw fit to discontinue after a time and go elsewhere. 
In those days A. H. Skaling had a full line of goods 
for a general merchandise store. Blumberg, Miller 
& Company kept a full line of groceries, crockery, 
glass and queensware. The mills were giving em- 
ployment to about fifty men. A. M. Flagg had a 
drug store, with confectionery and cigars. Dr. A. 
C. Lewis, who had come to Avon from Ketchum, 
Idaho, was the only physician in the town. W. L. 
Duncan was proprietor of a billiard hall and store 
for the sale of tobacco and cigars, as well as soft 
drinks. Miss M. F. Graham had opened a mil- 
linery store which was credited with having "the 
largest stock of goods of any establishment of the 
kind on the Skagit river." Graham Brothers had 
a general merchandise establishment in town, one 
of the largest warehouses on the river, a two-story 
building in which the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows met, and another furnishing a home for 
the Avon Cornet band. The firm was also owner 
of the North Avon addition, where Avon business 
touches the Anacortes branch of the railroad. Mar- 
tin & Co. w^as operating the Avon Soda and Bot- 
tling works, which were furnishing all kinds of 
soft drinks to the northwestern part of the state. 
Fred Wills and William Pitts owned and ooerated 
a stage line to Mount Vernon and in connection 
conducted a livery stable. W. A. Ferrell was the 
town blacksmith. J. H. Reylea had recently come 
from San Francisco and commenced the wagon- 
making business. The furniture trade was repre- 
sented by G. Antenen & Company. William Girth 
was proprietor of a restaurant. Such was Avon 
in 1891, and such she was for a period of years. 

More than a decade passed and in 1905 the 
Argus published a story of the revivification of 
.\von. saying that "the sleepiness of the old town 
has vanished and in its place one sees the energy 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



and enthusiasm that go hand in hand with pro- 
gress." An examination of the roster of business 
houses is one means of determining the difference 
between the town of the present time and the town 
as it was in 1891, yet one finds the names now which 
were prominent in the days of the earher period. 
W. A. 'Pitts still runs the Avon hotel, and has com- 
petition in the establishment of Charles Kinsey. 
The general stores are those of J. W. Hall, H. W. 
Graham & Company and W. A. Ferrell, who has 
left his forge and anvil for the counter and count- 
ing room. A. M. Fairley has a butcher shop, con- 
fectionery store and barber shop. C. S. Alvord has 
succeeded Mr. Ferrell as leading blacksmith. 
Charles DuVall is engaged in the business of mak- 
ing shoes to order and repairing old footwear. 

Formerly the chief business street of Avon lay 
along the top of the dike ; now the main business 
thoroughfare of the town is on the street next back 
from the old dike and running parallel with it. The 
change commenced with the removal of the old 
Liberty hall to the new street, and gradually the 
street has become lined on both sides with stores 
and business houses. A big warehouse is in pro- 
cess of construction where Brunswick street leads 
down to the river, next to the branch of Lily & 
Bogardus. The Avon Mill Company, originally 
composed of H. W. Graham, H. M. Gibson and 
John and Robert Wiley, who erected the mill in 
1903, is one of the big establishments of the present 
Avon. The proprietor is J. W. Hall, who turns 
out sixty thousand shingles a day and furnishes 
employment to fifty men. 

In educational matters the people of Avon have 
ever been alert. From the time the first school was 
opened in this section, the subject of maintaining ade- 
quate facilities for the training of the minds of 
the young has been uppermost in the thought of 
the taxpayers and the public spirit of the people has 
not lagged. Mrs. Amelia (Watt) Waikle taught the 
first school in the Avon district in a building stand- 
ing on the river front, and now occupied as a resi- 
dence by the Gibson family. This school-house 
was replaced in 188(5 by a neat frame building which 
did duty for the district until in 1892 the present 
structure was erected. In 1890 the old building 
was considered to be inadequate, and the following 
year a bond issue of six thousand dollars was voted, 
but another one thousand dollars was required be- 
fore the present handsome building was completed. 
The afl^airs of the school are administered very 
acceptably by the present board, composed of Frank 
A. Jewett, president ; H. B. Randall and B. R. Sum- 
ner, clerk. 

Hardly had Avon been settled when church 
sentiment became felt, which resulted in the erec- 
tion of a building for the Methodist church, Rev. 
L. E. Worman being pastor. The edifice was dedi- 
cated in August, 1887, the auditorium being packed 
to the doors. The dedicatory sermon was preached 



by Rev. Mr. Moore, presiding elder of the Wyom- 
ing, New York, district. The sum of seven hun- 
dred and fifty dollars was raised on dedication day 
alone, the demand for church services being so 
great that contributions were freely given by those 
who were not of the same formal faith as the de- 
nomination named. Architecturally the edifice is 
a credit to the town, while under the ministrations 
of the present pastor. Rev. S. S. Guiler, the church 
work is progressing in a spiritual way. In 1886 
persons affiliated with the Episcopal church erected 
a small house of worship, costing several hundred 
dollars. 

At the present time Avon boasts of a lodge of 
but one of the larger fraternal organizations. 
Avon lodge, No. 789, Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, was organized in 1SS4 and has ever since 
been in a flourishing condition. Its progress has 
been coextensive with that of the town and its lead- 
ing members are leading men of Avon. The present 
roster of officers is : Past grand, H. H. Allen ; noble 
grand, George Morris, Jr. ; vice grand, F. E. Tucker ; 
secretary, G. C. Berger; financial secretary, J. Guy 
Lowman ; treasurer, Paul Singer ; trustees, Anton 
Blair, George Hopper and M. McLean ; chaplain, 
W. C. Singer. There is also a flourishing chapter of 
the Daughters of Rebekah, Olive Branch lodge. No. 
169, organized in 1905, with the following officers: 
Noble grand, Mrs. M. McLean ; vice grand, Mrs. 
B. R. Sumner; secretary. Miss Hannah Isaacson; 
treasurer, Mrs. W. C. Ferrell; chaplain. Miss May 
Muman. 

Avon has a sister town, which might also be said 
to be her alter ego, namely. North Avon, the plat 
of which was filed in 1890 by H. W. and Fred S. 
Graham, who for the purpose bought land of 
Thomas Wilkins, which was part of the old Enbark 
homestead. The Grahams erected the first store at 
the point where the railroad comes nearest to Avon, 
in 1891, and very shortly after secured a postoffice, 
W. T. Flagg becoming the first postmaster. At one 
time the new town seemed destined perhaps to sur- 
pass Avon, but the financial depression of the early 
nineties distracted business from the place, though 
it still serves as the railway shipping point for 
Avon. The contiguous territory is rich in timber, 
which is fast giving way to farms. The main sup- 
port of the town is the Avon Lumber Company's 
saw-mill, which, with its accompanying logging 
camp, gives employment to many men. The com- 
pany owns and operates a railway between its camp 
and the mill. 



A beautiful situation on the shore of the mag- 
nificent Padilla bay, upon whose bosom ships of 
commerce are always to be seen — this is the chief 
charm, the most valued possession, the most pro- 
nounced characteristic of Bayview. But being 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



located at the place where Bayview ridge slopes 
southward to the famed Swinomish flats, with the 
rich farm lands of the Samish flats just across the 
ridge, it has plenty of resources in its immediate 
neighborhood. On the highlands of the ridge itself 
many fine farms have already been made, and the 
home-builder is following closely in the wake of 
the logger, who is still busy in the forests of the 
ridge. 

Of the incipiency of Bayview. its oldest pioneer, 
W. J. McKenna. has given the following concise 
account : 

"In 1882 D. A. Jennings was doing a whole- 
sale grocery business in Seattle. He also operated 
and supplied several logging camps on the sound. 
One of the camps he supplied was at Bayview, 
owned and operated by Powell & Horndon. this 
being the pioneer camp in that vicinity. Being 
anxious to extend his business, in May, 1882, he re- 
quested me to find a suitable location for a branch 
store, and suggested that I visit Fidalgo bay, where 
Alunks had offered a store for sale. Upon this 
proposition, however. I reported adversely, as much 
of the goods were old. the price was high and the 
trade limited. 

"After investigating the surrounding country, 
it was found that the site of Bayview was situated 
at about the geographical center of a rich fanning 
region, the Swinomish flats being on the south, 
the Samish flats on the north and the Olympia 
marsh only three and a half miles east. The ridge, 
surrounded by these flats and the bay. was estimated 
to contain at least eight hundred million feet of 
fir, cedar and hemlock timber. Jennings was al- 
ready interested in a camp on the bay, 
so I reported favorably upon the establish- 
ment of a store on the ridge. T^Ir. Jen- 
nings and I agreed upon terms, after which I se- 
lected a site. The present location was chosen be- 
cause there the land sloped easily to the water and 
was convenient of access. 

"Archibald Siegfried, of La Conner, was the 
owner of the land and from him for fifty dollars I 
purchased one acre. On this were immediately 
erected a saloon, which was rented to Harry 
Botcher; a small hotel, operated by C. S. Allen, 
and store and dwelling for my own use. We then 
secured a postoffice, of which Mrs. McKenna be- 
came the first postmistress. The mail was brought 
from La Conner once every week at first, generally 
coming by boat. 

"In 1884 I induced Mr. Siegfried to plat two 
blocks of eight lots each, which was duly surveyed 
and the plat filed for record April 7, 1884." 

Thus Bayview came into existence. In 188G 
William Moeller built a saw-mill, which he later 
sold, and two years afterward George L. and 
Thomas Butler, brothers, erected a shingle mill 
near by. This mill is now owned by J. C. Stitt. 
The town secured an additional merchant in Febru- 



ary, 1887, in the person of Martin Coltenbaugh, 
who at the same time commenced a thirteen-year 
term as postmaster. That year, also, C. A. Norton 
built the Roy hotel and M. M. Jones opened the 
pioneer blacksmith shop. The Bayview hotel was 
erected by Phil Bartlett a short time later. 

With the general industrial revival in 1889, Bay- 
view began to grow rapidly. Thirty or forty build- 
ings, a saw-mill, and the Methodist church are re- 
ported to have been added within a period of twelve 
months. The year previous Mr. Siegfried had been 
induced to plat more of his land, with the result 
that sixteen blocks were added to the site. J. C. 
Stitt and C. P. Dickey put up a saloon in 1889, 
which tliey sold in 1899, immediately afterward in- 
stituting a large general store and logging camp 
and commencing to operate the old Butler shingle 
mill. H. D. Detweiller also entered the mercantile 
business at Bayview in 1888. So rapidly did the 
town grow during the next few years that in March. 
1894, W. J. McKenna and T. B. Elliott purchased 
the rest of the Siegfried farm and platted Mc- 
Kenna & Elliott's addition. This property is still 
retained by Mr. McKenna and the Elliott heirs. 

After the hard times Bayview experienced the 
revival of prosperity that came to the whole coun- 
try and has since been steadily, if slowly, growing. 
The population of the town proper is now in excess 
of three hundred people. 

Bayview is the home of one of the largest log- 
ging concerns in the state, the Ballard Lumber Com- 
pany, whose mills are at Ballard. The company 
operates a railway four miles long, built four years 
ago to tap the eastern end of Bayview ridge, the 
terminus being at the bay near the town. The daily 
output is between sixty-five thousand and seventy- 
five thousand feet of cedar, fir and spruce, and the 
number of men employed is between fifty and sixty, 
who are under the direction of manager F. A. Doty. 
The company owns about one thousand seven hun- 
dred acres. Estimates place the amount of mar- 
ketable timber yet standing on this great ridge at 
fully one hundred million feet. Joseph C. Stitt also 
operates a small camp on the ridge, and in town 
a shingle mill of fifty thousand capacity. This mill 
is practically new. Tugs and other boats of medium 
draft reach the town easily at high tide. 

A daily stage, operated by E. C. Osborn, gives 
Bayview convenient connection with Whitney sta- 
tion, three miles away. 

The school district of the town is one of the most 
progressive in the county, maintaining an eight- 
grade school and in association with district No. 
1.3. a union high school. The school-house was 
built in 1889 at a cost of eight hundred dollars, and 
stands on block seventeen of Siegfried's first addi- 
tion. The property is now valued at nearly two 
thousand dollars. Last year the enrollment was 
ninety-one. The teachers are T. H. Look, principal, 
Mrs.'M. M. Look and Lois M. Baxter. 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



Bayview also has a Methodist church, estab- 
lished in 1889, with Rev. B. F. Brooks as its first 
pastor. Rev. R. AI. Schoonmaker is its pastor at 
this date. It has a handsome, commodious church 
edifice, erected at a cost of perhaps one thousand 
two hundred and fifty dollars. 

One of the important factors in the life of this 
community is Bayview lodge, No. 12S, I. O. O. F., 
organized in 1S9:;J. In 1901, at a cost of two thou- 
sand three hundred dollars, it built a public hall, 
a very creditable building for a town of Bayview 's 
size. ' The fraternity also owns the local cemetery. 
L. L. Inman is the present past grand ; Edward 
Commrine, noble grand: John Monroe, vice grand; 
W. J. McKenna, secretary; J. C. Stitt, treasurer, 
and W. J. McKenna, J. L'. .Stitt and A. P. Walker, 
trustees. 

The following is a list of Bayview's business 
houses and professional men ; General stores, W. J. 
McKenna, J. C. Stitt; hotel, the Bayview, C. P. 
Dickey ; livery, Robert Barr ; restaurant, T. H. 
Look ; meat market. Perry Gabriel ; blacksmith shop, 
William Ouiglev ; CdiiU'CtinncrN . Harry McMillan; 
two saloons; contr.ictor. \. ( '. I'aulson; postmaster 
and notary pul)lic, \\ . J. McKenna; physician, J. 
H. Fairleigh. 

CLi;.\Rr.AKE 

Along the lines of the Northern Pacific, through 
the central portion of Skagit county, lies a chain 
of three small lakes, picturesquely set in a densely 
timbered basin among the hills. Better inland mill 
sites are not to be found or more convenient log- 
ging facilities, while the natural beauty of the re- 
gion is marked. 

Only one of these little lakes, however, is sur- 
rounded by an agricultural area of any considerable 
extent, and that is Clear lake, the most northerly of 
the chain, upon the western shore of which is the 
town bearing the same name. The railroad passes 
by on this side of the lake and between it and the 
railroad is Clearlake's principal thoroughfare, in 
fact, most of the town. Perhaps three hundred and 
fifty people constitute the aggregate population. 

As yet the town is unincorporated, though it 
probably soon will be. The main dependence of the 
inhabitants is the logging and milling industry, 
though agriculture is not neglected. 

Robert Pringle, in 1S7;, settled upon the quarter 
section of which the Clearlake town site is a portion, 
becoming one of the earliest pioneers in that vicin- 
ity. The same year John Isaacson took a claim at 
the north end of the lake, and in ISTS John Dart 
became a permanent settler there, but until the Se- 
attle, Lake Shore & Eastern came through in 1S90 
there was not even a postoffice in the valley. 

With the building of that railroad, however, fur- 
nishing a convenient outlet to the region's products, 
came a sudden ambition for larger things. Hence, 



in the spring of 1890, Jacob Bartl platted fifteen 
acres of the Pringle claim, which he had secured, 
established a store and in April became the first 
postmaster of Clearlake postoffice. 

The town site was originally named Mountain 
Mew. The following year Alexander Smith erected 
a hotel, now the Stevens house, on the site, and Day 
Brothers, Michael and John, built Clearlake's 
pioneer sliini;k- mill. 

Thus was given inception to the present bustling 
town, which grew ven,- slowly at first, partly on ac- 
count of its close proximit)' to Sedro and Woolley, 
only two or three miles north. In 1894 Charles 
Eagan and Robert Lannigan succeeded Smith in the 
hotel, and another change in the middle nineties was 
the retirement of Mr. Bartl in favor of Niles & Rey- 
nolds. This store came into the hands of its pres- 
ent owners in 1899, when Niles & Revnolds sold out. 
The Day Brothers were also succeeded by John Mc- 
Master, and he later by the Bratnober-Wait Lumber 
Company, while in recent \ears still a new firm 
has acquired the mill property, the Clearlake Lum- 
ber Company. 

With the revival of prosperous times in the late 
nineties, Clearlake began to grow, and it has been 
growing steadih- since. The mill was enlarged from 
time to time, new logging camps started, more land 
was transformed into farms and all along the line 
greater activity was manifested. 

The Clearlake mill, saw, planing and shingle 
combined, is one of the largest in the county and 
gives employment to probably a hundred men or 
more. The main buildings were erected three years 
ago and the plant is equipped with modern ma- 
chinery. F. H. Jackson, of .Seattle, is president of 
the company; M. M. Cole, resident manager and 
superintendent. This concern also conducts a large 
general store, boarding house, etc. Two large 
camps on the hill west of Clearlake are controlled lay 
this fimi, employing from one hundred and fift\- to 
two hundred men. At times the monthly payroll 
of Clearlake has reached fifteen thousand dollars. 
A mile and a half below the town the Clear Lake 
Shingle Company, R. H. Kellogg, manager, oper- 
ates a shingle mill also. 

G. A. Chapman, connected with Beddall's store, 
estimates the amount of hay raised in Clear lake val- 
ley at two hundred and fiftv tons, and of oats one 
hundred tons. Large quantities of cherries, apples, 
plums and berries are also produced. 

Clearlake's business houses may be listed as fol- 
lows : General stores : W. O. Beddall, Clearlake 
Lmnbcr Company, Starland & Boye ; hotels : the 
Stevens, Lafayette S. Stevens, proprietor; the Cen- 
tral, J. A. Frederick, proprietor ; meat market, Alex- 
ander McDonald; bakery. .\. J. Grierson ; confec- 
tionery and barber shop, Thomas McEwen ; three 
saloons. W. O. Beddall is postmaster and J. A. Sis- 
son station agent. 

The town is fortunate iii possessing good edu- 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



cational facilities. The first school in district No. 
33, was a rough shack built of split boards, erected 
in 1889. Upon this site five years ago the district 
built a neat three-room structure at a cost of one 
thousand five hundred dollars. During the past year 
the school has been und.er the control of F. P. Mc- 
Greal, principal, Mrs. F. P. McGreal and Miss Nel- 
lie Morrow. Last year one hundred and thirty chil- 
dren were enrolled. 

In 1903 the Methodists erected a handsome 
church building in the town, over which the Sedro- 
Woolley pastor has charge and a little later the Con- 
gregationalists built their church home. Rev. A. 
Lennox is the resident Congregational minister. 

m'murr.w 

Chief among McMurray's industries and the 
principal support of the population is the immense 
plant of the Atlas Shingle and Lumber Company. 
This institution covers several acres of ground on 
the lake shore at the northern end of town. Since 
the old mill, McMurray's original saw-mill, came 
into the hands of the present company about nine 
years ago it has been practically rebuilt and thor- 
oughly modernized until it is now counted one of 
the best plants on the sound. Between fifty thou- 
sand and seventy thousand feet of lumber are cut 
daily, in addition to an average output of one hun- 
dred and fifty thousand shingles. As the prosper- 
ity of this industry has varied so has that of Mc- 
Murray. but, since for nearly a decade now this mill 
has been operated almost continuously and has been 
gradually increasing its scope, the town has likewise 
steadily advanced from a mere hamlet during the 
hard times to its present thrifty condition. 

But while the business institution referred to in 
the foregoing furnishes the main dependence of the 
town's three hundred or three hundred and fifty 
inhabitants, it is not the sole support. Just over the 
hill to the west lies the English Logging Company's 
large camp, one of the largest in this region of the 
sound: southward up the track is a large shingle 
mill at Ehrlich station, and several small inde- 
pendent loggers are engaged in the vicinity. Only 
a short distance east is the rich upper Pilchuck val- 
ley, a timber and farming section. A few new farms 
are scattered at other points along the lake or on 
the surrounding bench lands. Furthermore, Mc- 
Murray is a pleasant, healthy, pretty place and has, 
therefore, attracted to it some whose main object 
was home-building. 

Lake McMurray lies at the extreme lower end 
of the chain of lakes along the Northern Pacific's 
route through the central portion of Skagit county. 
It is a small body of fresh water, nerhaps two miles 
in length by three-quarters of a mile wide, and ver}' 
deep. The valley is narrow and in its original con- 
dition was heavily timbered with cedar, fir and 
spruce, principally cedar. The cool, limpid waters 



of this typical mountain lake abound with fish, fur- 
nish a fine field, for boating and other aquatic sports 
and, best of all, afiford the logger and manufacturer 
superior advantages. 

It was because of the presence of such a heavy 
virgin forest beside a lake which was adapted for 
manufacturing purposes and which in addition was 
prepossessing to would-be home-builders that Mc- 
Murray came into existence in 1890. When the sur- 
veyors of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern staked 
their line along the shore, it was at once a foregone 
conclusion that a town must soon come into exis- 
tence there. Immediately a town site company was 
organized with Dr. Marcus Kenyon at its head, 
which platted McMurray, so named in honor of the 
pioneer settler of its shores. The site selected was on 
the western shore, near the southern end of the lake. 
There the land rises gently from the water's edge 
to a broad plateau. The topography of the spot 
is well suited for town purposes, the bench land 
giving it a commanding, well-drained site, looking 
westward across the beautiful sheet of water toward 
the snow ranges of mountains. 

Before the construction companv had reached 
the lake, McMurray's growth began. A thirty- 
room hotel was nearly completed the first summer 
by Dr. Kenyon ; M. E. Berridge was doing a general 
merchandise business, and his father-in-law, Oscar 
Ball, had opened the postoffice before regular trains 
were running. This is said to be rather 
a remarkable case of rapid town building, 
the only recorded instance of a Puget sound 
inland town, inaccessible by steamboats or 
wagon roads. reaching such an advanced 
development ahead of the regular freight traffic. In 
the fall the railroad company built a substantial 
depot costing two thousand dollars and before win- 
ter set in trains were running regularly over the 
line. 

The McMurray Cedar Lumber Company began 
erecting its plant in the fall of 1890, also, and fin- 
ished it the following spring. It was a modern com- 
bination mill with a lumber capacity of sixty thou- 
sand and a shingle output of seventy-five thousand 
a day, whose operation involving the employment of 
a large force. The new hotel was managed by a 
man named Luce until the fall of 1891, when W. H. 
Hall took charge; he also put in the pioneer meat 
market in October of that year. The town grew 
rapidly until hard times, when it sufl^ered severely. 

However, with the passing of the old mill into 
the hands of the Atlas Lumber and Shingle Com- 
pany in 1896, and the rejuvenation of that indus- 
try a little later, McMurray began to revive. It has 
grown steadily since and assumed a permanent 
place as one of the substantial smaller commercial 
centers of Skagit county. 

The town has suffered from only one severe con- 
flagration. This was occasioned by the burning of 
a portion of the Atlas plant in April, 1901. The 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



timely arrival by special train of the Snohomish City 
fire engine with Charles Slater and Frank Benway 
in charge prevented the destruction of the entire 
plant and perhaps saved the town. As it was, the 
less was at least fifty thousand dollars. 

At the time Mc Murray was founded an effort 
was made by the Medina Land and Quarry Com- 
pany to establish the town of Medina on the lake 
opposite McMurray. This enterprise failed, how- 
ever, the only two buildings erected never having 
been occupied. 

McMurray's professional men and business 
houses are : Physician, Dr. William Teepell ; post- 
master, Mrs. George La Rock ; station agent, T. H. 
Copestick; Atlas Shingle and Lumber Company, 
Charles E. Patten, manager ; general stores : 
Hughes & Blake; Starlund & Boie ; hotels: Mrs. 
H. D. Plattner, Harry Donovan ; meat market, N. G. 
Seegebarth; bakery and confectionery, Mrs. George 
Keys; barber shop, Edson Sturgeon, and three sa- 
loons. 

The pioneer school of McMurray was taught 
by Miss Thomas, of Riount Vernon, in a small 
dwelling in the fall of 1891. The next year the dis- 
trict built a school-house at a cost of one thousand 
dollars, which is still used. Professor Charles Vin- 
ger and wife have had charge of this school for the 
last three years. In 1903 the Congregationalists 
erected a handsome church edifice, and they have re- 
cently called a minister. The Catholics also have a 
chapel in the town. The only fraternities repre- 
sented at present are the Maccabees and Foresters, 
whicli have thriving local lodges. 

MONTBORNE 

This little mill town lies on the east shore of Big 
lake, the middle lake in the chain which occupies 
the central portion of Skagit county. The Nelson 
& Neal Lumber Company operate a large mill there 
which furnishes practical'lv the entire support of the 
village. 

It is also a station on the Northern Pacific, and 
has a postoffice and general store. 

Dr. H. P. Montborne, the pioneer physician of 
Mount Vernon, settled on this land, upon which 
the town bearing his name stands, in 1.SS4. and in 
1S90 sold the claim to the Virginia Land and Town- 
site Company, of which A. S. Dunham, president 
of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railway Com- 
pany, became president. A depot was inimediatelv 
established, and in 1891 a postoffice secured. Sev- 
eral different companies have operated mills at 
RTontborne, the site being very favorable for mill- 
mg purposes. It is an attractive, beautifully situ- 
ated little town. 

HAMILTON 

The ruins of long-unused business buildings in 
Hamilton tell of a past exceeding the present. " The 
towering mountains of coal and iron just across the 



river, the mountains of timber in an opposite direc- 
tion giving prophecy of a future far surpassing 
past or present, while the great beauty of the level 
town site, dry and clean at all seasons, will permit 
the building of an attractive as well as a busy and 
prosperous city when the time is full for the devel- 
opment of its tributary wealth. 

About the year 1877 William Hamilton filed 
on the land that is now the town site. In 1884 he 
put in a general merchandise establishment, encour- 
aged by the activity in the coal region just across 
the river, but the village did not grow much until 
1889. In that year, however, it took a wonderful 
start. Among the promoters of its development 
were McNaught Brothers, C. B. McDowell, H. C. 
Pettit, J. W. Dermont, Colonel Wilkinson and J. C. 
Carlton. It speedily became a thriving place with 
perhaps fifteen hundred inhabitants within its bor- 
ders and in the country surrounding. 

The Skagit County Logger tells us that in 
November, 1889, Hamilton had a steam saw and 
shingle mill, a water-power feed mill, two livery 
stables, a general merchandise store, a news- 
paper, a blacksmith shop, two hotels, a school-house 
and a public hall. Two stages left the town daily, 
one for Mount Vernon, the other for up-river 
points. Lots ranged in price from seventy-five to 
two hundred dollars. 

In the spring of 1890, the Hamilton Town Site 
and Land Conapany was incorporated, with a board 
of trustees consisting of twelve influential capital- 
ists of Butte, Seattle, Fairhaven and Hamilton. It 
is stated that during the week ending June 5. 1890, 
that company sold thirty thousand dollars' worth 
of real estate. Very early in 1891 steps were taken 
looking toward incorporation. At a meeting held 
January 17th, J. B. Wiley, census enumerator, sub- 
mitted his report showing that he had found three 
hundred and twenty-seven people within the pro- 
posed corporate limits. The 4th of the ensuing 
March, by a vote of forty-eight to thirty-four, the 
people decided upon incorporation, and the fol- 
lowing officers were elected : Mayor, J. B. Wiley ; 

treasurer, Graves ; councilmen, Thomas 

Miller, C. G. Shepard, I. C. Richardson, W. H. 
Dexter, C. B. McDowell". 

The >ear 1891 was one of great activity and 
prosperity due to the mines and the building of 
the Seattle & Northern Railroad. It was assumed 
from the efforts of the Great Northern to secure 
a half interest in the town site that that company 
expected to do great things for the development 
of Hamilton. It was claimed that an arrangement 
had been entered into whereby the Great Northern 
undertook to connect Hamilton with its Puget sound 
system during the year, and hearts beat high with 
hope that not only this would be done, but that the 
road would be extended to Sauk and in a short time 
through the mountains to a connection with its 
great transcontinental system. 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



Unfortunately the hopes then entertained were 
doomed to disappointment. The mines shut down, 
the hard times came on, a portion of the town near 
the river suffered greatly from floods and a decline 
began, lasting yet. The Great Northern is a reality, 
to be sure, but' it has not proved the developer that 
was expected. The rates demanded by it for trans- 
porting logs are considered prohibitive by lumber- 
men, causing many of them to shut down. While 
this and the inactivity in the tributary mines are 
verv depressing, it is' clear that present conditions 
cannot last always. So magnificent is the timber 
that the loggers have begun surveying for a rail- 
road to a point on the river from which logs can 
safely be transported by water to the sound. They 
assert that unless the Great Northern establishes 
a reasonable rate they will surely build their own 
road. In either case the town will profit by the 
increased activity which must come. The iron and 
coal will not always go begging and when their 
development commences in good earnest a splendid 
city will spring up on this magnificent town site. 

A list of the present business houses and busi- 
ness men of Hamilton at the present time would 
include the following : Bank of Hamilton, J. Yung- 
bluth & Company, proprietors : drug store, J. H. 
Smith : confectioner\\ Morris Hamilton ; Hamilton 
Herald, Hans J. Bratlie, publisher ; the Yellowstone 
restaurant and saloon, P. Jacobino, proprietor; 
J. R. Baldridge's saloon ; g'roceries, Thomas Conboy : 
dry goods, Frank Wyman ; hardware, general mer- 
chandise, etc., the Eagle Shingle Company ; the 
Seattle saloon and hotel, E. R. Whitney, proprie- 
tor; the Washington hotel, Mrs. M. Ferbrache, pro- 
prietress ; meat market, Fred Shannon, proprietor ; 
harness, paints, etc., P. Gabel ; livery stable, W. W. 
Raymore. Four miles above the town is the J. T. 
Hightower Lumber Company's plant and there is 
also a logging camp in the vicinity in operation at 
present. Dr. R. G. Kellner practices medicine and 
surgery in the town and surrounding country. At 
the time of the writer's visit, the Methodist Epis- 
copal society, under the pastorate of Rev. Henry 
Harpst, was erecting a neat little church. The 
Catholics also have a local organization and a resi- 
dent priest. The town has an excellent public 
school, presided over last 3'ear by four instructors. 
G. W. Wilson is postmaster. 



Baker is an upper Skagit valley village, situ- 
ated on the Great Northern Railway at the junction 
of the Skagit and Baker rivers, from the latter of 
which it receives its name. At this point there is 
not at present very extended development, but with 
such rich resources as exist in the surrounding 
country the day of larger things cannot be far 
distant. 

The foothills and slopes of the Cascades, lying 



in close proximity, have as yet lost only a fraction 
of their marketable timber; the minerals hidden 
beneath these forests have scarcely been scratched 
by the pick, while the valleys are being cultivated 
in but a few spots. At Baker lake, about twenty- 
five miles up the river, the government maintains 
an extensive fish hatchery. 

Just across the river from the town of Baker 
a great cement mine is now being developed by a 
syndicate which proposes to erect on the ground a 
mill capable of producing twelve hundred barrels 
a day. In fact, at this writing, a crew of more 
than a hundred men is engaged in building a great 
dam on Baker river and flumes for utilizing the 
immense water power, while side tracks have been 
laid and the site is ready to receive the mill. The 
enterprise is a substantial one and bids fair to 
create of itself a thrifty, populous commvmity. A 
comparatively new bridge spans the Baker near its 
mouth, connecting the town with the proposed 
cement works on the old Amasa Everett ranch on 
the west side of the river. 

Upon the sloping plateau, reaching perhaps a 
height of between a hundred and a hundred and 
fifty feet above the rivers, on the east side of the 
Baker river, which forms the site of Baker, Richard 
Challanger settled in 1S8S. Two years later Magnus 
iMiller bought the claim from Challanger and made 
permanent residence thereon, building a dwelling 
large enough to accommodate occasional travelers 
through that isolated region. The next year the 
community built a school-house on John Benson's 
place on the Skagit a short distance above the 
mouth of the Baker, and in 1892 Baker postoffice 
was established on Miller's place. 

In this stage of development the embni^o town 
remained for nearly ten years, or until the Great 
Northern was extended up the valley, passing 
through the Miller place. About this time Wil- 
son M. Aldridge came to the mouth of Baker river 
with a stock of general merchandise and estab- 
lished the pioneer store near the postoffice, the 
year of his arrival being 1900. A year later the 
Baker River Lumber Company erected a mill along 
the railroad at the Miller place, which added impe- 
tus to the town's growth, resulting in the establish- 
ment of another store (owned by the company), 
and a saloon, and increasing the population con- 
siderably. This mill is operating steadily, cutting 
from one hundred thousand to one hundred and 
twenty thousand shingles a day, but no lumber. 
Last year a school-house was built in town and 
Miss Carrie Leggett employed as its first teacher. 

The town institutions may be said to consist 
of two general stores, that of W. M. Aldridge and 
that of the Baker River Lumber Company ; hotel, 
operated by Magnus Miller ; postofifice, of which he 
is also postmaster ; a shingle mill, two saloons, a 
large cement works just across the river, and a 
school-house. 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



SAUK CITY 

As early as 1884 a postoffice was established 
at Sauk City. In January, 1889, a large portion 
of the little village which had sprung up there was 
destroyed by fire. Only one building, it is said, 
was left standing, the store of George Perrault, but 
many of the destroyed residences were at once re- 
built. The following November forty acres were 
platted into town lots and a larger area was divided 
into five and ten-acre tracts, which were offered 
for sale soon after. During 1890, Thomas F. 
Moody of Hamilton and J. W. Sutherland of Fair- 
haven purchased three hundred and sixty acres of 
land across the Skagit from Sauk postoffice from 
Messrs. Sutter. McLoud & Byers ; their object 
being to start a town. In August surveying was 
begun and negotiations were opened for a saw- 
mill, which would furnish materials for the build- 
ings. Moody & Sutherland merged their interests 
with those of a wealthy corporation in February, 
1891, and it appeared that a grand onward move- 
ment for the place had begun. 

At that time it seemed evident that with the 
energy and wealth of its promoters, with th6 agri- 
cultural and logging interests that would naturally 
center there and with its close proximity to the 
mineral stores of the Skagit. Cascade and Sauk 
rivers, it must necessarily become a town of no 
little importance. The site selected was decidedly 
advantageous, being at the head of the Skagit 
valley and at the foot of Sauk valley, on a piece of 
ground lying in moderately high terraces, the lower 
one of which was above high-water mark. 

But with all these advantages, and with the 
railroad it now enjoys, the growth of the place 
has been slow, owing to the comparative slow- 
ness in the development of its tributary industries. 
The business houses established there at present 
are: The Sauk Mercantile Company, dealers in 
general merchandise, two hotels, two saloons, a 
butcher shop, a tailor shop, a shingle mill with a 
daily capacity of one hundred and twenty thou- 
sand and a postoffice. The place is supplied with 
a good public school. As yet no denomination of 
Christians has established itself in Sauk, but a 
Sunday-school is maintained. 

ROCKPORT 

The present terminus of the railroad from Ana- 
cortes through the Skagit valley to the foot of the 
Cascades is Rockport, on the Sauk river, near 
Sauk City. For many years a hotel has been 
maintained there by Al. Von Pressentin and a few 
goods may also have been carried by him. but the 
little town is comparatively young, not over five or 
six years old. Until very recently the people resid- 
ing in the vicinity had to go to Sauk for their mail, 
but they now have a postoffice in their mid.st. The 



business establishments of the place at present are 
Al. Von Pressentin's hotel ; Charles Comforth's 
restaurant; Horace Claibom's saloon; Al. Von Pres- 
sentin's general store; Wm. H. Parry's livery sta- 
ble; a large mill boarding house run by A. Young; 
the Hawkeye Shingle Company's mill, capacity one 
hundred and twenty thousand ; the Rockport Shin- 
gle Company's plant, capacity fifty to sixty thou- 
sand ; a public school, and a depot, with a telegraph 
and express office. 

CEMENT CITY 

This town site was platted only the last of July. 
1905. The writer visited it about that time and 
watched the streets being staked out and men at 
work installing a water system. Only one building- 
had been erected on the site, that of O. C. Miller. 
manager of the new cement works. 

This town has been planned as a home for the 
large number of people who are shortly to be em- 
ployed at this place in mining the raw cement and 
refining it. 



This thrifty little hamlet is situated at the ex- 
treme southern portion of Fidalgo island, near the 
western end of Deception pass. The original name 
of this postoffice was Deception, and it was created 
in the latter part of the eighties. There was nothing 
except the postoffice at the place until 1889, when 
every available town site on Fidalgo island was 
purchased and platted as fast as surveyors could do 
the work. F. J. Carlyle and George Loucke, in 
18S9, secured holdings at Deception and almost im- 
mediately platted them as Fidalgo City, three hun- 
dred and forty-one blocks being surveyed. About 
the same time Legh R. Freeman, publisher of the 
Washington Farmer, laid out another tract of land 
near by, calling his town Gibraltar. A newspaper 
report of the time states that at the opening sale of 
lots. November oth, two hundred and fifty-two of 
the Fidalgo City lots were sold and forty-seven at 
Gibraltar. January 9, 1891, the name of the post- 
office was changed to Fidalgo and Miss Mary E. 
Loucke appointed postmistress. As this name was 
in conflict with that of the old postoffice on Fidalgo 
bay, the department almost immediately again 
changed the name — this time to Fidalgo City. This 
name remained until after the Spanish-American 
War, when the old name was abandoned and the 
present one, that of the gallant admiral, chosen. 

In 1891 an electric motor line was built from 
Anacortes south to Fidalgo City and cars made two 
trips over it. The enterprise was premature, how- 
ever, and really completed simply to secure a large 
land bonus promised the company. This old road- 
bed may still be seen, but the iron has long since 
been removed. 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



Fidalgo City, or Dewey's, pioneer merchants 
were W. H. Halpin and C. J. Carlisle, the former 
establishing the first store at the time the town was 
laid out. Without attempting to note minutely the 
changes from time to time, it is sufficient to say 
that the present merchant and postmaster, Albanus 
D. Quint, came to Dewey in 189T and opened his 
store. Dewey is a pleasantly situated little place, 
and when Fidalgo island becomes a great man- 
ufacturing point, it, too, will enjoy a vigorous 
growth. 

WHITNEY 

This little hamlet lies on the Anacortes branch 
of the Great Northern railway, perhaps a mile south- 
east of Padilla bay, in the northern portion of the 
famous Swinomish flats. There is a station there 
of which Mrs. E. Mendenhall is in charge. She 
also keeps the postoffice, and in connection with it 
a small store. The only other business establish- 
ment of the place is a hotel and saloon, conducted 
by Anderson Brothers. A daily stage line is also 
operated between Whitney and La Conner, six miles 
south. 

The postoffice, which is still known as Padilla, 
was established in 1883 in the old village of Padilla, 
a mile north of the railroad, with A. G. Tillinghast 
as postmaster. With the building of the railroad in 
1890 this pioneer hamlet was abandoned and what 
business was there removed to Whitney station. 
Miss Emma Jenne became postmistress about 1891 
and shortly afterward Olven Fulk built the Ander- 
son hotel and saloon. Whitney was named in honor 
of Rienzie E. Whitney, who was one of Skagit's 
most worthy pioneers, the founder of the Padilla 
settlement and the man who reclaimed Whitney's 
island near the station. 



The above is the name of a station on the Ana- 
cortes division of the Great Northern railway at a 
point where it crosses Fidalgo bay, two miles south- 
east of Anacortes. At the time of the great Fidalgo 
island boom in 1890 William Munks platted the 
town on a portion of his old homestead and quite 
a business center sprang up at the place. A preten- 
tious hotel was erected by Mr. Munks himself and 
a large store was established by Henry C. Bark- 
honsen. These were not the pioneer houses, how- 
ever, for Fidalgo postoffice was the second one 
created in Skagit county and Mr. Munks had main- 
tained a trading post 'at his place since the late 
sixties. With the collapse of the boom in 189-?, and 
the arrival of hard times, Fidalgo gave up its ambi- 
tion to become a city and ultimately the land was 
remanded to fanning purposes. The postoffice was 
discontinued a few years ago, and now all that re- 
mains of the town is a few deserted buildings and 
the railroad station. 



Although merely a hamlet, a trading center in 
the delta of the Skagit river. Fir is a place of his- 
toric interest in Skagit county. At present there is 
a postoffice, of which Colonel Charles F. Treat is 
postmaster ; two general stores, one belonging to 
Colonel Treat, the other to Edward Osborn ; George 
Mann's hotel and a saloon. 

Mann's Landing, as Fir was first named, had its 
inception in the logging industry. When that busi- 
ness began to assume large proportions on the Skagit 
during the middle seventies, extensive boom facil- 
ities became a necessity at the river's mouth, the 
maintenance of which in turn required great crews 
of men. So it was only natural that in 1876 C. H. 
Mann should have opened a store upon his claim 
near by. It being conveniently situated upon the 
shore, boats at once began making calls there, and 
very shortly the point became known as Mann's 
Landing. Its location is upon the north bank of the 
south fork channel, opposite Conway, and perhaps 
three and a half miles from the sound. Contem- 
poraneously with the establishment of Mann's store, 
came a small hotel owned by Mann and kept by 
Mrs. John Anderson, and the postoffice of Fir, of 
which Mr. Mann was postmaster. At that time 
Skagit City was the only town on the river. Mount 
Vernon being no larger than Fir for several years. 
As headquarters for loggers and the constantly in- 
creasing number of settlers who were reclaiming 
the fertile bottom lands at the delta, Fir throve vig- 
orously, and became a typical frontier community. 

About 1883 Magnus Anderson replaced Mann's 
old hotel by a substantial, two-story building, of 
which Mr. and Mrs. Charles Villeneuve first took 
charge. Soon afterward the Morting house was 
erected. Just at this period in the hamlet's history 
Skagit county's first disastrous fire wiped out every 
business building at the place, the losses reaching 
approximately seventeen thousand dollars, with 
small insurance. The buildings were at once rebuilt 
and business reestablished. Friday, April 10, 1885, 
is the date of this conflagration. Eight years later 
Mr. Mann again sufi'ered the destruction by fire of 
his store buildings, the loss this time reaching, ac- 
cording to the Skagit News, twenty-five thousand 
dollars, with eleven thousand dollars insurance. 
Since that disaster Fir has prospered without un- 
toward incident. Many fishing boats on the sound 
make headquarters at Fir and Conwav. 



Conway lies on the southeastern bank of the 
Skagit river, opposite Fir, and is the southernmost 
Skagit county station on the Great Northern's 
coast-line. Its population does not exceed fifty, 
there being only a postoffice, hotel, store and two 
saloons there. A ferry connects Conway with Fir, 
virtually making them one community. 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



Thomas P. Jones and Charles Villeneiive settled 
upon and near the site of Conway in l.S7;5, but not 
until 1886 did the latter establish the pioneer store 
on the land. In 1891 the Great Northern came 
through, designating this point as a station. There- 
upon Mr. Jones platted the town site of Conway 
upon a portion of his land. Mr. Villeneuve bought 
four lots and in 1893 erected the present store 
building. A heavy flood in 189-t all but destroyed 
the place. Two years later Mr. Villeneuve leased 
his store to William Bonser, who retained posses- 
sion two years, finally returning the business to its 
owner. Magnus Anderson succeeded Mr. Villen- 
euve a year and a half later and was in turn re- 
cently succeeded by John Melkild who still conducts 
the general store.' The wealthy Skagit delta flats 
surround the town, furnishing its main support. 

SKAGIT CITY 

The history of Skagit City is so interwoven with 
the general history of Skagit county that only a 
brief niention will be necessary here. This historic 
place, the oldest settlement and business point on 
the Skagit river, is situated on the north bank of the 
main river about four miles below Mount Vernon 
and a mile below the junction of the north and south 
forks. It is in the very heart of the Skagit delta, 
surrounded on every side by one of the richest farm- 
ing regions in the Northwest. Practically the whole 
region is in cultivation. The river here is broad and 
deep, furnishing facilities for extensive steamboat 
navigation and general boating, all of which is 
taken advantage of by numerous river boats. A 
ferry is maintained by the county at this point for 
the convenience of the public. 

Like a typical river town, Skagit City was built 
along the dike, the business houses being built in a 
row facing the water, beginning with Barker's 
single trading post in 1869. Ten years l^ter Skagit 
City was a thrifty village with hotels, stores, saloons, 
school, church and other public buildings. For a 
few years it continued to grow, but with the rise of 
Mount \ern(Mi the older town gradually began to 
decline, losing its business houses to Mount Vernon 
one by one. .\t present only one remains, the gen- 
eral store of D. E. Gage, who succeeded more than 
a quarter of a century ago to the original establish- 
ment. Even the postoffice has been discontinued, 
the rural free delivery routes taking its place. The 
Skagit Queen, Captain H. H. MacDonald, calls at 
the wharf when occasion requires. 

The town site was platted on the old homestead 
of W. H. McAlpine, one of the earliest of Skagit's 
pioneers. Originally the McAlpine dwelling and 
Barker's store stood further up the river, near the 
point a few hundred yards above the present build- 
ings. Heavy floods have partly washed away the 
old site. 

Skagit City is associated with so much of impor- 



tance and interest in connection with the early days 
of Skagit's settlement that it will always live in local 
history. Its mission as a town, however, seems to 
have been fulfilled. 



"Otto Klement has laid off the town of Lyman. 
The lots are fifty by one hundred ; alleys seventeen 
feet ; streets sixty and eighty-two. The site is one 
above all overflow, level and dry. Our county sur- 
veyor, George Savage, has done the platting and 
excellent work is the result." 

Such is the account in the Skagit Ne\ys of Octo- 
ber 28, 188-1:, of the inception of Lyman as a town. 
The first store in the place had been erected before 
this by Mr. Klement. If the town site proprietor 
expected a rapid growth for his new burg he was 
doomed to disappointment, but the town, by 1889, 
consisted of the first-class general merchandise store 
of B. D. Minkler, the Lyman hotel, run by a man 
named Quinn, a livery stable, a town hall and a 
church. 

Notwithstanding its splendid location in the heart 
of a fine agricultural section, with a fine belt of 
timber on one side and great deposits of coal and 
iron on the other, Lyman seems to have received 
relatively little attention from the town site boomer 
during the early nineties, nor has it had a specially 
rapid growth at any time. Of the three roads ex- 
pected to pass through it in 1890, but one has mater- 
ialized, the Seattle & Northern, now the property 
of the Great Northern. This, however, is already 
of inestimable advantage and will be of still greater 
when the development of the mines begins in good 
earnest. The town at present consists of the follow- 
ing business enterprises: Lyman hotel and saloon, 
Duffy & Egan's saloon, Henry Hurshman's general 
merchandise store and hotel, the Hitchcock-Kelly 
Lumber Company, Vanderford & Minkler Shingle 
mill, a K. of P. hall, a postoffice and a railway depot. 

STERLING 

Jesse B. Ball founded the town of Sterling in 
1878, by establishing a large logging camp and trad- 
ing post at that point. The site lies at a great bend 
in the Skagit river, two miles below Sedro-Woolley, 
on the north bank of the river. Then, and for many 
years afterward, Sterling was the chief town in the 
valley above Mount Vernon and was the head of 
regular steamboat navigation. The forests sur- 
rounding the town and up the valley were a paradise 
for loggers, and Sterling was considered headquar- 
ters, making it for the first few years an important 
place. 

In 1886 the Skagit Railway and Lumber Com- 
pany succeeded Ball. This concern enlarged even 
upon his extensive operations, employing a small 
army of men and carrying a stock of general 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



247 



merchandise ranging from forty thousand dollars 
upward. The town had this camp and store, a 
hotel, a livery stable, a church and a school-house 
in 1889, and perhaps seventy to eighty permanent 
residents. That year, however, marked the be- 
ginning of Sterling's end, as Sedro began its 
wonderful growth, Woolley was platted and 
the railroads, just constructed throughout the 
county, began drawing trade from the river. 
\\lien what is now the Skagit valley branch of the 
Great Northern came up the valley. Sterling was 
not touched by it, a fact which further accelerated 
the decline of the little river town. To-day there 
is a station called Sterling, but the old town is 
merely a memory. 



The postoffice of Warner's prairie, northwest of 
Burlington, is Thome, established in VMH). It is 
named in honor of the postmaster, Woodbury J. 
Thome, who, with his wife, settled on their home- 
stead in 1895. 

EHRLICHS 

A postoffice and station on the Bellingham 
branch of the Northern Pacific railway, between 
Montbome and McMurray. Hughes & Blake oper- 
ate a general store, besides which there are two or 
three small shingle mills in the vicinity. 



For the purpose of preserving in history some 
data concerning pioneer Skagit towns and post- 
offices which never realized a permanent existence, 
we mention the following: 

Eagle Harbor, a postoffice established on 
Cypress island in 1881, with E. Hammond as post- 
master. No business buildings were ever erected 
or mails ever delivered. 

Bancroft, a town laid out around Alden Acad- 
emy, Fidalgo island, in 188.3, by Rev. E. O. Tade. 
It was so named in honor of Hubert Howe Ban- 
croft, the author of the Pacific Coast series. An 
unsuccessful enterprise, which never progressed be- 
yond the sale of a few lots. 

Bessemer, north bank of the Skagit river above 
Birdsview. Platted by Harrison Clothier in 1890, 
at the time the Cokedale mines were opened. A 
town in name only. 

Atlanta, on Samish island near Point Williams. 
Platted by ex-Sherii? G. W. L. Allen in 1883. He 
erected a two-story hotel, established a store, se- 
cured a postoffice and built an extensive wharf, but 
failed in his larger purpose. This was the extent 
of the town's growth. 

Other postoffices in the county according to the 
last United States postal guide are : Belfast, Belle- 
ville, Biglake, Birdsview, Cypress, Fravel, Fre- 
donia. Lookout. JMansford, Marblemount, Milltown, 
Minkler, Prairie, Samish, Urban and Van Horn, all 
of which are thriving centers of the lumber, mining 
or agricultural industry. 



PART III 

SNOHOMISH COUNTY 




MOUNTAIN AND STREAM 



PART III 

SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



CHAPTER I 



SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 



Away back in the early fifties, when the Indians 
still held by right of possession all the land on which 
are the cities of Seattle, Everett, La Conner, Bell- 
ingham and other prominent towns of the sound, 
the first permanent white settlement in Snohomish 
county was made. The site of this settlement was 
Tulalip bay, the settlers were John Gould, who died 
recently on Whidby island, a Frenchman named 
Peter Goutre and a few others ; the purpose of these 
stout-hearted pioneers was to utilize the splendid 
water power in operating a saw-mill ; the date of 
their settlement is believed to be 1853. 

The saw-mill was built as planned. Nothing oc- 
curred to interfere seriously with its successful oper- 
ation until January 22, 1855, when the celebrated 
Governor I. I. Stevens held a council with the 
D'Wamish and allied tribes of Indians. The result 
of this convention was the cession to the United 
States of a vast domain, from which, however, was 
reserved to the Indians a tract of land including the 
very spot on which this pioneer saw-mill stood. As 
a result the mill was condemned by the government, 
which bought it at an appraised valuation. It still 
stands on its original site, a monument to the enter- 
prise of its pioneer builders, and a great curiosity. 
But it is more than a relic of the past ; more than a 
curiosity, for in the hands of Indian operators, it 
is still doing good work for the agency. 

The wide-spread Indian outbreak which fol- 
lowed the negotiation of Governor Stevens' several 
treaties with Oregon and Washington tribes, pre- 
vented settlements in Snohomish county during the 
years 1855-6, if any such were contemplated. The 
war, however, brought white men to the country, 
thereby extending a knowledge of its resources and 



perhaps influencing settlement at a later date. For 
a general outline of operations against the Indian 
confederated tribes in this celebrated race struggle, 
the reader is referred to a previous chapter. The 
seat of war on the sound was King and Pierce 
counties, but it was thought best to send troops to 
the Snohomish river to confirm the neutrality of the 
Snoqualmies and other tribes who made their homes 
in this vicinity, and to circumscribe the hostile area 
as completely as possible. With this end in view, 
Colonel I. N. Ebey, of Whidby island, raised a com- 
pany of volunteers at Port Townsend, and in No- 
vember, 1855, came with them to the Snohomish 
country. Patkanim, a friendly Snoqualmie chief, 
piloted the company. It was transported to the 
Snohomish river by the schooner A. Y. Trask, Cap- 
tain Horton, which was towed by the little iron 
steamer Traveler, Captain John E. Burns. The 
Traveler was probably the first steamer that ever en- 
tered the Snohomish. Ascending to the head of 
what has ever since been known as Ebey slough, 
they built there a primitive log fortfication, named 
by them Fort Ebey, where they remained until the 
next spring. The fort was never compelled to en- 
gage in active hostilities, offensive or defensive, but 
after Patkanim's battle on White river, in which he 
surprised and routed the hostiles, the heads of fallen 
foes were brought to the Snocjualmie river, thence 
in canoes to Fort Ebey, where the victorious war- 
riors came ashore with their horrid trophies on 
sticks. Setting these in the ground, they proceeded 
to execute a war dance in the presence of the volun- 
teers. 

In the spring of 1856, Fort Ebey was abandoned. 
Many of the men who had constituted its garrison, 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



enlisted in Captain Smalley's company, which was 
then being raised at Port Townsend and Dunginess, 
and which, with Captain Samuel Howe's Whidby 
island company and Captain Peabody's Whatcom 
county volunteers, constituted the Northern battal- 
ion. Colonel Ebey, the leader of the expedition, re- 
turned to his home on Whidby island, where on the 
night of the 11th of August,' ISSI, he was perfid- 
iously murdered by the dread Northern Indians. 
The perpetrators of the horrible outrage were a 
party of Kakes, who dwell as far north as the 
fifty-eighth parallel. During the day they had re- 
ceived kind treatment from their intended victim, 
who, coming out of his house that night in response 
to their call, was treacherously shot and then be- 
headed. U. S. Marshal George W. Corliss and his 
wife were guests in the Ebey home at the time. 
They escaped while the Indians were parleying, only 
to fall victims to these or other Northern Indians 
at a later date. 

Quite a number of the Fort Ebey soldiers were 
so favorably impressed with the Snohomish valley 
during their winter's stay, that they later returned 
and became pioneer citizens of the county. There 
was, however, no permanent settlement by white 
men until 1859, if we except Rev. 1".. C. Chirouse's 
Catholic mission. Harry Spithill was here in 1858, 
in what is now the Tualco settlement, but he was 
in no sense a settler at that time, though he has 
been in the county ever since and is now a resident 
of Marysville. Others were here even before that 
date, three white men being in Snohomish county 
in 1855. 

Without violence to truth it may be said that 
the real settlement of the county began in 1S59, and 
that its immediate cause was the inception of opera- 
tions on the proposed military road from P'ort Steil- 
acoom to Fort Bellingham. A number of progress- 
ive men at the former point, watchful for an oppor- 
tunity to improve their condition and at the same 
time build up the country, conceived a plan of build- 
ing a ferry and a town at the point where the road 
would cross the Snohomish. Accordingly they 
formed a species of syndicate, consisting of Rogers 
& McCaw, Ferguson & Rabbeson and Colonel 
Wallace, all residents of Steilacoom. E. T. Cady 
was sent out as the representative of the first two : 
Hiel Barnes of Ferguson & Rabbeson and E. H. 
Tucker of Colonel Wallace ; and all were instructed 
to acquire and hold for their principals squatters' 
rights to the land in the vicinity of the proposed 
ferry. Cady took what later became known as the 
Sinclair portion of the Snohomish town site ; Barnes 
what is now the western part of Snohomish and 
Tucker the land now known as the Harvey place 
on the south side of the river. 

The military road was extended northward to a 
point beyond the Stillaguamish in 1859, but the next 
congress, instead of voting an appro])riation for its 
completion to I'ort Bellingham, concluded to abol- 



ish both that and the fort at Steilacoom. This action 
naturally put an end to road building by the govern- 
ment. 

The consequent set-back to the plans of the Steil- 
acoom syndicate caused all its members to withdraw 
except Rabbeson & Ferguson, the latter of whom 
came to the river about the first of March, 18t)0, and 
took the place Hiel Barnes had been holding for him 
and Rabbeson. A few others, mostly young men 
who had been engaged on the military road, settled 
on the river. 

About simultaneous with the settlement of Cady, 
Barnes and Tucker at Snohomish City, was the 
founding of Mukilteo by Morris H. Frost, collector 
of customs at Port Townsend, wiho formed a partner- 
ship with J. D. Fowler, and sent him to that point 
with lumber and other materials for the purpose of 
building a store and hotel. For man)- years this 
was the only store on the sound between Seattle 
and Ctsalady. The proprietors enjoyed a very large 
trade with Indians and settlers, and it was the hope 
of the friends of Mukilteo during the early days 
that, owing to its excellent location, it would de- 
velop into one of the leading commercial centers 
of the sound. But circumstances were against it; 
its trade was drawn to other points and eventually 
the store was closed, though the hotel continued to 
be a favorite winter resort for loggers. 

At the time of its first settlement the territory 
now constituting Snohomish county was included 
in Island county. E. C. Ferguson hunted up for 
the writer a cop\- of the returns of an election held 
in Snohomish City, July 9, ISGO, in which seven- 
teen votes were polled, the names of tht voters being 
as follows: Z. F. Wheat, John Cochrane, A. J. 
Bailev, Andrew Johnson, Jacob Summers, John C. 
Riley, T. P. Carter, Patrick Doyle, Salem Woods, 
Hiel Barnes, H. McClurg, Benjamin Young, 
George Allen, William Hawkins, Francis Dolan, 
Charles Short and E. C. Ferguson. It is believed 
that owing to the difficulty of reaching the island, 
the ballots of these men were never sent in to the 
county seat and never included in the official re- 
turns. 

The pioneer settlers of the Snohomish and Sky- 
komish valleys early determined to seek a remedy 
for the inconvenience of their situation at such a 
great distance from their county seat. In the fall 
of 1860, a petition was circulated and received the 
signatures of twenty-five persons, praying that all 
that portion of Island county situated on the main- 
land between King and Whatcom counties (there 
was no Skagit county then) should be organized 
into a separate county to be known as Snohomish. 
While the bearer of this petition was on his way to 
Olympia he learned that the prayer of the petition- 
ers had already been granted. The facts were that 
potential political influences had been at work to 
secure a larger representation in the legislature for 
the northwestern part of the territory ; therefore 



SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 



an act creating Snohomish county was readily 
passed. The date of its approval by the governor 
is January 14, 1861. Its full text is as follows : 

AN ACT 
To Create and Organize Snohomish Countv. 
The Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Washing- 
ton do Enact as Follows : 

Section 1. The boundaries of the county of Snoho- 
mish shall be as follows: Beginning at the southwest 
corner of the county of King, being at the point where 
township line north of township No. 2(i strikes Puget sound 
waters, thence running due east, by said north line to 
township 26, to the summit of the Cascade mountains, 
thence northerly, by the said summit, till it strikes the 
easterly continuation of the eighth standard parallel, thence 
due west, by the said parallel, till it strikes the channel of 
the waters near the mouth and southward of the Skagit 
river, thence by the channel, running eastward of Camano 
or McDonald's island, and through Port Susan bay, and 
leaving Gedney's island to the east, thence southerly to 
the place of beginning. 

Sec. 2. The county seat of said county shall be and 
remain at Muckelteo (or Point Elliot), in said county; 
Provided, That a majority of the legal voters of said 
county may locate their county seat at any other point in 
said county at the next general election. 

Sec. 3. The following named officers of said county 
are hereby authorized and empowered to fulfill the various 
duties authorized by law. after being duly qualified ; to-wit : 
Sheriff, Jacob Summers; county commissioners, E. C. 
Ferguson, Henry McClurg, John Harvey; auditor, J. D. 
Fowler; judge of probate, Charles Short; treasurer, John 
Harvey; and they shall continue to fulfill the said duties 
until the next general election and their successors become 
qualified. Passed January 14, 1801. 

LYMAN SHAFFER, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
P.VUL K. HUBBS, 
President of the Council. 

A census of legal voters in the county in 1861 is 
now in the possession of E. C. Ferguson, who 
kindly loaned it to the writer. As there were no 
white women and children in the county at this time, 
all the residents were legal voters, and a list of them, 
if complete, would constitute a list of the earliest 
pioneers of Snohomish. These men were: H. 
McClurg, a farmer ; George Kelsey, farmer ; George 
Rouse, farmer; Henry lieachman. farmer; James 
Hayes, blacksmith; Benjamin ^'«>ung, farmer; J. 
liott, farmer; George .Mien, f:irnKT ; William Haw- 
kins, farmer; George Walker, farmer; Francis 
Dolan, cabinet maker; F. Fisher, farmer; George 
Saunders, carpenter ; John Richard, farmer ; Jacob 
Wilson, farmer; Charles Short, farmer; William 
Pollard, sailor; Samuel Howe, farmer; John Har- 
vey, farmer; J. P. Voisard, farmer; E. T. Cady. 
machinist; E. C. Ferguson, carpenter; John Alex- 
ander, carpenter; Charles Thompson, farmer; A. 
Davis, farmer, and James Long, farmer. Of these 
E. C. Ferguson. George Kelsey, James Haves, 
George Saunders, George Walker, and William 
Hawkins are still in Snohomish county ; H. McClurg 
is in British Columbia and John .Alexander is a 
resident of King county. The whereabouts of some 



of the others are unknown, but the majority have 
been gathered unto their fathers. 

This list, although purporting to cover the 
county, seems not to include the residents of Mukil- 
teo precinct, who, in the election of July 8, 1861, 
cast ten votes, the voters being Nicholas Nelson, 
Peter Landervale, H. D. Morgan, William King, 
Thomas Dickson, J. F. Guerin, J. D. Fowler, P. H. 
Ewell, Eugene Jasper and C. M. Stillwell. 

As in most other parts of the Northwest so in the 
Puget sound country, the discoveries of the indomi- 
table prospector had an important influence upon 
early history. Late in the fifties, gold had been 
found in the Fraser river country of British Col- 
umbia. A rush followed bringing Whatcom county, 
Washington, into immediate prominence and causing 
a town of ten thousand inhabitants to spring up in a 
few months. The boom proved very ephemeral, 
however and the town disappeared as quickly as it 
had arisen, but thousands of disappointed fortune 
hunters were cast adrift, and many of them became 
citizens of the various counties of Puget sound. 

A little later came the Similkameen excitement, 
also in British Columbia, which received not a little 
attention from the Puget sound settlements, includ- 
ing those on the Snohomish river. Late in the fall 
of 1859, E. C. Ferguson and others sent E. T. Cady 
and a man named Parsons up the Snohomish and 
Skykomish to spy out a trail across the mountains 
toward the new Mecca of the gold-hunting pil- 
grims. When they reached the summit of the range 
they returned, it being very late in the season and 
the snow too deep for the further pursuit of their 
project. The pass they visited has ever since been 
known as Cady's pass. 

From original documents, it appears that no 
little interest was manifested in this scheme of 
building a trail across the mountains. A subscrip- 
tion dated February 29, 1860, in which the signers 
agreed to pay E. C. Ferguson and S. McCraw the 
sums set opposite their names to be applied to the 
opening of this trans-Cascade road, was signed by 
the following persons : W. H. Wallace, A. B. Rab- 
beson, S. McCraw & Rogers, Egbert H. Tucker, E. 
C. Ferguson, D. V. Waldron, A. F. Byrd and John 
H. Scranton, and the sums subscribed ranged from 
fifty to two hundred and fifty dollars and aggre- 
gated eleven hundred dollars. Another subscrip- 
tion to the same project was circulated in Port 
Townsend and received twenty-nine signatures, 
the pledges aggregating over nine hundred and 
eighty dollars in cash and property of various kinds. 
A long list of men, including three Indians, worked 
on the road from three to sixty-eight days. In Au- 
gust, 1860, Ferguson and Cady started for the mines 
with pack animals. Going over the mountains by 
Cady pass, they descended the Wenatchee river to 
the Columbia, and went up that to the Okanogan 
river, which they ascended to the vicinity of Okano- 
gan lake. They then crossed into the Kettle river 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



country of British Columbia, and surveyed the min- 
ing situation. Finding the prospects rather dis- 
couraging, they soon returned. That ended the 
trail proposition. 

In 1862 another 'census of Snohomish county 
was taken by Salem A. Woods, the sheriff, which 
showed the status of the county's population to be 
as follows : 

NAME NATIVITY AGE 

Frank Dolan, Albany, N. Y 25 

George Allen, Mt. Rose, Scotland ...35 

Patrick McDoyle, Norfolk, Va 33 

Andrew Johnson, Sweden 33 

William Hawkins,. . . . ..Vermillion 24 

George Kelsey, L. I., N. Y 33 

George Rouse, Ypsilanti, Mich 25 

Frank Buck, Pennsylvania 37 

Peter Voisard, Stark county, Ohio ... .31 

Charles Short, St. Louis, Mo 36 

John Harvey, Devonshire, England . . 30 

George Walteer, Cambridge Port, Mass.. .33 

E. F. Cady,* Utica, N. Y 34 

D. W. Browning, Holland 40 

Jas. Hayes, Liverpool, England 34 

P. J. Fields, Franklin county, Mass.. .30 

George Saunders, England 30 

George Fisher, Utica, N. Y 39 

John Richards, France 29 

George Walker, 39 

John Faust, Holland 30 

E. H. Thompson, Wisconsin 33 

Rev. E. C. Chirouse, . . . France .40 

George Blanchard, France 42 

John Gould, New Jersey 38 

Thomas Dixon, Iowa 28 

P. G. Landerville, Montreal, Canada 58 

D. Brigham Waster county, ]\Iass .. .55 

M. H. Frost New York .' 55 

J. D. Fowler, New York 24 

Thos. Hare, New York 33 

Thos. Ermine, New York 47 

Jas. A. Gilliland, Charleston, S. C 25 

P. H. Ewell, Missouri 23 

C. M. Stillwell, Massachusetts 38 

P. Golascher, Massachusetts 40 

A. Davis, Franklin county, N. Y....34 

E. C. Ferguson, New York City 29 

Henry McClurg Pennsylvania 29 

John Cochrane, Westfi'eld, N. Y 31 

Benj. Young South Carolina 36 

William McDonald, Scotland 49 

S. A. Woods, Fredonia, N. Y 31 

Jas. Long, Baltimore, Md 28 

Charles Taylor, Maine 30 

♦Initials should be E. T. 

It will be observed that the name of not one 
woman or child appears on the list. Family ties 
were unknown in Snohomish county at the time, 



and there were no social organizations such as ob- 
tain in older and more civilized communities. The 
country was still practically in the hands of the 
aboriginal savages, and of the forty-four pioneers 
of civilization whose names appear on the census 
roll of 1862, quite a number had been constrained 
to adopt some of the customs and habits of their 
Indian neighbors. The great timber resources of 
the county had not yet begun to be developed ; 
agriculture on any considerable scale was out of 
the question as the country was covered with a 
dense forest, and there was little to attract men and 
families. The single men who were here obtained a 
livelihood by clearing up small tracts of river bot- 
tom land and raising vegetables, chiefly potatoes 
thereon. Their products were transported by 
sail boats, scows and various kinds of primitive 
craft to Port Gamble, where the saw-mills afforded 
a market for them. The canoe was the great 
agent of short distance locomotion, and continued 
to be for many years afterward. 

So far as known the first white woman who 
ever remained for any considerable length of time 
in Snohomish county was Mrs. Thompson, who 
with her husband and family abode for a while 
at the home of E. C. Ferguson. A little later J. 
L. Clark, with his wife and family, settled about 
a mile below Snohomish City, on what was after- 
ward known as the Little place, but the first white 
woman to establish a permanent residence in the 
county was Mrs. W. B. Sinclair. She is still one 
of its esteemed citizens, her home having been in 
Snohomish City continually since the spring of 
1865, when she and Mrs. Isaac Ellis came on the 
steamer Mary Woodruff from Port Madison. The 
husbands of these ladies had made their way to 
Snohomish in December, 1864, Mr. Ellis to give 
inception to the logging industry in the vicinity of 
Snohomish City, as superintendent for Amos Phin- 
ney & Company of Port Ludlow. The Sinclair 
family bought from a squatter the land upon 
which E. T. Cady had first located, and which is 
now a part of the Snohomish city town site. 

Up to 1864, settlement in the county was limited 
to the valley of the Snohomish and Skykomish 
rivers and the vicinity of Mukilteo, but in the fall 
of this year, began the setdement and subjuga- 
tion of lands contiguous to the other important 
waterway of the county, the Stillaguamish river. 
The honor of pioneership in this locality is thought 
to belong to Henry Marshall, but he was very 
soon followed by a number of others. Gardner 
Goodrich states that when he came in the fall of 
1864 to cruise the country in search of a satis- 
factory logging site, he found on the river Henry 
Marshall, Captain Daniel Marvin, George Nevels, 
Willard Sly, a Portuguese known as John Silva, 
and on Hatt slough a man named Cummings. 
These men were all either single or married to 
Indian women, except Captain Marvin, to whose 



SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION 



wife, Mrs. Maria L. Marvin, belongs the honor 
of being the first white woman to settle perma- 
nently upon the Stillaguamish. She says that she 
and her husband and son, Frank, accompanied by 
Willard Sly, arrived from Port Madison about 
the first of November, 1S64, having come in a 
scow which the captain had built for the purpose 
of transporting them. They made their home in 
the scow until a little shack could be erected for 
their accommodation. Fortunately, the Indians 
were friendly. 

Captain Marvin and family settled about four 
miles above the mouth of the Stillaguamish. Owing 
to the captain's ill health, the burdens and priva- 
tions of pioneer life rested still more heavily upon 
his courageous helpmeet tlian they otherwise 
would. Mrs. Marvin was compelled to remain at 
home constantly, and for three years she saw not 
the face of a single white woman. Late in the fall 
of 1867 her isolation from persons of her own color 
and sex was temporarily relieved by the arrival 
from Utsalady for a visit of Alexander Graham 
and his white wife. The next spring this family 
settled near the Marvins, and a few months later 
Daniel Thurston and family came, swelling the 
number of white women on the Stillaguamish to 
three. As long as they stayed Mrs. Marvin had 
congenial company of her own sex, but the Thurs- 
tons eventually moved away and the Grahams 
took up their residence on Hatt slough, leaving 
her again isolated. True there were by this time 
white women on the flats at the mouth of the river, 
but Mrs. ^Marvin seldom saw them, as her house- 
hold duties and the additional responsibilities 
growing out of her husband's illness made it im- 
possible to visit them often. For the honor of 
pioneership she paid most dearly in the sacrifice 
of almost all social pleasures, but she bore her 
privations heroically and is deserving the highest 
respect and commendation. 

For a number of years after the first settlers 
arrived, the population of the Stillaguamish val- 
ley increased very slowly, but a settler or two 
arrived almost every year. With iMr. Goodrich 
in 1SG4 came James H. Perkins, who bought 
Henry ^^larshall's right to the first claim staked out 
in the Stillaguamish country. For a number of 
years he was engaged in logging and general 
trading. Eventually he embarked in a hotel and 
saloon business in Florence, and he is thus engaged 
at this date. In 186.5 or '6, Robert Fulton settled 
about a mile up the river from the old Marshall 
place. Later he squatted on the island opposite 
Stanwood, putting up a small saloon there, which 
he soon sold to John Gould, who in turn was 
succeeded by George Kyle. When Centerville 
postoffice, the first in the valley, was established 
Kyle was appointed postmaster. 

Other settlers of the middle and late sixties 
were James Cuthbert, who located just above the 



Goodrich place; Thomas S. Adams, on the river 
above Martin's; P. A. Peterson, just above the 
present Florence, and John and Robert Robb, also 
above Florence. About 18T0, Gardner Kellogg, 
a Seattle druggist, settled on Hatt slough, staking 
out his claim in the night to get ahead of some 
other would-be squatter. At this time railroads 
were first talked of, and as many thought the road 
from the east must pass through the Stillaguamish 
valley, a new interest was taken in that part of 
Snohomish county. In 1870, or thereabout, Peter 
Wilkinson, John McDonald, William Hunt, William 

B. Moore, Frank H. Hancock, Bradley 

and Thomas Ovenell settled on the flats. These 
combined and gave inception to the diking in- 
dustry by building a long fortification against the 
sea. The practicability and profit of oat raising on 
tide-marsh lands had been already demonstrated 
in what is now Skagit county, so all the settlers 
on the Stillaguamish flats began cultivating this 
crop as soon as their diked lands were in readiness. 

Owing to a fortunate circumstance it is possi- 
ble to enumerate practically all those who settled 
in the Stillaguamish country prior to 187-3, thus pre- 
serving the names of those earliest pioneers. For 
the purpose of avoiding disputes among themselves 
over lines, boundaries of claims, etc., the settlers 
paid three dollars each to S. Mi. Morgan, C. E., 
to make a map of the countr)-, which should be 
filed in the land office at Olympia. A copy of 
this map is still in the possession of Gardner Good- 
rich. It shows that claims were taken on the north 
side of the river by J. Hicks, A. L. Densmore, 
T. J. Moores, A. H. Moores, W. B. ]\Ioore, Wil- 
liam Hunt. J. Gage Green, John McDonald, Thomas 
Ovenell, Peter Wilkinson, Robert Freeman, Henry 
Oliver, J. H. Irwin, James Calden, J. A. Palmer, 
N. Perfield, Charles Palmer, William Butler, John 
Silva, Peter Harvey, Captain Daniel Marvin, 
George Nevels, John Brady, John Gilchrist, C. 
Livingston, P. A. Peterson, Dr. Rhodes, C. J. Low, 
and one other whose name is illegible on the map, 
and whom nobody seems able to remember. On 
the south side were George Kyle, William Kyle, 

David Kellogg, Gardner Goodrich, J. Crebs, 

Anderson, Gardner Kellogg, Tames Cuthbert, 
Willard Sly. E. Graham, J. H. Perkins, John 
Dymont and H. G. Dewey. South of Hatt's slough 
were William Douglass. James Hatt, James Long, 
Thomas Adam, George Belden, John Le Ballister, 
J. W. Fendlason. A. Grant, David Munson, 
Peter M. Smith, Ross P. Shoecraft, a surveyor, on 
Lake Howard, and Martin Woolsey, near Lake 
Shoecraft. This included every settler north of 
the reservation line. 

The master industn.' of Snohomish county, 
namely the appropriation and elaboration of its 
timber, had its beginning at a very early date. 
The first saw mill within its borders, that now in 
use by the Tulalip agency, has already been men- 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



tioned. The nomadic hand logger also began his 
operations early, and sometime in 1863 Smith & 
Wilson started to log with oxen on Brown's bay, 
two miles north of Edmonds. To the best of Mr. 
Smith's knowledge and belief this was the first 
camp of any magnitude and the first in which oxen 
were employed on the Snohomish coast. This 
firm used ten oxen and about fifteen men. 

In September, 1863, Smith & Wilson moved 
to the site of Lowell, where they found two 
squatters named Frederick Dunbar and Burlingham 
Brown, the former of whom had an Indian wife. 
These men had settled on their claims about 1861. 
They sold their rights to the loggers, who forth- 
with commenced operations, becoming the pioneers 
of the industry on the Snohomish river. In 1865, 
Mr. Smith bought out his partner, Wilson. He 
logged uninterruptedly on the sites of Lowell, Ever- 
ett and Marysville, and on various parts of Ebey 
slough until 1891, when he sold his interests. From 
the shores of Ebey slough he took one hundred 
million feet of logs. 

The next outfit on the lower river, to the best 
of Mr. Smith's recollection, was that of James 
Long and Ale.xander Spithill, who operated on 
Spithill's slough for a number of years. In 1864, 
also, George and Perrin Preston, brothers, com- 
menced logging a mile below Snohomish City, and 
late the same year the Ellis camp, previously re- 
ferred to, began operations. The Prestons took 
land at Blackman's point after Spithill left. Run- 
nels & Duvall followed Long and Spithill on the 
slough, establishing their camp at a place known as 
Hog 'Em, three miles up from Marysville, where 
they remained from about 1864 to 1866, moving 
then to the Stillaguamish. Jerome Berry, Arthur, 
Steven and William McLean, M. T. White and 
others soon after established camps on the river, 
slough and reservation, and when the wealth of 
timber in the country became generally known, 
other camps came in fast. Ulmer Stinson, E. C. 
Ferguson, Isaac Cathcart, James Duvall, John 
Elwell and Ross Brothers were among the first on 
the river above Lowell, and camps were early estab- 
lished as high up as the Snoqualmie and Skykom- 
ish rivers. The price of logs in the early days 
ranged from five to ten dollars a thousand. Oxen 
were used exclusively for power, and camps having 
ten or twelve of them expected to put in about 
three millions a year. The average output of the 
county from 1863 to 1870 was probably thirty 
millions annually, though during the first two or 
three years it was probably between ten and fifteen 
millions. 

Though Frost & Fowler's hotel and trading 
station was established at Mukilteo at a very early 
date, and though it soon became a popular resort 
for loggers, the lumbering industry seems not to 
have gained a foothold there as early as on Ebey 
slough, and the Snohomish and Stillaguamish rivers. 



However, George Foster had a large camp there 
probably as early as 1867, and in the seventies 
Tamlin Elwell, Blackman Brothers, E. D. Smith, 
M. H. Frost and possibly others logged in that 
locality. 

It should be noted that when E. D. Smith 
arrived in September, 1863, he found one Dennis 
Brigham in possession of a claim e.xtending three- 
quarters of a mile along the water front of Everett 
harbor, where some of the most valuable property 
in the city now is. In 1864 a telegraph line was 
built to Bellingham and Edward Kromer, who came 
to act as operator, took a claim next to Brigham's. 
He sold forty acres about 1888 to an Englishman 
named Edmund Smith, and the rest at a later date 
to Rucker & Swalwell. Kromer and Brigham were 
the first permanent settlers on the site of Everett. 
Some time before the fall of 1863, also, the site of 
Ferry & Baker's saw mill was taken by a squaw 
man, and later James Entwisstle and an old French- 
man took the site of East Everett. Nicholas Code 
was likewise one of the men who missed fortune 
by failing to stay with it. 

Mr. Smith also recalls that in 1863 Charles See- 
bart was occupying a claim on the flats opposite 
Lowell. He will be remembered by all old pioneers 
as the man who, in 1871, was murdered with Hn 
ax and horribly mutilated in the middle of the night 
by his own son, a boy of about nineteen. The 
murderer was captured in Seattle and tried for the 
crime, but acquitted on the ground that he was 
not a responsible person. 

Eldridge Morse, one of the counsel in the case, 
told the writer of the rather singular tactics pursued 
in this trial. He says the defense brought the boy's 
mother from California to testify that while the 
boy was yet in intra-uterine life, his father abused 
his mother shamefully. The theory of counsel was 
that the efifect of this harsh treatment upon the 
mother's mind influenced the mind of the unborn 
child, causing an unconquerable aversion to and 
fear of the father ; that the boy was so thoroughly 
frightened by some threats made just previous to 
the murder that he considered his own life in dan- 
ger and knew of no avenue of escape but to kill 
his father. L^ndoubtedly the boy was of unsound 
mind. 

An important incidental result of the establish- 
ment of Mr. Smith's first camp on the Snohomish 
was the removal of obstructions to navigation and 
the opening of the way for the coming of the 
steamboat. The first boom, in being driven down 
the river, encountered so many snags and other 
obstructions that it was almost lost. The logging 
firm therefore concluded to use Steamboat slough 
for driving purposes. Trees had fallen into this, 
inter-locking with each other where it was narrow 
and almost cutting oflf craft of any kind, but Smith 
sent men along each bank to saw off the trees and 
remove them, thus opening it to navigation. This 



CURRENT EVENTS, 18': 0-89 



was in the spring of 186-t. Not long afterward 
boats began to visit the river, the Zephyr, Captain 
Wright and the NelHe being the first to make regu- 
lar trips upon it. Sailing vessels also came up the 
river at intervals during the early years, among 
them the schooner Minnehaha, of which Captain 
Clendenning was master. 

Previous to September, ISGli. the Atridge 
brothers, three in number, were engaged, on the 
slope just north of where Everett now is. in taking 
out spars for the French government. Their camp 
was a temporary one. Next year they spent some 
time on Nevels slough, in the Stillagxiamish covmtry, 
getting ready to log, but for some reason abandoned 
their project before even the preliminary work was 
completed. About two years later Thomas Run- 
nels took hold of their abandoned claim in good 
earnest, becoming the pioneer logger of the Stilla- 
guamish. Of the men employed by him in 1867, 



several later became well known citizens of the 
county, among them being Gardner Goodrich, 
James Cuthbert, James de Valle, William Whit- 
field and James H. Perkins. Runnels sold to J. C. 
Record in 1868, or very early in 1869. 

Logging operations on the Stillaguamish were 
not nearly so extensive during the early years as 
on the Snohomish 'and the sloughs. There were, 
however, a number of small camps there during 
the early seventies, among them those of Peter 
Harvey, near the Record claim, James Long on the 
river above Florence, and Olson & McFadden, 
two miles above Florence. James Hatt was the 
pioneer logger of Port Susan bay, starting proba- 
bly in 1863, to take out timber for the Utsalady 
mill. William Douglass succeeded him, about 1866, 
and Hatt filed on a claim and engaged in farming 
and saloon keeping. 



CHAPTER II 



CURRENT EVENTS, 1870- 



Naturally the earliest years of Snohomish 
county's history were years of slow development, 
the devotees of each industry being held back by 
the feebleness of other related or complementary 
industries, and all by absence of speedy transpor- 
tation. The extent of the logger's activity was 
limited by the lack of milling facilities, which could 
not come in a day, and the development of agri- 
culture would have been measured by the limits of 
the local market, had not the extreme difficulty of 
preparing the soil for the seed most effectually 
established its bounds. But the pioneer days were 
very important ones, if they were necessarily days 
of small things. The early settlers for the most 
part displayed a goodly quantity of public spirit, 
evincing a willingness to encourage to the extent 
of their ability any proposed industry. Naturally 
attempts to start saw mills were early made. The 
first to be built in the county after the Tulalip mill 
was erected by David Livingston and his two 
brothers about 1863. It was situated between 
Mukilteo and the site of the present Everett, about 
a mile and a half from the former point. Several 
vessels were loaded with its products but it could 
not compete with the large mills on the west side 
of the sound in the general market and there was 
no local demand, so it soon ceased operations. As 
early as 1866, the settlers of Snohomish City and 



vicinity made a bold attempt to secure a saw mill 
in their midst, well knowing that such would be 
valuable not alone in itself, .but for the encourage- 
ment it would lend the logging industry, which in 
turn would have the double effect of furnishing a 
market to the farmer and assisting him in the 
laborious task of clearing the timber from the soil. 
The evidence of this praiseworthy attempt is fur- 
nished by an act in the territorial session laws of 
1866, "to Incorporate the Snohomish City Mill 
Company," the substance of which was as follows : 

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly 
of the Territory of Washington, That Clark Ferguson, 
W. B. Sinclair, M. L. King, John Harvey, E. C. Ferguson 
and Charles Short be and are hereby appointed, under the 
direction of a majority of whom subscription may be 
received to the capital stock of the Snohomish City Mill 
Company hereby incorporated, and they may cause books 
to be opened at such times and places as they shall direct, 
for the purpose of receiving subscriptions to the capital 
stock of said company, first giving thirty days' notice of 
the time and places of taking such subscriptions, by pub- 
lishing the same in some newspaper in this territory, or by 
posting notices thereof in not less than three public places 
in Snohomish county. 

Sec. 2. The capital stock of said company shall be 
thirty thousand dollars, in shares of twenty-five dollars 
each, and as soon as one hundred shares of the capital 
stock shall be subscribed, and ten per cent, of the amount 
thereof actually paid in or secured to the said company, 
the subscribers of .said stock, with such other persons as 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



shall thereafter associate with them for that purpose, their 
successors and assigns, shall be and they are hereby created 
and declared a body corporate and politic by the name and 
style of the Snohomish City Mill Company, with perpetual 
succession, and by that means shall be capable in law of 
purchasing, holding, selling, bargaining and conveying 
estate real, personal and mixed; have a common seal which 
they may alter or renew at pleasure, and generally may do 
all and singular, the matters and things which an incor- 
porated company may by law do. 

Sec. 8. The said company shall have power to locate 
and construct a mill at or near the mouth of a small 
creek on the north bank of the Snohomish river, and on 
the land claim now held by E. C. Ferguson, in Snoho- 
mish county, to be determined by vote of the stockholders 
holding a majority of the stock of said company, who shall 
be represented in person or by proxy at a special meet- 
ing called for the purpose of fixing the location of said 
mill. 

Sec. 12. This act shall take effect and be in force 
from and after its passage. 

Passed the House of Representatives January 9, 1866. 
EDWARD ELDRIDGE, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives. 
Passed the Council January 10, 1866. 

HARVEY K. HINES, 
President of the Council. 
Approved January 18, 1866. 

WILLIAM PICKERING, 
Governor of the Territory of Washington. 

For the first decade or more of settlement in 
Snohomish county, the assessed vakiation of prop- 
erty was very sHght. In 1863 it amounted to but 
little more than eleven thousand dollars divided 
among forty-four persons. In 18?0 it was one 
hundred and thirty-eight thousand five hundred 
and seventy dollars, of which all but nineteen thou- 
sand six hundred and seventy dollars was on per- 
sonal property. The reason for the slight valuation 
of realty was that practically all the land except 
a few quarter sections at Edmonds was still really 
the property of the United States government, and 
not subject to taxation, what was in control of 
settlers laeing held first by squatter's right and later 
under the homestead and preemption laws. About 
three townships in the vicinity of Mukilteo were 
early surveyed. Upon them grew some of the finest 
timber in the county, hence much of this land was 
a great temptation to the Puget Mill Company, 
which in the latter sixties and early seventies ac- 
quired title to it in the usual way. The first tract of 
land on the Snohomish river above its mouth for 
which a deed was procured was the preemption 
claim of E. C. Ferguson, who offered final proof in 
February, 1871. Between that date and 1875, quite 
a number of claims were patented, and about 1873 
patents began to be secured by settlers on the Still- 
aguamish. 

According to the ninth census, that of 1870, 
the population of Snohomish county was then 599 
persons, of whom 529 were white, the remainder 
being: Indians, G5 ; Chinese, 3; free colored, 2. 
The local enumerator, Hon. Edward Eldridge, is 



also quoted as authority for the statement that the 
county at this time was supporting one pauper at 
an expense of one hundred and thirty-eight dollars 
per annum, and that the industries of the county, 
aside from agriculture, were the Eagle Brewery 
at Mukilteo, one camp getting out ship knees, four- 
teen logging camps and five shingle factories. By 
the last mentioned are meant places where one or 
more men were engaged in splitting cedar shingles 
by hand. There were no shingle mills at this date. 

During 1870, eleven persons died in Snohomish 
county, none of whom were women, nor did any 
woman succumb to the dread reaper until the next 
year, when Mrs. A. Peden was drowned near the 
head of Ebey slough, through an accident to a 
canoe in charge of Charles Low, who afterward 
commanded the well known steamer Nellie. The 
first woman to die of disease was Mrs. M. W. 
Packard, whose demise occurred December 12, 1875. 
The next was Mrs. Eldridge Morse, March 10, 
1876. The simple reason for the apparently small 
mortality among women was the fact that there 
were very few women in the county d.uring the 
first decade and a half of its existence. The seeds 
of the higher civilization, with its family ties, its 
schools and churches and other social organizations 
had been sown, to be sure, both on the Snohomish 
and the Stillaguamish, but a very large proportion 
of the population consisted of single men, who had 
no special abiding places, but went wheresoever 
the fortunes of the lumber camps might lead them. 

When the county was first organized all its 
litigation above the jurisdiction of the justices and 
judge of probate was carried on in Port Town- 
send, but by an act approved January 25, 1868, the 
counties of King. Kitsap and Snohomish were made 
a sub-district of the third judicial district, and 
given a court at Seattle. By the legislature of 
1875-6. litigation was still further cheapened and 
rendered convenient by the establishment of a dis- 
trict court of the coimty of Snohomish, of which 
court the first session was held in INIarch, 1876, 
J. R. Lewis, chief justice of the territory, pre- 
siding. 

Tlie year 1874 is remembered by E. D. Smith 
as one of imusual severity. He states that the ther- 
mometer indicator began to descend about Decem- 
ber 15th, and that by Christmas one could skate 
the entire length of the lower Snohomish river. 
He remembers this especially because a dance was 
given in his hotel about that time, which was at- 
tended by a number of ."^nohomish people who 
came down on the ice. When the break-up came, 
about six weeks after the beginning of the cold 
snap, ice a foot thick floated down the river, form- 
ing regular jams in places. This was the severest 
winter since the notable one of 1860-61, when the 
entire Northwest was imprisoned by the frost king 
for months. 

While there was a general financial depression 



CURRENT EVENTS, 1870-89 



261 



throughout the country at large following the panic 
of 1873, its unwelcome influence was not felt in 
Snohomish county. At this time everything was 
in too primitive a state for a panic to have much 
effect. Nobody had great wealth ; nobody was in 
debt; there were no deferred payments falling due 
to be paid in appreciated currency and there was 
no "confidence" to be lost, except confidence in the 
future of the country. Furthermore, there was no 
intimate dependence upon the outside world; hence 
little or no movement of local conditions in sympa- 
thy with general conditions. The years 1870 to 
1S7G inclusive were years of no little activity in 
the development of the lumber industn' of Sno- 
homish county and the sound generally, giving 
encouragement to primitive agriculture, which 
developed concomitantly. 

As heretofore stated there were fourteen log- 
ging camps in the county in 1870. By 1876, the 
number of camps had nearly doubled, and it is 
safe to assume, that owing to improvements in 
method and increase in the average number of men 
and oxen employed, the output had increased in a 
much greater ratio. 

According to statistics of the logging industry 
of Snohomish county compiled by Sheriff Benjamin 
Stretch and published in the Northern Star of June 
24, 1876, the following camps were then in opera- 
tion on the Snohomish river and its tributaries, 
namely, those of William Stockton, eight oxen, 
eight men ; Charles Taylor, ten oxen, eight men ; 
Bennett & Flattan, sixteen oxen, twenty men ; Fred 
Foss, eight oxen, eight men ; Blackman Brothers, 
eight oxen, four mules, ten men ; J- B. Roberts, 
twenty-two oxen, nineteen men ; Stephen Hogan, 
eight oxen, eight men ; J- Ross & Company, twenty 
oxen, twenty men ; H. Mills, eighteen oxen, seven- 
teen men; W. S. Jamieson, fourteen oxen, eight 
men ; IMowatt & Hinman, eight oxen, seven men ; 
E. D. Smith, fourteen oxen, fourteen men ; Warren 
Smith, ten oxen, twelve men ; William Hawkins, 
eight oxen, six men ; Ulmer Stinson, ten oxen, ten 
men ; Tamlin Elwell, eight oxen, ten men. Besides 
these there were on the Snoqualmie river, in King 
county, the following loggers, who floated all their 
logs down the Snohomish, and made Snohomish 
City their business center, namely, Wilbur & Clark, 
twelve oxen, twelve men ; Elwell & Son, twelve oxen, 
fourteen men ; James Duvall, ten oxen, eight men ; 
Frank Duvall, ten oxen, eight men. 

Camps in the county off the Snohomish or its 
tributaries were : M. H. Frost, ten oxen, eight men, 
at Mukilteo; George Bracket, ten oxen, ten men, at 
Ten Mile Point, and the following on Port Susan 
bay or in the Stillaguamish region, namely, Thomas 
Runnels, twelve oxen, eight men; Finlason & INIun- 
son, ten oxen, eight men ; Follansbee & Company, 
twelve oxen, eight men; James Long & Company, 
ten oxen, eight men; J. H. Record, twelve oxen, 
twelve men; W. B. Moore, twelve oxen, eight men. 



Counting the four camps on the Snoqualmie river 
above the King county line we have a total of 
twenty-eight camps, three hundred and twenty-two 
oxen and three hundred and seven men. It was 
estimated that they would cut in 1876 more than 
fifty million feet of logs. The market was good 
that year and the loss in driving the logs down the 
river was much less than usual. 

Of no little importance to the settlements on 
the Snohomish and its tributaries was the building 
of a saw mill in 1876 on the Pillchuck about a mile 
from Snohomish City. In July P. M. Bennett 
arrived with his family from Missouri, and very 
soon afterward a partnership was formed between 
him and his old friend, L. H. Witter, for the purpose 
of engaging in a general milling business. The 
firm of Bennett & Witter lost no time in getting 
to work, and by December the mill was in operation. 
The first board sawed by it was presented to the 
Snohomish Atheneum for preservation as a sou- 
venir. It was the intention of Messrs. Bennett & 
Witter to put in a feed and grist mill also, and so 
build up the grain-raising industry in the Snohom- 
ish valley, but this part of their plan was never 
carried into effect, as the development of agriculture 
at the time did not warrant it, nor have subsequent 
developments established the practicability of wheat 
production in this part of the county. 

On the Stillaguamish flats, however, a splendid 
success was rewarding pioneer experimenters in the 
growing of cereals, and there was much activity 
there during the middle seventies in consequence. 
From the Star of October 7. 1876, we quote the fol- 
lowing : "Farmers on the Stillaguamish flats are lay- 
ing out a great deal of money in ditching and fen- 
cing, adding greatly to the beauty and value of their 
ranches. The county road across the flats is being 
constructed in a thorough manner. A ditch is dug 
each side of the road and the dirt is thrown into 
the center and leveled, forming a very solid, even 
and dry road bed. Fences are built most all the 
way of lumber, which adds greatly to the appear- 
ance of the country\" 

The paper just quoted has also preserved for us 
some statistics furnished by one of the prominent 
residents of the Stillaguamish country, which will 
convey a very good idea of the extent to which 
the agricultural development had progressed by the 
fall of 1876. He stated that Henry Oliver had 
about a hundred acres in cultivation, thirty of which 
were in grass, the rest in grain ; that Peter Wilkin- 
son had one hundred and eighteen acres, seventy- 
five of which were in barley and oats ; Thomas 
Ovenell, one hundred and twenty acres, fifteen in 
grass, the rest in grain ; J. McDonald, eighty acres, 
twenty in grass, the rest in grain ; William Hunt, 
forty acres, nearly all grain ; W. B. Moore, one 
hundred acres, half grass, half grain ; F. Hancock, 
sixty-five acres, twenty grass, the rest grain; Mrs. 
J. Bradley, J. V. Cook and Peter Gunderson about 



262 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



forty acres each, nearly all in grain ; O. _B. Iverson, 
thirty-five acres of grain on George F. Kyle's place. 
The ' farmers named were dwellers on the marsh 
and all this acreage had required diking before it 
could be cultivated. The same gentleman is author- 
ity for the statement that Oliver Thompson had 
about one hundred and forty head of hogs to sell 
and Peter Wilkinson sixty or seventy head ; also 
that a thousand pounds of butter would be produced 
above that required for home consumption. He also 
stated that a large amount of additional land was 
being diked by Messrs. Haller, Hancock. Hunt, 
McDonald, Moore, Ovenell, Wilkinson and Iverson, 
and that the amount of arable land would be greater 
next year by some three hundred acres. The pro- 
duct of grain and hay on the marsh he estimated 
at thirty-five thousand bushels of the former and 
one hundred and twenty-five tons of the latter. He 
thought that the two hundred acres of land culti- 
vated on Hall's slough and up-river would produce 
a hundred tons of hay in excess of that required for 
home consumption, besides a large quantity of 
vegetables and a little grain. The potato crop was 
reported as very poor both on the river and on the 
marsh at its mouth. 

.\t this time the Stillaguamish settlement con- 
sisted of some twenty-five families, about a half 
dozen bachelors keeping house, and four logging 
camps. 

The year under review was one of rapid im- 
provement in the transportation facilities enjoyed by 
Snohomish county points. When the Snohomish 
river settlers first came they had to depend almost 
entirely upon their canoes and small boats for the 
transportation of themselves and their goods to and 
from places on the sound. Later sound boats of 
lighter draught began visiting them occasionally and 
eventually the time came when they could depend 
upon receiving a call from a steamboat at least 
once a week on the average. As the commercial 
importance of the up-river settlements increased 
the interest of freight and passenger hunting craft 
increased also, until by 1876 Snohomish City was 
visited at frequent intervals by at least three dif- 
ferent boats, the Fanny Lake, Captain J. S. Hill, 
the Zephyr and the Yakima, giving connection with 
Seattle three or four times, the Stillaguamish and 
Skagit rivers one to three times and Port Gamble 
and several other points at least once weekly. 

No review of the events of the year 1876 in 
Snohomish county would be complete without men- 
tion of the first newspaper of the county, the North- 
ern Star, which came into existence early in Jan- 
uary. Its editor, Eldridge Morse, and his assistant, 
Dr. A. C. Folsom. were both men of unusual liter- 
ary and scientific attainments, and the paper they 
issued was exceedingly ambitious in many ways, 
too much so, perhaps, for the patronage it could 
hope to secure in a new and struggling community. 
It attempted to keep its readers informed on the 



progress of scientific knowledge, threw open its 
columns for a free discussion of all the problems 
of past and present, including religion, and labored 
in season and out for the spread of information 
regarding the resources and possibilities, not alone 
of Snohomish county, but of the whole sound coun- 
try. Undoubtedly it did much during the two and 
a half years of its existence for the increase of 
population and encouragement of local enterprise. 

The Star was not a month old when it became 
its sad duty to chronicle the most melancholy event 
in the history of the county up to that time. Jan- 
uary 25th about six o'clock in the evening Horace 
Low, Clayton Packard, Arthur Batt and Charles 
Elwell, the first two of whom were employed in 
the Star office, started for a lake a mile from town 
for the purpose of indulging in an hour's skating. 
By the time they reached the lake the short winter 
day was drawing to its close, and the on-coming 
darkness made it impossible for them to discover 
a sheet of thin ice which skaters at an earlier hour 
had carefully avoided. The young men had no more 
than begun to enjoy the sport, when Low and Batt 
broke through. In an instant their companions 
came to the rescue, but though they made brave 
efforts, they were unable in the darkness to find a 
pole to extend to the struggling men, or to reach 
them on the ice. At one time Packard got within 
ten feet of Batt. by crawling on his abdomen, but 
the ice gave away under him, and he could go no 
further. When the survivors saw that all was over 
they lost no time in returning to town and giving 
the alarm. The people turned out en masse, with 
grappling hooks and lanterns, improvised a rude 
raft, and by midnight procured the bodies. 

In the fall of 1877. a severe epidemic of diph- 
theria visited Snohomish county. The first to take 
down with the dread disease was George D. Smith 
then on the river a mile above Lowell, now a resi- 
dent of .Snohomish. Samuel Howe, on Ebey slough, 
lost five children ; James \^ance. two miles above 
Lowell, lost his entire family of three : and Mrs. 
Clark, near Snohomish, lost three little girls. It is 
said that all the children in the Lowell school dis- 
trict except two died of the disease ; and there were 
fatalities also at other points along the river and 
in Snohomish City. In all seventeen succumbed to 
its ravages. It was what is known as black diph- 
theria, a particularh- virulent type. 

While the .Snohomish county pioneers enjoyed 
a period of great prosperity and relative advance- 
ment notwitlistanding the general depression ensu- 
ing upon the panic of 1873, the wheels of progress 
were most efifectually blocked in 1877. In the four 
interv'ening years, the sound country had come into 
close touch, through the ocean, with the outside 
world. Its large milling companies had succeeded 
in creating a demand for their lumber in Mexico 
and some of the South .\merican states, in .A^ustra- 
lia and the Orient, and even in the earliest davs. 



CURRENT EVENTS. 1870-89 



263 



they had enjoyed a lucrative trade with California. 
Through a variety of causes, much of the demand 
from all these countries was cut off. except such as 
came from China and the Sandwich islands. The 
result was that in the early months of 18T7 there 
was almost no sale for logs at any price, and the 
consequence was a paralysis of industry of all kinds. 
The physical difficulties encountered by loggers were 
fewer than usual, hardly any of the product being 
lost through floods and the like, but the market was 
so badly demoralized that in June many of the 
loggers were talking seriously of suspending opera- 
tions. For several months not a dollar came onto 
the Snohomish river from the sale of logs : the 
farmers were in no better circumstances than the 
woodsmen, as they must wait for the price of 
products sold by them to logging camps until 
returns could be secured from the mill men. In 
the good times just past, all classes had forged 
ahead confidently, contracting debts ad libitum, and 
the outstanding obligations greatly increased the 
seriousness of the situation. Before the day dawned, 
practically the entire timber product of Snohomish 
river was involved in litigation and millions of feet 
of logs at Priest's Point were in the hands of the 
sheriff, with thousands of dollars of costs against 
them. Late in November there came a marked 
improvement in conditions. The price of logs rose 
to five dollars a thousand, and before the end of 
the year the great booms of logs at Priest's Point 
were disposed of for cash, the debts against them 
were paid and there was joy again for a brief 
season among the residents on the Snohomish. 
Times, however, continued dull for a few years 
afterward. 

From the governor's message to the legislature 
in the fall of 1877, it would seem that conditions 
throughout the territory generally were not so bad 
as on the Snohomish. He said : 

No event of an extraordinary character has transpired 
within our territory since the adjournment of the legisla- 
tive assembly. Our people have enjoyed iminternipted 
heahh. Our progress in wealth and population has been as 
rapid as could have been e.xpected, and under the circum- 
stances must be regar'ded as eminently satisfactory. Our 
isolated position and the great distance to be traveled, and 
the large expense incurred by immigrants, will necessarily 
operate to retard our advancement until a continuous line 
of railroad to the Eastern states is secured. Our agri- 
cultural, manufacturing and mining industries have been 
unusually prosperous, and when we contrast our financial 
.condition and business prosperity with that of other 
localities, we can realize how highly we are favored. Here 
the laborer has received remunerative wages ; capital has 
been profitably employed; manufactures have increased; 
the earth has yielded abundant harvests and all depart- 
ments of business have been successfully prosecuted, while 
in other portions of our country wide-spread financial 
trouble, embarrassment and distress have prevailed. Man- 
ufacturers have ceased operations, capital has been with- 
drawn from usual avenues of investment and has lain 
idle : the laboring classes have been unemployed or 
engaged at diminished wag:es, and thousands have been 
reduced to destitution. Capital and labor which should be 



joined in the closest bonds of union have been arrayed 
against each other in deadly hostility. .^ conflict which 
recently occurred between these forces, extending over 
many states, reaching almost to the proportions of a civil 
war, requiring the combined power of the national and 
state governments to suppress it, occasioned the loss of 
many valuable lives and the destruction of millions of 
dollars of property. From like calamities we have been 
happily exempted ; for which we should be profoundly 
grateful to Him who governs and controls the destinies 
of nations and individuals. 

It will be remembered that 187 7 was the year 
of the celebrated Nez Perce war in Northern Idaho, 
when the disaffected Nez Perce and Salmon river 
Indians, with renegades from other tribes, went 
on the rampage, massacring a number of men, 
women and children on Salmon river and Camas 
prairie, defeating Colonel Perry at White P>ird. and 
after suffering defeat at the hands of General O. O. 
Howard on the Clearwater, leading him a long and 
memorable chase through the Lolo pass into Mon- 
tana and Wyoming and to Bear Paw mountain, 
where they were captured by General Miles. It was 
feared that the number of liostiles would be swelled 
bv reinforcements from other tribes, until they 
would far out-number any force that Howard could 
muster, hence Governor Terry, of \\'ashington terri- 
tory, offered to raise, organize, clothe, suljsist, arm, 
equip and transport to his assistance five hundred 
volunteers, whenever he should call for them. 

Upon learning of this act of the governor, the 
following calls were at once issued by citizens of 
Snohomish county : 

Whereas, Governor Terry has tendered the services of 
five hundred volunteer militia to General O. O. Howard, 
now in the field, to assist him, whenever he may require 
their services ; In behalf of great numbers who have 
offered to volunteer for this war, we request all so dis- 
posed to meet at the lower .\theneum hall on Sunday 
evening. July 8, 1877. at six o'clock for the purpose of 
organizing a volunteer militia company, elect their officers, 
and be subject to the order of the governor for immediate 
service in the field, whenever called upon by him. 



Lou Be.^ch, 
J. H. Pl.\skett. 



Jas. Hood. 

johx d. m0rg.\n. 



Whereas, an Indian outbreak is threatened by the 
Klickitat and other Indians near the Snoqualmie pass, 
and if such an event should take place, this valley would 
be defenseless. We call on our fellow citizens to meet at 
the lower hall of the .A.theneum on Sunday. July 8th at 
six p. m. for the purpose of organizing a militia company, 
electing officers, etc.. and take the necessary steps to secure 
arms, etc., for home protection. 



a. c. folsom, 
Henry Jackson, 
H. A. Gregory, 

W. M. TiRTLOT, 



T^. C. Ferguson. 
R. Haskell, 
M. W. Packard, 
H. W. Light. 



\Vm. Whitfielh. 

Pursuant to the calls above quoted, a meeting 
was held, of which E. C. Ferguson was elected 
chairman and Dr. .A.. C. Folsom secretary. Two 
docuinents were drawn up. one for the signatures 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



of those wishing to volunteer for service in the 
Idaho Indian war and one for those willing to join, 
support and maintain a home organization of a 
permanent character. The former document re- 
ceived twenty-one signatures; the latter quite a 
number, and a committee was appointed to secure 
further signatures to each. It is stated that two 
strong companies were organized, but fortunately 
the active services of neither were demanded by 
the exigencies of the war. 

While the logging industry was not very vig- 
orous in the year 1878, and times were relatively 
dull, there was no cessation of activities on the 
farms of the county, which were slowly increasing 
in size, number and importance. On the Skykom- 
ish were a number of good farms, some of them 
including prairies of small size, the principal ones, 
perhaps, being the farm of Salem Woods, on 
Wood's prairie, and those of J. Cochran, S. Peter- 
son and George Richardson. At Park Place a new 
town had recently been started by Salem A. Woods. 

Though there was but one new settler added to 
the Pillchuck settlement between Snohomish and 
Dubuque's during the year (William White who 
purchased the improvements of Ed S. Gregory), 
considerable progress was made in the develop- 
ment of the farms already located. About this 
time or not many years afterward settlement began 
in the Granite Falls and Hartford regions. On 
the Snohomish, the farmers were also busy in 
extending their improvements, while the Stilla- 
guamish pioneers continued earnestly the work of 
subduing and turning to the uses of man the natural 
resources of their section. Perhaps one of the 
most iniportant achievements in this section was 
the opening of the Stillagviamish jam, about six 
miles, by the river channel, from D. O. Pearson's 
store in Stanwood. Work was begun in removing 
this obstruction to navigation April 11, 1877, by 
Frank Ledger, J. H. Matthews and Jesse Jones. 
There were no saw logs in the jam, hence they had 
to depend for remuneration for their labor entirely 
upon the subscriptions of those interested, which 
aggregated only four hundred and twenty-two dol- 
lars. As the jam was a quarter of a mile in length 
and very deep, cedar and spruce trees being piled on 
top of each other in almost every conceivable way, 
it was the opinion of good engineers that the open- 
ing of the river would be the work of several 
years. However, by cutting and removing the logs 
from one side only, and allowing the rest a chance 
to work loose and float away, the task was accom- 
plished in a few months. In November, 1877, the 
main jam went out and early in January following 
the work was completed so that it was thought there 
was no danger that another jam would form. Very 
soon after this obstruction -^vas removed, there 
were about twenty-five settlers above its site. 

For the purpose of comparison, as well as to 
presence the facts themselves, an abstract of the 



assessor's census for the year 1877, and that for 
the year 1878, may here be given. The former 
shows : Number of dwellings, 219 ; number of white 
males, 635 ; number of white females, 328 ; of col- 
ored males, 25 ; of colored females, 13 ; of males for- 
eign born, 190 ; females, 37 ; number of persons mar- 
ried, 299 ; unmarried, 342 ; number born within the 
year, 18 ; married .within the year, 12 ; attended 
school within the year, 150 ; illiterate, 30 ; total pop- 
ulation. 1,001 ; number of male citizens of the United 
States, twenty-one years old and over, 414 ; total 
value of real estate belonging to residents, $134,- 
455; to non-residents, $90,124; personal property, 
$106,494. 

The assessor's census for 1878 shows : Number 
of dwellings, 271 ; increase over the previous year, 
52; number of families. 167; of white males. 677; 
gain in the year, 42 ; of white females, 341 ; gain, 13 ; 
number of Chinese, 17 ; of colored males, 3 ; of col- 
ored females, 4 ; of citizens, 448 ; of males foreign 
born, 210 ; of females foreign born, 57 ; total popula- 
tion, 1,042 ; gain in the year, 41. The total popula- 
tion of the county in 1880, according to the United 
States census was 1,387. 

In May, 1879, the Northern Star suspended pub- 
lication. This may be considered a great misfor- 
tune to Snohomish county, as the paper was tireless 
in its efforts to make the county's resources and 
those of the whole sound country widely known 
throughout the American union. To acquire a 
knowledge of the region for this purpose, its editor 
traveled thousands of miles in steamboats, canoes, 
sailboats and on foot, writing descriptions of what- 
ever he saw for publication, and compiling statistics 
at first hand of the redeeming of tide marsh lands, 
the extension of agriculture, the results of experi- 
ments in farming, the productiveness of different 
soils, etc. He also noted everything which might 
shed light upon the geology of the region and made 
himself the possessor of such information as en- 
abled him to contribute in 1883 an exhaustive article 
on the Puget sound region, to a government publica- 
tion on the tide marshes of the United States. This 
report has been referred to heretofore in these pages 
in connection with Skagit county, but a few statis- 
tics from it touching the tide lands of Snohomish 
county are essential to the completeness of this nar- 
rative. 

The report states that the tide marsh lands in 
Snohomish county south of the Snohomish river 
consist principally of a tract of nearly a hundred 
acres at Twelve Mile Point, near the King county 
line, a marsh of similar area at Ten Mile Point 
and one of fifty acres on Point Elliott, the aggregate 
amount diked being about fifty acres. 

"On the Snohomish," continues the report, "is 
the greatest amount of unreclaimed tide land to be 
found at any one place on Puget sound. The log- 
ging indfistrv has carried settlements up the river, 
and hundreds of farms have been cleared out of 




[N SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



CURRENT EVENTS, 1870-89 



267 



heavy timber, while the tide marshes have been al- 
lowed to lie unimproved or to fall into the hands of 
speculators. The Snohomish, near its mouth, di- 
vides into crooked channels, forming islands in the 
delta. The main channels converge but do not 
meet, some flowing into Priest Point bay, which 
opens toward the south or southwest. Ebey slough, 
the first channel to branch off from the main river, 
is twenty-five miles long, while a straight line from 
its head to its outlet is only six miles. On the main 
river, one mile below the head of Ebey slough, is 
the town of Lowell. From Lowell, a fresh water 
marsh extends eight miles in a southeasterly direc- 
tion. The main portion of this marsh is south of 
Snohomish City and on the opposite side of the 
river. In son:e places it approaches to within a few 
rods of the river, while at others it is a half mile 
or more back. This marsh contains ten thousand 
acres and is nearly all held by settlers. Some ten 
miles of ditches and canals have been dug, but none 
of it will be diked. 

"On the south side of the main river are tide 
marshes amounting to one thousand acres, equally 
divided between open and spruce marsh. At Pres- 
ton's Point, at the mouth of the river, a tract of fifty 
acres has been perfectly diked. The tide lands of 
the delta additional to the above are about five thou- 
sand two hundred acres open and one thousand 
seven hundred and seventy-five acres spruce. The 
timber on one thousand acres of this spruce marsh 
will not seriously increase the cost of reclaiming. 
We have a total, then, in round numbers, of eight 
thousand acres of open and spruce tide marsh in the 
delta of the Snohomish and on the south side of the 
main river. 

* * * * 

"Dr. H- A. Smith settled on Smith's island in 
the delta in 1864. In that year and the following 
he enclosed sixty-five acres by a dike of ten feet base, 
four feet high, two feet wide on top and about a 
mile and a half long. * * * In the spring of 
186.5. he began cultivating the ground, set out an 
orchard, sowed grass seed. etc. The trees were 
free from moss and bore abundantly. Rutabagas, 
mangel wurzels, turnips, cabbage, cauliflowers, car- 
rots, parsnips, rhubarb, asparagus, etc.. all flour- 
ished. Potatoes planted in drills and covered only 
with straw and barnyard refuse yielded an excellent 
crop. Everything went forward successfully as long 
as Dr. Smith remained on the place, but in 1870 
other engagements took him away and he never re- 
turned. The tide gates became choked and the land 
flooded. Grass and trees were soon ruined, and 
finally in 1877, the dike burst. 



"Between the main river and Union slough, 
above the cut-off which connects them, a tract of 
forty acres has been diked. The dike is three hun- 
dred and twenty rods long, seven feet wide at the 



base and three feet high, and cost, including slough 
dams, two dollars and a half per rod. Within 
eighteen months nearly all the vacant land in that 
vicinity has been located by settlers. 

"Between Union slough and Steamboat slough 
are two tracts of diked land, amounting to one hun- 
dred and thirty acres. In 1883 twenty acres on one 
of these tracts produced eighty tons of oat hay and 
eight acres gave thirty tons of timothy hay. The 
other tract, containing about seventy acres, was 
diked eight years ago. The dike is three and one- 
half feet high, eight feet at the base, a mile and a 
half in length, and cost one thousand five hundred 
dollars. For several years this place was well cared 
for and yielded abundant crops of oats, wheat and 
hay. Now no one lives on it. the tide gates and 
boxes are choked, and salt water has killed most of 
the tame grass. 

"Between Steamboat slough and the main river 
two hundred and thirty-five acres, in different tracts, 
are enclosed by dikes five and one-half miles long, 
which cost four thousand seven hundred and fifty 
dollars. It would require two thousand five hun- 
dred dollars to put all these dikes in good condi- 
tion. On Mr. McAllister's island most of the tide 
land contains peat, with more sand and less clay 
than the Stillaguamish flats. About two thousand 
five hundred acres of this island are open prairie, on 
which a red-top grass grows from three to seven 
feet higli. * * * * Qn McAllister's island three 
lots amounting to thirty-one acres are protected 
by five hundred and thirty rods of dike, which cost 
one thousand eight hundred and forty dollars. 



"The Snohomish delta, between the main river 
channel and Ebey slough, contains about seven thou- 
sand acres of the tide marsh, of which all but one 
thousand acres is nearly free from timber. To re- 
claim two hundred and sixty-six acres of this delta, 
in small parcels, over seven miles of dikes have been 
constructed, at a cost of six thousand seven hun- 
dred dollars. An additional expenditure of two 
thousand dollars would be required to put all these 
dikes in good repair. The seven thousand acres of 
tide lands in the delta would require for their pro- 
tection, under one management, forty miles of dikes, 
which would cost fifty thousand dollars. Without 
concerted action the length of dikes would be dou- 
bled, and their cost increased in a much greater 
ratio. 

"Ebey slough is so crooked that tide lands on 
the right bank are found south, east and north of 
the slough. From its head to Priest's Point, on the 
right bank, is a total of about three thousand five 
hundred acres of tide marsh, of which two thou- 
sand acres are free from timber or nearly so. Out of 
this whole body fifty-two acres are enclosed by dikes 
one and a half miles long, which cost nine hundred 
and fiftv dollars. The total area of tide marsh in 



268 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



the Snohomish valley is about eleven thousand five 
hundred acres. Not over three thousand acres of 
this is encumbered with sufficient timber to increase 
materially the cost of reclaiming. To protect all 
this land seventy miles of dikes would be required. 

"The tide marshes of the Snohomish, in compar- 
ison with others, have the following advantages: 
No part of them is more than two miles from navi- 
gable tide water, and steamboats can receive and dis- 
charge freight at every farm. Much of the land re- 
quires but little dike, and drainage would never 
be expensive. Nearly all of it is sheltered from the 
waves, so there is no surf to destroy the dikes. It is 
nearly all fresh water marsh and ready for cultiva- 
tion as soon as diked. 



"The Stillaguamish marshes are next northward. 
Halt's slough cuts across from the Stillaguamish, 
six miles above its mouth, to Port Susan bay, a dis- 
tance of three miles. On the south side of this 
slough is a marsh of six hundred acres, bounded on 
the west of Port Susan bay, south and east by high- 
land, and north by the slough, except when tim- 
ber lands above tidal overflow intervene. * * * * 
The tract south of Hatt's slough is sedimentary 
clay, mixed with vegetable matter. There is no 
peat in it. The grass which grows wild here is 
like that north of the Nisqually and on the Samish 
flats ; a hardy grass, which grows some eighteen 
inches high, seeds very thickly, and looks like blue 
grass. Each summer about one hundred cattle 
and as many sheep get most of their living from this 
tract. 

"The highest storm tide during the last nine- 
teen years was in January, 1868, when it rose from 
fourteen to twenty-six inches above Mr. Adam's 
marsh. The marsh along the shores of Port Susan 
bay is from six to twelve inches lower. 

"Of the marsh land in the Stillaguamish delta, 
that is between Hatt's slough and the Stillaguamish 
river, that on the north bank of the slough will aver- 
age from' eight to twelve inches higher than that 
near the mouth of the main river and toward Stan- 
wood. * * * * -pi^ig Stillaguamish delta comprises 
all lands between the main river and Hatt's slough, 
amounting to two thousand and ninety-five and 
three-quarters acres by the United States land sur- 
veys. Of this over one thousand six hundred acres 
may be classed as tide marsh, including four hun- 
dred acres of brush and spruce marsh. There are 
three grades of land running across the delta — river 
bottom at the upper end, spruce marsh across the 
middle, and open tide marsh prairie on the front. 
The diking of the tide marsh prairie shuts off all 
salt water and leaves nothing but river overflow to 
contend with. This comes in from back of the tide 
marsh through the timber. It does not occur while 
crops are growing, and will not, for some time at 
least, be excluded : but, as will be seen, it has a 



strong claim for recognition in all plans for the re- 
clamation of delta marshes. The tide marsh prairie 
of the delta is divided into two nearly equal parts 
by a slough which at times of high freshets in the 
Stillaguamish discharges a volume of water into 
Port Susan bay nearly equal to that carried by the 
main channel. In 1879 and 1880 a dam was built 
across the slough, at a cost of one thousand four 
hundred dollars, which, in connection with a dike 
a mile and a half long, costing two dollars and 
seventy-five cents per rod, was intended to protect 
a large tract from salt water overflow. About three 
thousand dollars were invested in dike, dam and 
preparation for the first crop, when a freshet carried 
the dam out and the attempt was abandoned. 

"At Stanwood the Stillaguamish river divides, 
one channel flowing nearly due south into Port 
Susan bay, the other northwest into Skagit bay. 
These channels and Davis' slough constitute the 
boundaries of Leque's, sometimes called Iverson's 
island, which contains about four hundred acres, 
all of it open tide marsh prairie. Being situated at 
the mouth of the river it received so much drift 
on the lower portion that nearly one hundred acres 
are unfit to be diked. The drift is not only on the 
surface, but extends down indefinitely like a jam. 

"The improved portion, one hundred and twenty- 
five acres, is enclosed by a dike six hundred rods 
long, eight feet wide at the base, three and a half 
feet high and three feet wide on top, which cost 
one thousand three hundred and forty dollars, be- 
sides about two hundred and eighty dollars for 
dams in eight sloughs. These sloughs were from 
tliree to eight feet deep below level of tide marsh 
and are from six to twenty feet wide. The total 
cost of dikes, dams and repairs has been about one 
thousand nine hundred dollars for one hvmdred and 
twenty-one acres. When most of this dike was 
built, in 1878 and 18T9, average wages for diking 
were about one dollar and fifty cents per day and 
board. 

* * * * 

"The tide lands between the Stillaguamish and 
the Skagit in Snohomish and Skagit counties form 
one continuous tract. In two townships north of 
the Stillaguamish there are about three thousand 
five hundred and twenty-five acres of tide marsh, of 
which three thousand acres are free from timber 
and high enough to dike, and three hundred acres 
are covered with spruce or brush. The remainder is 
too low for profitable diking. East of the town of 
Stanwood is Record's slough, which extends to the 
highland, and into which many million feet of saw 
logs have been hauled. On each side of this slough 
is spruce tide marsh. None of the marsh between 
Record's slough and the main river is diked. West 
of Stanwood, Stillaguamish slough, about fifty feet 
wide, runs nearly due north towards the Skagit. 
Between it and the main river is an island contain- 



CURRENT EVENTS, 1870-89 



269 



ing six hundred acres, of which one hundred and 
fifty are diked and two hundred and fifty more are 
suitable for diking. The Stillaguamish flats include 
all the lands from Stanwood to the Skagit river, a 
distance of some five miles ; but the lands north of 
the Snohomish county line will be separately de- 
scribed. It is about four miles from Stanwood 
north to the county line. The tract includes about 
two thousand five hundred acres of tide marsh, most 
of which is under dike and nearly all free from brush 
or timber. * * * * The southernmost channel 
of Skagit river is called 'Tom Moore's Steamboat 
slough.' From this a slough deepened and ex- 
tended southward to the highland is called 'Tom 
Moore's Logging slough.' All tide lands south 
and west of Tom Moore's Logging slough are usu- 
ally considered a part of the Stillaguamish flats. 
The greater part of this land has been but recently 
diked and much of it is still uncultivated." 

The report gives a large number of statistics 
of crop yields secured by different individuals in 
different years, but only the general summaries are 
of special interest at this date. The total number of 
acres of tide marsh in Snohomish county is esti- 
mated at eighteen thousand, the number of miles of 
dike at thirty-seven and the cost at fifty thousand 
dollars. The following table of grain and hay 
raised on the Stillaguamish tide lands from 1878 to 
1883 is of special interest: 

GR.MX. HAY. 

Year. Acres. Bushels. Acres. Tons. 

1878 670 37,000 250 650 

1879 810 54,000 260 640 

18S0 880 40,200 275 660 

1881 750 37,000 475 1,000 

1883 710 35,000 700 1,450 

1883 660 40,000 825 1,775 

In 1880 the yield was largely decreased by 
freshets, which drowned out the grain, and in 
studying the table it is well to remember also that 
twice the stock was kept on the Stillaguamish tide 
lands that was kept in 1878. 

From the foregoing it will be seen that there was 
no standstill among the Snohomish county pioneer 
agriculturists during the latter seventies or the 
early eighties. These were years of extremely hard 
times, however, the lumber market being demor- 
alized so as to force a great curtailment in the log- 
ging industry, upon which everything else in the 
sound country was so completely dependent. 

William Whitfield, who was then sheriff and as- 
sessor, says the times were quiet in 1882. but there 
must have been a considerable revival before the 
close of that year, for in July the Seattle Daily 
Herald made the statement: "There is work for 
fully five hundred men in the various logging camps 
of the sound and rivers. At present nearly all of 
the camps are running with short crews, which is 



greatly to be regretted, for logs are in great demand 
at the mills, as high as seven dollars and fifty cents 
per thousand feet being offered. The mills being 
short of logs are not running to their full capacity, 
which makes lumber scarce and thus prevents the 
amount of building that would otherwise be done. 
In a word, business is cramped in every direction 
on account of the scarcity of labor." 

Conditions throughout the territory were gener- 
ally very good, as shown by an estimate of the prob- 
able exports from Washington published by the 
Seattle Post-Intelligencer, which placed them at 
over nine hundred cargoes of fifteen hundred tons 
each. The population of the territory was only 
about one hundred and twenty thousand. This 
prosperity, which, of course, included Snohomish, 
is further indicated by the Eye of March 27, 1883, 
which says : "The whole of Washington territory 
is infused with new life, and possessed of an activ- 
ity, even during the winter, that is largely in excess 
of anything heretofore witnessed in any country. 
Its population is being rapidly augmented and its 
resources developed in a more than corresponding 
degree. The producer finds a ready and remunera- 
tive market for all that he can raise. These mar- 
kets are growing larger every day, so that those 
who have soil to cultivate need have no fear of a 
profitable disposition of their crop. A careful read- 
ing of our exchanges from Washington ter- 
ritory shows a demand for all kinds of labor 
at good wages more than equal to the supply." 

The healthy growth of Snohomish county in 
particular is shown by the tax returns, which placed 
the valuation of ta.xable property in the county for 
the year 1882 at $436,126, which was an increase 
over the previous year of $60,969. 

The lumber industry was recovering very 
rapidly from its weak condition of a short time 
before. Since 1879 the price of logs had advanced 
from $3.50 per thousand feet to $7.00, with a much 
greater demand, and the number of men employed 
was three times as large. All the mills were run- 
ning full swing and the ring of the ax and the 
buzz of the saw were heard throughout the county. 
There was one mill that cut 250,000 feet of lumber 
a day and several that exceeded 100,000 feet. The 
shipments of lumber from the county averaged 
about twenty million feet a month, while the pro- 
duction for the home market was about half a 
million. 

There were a number of new enterprises under- 
taken in connection with the lumbering industry 
in the year 1883. One of them was the construc- 
tion of a flood dam at the outlet of Lake Stevens, 
by which the water could be raised six feet, thus 
enabling the Pillchuck river to be raised so that 
logs could be driven during the low water of 
summer. There were millions of feet of lumber 
that could be moved in this way. The estimated 
cost of the dam was $1,500. 



270 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



The largest lumbering concern in the entire 
region was that of the Blackman Brothers, on the 
Snohomish river. This enterprising firm was the 
originator of many notable improvements. One 
of the most notable was a logging car truck, the 
patent for which was secured in March, 1882. 
Steam was applied to this and vastly more work 
was done than had been done before on the old skid 
roads with mules and oxen. These trucks immed- 
iately became very popular and were used exten- 
sively throughout the county and territory. About 
thirty were in use on the Snohomish and the neigh- 
boring streams. 

Another enterprise, of a different nature but also 
very useful in the progress of the valley of the Sno- 
homish, was a ferry built by W. M. Pattison across 
the Skykomish river not far from its mouth. 
Between this river and the Snoqualmie just above 
their junction a beautiful and productive settlement 
was rapidly springing up. They had had no com- 
munication with Snohomish except by boat, but 
after the completion of the ferry the two places 
were connected by wagon road, which was of great 
benefit to both. 

In the meantime the county was rapidly growing 
in population. We learn from the Eye of April 
11, 1883, that every steamer brought a crowd of 
strangers from abroad, who came to gain a know- 
ledge of the resources of the country and to look for 
homes. A large percentage of these people were so 
pleased with the country that they remained and 
helped to develop it. A particularly earnest and 
progressive class of immigrants was a colony of 
Scandinavians who had settled some years pre- 
viously on the Stillaguamish river at and near the 
town of Stanwood. They were all steady and in- 
dustrious people and had already made themselves 
comfortable homes out of the forest. They had 
churches and schools and were altogether a very 
desirable class of citizens. 

During the summer of 1883 a great deal of work 
was done on the marsh lands south of Snohomish 
City en the opposite side of the river. These 
marshes have already been described at some length. 
Unimproved they were entirely worthless, being 
covered with a foot or two of water and producing 
nothing but hardback; but with this water drained 
off they immediately became very productive and 
very valuable. The settlers combined and ran par- 
allel ditches across this marsh from the highlands 
to the river. There were three main ditches, the 
Stevenson-Larrimer ditch, the William-Dietman 
ditch, and one from Asa Davis" place on the high- 
land to James Vance's on the river. These three 
ditches were of about equal length, aggregating 
something over six miles, and were about a mile 
apart. They were from four to eight feet wide 
and from four to seven feet deep, being large 
enough in some places to convey produce to market 
by means of a canoe. A number of smaller ditches 



were built intersecting the large ones, by whicji 
means the water was effectually drained from the 
land. By this enterprise considerably over five 
thousand acres of excellent land were reclaimed and 
in the course of time put under productive cul- 
tivation. 

There was also under course of construction a 
wagon road from the southern edge of the marsh 
south nine miles to Lake Washington through a 
region of new and rapidly growing settlement. This 
road was undertaken by private persons, the com- 
missioners not being sufiiciently persuaded of its 
value to give any assistance. It was also expected 
that a road would be built across the marsh to a 
point opposite Snohomish City, where a ferry would 
be established, and thus Snohomish would be distant 
from Seattle by land only twenty-three miles. 

In October a work of great importance was 
done by the government under the direction of 
William F. Hedges, namely, blasting out the snags 
and obstructions from the Snohomish river. These 
snags had long been a great menace to shipping 
and a cause of much loss and misfortune to loggers. 
One snag alone had cost them several thousand 
dollars by breaking their booms and sending their 
logs out to sea. It was therefore cause of great 
rejoicing to them to see these agents of destruction 
removed. 

On August 23d the town of .Stanwood was the 
scene of a serious shooting affray. It appears that 
a number of men were engaged in playing poker 
in James Caldon's saloon, among them Lo Rogers 
and Tom Devlin. A friend of the latter named 
Tom McFarlane, who was not playing, asked him 
to quit, thus angering Rogers, who told the intruder 
to mind his own business and clear out. McFarlane 
replied that he was not talking to him. whereupon 
Rogers drew a revolver and shot McFarlane through 
the shoulder. He then flourished his revolver 
around his head and declared that he was ready for 
anyone else who wanted some of the same treat- 
ment. There was no sheriff at Stanwood or anyone 
who wished to assume that office, so Rogers suc- 
ceeded in making his escape. 

During February of that winter the Snohomish 
river was frozen up so solidly that navigation was 
impossible and for a period of nearly two weeks 
all communication by water with the outside world 
was cut off. No mail was received and no news 
except what was brought from the neighboring 
farms and villages by private conveyance. The first 
boat to reach Snohomish was the Merwin, with a 
long list of passengers and freight and a large 
amount of mail. She ran aground before reaching- 
the city and was unable to get oft' before the next 
morning, but no serious mishaps occurred. She 
was heartily welcomed by the people of Snohomish, 
who were greatly rejoiced that the blockade had at 
last been broken. 

The spring of 1881 witnessed some difficulties. 



CURRENT EVENTS, 18T0- 



between a number of Skykomish Indians and a 
family named Taylor, who were living on the Sky- 
komish near the mouth of the Sultan. The cause of 
the trouble was that the Indians were accustomed to 
allow their dogs to range freely on the Taylor 
place, much to the disgust of the latter, who finally 
shot one of the dogs. The Indians, in a rage, at 
once put on their fighting costumes and went to 
seek satisfaction. They drew up at the Taylor place 
with a great flourish of bowie knives and huge 
threats of vengeance, but Mr. Taylor was not so 
scared as they expected. On the contrary, he went 
after his revolver and advised them to withdraw. 
This the Indians declined to do. At this juncture 
the mother of Mr. Taylor, who was a lady of nearly 
sixty, stepped between him and one of the Indians 
named Sultan John, who seemed to be a leader 
among the red skins. Just then a squaw tried to 
seize Mr. Taylor's revolver and it was discharged, 
the ball striking Mrs. Taylor on the arm and in- 
flicting a very painful wound. Shortly after this 
the Indians withdrew but soon returned and posted 
themselves in convenient places near the house and 
commenced to take shots at anyone who might show 
his head. They kept this up for the rest of the day 
but fortunately no one was hit, though there were 
several narrow escapes. The fight was at length 
terminated when one of the Taxlor brothers suc- 
ceeded in hitting Sultan John, whose hiding place 
Ix'hind a pile of logs was revealed by the smoke 
from his gun. 

The next day Sultan John, wlio was nut seriously 
hurt, and his comrades went to town, where they 
represented that they had been cruelly hijured and 
sought protection from their white oppressors. 
Taylor swore out warrants against the Indians on 
the charge of assault with deadly weapons, but 
before anything further was done it was decided 
that nothing would be gained by prosecuting them 
and accordingly a pow-wow was held, at which the 
Indians agreed to pay the costs already incurred, 
on condition that they be released. They were very 
glad to get ofi" so easv. 

We can hardly blame the Indians for being on 
unfriendly terms with the whites, who were so 
rapidly taking possession of their old homes. This 
region of the Skykomish in particular was rapidly 
changing from the haunts of the native Americans 
to the cultivated farms and the pleasant homes of 
white settlers. Up and down the banks of the river 
was farm after farm, highly cultivated and pro- 
ducing rich harvests, in some cases as much as 
four and five tons of hay to the acre and three 
hundred and more bushels of potatoes to the acre 
and other things in proportion. Seven miles from 
Snohomish City was the little town of Park Place 
on the Skykomish, opposite the rich and rapidly 
growing Tualco settlement in the forks of the Sky- 
komish and Snoqualmie. With this settlement Park 
Place was connected by means of William Patti- 



son's ferry. From Pattison's place to Fern Blufif 
a wagon road was built in lf<83, which made it 
possible to traverse in an hour the distance that had 
previously required an entire day. 

Between Snohomish City and Park Place were a 
number of fine farms, among them being those of 
J. H. Plaskett, Hiram Thomas, McNaught & Blan- 
chard, ]\Irs. Mary Evans, Jacob Boyer, Mr. Holm, 
H. Frederickson, J. A. Cedergreen, Charles M. 
Cedergreen, William Hawkins and G. T. Sorenson. 
In the near vicinity of Park Place were the premises 
of jMessrs. Ta\'lor, Pierce, McDougall and Mc- 
Clurg, and also that of Mrs. George Allen. Between 
there and the mouth of the Sultan river were several 
other valuable farms, including those of ]\Iessrs. 
Peterson, Cochran, Richardson, Salem Woods and 
John Elwell. We see by the number and exceflence 
of these ranches that agriculture was fast becoming 
one of the foremost industries in the county. 

Other industries also were assuming proportions 
considerably larger than heretofore, notably that of 
stock raising. We note in the Eye of March 14, 
1883, that twenty quarters of beef were shipped to 
Seattle by George W. Borst, of the Snoqualmie. 
This may not seem to be an important item until 
we remember that only a few years previous prac- 
tically all the beef used in Snohomish county was 
imported from Seattle. Now there was not only 
enough for all local consumption, but some to 
export as well. There were grazing lands in the 
county, which, when utilized to their fullest capacity, 
would be capable of maintaining thousands of cattle 
and sheep. 

The year 1884 was a dull one for the logging 
industry. The price of logs fell so low that as early 
as the first of June eight logging camps out of 
eighteen on the Snohomish and its tributaries ceased 
operations, and several others shortly after did the 
same. However, the depression in the lumber busi- 
ness had no such demoralizing effect upon the 
entire community as it had produced in the latter 
seventies, for hnnbering was no longer the one 
grand industry upon which all other industries were 
dependent. While still of course the most exten- 
sive and important industry of the county, it no 
longer held absolute sway over the others. Agri- 
culture had risen with tremendous strides to a 
position nearly equal to it. Consequently, when this 
depression came upon the lumber business and cries 
of "hard times" were issuing from the lips of the 
hunbermen, the rest of the community sustained 
itself in a way that was highly gratifying. Building 
and other activities continued much as usual, ft 
was a sign of great progress and increasing stability 
that the county was no longer dependent entirely 
upon one industry. 

There was considerable building going on in 
the city of Snohomish. The finest looking struc- 
ture was the Cathcart opera house, the lower floor 
of which was fitted as a bar and billiard hall. There 



272 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



were two principal hotels, kept respectively by Isaac 
Cathcart and J. W. Knapp. The principal business 
establishments were those of the Snohomish Trad- 
ing Company, Blackman Brothers, Comegys & Ves- 
tal, H. F. Jackson, all with general merchandise, 
and John T. Stevenson, with dry goods. The finest 
residence in the city at that time was probably that 
of Charles Jackson, a wealthy logging man. 

In the early part of June, 1884, the Pillchuck 
and Stillaguamish wagon road was completed. This 
had been begun on the 14th of March under the 
direction of B. C. Schloman. The county commis- 
sioners had appropriated four hundred dollars for 
the road, but this sum had covered less than half 
the cost. The rest was paid by private parties. The 
road was a very important one, traversing as it 
did a region of rich agricultural lands and opening 
up thousands of acres to settlement. Land hunters 
immediately flocked in and many valuable claims 
were taken up. The country at either end of this 
road, that is, the Stillaguamish and Pillchuck 
valleys, was already beginning to be quite exten- 
sively settled. While the farms were as yet only 
partially cleared, the prospects for developing one 
of the most productive agricultural districts in the 
Northwest were very bright. The work and pri- 
vation involved in clearing and cultivating these 
heavily timbered lands was extreme, but the ener- 
getic settlers of Snohomish proved themselves equal 
to it. 

Mining operations during the decade of the 
eighties were not very extensive. The old Silver 
City mines were practically abandoned. In fact the 
only mines that were worked to any extent were 
on the Sultan river. There was a good deal of 
placer digging on the bars of that stream, especially 
by Chinamen, who made from one dollar to two 
dollars a day. In the spring of 1884 considerable 
excitement was caused by the incorporation of the 
Sultan River Mining Company, which was com- 
posed principally of Seattle capitalists, among whom 
were Dr. Mondy, L. H. Griffith, J. W. George, E. 
M. Small, Dr. J. A. Beach and others. The hold- 
ings of this company consisted of one hundred and 
sixty acres of placer diggings on the Sultan river 
between five and six miles from the mouth. At 
this point the river made a sharp horseshoe bend, 
which had been caused by a large land slide some 
years before. It was the intention of the company 
to dig a ditch between the two ends of the horse- 
shoe, a distance of only ninety rods, thus turning 
the river and exposing the river bed for a length of 
a mile and a half. It was thought that this river 
bed was very rich in gold and it was this that the 
company expected to work. These mines were not 
more than thirty miles by the traveled road from 
Snohomish City and were therefore very easy of 
access. 

In the summer of 1884 occurred the first move- 
ments in Snohomish countv in the direction of 



railroads. The question of railroads was not such 
a vital one in Snohomish as in some other counties, 
several of which were held back many years because 
of the lack of them. Snohomish, unlike these 
counties, was provided with navigable rivers, by 
which commerce could be carried on with other 
parts of the sound. However, as. the county devel- 
oped, as its more remote sections were settled up 
and as its trade relations covered a wider terri- 
tory, the need of better transportation facilities 
became evident and received early attention. 

On August 5th of that year appeared the pros- 
pectus of a proposed railroad to be built and 
operated by a corporation known as the "Snake 
River, Priest Rapids and Puget Sound Railroad and 
Navigation Company." The offices of this company 
were at Snohomish City, and the officers were E. C. 
Ferguson, president ; J. H. Plaskett, vice-president ; 
Isaac Cathcart, treasurer; C. H. Packard, record- 
ing secretary ; J. L. McDonald, corresponding sec- 
retary. The proposed route of the road was set 
forth in the prospectus as follows: "The recent sur- 
veys of Major Truax and others in the Lo-lo pass 
demonstrate it as the most available portal into 
Washington territory, connecting with the crossing 
of Snake river near its junction with the Clearwater, 
thence across the prairie to the Columbia river at 
Priest rapids, up the Kittitas valley via Thorp's 
cabin, along the Yakima river, skirting Lake Kiche- 
las, thence along the Snoqualmie river and down the 
northeast bank of the Snohomish river to the harbor 
of Tulalip, on Puget sound." The advantages of 
such a route were depicted in glowing terms and 
for a time things looked very encouraging, but as 
is usually the case with any new enterprise, actual 
developments were slow in coming, and it was 
several years yet before a railroad was seen in Sno- 
homish county. 

The year 1884 was on the whole a very pros- 
perous one. Governor Squire, in his annual report 
to the secretary of the interior, gave the products 
of the county for the year as follows : Wheat, 3,400 
bushels; oats, G3,000; barley, 7,200; potatoes, 150,- 
000; apples, 15,000; plums 'and other fruits, 5,000; 
hay, 8,000 tons ; hops, 15 tons ; live stock : horses and 
mules, 400 ; neat cattle, 4,500 ; swine, 1,500 ; sheep, 
25,000 ; orchard trees in the county, 17,000 ; manu- 
factured products, 3,800,000 feet of lumber; sash 
and doors, brick, boots and shoes, blacksmith's work 
and furniture, total value, $64,500. Assessed value 
of property in the county, $60 l.-Ti;-? ; county tax 
levy, 19 mills; population, estimated, ■.M-'iO, number 
of school districts, 17; school houses, i:". ; number of 
school children, 668. As a matter of comparison 
it may be observed that the assessment valuation of 
the property had a great deal more than doubled 
since 1874, being at that time $350,610. 

In 1885 the lumber business, which had been 
under a cloud the year before, began to brighten. 
Many mills on the rivers and along the coast re- 



CURRENT EVENTS, 1870-89 



273 



Slimed operations and by the middle of summer 
most of the mills in the county were running full 
blast. While the price of logs was not yet as high 
as it had been a few years before, expenses were 
less and profits about the same as they had been. 
There were several large logging camps near Sno- 
homish City, the largest of which was that of the 
Blackman Brothers, who were putting into the water 
about forty thousand feet of logs per day. This 
camp was on the Snoqualmie, six miles above Sno- 
homish. Six miles below the city, on Ebey slough, 
was the camp of E. D. Smith, who, with a crew of 
about thirty men, put in from twenty-five to thirty 
thousand feet per day. Hulburt's and Stinson's 
camps were also busy, putting in about twenty 
thousand feet each. These were only a few of the 
many camps scattered throughout the county, so it 
is easy to see that the logging industry was reviv- 
ing quite rapidly. 

In August, Blackman Brothers met with a 
serious disaster. This was no less than the burning 
out of their entire camp. The fire was started by 
I. Cathcart, on whose land they were working, for 
clearing purposes, but it got beyond his control and 
spread so fast that the men had great difficulty in 
saving themselves and the teams. The camp itself 
was completely burned with many of their tools; 
also the logging railroad, which had been com- 
pleted only two months before at a cost of nearlv 
six thousand dollars, was all destroyed except about 
two hundred yards near the landing. Besides these 
losses a great deal of timber was burned, but in 
spite of this disaster the energetic and dauntless 
Blackman Brothers immediately made preparations 
to open another camp. 

About a month later another misfortune of a 
different kind happened to the loggers. The river 
rose suddenly and the Pillchuck boom broke, letting 
oyer a million and a half feet of logs go down the 
river. Quite a lot were turned into Ebey slough, 
but others were gathered in on the way down, in- 
cluding about a hundred thousand belonging to E. 
D. Smith, so that altogether about two million feet 
went out to sea, most of them drifting into Port 
Susan bay. The steamer Lone Fisherman was im- 
mediately put to work with a large crew of men 
picking up the logs. About three-fourths of them 
were finally recovered. The heaviest losers in this 
misfortune were E. Hagerty and Clark Brothers, 
both of whom lost several hundred thousand feet. 
In a short time a new sheer boom was put in oper- 
ation at Deadwater by Messrs. Tompkins & Pearl, 
wliich was a great protection against any more such 
calamities. 

The first sawed shingle ever made in the county 
was produced by Blackman Brothers' mill October 
26th. This was the beginning of an industrv which 
later became one of the largest in the entire 'section. 
Blackman Brothers and Mortimer Cook, of Sedro, 
Skagit county, were the men who introduced the red 



cedar shingle of Puget sound in the markets of the 
east. 

In the meantime agriculture was taking bigger 
strides than ever. While not strictly a grain country, 
such things as hay, hops and vegetables could be 
raised very successfully. The Tuaico settlement in 
the forks of the Skykomish and Snoqualmie was 
rapidly developing and assuming the appearance of 
a rich agricultural community. Farms were being 
cleared or partially cleared at the rate of about ten 
acres a year for each farm. Considerable cattle 
were raised. Among the largest and best farms 
were those of Messrs. Johnson, Harriman, Foye, 
Spurrell, Phelps, Fitzmaurice, Taylor, Tester, 
Detering and Austin. 

The marsh south of Snohomish was also pro- 
gressing well. As an example of the fertility of the 
soil there the Eye gives a description of a piece of 
ground thirty-three yards long and thirty wide 
belonging to Peter Hovardson, who raised upon it, 
in 1885, 331 bushels of potatoes, a ton of turnips, 
4 bushels of beets, 1>< bushels of parsnips, 4 bushels 
of corn, and about half a ton of squash, and besides 
all this, 18 bushels of apples and pears on the trees 
in that piece of land, less than half an acre. Most 
of the farmers on the marsh had from fifteen to 
fifty acres of improved land, which they were grad- 
ually increasing. There was about five hundred 
acres in cultivation that year, but it was expected 
that that amount would be doubled the following 
year. Most of the marsh trade went to Lowell, 
there being no direct communication with Snoho- 
mish. There were about fifteen miles of ditches, 
including side ditches, which very effectually drained 
the water from the land. The cost of the ditches 
had been about ten thousand dollars. 

Among the principal farms on the marsh were 
those of Messrs. Drew, who had the finest dwelling 
in that part of the countv, John Stecher, S. O. 
Woods, F. Fletcher, B. Walthers, A. Davis, W. W. 
Larrimer, W. J. Watkins, G. W. Stevenson, H. 
Gray and Peter Hovardson. The first complete 
threshing machine ever brought into the Snohomish 
valley was lirought from Seattle in September, 
188-3, by W. J. Watkins. who owned one of the best 
farms on the marsh. This machine, which was a 
horse-power, was at once put at work on the farms 
of its owner and his neighbors. 

In the governor's report for the year he gave an 
estimate of the products and we note a rise over the 
previous year in everv particular. They were given 
as follows: Wheat, 5,000 bushels; oats, 80,000; 
barley, 10,000; potatoes, 20,000; hay, 9,000 
tons; hops, 20 tons; live stock, horses and 
mules, 700 ; neat cattle, 6,000 ; swine, 2,000 ; sheep, 
4,000. The estimated output of logs was 70,000,000 
feet. We also learn that there was one steam saw 
mill, one water saw mill, and one sash and door 
factory, the value of whose products was $95,000. 
The population of Snohomish City was 700, that of 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



the county, 2,475. The assessed vakiation of real 
estate was $401,902; of improvements, $110,802, 
and of personal property, $100,982, making a total 
of $079,740. This was an increase over the pre- 
vious year of $75, -'384. 

The middle eighties all over the sound were ren- 
dered lively by anti-Chinese agitations. As there 
were but few Chinamen in Snohomish county, the 
agitation against them was less bitter than else- 
where on the sound. September 19, 1885, however, 
a mass meeting of citizens was called, at which a 
number of speeches against the Chinamen and some 
few in their favor were made, but nothing definite 
was attempted. The next morning another meeting 
was held, even more informal and unsystematic than 
the first. At this it was voted unanini()usl\- that the 
Chinese must go and that a committee of three be 
appointed by the chairman so to inform the China- 
men of Snohomish. Those called upon to serve on 
the committee refused to act, however, and nothing 
was accomplished but discussion. 

Early the next year matters were brought to a 
successful conclusion. On February 9th a commit- 
tee of citizens visited the Chinese and requested 
them to make preparations for an early departure. 
The Chinamen made no resistance, most of them be- 
ing willing to go. The following morning about 
twenty of them went on board the steamer Cascade 
and were seen no more in the vicinity of Snohomish. 
A few of the bosses remained a day or two longer 
to sell out their stock and settle their affairs. 

An incident occurred on the lOth which indi- 
cated the rabid antipathy which had arisen against 
the Chinese on a part of a few of the more violent 
citizens. A quantity of gunpowder was set oflf 
under a corner of a wash house, in which three 
Chinamen still remained. Fortunately no damage 
was done except to scare the Celestials and arouse 
the indignation of the sober-minded citizens. The 
Chinese exodus from Snohomish was one of the 
most quiet and peaceful in the Northwest, thev being 
too few in number to make any serious resistance, 
even had they been so disposed. Nearly every one 
in the county was glad when they were gone. 

One of the first important things that attracts 
our attention in 1886 was the opening of the new 
road across the marsh and south to the King county 
line where it intersected the Seattle road. This 
afforded direct communication between Seattle and 
Snohomish. The road had first been petitioned for 
some two years before and had been under the con- 
sideration of the county commissioners for that 
length of time, hanging fire for a variety of reasons, 
most of them very poor ones. The cost to the 
petitioners, who bore nearl}- the whole expense, was 
over two thousand dollars in money and labor. 

One of the most prosperous regions on the sound 
in 1886 was the Stillaguamish valley, which was 
being rapidly occupied. Settlements were scattered 
along the river for thirty miles or more. Wages in 



the logging camps were nearly one-fourth better 
than in Snohomish, ranging from forty to one hun- 
dred dollars per month. Hard times were almost 
unknown. The two principal settlements in the 
valley were at Stanwood, at the mouth of the Stilla- 
guamish, and at Florence, three miles above. The 
latter town, though nearly twenty years younger 
than its rival, was already pushing hard for the 
supremacy. It contained a large general merchan- 
dise store, which was run by Frank Norton, who 
was also the postmaster of the place ; a good-sized 
hotel, managed by Frank Carrin, a large public hall, 
and about half a dozen other buildings, including 
residences. 

There was a very different state of affairs at 
Granite Creek, concerning which an article appears 
in the Eye of April 24th. There were two thousand 
men there and two hundred houses, but half the 
houses were for sale at less than cost and half the 
men had mining claims for sale. The best claims 
did not average more than two dollars per day to 
the man and snow prevented prospecting. Pro- 
visions were very high, flour being $5.00 a sack, 
bacon 30 cents a pound, beans 12 cents, tea $1.00, 
beef 10 cents, tobacco $1.00, and syrup $3.00 a 
gallon. In short the report which the Eye gave was 
very discouraging. 

The growth of the county, however, cannot be 
judged by one over-boomed, under-developed min- 
ing district. A good way to judge of growth is to 
study the land entries, and in this respect the section 
of country of which Snohomish was a part surpassed 
any other on the Pacific coast. The amount of land 
entered in the Puget sound districts from July, 1882, 
to June, 1880, was one million one hundred and 
forty thousand three hundred and sixty-four acres. 

In July and August of this year there were a 
great many forest fires throughout the county. The 
weather had been dry for so long that a fire was a 
very dangerous thing. More than one logging camp 
and even farm was threatened and many crews had 
to stop work and fight the flames. The fires were 
finally checked, however, without much damage 
having been done. 

An unfortunate accident occurred in January, 
1887, on the Stillaguamish, between Stanwood and 
Florence. Robert Heney was living some distance 
back from the river on a plateau which had been 
formed by a landslide some years before. It was 
just at the foot of a large bluff. During the night 
a huge mass of earth and rock broke loose and 
started down the bluff. It would not have struck 
the house but for three immense stumps which 
turned the slide so that it caught the house and 
ground it to pieces, crushing the unfortunate man 
within and burying him beneath the debris. The 
body was recovered and buried at Stanwood by the 
Odd Fellows and Knights of Labor, of which organ- 
izations Heney had been a member. 

In 1887 railroad matters as:ain came to the 



CURRENT EVENTS, 1870-89 



front and assumed much more definite shape. On 
the 13th of April the Seattle & West Coast Rail- 
way was incorporated, with a capital stock of one 
million dollars. The officers of the company were 
Henry Crawford, Jr., president; Henry Crawford, 
Sr., vice-president; W. J. Jennings, secretary and 
treasurer. The principal offices were at Seattle. 
The object of the company was to construct and 
operate a railroad and telegraph line from Seattle 
to the most convenient point on the Canadian border 
for a junction with the Canadian Pacific. The 
junction with the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern was 
to be at the mouth of Bear creek near Woodenville. 
The route as laid out entered the Snohomish valley 
just below Fiddler's bluff, crossing the river to 
Snohomish City and from there proceeding north 
past Lake Beecher to the Canadian boundary, which 
was eighty-five miles from Snohomish. Several 
hundred men were immediately put to work at 
various points along the line and work was carried 
on as rapidly as possible. Operations were con- 
tinued all summer especially on the sections between 
Seattle and Snohomish and Snohomish and Lake 
Beecher. 

In December the contract for completing the 
entire road was let to Sinclair & Company, of New 
York, contractors who built three hundred miles of 
the Canadian Pacific. By the terms of the agree- 
ment the unfinished portion was to be completed 
and the rest constructed as soon as possible. The 
northern terminus of the road, where connection 
would be made with the Canadian Pacific, was not 
yet determined more definitely than that it would be 
either New Westminster or Hope, both of which 
places were about twelve miles from the boundary. 
The contractors took hold of the work with an 
energy and zeal that promised its speedy completion. 
A cargo of rails was on its way from England and 
every preparation was being made to lay them as 
soon as they arrived. People of a sanguine dis- 
position were confident that Snohomish would be 
connected with the east by a through train in the 
course of a year. 

Another railroad enterprise had been started a 
short time before this one known as the Belling- 
ham Bay Railroad. It was headed by Senator Can- 
field, D. B. Jackson and a number of San Francisco 
capitalists. A franchise was secured and other pre- 
parations made for the construction of the road, 
but it failed to materialize. 

The year 1887 was a very profitable one for the 
lumber industry. That year marked the beginning 
of the immense trade with all parts of the world 
which has since grown to such huge proportions. 
Not only was the local demand for lumber greater 
than ever before but foreign contracts were made 
faster than they could be filled. The price of logs 
advanced to seven dollars per thousand and rough 
lumber to twelve. The wages of woodmen in the 



camps were from forty to one hundred and twenty- 
five dollars per month with board. 

Blackman Brothers' mill produced that year 
about ten million shingles, most of which were 
shipped east, and four million feet of lumber. Their 
success in shipping their products east induced 
others to follow their example and in a short time 
the eastern demand was greater than the supply. 

The greatness of the demand for logs may be 
shown by the following incident. In 1879, E. Mc- 
Taggart had been appointed government scaler for 
the Puget sound district. The mill men, however, 
would not accept his measurements, which, though 
their accuracy was not questioned, averaged about 
five per cent, higher than their own. The mill men 
had the logging men under their thumb so that the 
latter were compelled to submit, but in 1887 the 
demand for logs became so great that the loggers 
could dictate their terms, and one of their terms 
was that McTaggart's measurements be accepted. 
The Puget Mill Company was the first to accept 
them and was then followed perforce by the rest of 
the mills in the country. 

In the fall another broken log boom was chron- 
icled. It occurred on the Stillaguamish river, which 
rose suddenly on account of warm rains and brought 
down a drive of ten million feet of logs. The 
pressure against the boom at the mouth of the river 
caused it to give way and about two million feet 
went out to sea, though most of them fortunately, 
were picked up by the steamers Daisy, Susie and 
Seattle and a crew of drivers. 

About the same time an important enterprise in 
connection with mining was undertaken, namely, 
the building of a road along the upper Skykomish 
and the north fork of the same river to Silver 
creek, about fifteen miles above the forks. The road 
was built by the Snohomish and Similkameen Trail 
and Wagon Company, of which Henry Stephens 
was president. It opened up a large section of good 
mining country and was for that reason very 
valuable. 

Indians attract our atttention again at this time. 
A bartender at Park Place named Oscar Drew was 
in the habit of selling whisky to some of the 
Indians near Tualco. During a drunken spree two 
of these Indians, Sam Patch and Harriman's Bill, 
murdered a squaw. The indignation of the law- 
abiding people was aroused and they secured the 
arrest of Oscar Drew as well as of the two mur- 
derers. Drew pleaded guilty and was given a stiflf 
sentence while the Indians also received their 
deserts. 

The population of Snohomish county in 1887 
was 3,138, being nearly double what it was two 
years before. The agricultural productions were 
oats, 112,000 bushels ; barley, 14,000; potatoes, 287- 
000; hav, 13,000 tons; hops, 42 tons; apples and 
small fruits. 280,000 bushels. 

The value of all taxable property was $1,0.12,333, 



276 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



having increased $316,762 since the year before. 
We give below a Hst of property holders who paid 
taxes on $5,000 and over, and the amount of taxes 
which they paid. J. B. Ault, $52.00; Edwin G. 
Ames, $234.99; Blackman Bros., $671.46; S. J. 
Burns, $70.48; John A. Brawley, $83.78; A. A. 
Brockwav. $158.74; John Brvggar, $89.94; Isaac 
Cathcart,' $404.19; W. S. Clav. $69.36; J. P. Come- 
ford, $105.20; Comegys & Vestal, $109.74; Che- 
nook Boom Company, $74.88 ; William Douglass, 
$110.80; L. G. Ferguson. $107.88; Yates Ferguson, 
$218.27; R. M. Folsom, $57.10; A. W. Foye, 
$58.80; Henrv Gable, $50.00; John Gilchrist, 
$54.40; Andrew Hagertv, $162.80; Henrietta M. 
Haller, $84.40 ; Edward N. Hamlin, $54.90 ; F. H. 
Hancock. $85.68; Chas. Harriman, $54.00; John 
Harvey estate, $52.90 ; J. B. Havnes, $96.00 ; John 
Hilton, $59.60; Augustus Hines', $59.79; Marv L. 
Hughs, $58.73 ; ]. H. Irvine, $180.00 ; C. F. Jack- 
son, $63.08 ; H. T. Jackson, $66.00 ; Andrew John- 
son, $78.00; John Krischel, $65.88; Lake Superior 
& Puget Sound Land Company, $173.50 ; James 
Long, $82.90; Charles H. Low estate, $335.20; 
Wilfiam McGee, .$r,9.r,8 ; T. D. Merrill, $158.74; 
M. McCauley, $(iO.T.': ^^■illiam McPhee, $56.88; 
Nicholson & Hanson,.'*;:. 1. 13 ;IIenry01iver,$123.S9 ; 
C. M. Ovenell, H^rn.l'.t -. V. X. Ovenell, $52.19; 
Marv L. Packanl. SM.VS; llarriette Parkhurst, 
$64.88 ; D. O. PeaiMiii, .-^lt:..:;(i : F. E. Phelps, $63.59 ; 
J. H. Plaskett, $55.56; Port Blakely Mill Company, 
$2,196.06 ; Puget Mill Company, $3,306.10 ; Pacific 
Postal Telegraph Company, $50.00; Sinclair estate, 
$52.88; Jasper Sill. ,Ss|.:i-}; E. D. Smith, $396.12; 
M. B. Smith. $6I.,M>: C. Stinson, $143.70; William 
Tester, $79.79; Cxrus \\:ilker, $109.04; William 
Whitfield, $76.68; Henry S. Wilson, $66.00; C. F. 
Yeaton, $94.59. 

The year 1888 opened up very brightly. A con- 
stant stream of immigrants and homeseekers came 
in on every boat. Everywhere could be seen men 
looking over the land and looking for suitable 
places to settle and bring their families and friends. 
We observe the following in the Eye of May 19th: 
"The rush of immigration to Snohomish county is 
unprecedented, and the woods along the proposed 
line of the West Coast railroad norfh from Snoho- 
mish are full of homeseekers. Eighteen claims be- 
tween Pillchuck and the Stillaguamish are said to 
have been filed on in two days." These homeseek- 
ers scattered in all directions throughout the 
county, settling especially in the northern parts 
along the Stillaguamish river and its forks and on 
the Pillchuck and new lands east of the Pillchuck. 

On the first of February Snohomish experi- 
enced an earthquake, which, while not at all serious, 
was violent enough to shake the windows and break 
a few ornaments in the houses. Even this was 
very unusual. 

A sad accident occurred on the north fork of 
the Stillaguamish near the mouth of the upper Pill- 



chuck on April 15th. O. B. Vancel was crossing 
the river in a canoe with three young ladies, Lillie 
Wheeler, Ella Aldridge and Annie Thompson. On 
the way over Mr. Vancel 's hat was lost overboard 
and while he was trying to recover it, the canoe 
was drawn into a riffle and capsized, throwing the 
occupants into the water. There were a number of 
their friends on the shore but it was impossible to 
render them any assistance as there was no boat 
at hand. The struggling people were unable to 
reach the shore in the swift water and were carried 
down for some distance until they were drawn into 
an eddy and disappeared. Mr. Vancel had come 
from Kansas about a year before and was quite 
prominent in the community. The accident cast a 
gloom over the whole valley. 

The lumber business had by this time arrived at 
that sta.ge of development when combinations and 
trusts are formed. The mill men were the first to 
adopt this measure, hoping thereby to raise the price 
of lumber and lower the price of logs. They made 
an arrangement among themselves by which a log- 
ger could sell his logs only to one mill. This of 
course enabled the mill to fix the price. It was a 
scheme which did not altogether meet with the en- 
thusiastic support of the loggers, who formed an 
organization of their own for mutual protection and 
to baffle the schemes of the m^U men. Among the 
prominent loggers who met at Seattle for this pur- 
pose were S. Coulter of North Bay, J. R. McDon- 
ald of Satsop, Dudley Blanchard of Samish, Day 
Brothers of Skagit, 'l. C. Ellis of Olympia, T. 
( )'r.rien of Stuck, A. Currie of Lake Washington, 
K. 1). Smith of Lowell, Blackman Brothers, I. Cath- 
cart, I". Stinsdu, George Ladd and William Illman 
of Snohomish. The whole Puget sound region was 
well represented. The organization was perfected on 
March 29th, when the following officers were 
elected: Dudley Blanchard, of Samish, president; 
J. R. McDonald, of Satsop, vice-president ; H. 
Clothier, of Skagit, secretary ; Terrence O'Brien, of 
Stuck, treasurer. The executive board, which was 
to have charge of affairs for the first six months, 
was composed of the above officers and Isaac Cath- 
cart. of Snohomish. It was not the purpose of the 
organization to fi.x the price of logs or to do any- 
thing to make a breach between themselves and the 
lumber manufacturers. They wished the relations 
between them to be of the most friendly nature, 
but they desired to retain the privilege of selling 
where and when they pleased. They also estab- 
lished in Seattle a loggers' headquarters, which they 
placed in charge of Mat. J. McElroy. It was his 
duty to collect information and statistics concern- 
ing the logging industry and present these in the 
form of a report at monthly meetings of the loggers. 
In this way everything of interest to them could be 
readily ascertained and they could regulate their 
business by it. This organization was not only of 



CURRENT EVENTS, 1870-89 



great benefit to the loggers themselves but to the 
entire population as well. 

The shingle industry was increasing rapidly. 
During the spring two new mills, each with a cap- 
acity of about thirty thousand a day, were built, 
one at Edmonds and the other near Stanwood. 

In November the largest log drive ever seen on 
the Snohomish river up to that time was made. It 
contained over twenty-two million feet. 

During the year 1888 great activity in railroad 
building was manifested. The Seattle & West 
Coast Company continued the construction of their 
line. The people of Snohomish put up twenty-seven 
hundred and thirty dollars for the right of way for 
this road in order to insure its construction through 
their city. On March 29th a deal was transacted 
by which the Seattle & West Coast road passed into 
the hands of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern, and 
under the new management work was carried on as 
fast as possible. The big cut at Fiddler's Bluff was 
finished on April 29th. This was the heaviest piece 
of work on the entire line, containing thirty-five 
thousand yards, mostly of solid rock. With the 
completion of this cut the grading was practically 
completed between Seattle and Snohomish and 
ready for the la\ing of the track. Eighteen hun- 
dred tons of steel rails had already been ordered 
from the east, which would be enough to extend 
several miles beyond Snohomish. The bridge 
across the marsh was finished in May and the one 
across Snohomish river begun about the same time, 
the contractors for the latter being the San Fran- 
cisco Bridge Company. It was to be three hundred 
and eighty feet long, including a draw of one hun- 
dred and sixty feet. This bridge was completed 
during the summer and trains were running from 
Seattle to Snohomish by October, but in the latter 
part of that month a misfortune occurred which de- 
la\ed traffic for the rest of that year. It was the 
old tale of a rise in the river, the Pillcbuck boom 
giving way and about three million feet of logs 
pressing down against the bridge, which, unable to 
withstand the strain, toppled over and was carried 
down the river in three sections, which were later 
recovered and taken back. The bridge was rebuilt 
as soon as possible, but was not finished until near 
the end of December. 

In the meantime engineers were busy through- 
out the summer in laying out routes for the division 
north of Snohomish and hundreds of men were 
engaged in clearing and grading the routes that had 
already been chosen. A hundred men were em- 
ployed on the four-mile section just north of Snoho- 
mish, and large numbers on other sections. It was 
decided to cross the Canadian line at Lander's Land- 
ing, to which point the Canadian Pacific would run 
an extension from Vancouver to connect with the 
West Coast line. 

In August the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern 
Company experienced some difiicultv at the hands 



of ex-Senator Canfield, president of the Bellingham 
Bay Railroad and Navigation Company, which had 
projected a railroad to run parallel with the Seattle 
& West Coast line and several miles west of it. 
Senator Canfield secured an injunction against the 
West Coast road forbidding the construction of 
bridges across any of the rivers, claiming that this 
would be an infringement of his own rights and 
franchises. The West Coast road, however, held 
a territorial charter in accordance with the regular 
laws of the United States, and moreover their 
bridge plans had been approved by the secretary of 
war, so they were secure in their position and the 
injunction of Senator Canfield was not followed by 
any serious results. 

'The Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern had also 
under process of survey at this time a route from 
Spokane by way of Cady pass. Extensive plans 
were made, but they failed to develop into anything 
more substantial. The actual railroad never ap- 
peared. 

During 1889 the construction of the line between 
Snohomish and Canada was carried on vigorously 
at both ends. The cost of clearing and construction 
was about twenty-one thousand dollars a mile and 
the entire cost of the njad and equipment was 
estimated at two million dollars. Hy October the 
track had arrived opposite Marysville and bids for 
ties to continue it to the Stillaguamish were adver- 
tised for. At the northern end the work was pro- 
gressing equally well. In December contracts for 
clearing and grading thirty miles north of the Skagit 
river and fifteen south of it were awarded in five 
sections to Smith Brothers, A. W. Moore, Clem- 
ents & Bradford, M. J. Heeney and McLeod & 
Earle. This work was to be done by July of the 
next year, and it was expected that connection with 
the Canadian Pacific would be made as early as the 
first of September, 1890. 

We have had but few crimes to chronicle in 
these pages, because few were committed. How- 
ever, there was one lapse in this year which may 
be mentioned. On the night of March 29th three 
men broke into the store of M. W. Packard & Son 
and blew open the safe with a charge of powder. 
They took from it about three hundred and sixty- 
five dollars in cash, as well as notes, deeds and other 
papers. They did not have long to enjoy their gains 
however, as they were promptly captured and put 
in a safe place. 

The Stillaguamish valley was making itself pro- 
minent in several ways during 1889. It was grow- 
ing rapidly. The town of Stanwood had about two 
hundred and fifty inhabitants, and Florence and 
other smaller villages along the river were in a 
flourishing condition. The valley of the north fork 
also, though not yet surveyed, was quite thickly set- 
tled. Six years before there had not been a settler 
in the valley. Now there were two postofiices, Glen- 
dale and Allen, and two school districts. Fruit 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



raising was one of the principal industries, being one 
for which the region was specially suited. Excellent 
specimens of iron ore were found in this valley. 
On the south fork also valuable mineral deposits' 
were discovered, including silver and iron and an 
excellent grade of granite. A company was formed 
known as the Stillaguamish Mining Company to 
operate these mines. Considerable quantities of 
coal were also found. In speaking of the Stillagua- 
mish valley W. J. Watkins, of Franklin, a gentle- 
man of large experience, declared it to be the richest 
section in agricultural lands and timber in the 
county. 

All this growing wealth Snohomish county was 
in danger of losing. There was a movement on 
foot in the fall and winter of that year, originating 
at Stanwood, to withdraw a strip of country across 
the entire northern end of the county and attach 
it to Skagit county. The reason for the disaffec- 
tion among the Stillaguamish people was their dis- 
tance from the county seat and the difficulty of 
reaching it. They had long been asking for a good 
county road but the commissioners had delayed so 
long to provide them with one that they lost pa- 
tience and expressed their feelings by the secession 
movement. Matters were finally arranged in an 
amicable manner, however, and the vallev of the 



Stillaguamish remained within the limits of Snoho- 
mish county. 

There was considerable mining excitement dur- 
ing that last year of the eighties. It was in 1889, 
that the famous Silver Creek mines first began to 
attract widespread attention. They had indeed been 
discovered nearly twenty years before, but had 
never been worked to any extent. They were 
found to be very valuable, assays averaging as high 
as from eighty dollars to one hundred and twenty 
dollars per ton of silver. During six months about 
eighty claims were taken up, a number of which 
were worked actively all summer. Several com- 
panies of eastern capitalists were formed for the 
purpose of operating Silver Creek mines. 

The progress of Snohomish county had up to 
this time been quite remarkable. Her industries 
had grpwn so that one of them at least commanded 
the markets of the world. She was dependent not 
on one industry, but on several, of the most diver- 
sified kinds, and this rendered stability and pros- 
perity much more certain, making it possible for 
Snohomish to continue progressing even in the 
midst of hard times in which so many counties were 
well-nigh overwhelmed. But this was only the be- 
ginning. With the opening of the new decade 
commenced a period of growth and development 
more active than at any previous time. 



CHAPTER III 



CURRENT EVENTS, 1889-97 



Amid much else of deep interest and importance 
Snohomish county has had two events common to 
most of the counties of this state ; to-wit, railroad 
development and a great struggle over the location 
of the county seat. In some degree the historv of 
the county for the decade of the nineties is made 
up of the development of these. 

The Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern railroad 
was at the beginning of 1890 pushing forward with 
all speed an extension of their line from Snohomish 
to the Stillaguamish valley. This valley was one 
of the richest and most beautiful in the county and 
was being rapidly put under cultivation. The new 
railroad was of immense value both to it and to 
Snohomish, which drew a large part of its trade. 

As we have seen in the preceding chapter, there 
-was much growth in the mining industries of Snoho- 



mish county in the year 1889. Discoveries of iron, 
coal and granite were made in various parts of the 
county, but the great bonanza was struck at Silver 
creek, which is a branch of the north fork of the 
Skykomish river. Here both silver and gold were 
found in great quantities and of a high grade. The 
current newspaper discussions of that year denote 
a great confidence in the future of Snohomish as a 
result of mining enterprises. 

In connection with these developments there 
came also into view the unfoldings of a great growth 
in manufacturing and agricultural pursuits. Rum- 
blings of county division troubles were also in the 
air. The people of the Stillaguamish valley were de- 
sirous that a strip the entire length of the county 
should be taken from Snohomish county and at- 
tached to Skagit, the main cause of dissatisfaction 



CURRENT EVENTS, 1889-97 



being their remoteness from the county seat. But 
in spite of these troubles Snohomish county entered 
the year 1890 with her pulses beating with hope 
and with prognostications of rapid growth in all 
lines of enterprise. 

Reference to the papers of January, 1890, shows 
the progress of railroads. A struggle seemed then 
in progress between the Northern Pacific and the 
Union Pacific, both of which had had their eyes on 
the Puget sound country for a long time but had 
been afraid to commence operations. At length, 
however, the Northern Pacific announced their in- 
tention to survey the country between Seattle and 
the Canadian Pacific, and it was then discovered that 
the Union Pacific had already surveyed the same 
territory. Open hostility immediately broke out, 
and the conflict which ensued gave promise of being 
one of the most bitter and protracted in the railroad 
histor}- of the United States. Great things for 
Snohomish and the regions adjoining were then an- 
ticipated from this rivalry between the two great 
railroad systems. 

The Great Northern railroad, to whose subse- 
quent operations so much of the industrial condi- 
tions of Snohomish county have been due, was at 
that time in embryo only, and the expected great 
developments of the Union Pacific were not fully 
realized. But the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern 
Avas actively engaged in tracklaying north of Snoho- 
mish City, from which point it was extending a 
branch to the Stillaguamish valley, one of the rich- 
est agricultural districts in western Washington. 
It was also preparing to strike out eastward from 
IMachias, a new town six miles north of Snohomish. 
Machias received quite a boom from the fact that it 
was thought it would be the intersection of the Se- 
attle, Lake Shore & Eastern and the Great Northern, 
•which was extending its line to the Pacific coast. 

In the meantime the progress of railroad con- 
struction in the Whatcom country was attracting the 
attention of Snohomish people in an almost equal 
degree with that of their own region. The Fair- 
haven & Southern railroad was in progress of con- 
struction from New Westminster to Seattle and 
from Sedro up the Skagit valley and into the Cas- 
cade range. 

We find by reference to the papers of July 4th 
that the hand of the Great Northern railroad was 
beginning to appear in the persons of Vice-Presi- 
dent Clough and Chief Engineer Beckler, who, in 
-company with officials of the Seattle & Montana 
railroad, had at that time just returned from a jour- 
iie>- on the shore of the sound, and as a result of 
their observations they decided to run the line of 
the Seattle & Montana railroad from Seattle via 
Man'sville to crossings of the Stillaguamish and 
Skagit rivers, a distance of seventy-two miles. It 
was also determined to let contracts on July 10th 
for the construction of that amount of road together 
with bridges across the two rivers. 



Work on the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern rail- 
road, under the Seattle & Eastern Construction 
Company, was in the meantime being pressed. The 
line from Snohomish north to the Skagit was nearly 
completed except for a number of bridges, that 
over the Stillaguamish being delayed by high water. 
There were also bridges to be built across the 
Skagit and both forks of the Nooksack and the Pill- 
chuck. Connection tracks were already laid to the 
Fairhaven & Southern railroad and also to the Se- 
attle & Northern line. 

While the public attention was centered largely 
upon the vitally important matter of railroad con- 
struction, it must not be supposed that other in- 
terests were neglected. Far to the contrary. The 
plucky, pushing type of people who have made our 
western communities do not sit down and wait 
for transportation facilities without getting some- 
thing ready to transport. "Things were doing" 
in other directions as well as railroads in Snohomish 
in those days. 

Eighteen hundred and ninetv was a great year 
for immigration to the sound in general and Snoho- 
mish did not lack its share. The vast and varied 
resources of the region drew the attention of this 
incoming flood of settlers. Great tracts of fertile 
agricultural lands, vast forests of the best timber 
in the world, mountains supposed to be full of gold, 
silver, iron, lead and coal — these were attractions 
which brought such a multitude of settlers as had 
not been known before. They quickly cleared their 
land and brought forth magnificent crops of hav. 
fruit, vegetables and berries. The lack of good 
roads had long been a great hindrance to the growth 
of the county and had been the means of keeping 
away many prospective settlers. The important 
question of better roads was taken up and soon 
there was great improvement along this line. 

Mineral resources must come in for their full 
share of attention. The largest quarry of granite 
in Washington was located on Granite falls on the 
south fork of the Stillaguamish, sixteen miles from 
Snohomish City. The quality of the granite taken 
from this quarry was inferior to none in the United 
States. It was owned and operated by the Still- 
aguamish Mining, Milling and Prospecting Com- 
pany. 

In regfard to the gold and silver mines of the 
county, the Sun, of August 99, 1890. has the follow- 
ing quotation from Hon. L. W. Getchell, one of 
the most experienced mining men of the Pacific 
coast : "In my opinion -Snohomish countv has the 
richest mining district in the LTnited States. I 
have been all through the mining districts of New 
Mexico, Nevada and California, and if I am not 
mistaken, IMonte Cristo surpasses all of them." In 
the Seattle Journal of the same date appears the 
following, referring to the same mines : "Cali- 
fornia, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona and Montana 
can testify to the wonderful impetus given to them 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



by mining discoveries. The great excitement 
caused by the discovery of gold in Austraha will 
be remembered. Compared with recent discoveries 
in this state, however, these finds are but pigmies. 
Experienced mining men have no hesitancy in say- 
ing that the new find is the largest and the richest 
that has ever been made and that one hundred dol- 
lars to one dollar will be taken out in comparison 
with the others." A company was organized with a 
capital of five million dollars to work some of these 
mines, numbering among its members many of the 
richest men of the large Eastern cities as well as 
some of the Western capitalists. A company of 
San Francisco men was also formed, with claims 
adjoining these. 

The lumbering and agricultural resources, as 
well as possibilities of beautiful and attractive 
homes, were beginning to excite deep and wide- 
spread interest. A ride over the Seattle, Lake Shore 
& Eastern railroad from Snohomish to the Stilla- 
guamish river in 1890 would have revealed many a 
possibility of attractive and profitable locations. 
Machias. six miles from Snohomish, was the center 
of a promising farming district. Hon. L. W. Get- 
chell was the proprietor of the town site and under 
his energetic supervision many improvements were 
in progress, while the railroad company were en- 
gaged in erecting suitable depot buildings and ware- 
houses. 

Arlington, at the junction of the forks of the 
Stillaguamish river, and now a beautiful little town 
of nearly two thousand inhabitants, had at that time 
but fifty people, but was already carrying on an 
active business in connection with the railroading 
and other developments of the region. Thomas 
Moran was constructing a large hotel and J. W. 
McLeod was establishing a large store. A rival to 
Arlington then existed in the form of Haller City, 
but it has since been absorbed by the superior 
growth of Arlington. Anyone seeing the develop- 
ments in milling, dairying and gardening now in 
progress in the vicinity of Arlington would find it 
hard to realize the wildness of the country in the 
year 1890. 

An interesting picture of the condition of the 
lumbering business in 1890 is derived from an 
article by L. R. Freeman in the Washington Far- 
mer of August 1, 1890. Among much other inter- 
esting matter there is a description of Cathcart's 
mill about six miles south of Snohomish. The mill 
at that time was supplied with logs from the timber 
lands immediately adjoining, in the logging of 
which thirty oxen and fourteen mules were being 
employed, while about seventy men were at work 
in the logging camps and at the mill. Besides the 
lumbering business Mr. Cathcart carried on at that 
time a mercantile business of from eighty thousand 
to one hundred thousand dollars per year, and he 
cut three hundred tons of hay upon his meadow 
skirting the Snohomish river. 



Another great lumbering establishment of that 
period was that of Blackmah Brothers. In conse- 
quence of the destruction of a former mill by fire 
in the previous year this firm built a very elaborate 
mill at a cost of one hundred and twenty-five thou- 
sand dollars, situated about a mile south of the 
town of Snohomish. This mill had a capacity of 
a hundred thousand feet of lumber, a hundred and 
twenty-five thousand shingles, and forty thousand 
laths per day, and their planer could handle forty 
thousand feet of lumber per day. Besides this, the 
same firm had a complete sash and door factory, and 
in all a hundred and seventy-five men were on its 
pay-roll. 

The wages usually paid common laborers at 
that time in the lumber camps ranged from thirty 
dollars to thirty-five dollars per month for common 
labor, while skilled laborers received from two 
dollars to four dollars per day. In the logging 
camps the usual pay for skidders was forty dollars 
per month, while choppers received seventy-five 
dollars per month and teamsters from ninety dollars 
to one hundred dollars. 

Among other enterprises of that time was the 
sash and door factory of Morgan Brothers, the 
sash and door factory of the Snohomish Manufac- 
turing Company, the shingle mill of Mudgett & 
Sons, the brick yard of E. Bast, and the factory of 
Cyrus H. Knapp. 

Meanwhile the cloud of the coming county-seat 
struggle was beginning to darken the sky of Sno- 
homish City. We find the Sun of May 16th voicing 
the fears of the residents of the old town, and urg- 
ing them to renewed exertion, saying: "Unless the 
people awaken to realize the condition in which we 
are now resting so quietly, it will be everlastingly 
too late to oppose the forces that will combine to 
acconiplish the measure at the appointed time." 
The people in the northern part of the county were 
disappointed at having failed in their attempt at 
secession, and somewhat disafifected toward Sno- 
homish City, claiming that thev were discriminated 
against at every opportunity. There were a number 
of new towns springing up rapidly along the lines 
of the railroads, three of which were named by the 
Sun as possible aspirants for countv-seat honors. 
One of them, Mukilteo, was a booming town on 
Port Gardner bay ; another, Marysville, was at the 
mouth of Ebey slough. It is the only one of the 
three that has at the present time a population of 
more than five hundred. The last was the enter- 
prising town of Machias, six miles -north of Sno- 
homish City. It is rather curious that amid the 
towns named and feared as rivals by the Sun the 
one which was destined to capture the county seat 
is not named; that is. Everett. The fact is that 
Everett was not in existence at that time. In spite 
of the agitation for relocation the contract for the 
construction of a new court-house at Snohomish 
was let in the middle of Tulv, to Daniel Warner, 



CURRENT EVENTS, 1889- 



283 



of Seattle, for twenty-three thousand nine hundred 
and forty dollars. 

Turning again to the omnipresent question of 
railroads, we find this striding on with seven-league 
boots. The Sun of July 25th gives an interview 
with President Oakes, of the Northern Pacific, in 
which he says : "The Northern Pacific Company 
has purchased a little more than a majority of the 
capital stock of the Seattle, Lake Shore & East- 
ern Company, that is, about three million dollars 
out of the five million dollars, and has leased the 
property on the basis of a guaranty of six and 
three-fourths per cent, interest on the outstanding 
bonds, and a further issue of bonds necessary to 
complete the line to the international boundary, a 
total of about five million dollars. The annual 
rental will be eighty thousand dollars. The North- 
ern Pacific will enter upon the above operation of 
the Seattle road on the 25th ult." On August 1st 
President A. S. Dunham, of the Seattle, Lake Shore 
& Eastern, was quoted as follows : 'T received 
official information by telegram from New York this 
morning that the Oregon Transcontinental Company 
has bought a majority of the Seattle. Lake Shore 
& Eastern Railway Company, but neither the road 
nor the franchise has been purchased. The same 
policy will be carried out as heretofore, and no 
change will be made in the management. The par- 
ties interested in the road retain their interest, and 
this purchase of stock merely adds to the financial 
strength of the company by combining the strength 
of the two parties." A week later the purchase of 
the Seattle. Lake Shore & Eastern bonds by the 
Oregon Transcontinental Company was ratified by 
their directors; also the agreement to sell to the 
North American company tne assets of the Oregon 
Transcontinental Company to the amount of forty 
million dollars. 

\\"hile these transactions were being negotiated, 
construction work was uninterrupted. The bridge 
of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern across the 
Stillaguamish was completed and the larger one 
across the Skagit was nearing completion. The 
Seattle & Montana road let a number of contracts 
for the construction of their line from Seattle north 
along the beach to the junction of the Fairhaven & 
Southern and the Canadian Pacific. An extension 
south to Portland was also under consideration. 

The Great Northern people were ven,^ active at 
this time, pushing forward their transcontinental 
line as fast as possible. They had not yet chosen 
a pass through the Cascades, though they had had 
them all surveyed and had them under careful con- 
sideration. The Indian. Cady. and Wenatchee 
passes were the most important, and it was gener- 
ally supposed at the time that the Cady pass would 
be chosen. 

It became obvious that the question of the loca- 
tion of the railroad was going to have a great bear- 
ing on real estate investments. And it mav be noted 



here, as a general philosophical observation, that 
there is no great progress without some admixture 
of feverish speculation and grafts and schemes and 
booms of every sort. Puget sound experienced 
both the progress and the scheming in their most 
acute forms. The crop of imaginations and schemes 
and promoters' enterprises was sowed thick and 
far, the seasons and conditions of the next few years 
favored a luxuriant growth and the crop of "busted" 
booms and withered hopes during the vears 1892-97 
was vast and varied. But as we all know the solid 
resources of the wonderful region of Puget sound 
and of the whole state of Washington carried them 
through the "great depression" to a new era of 
boundless accomplishment without permanent loss. 

There were exciting times in the summer and fall 
of 1890. Just exactly what the railroads were going 
to do was a mystery, and one that everybody was 
trying to solve. Real estate agents were eager to 
get in on the ground floor. Capitalists hurried to 
and fro looking over the land and holding private 
conferences with railroad officials. Everywhere 
was an air of momentous secrecy. Many thought 
that ]\Iukilteo or some other point on Port Gardner 
bay would be the western terminus of the Great 
Northern railway and that in a few years there 
would be a great city there. Every foot of land 
around the bay was bought up at fabulous prices. 
Everyone was afraid of being too late. It looked 
as though transcontinental trains would be running 
through Snohomish county in another year and even 
the most conser^-ative were of the opinion that a 
period of immense prosperity was in store for Sno- 
homish. 

The progress of Snohomish county during the 
decade of the eighties may be most clearly denoted 
by a brief summary of the wealth and population 
in 1890. The following is condensed from an ab- 
stract of the assessment published in the Sun of 
September 5th. The value of horses, mules and 
asses was $65.982 ; cattle, $89,632 ; sheep and hogs, 
$6,530; the value of all personal property, including 
the live stock given above, was $671,4:31. The value 
of the real estate was $3,027,18-4; improvements, 
$309,596. The grand total of all assessed property 
was thus $4,008,211. As compared with previous 
j-ears, this showed an immense growth. The assess- 
ment in 1888 was $1,200,000; in 1889. $1,610,922. 
The population in 1890 was 8,514, distributed pretty 
evenly throughout the county. Snohomish City was 
the largest town, with 1.993 inhabitants. 

The new year of 1891 opened brightly in Sno- 
homish. The new court-house was nearly ready 
for occupancy, and from the description in the Eye 
it seems to have been a "marvel of beauty and con- 
venience." It was finely located on the highest 
spot in the city and commanded a magnificent view 
of the surrounding country. The building itself 
was an imposing structure, sixty-four by one hun- 
dred and four feet, with two stories and a base- 



284 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



ment, built principally of brick but with some stone 
and costing about thirty-two thousand dollars. The 
inside accommodations were very elegant and com- 
modious. While larger than was really needed at 
the time it was expected that the county would soon 
grow so as to require it. It was felt that the erec- 
tion of this court-house precluded all possibility of 
changing the county-seat. 

The lumber interests of Snohomish county were, 
as they still are, her greatest asset. The lumber 
trust, however, had such a grip upon it as seriously 
to impede its natural evolution. Those in control 
of the trust were men living in other parts of the 
country, whose only interest in the lumber districts 
of Puget sound was to gather in their immense 
wealth while doing nothin'g in return to build them 
up or develop their other resources. As long as 
Snohomish was in the grasp of this vampire 
trust its progress was retarded to an immeasurable 
degree. In 1891 a number of mills were shut down, 
as the trust believed they would lose money if oper- 
ated. The lumber outlook for that year was rather 
unpromising. 

Snohomish county was visited on ]\Iarch 12, 
1891, by a remarkable storm, said to be the worst 
in seventeen years. It was very severe along the 
coast between Edmonds and Port Gardner bay. 
The Seattle & Montana railway track, which was 
built onlv a few feet above high water mark, was 
overflowed by four huge tidal waves, which 
followed each other at intervals of about twenty 
minutes. Four miles of track was completely de- 
molished, the damage amounting to nearly twenty 
thousand dollars. At Edmonds and at Mukilteo the 
towns were partly flooded and considerable loss 
was sustained, while not a little damage was done 
to shipping in various parts of the sound. While not 
of long duration the storm was very severe. It 
lasted only from early morning to ten o'clock of 
the l-2th. 

Railroad building progressed steadily throughout 
the year. The Great Northern engineers completed 
the survey described in the Eye of March 21st as 
follows : "The Great Northern engineers have 
completed the line from Stevens pass to Snohomish. 
It crosses the Skykoinish near Dean, runs a little 
north of Monroe and along the north side of La 
Grand marsh to Snohomish. The engineers are 
now engaged in running another line from the 
Skykomish crossing, through Monroe, along the 
south side of the marsh to a point near Fiddler's 
Bluflf, where it is possible the road may cross the 
Snohomish two miles above this city; running 
thence to Mukilteo via Lowell." 

Bv this time the line of their entire transconti- 
nental road was practicallv located. The plans 
and recommendations of Engineer J. F. Stevens 
were adopted, and the route, as described in the 
Sun of May 22d, was as follows: "It ascends the 
Wenatchee twenty-five miles to the rapids, called the 



Tumwater, and thence runs across country to the 
left fork of Mason creek, which carries it to the 
summit through Stevens pass at an elevation of 
three thousand three hundred feet, where is a tun- 
nel two and three-fourths miles long through the 
mountain. Once upon the western slope it descends 
one of the forks of the Skykomish to the Snohomish 
and running down that river strikes the first salt 
water at Port Gardner on Puget sound, connecting 
with the Seattle & Montana." 

On November 26th the contract for the construc- 
tion of this portion of the road was let to Shepard, 
Henry & Company. It was to be under the general 
charge of Engineer J. F. Stevens. Employment 
would be given to between two thousand and three 
thousand men and the cost would be about one mil- 
lion five hundred thousand dollars. 

With other railroad construction the then new 
way of electric railroading was receiving attention, 
and the Snohomish & Port Gardner Electric Motor 
Company was incorporated. The incorporators 
were E. C. Ferguson, Andrew Hagarty, Ulmer Stin- 
son, J. J. Folstad, H. Blackman, F. M. Headlee and 
E. D. Smith. The capital stock was one million dol- 
lars, and the purpose of the company was to build 
and operate an electric railroad from Snohomish to 
Port Gardner, running through the town of Lowell, 
and also extending a branch northward to Lake 
Stevens. 

Progress on the Seattle & ]\Iontana railroad may 
be chronicled by noting the driving of the last 
spike in October, two miles north of the Stillaguam- 
ish river. It was about two weeks later, however,, 
before the road was actually completed and regular 
trains run. 

The Snohomish, Skykomish & Spokane railroad, 
or as it was more commonly called, the Three S 
road, was the center of considerable interest in 
1891. The road, as originally projected, was to ex- 
tend from Snohomish east to Spokane, but when 
Everett started up it was proposed to extend the 
road to Port Gardner bay. July 16th work was 
commenced on the extension, which, according to 
program, was to be completed in one himdred and 
twenty days. By the 19th the contractors. King & 
Dickinson, had a force of two hundred men em- 
ployed. Much of the capital stock of this company 
was held by the Everett Land Company, and event- 
ually the road passed into the hands of Henry 
Hewitt, who made it a part of the Everett & Monte 
Cristo line. 

That the citizens of Snohomish county were 
alive to their business interests and appreciated the 
necessity of keeping up with the procession is 
evinced by a public meeting held April Sth for the 
purpose of furthering the advancement of the place. 
The personnel of the meeting included many since 
and now prominent in the afifairs of the county. The 
meeting was attended bv men from the entire 
countv, and in a very short time the organization 



CURRENT E\'EXTS, 1889-97 



numbered nearly two hundred members. At this 
meeting the following officers were elected : Presi- 
dent, j\I. S. Swinnerton. of Marysville; vice-presi- 
dent E. C. Ferguson, of Snohomish ; secretary, M. 
J. Hartnett, of Snohomish ; treasurer, W. P. King- 
ston, of Edmonds. The executive was to consist of 
one member from each county precinct, elected by 
the residents of that precinct. The members who 
were chosen at the first meeting were : L. V. Stew- 
art of Edmonds, A. B. Palmer of Arlington, W. B. 
Shaw of IMarysville, C. B. Hvson of Fernwood, 
T. W. Currie of Allen, J. F. Stretch of Wallace, 
A. H. Eddy of Hartford, Alexander Robertson of 
Florence, H. M. Shaw of Sultan. Robert Allen, 
H. C. Comegys and Councilman Spurrell of Sno- 
homish. The objects of the organization, as stated 
in the constitution, were to acquire, preserve and 
disseminate valuable statistics and infonnation con- 
cerning, and to foster and advance the commercial, 
manufacturing, agricultural and other public inter- 
ests of, the county of Snohomish. 

Among other enterprises of the summer of 1S91 
was what may be called the formal opening of navi- 
gation on the rivers above Snohomish. This was 
celebrated by an excursion on May 8Tth from 
Snohomish to Sultan, given by the Sultan Improve- 
ment Company. A little after twelve o'clock the 
little steamer Minnie M., with her load of enthusi- 
astic guests, swung into the river and seven hours 
later reached the town of Sultan, at the confluence 
of the Sultan and Skykomish rivers, where they 
were warmly welcomed. This event was not only 
interesting as a pleasure excursion, but important 
as commemorating another step in the progress of 
the county. 

Mining occupied a great share of the attention 
of Snohomish people during the busy and important 
year of 1891. The most important mining districts 
were the Silver Creek and Monte' Cristo. similar in 
formation and the nature of deposits, being separa- 
ted only by a narrow mountain chain. This sepa- 
ration, however, necessitated the shipping out of 
products by different routes, that of the Monte 
Cristo to the north and that of the Silver Creek 
mines to the south. The two districts comprised 
nearly two hundred and fifty square miles. The 
entire region was filled with most promising silver 
and gold prospects and mines, the richest in the 
entire district, apparently, being the \'andalia, 
specimens of which assayed as high as two hundred 
and eighty dollars in silver and forty dollars in 
gold. The cost of opening the mines was compara- 
tively slight, probably nowhere exceeding ten dol- 
lars a foot, and in many cases being considerable 
less. Facilities for development were plentiful and 
close at hand, such as timber, water power, etc., 
but the greatest difficulty was in reaching the mines. 
The trails were very bad and the mountains very 
rugged, so that they were practically inaccessible 
to any but the most sturdy mountaineers. The 



county commissioners of Snohomish county agreed 
to make an appropriation of several thousand dol- 
lars for building new roads and improving the old 
ones, but they were very slow about doing so. Fi- 
nally the Ewing-Williams Company built a road 
almost entirely at their own expense from Sauk 
City to the Monte Cristo district. When good roads 
were finally completed there was great activity in 
both the Monte Cristo and the Silver Creek mines, 
hundreds of miners and prospectors entering them 
every week from Seattle and other points. 

The regions around Granite Falls and east of 
there on the south fork of the Stillaguamish were 
also beginning to attract considerable attention. At 
Granite Falls a new mining district was organized, 
comprising all the territory about that place. The ex- 
citement of the mining discoveries had transformed 
Granite Falls into an active and bustling town, and 
the general store there was doing a rushing business 
in fitting out miners and prospectors. A town site 
had been platted, a saw mill was in operation and 
an immense electric light and power plant was in 
process of construction. 

At Silver Gulch, twenty-five miles east, appear- 
ances were very promising, for while there were no 
mines there, a number of prospects had been par- 
tially developed with excellent results. The Eye, of 
September 1.2th, in describing this region, said : 
"It is safe to assert — and this is the unanimous ex- 
pression of old time Nevada, Colorado and Cali- 
fornia miners — that in no district yet discovered 
have there been found such surface indications, so 
much ore in sight." There were a number of claims 
on Mineral Hill, between the Stillaguamish and 
Sultan rivers, which were very promising. Ore 
from one of them, the Little Chief, in Boulder Can- 
on, assayed three hundred and thirty dollars in 
gold and fifty-five dollars in silver. This region 
was very easy of access, being only about forty-five 
miles from Marysville, with a good trail about to be 
put through. It is a region of great beauty and 
grandeur. The mountains are rugged and pre- 
cipitous, and in the heart of them is Green lake, or 
Copper lake, as it was also named. Its color is a 
deep green, caused by copper ooze from the sur- 
rounding mountains. 

In the latter part of July Snohomish county was 
visited by a party of Easterners, including Philip 
Armour, of Chicago, H. Armour, of New York, of 
the great Armour Packing Company, W. A. 
Armour, of Kansas City, of the same company, I. 
Kincaid, of New York, and a number of other cap- 
italists, who were shown around by Henry Hewitt. 
Jr., of Tacoma, president of the Everett Land Com- 
pany. They were very favorably impressed with 
the great possibilities of Snohomish county and an- 
nounced their intention of establishing a number of 
manufactories on Port Gardner Bay. As a result 
of this visit and on the advice of the capitalists, the 
"Three S" railroad company decided to extend im- 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



mediately their line to Galena, so as to reach the 
Silver Creek mining district. 

So much activity in railroading and mining 
could not but be followed by similar energy in 
other directions, and we find a host of undertakings 
in progress during the summer of the year 1891. 
One of the most important of these was the paper 
mill at Lowell, a huge structure, 86x540 feet and 
three stories high. It was being erected by the New 
York & Pennsylvania Company, the largest paper 
company in the United States, and was to manu- 
facture paper of all kinds and grades. When in full 
operation from one hundred and fifty to two hun- 
dred men would be employed. The capital stock 
was four hundred thousand dollars and the directors 
of the enterprise were H. Hewitt, L. D. Armstrong, 
Gardner Colby, C. W. Wetmore, H. H. Hewitt and 
Walter Oakes. 

Of other manufacturing enterprises accom- 
plished and projected, one of the largest was the 
Granite Falls Electric Power Company, which was 
incorporated on June 23d. It was the purpose of 
this company to build a large plant at Granite Falls 
on the Stillaguamish and furnish power by cables 
to Snohomish, Port Gardner and other surrounding 
towns for lighting and other purposes, and also to 
furnish power to run the Snohomish and Port Gard- 
ner Electric raihva}-, as well as the manufacturing 
establishments along the Snohomish river. 

The town on Port Gardner Bay was rapidly 
assuming large proportions, and it was confidently 
expected that it would become the metropolis of the 
Northwest. A number of weighty capitalists were 
interested in developing it and hundreds of thou- 
sands of dollars were being spent in clearing and 
other preparations for business operations. Huge 
docks also were built; indeed all operations there 
seemed to be on a vast scale. There were several 
large manufacturing enterprises projected at or near 
Port Gardner, besides the paper mill already men- 
tioned, among them a huge saw-mill with a capacity 
of two hundred thousand feet per day and em- 
ploying two hundred men in the mill alone. Nail 
and Steel works, which would employ from four 
hundred and fifty to seven hundred men, a beet- 
sugar factory, three large brick yards, a smelter, 
and the Whale-back Steel Barge works, whose 
purpose was to build a line of steel freighters, 
and operate them in the Oriental trade and 
Pacific Coast commerce generally. The works 
would employ, when ready for operation, about 
seven hundred men. Besides these enterprises there 
were many others oi less magnitude, such as hotels, 
stores, boarding houses, etc. 

Not only was private capital in process of in- 
vestment and private promoters, speculators, inves- 
tors and managers in every line hurrying with eager 
quest to seize the golden opportunities lying open 
on all sides, but the city and the county of Snoho- 
mish were acting in their social and official capac- 



ities to promote the general interests. On Septem- 
ber 5th an election was held in Snohomish City to 
consider the proposition of bonding the city for the 
purpose of raising money for new water works. 
The result was almost unanimous in the affirma- 
tive. The works were to be constructed on the 
Pillchuck creek, from which the water supply would 
be drawn. They would be large enough to supply 
about twenty-eight thousand five hundred people. 
The estimated cost was fifty-two thousand dollars. 

Considering the general rush and activity of the 
year 1891 and the great influx of people of all kinds 
from all sorts of regions and with all sorts of aims, 
the volume of criminal records is remarkably small. 
We discover, however, some comment in the press 
of the time upon the case of David Montgomery, 
who, on the 4th of January, was accused of the 
murder of Oscar Trask. The two men had met on 
a road near Snohomish and the former had shot 
the latter a number of times, inflicting fatal wounds. 
The evidence in the case showed that Montgomery 
had previously had an excellent reputation while 
that of Trask was quite the reverse. Trask had 
held a grudge against Montgomery for some time 
on account of some petty grievances, and he had 
continually abused him and treated him to all man- 
ner of indignities, and had done his best to pro- 
voke a fight with him. The jury held that Mont- 
gomery was justified and on June 10th he was 
acquitted. 

We also find that the unsavory case of Reverend 
Father F. X. Guay occurred at this time. He was 
the pastor of the Catholic church of Snohomish City 
and was guilty of "unspeakable indecencies." About 
sixty people, including many of his own church, 
captured him and decorated him with a coat of tar 
and feathers, and some hours later a large crowd 
saw him off on the train. 

The progress of Snohomish county since early ■ 
days is summarized in a special edition of the Sun 
as follows : In 18T0 no real estate was owned in 
the county except a little near Mukilteo. The entire 
valuation of all property, real and personal, was not 
over one hundred thousand dollars. In 1880, it was 
about ten times that and in 1890 about forty times. 
In 1880 the number of acres of land assessed was 
80,270, in 1890, 252,475. The amount of land as- 
sessed as town lots in 1891 was about ten times 
what it was ten years before. Practically all the 
real estate was held in the western part of the 
county, the eastern part being rocky and mountain- 
ous. In these mountains, however, was vast wealth 
in the nature of mines, which were verv extensively 
developed in 1891 and the succeeding years. 

The year 1891 was perhaps the most active in 
the history of Snohomish county prior to the break- 
ing of the hard times and the consequent arresting 
of a good many of the great enterprises launched 
in the first era of railroad development. The 
"boom" which had raged with such energy, burst 



CURRENT EVENTS, ]889- 



in the next succeeding two years and the shores of 
Puget sound were strewn with the wreckage; yet 
in spite of financial disasters and disappointments 
the entire region went on to the logical evolution 
of its destiny. It was obvious that the superb re- 
sources of Snohomish county would not long lie 
idle. 

It was very remarkable and indeed a great mani- 
festation of the managing ability of James J. Hill 
that the Great Northern railroad went right on 
with its development. And this too without a cent 
of subsidy from the United States government, 
which the other transcontinental lines had had in 
great measure. 

The year 1892 was a quiet one in most lines, but 
work on the Great Northern railroad continued 
through the summer of that year and in the autumn 
the gap between the eastern and western divisions 
was rapidly closing in at the summit of the Cas- 
cades. Though there was from one to three feet 
of snow in the mountains, the work of tracklaying 
was uninterrupted. Chief Engineer E. H. Beckler 
and his assistant, John W. Stevens, were in charge 
of the work. In November Vice-president Clough, 
of St. Paul, made a tour of inspection of the road. 

The Everett & Monte Cristo road was also in 
active progress. Rails were laid from Hartford to 
Granite Falls and the bridge across the Stillagua- 
mish at that point was rapidly nearing completion, 
but higher in the mountains floods had washed out 
a large part of the grading and had delayed con- 
struction for nearly three months. Above the 
snow line it was impossible to continue during the 
winter, but below that point work was pushed on 
without delay. The division between Everett and 
Snohomish was nearly completed and it was ex- 
pected that a regular train service would soon be 
established. 

Among the general enterprises of Snohomish 
county, mining made some advances in spite of 
the depression. One large corporation in parti- 
cular was formed known as the Stillaguamish and 
Sultan Alining Company, with a capital stock of 
three million dollars, of which a large part was 
taken by English capitalists, represented by Richard 
Sykes, of Alanchester. The president of the com- 
pany was James Sheehan, of Seattle, and the secre- 
tary Alexander H. Morrison, of Snohomish. The 
mines which they controlled were the Hoodoo and 
the Little Chief group in the Stillaguamish district 
between the Silver Creek and Monte Cristo regions. 
They were supposed to be very valuable mines, 
there being, it was claimed, three million tons of 
ore in sight, according to the estimates. The plans 
of the company included the construction of branch 
railroads from the Great Northern and Monte 
Cristo lines to the mines, the establishment of a 
concentrator and other appliances by which they 
could be worked to their fullest extent. 

Among the miscellaneous happenings of the year 



1892 was one which exhibited the capacity of the 
people of Snohomish to apply the spirit of their 
own laws in dealing with some of the low dives 
which grew up along the shores of the sound during 
its period of most active growth. From the Tribune 
of September Gth we glean an account of such an 
occurrence just prior to that date. On the line of 
the Everett & Monte Cristo railroad, just north 
of Granite Falls, a man named Monnohan had been 
running a disreputable saloon and dance hall. The 
people of the neighborhood had lost all patience 
with him and his den and one day a large number of 
men, many of them armed, entered and forcibly 
ejected him from it and advised him to seek other 
climes. Then they proceeded to demolish the win- 
dows, furniture and everything breakable on the 
premises. After satisfying themselves in this way, 
they inserted a charge of dynamite and blew up 
the entire building, leaving not a wrack behind; 
then they went to another in the vicinity and notified 
the proprietor to leave inside of twenty-four hours 
or his place would also be blown up. 

In the latter part of November there were extra- 
ordinary and disastrous freshets, extending through- 
out the county. The Snohomish river rose in some 
places over twenty feet. Old inhabitants claimed 
that it rose higher than at any time since 187'2. The 
entire flat south and west of Snohomish City was 
flooded to a depth of several feet, the Great North- 
ern track was completely submerged and the rail- 
road bridge was in imminent danger of being swept 
away by several million feet of logs and other deb- 
ris which pressed against it. Fortunately, however, 
it bore the strain. The bridge across the Stillagua- 
mish at Granite Falls was less fortunate, being 
swept away by the flood, as was every bridge on 
the line of the Everett & Monte Cristo railroad 
between Granite Falls and Silverton. Besides that 
considerable damage was done to the road bed. At 
the town of Stanwood, near the mouth of the Still- 
aguamish, the water rose in the streets to a height 
of several feet. A number of houses near Snoho- 
mish were washed away and many had to be aban- 
doned, being filled with water. Altogether the 
amount of damage throughout the county was very 
considerable, but the loss of human life was slight, 
only one man, George Meader, being drowned. 

To add to the various troubles of the times an 
epidemic of smallpox invaded the region. The 
disease was specially prevalent in the railroad camps, 
but precautionary measures were taken to prevent 
its spread and it did not become very serious. 

Almost with the coming in of the new year of 

1893 the great event — great for the Pacific Coast 
and even for the world in general, but especially so 
for the state of Washington and most of all for the 
county of Snohomish — of completing the Great 
Northern railroad occurred. This road, under the 
extraordinary administration of "Jim" Hill, took 
such a place at once in the commercial world and 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



its various operations since have attracted so much 
attention in both poHtics and transportation that its 
completion and the inauguration of its transcon- 
tinental business may well be set down as marking 
one of those epochs of which we have many in the 
history of our state. 

The last spike was driven on January Gth, thir- 
teen miles west of Stevens pass, on the summit of 
the Cascades. There were no imposing ceremonies 
held on that occasion, and the only officials of the 
company present were General Superintendent 
Shields and Superintendent Farrell. Jim Hill and 
others had been expected but were unable to be 
present. Merely with the shrieks of the engines and 
the shouts of the two hundred workmen was the 
great work finished. It had been begun at Havre on 
October 20, 1890, and was finished in the Cascades 
on the Gth of January, 1893. 

During the spring other enterprises connected in 
a general way with railroads were started, one of 
them being the Stillaguamish Construction Com- 
pany, of which the incorporators were G. L. Man- 
ning, A. D. Schultz, J. B. Thurston, J. S. Houghton, 
Anna C. Schultz and E. J. Thurston. The objects 
of the company were numerous and varied ; namely, 
to construct and operate railways in Snohomish and 
Skagit counties, to establish electric power plants, 
and to construct residences, water works and simi- 
lar enterprises. 

Turning from the industrial to the various mis- 
cellaneous happenings, we find that the small-pox 
season, which had opened quite brilliantly during the 
last months of the previous year, was still continuing 
and in its progress involved a steamboat man in a 
manner worth recording. This steamboat man was 
the captain of the steamer Cascade. He had brought 
a small-pox patient from Everett to Snohomish a 
few days before and consequently the authorities of 
the latter place instructed the officers to pre- 
vent his landing on his next trip. As soon as the 
Cascade hove in sight the captain was informed that 
he might as well not attempt to make a landing. He 
thought differently, however; but as often as his 
rope was thrown onto the wharf it was knocked off 
by the officers. This continued for some time with 
hard words on both sides until finally the captain 
gave up and backed down the river about a third 
of a mile, where he landed and went on shore. He 
was promptly arrested and was about to be placed 
in jail when he protested that his boat was not safe 
where it was and begged to be allowed to return, 
saying he would not attempt to land again. He was 
accordingly sent back and in a very short time made 
his departure for Everett and was' not seen again. 

Hard times and hard weather seem to have 
drawn a wail from the people of the sound in gen- 
eral, and we find those of Snohomish to have joined 
the general chorus. In February the ground was 
covered with two and a half feet of snow and the 
mercury dropped as low as twelve and fourteen be- 



low zero. This, with the hard times, made things 
rather dreary. The Tribune of April 20th laments 
in the following terms: "Hard times! Hard 
times! There is scarcely a town on the Pacific 
coast but what is crowded with idle men, men of all 
trades willing and ready to take any kind of employ- 
ment they can get and at almost any kind of wages. 
There are to-day in Snohomish almost two men for 
every job of work there is to do, and all other towns 
in this vicinity are crowded with idle men, and still 
there are advertising schemers all over the country 
who are continually getting men to come here from 
the East." 

The criminal classes seem to have been quite ac- 
tive during this year. In the spring quite a ripple of 
excitement was caused by the escape of four pris- 
oners from the county jail, when no one was around 
except a son of the janitor at the court house. One 
of the prisoners. Jack Mears, who was in for for- 
gery, had escaped the previous summer but had been 
recaptured. He had been tried, but through an er- 
ror of the court, was not yet sentenced. The others 
were still awaiting trial for various crimes : James 
Richardson for robbery, Charles Terry for grand 
larceny and John Handy for assault and robbery. 

But the most notable court proceedings of this 
entire time were in connection with the celebrated 
case of John White and four other men for the mur- 
der of George Schultz and Frederick Smith. This 
is probably the most cold-blooded and dastardly 
crime in the annals of Snohomish county. Its story 
in brief is as follows : 

A few years previous George Schultz and his 
sister, Helen Schultz, were living with their parents 
in Cleveland, Ohio. Here the girl married a well 
known musician of the city whose name was John 
Kuntz. In a short time they decided to come West, 
so the three, Mr. and ]\Irs. Kuntz and George 
Schultz, emigrated to Seattle. They soon became 
dissatisfied with the life of the city, however, and 
moved to a "home in the forest" on Woods' creek, 
about ten miles northeast of Snohomish. Some two 
years later I\Ir. Kuntz met a Gemian friend in 
Seattle named Frederick Smith, who finally went to 
live with the Kuntzes. 

About the time that Mr. Kuntz settled on 
Woods' creek there also settled in the vicinity an 
English sailor of the name of John White, also a 
family of the name of Robinson. All these people 
with others living near got together and decided to 
build a road from Mr. Kuntz's place, past White's 
place, to the main road to Snohomish, on which the 
Robinsons lived. After the road was completed 
White conceived the idea of exacting toll from those 
who traveled on his part of the road. Naturally 
everyone refused to submit to this, and White, with 
the assistance of the Robinsons, who took his part, 
commenced to obstruct the road by felling trees 
across it. The land in that neighborhood was un- 
surveved and no one had any title to it. 



CURREXT EVENTS, 1889-97 



It was the custom of ^Ir. Kuntz to pass over this 
road twice each week on his wa}- to and from 
Machias, where he took the train for Seattle. After 
his departure John ^^'hite and the Robinsons would 
obstruct the road so as to make it impassable, but 
just before his return Schultz and Smith would 
clear it again, so that he could get home. Thej' 
kept this up without making am- particular com- 
plaint, for two years. Finally White and the Rob- 
insons became exasperated and resolved to end the 
matter. 

On December •22, 1892, Schultz and Smith 
cleared the road as usual and in the afternoon re- 
turned to it to see that Kuntz got through all right. 
They had not been gone more than ten minutes when 
]\Irs. Kuntz heard two shots. She immediately ran 
after them, following their tracks in the snow, and 
found them about half a mile from the house lying 
dead. The snow in which they lav gave no evidence 
of a struggle. They had evidently been shot from 
ambush. The presence of the snow was a very 
unfortunate circumstance for the murderers, as it 
contradicted their story of a struggle and the ulti- 
mate killing of the unfortunate men in self defense. 
It is probable that the murder of Kuntz was also 
planned but not earned out. 

After the crime the murderers went to town 
and delivered themselves up. They depended on 
AMlliam Robinson, one of the family, who had been 
in the plot but had not taken part in the crime, to 
prepare the people to regard the killing as the re- 
sult of a quarrel brought on by Kuntz and Smith, 
and to intimidate any witnesses who might offer 
to testify against them. But for the snow-fall and 
the skill of the prosecution this plan might have 
succeeded. 

Those who were accused of the murder were 
John White, James Robinson, the father of the 
famfly, a man over sixty years old, Williain Rob- 
inson, George Robinson and John Livingston, an 
adopted son of the family. 

John White, the first one tried, was arraigned on 
June 19th. He was defended bv Junius Rochester 
and A. D. Warner of Seattle. W. H. R. McMartin 
and W. C. Morris of Snohomish, while the prosecu- 
tion was in the hands of Prosecuting Attorney L. C. 
Whitney, and his deputy, A. D. Austin. The trial 
lasted twenty-two days, resulting at last in a verdict 
of murder in the first degree. White was sentenced 
to be hanged on December 22d. A gallows was 
erected and all preparations made, but a stay of 
proceedings was granted at the last moment' and 
later another trial was held. The case was not 
finally concluded until INIarch 1. 189-5, when he 
pleaded guilty of manslaughter and was sentenced 
to ten vears in the state penitentiary at Walla 
Walla. 

The second trial, which occurred in September, 
1893. was that of James Robinson, indicted for the 
murder of George Schultz. Prosecuting Attorney 



Whitney was assisted in this trial by Colonel T. V. 
Eddy, The prisoner was defended by James Ham- 
ilton Lewis, who worked on the feelings of the jury 
so successfully that a verdict acquitting the de- 
fendant was rendered. Robinson was immediately 
rearrested, however, for the murder of Frederick 
Smith. He was tried again in the spring of 1894, 
being defended this time by Hon. G. A. Allen, and 
was found guilty of murder in the second degree. 
On October 18, 1803, the trial of the two boys 
George Robinson and John Livingston, was begun. 
Judge Whitney was again assisted by Colonel T. V. 
Eddy, and A. D. Warner appeared for the defense. 
The result was a conviction of manslaughter and 
a sentence to eighteen years in the penitentiary. 
The last trial was that of \Mlliam Robinson, who 
was also found guilty of manslaughter and sen- 
tenced to eighteen years in the penitentiary. 

The interest manifested in these trials was in- 
tense, and day after day the court room was crowded 
to its fullest capacity. Accounts of the proceedings 
were published far and wide. The time occupied 
by the series of trials was seventy-eight days. The 
prosecution was conducted in a very able manner 
by Prosecuting Attorney Whitney and his assis- 
tants, and Judge Denney presided in a manner that 
was eminently just and highly satisfacton.'. The 
strain of these long trials was very severe and it 
was a great relief to have them concluded. 

The subjoined statement of the results of the 
assessor's estimate will convey an accurate con- 
ception of the general condition of financial affairs 
in 1893, the panic year. The report, submitted 
August 14th, showed the total listed value of land 
to be $.5.028,14.1, and the improvements $361.-590, 
making the total of lands and improvements $-5,389,- 
735. The value of all town lots was $2,712,984 
and the improvements on them $672,524, making a 
total of $3,385,508. The value of all personal prop- 
erty amounted to $1,828,730, of railroad tracks 
and rights of way, $731,238. Therefore the total 
value of all property in the county was $11,435,211. 

The value of incorporated towns was as follows : 
Everett had surpassed Snohomish and was now the 
largest in the county with a total taxable property 
of the value of $3,031,920. Snohomish came next 
with $1,138,197, Then followed Edmonds, with 
$161,49G, and Marysville, with $103,242. 

The total taxable property for 1893 was $10,- 
175.180, while that of the previous year was $9,933.- 
822. showing an increase, in spite of the hard times, 
of $241,258. The increase since 1890 was very 
great, the valuation at that time being only a trifle 
over four million dollars. 

In addition to the general disturbing conditions 
the Pacific Northwest suffered specificallv from 
floods. That was the year in which the Columbia 
and its tributaries passed all previous records for 
high water and strewed their shores with wreck- 
age of farms, towns and fortunes. The Columbia 



290 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



floods were due to the melting snows of the high 
mountains and did not come till sumxner. The 
floods on Puget sound were earlier and we find that 
the winter of 1893-4 was marked with disasters 
from an overplus of water. The farmers on the 
low lands suffered especially, in many cases fences 
being carried away, debris scattered over the fields, 
fall seeding spoiled and other damage done. The 
marsh lands around Snohomish City were over- 
flowed several tiniies during that winter, causing 
loss each time. 

With the opening of spring there was something 
of a revival in business in Snohomish county, the 
irrepressible American instinct of progress evi- 
dently struggling to assert itself. In February the 
great concentrator of the United Concentration 
Company of Monte Cristo and Everett was com- 
pleted at the former place, and the superintendent 
of the mill, W. C. Nicholson, rapidly got things 
into shape so that work could be begun. This enter- 
prise meant a great deal in the development of the 
great mines of the Monte Cristo district. 

Public improvements also were in progress, 
among them work on the road across the marsh 
near Snohomish City, which had been begun before 
but had been delayed. Messrs. Morgan and Will- 
iams took the matter in hand and circulated a sub- 
scription paper, by which quite a sum was raised, 
the county also appropriating a generous amount. 
This road had long been a great necessity and its 
benefits were correspondingly great. Events like 
these produced a noticeable brightening in condi- 
tions, though the times continued dull enough. 

The steamboat trade on the Snohomish, Sky- 
komish and Snoqualmie rivers was quite brisk. 
There were seven steamboats that made regular 
trips, and though none of them were very large the 
aggregate business done by them amounted to con- 
siderable. The largest of the seven was the Mable. 
run by Captain E. A. Swift between Snohomish 
and Seattle, capacity something over one hundred 
tons. The Lilly was towing for the logging firm of 
Mosher & McDonald. The Clara Brown made 
three trips a week between Snohomish and Shelton, 
stopping at Seattle, Tacoma and other points. She 
was in charge of Captain Hansen. The up-river 
freight was handled by the Echo, Captain INIcMil- 
lan, and the Mame, Captain Pinkerton, the latter 
of which had once made a trip to within a mile and 
a half of the falls of the Snoqualmie, the farthest 
any steamboat had ever gone on that river. There 
were two boats plying between Snohomish and 
Everett, the Katherine, and the Mikado, the former 
being run by Captain J- C. O'Conner. A steamboat 
was operated by Great Northern contractors, 
carrying supplies from Snohomish to Sultan. 

Trade was picking up in all directions and the 
business outlook was brightening very perceptibly. 
All the shingle mills of the county were starting up, 
the demand for labor was greater, money was not 



so tight, and the prospect in general was very en- 
couraging. 

The year 1894 will go down in history as the 
year of the "Great Strike," for the entire United 
States was for months in the throes of the series 
of commotions radiating from the great earthquake 
centers of Chicago. The waves from the central 
area of disturbance began to shake the industries 
of Puget sound in the summer and we glean from 
the Tribune of July 7th that the local lodge of the 
American Railway Union, embracing the section 
men of Hartford, McMurray, Snoqualmie and 
Woodinville, went on a strike. They met in Snoho- 
mish, forty-two members being present. After 
much discussion, many of the men being reluctant 
to quit work, the question of striking was put to 
vote and it was decided to do so by only one ma- 
jority. T. C. Shields, a bridge tender, immediately 
withdrew from the union, preferring to hold his job. 
The strikers were quiet and orderly, no attempt 
being made to prevent non-union men taking their 
places. 

Among the miscellaneous events worthy of pre- 
servation during this time was a sad accident which 
occurred on the evening of July 11th. Miss Jennie 
Jordan, a teacher at the Lake Stevens school, and 
Miss Olive Illman, the daughter of W. H. Illman, 
ex-county commissioner, were bathing in Lake 
Stevens. Neither of them could swim. Suddenly 
Miss Illman found herself in deep water, and her 
companion, Miss Jordan, cried for help and went 
as fast as possible to assist her. The cry was 
heard by Professor Sinclair, out rowing with two 
ladies, who immediately went to the place and man- 
aged to seize Miss Jordan as she was going down 
for the third time. The ladies held her while he 
dove for Miss Illman. It was several minutes 
before her body was recovered. Miss Jordan fi- 
nally regained consciousness, but all efforts to revive 
her unfortunate companion were unsuccessful. 

At this period in its history, Snohomish county 
was in the throes of the count\'-seat removal strug- 
gle. Business had tended to center at Everett on 
account of the wealth of men interested there and 
its magnificent location — in many ways the finest 
on Puget sound, not excepting the Queen City and 
the City of Destiny. Ambitious for all they could 
get, the people of the new city naturally had aspira- 
tions to enjoy that priority which results, or is 
supposed to result, from the location of the county 
seat, hence the struggle. We shall endeavor to 
give as succinctly as possible, in what may be called 
the first chapter of it. that taking place in 1894, the 
events connected with this long struggle between 
Everett and Snohomish. 

The question began to be discussed early in the 
spring of the year just mentioned. Many people 
in the county had in some way conceived the idea 
that Snohomish took no interest in anything beyond 
her own limits or in anything that did not advance 



CURRENT EVENTS, 1889-97 



her own ends, and for this reason they became 
eager to have the county seat changed to the 
younger town of Everett. Everett also claimed 
the right to have the county seat because of its 
being the largest city in the county, and because 
of its fine location and prospects of becoming an 
important commercial center. T4ie Snohomish peo- 
ple, on the other hand, raised many objections to 
the proposed removal, the most important of them 
being that Snohomish was situated in the center of 
population and was more easily accessible than 
Everett, also that the cost of removal would be a 
great expense to the county, and that the court 
house which had been built only a few years before 
and was valued at over fifty thousand dollars would 
be lost and another one would have to be built at 
a large cost. To meet this last objection the people 
of Everett voted by a large majority to bond the 
city for thirty thousand dollars which they proposed 
to apply to the building of a court-house. 

In the county election held in November the 
principal issue was the question of removal. It oc- 
cupied the minds and thoughts of the voters to a 
degree that no county question had ever done 
before, and every phase of it was discussed and 
rediscussed with the utmost thoroughness. The 
fight throughout was a very bitter one. Both sides 
did everything in their power to gain votes, and 
many means were employed which in a less bitter 
campaign would not have been resorted to. 

After the election it was claimed that a large 
number of the votes cast in the Port Gardner pre- 
cinct in favor of Everett were fraudulent, and D. 
S. Swerdfiger, the auditor and a member of the 
canvassing board, refused to deliver the returns 
for counting. He gave as his reason that he was 
convinced that the votes were fraudulent and that 
b> allowing them to be counted he would become 
a party to the fraud, which he did not propose to 
do. The Everett lawyers appealed to the superior 
court for a writ of mandamus compelling the 
votes to be counted, and after the case had been 
argued very ably and fully on both sides for some 
time the writ was granted. The Snohomish law- 
yers immediately gave notice of appeal to the su- 
preme court from that part of the writ applying 
to the votes on the county-seat question. They 
had no objection to other votes being counted. 

On November 26th the canvassing board, com- 
posed of Judge Whitney and Quinton E. Friars 
of Everett and D. S. Swerdfiger of Snohomish, 
met for the vote counting-. The votes on the 
county officers were read, but Swerdfiger refused 
to produce those on the county-seat question, say- 
ing that the matter had been appealed. He was 
overruled by the two other members, however, and 
the work of canvassing was begun, but Judge 
Sapp of Snohomish soon secured an injunction 
from the court prohibiting the canvassing of these 
votes, and the board adjourned. 



Early in December the board again met to con- 
tinue the work of canvassing. At this meeting the 
Everett lawyers made the same allegations against 
South Snohomish that had previously been made 
by the Snohomish lawyers against Port Gardner 
district. When the returns from South Snohomish 
were presented by Auditor Swerdfiger, Judge 
Whitney refused to count them, saying that they 
were manifestly fraudulent. Friars moved that 
they be thrown out altogether, but Swerdfiger 
would not produce any other returns until these 
should have been counted. The other members 
of the board refused to do this and Swerdfiger 
applied for a writ of mandamus requiring them 
to do so. A writ was issued commanding them to 
show cause for their refusal to count the returns 
of South Snohomish, to which Sullivan, for Ever- 
ett, interposed a demurrer on various grounds but 
was over-ruled. The Everett lawyers applied for 
time in which to prepare their affidavits and were 
given two days, at the expiration of which the case 
came up for hearing. A number of witnesses were 
examined, one of whom, Robert Cairns, an election 
inspector, testified that the duplicate poll book of 
his precinct had been stolen from his house and also 
that he had been offered a sum of money to swear 
that the South Snohomish votes were fraudulent. 
This was flatly denied, however, by the man who 
was accused of offering the bribe. After consider- 
able argument the writ of mandamus was granted 
by the court and the board was obliged to proceed 
with the canvass. 

Judge J. G. McClinton, of the superior court 
of Clallam county, who presided over these cases, 
was much impressed by the legal talent displayed. 
He said to a representative of the Leader, "T believe 
there are no abler lawyers in the state than there 
were there." Everett was represented by ex-Gov- 
ernor L. K. Church, Judge A. K. Delaney, F. M. 
Brownell and N. D. Walling, all of Everett, and 
Judge Crowley and P. C. Sullivan of Tacoma. 
Snohomish was represented by Judge Sapp, Fred 
Lysons and S. H. Piles, of Seattle. 

At this point in the proceedings and after count- 
ing the returns from South Snohomish, which were 
unusually large, it seemed as though Snohomish 
would win, and the people of that town were over- 
joyed. But it soon developed that their joy was a 
little premature. Including the votes of South 
Snohomish, the number cast against removal was 
2,151, while the vote for removal was 3,010, leav- 
ing Everett without the necessary three-fifths ma- 
jority. But the county commissioners decided to 
throw out the returns from both South Snohomish 
and the Port Gardner district, in both of which 
there had been suspicion of fraud and in both of 
which the returns had been contested, those of the 
former by Everett, those of the latter by Snoho- 
mish. This gave Everett the necessary three-fifths, 
and consequently the county commissioners ordered 



292 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



the county offices removed to that place on the 
2] St of January of the following year. It was now 
the turn of Everett people to rejoice and they did 
so with a vim that certainly spoke well for their 
municipal patriotism, but which succeeded only in 
exciting the contempt of the people of Snohomish, 
who were confident that the commissioners would 
not be sustained by the court in their decision. 

The question of the location of the county seat 
was by no means settled with the election of 1894, 
and we find that with the coming on of the year 
1895 a new move was made by the party in favor 
of retaining the government of the county at Sno- 
homish. This was an appeal filed by County 
Treasurer Lawry, in which he stated at great 
length all the objections to the order of the board 
of commissioners. The chief of these were that the 
commissioners had not canvassed the returns them- 
selves but had simply taken the results of the can- 
vassing done by the canvassing board, that they 
had not met with the canvassing board on Novem- 
ber 16th as they claimed to have done. He charged 
also that they attempted to reject the South Sno- 
homish returns on the ground that they were fraud- 
ulent after they had already been pronounced genu- 
ine by the superior court. This appeal was dis- 
missed by Judge Ballinger. Immediately afterwards, 
however. Commissioner Krieschel filed a petition 
for an injunction restraining the county officers 
from removing their offices to Everett, which in- 
junction was granted. 

The legal decision of the issue was not reached 
till July 2.3, 189.5. Everett appealed against the 
decision of Judge Ballinger and the case was 
carried to the supreme court. It was heard on 
May 11th and a decision rendered on the 25th of 
July, holding in substance as follows: That a 
county official or a private tax-payer may main- 
tain suit for the removal of the county seat is deter- 
mined by reference to the case of Rickey vs. Will- 
iams, which dealt with the removal of the county 
seat of Stevens county. But in the present case it 
was proved that the county commissioners did not 
canvass the -returns nor did they receive the poll 
books, although most of them were present at the 
canvass by the canvassing board, of which their 
chairman was an ex-officio member, and they thus 
ascertained the results. Also the commissioners 
held no meeting while the canvassing board was in 
session. They had not directly ascertained the 
number of votes cast, which it was their duty to do ; 
therefore the election was irregular and of no 
effect. With these conclusions the opinion of the 
court sustained the decision of the lower court 
granting an injunction restraining the county 
offices from being removed to Everett. 

This was a decided victory for Snohomish and 
was heralded as such. Great celebrations and re- 
joicings were held, with parades and bands of 
music and speeches of congratulation and every- 



thing that could add to the general jubilee. It 
ended up with a grand free ball, which was the 
most joyous event of the occasion. 

But this was not the end. Another action was 
taken in the fall, which was largely a repetition of 
what had already been gone over. The com- 
missioners again, on October 2d, ordered the 
county offices to be removed, and again suit was 
brought to restrain them. The case was heard 
on November 18th. This time Everett rather 
gained the advantage, and thence on it pressed 
that advantage to the utmost. The fight was 
still waged long and bitterly on both sides, and 
it was many months before the final result was 
reached, but at last Snohomish acknowledged her- 
self beaten and in the beginning of 1897 the county 
offices and records were removed from that city 
to Everett. 

Meanwhile during the year 1895, one of the 
results of the period of depression was the failure 
of the Puget Sound National Bank, of Everett, 
which had been doing a small business ever since 
the panic of 1893. In July the directors, Messrs. 
Taylor and Hayward, discontinued business. Some 
of the county funds were in this bank, but they 
were eventually recovered without serious loss, 
and the bank's accounts were settled with little 
loss to the depositors. 

In the autumn of 1895 occurred another of 
those notorious murder cases which so frequently 
have their origin in saloons and gambling dens 
and for the proper trial of which the good people 
of our communities tax themselves more than for 
schools and churches. Two hours after midnight 
a man named William Kinney, but more com- 
monly known as "Texas Jack," was in the Gold 
Leaf saloon imbibing very freely. Between him 
and the bartender, William Wroth, or "Omaha 
Bill," there was a feud of long standing. "Omaha 
Bill" had also been imbibing considerable and the 
result was that the feud broke into a hot fight. 
"Omaha Bill" threatened to shoot "Texas Jack" 
if he did not depart and he carried out his threat, 
shooting him three times, once in the heart. Wroth 
was immediately arrested and placed in the county 
jail. In December his trial came off. He was pros- 
ecuted by Prosecuting Attorney Heffner and 
Deputy A. W. Hawks, and defended by Messrs. 
Winstock and Allen; The trial resulted in a ver- 
dict of manslaughter. 

The discovery of the body of Alex Beamish 
in December cleared up a mystery of nine years' 
standing. He had left his home one afternoon in 
1886 and had not been seen since. Foul play was 
suspected, but no one was accused. The body or 
rather skeleton was found about two miles from 
his home near Getchell by a man who was clearing a 
trail, and was identified by the clothing, which 
was still preserved, and a number of small articles. 

With the beginning of the year 1896 there be- 



CURRENT EVENTS, 1889-97 



gan to be something of a revival of business. 
Though prices were still at bed-rock, the dullness 
and lack of hope which had characterized the two 
previous years began to pass in a measure and the 
awakening energies of the people began to mani- 
fest themselves in the long accustomed channels of 
mining, lumbering, clearing of land, railroading, 
steamboating and the other ways in which the en- 
tire sound country is so well adapted to lead. Noth- 
ing can be seen more typical of our great American 
democracy than the manner in which the people 
individually, after loss or disaster, set themselves 
to work to repair their broken fortunes and enter- 
prises. The elasticity and resourcefulness of a 
genuine western community is certainly surprising. 

As might be expected the mining industries of 
Snohomish county were about the first to show the 
tendency of recuperation. Early in February a 
meeting was held of all persons interested in mines 
and mining for the purpose of establishing an as- 
sociation whose object should be the advertisement 
and development of the mining industry of Sno- 
homish county. Most of the mineral districts of 
the county were represented. The officers elected 
at the first meeting were : President. A. W. Hawks ; 
vice-president, F. M. Headlee ; secretary. C. L. 
Clemans ; assistant secretary, George James ; treas- 
urer, A. I\I. Farrah. The various committees were 
as follows : Executive committee. Judge T. C. 
Denney. C. H. Packard, W. R. Booth, A. W. Frater, 
Oliver AlcClean ; reception committee, A. \V. Fra- 
ter. Judge J. C. Denney, C. W. Graham ; advertis- 
ing committee, Hon. S. Vestal. C. H. Bakeman. 
U. B. Loose. Lot Wilbur, Peter Laque : finance 
committee, Hon. E. C. Ferguson, William Whit- 
field, A. D. Austin, E. E. Lenfest, William Kittell. 
It was hoped that similar organizations would be 
formed at other points in the county and that a 
general organization embracing the entire region 
would be formed. 

By this time the mines were starting up very 
energetically. A large force of men were at work 
in the Stillaguamish district, and one Monte Cristo 
company was taking out over a hundred tons of ore 
daily, most of which was carried by ponies to the 
railroad and then taken to Everett or Tacoma, 
where smelters were located. 

On July 2d a large mining transaction was 
carried through, which involved twelve claims in the 
Silverton copper district, owned by H. Kennedy, 
Thomas Johnson, Jack Johnson and Ludwig Lunde- 
lin. The property was purchased by parties from 
Trail creek and New York, who united and formed 
the Deer Creek Gold and Copper Mining Company. 
The price paid is supposed to have been one million 
dollars. 

This was only one of manv such transactions. 
Outside capitalists were becoming interested in the 
Snohomish mines : many investments were made, 
and the mining districts were enjoying an activity 



greater than ever before. Another transaction in 
the Silverton district was the sale of a number of . 
valuable claims by M. Montan and L. Lundelin to 
the Clecr Creek Copper and Gold Mining Company, 
the incorporators of which were Dr. Lyons of 
Seattle. J. J. Smith of New York, L. Lundelin of 
Silverton and M. Montan. 

With the coming on of summer and the oppor- 
tunity of extensive prospecting some new discov- 
eries were made. In the Monte Cristo mine a long 
tunnel was sunk which struck ore in a ledge several 
feet wide, which was a continuation of that struck 
by a tunnel a thousand feet above and also of the 
outcropping at the surface about two thousand feet 
above that. Thus it was proved conclusively that 
there was an immense amount of ore of excellent 
grade in the mine and all doubts about its great 
value were removed. Rich strikes were also re- 
ported from Martin creek. Some of the mines 
which were being developed in this region were 
the Deer Creek Company's claims, the Violet mine, 
the New York and the Bradford. At Index also 
and Miller river work was being done, and in some 
of these places roads, which were very necessary 
to the development of the properties, were being 
constructed. 

A new interest in agriculture, which is, after all. 
in spite of all the fascinations of mining, the great 
essential, permanent dependence of a community, 
also began to manifest itself. Farmers and dairy- 
men became interested in the new device known as 
a silo, by which grain and feed may be kept green 
all winter. It had been introduced into Snohomish 
county a few years previous, being first used by 
Mr. Alvord and others on White river. These were 
followed by David Sexton near Snohomish and C. 
B. Miller and H. J. Andrus of Machias and others 
in diflferent parts of the county. All these silos 
were very successful and the introduction of them 
attracted considerable attention. Dairj'ing too, for 
which the shores of Puget sound and especially the 
sheltered and fertile vallevs of Snohomish county 
present such especial attractions, received a new 
impetus about this time, and many of the ranchers 
were increasing their herds to from forty to seventy 
head. 

The ready revolver was not entirely in innocuous 
disuse during the year 1896, as may be seen by the 
following incident : A Jewish peddler named Na- 
than Phillips was walking along the railroad track 
near Monte Cristo depot, carrying a satchel filled 
with several hundred dollars' worth of jewelry, 
when he was suddenly attacked by a miner named 
Dave LeRoy. They struggled for a few minutes 
over the possession of the satchel, when LeRoy 
suddenly pulled a revolver and shot the peddler, 
inflicting two dangerous wounds. Then, seizing 
the satchel, he ran down the track. The deed was 
witnessed by several men and a pursuit was imme- 
diately organized, but the man was familiar with the 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



surrounding country and managed to make his 
escape. 

The Snohomish river, too. felt the need of at- 
tracting a httle special attention at this stage of 
development and "went on a rampage" as a result 
of the extraordinary fall rains. The floods were 
said to be the worst in the history of the county. 
The losses in the city itself were not very severe, 
but on the marshes and low lands along the edge 
of the river terrible damage was inflicted. Hun- 
dreds of head of live stock and poultry were lost, 
as well as many tons of hay, and in some cases en- 
tire farms were covered several feet deep with de- 
bris and drift, while many buildings were destroyed. 



The railroads were all very heavy losers, the Great 
Northern especially suffering all along the line. 
Above Index a quarter mile of track was washed 
out as well as a number of bridges, and between 
Index and Sultan there were eight wash-outs. The 
Everett & Monte Cristo road also suffered heav- 
ily. In the mountains stretches of track were com- 
pletely destroyed, as well as one tunnel. Trains 
were held up for nearly a month. In the mining 
districts it was impossible to get provisions and 
scores of miners came down to the towns to stay 
until the trains could get through again. The de- 
struction along the Skagit river was even worse 
than that along the Snohomish. 



CHAPTER IV 



CURRENT EVENTS, 1897-1905 



By the opening of 1897 a new era may be said 
to have commenced in the development of Snoho- 
mish county. The long period of hard times was 
fairly passed. The Cape Horn of storms had been 
doubled and the favoring breezes of a boundless 
Pacific of new achievements were beginning to waft 
on the enterprises of an opening era, the second 
era of growth to our state, one which has not yet 
been checked, and which all indications seem to 
show will not soon be checked. 

There had come to Snohomish county during 
the decade previous a class of population of re- 
markably high grade and general intelligence, a 
class capable of great things in their various lines of 
endeavor. For instance, the legal ability centered 
there and drawn there by important cases was 
such as to excite comment. A great array of this 
legal talent was displayed in the case of Hart vs. 
Rucker, which was a very long and closely con- 
tested one. It began by the purchase by Rucker 
of some school land, on which Hart had a saw-mill 
and other improvements worth forty thousand dol- 
lars. It was claimed by the plaintiff that Rucker 
undertook to pay for these improvements, but when 
the value of the land declined that he changed his 
mind and refused to do so. Hart then sued him. 
The jury decided for the defendant, but the case 
was appealed and stretched out for a long period 
before it was finally settled. A number of brilliant 
lawyers appeared in this case. The plaintiff. Hart, 
was represented by Messrs. Stiles, Stevens & 



Tillinghast, Seymour & Prichard of Tacoma and 
Coleman & Hart of 'Snohomish. Rucker was 
represented by P. C. Sullivan, B. S. Grosscup, A. 
F, Burleigh, D. J. Crowley, Frank Brownell, A. D. 
Austin and W. P. Bell. Practically all these men 
were leading members of their profession in the 
county or even in the state. 

We have already narrated the stages in the 
county-seat imbroglio. The last act was accom- 
plished in the beginning of this year by removing 
the court records to Everett. 

As usual the mining interest was a leading one 
and long strides were being taken in the develop- 
ment of that industry. A number of promising 
mines were being opened up in Silverton and the 
near vicinity. The Tribune of March 19th gives 
an interview with D. D. Besse, a mining man of 
that district, in which he describes some of those 
mines. The following account is condensed from 
that interview : The Bonanza Queen, according to 
surface assays, had five million dollars; the Double 
Eagle, about half as much, and the Bell and Crown, 
Helena and others about equal to the Double 
Eagle. In the White Horse district on the north 
fork of the Stillaguamish and the Buckeye gulch 
were also valuable properties. Across the hill 
was the St. Louis copper mine, which after all 
expenses left a net profit of fifteen dollars per ton. 
The Hoodoo was a mine in which English capital 
was largely interested and in 1897, eighty-five 
thousand dollars had been invested in tunnels and 



CURRENT EVENTS, 1897-1905 



crosscuts. The Forty-five was a mine whose ore 
assayed one hundred and seven dollars per ton. 
As a result of all these developments Silverton re- 
ceived quite a boom, and at this time twenty 
houses were being- built besides two hotels and two 
stores. 

In the fall the mining prospects were better 
than ever. The largest mine, the Monte Cristo, 
controlled by Colby, Hoyt, Rockefeller and other 
capitalists, was being very extensively developed 
and was becoming very productive. The Pennsyl- 
vania was perhaps second in size and a great deal 
of work was also being done on it at this time, 
especially in the digging of crosscuts. The "Forty- 
five" and the Independent were both ready to com- 
mence shipping ore. The railroads were progress- 
ing in a way very favorable to the development 
of the mines, although owing to the floods and 
the lowness of the roadbeds a great deal of damage 
and consequent delay occurred. The work of A. E. 
Haber of the Great Northern was of special benefit 
to the mining camps. 

The development of the dairying business in 
the Snohomish river valley was indicated in a 
gratifying manner by the rapid enlargement of 
the Snohomish creamery and cheese factory, which 
institution was paying something like fifteen thou- 
sand dollars a month for milk and was proving of 
incalculable value not only to the ranchers and 
dairymen of the vicinity but to the entire business 
community. 

The greatest question of this year in many re- 
spects was that of the forest reserve. On Febru- 
ary 22d President Cleveland made an order 
creating a number of forest reserves, one of the 
largest of which was in Washington. It extended 
from the 4<8th to the 49th parallel and from the 
120th to the 122d degree of longitude, an area of 
about seven thousand two hundred square miles, in- 
cluding more than half of Whatcom, Skagit and 
Okanogan counties and some of the northern part 
of Snohomish. The order forbade all trespassing 
on these lands. 

The people of Washington were at once greatly 
excited about this reserve. In Snohomish, as well 
as in some of the other counties, it included large 
areas of mineral lands which might be made very 
productive. While the order would not afifect such 
claims as were already made, provided all the re- 
quirements of law had been fulfilled, it would pre- 
vent the development of any further claims, and 
would of course hinder the progress of the counties 
affected and the state in general to an extent be- 
yond calculation. Congress passed a bill modifying 
it, but the bill was pocket vetoed by the president. 
In May the Sundry Civil bill passed the senate with 
an amendment revoking President Cleveland's or- 
der. The amendment failed in the house however, 
but a substitute was passed by both houses, which 
was signed by President AIcKinley, who had now 



taken office. It suspended Cleveland's order until 
March 1. 1898, until which time the land would 
be restored to public occupancy. After March 1st 
the order would again take effect but in a form 
greatly modified and improved, the principal im- 
provement being that such lands as were more 
valuable for minerals and agriculture than for for- 
ests should not be included in the reserve. Also 
settlers and miners and prospectors should be 
allowed the liberty of the reserve and should be 
allowed to use timber and stone under certain 
regulations. The law, as thus modified, was no 
longer a menace to the development of the country 
and was entirely satisfactory to the people of 
Snohomish and the other counties affected. 

The troubles of the Puget Sound National 
Bank, which, it will be remembered, failed the 
year previous, were adjusted at this time. The 
county had a claim against this bank of $12,487.30. 
In settlement of this claim the county received 
$5,037.30 in cash and the bank fixtures, valued at 
$2,450.00, making a total of $7,487.30. 

The appealed trial of William Wroth also 
came off at about this time. Owing to a technic- 
ality and some crooked work he was found "not 
guilty," although at his previous trial he had been 
proven guilty and sentenced to ten years in the 
state penitentiary. 

Snohomish was visited by a number of dis- 
asters in the fall, among them the usual flood, 
which was even more severe this time if possible 
than before. Warm winds melted many feet of 
snow in the mountains and the streams swelled to 
raging torrents, tearing out bridges, destroying 
roadbeds and doing great damage to property. 
The Everett and Alonte Cristo road was a heavy 
sufferer, great stretches of its track being utterly 
demolished, and several bridges were torn out, 
including those over the Sauk and Stillaguamish 
rivers. The Great Northern road also suffered 
severely. As a result of these railroad disasters 
the mines were prevented from shipping out their 
ore and were obliged to shut down, thus entailing 
great loss upon them. 

On November 25th a wreck occurred on the 
Seattle & International road near Cathcart. A 
freight train was running in two sections, and the 
engine of the second getting out of water, un- 
coupled from the cars and started for Woodenville 
Junction to obtain it. The brakes on the cars were 
set but something went wrong with them and the 
train started on the down grade at a speed that 
was soon beyond control. The brakemen all 
jumped off. The train broke into three pieces, 
the first of which jumped the track at Blackman's 
switch, throwing the cars off on both sides; the 
second went on for some distance and finally 
stopped, while the third was wrecked near Cath- 
cart, eight or ten cars being smashed to pieces. 
No one was killed, but Foreman Fowler, who was 



296 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



sleeping at Blackinan's, where the first part of the 
train left the track, was injured by being cut rather 
badly about the face. 

The Everett and Monte Cristo railroad, which 
had been partially destroyed, was not entirely re- 
built that year. This was very unfortunate for the 
mines but in the meantime various malce-shifts were 
employed to provide transportation. A wagon was 
run from Granite Falls to Robe, and from there 
to Silverton a pack-train was run by McElroy & 
Lee of the latter place. 

About this time the idea of establishing a power 
plant at the falls of the Stillaguamish was ad- 
vanced. An experienced engineer visited them 
and pronounced them capable of fifteen thousand 
horse power, which would be sufficient to run the 
railroad to Monte Cristo, the Everett and Lowell 
street cars, and the various factories along the road, 
also to provide light for nearby cities. 

Another year, 1898, dawned on Snohomish and 
the rest of the sound country under constantly 
brightening auspices. In every aspect the con- 
ditions of industry, transportation and immigration 
were improving. In the important field of railroad 
enterprise we find that the Seattle & International 
road was the object of a sharp fight between the 
Northern Pacific and Canadian Pacific. The Cana- 
dian Pacific had been quietly trying for some time 
to gain control of the Seattle & International and 
as soon as the Northern Pacific discovered this it 
hastened to forestall its competitor. The Northern 
Pacific had a number of important reasons for 
acquiring this road and early in this year it suc- 
ceeded in doing so. 

Bearing both upon the general fact of railroad- 
ing and also upon the mining enterprises of the 
region was the projected railroad to the famous 
Sultan district. This road was to be built bv the 
Sultan Valley Railway Company, which was organ- 
ized in Seattle on February 3d. The capital stock 
of the company was one million dollars and the 
incor]3orators were Nathan B. Jones, a Snohomish 
mining man, Fred Hinckley, Frank S. Grififcth 
and W. F. Brown. The enterprise was backed by 
the Forty-five Consolidated Mining Company and 
supported by the Sultan and Stillaguamish Mining 
Company. It was the purpose of the new organiza- 
tion to build a road from Everett to the upper end 
of the Sultan basin, commencing first on the portion 
between the eastern end and Sultan City on the 
Great Northern. They expected to use the surveys 
already made by the Sultan and Stillaguamish 
Company a few years before. This railroad would 
be of immense value to the mines of the Sultan 
valley, which had long been retarded by the lack 
of proper transportation facilities. The Great 
Northern was twenty miles distant and a high 
ridge separated them from the Everett tl^ Monte 
Cristo at Silverton. The Forty-five Company 
built a trail over this ridge, wliicli, however, was 



not very satisfactory. The mines were naturally 
immensely rich but such obstacles as these were a 
great detriment to their best development. With 
the proposed railroad they could ship out all their 
ore easily and quickly and the benefits would be 
almost inconceivable. 

With the general revival of all things came also 
into the field the Canadian Pacific railroad, which 
secretly sent a party of engineers to find a suitable 
route through the western part of the county to 
Seattle. A little flurry was also caused by the re- 
port that a road was to be built from Portland to 
Snohomish by the Vanderbilts. This proved to be 
only a report, however. 

Some court proceedings in connection with the 
Rockefeller interests in the Monte Cristo mining 
districts attracted attention in April, 1898. J. B. 
Crooker, representing the Rockefeller interests, 
filed suit in the superior court against the Pride of 
the Mountains and Mystery mining companies, pe- 
titioning also that William C. Butler, superintendent 
of the companies, be appointed receiver. This 
petition was granted. Bonds against the two com- 
panies aggregated two hundred and twenty-four 
thousand dollars. 

The important business of shingle making, one 
of the largest industries in the county, received a 
new impetus at this time. The market had been 
rather light but in February and March the price 
of shingles rose considerably, as well as the demand. 
The price of bolts increased to from two dollars and 
fifty cents to three dollars, and the price of labor 
rose proportionately. All the mills were running 
full tilt, and a number of large new mills were being 
started, one of them at Snohomish and two at 
Monroe, where also the mill of S. A. Buck was 
rebuilt. A new mill was also being built at Wallace 
by Frank D. Black of Seattle, and there was a like 
activity in the Stillaguamish valley and other parts 
of the county. .^11 of these mills were large and 
important concerns. 

The outbreak of war with Spain had its place 
in Snohomish county annals the same as in those 
of every other county in the United States, and 
a number of the young men of the county offered 
their services in the armies of the country. Drills 
were held regularly and cver\- prcji.iration made for 
going to the front when tlu' lime should come. 
The officers at the time were ( iu.s. Moran, captain; 
Will Kikendall, first lieutenant: Wallace Canfield, 
second lieutenant. The Snohomish volunteers 
combined with those from Whatcom to form a com- 
pany. On the 28th of June they took their depar- 
ture for that place on their way to Tacoma to take 
the physical examination and if qualified to be en- 
listed. A large number of friends and citizens 
gathered to bid them farewell, and patriotic songs 
were sung and patriotic speeches made. Mayor 
Ferguson presided. 

Those who went to Whatcom were Gus. Moran, 



CURRENT EVENTS, 1897-1905 



Bert Moran, A. D. Colburn, Charles O'Conner, 
Frank Niles, Harvey Smith, Vay Stewart, Ernest 
Bleech, Wilham Kikendall, L. A. Patric, Grant 
\Mlson, Paul Langdon, H. V. Landfehr, W. H. 
Parcels and J. S. Howell. Some of these failed 
to pass the examination and were sent back, but 
most of them enlisted. 

The court proceedings of the year 1898 were not 
especially notable, with the exception of those 
which arose out of the famous Connella-Nelson 
shooting affray, in which the latter was killed. 
Connella. was the editor of the Everett News and 
Nelson was a wood and coal dealer. The quarrel 
between the two men had its inception at the 
Republican convention in Everett, when a picture 
of Congressman Lewis, which was hanging on the 
wall, was torn down. James Connella made some 
comments on the deed in his paper and cast some 
personal slurs on Ole Nelson, which the latter 
resented, hence the ill-feeling. The two men met 
on the night of October 10th on the sidewalk near 
Hafferkorn's cigar store, and an altercation en- 
sued, in which Connella was thrown to the ground. 
While in a prostrate position he drew his revolver 
and shot Nelson, inflicting a wound which a few 
hours later proved fatal. 

Connella was immediately arrested and held 
over for the superior court. The trial occurred in 
King county, owing to a strong feeling against the 
prisoner in Snohomish. The prosecution was con- 
ducted by Prosecuting Attorney Naylor and Hon. 
J. T. Ronald of Seatde, and the defense by J- A. 
Coleman and Alessrs. Cooley & Horan of Everett 
and J. E. Dore of Seattle. The result of the trial 
was very unexpected, being a verdict of acquittal, 
the jury evidently holding that the deed was done 
in self-defense. ^ 

The first event of the year 1899 was an indigna- 
tion meeting of the citizens of Everett over the 
acquittal of James W. Connella of the murder of 
Ole Nelson. The whole proceeding was denounced 
as "corrupt and ignorant" and the verdict as "dan- 
gerous and pernicious in its results and effects 
upon society." They also called upon Judge 
F. T. Reid to make amends by resigning his office. 
Probably as a result of this Connella disappeared 
from Everett, after disposing of his interest in the 
News to James Logie. 

The mines again attract a large share of our 
attention as a part of the general ongoing of prog- 
ressive Snohomish during the year 1899. The first 
important event was a big deal, by which the Pride 
of the ^lountains and the Monte Cristo mines 
passed into the hands of John D. Rockefeller and 
a few of his friends. The price of the first of the 
two mines was $167,501.95 and that of the other 
$100,569.99. Rockefeller also gained control of the 
United Concentration Company's holdings, and the 
three companies were consolidated into one large 
corporation. Holders of stock in the old companies 



retained their interest in the new one by paying an 
assessment of about one hundred and one dollars 
and fifty cents on each thousand shares of old stock. 
As a result of this enterprise mining affairs through- 
out the county received a great impetus. Work 
which had been abandoned was once more resumed. 
The Everett & Monte Cristo railroad, being backed 
by the new company, started the work of rebuild- 
ing, and a general resumption was the order of the 
day. 

About this time the mines of the Index district 
began to attract considerable attention. They had 
not yet been developed to any great extent, but 
what had been done gave promise of great things. 
Ore from the property of the Index Mining Com- 
pany assayed ninety-eight dollars and fifty cents per 
ton, which was much higher than had been ex- 
pected. New and promising finds were constantly 
being made. 

The lumbering interests partook of the onward 
march and we find that in April an association was 
formed at Everett of the shingle men of the county, 
known as the Snohomish County Shingle Manu- 
facturers' Association. Most of the shingle con- 
cerns in the county joined it, among them being 
the following: Lincoln Shingle Company, Mich- 
igan Shingle Company, M. J. Durgan, Northern 
Lumber Company,W. C. Sparks. Smith Manufac- 
turmg Company, Marysville Shingle Company, C. 
Rabel & Sons, August Holmquist, Eggert & John- 
son, Canedy Brothers, John Anderson & Company, 
Buck Lumber & Shingle Company, Morgan 
Brothers, Neally & Day, McCulIoch Shingle Com- 
pany, Washita Lumber Company, J. P. Caithness, 
Rice Lumber Company, Linnett Brothers, Manley 
& Church, E. J. Anderson, Ira Joy, E. J. McNeley 
and Atlas Lumber Company. The officers of the 
association were George C. Benjamin, president; 
F. L. Meares, secretary, and A. J. L^phus, treas- 
urer. 

The shingle and lumbering industry was per- 
haps the most extensive in the county. The Pacific 
Lumber Trade Journal for June gave statistics 
concerning the mills of the state of Washington 
and it was shown that Snohomish county had sixty- 
four, which was more than one fourth of all the 
mills in the state and thirteen more than Whatcom, 
the next highest, had. 

Snohomish agricultural interests received a 
severe blow in the excessive rains in August. A 
great deal of hay that was not yet under cover 
was destroyed and much of the standing grain, 
which was nearly ready to be harvested, was 
■knocked down. Little more than half a crop was 
saved. 

In spite of these misfortunes the enterprising 
people of Snohomish county launched the first 
autumnal fair since the early fairs in the seventies 
and it seems to have been a great success. It was 
opened on October 11th by a speech by Hon. Fran- 



300 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



cis H. Rrowiitll, and closed on the 1 Itli. ( )no of the 
]>articiilar attiactions was a series oi liiic horse 
races. 

The midsununer of ISSl'J witnessed anotlier 
shootinjj affray at Everett. It aiJjiears that a man 
named Henry Monty had deserted his family and 
anotlier man named Simon J. Fox iiad been living 
with them. Monty, on returning iiomc from 
Seattle, found this out and went in search of Fox, 
whom he discovered at home and proceeded to 
knock down several times. Fox then went into 
the house and getting a gun, warned his assailant 
to leave, which Monty refused to do. Fox then 
fired into the ceiling but Monty still remained and 
I'ox fired again inflicting a severe wound in the 
right breast. Monty died a short time afterward. 

It is the human lot to meet w^ith accidents, and 
we discover a peculiar instance during the spring 
of 1899 at Iwerctt. The Great Northern freight 
was just pulling out when it was discovered that 
one of the rear cars was on fire. The car just 
behind it was filled with powder, so, as the fire was 
beyond control, they had to be uncoupled and left 
behind. Soon a tremendous explosion occurred, 
and one of the cars next the powder car was 
shattered and blown a hundred feet up the track. 
This car contained three tramps, one of whom was 
killed : while the others were badly hurt. The in- 
jury to the track was slight. 

The closing year of the century, 1900, was 
characterized by a special activity in the lumber 
industry in Snohomish as well as in adjoining 
counties. There was great prosperity in the east- 
ern part of the state and an unprecedented building 
era in the farming sections, as well as in all the 
towns and cities. This created a great local demand 
for lumber, while conditions abroad incident to 
development in the Orient produced a larger for- 
eign market than ever before. All these things com- 
bined to produce the greatest activity of many years 
in all lumber enterprises and other lines of industry 
fell into the same general state of hopefulness. 
The Everett Land Company was reorganized. 
Timber was a very good price and large tracts of 
timber lands were sold. Agricultural lands also 
were in ever increasing demand and ranching con- 
tinued to become steadily more profitable. Cattle 
and sheep raising also received more attention 
than ever before, and large areas of land which 
had been entirely unimproved were now devoted to 
stock, which made them more valuable for other 
purposes as well. 

Mining also was in progress. .\n arrangement 
was made between the Forty-five Mining Company 
and the Puget Sound Reduction Company by 
which the railroad to Silverton was \o be rebuilt 
and the Forty-five was to sup])ly three thousand 
tons of ore a month. 

Of the railroad changes chronicled by the cur- 
rent newspa]iers of the >ear, the most important 



was the purchase bv the Northern Pacific of the 
track and right of way of that jwrt of the Everett 
and Monte Cristo road between Everett and Sno- 
homish. The reason for the purchase, as given by 
President Mellen in a dispatch to the Seattle Post- 
Intelligencer was "to secure more terminals for its 
growing Pacific Coast business." It was expected 
that the Northern Pacific would do a great deal 
toward building up the county, and these expecta- 
tions have been largely realized. 

The criminal calendar had its customary entry 
during the period of 1900. Une of the most cow- 
ardly crimes in the history of the county was com- 
mitted on the night of May 19th of that year. 
I'rank Whited, a laborer from Idaho, was waiting 
for the train at Monroe when he was accosted by 
three men, and he had talked to them a while when 
suddenly they ordereil him to throw up his hands, 
lie complied and they robbed him of all his valu- 
ables, then shot him in the back and left him in an 
empty box car to die. .\fter a lime Whited man- 
aged to crawl out and reached a nearby store, 
where his wound was taken care of. He was 
afterward taken to the Monroe hotel. 

Sheriff Zimmerman immediately set out in pur- 
suit of the highwaymen and in a few days succeeded 
in cai)turing them near Wiulock. He took them to 
.Monroe, where they were positively identified by 
their victim. The names of the men were W. F. 
Howard, Charles Stewart, and George Wilson. 
They were placed under five thousand dollar bonds, 
in default of which they were put in the county 
jail at Everett to await their trial, which came off 
on the 9th of July. The evidence was absolutely 
conclusive and the men were convicted of highway 
robbery and sentenced to twenty years at hard 
labor in the state penitentiary at Walla Walla. 

Snohomish county at this time was growing 
rapidly in population, the United States census of 
that year giving it 2,'^,950, which was exceeded by 
only five other coimtics namely. King, Spokane, 
Pierce, Whitman and Whatcom. The gratifying 
fatt was heralded in the Tribune of February 22d 
that immigration was beginning in real earnest. 
This was the logical result of the preceding years 
of great activity and it in turn caused the waves 
of pro.sperity to roll on with added power. In one 
day the Northern Pacific and Great Northern 
brought over fifteen hundred homcscekers to Puget 
sound. 

(^ur old friends, the miners, come in f(jr a large 
share of attention at this period. The St. Louis 
mine, which had been susjiended since the washout 
on the Everett & Monte Cristo railroad three years 
before, which road had only recently been rebuilt, 
was sold to a new company which incorporated un- 
der the name of the Conservative Mining Company. 
This mine was situated near the Silverton on Deer 
Creek. The ])resident, Frank M. Evans, at once put 



CURRENT F.VENTS, 1897-190.- 



301 



a force of men at work in charge of H. W. Ilorton, 
of Snohomish. 

In the Mining Record of February, John Tow- 
ers, a mining expert, had a long article descriptive 
of the Index district. He says in part, "The cop- 
per ores of the district, and held in these lodes or 
veins, are varied — chalcocite, chalcopyrite and hor- 
ite, the three important ores of commerce pre- 
dominating and being pretty evenly distributed. 
The gangue, more or less mineralized, is either 
quartz or an altered or metamorphosed granite. 
The rich sulphides are in the form of pay streaks. 
Chalcopyrite occurs in massive chutes, and as the 
gangue also carries values, concentration is neces- 
sary for economic reasons." He also says, "There 
are more properties of merit in this camp than in 
any other camp of similar size and equal age. 
Quite a number are being actively developed, the 
usual element of mining uncertainty being elimin- 
ated in some of them and entirely so in a few." 

In the fall the Ethel mine built a concentrator 
with tram-ways and automatic filling and dumping 
cars, so that the cost of delivering a hundred tons 
a day to the concentrator was reduced to four cents 
a ton or less. 

In October the famous Bonanza Queen copper 
mine was sold to D. F. Morgan, of Minneapolis, re- 
presenting the Bell Telephone Company, for one 
inmdred and fifty thousand dollars. The mine had 
been located some ten years before by J. F. Bender, 
Angus Sutherland and L. W. Lockwood, who re- 
ceived a large share of the purchase price. One of 
the conditions of the transaction was that a five- 
drill compressor plant be immediately installed and 
not less than forty men employed continuously. 

The harvest of 1901 showed gratifying results 
of the industry of the rancher, the year having 
])een a good one for the agriculturist as well as 
for the miner and the lumberman. The weather 
had been exceptionally fine and as a result the 
crops were above the average. Hay yielded from 
three to five tons per acre and was worth from 
eight to ten dollars per ton ; oats averaged about 
a hundred bushels to the acre, some going over a 
hundred and fifty bushels, and it sold for about 
twenty-five dollars per ton ; potatoes yielded from 
eight to twelve tons, in some cases going consider- 
ably higher, and they were worth something over 
twenty dollars a ton. Farm products, such as but- 
ter, eggs, etc., were in good demand and sold at a 
fair price, the demand for all kinds of produce being 
generally greater than the supply. 

There was hardly as extensive work in railroad- 
ing as in some of the previous years, but we find, 
as one important event, that tracklaying on the 
Arlington-Harrington branch of the Northern Pa- 
cific was completed about the last of May. Trains 
began running on schedule time on June 10th. 

Several peculiar accidents marked the year of 
1901, one of which occurred at the Cascade lumber 



and shingle mill on July 13th. The mill was run- 
ning at full speed, when suddenly, with a tremen- 
dous explosion, the great ten-foo't fly wheel burst 
and scattered wood and iron a distance of a hun- 
dred feet. There were forty men in the mill at 
the time but by a miracle no one was injured. The 
damage to the mill was about two thousand dollars. 

In August an accident occurred on the Northern 
Pacific road at Snohomish. A freight train and a 
work train were standing on the bridge, when a 
number of loaded freight cars up the track broke 
loose and smashed into them. Two of the bridge 
crew, Walter Dense and vVrthur Palmer, were on 
one of the standing cars, and when they were 
struck were thrown a distance of fifty feet, sustain- 
ing very severe injuries, each breaking both his 
legs and Palmer also crushing his elbow. The 
injured men, after having their hurts attended to, 
were taken to Seattle, where they were placed in 
the hospital. 

One of the events which most occupied the 
minds of the people of Snohomish during the early 
part of 1902 was the famous Malvern murder case. 
The body of Mrs. Malvern was discovered in a 
building occupied by the Snohomish hand laundry, 
and her husband, Joe Malvern, otherwi.se known as 
Glessing Payne, was arrested on suspicion of being 
him.self the criminal. The coroner's jury, consist- 
ing of Messrs. Whitfield, Wilbur, Spurrell, Andrus, 
W. D. Harlan, and Lysons, brought in a verdict to 
the efifect that the woman had come to her death by 
a bullet wound from the hand of Malvern himself. 
His own testimony had established the conviction in 
the minds of the jury which resulted in that verdict. 
According to Malvern's statement his wife was 
temporarily insane and, without cause or action on 
his part, had shot herself while standing beside the 
bed on which he himself was lying. The damaging 
part of his testimony was in trying to account for 
the fact that the pistol was found just where him- 
self claimed to have been lying, for he asserted that 
his wife, after shooting herself, had thrown the 
weapon into that position. When the verdict of the 
coroner's jury was brought in Malvern was very 
much perturbed and upon a close examination after- 
ward by Deputy Sheriff Brewer he endeavored to 
change his story. He was bound over for trial. 

The trial began on May 2(\ and was ojjened by 
Prosecuting Attorney Cooley on the part of the 
state. Attorney Cooley admitted to the jury that 
his evidence would be entirely circumstantial, but 
declared that he was able to prove Malvern's guilt. 
The chief witnesses for the prosecution were Mr. 
and Mrs. J. W. Johnson, Willie Thierson.a thirteen- 
year-old boy, and Dr. McCready. 

Additional testimony was educed to show that 
twice before Malvern had made attem])ts upon the 
woman's life. The defense brought a number of 
witnesses to try to show that there had been no 
difficulty between the husband and wife and that 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



there was no reason to suppose that Malvern was 
in possession of any kind of a deadly weapon im- 
mediately prior to the occnrrence. 

After volumiiimis totimuny had been given and 
extended pleas made li\ huth the prosecution and 
the defense, the jury (leliberated for twelve hours 
upon the case, at the end of which time they 
brought in a verdict of murder in the second degree. 
It was stated that at first eight of the jurors favored 
a verdict of murder in the first degree and the result 
was finally secured as a compromise. Malvern's 
lawyers took an appeal to the supreme court, but 
the court affirmed tlie verdict and Malvern was 
sentenced to a term of twenty years in the state 
penitentiary at Walla Walla. 

A very serious accident happened on the Snoho- 
mish Logging Company's road on the Sth of May, 
1902. The engine, hauling a load of logs, liroke 
through the trestle near ( )wen ^^'illiams' place. The 
engineer, M. J. Riley, was instantly killed : the head 
brakeman, A. L. Kittle, was so seriously injured 
that lie died within two hours, and Frank Tomlin- 
son, scaler for the Seattle Cedar Company, was 
also badly hurt. 

As soon as the train had plunged into the gap 
of the broken bridge word was sent to the camp 
and an engine was despatched with several men to 
bear relief, but by a curious fatality the relief 
engine became uncontrollable on account of the 
slippery condition of the track and was piled up 
upon the ruins of the preceding train. 

One of the most important events in railway 
circles in the autumn of 1903 was a transfer of 
the Everett & Monte Cristo railway to the Northern 
Pacific Railway Company. 

A very extensive mining transaction took place 
in December of the same year, namely, the con- 
solidation of the Helena and bornite groups of thirty 
claims at the head of Clear creek near Silverton, 
and their transfer to the American Mining and 
Milling Company, which had been organized a short 
time previous by Seattle and English capitalists, 
among whom were J. W. Chise and John Pierce. 
These two gentlemen had had much experience in 
mining, and Mr. Chise, as the representative of an 
English syndicate, invested several million dollars 
in Washington mining pro])erty. The property cov- 
ered by this transaction was a high grade copper 
proposition said by experts to be equal to the famous 
United Verd mine in Arizona. 

The mining interests were active during the 
ensuing year and we find record in the Tribune of 
August 21st to the efifect that Charles Sweeney of 
Spokane had purchased the Everett smelter and the 
Alonte Cristo mines. It was stated that the company 
represented by Mr. Sweeney had a capital of thirty 
million dollars and was backed by the Goulds and 
Rockefellers. The company at the same time made 
e.xtensive purchases in mining regions adjoining 
Spokane and in the Cocur d'Alene district of Idaho. 



The value of the purchase in Snohomish county was 
estimated at more than two million dollars. Some- 
what to the surprise of the people of Snohomish the 
smelter and Monte Cristo mines were sold by Mr. 
Sweeney in October following to the American 
Smelting and Refining Company. 

The years 1903 and thence following were fruit- 
ful in all manner of trolley car rumors and enter- 
prises. A public meeting was called in the early 
part of 1903 at Snohomish to discuss the formation 
of a company for building a people's trolley line 
from Snohomish to Cherry Valley. As a result of 
the plans and discussions there Messrs. Crippen, 
Snyder, Hall, Gorham, Foster and Clemens asked 
the city for a franchise through Snohomish. The 
plan of this company was that it should be under 
community control and carried out in the interests 
of the public. 

The franchise was accordingly granted by the 
city of Snohomish and the county soon after granted 
a similar franchise over certain county roads and 
crossings. The city council of Monroe granted also 
a franchise through the streets of that place. Some 
trouble seems to have arisen from the fact that the 
city attorney of Monroe tried to introduce a provi- 
sion that if any other company should begin laying 
rails inside the city limits of Monroe prior to the 
company just organized that the latter company 
would be compelled to purchase the rights of the 
other company or surrender its own franchise. The 
committee from Snohomish, however, presented the 
matter in such a light that the Monroe attorney 
failed of his efforts. Mr. Colburn was in charge of 
the survey of the line between Snohomish and 
Monroe. He found the farmers in the direction of 
Cherry A^alley to be quite enthusiastically favorable 
to the creation of the proposed line. 

.While this enterprise was in progress the trolley 
between Snohomish and Everett had been com- 
pleted and during the final days of November, 1903, 
the cars ran for the first time on the line. J. T. 
McChesney was one of the most active promoters 
of this enterprise. An arrangement was made with 
the Northern Pacific Company by which the trolley 
cars were run on the old Everett & Monte Cristo 
track, which had been acquired a short time pre- 
viously by the Northern Pacific. The Northern 
Pacific also turned over all passenger and express 
traffic except the Monte Cristo to the trolley com- 
pany. 

During the spring of 1904 trolley enterprises 
continued unabated. Franchises were being se- 
cured for lines from Seattle to Everett, thence to 
Snohomish, Cherry Valley, Falls City, Issaquah, 
Renton, and around the south end of Lake Wash- 
ington to Seattle again, thus forming a complete 
loop. The franchises were granted on condition 
that the work be completed in three years. The 
Snohomish-Cherry Valley Trolley Company, which 
was but a part of this extensive undertaking, was 



CURRENT EVENTS, 1897-190.5 



303 



incorporated in April with a capital of one million 
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Among 
the most active supporters of this line were Messrs. 
Colburn, Hall, Brown and Snj-der. This year also 
saw the organization of companies for the con- 
struction of other parts of the same system, in- 
cluding the Everett-Seattle route and the Seattle, 
Kenton & Tolt road. More recently a number of 
other schemes have been advanced, including the 
construction of a trolley line from Bellingham and 
also one from Snohomish to Monroe. While only 
a small proportion of the trolley enterprises of 
the last few years have materialized thus far the 
talk still continues and there is no doubt that in the 
near future much greater developments along those 
lines will be carried out. 

Among the accidents recorded for the year 
1903 was a wreck on the Great Northern trestle a 
mile east of Lowell, in which engineer Archie 
Connelly was killed and fireman A. M. Sparks 
wounded. The accident occurred in March. The 
trestle was being repaired and the train, which was 
a freight, was flagged, but was not stopped in time 
and the engine went through. Fireman Sparks 
escaped death by jumping, but Connelly was caught 
in some way and scalded to death. The train 
was moving at a slow rate and none of the cars 
left the track. 

The annals of this year are blackened by a 
number of crimes, the most serious being the mur- 
der of Fred Alderson by Angus J. McPhail. These 
men were rival saloon keepers of Darrington. A 
renewal of McPhail's license was denied by the 
commissioners on the ground that his place was 
disorderly. McPhail held Alderson responsible for 
this and on the 11th of May walked into Alderson's 
saloon and while the latter was stooping down shot 
him in the head. Alderson fell, and after firing 
another shot into the body, jMcPhail fled to the 
woods but later returned and gave himself up. 
Alderson was known as a peaceful citizen, while 
McPhail had a bad record. 

The trial occurred in the latter part of October 
and occupied nearly two weeks, the defense at- 
tempted to establish the insanity of the accused. 
The jury was out all night and on the seventh bal- 
lot agreed on a verdict of murder in the first degree. 
]\IcPhail afterward made an attempt on his own 
life with a pair of shears, and succeeded in mak- 
ing a flesh wound in his neck which, however, did 
not prove fatal. An appeal to the Supreme court 
was taken by Colonel Hathaway, counsel for the 
defense, and the iudgment of the lower court was 
affirmed. Judge Black pronounced the death sent- 
ence and subsequently, December 8, 190.5, I\IcPhail 
was executed. 

Another serious crime was the murder of Henry 
Hots in December. 1903, near his home on Black- 
man's lake. Hots and a neighbor. P. L. Shubert, 
had been having trouble with chicken thieves, and 



had made an agreement to keep a close lookout 
for them. On the night of December 22d August 
Shubert discovered one of the thieves just as he 
was taking flight, and immediately shouted out to 
Hots who rushed out of his house with his gun. In 
a few moments Shubert heard two revolver shots 
and shortly after Mrs. Hots crying out that her 
husband was shot. The thief had evidently run 
upon Hots and when ordered to stop had fired his 
revolver with the result that Hots was instantly 
killed. The victim of this crime was forty-five 
years old and had been a resident of Snohomish 
for three years, having come thither from Arkan- 
sas. He left a wife and four children. His mur- 
derer was never apprehended. 

The rapid growth in material wealth at this time 
is shown by a glance at the assessor's books, which 
indicate an increase of taxable lands for 1903 over 
1902 of over a quarter of a million dollars. Twenty 
thousand acres of land appeared on the books which 
were not there before. 

One melancholy event occvirred in 1903. On 
the 4th of April, Joe Boggio and Mike Gray, two 
miners, were attempting to make their way from 
the Bornite mine to Darrington, a distance of about 
twelve miles. They thought that the tramway had 
been completed for about six miles, but as a mat- 
ter of fact there was nothing more than a blazed 
trail for nearly the whole distance. The snow was 
deep and after going about seven miles Boggio 
became so exhausted that he was unable to pro- 
ceed : then they turned back, but Boggio was 
unable to go more than half a mile, so Gray left 
him, after giving him his coat, and started back 
to camp alone. When night overtook him, he 
could only keep from freezing to death by walking 
around a tree till daylight. The following day 
he reached camp, and at once sent a miner named 
Fred Peterson out after Boggio. The latter had 
wandered away, however, and his tracks being 
covered by snow Peterson could not find him. 
When the news reached Darrington a party con- 
sisting of B. Gallagher, Elmer Burns, T. Gibson, 
L. Barnett, Thomas Dorgan, E. Tamhill and two 
miners went in search of the unfortunate man, and 
after enduring hardships which prostrated most 
of the searchers they finally succeeded in finding 
the body of Boggio where he had perished in a 
pool of shallow water. It was with great difficulty 
that the body was taken to Darrington, where it 
was buried. 

A railroad disaster occurred on the 2d of May 
about a mile and a half west of Index. A Great 
Northern freight train left the track on account 
of the rails being spread by the heat of the sun. 
and twelve cars, loaded with steel rails, were piled 
up, some of them being smashed to pieces. The 
engineer was seriously injured. 

This seems to have been a period replete with 
railroad accidents in Snohomish countv. On the 



304 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



5th of February, 1905, a serious accident occurred 
to a work train on the Monte Cristo branch of the 
Northern Pacific. The train was derailed at a point 
about one and a half mijes beyond Robe, and the 
engine whistle being broken, escaping steam scalded 
six men. The engineer, Robert E. Love, and the 
fireman, C. Carstensen, lived only a few hours after 
receiving the injury. The survivors. John Carhon, 
John Potts and Guy Bartlett, who were bridgemen, 
and William Hestor, who was the engine watchman, 
were taken to Seattle and placed in the hospital. 
William Hestor subsequently died, but the others, 
after much sufifering, slowlv recovered. Deputy 
Coroner Bakeman, in reporting upon this accident, 
avoids attributing fault to anyone and states that 
this was one of those mysterious accidents that can 
not be explained. 

And still there were more to follow. Only 
fifteen days later a loaded logging train on the 
Canon Lumber Company's new road near Robe ran 
away, jumped the track, and was speedily trans- 
formed into a mass of twisted iron and broken 
splinters. The cause of this seems to have been the 
clogging of the sand box and the consequent sliding 
of the train while descending a steep grade. The 
train passed successfully around several curves, but 
when near the foot of the hill upon a sharper curve 
than any yet passed the train jumped the- track. Tlie 
crew having been notified by signals from the engine 
that the train was beyond control began jumping 
off, the engineer being last to leave his post. No 
one of the crew was injured, although the speed 
of the train at the moment that it left the track was 
so great that the engine, striking a hemlock tree 
nearly three feet in diameter, broke it squarely off. 
The loss in this case fortunatelv was not of men but 



of materials, the value of the equipment destroyed 
being not less than ten thousand dollars, and un- 
fortunately for the company this was uninsured. 

One more tragedy in this portion of the history 
remains to be recorded, one which occurred on the 
irth of January, 1905. Pete Hansen, the fourteen- 
year-old son of Fritz Hansen, was out with another 
boy named Claude Johnston near the trolley turn 
table in Snohomish, engaged in hunting a knife. 
Johnston had in his possession a gun which Hansen 
asked to take, and in some way the gun was dis- 
charged while being passed from the one to the 
other and the ball passed through Hansen's neck. 
Dr. Munn of Marysville, the coroner of the county, 
came to hold an inquest, but the testimony of wit- 
nesses who were present so clearly proved that the 
shooting was accidental that an inquest was deemed 
unnecessary. The unfortunate boy, as well as the 
famil)- to which he belonged, had borne an excellent 
reputation and the tragedy was a great shock to the 
community in which they lived. 

We complete herewith the view which we have 
been endeavoring to give throughout the preceding 
pages of the magnificent county of Snohomish. 
From the superb islands of Whidby and Camano on 
its western border to the glistening crests of Glacier 
Peak, ten thousand, four hundred and thirty-six 
feet above sea level, it is one succession of sublime 
and beautiful scenes, of overflowing resources 
adapted to every species of human activity, and con- 
taining a population not easily matched for intel- 
ligence, enterprise and patriotism. With all of these 
advantages of location, of resources, and of the 
character of its fifty thousand people, Snohomish 
county enters upon the twentieth century with un- 
bounded hopes and prospects for a great future. 



CHAPTER V 



POLITICAL 



The political history of Snohomish county is 
replete with interest. There is enough of the per- 
sonal element in it and enough of sensation to en- 
chain the attention. Rarely has the game of local 
politics been played anywhere with greater earnest- 
ness or greater skill than have been exhibited at 
times in this county and rarely have personal con- 
tests been characterized by greater bitterness. The 
writer, however, feels constrained to touch some of 
the most sensational incidents but lightly, as this 
game, like war, is played in the dark, and it is 
well nigh impossible to come into possession of 
all the facts so completely as to make detailed nar- 
ration safe. The conscientious writer will take no 
chances where a possible misunderstanding of facts 
might do some innocent person irreparable injury. 
For this reason little will be attempted here, further 
than to present, as fully as the state of the county 
records will permit, the results of the different 
elections. 

By the creating act, heretofore quoted, the 
officers appointed until the election were as follows : 
Sheriff, Jacob Summers ; county commissioners, 
E. C. Ferguson, Henry McClurg, John Harvey ; 
auditor, J. D. Fowler; probate judge, Charles Short ; 
treasurer, John Harvey. 

It appears from the commissioners' record that 
all these gentlemen accepted the honors conferred 
upon them and entered upon the duties of their re- 
spective offices, though Summers resigned the 
shrievalty in May and Salem Woods was appointed 
in his stead. 

No official returns of early elections are avail- 
able at this date; none such are in existence; but 
from the commissioners' record it appears that the 
following persons qualified and discharged the 
duties of their respective offices during the first 
decade and a half of the county's existence, namely, 
auditors. J. D. Fowler, E. C. Ferguson, J. E. Clark, 
W. G. Bradley, M. W. Packard, David Sheridan, 
who left the county in the fall of 1874 and was suc- 
ceeded by W. H. Ward; treasurers, John Harvey, 
George Walker, W. B. Sinclair, Robert Barrett. 
M. W. Packard, by appointment to succeed Bar- 
rett resigned, John Batt and Thomas F. Marks; 
sheriffs, Jacob Summers, Salem Woods, Samuel 
How (F. L. Dunbar was elected but failed to 
furnish a satisfactory bond), Charles Seybert and 
Benjamin Stretch; probate judges, Charles Short, 
W. B. Sinclair, George Greenwood, by appointment, 



John Barrett, M. W. Packard and R. Haskell ; com- 
missioners, E. C. Ferguson, H. McClurg, J. D. 
Fowler, John Harvey, P. H. Ewell, F. M. Smith, 
Salem Woods, Franklin Buck, Charles Harriman, 
N. B. Fowler, P. J. Fields, P. C. Preston, E. D. 
Smith, by appointment, E. D. Smith by election, 
James Long, j\l. H. Reeves, M. T. Wight and 
George Kyle. Some of these held the same office 
more than once, and a few several times. 

In 1876, the Republican territorial and county 
nominees were: Delegate to congress. Orange 
Jacobs; prosecuting-attorney, William A. Inman ; 
joint councilman, E. C. Ferguson ; representative, 
O. B. Iverson ; sheriff, Benjamin Stretch ; auditor, 
John Swett; probate judge, H. D. Morgan; treas- 
urer, J. D. Morgan; county commissioners, J. D. 
Irvine, L. H. Witter, M. T. Wight; school super- 
intendent, Hugh Ross; coroner, A. C. Folsom. 

The Democratic ticket was : Delegate to con- 
gress, J. P. Judson ; prosecuting attorney, W. H. 
White; joint councilman, M. H. Frost; represent- 
ative, H. W. Light; sheriff, H. Blackman; auditor, 
J. Swett; probate judge, J. N. Low; treasurer, T. 
F. Marks; county commissioners, William Whit- 
field, Charles Harriman, F. H. Hancock; school 
superintendent, J. Town; county surveyor, J. T. 
Cotton; coroner, A. C. Folsom. 

The election ensuing resulted as follows : Dele- 
gate to congress, Jacobs, Republican, 224, Judson, 
Democrat. 143 ; representative, Iverson, Republican, 
196, H. W. Light, Democrat, 153 ; joint councilman, 
(with Whatcom and Kitsap counties) E. C. Fergu- 
son, Republican, 237, M. H. Frost, Democrat. 113 ; 
prosecuting attorney, W. A. Inman, Republican, 
182, W. H. White, Democrat, 181; for constitu- 
tional convention, 305, against 46; auditor, John 
Swett, on both tickets, 353 ; sheriff, Benjamin 
Stretch, Republican, 226, H. Blackman, Democrat, 
137 ; county commissioners, Whitfield, Democrat, 
218; Harriman, Democrat, 210; Irvine, Republican, 
163; Witter, Republican, 159; Hancock, Democrat, 
158; Wight, Republican, 154; tieasurer, Morgan, 
Republican, 221, Marks, Democrat, 139, Low, 1; 
probate judge, Morgan, Republican, 239, Low, 
Democrat, 114; school superintendent, James Town, 
Democrat, 183, Hugh Ross, Republican, 169, scat- 
tering, 2 ; county surveyor, J. T. Cotton, Democrat, 
158, no opposition; coroner, A. C. Folsom (on both 
tickets) 305, scattering 32. The precincts of the 



306 



SNOHO:\IISH COUXTY 



county at this time were: Snohomish, Tualco, 
Lowell, Packwood, Mukilteo and Centreville. 

H. D. Morgan, probate judge, soon resigned 
and Royal Haskell was appointed. 

In 1878, the Democrats met at Snohomish City, 
yVugust 31st, and nominated the following county 
ticket: Representative, H. Blackman ; sheriff and 
assessor, William Whitfield; auditor, John H. 
Swett; treasurer, Lot Wilbur; probate judge, E. H. 
Nicoll; coroner, Dr. Taggart; superintendent of 
schools, Dr. T. W. McCoy. 

The Republicans convened September 7th and 
nominated the following as their candidates: Rep- 
resentative, O. B. Iverson; county commissioners, 
J. H. Irvine, W. H. Ward and C. H. Stackpole; 
probate judge, R. Haskell; sheriff, J. H. Plaskett; 
auditor, H. A. Gregory ; treasurer, E. C. Ferguson ; 
school superintendent, T. W. McCoy ; surv^eyor, W. 
T. Brown; corroner, Oliver. 

The official returns of this election we have not 
been able to find, but from the commissioners' 
books, it appears that the following qualified by 
furnishing a suitable bond, or otherwise, and en- 
tered upon the duties of their respective offices: 
Treasurer, Lot Wilbur ; sheriff, William Whitfield ; 
auditor, John Swett ; surveyor, W. F. Brown ; 
county superintendent, T. W. McCoy; probate 
judge, M. W. Packard (probably by appointment) ; 
commissioners, F. H. Hancock, John Davis, C. H. 
Stackpole. 

Official records of the result of the election held 
in November, 1880, are also lacking, but from the 
official directory published by the Snohomish Eye in 
its initial issue, January 1, 1882, it would appear 
that the following either were elected in 1880, or ap- 
pointed to fill the places of those who were elected, 
namely, sheriff, William Whitfield; auditor, H. A. 
Gregory; treasurer. Lot Wilbur; probate judge, 
A. Hulbert; surveyor, William F. Brown; school 
superintendent, C. A. Missimer ; commissioners, H. 
D. Morgan, E. D. Smith, T. Ovenell. 

Preparatory to the campaign of 1882, the Re- 
publicans held their convention at Snohomish City, 
September 9th. The territorial and district tickets 
and the county ticket there named were as follows : 
Delegate to congress, Thomas H. Brents ; brigadier- 
general, M. A. McPherson ; adjutant-general, R. 
G. O'Brien ; quartermaster-general, J. H. Smith ; 
commissary-general, C. B. Hopkins ; prosecuting 
attorney, third judicial district, C. M. Bradshaw; 
joint councilman, James Power; joint represent- 
ative, E. C. Ferguson ; county commissioners, J. 
Rhoades, G. Austin, H. F. Jackson ; auditor, J. H. 
Plaskett; sheriff, Benjamin Stretch; treasurer, I. 
Cathcart ; school superintendent, A. H. Eddy ; pro- 
bate judge, J. G. Swafford ; coroner, C. Taftzerson ; 
surveyor, J. P. Anderson. 

The Democratic county ticket was : Sheriff, 
John Swett ; treasurer. Lot Wilbur ; auditor. William 
Whitfield; probate judge, II. Blackman; county 



commissioner, Stillaguamish district, T. S. Adams; 
middle district, E. C. Ferguson; upper district, 
Isaac Peer; school superintendent, Mrs. L. W. 
Bell; surveyor, J. Van Bowen. Committee to con- 
fer with the counties of Island, Whatcom and San 
Juan for selection of nominees for joint council- 
man and joint representative, H. Blackman, Clark 
Ferguson and William Romines. Mr. Blackman 
withdrew from the ticket. 

There was also a third ticket in the field this 
year, the People's which was as follows: Auditor, 
J. H. Plaskett; sheriff, W. W. Howard; treasurer. 
Lot Wilbur; probate judge, J. Swafford; county 
surveyor, C. A. Missimer. W. W. Howard with- 
drew. 

The election, which was held November 7th, 
resulted as follows : Delegate to congress, Thomas 
H. Brent, Republican, 330, Thomas Burke, Demo- 
crat, 180 ; brigadier-general, M. A. McPherson, 
Republican, 335, Samuel Vinson, Democrat, 166; 
adjutant-general, R. G. O'Brien, Republican, 334, 
L. DeBeau, Democrat, 164, Burke, 1 ; quarter- 
master-general, J. H. Smith, Republican, 335, J. 
W. Bomer, Democrat, 165 ; commissary-general, C. 
B. Hopkins, Republican, 335, W. A. Wash, Demo- 
crat, 165 ; prosecuting attorney, third judicial dis- 
trict, C. M. Bradshaw, Republican, 345, W. H. 
White, Independent, 5 ; joint councilman, James 
Power, Republican, 290, H. Blackman, Democrat, 
207 ; joint representative, E. C. Ferguson, Repub- 
lican, 301, Peter De Jorup, 189, H. Blackman, 
Democrat, 1 ; county commissioners, J. Rhodes, 
Republican, 349, A. Austin, Republican. 292, H. 
Jackson, Republican, 230, Clark Ferguson, Demo- 
crat, 252, Isaac Peer, Democrat, 189, T. S. Adams, 
Democrat, 137, William Whitfield, Democrat, 1 ; 
auditor, J. H. Plaskett, Republican, 290, William 
Whitfield, Democrat, 202 ; sheriff, Benjamin 
Stretch, Republican, 233, J. H. Swett, Democrat, 
120, W. B. Stevens, Independent, 31 ; treasurer, I. 
Cathcart, Republican, 257, L. Wilbur, Democrat, 
230; school superintendent, A. H. Eddv, Republi- 
can, 184, Mrs. L. W. Bell, Democrat, '301. C. A. 
Missimer, 3 ; probate judge, J. G. Swafford, Repub- 
lican, 3.34, G. Walker, Democrat, 153; coroner, C. 
Taftzerson, Republican, 341, G. Walker, Democrat, 
1, T. R. Lytic, Democrat, 2. D. Marvin, Democrat. 
1; surveyor, J. P. Anderson, Republican, 181, J. 
Van Bowen, Democrat, 135, C. A. Missimer, In- 
dependent, 140. 

The Republican ticket in 1884 was as follows: 
Delegate to congress, J. M. Armstrong: adjutant- 
general, R. G. O'Brien ; brigadier-general, William 
Peel ; commissary-general, H. W. Livingston ; quar- 
termaster-general, D. B. Jackson ; prosecuting at- 
torney, Richard Osborn ; joint councilman, E. C. 
Ferguson ; joint representative, Charles Terry ; 
probate judge, J. W. Halbert; countv commission- 
ers. H. W. Illman, P. Peterson, D. F. Sexton ; 
sheriff and assessor, W. W. Howard ; auditor, J. 



POLITICAL 



H. Plaskett; treasurer, Isaac Cathcart; surveyor, 
A. J\I. Hawkins; school superintendent, ]\Irs. E. C. 
Granger; coroner, S. J. Burns. 

The Democratic nominees were : Delegate to 
congress, Charles S. Voorhees; brigadier-general, 
James McAuliff; adjutant-general, W. E. Ander- 
son; commissarj'-general, George Simon; quarter- 
master-general, Frank Hand ; prosecuting attorne_v, 
J. T. Ronald; joint councilman. Walter Crockett; 
joint representative, T. B. Neely; sheriff and 
assessor, William Whitfield ; auditor, R. M. Folsom ; 
treasurer, John Swett; probate judge, E. Boesche ; 
county commissioners, Charles Harriman, J.H.Con- 
dit, N. E. Preston; surveyor, John Nailor; school 
superintendent, D. W. Craddock ; coroner, William 
Deering. 

September 20th a "People's" convention was 
held at Stanwood, the object of which was set 
forth in the following resolutions adopted at a 
previous meeting: 

"Whereas, the political parties controlling the 
political affairs of Snohomish county for the last 
few years having become corrupt in the eyes of the 
people, and are headed by rings and cliques which 
are considered dangerous to the interests of the 
people, and Whereas, a great deal of dissatisfac- 
tion is expressed against said rings and cliques, and 
their actions ; therefore be it. Resolved that we the 
people of Snohomish county in mass convention 
here convened, hereby repudiate all and several of 
the nominations and actions of said rings and 
cliques, and nominate a ticket from the people." 

The following county ticket was nominated: 
Auditor, Robert Folsom; treasurer, Isaac Cath- 
cart; sheriff" and assessor, Benjamin Stretch; pro- 
bate judge, J. G. Swafford; school superintendent, 
]\Irs. E. C. Granger ; surveyor, H. H. Ames, county 
commissioners, P. A. Peterson, Charles Harriman, 
E. S. Murphin ; coroner, William Deering. 

The result of the election appears from the fol- 
lowing official returns for the year: Delegate to 
congress, J. M. Armstrong, Republican, 429 ; C. S. 
Voorhees, Democrat, 587; adjutant-general, R. G. 
O'Brien. Republican, 612, W. G. Anderson, Demo- 
crat, 407; brigadier-general, William Peel, Repub- 
lican, 618, James McAuliff, Democrat, 404 ; quarter- 
master-general. D. B. Jackson, Republican, 518, 
Frank Hand, Democrat, 481 ; commissarj'-general. 
H. W. Livingston, Republican, 614, George Simon, 
Democrat, 310, Simon Burg, Independent, 96 ; pros- 
ecuting attorney, Richard Osborn, Republican, 496, 
J. T. Ronald, Democrat, 519 ; joint councilman, E. 
"C. Ferguson, Republican, 506, Walter Crockett, 

Democrat, ; joint representative, Charles 

Terry, Republican, 529, T. B. Neely, Democrat, 
486; probate judge, J. W. Halbert, Republican. 
297. E. Boesch, Democrat, 254, J. G. Swafford, 
Independent, 463 ; county commissioners, H. W. 
Illman, Republican, 297, D. F. Sexton, Republi- 
can, 463, P. A. Peterson, Republican, 474, Charles 



Harriman, Democrat, 574, J. H. Condit, Democrat, 
399, N. E. Preston, Democrat, 293, S. S. Murphin, 
Independent, 257 ; sheriff" and assessor, W. H. 
Howard, Republican. 287, William Whitfield, 
Democrat, 300, Benjamin Stretch. Independent, 
430; auditor, J. H. Plaskett, Republican, 604, R. 
M. Folsom, Democrat, 414; treasurer, I. Cathcart, 
Republican, 748, J. H. Swett, Democrat, 256; sur- 
veyor, A. M. Hawkins, Republican, 582, John 
Nailor, Democrat, 227, H. H. Ames, Independent, 
192 ; school superintendent, Mrs. E. C. Granger, 
Republican, 546, D. W. Craddock, Democrat, 465 ; 
coroner, S. J. Burns. Republican, 381, William 
Deering, Democrat, 601 ; church property tax, ves. 
530, no, 238. 

The question of having Snohomish county di- 
vided by the annexation to Skagit of two tiers of 
townships along the northern border of the county 
had been quietly but vigorously agitated in the 
precincts of the lower Stillaguamish and in parts 
of Skagit county for some time, and it was claimed 
that this was at the bottom of the formation of the 
Independent ticket. The movement was, of course, 
obnoxious to all other parts of Snohomish county, 
but the precincts which sought segregation. The 
position of Skagit county, and no doubt of many 
persons in the Stillaguamish country was thus set 
forth in December, 1884, by the Skagit News: 

"The Stillaguamish valley has played but little 
part heretofore in the politics of Snohomish county. 
The richest part of the country, it is well settled by 
intelligent people, yet so complete is its separation 
from the other section that its voice has been little 
heeded in the Republican convention, but on elec- 
tion day it has exhibited what the Eye considers 
party virtue and supported the regular nominees. 
This last election is but a type of the usual division 
of offices, every one in the county being appro- 
priated by men south of this river. The valley was 
given a wide berth and was expected to sleep until 
the next election. Its candidate for commissioner 
defeated, it is to pay the taxes as heretofore, and 
in return the county allows it to put on its own 
roads only that part of the taxes that cannot be 
collected in money. Paying more than its share of 
taxes, according to population, it can have neither 
office nor road. This district is not one whit 
better than if the county seat were located in the 
extremity of Patagonia. 

"For six years or more this river has sought to 
be cut off from Snohomish county. Twice has this 
proposition appeared in the legislature. Yet the 
Eye thinks Snohomish county duped because this 
people, already determined on the independent 
movement, supported Walter Crockett for council- 
man, hoping to obtain justice from the next legis- 
lature. 

"The case is admitted when the Eye says the 
people of the southern part of the country would 
not object to this division could they obtain a like 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



quantity from King county. For such a trade 
'agreeable and beneficial to all concerned' the Eye, 
however, has no hopes. So it insists on the Still- 
aguamish remaining as a province of Snohomish 
county rather than to see it become a part of Skagit, 
which its location, its business and the unanimous 
wish of its people would declare it. 

"If this southern belt of Snohomish county, four 
townships wide, cannot support itself, it has no right 
to withhold self government from this fertile region. 
The Stillaguamish would come to Skagit without 
one public work to show for its long subjection to 
Snohomish county." 

The campaign of 1886 in Snohomish county 
was a fiercely fought one. For a year or more 
the Eye newspaper had been criticising Sherii? 
Benjamin Stretch with great vehemence, and ac- 
cusing him of 'dereliction in not turning delinquent 
taxes collected by him into the county treasury. 
At the time of the election a suit was pending 
against Sheriff Stretch for more than two thousand 
dollars, claimed to be due the county from this 
source. The editor of the Eye claimed the Re- 
publican party was in the hands of a ring with 
Stretch and Isaac Cathcart at its head. Stretch 
nevertheless received the nomination of the Repub- 
licans, whose convention was held September 4th. 
The other nominees were : Delegate to congress, 
Charles M. Bradshaw, of Port Townsend ; joint 
councilman, J. P. McGlinn, of La Conner; joint 
representative, J. H. Irvine, Stanwood ; treasurer, 
Isaac Cathcart; auditor, J. H. Plaskett ; assessor, 

C. J. Murphy ; probate judge, J. G. Swafford ; sur- 
veyor, George James; school superintendent, J. W. 
Heffner; commissioners, P. Leque, G. J. England, 
A. Austin : coroner. Dr. J. D. Morris. 

The Democrats held their county convention 
September 2.5th and placed in nomination the fol- 
lowing: Sheriff, L. H. Cyphers; treasurer, S. M. 
Knapp ; auditor, D. M. Craddock ; assessor, A. 
Leamer; probate judge, J. G. Swafford; surveyor, 
Charles Anderson ; school superintendent, J. I. 
Griffith ; commissioners, J. Sill, C. D. Lloyd, D. W. 
Evans. The territorial and district nominees of 
their party in this campaign were : Delegate to con- 
gress, Charles S. Voorhees, of Colfax ; joint council- 
man, J. H. Lewis, of Seattle; joint representative, 
J. M. McElroy, of Samish ; prosecuting attorney, 
J. T. Ronald, of Seattle. 

The People's ticket was as follows : Delegate to 
congress, William A. Newall ; joint representative, 

D. O. Pearson, of Stanwood; sheriff, L. H. Cyp- 
hers; treasurer, S. M. Knapp; auditor, D. W. 
Craddock; assessor, P. Larson; probate judge, A. 
M. Hawkins ; surveyor. C. L. Anderson ; school 
superintendent, J. I. Griffith ; commissioners, N. P. 
Leque, S. D. Lloyd, J. H. Halbert. 

The result of the election may be seen from the 
official returns, which follow. Stretch, as will be 
seen, was somewhat badly defeated. School super- 



intendent, Griffith, Democrat, 574, Heffner, Re- 
publican, 642 ; surveyor, Anderson, Democrat, 715, 
James, Republican, 498 ; assessor, Larson, People's, 
503, Murphy, Republican, 691 ; treasurer, Knapp, 
Democrat, 716, Cathcart, Republican, 460; auditor, 
Craddock, Democrat, 665, Plaskett, Republican, 
558; sheriff. Cyphers, Democrat, 835, Stretch, Re- 
publican, 386 ; county commissioners, Evans, Demo- 
crat, 578, Sill, Democrat, 515, Lloyd, Democrat, 
757, Austin, Republican, 437, England, Republican, 
363, Leque, Republican, 776, Halbert, People's, 128; 
probate judge, Hawkins, People's, 507, Swafford, 
Republican, 523 ; representative, Pearson, People's, 
265, McElroy, Democrat, 528, Irvine, Republican, 
379 ; councilman, Lewis, Democrat, 495, McGlinn, 
Republican, 690 ; prosecuting attorney, Ronald, 
Democrat, 558, Newlin, Republican, 550 ; delegates, 
Newell, People's, 95, Voorhees, Democrat, 559, 
Bradshaw, Republican, 540. 

The case of the county against Stretch was 
settled out of court late in December, 1886, by an 
agreement between Stretch and his attorney and 
the district attorney that Stretch should pay to the 
county all delinquent taxes shown on the roll of 
1884, except such as were uncollectable at the time 
he received the roll. They found that of the two 
thousand four hundred and twenty dollars for which 
suit had been brought Stretch had collected and 
turned in about one thousand three hundred dol- 
lars with the lawful interest thereon; also from 
the returns of the different road supervisors that 
four hundred and forty-two dollars of the amount 
sued for had been worked out on roads. The 
total to Stretch's credit was $1,742.60. The bal- 
ance deemed collectable by the district attorney was 
$445.61, for which the ex-sheriff gave his note, 
endorsed by two citizens as sureties, and payable 
in sixty days. The costs in the court were also 
taxed against Stretch. 

The Republican nominees, territorial, district 
and county, in 1888, were : Delegate to congress, 
John B. Allen ; brigadier-general, A. P. Curry ; 
adjutant-general, R. G. O'Brien ; prosecuting attor- 
ney, W. W. Newlin; joint councilman, John B. 
Ault; joint representative, J. J. Edens ; auditor, F. 
H. Lysons; sheriff, R. V. Thompkins ; treasurer, 
Charles Lawry ; probate judge, J. G. Swafford; 
school superintendent, J. W. Heffner; surveyor, 
P. Leque ; assessor, John Rhoades ; commissioners, 
D. S. Baker, A. M. "Pritchard, F. E. Phelps; cor- 
oner, U. Stinson. 

The Democratic nominees were : Delegate to 
congress, C. S. Voorhees ; brigadier-general, J. J. 
Hunt; adjutant-general. H. Butler; prosecuting at- 
torney, E. F. Blaine ; joint councilman, M. J. 
McElroy; joint representative, F. H. Hancock; 
auditor, D. W. Craddock ; sheriff, L. H. Cyphers ; 
probate judge, James Burton ; superintendent of 
schools, J. R. Winn ; surveyor, C. H. Anderson ; 
assessor, Jasper Sill; coroner, William Deering; 



POLITICAL 



commissioners, I. N. Mudgett, W. R. Stockbridge, 
James Roberts; treasurer, S. M. Knapp. 

The vote was as follows : Delegate to congress, 
J. B. Allen, Republican, 805, C. S. Voorhees, Demo- 
crat, 473, R. S. Greene, Prohibition. 13; brigadier- 
general, A. P. Curry, Republican, 837, J. J. Hunt, 
Democrat, 469 ; adjutant-general, R. G. O'Brien, 
Republican, 818, H. Butler, Democrat, 471 ; prose- 
cuting attorney, W. W. Newlin, 820, E. F. Blaine, 
Democrat, 486 ; joint councilman, J. B. Ault. Repub- 
lican, 854, j\I. J. McElroy, Democrat, 447; joint 
representative, J. J. Edens, Republican, 841, F. H. 
Hancock, Democrat, 461 ; auditor, F. H. Lysons, 
Republican, 655, D. W. Craddock, Democrat, 645 ; 
sheriff, R. V. Thompkins, Republican, 838, L. H.' 
Cyphers, Democrat, 47"2; treasurer, C. Lawry, Re- 
publican, 743 , S. M. Knapp, Democrat, 562 ; pro- 
bate judge, J. G. Swafford, Republican, 806 ; 
James Burton, Democrat, 505 ; superintendent of 
schools, J. W. Heffner, Republican, 806, J. R. 
Winn, Democrat, 491 ; assessor, J. Rhoades, Repub- 
lican, 820, O. B. McFadden, Democrat, 487; com- 
missioners, D. S. Baker, Republican, 778, A. M. 
Pritchard, Republican, 707, F. E. Phelps, Republi- 
can, 724, W. R. Stockbridge, Democrat, 466, I. 
N. Mudgett, Democrat, 524, J. B. Roberts, Demo- 
crat, 510; coroner, U. Stinson, Republican, 820, 
William Deering, Democrat, 460 ; surveyor, P. 
Leque, Republican, 836, C. H. Anderson, Demo- 
crat. 466. 

The admission of the territory to the Federal 
sisterhood made it necessary to hold an election 
October 3, 1889. At this time the precincts of Sno- 
homish county were : jMukilteo, Edmonds, Florence, 
Stanwood, Stillaguamish, Kent Prairie, Marysville, 
Lowell, Fernwood, Beecher Lake, Snohomjsh, Pil- 
chuck. Portage, Park Place, Tualco, Sultan, Moun- 
tain, North Fork, Highland, Bear Creek, Lake and 
Gold Bar. The result of this election in this county 
was : Congressman, John L. Wilson, Republican, 
882. Thomas Griffiths, Democrat, 652 ; governor, E. 
P. Ferry, Republican, 880, Eugene Scrapie, Demo- 
crat, 659 ; senator. Vestal, Republican, 852, Crad- 
dock, Democrat. 680 ; representatives. Eddy, 
Republican, 796, Robertson, Republican, 828, Whit- 
field. Democrat, 631, McPhee, Democrat. 746; 
clerk. Roscoe, Republican, 796, J. V. Bowen, Demo- 
crat. 7:i6 ; judge, Weisenberger, Republican, 677, 
J. R. Winn. Democrat, 840 ; for state capital. Olym- 
pia. 982. Ellensburg, 335, North Yakima, 88; for 
prohibition 464, against prohibition 821 ; for 
woman suffrage, 399, against woman suffrage, 939 ; 
for the constitution, 1.202. against constitution. 130. 

The Republican county convention of 1890 was 
held September 20th, and the following were de- 
clared the candidates of the party for "the various 
offices : County clerk, C. T. Roscoe. Jr. ; attorney, 
J. W. Heffner; county surveyor, Elmer Lenfest; 
school superintendent, H. B. Dixon; sheriff, C. C. 
Thornton ; auditor, F. H. Lysons, treasurer, Charles 



Lawry; assessor, John F. Rhodes; members legis- 
lature, D. O. Pearson and A. W. Frater; county 
commissioners, J. W. Armstrong, L. R. Hillery, 
J. L. Brown; coroner. Dr. Limerick. 

The date of the Democratic county convention 
of 1890 was September 27th, and the nominees 
were: Sheriff, James Burton; treasurer, Samuel 
Knapp; auditor, George R. Ruff (a Republican); 
coroner, Dr. J. S. Mcllhaney; superintendent of 
schools, A. B. Rogers ; representatives, H. B. Myers 
and J. W. Fraine; county clerk, W. M. Alien; 
prosecuting attorney, J. W. Miller; assessor, D. 
Evans; commissioners, Fred Anderson, M. F. 
Shea, J. L. Morgan; surveyor, C. H. Anderson. 

The official returns of the election show the 
following as the results in this county: For state 
capital, Ellensburg, 94, North Yakima, 41, Olym- 
pia, 1,436. For congress, Abernathv, Republican, 
85, Carroll, Democrat, 668, Wilson. Republican, 
1.017; representatives, Fraine, Democrat, 799, 
Frater, Republican, 956, Myers, Democrat, 611, 
Pearson, Republican, 795; sheriff. Burton, Demo- 
crat, 1,043, Thornton, Republican, 811 ; clerk, Allen. 
Democrat, 595, Roscoe, Republican, 1,236; auditor, 
Lysons, Republican, 802, Ruff, Democratic nominee, 
1030 (Ruff though Democratic nominee was a 
Republican) ; treasurer, Kjiapp, Democrat, 746, 
Lawry, Republican, 1,049 ; prosecuting attorney, 
Heffner, Republican, 1,049, Miller, Democrat, 765; 
assessor, Evans, Democrat, 742, Rhodes, Republi- 
can, 1,027; superintendent of schools, Dixon, Re- 
publican, 1,072, Rogers, Democrat, 676 : surveyor, 
Anderson, Democrat, 782, Lenfest, Republican, 
1,000; coroner. Limerick, Republican, 1,129, Mcll- 
haney, Democrat, 630 ; commissioners, Anderson, 
Democrat, 1,035, Armstrong, Republican, 738, 
Brown, Republican, 964, Shea, Democrat, 744, Hil- 
lery, Republican, 962, Morgan, Democrat, 770; On 
proposition of bonding the county for the construc- 
tion of roads, yes, 987, no, 564. 

In the election of 1893 the People's party ap- 
peared for the first time as a forceful organization in 
Snohomish county politics, though its principles 
had been advocated for some time before. The 
nominees of the county convention were : State 
senator. Jay Ewing; representatives, John Farrell, 
James Burton ; auditor, J. A. Davis ; clerk, John 
Jones ; treasurer, H. G. York ; sheriff, John 
McShane; superintendent of schools, J. N. Sinclair; 
assessor, T. B. McNeil; prosecuting attorney, T. 
J. Dooley. 

The Democratic county convention made the 
following nominations : State senator, J. E. Mc- 
Manus ; representatives, S. J. Marsh, Fred Ander- 
son ; sheriff, James Hagan ; treasurer, M. F. Shea ; 
auditor, D. S. Swerdfiger ; prosecuting attorney, L. 
C. Whitney; clerk. Paul B. Hyner; school superin- 
tendent. Rev. G. H. Feese ; assessor, W. J. Gillespie ; 
coroner, Dr. O. V. Harris ; surveyor, W. J. Crocken ; 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



commissioners, Thomas Moran, Q. M. Friars and 
Don W. Evans. 

The county ticket of tlic RepubHcan party was: 
State senator, S. H. Nichols ; representatives, J. W. 
Alolique, Cris. T. Roscoc ; auditor, D. S. Baker ; 
clerk, Robert Hulbert ; treasurer, C. L. Lawry ; 
sheriff, F. Gierin ; prosecuting attorney, W. H. R. 
McMartin ; superintendent of schools, B. H. Dixon ; 
assessor, Peter Leque ; surveyor, J. B. Carothers ; 
coroner. Dr. S. B. Limerick ; commissioners, C. J. 
Murphy, E. L. Hollenbeck, H. W. Illman. 

The county Prohibitionists placed the following 
ticket in the field : Representatives, Rev. O. L. 
Fowler, Rev. John Kager ; auditor, Gus Sorrensen ; 
clerk, George W. Frame ; treasurer, John Spencer ; 
sheriff, Edward Buber; superintendent of schools. 
Rev. J. W. Dorrance ; assessor, W. E. Collins ; 
coroner, A. Folsom; commissioners, J. W. Myers, 
Guy Pearson, J. A. Davis. 

An abstract of the official count follows : Gov- 
ernor, McGraw, Republican, 1,388, Snivclv. Demo- 
crat, 1,311, Young, Populist, 1,704, GreciK-, Prohi- 
bition, 118; lieutenant-governor. Luce, Rcpulilican, 
1,412, Wilson, Democrat, 1,321, Twiss, Popuhst, 
1.480, Strong, Prohibition, 106; secretary of state, 
Price, Republican, 1,456, McReavey, Democrat, 
1,335, Wood, Populist, 1,462, Gilstrap, Prohibition, 
00: state treasurer, Bowen, Republican, J,4.")."i, 
Clothier, Democrat, 1,350, Adams, Populist, 1,4:5:, 
Stewart, Prohibition, 89 ; state auditor. Grimes, Re- 
publican, 1,443, Baso, Democrat, 1,347, Rodolph, 
Populist, 1,429, Carlson, Prohibition, 93; attorney- 
general. Jones, Republican, 1,468, Starr. Democrat, 
1,323, Teats, Populist, 1,443, Smith, Prohibition, 
92 ; superintendent of public instruction. Bean, Re- 
l^ublican, 1,466, Morgan, Democrat, 1,341, Smith, 
Populist, 1,406, Heiney, Prohibition, 94; commis- 
sioner of public lands, Forrest, Republican, 1,461, 
Lewis, Democrat, 1,326, Callaway, Populist, 1,429. 
Gibson, Prohibition, 89 ; state printer. White, Re- 
]5ublican, 1,448, Borden, Democrat, 1,318, Alurphy, 
Populist, 1,502; superior judge, Denn\, Reptihlican. 
1,574, Coleman, Democrat, 1,368, Hca'^lKc, I '. iimli'^t, 
1,386; state senator, Nichols, Repulilican. I,:;i2, 
McManus, Democrat, 1,525, Ewing, Populist, 1.399, 
Haggard, Prohibition, 90, Morris, Independent, 19 : 
representatives, Roscoe, Republican, 1,512, Molique. 
Republican, 1,281, Anderson, Democrat, 1,440, 
Marsh, Democrat. 1.182, Farrell, Populist, 1.280, 
Burton, Populist. 1,504. Fowler, Prohibition. 80, 
Kager, Prohibition, 80, Sinclair, Independent, 
2; county auditor. Baker, Republican. 1.339, 
Swerdfiger, Democrat, 1,561, Davis, Populist, 
1,358, Sorrenson, Prohibition, 77; county clerk, 
Hulbert, Republican, 1,588, Hyner, Democrat, 
1,370, Jones, Populist, 1,310, Frame, Prohibition, 
; treasurer, Lawry, Republican, 1,496, Shea, Dem- 
ocrat, 1,307, York, Populist, 1,429; sheriff, Gierin, 
Republican, 1,357, Hagan, Democrat, 1,958, Mc- 
Shane, Populist, 1,117; prosecuting attorney, Mc- 



Martin, Republican, 1,332, Whitney, Democrat, 
1,438, Dooley, Populist, 1,481 ; superintendent of 
schools, Dixon, Republican, 1,332, Sinclair, Populist, 
2,648, Dorrance, Prohibition, 104 ; assessor, Leque, 
RepubHcan, 1.562, Gillespie, Democrat. 1,395, 
McNeil, Popuhst, 1,239, Collins, Prohibition, 63; 
surveyor, Carothers, Republican, 1,486, Crocken, 
Democrat, 1,398, Cooley, Populist, 1,357; coroner, 
Limerick, Republican, 1,377, Harris, Democrat, 
1,365, Thompson, Populist, 1,370, Folsom. Prohibi- 
tion, 76 ; commissioners, first district. Murphy, Re- 
publican, 1,346, Moran, Democrat, 1,568, Douglass, 
Populist, 1.106, Allen, Prohibition, 192 ; second dis- 
trict, Hollenbeck, Republican, 1,126, Friars, Demo- 
crat, 1,417, Fourtner, Populist, 1,249, Pearson, Pro- 
hibition, 102 ; third district, Illman, Republican, 
1,344, Evans, Democrat. 1,440, Smallman. Populist, 
1,142, Davis. Prohibition, 88. 

In December, 1893, a serious quarrel between 
Prosecuting Attorney Whitney and the county com- 
missioners culminated in the former's bringing an 
action in the superior court for the removal of the 
latter from office. The complaint charged the board 
with malfeasance, misfeasance, corruption and mis- 
demeanor in office. It contained five specifications. 
the substance of which was that the board had 
conspired with certain persons unknown to monop- 
olize the retail liquor business in Monte Cristo and 
Silvcrton, had held unnecessary special sessions and 
unduly prolonged regular ones, contrary to law, 
for the purpose of getting as much county money 
into their own private purses as possible, and had 
procured the auditor to issue warrants illegally and 
corruptly in a number of instances. 

The case came on for hearing before Judge 
Denny in February. The defendant commissioners 
demurred to the complaint on the ground that it 
cHd not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of 
action, which demurrer the court sustained, dismiss- 
ing the action. An appeal was taken to the supreme 
court, which, December 27, 1894. sustained the 
ruling of the lower court, settling the matter finally 
in favor of the commissioners. 

The Democratic county convention of the year 
1894 met at Everett, September 13th, and placed in 
nomination the following persons : Representatives, 
James Currie, William McPhee : prosecuting attor- 
ney, L. C. Whitncx' : auditor. Fred S. Anderson: 
sheriff, James Il.it^aii: clerk, E. E. Johnson; 
treasurer, Jasper ."^ill : assessor, H. B. Myers; sup- 
erintendent of schools. H. Turner ; surveyor. J. 
Nailor ; coroner, J. T. Rogers ; commissioners, I. C. 
Carpenter, Q. E. Friars, William Whitfield. 

The Populists held their convention next day 
and their candidates were : Treasurer. H. G. York ; 
auditor, J. A. Davis ; prosecuting attorney, F. M. 
Headlee; clerk, Alex. Ewing; assessor, Thomas 
Jensen; representatives, C. Joergenson, J. N. Sin- 
clair ; sheriff, J. C. IMitchell ; county superintendent, 
James Brady ; surveyor, J. J. Sheehan ; coroner, 



POLITICAL 



T. F. Thompson; commissioners, O. Tiedmen, H. 
H. Whittam and John Kreschell. 

The Republican ticket was as follows : Clerk of 
the court, Robert A. Hulbert ; auditor, Peter Leque ; 
prosecuting attorney, J. W. Heffner ; superintendent 
of schools, H. J. Langfitt ; treasurer, W. W. Mish ; 
surveyor, J. B. Carothers ; coroner. Dr. T. Keefe ; 
representatives, Colonel T. V. Eddy, Captain L. H. 
Coon. 

The principal struggle in this campaign was over 
the proposed removal of the county seat from Sno- 
homish to Everett. The details of the legal battle 
which followed the election have been set forth at 
sufficient length in former pages of this work. 
Everett eventually succeeded in winning the prize, 
though the official returns, given below, show a 
failure to obtain the required majority of votes. 

This election resulted as follows: For consti- 
tutional amendment, 1,819 ; against, 447 ; for con- 
.gress, Hyde, Republican, 1,145, Doolittle, Republican, 
1,169, Heuston, Democrat, 442, Cayton, Democrat, 
4-21. Adams, Populist, 1,145, Van Patten, Populist. 
1,036; judges of supreme court, Gordon, Repub- 
lican, 1,904, Dunbar, Republican, 1.801, Sharpstein, 
Democrat, 745, Allen, Democrat, 751, Forrest, Pop- 
ulist, 1,561, Ready, Populist, 1,517; representatives, 
Eddv, Republican, 1,953, Coon, Republican. 1,776, 
Currie, Democrat, 5,411, McPhee, Democrat, 1,008, 
Joergenson, Populist, 1,743, Sinclair, Populist, 1,73"2, 

Allen, Prohibition, , Dorrance, Prohibition. 

; auditor, Leque, Republican. 1.923, Anderson, 

Democrat, 963, Davis. Populist, 1,710, Kager. Pro- 
hibition, ; sheriff. Brown, Republican, 1,387, 

Hagan, Republican, 2,064, jMitchell, Populist, 1,422, 
Collins, Prohibition, ; clerk, Hulbert, Repub- 
lican, 2,217, Johnson, Democrat, 1,260, Ewing, Pop- 
ulist, 1,218, Myers. Prohibition, ; treasurer, 

Mish, Republican. 2.138, Sill. Democrat, 592, York, 
Populist, 1.926, Williams, Prohibition, ■ — -; pros- 
ecuting attorney, Heffner, Republican. 1,758, Whit- 
ney, Democrat, 1,284, Headlee, Populist, 1.606; as- 
sessor, McEwan, Republican, 1,827, Mvers, Demo- 
crat, 1,191, Jensen, Populist, 1,440, Williams, Pro- 
hibition, • — — •. 

The financial stringency which had obtained since 
the panic of 1893, caused especial interest in the 
national, state and county election of 1896. The 
money question was uppermost. For months before 
the election, almost everybody was discussing 
political issues with a fervor perhaps never before 
known in a campaign in the West. Men carried 
little books of statistics in their vest pockets, and 
plenty of arguments at their tongues' ends. The 
amount of knowledge and grasp of the subjects at 
issue which most men, even in the ordinary walks 
of life, possessed was truly astonishing. 

The People's party was the first in the field 
with a ticket, holding its convention July 25th. 
Later, however, pressure was brought to bear upon 
the Populists to unite witli the Democrats in one 



tremendous effort to vanquish the common enemy, 
the Republicans. Fusion carried, the ticket upon 
which the two parties united being the following : 
Senator, J. A. Davis ; commissioners, C. Joergen- 
son, L. C. Whitney; representatives, A. D. Warner, 
John G. Fritz ; sheriff, Daniel Currie ; auditor, T. 
E. Headlee; treasurer, H. G. York; superintendent 
of schools, R. E. Friars; prosecuting attorney, J. 
H. Naylor; clerk, C. P. Clark; coroner, George 
Bakeman; assessor, Percy H. Palmer; surveyor, B. 
C. Majors. 

For the struggle against the combined forces of 
these two parties, the Republicans chose the follow- 
ing as their standard bearers in the county : Sheriff, 
C. F. Knapp ; clerk, J. S. Bartholomew ; prosecuting 
attorney, L. H. Coon; auditor, Peter Leque; sur- 
veyor, A. G. Barney ; assessor, John McEwan ; sup- 
erintendent of schools, H. J. Langfitt; treasurer, 
Jacob Hunsacker; state senator, T. B. Sumner, 
"representatives, F. B. Stickney, F. H. Darlin.g ; 
coroner. Dr. J. E. Stauffer; commissioners. J. W. 
Furness. Charles Neimeyer, Jr. 

Following is an abstract of the official returns 
of the elections: For constitutional amendment, 
1.225, against constitutional amendment, 772; presi- 
dential electors, Andrews, Republican, 1,871, Smith, 
Republican, 1,837, Conna, Republican, 1,835, Ken- 
nedv. Republican, 1,833, Burke, Democrat, 83, 
Stapleton, Democrat, 69, Blalock, Democrat, 70, 
Yearsley, Democrat, 74, Caton, Fusionist, 2,775, 
Maxwell, Fusionist, 2,719, Hart, Fusionist, 2,713, 
Newman, Fusionist, 2,701, Denney, Prohibitionist, 
43, Ashby, Prohibitionist, 38, Whittum, Prohi- 
bitionist, 42, Gist, Prohibitionist, 38, Goddard, 
Nationalist, 2, Teeter, Nationalist, 1, Redford, 
Nationalist, 1, Peter, Nationalist, 1 ; for congress, 
Flyde, Republican, 1,782, Doolittle, Republican, 
1.813, Lewis, Fusionist. 2,843, Jones, Fusionist, 
2,736, Salver, Prohibitionist, 49, Olsen, Prohi- 
bitionist, 42, Mix, Nationalist, 5; judges supreme 
court, Hoyt, Republican, 1,824, Reavis, Fusionist, 
2,752, Livermore, Prohibitionist, 48; governor, Sul- 
livan, Republican, 1,846, Rogers, Fusionist, 2,707, 
Dunlap, Prohibitionist, 111 ; judge of superior court, 
Denny, Republican, 1,887, Reid, Fusionist, 2,739; 
state "senator, Sumner, Republican, 1,895, Davis, 
Fusionist, 2,706; representatives, Phelps, Republi- 
can, 1,909, Bell, Republican, 1,793, Warner, 
Fusionist, 2,716, Fritz, 3,622; sheriff, Knapp, Re- 
publican, 1,821, Currie, Fusionist, 2,822 ; clerk, Bar- 
tholomew, Republican, 1,839, Clark, Fusionist, 
2,783 ; auditor, Leque, Republican, 3,156, Headlee, 
Fusionist, 3,486 ; assessor, McEwan, Republican, 
2,002, Palmer, Fusionist, 2,630; treasurer, Hun- 
sacker, Republican, 1,820, York, Fusionist, 2,807; 
prosecuting attorney. Coon, Republican, 1,965, 
Naylor, Fusionist, 2,658 ; school superintendent, 
Langfitt, Republican, 1,836, Friars, Fusionist, 2,790 ; 
surveyor, Barney, Republican, 1.891, Majors, Fu- 
sionist, 2,706 ; coroner, Stauffer, Republican, 1,886, 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



Bakeman, Fusionist, 3,721; commissioners, first 
district, Furness, Republican, 1,925, Joergenson, 
Fusionist, 2,685; third district, Neimeyer, Repub- 
lican, 1,891, Whitney, Fusionist, 2,699. 

In 1898 the Republicans were once more com- 
pelled to give battle to the united forces of the 
Democrats and Populists, who again fused. The 
campaign was comparatively quiet, though the race 
between some of the rival candidates was close 
enough to sustain the interest. The vote of the 
county, for state and local officers was as follows: 
For tax amendment, 1,054; against tax amend- 
ment, 1,383; for suffrage amendment, 1,110; against 
suflfrage amendment, l,4!t6; for congress, Francis 
W. Cushman, Republican, 1,873, Wesley L. Jones, 
Republican, 1,788, James H. Lewis, Fusionist, 
2,071, William C. Jones, Fusionist, 1,879; judges 
supreme court, T. J. Anders, Republican, 1,873, 
Mark A. Fullerton, Republican, 1,848, Benjamin F. 
Heuston, Fusionist, 1,852, Melvin M. Godman, Fu- 
sionist, 1,828; state representatives, J. H. Langfitt, 
Republican, 1,918, C. A. Missimer, Republican, 
1,839, Elmer E. Johnson, Fusionist, 1,920, C. L. 
Clemans. Fusionist, 1,879; sheriff, Peter Zimmer- 
man, Republican, 1,949, Dan Currie, Fusionist, 
1,876 ; clerk, U. L. Collins, Republican, 2,054, Percy 
H. Palmer, Fusionist, 1,728 ; auditor, T. W. Brokaw, 
Republican, 1,814, T. E. Headlee, Fusionist, 1,975 ; 
treasurer, J. Hunsacker, Republican, 1,885, H. G. 
York, Fusionist, 1,942 ; prosecuting attorney, W. P. 
Bell, Republican, 2,002, J. H. Naylor, Fusionist, 
1,788 ; assessor, A. D. Stevenson, Republican, 2,126, 
C. P. Clark, Fusionist, 1.695 ; superintendent of 
schools, H. P. Niles, Republican, 1,780, R. E. Friars, 
Fusionist, 2,012; surveyor, J. F. Birney, Republi- 
can, 1,902, B. C. Majors, Fusionist, 1,904; coroner, 
E. A. Stafford, Republican, 1,922, George Bakeman, 
Fusionist, 1,866 ; commissioner second district, W. 
M. Ross, Republican, 1,908, James Brady, Fusion- 
ist, 1,867 ; commissioner first district, Iver Johnson, 
Republican, 1,969, W. A. Douglas, Fusionist, 1,813. 

By 1900 the Populists seem to have lost their 
identity in Snohomish county as a separate party, 
and the battle was once more between the veteran 
bearers of opposing political standards, the Repub- 
licans and Democrats. 

The vote for national, state and local officers in 
the county is found to have been as follows : Pres- 
ident, William McKinley, Republican, 2,961, W. J. 
Bryan, Democrat, 2,480 ; representative in congress, 
Cushman, Republican, 2,889, Jones, Republican, 
2,856, Robertson, Democrat, 2,519, Ronand, Dem- 
ocrat, 2,505 ; governor, Frink, Republican, 2,578, 
Rogers, Democrat, 2,875 ; secretary of state, Nichols, 
Republican, 2,824, Brady, Democrat, 2,578 ; state 
senator, Sumner, Republican, 2,963, Ferguson, 
Democrat, 2,440 ; state representatives, Gorham, 
Republican, 2,853, Ferguson, Republican, 2,791, 
Joergenson, Democrat, 2,416, Hiatt, Democrat, 
2,464; judge of supreme court, Denny, Republican, 



2,720, Padgett, Democrat, 2,798; sheriff, Zimmer- 
man, Republican, 3,011, Kelly, Democrat, 2,430; 
clerk, Collins, Republican, 3,032, Hatfield, Demo- 
crat, 2,395 ; auditor, Ross, Republican, 2.877, Win- 
gard, Democrat, 2,585 ; treasurer, Lawry, Repub- 
lican, 2,940, Johnson, Democrat, 2,553 ; prosecuting 
attorney, Cooley, Republican, 3,000, Headlee, Dem- 
ocrat, 2,521; assessor, Stevenson, Republican, 
3,047, Bouck, Democrat, 2,384; superintendent of 
schools, Campbell, Republican, 2,027, Small, Dem- 
ocrat, 2,186, Bailey, Independent, 1,346 ; surveyor, 
Birney, Republican, 2,930, Springer, Democrat, 
2,570 ; coroner, Bakeman, Republican, 2,862, Andrus, 
Democrat, 2,505 ; commissioner, second district, 
Fleming, Republican, 2,877, Currie, Democrat, 
2,541 ; commissioner, third district. Stretch, Repub- 
lican, 2,850, Whitney, Democrat, 2,548; for consti- 
tutional amendment, 1,862 ; against constitutional 
amendment, 337. 

The Republicans were first in the field in 1902, 
holding their county convention in the Central opera 
house at Everett, July 29th. The ticket nominated 
was as follows : state senator, S. T. Smith ; repre- 
sentatives, 49th district, B. H. Morgan, Joseph 
Ferguson ; sheriff, Frank P. Brewer ; clerk, George 
W. Adamson ; treasurer, Charles L. Lawry ; auditor, 
W. M. Ross ; prosecuting attorney, H. D. Cooley ; 
assessor, E. M. Allen ; superintendent of schools, T. 
A. Stiger ; coroner, Charles H. Bakeman ; surveyor, 
J. F. Birney ; commissioner, first district, S. G. 
Buell ; commissioner, third district, J. A. Stretch. 

The Democratic county convention met at 
Everett, September 11th and chose as its standard 
bearers : Senator, nineteenth district, Fred S. An- 
derson, Snohomish ; representatives, forty-eighth 
district, Charles G. Smythe, Everett, John F. 
Warner, Sultan ; forty-ninth district, D. G. Benny, 
Stanwood, E. C. Bissell, Monroe; sheriff, Sandy 
Thompson ; treasurer, H. G. York ; prosecuting 
attorney, Howard Hathaway; auditor, Charles 
Slater ; assessor, Harry Boyd ; school superintendent, 
Mrs. R. A. Small; clerk, Joseph Bird; surveyor, 
Ed. Peterson ; coroner. Dr. A. B. Marion ; wreck- 
master, Peter Meehan ; commissioner, first district, 
John Hamilton ; commissioner, third district, J. H. 
Smith. 

The official vote is herewith presented : Repre- 
sentatives, J. R. Grayhill, Socialist, 135, C. W. Sea- 
right, Socialist, 144, William E. Moore, Democrat, 
865, C. G. Smythe, Democrat, 1,005, N. G. Craigne, 
Republican, 1,841, H. Johnston, Republican, 1,711 ; 
representatives, forty-ninth district, Lewis Gotham, 
Socialist, 234, F. H. Vanderhoff, Socialist, 374, E. 
C. Bissell, Democrat, 831, A. Waterhouse, Dem- 
ocrat, 855, Joseph Ferguson, Republican, 1,917, B. 
H. Morgan, 1,897; auditor, R. Rossiger, Socialist, 
335, Charles Slater, Democrat, 1,631, W. M. Ross, 
Republican, 3,975; sheriff, W. O. McLaughlin, 
Socialist, 315, Alexander Thompson, Democrat, 
2,358, A. P. Brewer, Republican, 3,353; clerk. 



POLITICAL 



313 



August Stehr, Socialist, 344, J. Bird, Democrat, 
1,673, G. AI. Adamson, Republican, 3,861 ; treasurer, 
John Morris, Socialist, 309, H. G. York, Democrat, 

1.988, C. L. Lawry, Republican, 3,86-3; prosecuting 
attorney, H. Hathaway, Democrat, 1,987, H. D. 
Cooley, Republican, 3,667 ; assessor, H. O. Boyd, 
Democrat, 1,878, E. M. Allen, Republican, 3,700; 
superintendent of schools, R. A. Small, Democrat, 
2,777, T. A. Stiger, Republican, 3,000 ; surveyor, 
Edwin Peterson, Democrat, 1,916, J. F. Birney, Re- 
publican, 3,775 ; coroner, F. R. Hedges, Democrat, 
1,652, C. H. Bakeman, Republican, 3,886 ; wreck- 
master, Peter Meehan, Democrat, 1,773; commis- 
sioner, first district, Thomas Jensen, Socialist, 331, 
John Hamilton, Democrat, 2,059, S. G. Buell, Re- 
publican, 3,-47 5 ; commissioner, third district, George 
Menzel, Sociahst, 319, J. H. Smith, Democrat, 
2,537, J. F. Stretch, Republican, 3,072. 

So recent was the campaign of 1904 that its 
details are generally known, and a rehearsal of party 
platforms unnecessary. It has gone down in history 
as one of the hardest fought state contests ever held 
in Washington, in which the Republicans had an 
overwhelming lead. The struggle centered in rail- 
road taxation and traffic regulation. In Snohomish 
county, the Republicans assembled at a spring con- 
vention, held at Everett, Thursday, April 28th and 
selected delegates to the Tacoma state convention 
and the county ticket. The Democratic convention 
was also held at Everett. July 23d. Both parties 
made full nominations. As will be seen from the 
following official returns, only one Democrat 
escaped defeat, W. W. Black, candidate for judge 
of the superior court in this district : Electors, John 
Ovall, Prohibitionist, 252, De Forest Sanford, 
Socialist, 593, Fred Thiel, Democrat, 1,405, Samuel 
G. Cosgrove, Republican, 6,025 ; governor, A. H. 
Sherwood, Prohibitionist, 269, D. Burgess, Socialist, 
435, George Turner, Democrat, 2,930, Albert E. 
Mead, Republican, 4,633 ; congressmen, Henry 
Brown, Prohibitionist, 247, Ferd. B. Hawes, 
Prohibitionist, 261, George Croston, Socialist, 521, 
H. D. Jory, Socialist, 522, T. C. Wiswell, Socialist, 
529, W. T. Beck, Democrat, 1,846, James J. Ander- 
son, Democrat, 1,865, Howard Hathaway, Demo- 
crat, 2,021, F. W. Cushman, Republican, 5,463, 
Wesley L. Jones, Republican, 5,425, William E. 
Humphrey, Republican, 5,299 ; judge of supreme 
court, D.'W. Phipps, Socialist, 256, William Mc- 
Devitt, Socialist, 524, Alfred Battle, Democrat, 

1.989, M. A. Fullerton, Republican, 5,536, Frank 
H. Rudkin, Republican, 5,321 ; lieutenant-governor, 
William H. Shields, Prohibitionist, 257, Sigmund 
Roeder, Socialist, 464, Stephen Judson, Democrat, 
2,410, Charles E. Coon, Republican, 4,911 ; secretary 
of state, James McDowell, Prohibitionist, 258, 
George E. Boomer, Sociahst, 487, P. Hough, Dem- 
ocrat, 2.017, Samuel H. Nichols, Republican, 5,298 ; 
treasurer, Guv Possom, Prohibitionist, 261, Bernard 



Goerkes, Socialist, 480, George Mudgett, Democrat,. 
3,062, George G. Mills, Republican, 5,229; auditor, 
Clint C. Gridley, Prohibitionist, 260, A. F. Payne, 
Socialist, 482. R. Lee Purdin, Democrat, 2,045,. 
Charles W. Clausen, Republican, 5,238; attornev- 
general, O. C. Whitney, Socialist, 490, Charles H. 
Neal, Democrat, 2,143, J. D. Atkinson, Republican, 
5,177 ; land commissioner, W. H. Lichtv, Prohi- 
bitionist, 242, J. F. La Clerc, Socialist, 484, Van 
R. Peirson, Democrat, 2,037, E. W. Ross, Repub- 
lican, 5,231 ; superintendent public instruction, A. 

B. L. Gellerman, Prohibitionist, 244, F. C. Sil- 
vester, Socialist, 479, Walter D. Gerard, Democrat, 
2,165, R. B. Bryan, Republican, 5,090; superior 
court judge, W. W. Black, Democrat, 4,244, John 
S. Denney, Republican, 3,576 ; representatives, 48th 
district, B. A. Sand, Prohibitionist, 119, O. H. Gun- 
hus. Prohibitionist, 122, J. K. Reece, Socialist, 194, 
L. T. Smith, Democrat, 1,353. E. W. Husted, Demo- 
crat, 1,387, H. L. Strobridge, Republican, 3,343, 
J. A. Falconer, Republican, 2,466 ; representatives, 
49th district, George. D. Smith, Prohibitionist, 135, 

E. H. Blair, Prohibitionist, 136, F. H. Vanderhoof, 
Socialist, 260, Arthur Morris, Democrat, 256, S. 
Shoultes, Democrat, 1,057, W. E. Smith, Democrat, 
1,068, John A. Theurer, Republican, 2,513, B. H. 
Morgan, Republican, 2,561 ; senator, 38th district, 
M. M. Smith, Prohibitionist, 136, Adam Joergenson, 
Democrat, 1,457, Charles Voorhis, Socialist, 191, 
Thomas B. Sumner, Republican. 3,308 ; auditor, 
Dan Silcox, Prohibitionist, 263, R. Roesiger, So- 
ciahst, 488, Samuel Vestal, Republican, 5,594,- 
sheriff, J. E. Deupree, Prohibitionist, 358, J. W. 
Morris, Socialist, 488, B. E. Hilen, Democrat, 2,540, 
Frank P. Brewer, Republican, 4,946 ; clerk, H. H. 
Manley, Prohibitionist, 290, C. W. Belknapp, So- 
cialist, 495, George W. Adamson, Republican, 
5,629 ; treasurer, Benjamin R. Baker, Prohibitionist, 
248, P. Donahue, Socialist, 457, C. Joergenson, Dem- 
ocrat, 3,101, William R. Booth, Republican, 5,267; 
prosecuting attornev, R. J. Faussett, Prohibitionist, 
354, A. M. Yost, Socialist, 468, E. W. Bundy, 
Democrat, 3,086, James W. Hartnett, Republican, 
5,317 ; assessor, A. M. Ferrell, Prohibitionist, 252, 

C. L. Whiting, Socialist, 479, J. M. Morgan, Demo- 
crat, 2,158, Edwin M. Allen, Republican, 5,147; 
superintendent of schools, Ulysses Jeans, Prohibi- 
tionist, 286, T. A. Stiger, Republican, 5,767 ; sur- 
veyor, August Stehr, Socialist, 462, James Flynn, 
Democrat, 2,180, Elmer E. Lenfest, Republican, 
4,837 ; coroner, Johns Nuhs, Socialist, 439, John- 

F. Jerread, Democrat, 3,244, Clarence E. Munn, 
Republican, 4.191 ; commissioners, 1st district, J. 
W. Blankley, Socialist, 440, Hugh Allen, Democrat, 
2.398. Nils Sather. Republican, 4,869 ; commission- 
ers, 2d district, R. C. Nichols, Independent, 436, 
Tohn Spencer, Prohibitionist, 183, C. A. Rottluff, 
Socialist, 418, T. N. Scott, Democrat, 2,540, Alva 
H. B. Jordan, Republican, 4,528. 



CHAPTER VI 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



The factors in the growth of a great city may be 
reduced to two, its local advantages of site and im- 
mediate surroundings, and its position with refer- 
ence to the connnorcial world. When we have, as 
in the case of Corinth, Syracuse, Carthage, Tyre 
and Sidon of the ancient world, Venice, Genoa or 
Lisbon of the middle ages, or Antwerp, Liverpool, 
or New York of the modern era, a combination of 
the greatest local advantages with the greatest ac- 
cessibility to the world of trade and enterprise, we 
find some one of the monumental cities of the world 
an inevitable result. It is the conviction of un- 
biased observers that Puget sound affords a greater 
number of sites adapted to great cities, with quick 
and easy communication with all the great central 
stations of the world's commerce, than does any 
other body of water in the United States, if not in 
the world. 

Already the legitimate outgrowth of the con- 
ditions referred to have manifested themselves in 
the growth upon the shores of Puget sound of a 
number of cities which seem destined to attain large 
population and wealth. Of the relative advantages 
in local site and in commercial connections of these 
various cities this is not the place to speak. It may 
suffice to say that each of them has its peculiar con- 
veniences, attractions, resources and commercial 
connections. Each has also its peculiar history. 
\Vhatcver may be said of the others this may be 
said of Everett, that, while the baby of them all in 
]X)int of age, it has had a rapidity and energy of 
growth which have caused the rest of them to rub 
tiieir eyes and stare at the infant prodigy among 
cities as if it were expanding like the figures in 
some Eastern romance under the wand of a com- 
pelling genius. 

In 1890 there was a beautiful bay, a sightly hill 
covered with timber, a magnificent view of distant 
mountains and winding streams, — no city. In 1905 
the bay is there, the hill is also there, but the timber 
has vanished and, in its stead from hundreds of 
pleasant homes and animated streets a population 
of twenty-two thousand people looks forth upon the 
same distant mountains and winding streams and 
sees the streams and shores, scenes of a restless 
activity which may perhaps be paralleled but can- 
not be surpassed at any point upon the western 
Mediterranean. 

Betwixt the two ends of this brief space of 



fifteen years lies all the history of that epic of our 
world, the creation of a Western city. Everett has, 
like her sister cities of the sound, received various 
picturesque nicknames, but the one in most common 
vogue is perhaps "City of Smokestacks." While 
not the most picturesque name that could be de- 
vised this is an appropriate one, for Everett cer- 
tainly has attained the most conspicuous place of 
any of the sound cities as the location of manufac- 
turing interests. But lest it should be thought that 
its other interests are less it may be emphasized here 
that this city is also notable for transportation 
facilities both by rail and water or for the interests 
of shipping, fishing, horticulture, and agriculture. 

Turning to the history of the founding of this 
young giant among our Washington cities, we find 
that the beautiful peninsula early attracted to its 
forested shores the pioneers of Puget sound, though 
the settlement was a small one. First of these men 
came Dennis Brigham, whose arrival, as near as can 
be ascertained, was but little less than half a century 
ago. He took as his claim a strip of land stretching 
three-quarters of a mile in length along what is now 
the Bayside district of the city. A little later came 
Erskine D., commonly known as Ned Kromer, who 
took a claim adjoining Brigham on the south. 
Kromer was in charge of the telegraph line at this 
lioint, — that Asiatic overland line so daringly con- 
ceived in the early sixties and so substantially begvni. 
Neil Spithill, along the Snohomish river; John 
Davis, at Blackman's point; Ezra Hatch, near the 
site of the Great Northern viaduct on Hewitt av- 
enue ; John King, at the site of Robinson's mill ; 
William Shears and a man named Clark were other 
early settlers on Everett's site. In 1883 came 
Edmond Smith, who bought 160 acres from Brig- 
ham and occupied the tract as a ranch until the 
progress of the city drove him out. 

The year 1889 really marks the beginning of 
Everett's history, for in that year the idea of 
building a town upon the peninsula first took sub- 
stantial form. In the fall Wyatt J. Rucker, his 
brother Bethel J., and their mother Mrs. J. M. 
Rucker arrived, she becoming the community's 
pioneer white woman. The Rucker brothers, form- 
erly residents of Tacoma, had been strongly at- 
tracted by the harbor advantages presented by Port 
Gardner bay, and that year quietly made extensive 
soundings. A little later Wyatt J. Rucker pur- 
chased Edmond Smith's farm. Soon William G. 
Swalwell became associated in the acquisition of 




EVERETT, WASHINGTON 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



land upon the peninsula and in 1890, Frank B. 
Frida)' joined the Httle group. Together they began 
an active campaign to secure land. W. J. Rucker 
took as his homestead forty acres lying at the foot 
of Hewitt avenue on the bay; Mr. Friday filed 
on 160 acres east of Rucker's claim, while Mr. 
Swalwell took forty acres at the eastern end of 
Hewitt avenue. A great deal of the land in the 
vicinity had been taken prior to that time by log- 
gers and a considerable region had already been 
logged off. None to amount to anything, however, 
had been brought under cultivation. E. D. Smith 
was engaged at the time in logging in the vicinity 
of Lowell, while Messrs. Crow and McShane were 
operating near the site of the present smelter, 
which, it is said, was at that time a wild, stump- 
ridden spot. In order that the town builders might 
have sufficient land for their purposes, E. D. Smith 
afterward sold them one tract and donated another 
tract. In thus contributing substantially to the 
founding of the city of Everett he was actuated by 
the same public spirit which has characterized all 
his acts during his long residence in the county. 
In the course of the next few months the Rucker 
group had acquired title to something like eight 
hundred acres of land. Without losing any time 
they entered with an energy which characterized all 
their subsequent operations upon the improvement 
of their places. 

As soon as the Ruckers had secured sufficient 
land, the town of Port Gardner, Everett's pre- 
decessor, was laid out by W. J. and B. J. Rucker, 
the papers being dated August 22, 1890. This 
little would-be city occupied fifty acres, embracing 
what is now the choicest property in the Bayside 
section of Everett. Its promoters were deeply 
in earnest. They even had their eye on the 
county seat and went so far as to reserve a block 
of the site for the court-house purposes, to be do- 
nated when the time arrived. Curiously enough, 
this court-house site lies only a short distance 
from the site now occupied by the county building. 
To promote substantial buildings, the Rucker broth- 
ers offered Englebert Bast, a subsidy of fi\e lots 
if he would erect a two-story brick block at Port 
Gardner. 

But alas for Port Gardner's aspirations ! Before 
the project was well under way, before the plat 
was recorded at Snohomish (it had been held in 
abeyance at the request of the Ruckers), a new and 
mightier town-site enterprise appeared, backed by 
fiirces so powerful and so anxious to control the 
])eninsula that the Pnrt Gardner was abandoned, 
its promoters in>li'a(] la!<ing an interest in laying 
the foundations of l^vciett. and contributing freely 
of their land as subsidies. 

Early in 1890, Henry Hewitt, Jr., of Tacoma, 
came to the Everett peninsula. He had excited to 
n degree the interest of Charles Colby of New York 
( 'it\' in the founding of a city somewhere upon the 



peninsula as a location for the steel barge enterprise 
and other extensive plants in which Mr. Colby and 
associates were interested. As a representative of 
Mr. Colby, John F. Plummer inspected the proposed 
site in company with Mr. Hewitt and, as a result 
of the visit and reports, the Colby-Hoyt syndicate, 
backed by Rockefeller money, decided to prosecute 
their plans and commissioned Mr. Hewitt and his 
agents to secure the land necessary for the build- 
ing of a great city. 

To hide the real object of acquiring so large an 
amount of land in a body, it was given out by the 
promoters that they intended erecting a saw-mill 
with a capacity of one hundred thousand feet 
daily, and that a branch to it would be built from 
some point on the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern 
then being constructed inland. 

It is an interesting fact in the history of Everett 
that it was founded for the express purpose of 
maintaining industrial organizations on a great 
scale. It is said that the group of capitalists of 
whom Mr. Colby was the head had first intended 
locating their enterprise at Anacortes, but not find- 
ing property at such prices as they deemed satis- 
factory and fair, they looked further, with the 
result that the magnificent location at the mouth of 
the Snohomish river was eventually chosen. 

In the fall of 1890 the agents of the New York 
syndicate completed a bargain with Messrs. 
Rucker, Swalwell and Friday by which they se- 
cured the half interest held by Messrs. Swalwell 
and Friday in the eight hundred acre tract pre- 
viously described and besides this one half of the 
remainder from Mr. Rucker as a subsidy. A part 
of this tract was still in the condition of unpatented 
homestead, but at the earliest possible moment the 
claimants commuted their entries and thus with 
little delay the large area indicated passed into the 
entire possession of the syndicate. 

In November, 1890, the Everett Land Company 
was incorporated, Henry Hewitt, Jr., being chosen 
president. During the winter of 1890-91 there were 
some transactions in real estate, but the majority 
of people in the vicinity did not have entire confi- 
dence that the great plans which had been hinted at 
in various ways would materialize and hence there 
was no special speculation. In the spring of 1891 
the work of clearing, grading, surveying and platt- 
ing the town site was begun with a large force of 
men and steadily pursued thenceforward. It be- 
came apparent to all that there was large capital 
behind the work and as a natural consequence the 
advance guard of the eager army of speculators 
and investors and settlers began to turn their at- 
tention to the stately site upon Everett peninsula. 
One very fortunate result of the extensive acquisi- 
tion of land by the syndicate was that the entire city 
was laid off in accordance with a general plan which 
has been adhered to since, so that the misfitting 
streets and irregular additions which characterize 



318 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



so many of our new towns have been avoided in 
Everett. 

The land company, however seemed to take its 
time for platting and laying out the city site and 
there was great demand for some land that could 
be purchased and brought into immediate use. 
Therefore in September, 1891, Mr. Swalwell placed 
upon the market what was known as Swalwell's 
first addition. This addition was laid out at the 
river bank on the eastern end of Hewitt avenue 
and was composed mainly of land purchased from 
the Neil Spithill homestead. It was platted by the 
Swalwell Land, Loan & Trust Company, which 
practically represented the financial interests of 
Mr. and Mrs. Swalwell. At the time of placing 
this Swalwell addition upon the market the only 
residents upon the tract were the Swalwell and 
Spithill families. The house in which Mr. Swalwell 
lived at that time is still standing upon Maple 
street just south of Hewitt avenue directly at the 
rear of the Pioneer drug store building. Mr. Spit- 
hill and his family were living on a claim di- 
rectly north of the other. 

The books still in possession of Mr. Swalwell 
show that W. N. Webster was the first purchaser, 
his purchase consisting of two lots on Hewitt 
avenue near the river. The price paid was one 
thousand dollars. The customary terms of purchase 
of lots were fixed at one-third down and the re- 
mainder in one and two year payments. The 
business of the company was transacted in a little 
office which stood on Chestnut street just ofif 
Hewitt avenue. 

Improvements began almost immediately on a 
large scale along the river side. The Swalwell 
company built a ten thousand dollar wharf at the 
foot of Hewitt avenue and up and down the avenue 
and along the river front tents, shacks, huts and 
rough frame structures seemed fairly to grow out 
of the ground, so rapidly did the process of build- 
ing take place. Within ten days a thousand people 
were gathered and all the quaint and exciting 
features of a boom city were in progress. Unlike 
many of our boom towns, however, there was never 
a pause in the growth, for within a year five thousand 
were actively engaged in making permanent homes. 
In fact, beyond any city of the state of Washington, 
Everett seems to have been created out of hand 
with a definite purpose of city construction and 
organization; therefore, the frequent era of law- 
lessness and instability never was in this city. Few 
crimes are recorded of that foundation stage. 
Church services seem to have been inaugurated by 
various denominations almost at once and the 
usual meeting place was in the land company's 
office. A public school building also was erected 
on Broadway avenue. 

In December, 1801, Mr. Swalwell laid out a 
second addition which included the larger part of 



his homestead. Some conception of the real estate 
market of that time may be formed from the fact 
that on the first day of sale, December 4th, the 
transfers amounted to ninety-eight thousand dollars. 
Lots to the value of about two hundred thousand 
dollars were sold in these two additions within a 
few weeks. 

The river side seems to have been the first 
point of rapid improvement, but in a short time two 
tracts bordering the bay were placed upon the mar- 
ket and the rush of buyers turned in that direction. 
The bay side settlement seemed soon to become 
somewhat of a rival of that of the river side, but 
in a short time the two parts became amalgamated 
and their common interests led to a common growth. 
It is recalled by some of the old settlers that for 
a short time the only communication between the 
bay side and the river side was a trail which passed 
across the chief location of the present Everett on 
fallen trees. There was at that time a postoffice 
at the bay side near the Rucker residence, which 
was on the right of way of the Great Northern 
railway between Hewitt and Pacific avenues near 
the present water tank. 

It would be impossible to give a correct list of 
all the men who started into business in that 
earliest period of Everett's history. As one of the 
old timers expresses it, a score of men were trans- 
acting business almost before the ink on their pur- 
chase papers was dry. Among the earliest business 
establishments may be mentioned the Pioneer drug 
store, in charge of George Woodrufif, E. M. Metz- 
ger's general merchandise store, a combination store 
and lodging house in charge of C. W. Miley, a store 
conducted by B. E. Aldrich, a furniture store be- 
longing to J. H. Mitchell and a number of saloons. 
A number of steamboats at that time began making 
regular trips to Everett, among them the State of 
Washington, the Greyhound, the W. K. Merwin, 
the City of Quincy, the Washington, the Mable 
and the Anna M. Pence. They were said to have 
been loaded down to the guards every day. 

Mrs. B. L. Mitchell, the lady who was appointed 
postmistress of the new town on Port Gardner bay, 
informs us that it was named Everett in honor of 
Everett Colby, a son of the head of the syndicate 
which founded the town. LTpon repairing to her 
future home Mrs. Mitchell found no one living 
there except the Rucker famil>'. Mrs. Emma Hol- 
land, Daniel Sinclair, John King, Richard Cleary, 
and Messrs. Miley and Henderson, who had just 
opened their store on the shore of the bay below 
the Rucker place. The store occupied a rough 
frame building made of unpainted and unplaned 
boards between which were wide open cracks. Mrs. 
Mitchell arranged to open the postoffice in that 
building and for a time lived there with the Miley 
family. The postoffice was opened for business in 
Julv of 1891. Mrs. Mitchell makes mention of the 
great activity of the Everett Land Company to- 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



gether with the Rucker Brothers in the clearing 
of the town site, laying out streets and otherwise 
inaugurating the city that was to be. 

The postoffice remained in the Miley building 
until the winter of 1891-93, when, as it was becom- 
ing apparent that both the bay side and the river 
side settlements were sure ultimately to merge, it 
was agreed by both portions of the budding city 
that the posto'ffice should be established upon the 
crest of the hill at the point where Hewitt avenue 
passes over it. A two-story frame building, which 
still stands, was accordingly erected there upon a 
lot owned by Mr. Mitchell at the corner of Hewitt 
avenue and Lombard streets. The tremendous 
influx of population made the business of the post- 
office very heavy and difficult to handle. Four per- 
sons were kept constantly busy and in a short time 
it was found that two delivery windows kept open 
nearly all the time could not accommodate the crowds. 
Inasmuch as the office was up to that time recog- 
nized only as a country office without allowance for 
clerk hire the Chamber of Commerce determined 
to provide an extra man at a cost of fifty dollars 
a month to assist, but even then the postoffice 
accommodations were entirely inadequate to the de- 
mand. After having thus inaugurated the post- 
office business of Everett, Mrs. Mitchell lost her 
position by reason of political changes, and O. E. 
Reay was appointed postmaster. 

in the Eye of November 16, 1891, mention was 
made of the great improvements in and about Ever- 
ett, particularly in the vicinity of Lowell. It is 
stated that the paper mill then in process of erection 
was expected to be the largest in the United States. 
There was also an excellent hotel known as the 
Taper Mill hotel which was used as headquarters 
of the paper mill company. 

The road from Lowell to Everett was in that 
paper declared to be the worst in the entire county. 
Immense quantities of lumber were hauled over 
this from Smith's mill to the new buildings in pro- 
cess of erection at the bay side and river side set- 
tlements, and many times the wheels of these 
heavily loaded wagons would sink to the hubs re- 
quiring six-horse teams to pull them out. 

The correspondent of the Eye on that occasion 
says that the first thing which he recognized as 
part of Everett was the Sherman & Morris brick- 
yard. At Swalwell's Landing, as he called it, he 
obtained a good view of the business buildings 
which then were going up on all sides. He thought 
that rents were very high in that part of Everett, in- 
asmuch as a building twelve by sixteen feet used for 
a dry goods and clothing store rented for eight 
dollars per month, while an adjoining building 
which had attained the colossal proportions of ten 
by twelve, and had a tent roof, rented for six dollars 
per month for use as a boot and shoe store. These 
buildings were distinguishable from each other by 
numbers written over the doors. A number of neat 



cottages had been erected at various places along 
Hewitt avenue. The attention of the correspondent 
was divided between the mud of his immediate 
surroundings and the beautiful distant scenery. 
He describes Hewitt avenue as a mile and a half 
long and a hundred feet wide. It certainly had the 
making of a magnificent street, as has been demon- 
strated since. The correspondent makes mention of 
a small store in possession of P. K. Lewis, from 
which there was a beautiful view of Hat island, 
with Camano and Whidby islands and part of 
Mukilteo in the distance. 

At that time the nail factory was projected to be 
located midway between the western terminus of 
Hewitt avenue and the old Western Union telegraph 
office. The land was in process of being cleared at 
that time and as a result litter of even,' conceivable 
sort was lying on all sides waiting for fire to remove 
it. The correspondent thought there were about forty 
families at that time in Swalwell's addition besides 
several hundred laborers who were engaged in clear- 
ing and grading and who lived in shacks and tents 
in various parts of the town. 

So rapidly had Everett progressed during the 
first year of its existence that in the Northwest 
magazine of February, 1892, E. V. Smalley speaks 
as follows : "A year ago nobody believed that it 
would be possible to create a new town on Puget 
sound. Tacoma was already a town of forty-five 
thousand, while only twenty-seven miles away by 
water was Seattle with about the same population, 
both important, established commercial centers. At 
the extreme lower or northern end of the soimd 
were the twin cities. New Whatcom and Fair- 
haven, with probably ten thousand people, while on 
the western side of the sound was Port Townsend 
with about four thousand population and a superb 
harbor. Olympia, the handsome capital city, had 
experienced a remarkable growth from a village to 
a bustling town of six or seven thousand people. 
Many efiforts to start new towns on real estate 
speculations had proven abortive, and indeed there 
were perhaps a dozen such still born cities to be 
seen by travelers on the sound. When, therefore, 
early in 1891 it was announced that an effort would 
be made to establish a city at the mouth of the 
Snohomish river, only thirty miles north of Seattle, 
people generally looked forward to chronicling a 
fresh failure. This would have been the case had 
the town's foundation been land speculation, but the 
founders of Everett started the town on a wholly 
different basis. They had plenty of money and were 
determined first to create great solid enterprises 
that would support a population. This was some- 
thing new and unparalleled, a radical departure 
from the old method of clearing a site, building a 
wharf and hotel, and then calling for industries and 
population. 

"The history of Everett on the high, handsome 
peninsula at the mouth of the Snohomish, as told 



SNOHOMISH COUxMTY 



mc on the spot, is about as follows : Two years ago 
the leading capitalists interested in the great steel 
barge whaleback shipyard at Superior, Wisconsin, 
sent Captain McDougall, the inventor of this novel 
style of vessel, to the Pacific coast to look into the 
matter of establishing a similar shipyard at some 
point on Puget sound. The captain returned and 
reported that profitable employment could be found 
for the whalebacks in the Pacific coast-carrying 
trade. A rumor of an intention to duplicate the 
famous Superior plant at some point on the sound 
set all the sound cities and towns at work to secure 
the prize. The company wanted plenty of level 
land with good water frontage, but this was very 
difficult to secure at any of the large towns except 
at a heavy price. The result of the first investiga- 
tion was that it was almost settled at one time that 
the plant would go to Fidalgo near Anacortes, in 
favor of which strong influence had been brought to 
bear. The leading capitalists interested in the 
whaleback enterprise were Charles L. Colby and 
Colgate Hoyt, directors of the Northern Pacific, 
Charles W. Wetmore and John D. Rockefeller, of 
the Standard Oil Company. * * * As the plants 
broadened and matured it was determined to secure 
manufacturing concerns of exceptional solidity, and 
until these different plants were ready for business 
to sell no lots. In this way the enterprise was 
placed on a much higher basis than that of land 
speculation. Nobody was invited to settle in the 
town till there was business to do which would 
support a population. 

"Arrangements were made last summer by the 
Everett Land Company for the immediate establish- 
ment of the following manufacturing concerns : 
first, the Pacific Steel Barge Company, to build 
the McDougall model; second, a paper mill that 
would rank with the largest in the world, to manu- 
facture a superior grade from the spruce and Cot- 
tonwood on the rivdr; third, a wire nail mill, to 
make nails from steel bars imported by the ship load 
from Belgium; fourth, a large saw-mill. Work 
was begun at once. The buildings of the ship yard 
are rapidly going up and I saw on the 2-lth of 
February a huge fir timber placed in position upon 
which the keel of the first Pacific whaleback was to 
be laid. The .saw-mill has been temporarily held 
back because of so many small mills being erected." 

The surveying and platting of the site of Everett 
was probably the most accurate and complete of that 
of any of the sound cities. On account of the har- 
mony of the operations and plans of the founders 
of the city it was possible to give the survey a 
completeness and consequently to impart to the 
town site a symmetry of which the beauty and con- 
venience of the present city are most gratifying 
results. Richard Nevins, Jr., of Seattle, was placed 
at the head of the topographical engineers who laid 
out the town site. He had had extensive experience 
in surveying tide lands and harbor lines, and had 



surveyed the sites of Anacortes, Detroit, Mukilteo 
and Port Angeles. The chief additions made to 
the original plat of the city of Everett during its 
first year were Swalwell's first addition. East Ever- 
ett, Everett Land Company's first addition and 
Friday's first addition. Many additions were sub- 
sequently made so that there now stand recorded 
ninety-five different plats. 

In the Eye of December 2G, 1S9L mention is 
made of the arrival of the whaleback steamer, C. 
W. Wetmore, laden with iron to be used in the con- 
struction of another whaleback at Everett. There 
was in the cargo also a supply of machinery for the 
nail factory and paper mill. Great curiosity was 
felt by the people of the sound in this curious look- 
ing craft. The fact was recognized also that she was 
intimately associated w-ith the very purpose for 
which Everett was founded, the whaleback yards 
being one of the vital enterprises of the new place. 

Throughout the fall and winter of 1891, great 
numbers of men and quantities of material arrived, 
and the work of grading the city and equipping 
the great factories which were to be the foundations 
of the industries of the place went rapidly forward. 
The contractor in charge of the grading work was 
J. H. Morrison. The labor of grading seems to 
have been first directed toward Hewitt avenue, cer- 
tainly to be regarded as one of the finest avenues 
in the West. 

Mention is made in the Eye of October 3d of 
work upon the foundation of the Wire, Nail and 
Steel works and the immense warehouse of the land 
company four hundred feet in length. At right 
angles with the warehouse were the other company 
buildings which were to be used for various purposes 
in connection with the .Steel and Iron works and 
factory. The contract provided for the completion 
of these immense buildings within a year. It is 
scarcely understood even at the present time how 
extensive were the plans and how minutely arranged 
were the details of the great enterprises inaugurated 
at Everett fourteen years ago. The company was 
al.so engaged at the same time in putting up a 
splendid hotel, three stories high, with basement, 
lis by 122 feet in size, completely surrounded bv 
verandahs and equipped in every respect as a 
thoroughly modern hotel. 

The Great Northern railroad was completed to 
Everett in the fall of 1891 and trains began mak- 
ing more or less regular trips in November. The 
exceedingly important part which the Great North- 
ern railroad was to bear in the development of 
Everett and the entire sound country' was beginning 
to become apparent in the fall of 1891. It became 
known at that time that J. J. Hill and the English- 
men, I,ord Mount Stephens and Sir Donald A. 
Smith, were heavy owners in the stock of the land 
company. This company had acquired not only a 
thousand acres of town site but also about three 
thousand acres of tide lands adjoining. In most 




"ARM ()[• II. C. ANDI'IRSON, SlANWOd 




IN I III-: II \KI'.()R. I'A' 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



cases tlic company had been buying up these lands 
quietly at comparatively low prices. 

We derive from J. H. Mitchell some data as to 
the earliest business men of the river side of Everett 
which are worthy of preservation. Among the 
pioneer grocers were B. E. Aldrich, W. A. Usher, 
]). F. Powers and E. W. Metzger. Arthur A. 
Lailey operated a fruit stand, E. Kirmes was the 
pioneer jeweler, A. A. Brodeck dealt in gents' furn- 
ishing goods, W. N. Webster was a leading dry 
goods merchant, while Henry Sahlinger was the 
first clothier. The pioneer hotel, known as the 
Everett, was built in 1891 and operated by August 
Johnson. It still stands on Everett avenue near the 
Snohomish bridge. George and John F. Hart, who 
were engaged in the saw-mill business on the river, 
built the Hart hotel and opera house upon the cor- 
ner of Pacific avenue and Maple street. This build- 
ing is still standing and is known as the Van Horn 
house. The public hall part of it was the main re- 
source of Everett for many years for public gather- 
ings. Among the noted resorts in pioneer Everett 
was a saloon with the sanguinary nick name, the 
"Bucket of Blood," built without doors, of which 
Fritz & Heeny were the proprietors. This was 
located at the corner of Hewitt avenue and Market 
street near the river and was among the early 
buildings of the river side. The name was given 
because of the large amount of blood shed there. 

Not until about the fall of 1893 did the l)ay side 
settlement begin to equal that of the river side, and 
in fact the latter was the real center of tlic tnwn 
uiiiil about 1900. 

/Vmong the various recortls of interest in the 
early history of Everett we find in the Everett 
Times of December 17, 1891, a story of the founding 
of Everett as related by Henry Hewitt, Jr. This 
gives so fully and furthermore, preserves so per- 
fectly the .spirit of the era to which it belonged that 
we give a liberal extract from it. Mr. Hewitt first 
mentions the numerous places in Washington and 
( 'regon which he visited looking for a location for 
the great enterprises with which he was connected, 
;md then continues as follows : 

"I came along to the mouth of tiie SnolKunish 
river and went by boat up the diflorcnt ch.'uniels 
a number of miles above Snohomish to the forks 
Iff the Skykomish, then back and landed in the 
harbor of Port Gardner. I there took private 
soimdings of the harbor and found it to be the best 
on the sound in our opinion. After making these 
investigations we skirted the Puget sound shore 
hack to Tacoma. We decided that the harbor of 
Port Gardner would be a splendid place for a city 
if railroads could be induced to run there, especially 
in view of the fact that no city was located at the 
mouth of such a large valley. At that time the 
-Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern railroad was just 
entering Snohomish and was the nearest railroad. I 
Inirther explorations convinced me tliat the timber! 



country back of us was exceptionally rich and I 
immediately began buying on the Snohomish and its 
various tributaries. Then being convinced that the 
Skykomish pass would eventually be used by an\- 
railroad passing the mountains between the Cana- 
dian Pacific and the Northern Pacific I decided that 
Port Gardner had a future. 

"When I found that the Great Northern was 
going to build a line from New Westminster to 
Portland I immediately began buying the land at 
the mouth of the Snohomish river. I interested 
a large nuinber of New York capitalists, including 
Charles L. Colby, Colgate Hoyt, John D. Rockefel- 
ler, Barney Smith, and the American Steel Barge 
Company and many other Eastern capitalists of 
note and wealth. I was instructed to buy up all the 
land in and about that vicinity without limit as to 
price or quantity. We have purchased in the neigh- 
borhood of nine thousand acres. We feel confident 
that a large city is our future. We have fresh water 
navigation for ocean vessels for eleven miles above 
Port Gardner. * * * 

"Investigating the outer harbor of Port Gardner 
I find that we have sjjlendid anchorage about one 
mile by five, not exceeding from forty-five to ninety 
feet of water, with a clay bottom, making anchorage 
as good as at any point on Puget sound. The 
largest vessel may come up and anchor and ride 
without the slightest danger. * * * 

"The present stock companies, including the 
Everett Land Company, which are now eontrolleil 
by the promoters of the enterprise, have a sub- 
scribed capital of two million, three hundred thou- 
sand dollars, which includes four hundred thousand 
for the paper mill, three hundred thousand for the 
nail works and six hundred thousand for the steel 
barge works." 

The pioneer bank. Bank of Everett, opened its 
doors for business in December of that same busy 
year of 1891. It had a capital stock of fifty thou- 
sand dollars and its officers were : president, John 
E. McManus ; vice-president, A. C. Peters ; cashier, 
C. B. Stackpole ; trustees. R. M. Mitchell, M. Swart- 
out, W. F. Brown, Englebert Bast, N. B. Dolson, 
A. C. Peters and John E. McManus. 

During the third week of December, 1891, there 
were incorporated four companies, each with a 
capital of fifty thousand dollars, as follows : The 
Everett Water Coinpany, Everett Street Railway 
Company, Everett Telegraph and Telephone Com- 
pany, and Everett Light and Power Company. These 
corporations were organized to utilize the rights and 
privileges reserved by the owners of the city's site 
at the time of duplication. 

The rapidity of growth of Everett during the 
first year of its existence is well indicated by sorne 
figures pertaining to the postoffice. In ' August, 

1891, the business transacted amounted to .$5.28. 
In December of the same vear, $96.28 ; in Tanuarv. 

1892, $159.00, and in May of 1892, $402.10. 



324 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



The Presbyterian denomination has the dis- 
tinction of having erected the first church in Ever- 
ett. This was begun in March, 1892, and carried 
forward to completion during the summer follow- 
ing. This church was placed upon a lot donated 
■by Mr. Swalwell just north of Hewitt avenue. 

The first months of 1S92 were marked by the 
inauguration of several important enterprises. The 
Bayview hotel was opened on January 1-lth, under 
the management of James Casey. The building 
and furniture cost about forty thousand dollars. 
During the same month regular daily mail service 
began over the coast line of the Great Northern 
railroad, and in February the Sunset Telephone 
Company began installing the first telephone system. 
About that time, also, a large force of men were at 
■work upon the Monte Cristo railroad to the newly 
opened mines. The Hewitt-Lombard bank was 
organized and opened its doors for business in 
February of the same year. 

With the opening of the year 1893 Everett was 
becoming so much of a city and the hopes and 
expectations of its inhabitants were so boundless, 
that there was a general movement in the direction 
of organized municipal life. The building known 
as the "Wigwam," a rough, barn-like structure, 
erected in 1893 by Clark & Company at the corner 
of Hewitt and Wetmore streets, began to be used 
as a general public gathering place and as a center 
of the civic life of the town. 

On March 19, 1893, this movement resulted in 
a general election of citizens to represent the dififer- 
ent portions of the town, constituting a committee 
of twenty-one to act as an informal council until 
such time as incorporation should be effected. The 
members of this committee were as follows : From 
Lowell. E. D. Smith, E. H. Hallebeck, E. D. Tnger- 
■soll and A. S. Pruden ; East Everett, W. O. Hay- 
den, S. L. Gates, A. H. Gamel, James Hambly, C. 
W. Caddigan, D. E. Powers, C. D. Sweeney, W. G. 
Swalwell, E. L. Bogart, George Noyes and J. S. 
Borland ; West Everett, J. H. Mitchell, J. J. Maney. 
P. K. Lewis and J. P. Murphy ; Barge Works, W. 
M. Ross and G. L. Lazier. This committee chose 
as officers the following : president, C. D. Sweeney ; 
vice-president, A. H. Gamel ; treasurer, W. G. Swal- 
well ; secretarv, E. L. Hallenbeck ; assistant secre- 
tary, E. T. Bogart. 

A week later the volunteer fire service of Ever- 
ett became established by the formation of three 
companies: The Everett Volunteer Fire Engine 
Company, No. 1, consisting of forty members with 
W. J. Gillespie as president; Fire Company A, with 
thirty-nine members. James Hambly being the 
president; and the Everett Volunteer Flook and 
Ladder Company, No. 1, of which Dr. O. N. Mur- 
dock was chosen president. These various com- 
panies have maintained their existence for many 
years and become important factors in the protec- 
tion of the citv. 



Li April, 1892, a movement took shape and 
culminated on the 27th of that month in the organi- 
zation of a business men's association. A group 
of the prominent business men gathered in the 
office of the Swalwell Loan & Trust Company and 
proceeded to organize by the election of J. R. Haw- 
ley as president, and a board of directors consisting 
of James Hambly, N. M. Neeld, J. P. Murphy, 
George J. Sherrv, W. M. Ross, George L. Hutchins, 
R. M. Mitchell, C. D. Sweeney, C. B. Stackpole and 
Captain Hayden. 

At a meeting of the Business Men's Association 
on June 8th it was decided to reincorporate as the 
Chamber of Commerce of Everett. A hundred and 
twenty-three members subscribed their names and 
took up at once the question of incorporating and 
building a chamber of commerce building. The 
incorporators were J. R. Hawley, Schuyler Duryee, 
W. G. Swalwell, A. Gamel and Samuel H. Nichols. 
During the year a contract was awarded to R. C. 
Jordan for erecting a building, at a cost of $11,800, 
on the corner of Oak and Wall streets. 

Growing directly out of these various civic 
movements there was presented to the county com- 
missioners on February 17, 1893, a petition asking 
for incorporation of the city of Everett. By reason 
of differences arising in respect to the boundary 
lines action was deferred until at a public meeting 
on February 23d the opposing factions compro- 
mised by agreeing to except from the city limits all 
the manufacturing district and tide lands and 
adopted boundaries drawn in such a manner as to 
carry out that agreement. 

Upon the presentation of the amended petition 
to the board of commissioners they acted at once 
favorably and incorporated the city under those 
modified boundary lines. April 37th was designated 
as the date of election and as a preparation for this 
a number of tickets were placed in the field. There 
were two citizens' tickets, a people's party ticket, 
and a Republican-Democratic fusion ticket. Nearly 
nine hundred voters were registered, but over a 
hundred of these failed to vote. Incorporation was 
carried by a vote of six hundred and seventy to 
ninety-nine and the fusion ticket prevailed, though 
the mayor received but three majority. The follow- 
ing is the list of city officers chosen at that first 
city election in Everett: Mayor, Thomas Dwyer, 
Democrat ; treasurer, James Hambly, Republican ; 
attorney, H. D. Cooley, Republican; clerk, C. P. 
Clark, Republican; marshal, Dennis Crowe, Peo- 
ple's party ; health officer. Dr. O. V. Harris, Demo- 
crat; assessor, Charles Reed, Fusionist; councilmen, 
W. G. Swalwell, J. T- IManev, Samuel H. Nichols, 
O. N. Murdock, W. J. Gillespie, S. E. Thayer, 
C. A. Swineford. 

The first meeting of this first city council of 
Everett was held in the "W^igwam" on May Sth. 
The following evening a meeting was held at which 
the mayor delivered an inaugural address and estab- 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



lished the office of the city engineer, the city pohce 
department and the department of street commis- 
sioner. By vote of the council L. A. Nicholson 
was appointed city engineer, F. C. Tubbs, street 
commissioner, Julian L. Shay police judge, and 
George A. Shea captain of the city police force. 
May 19th the council authorized the purchase of a 
suitable equipment of fire apparatus. At a meet- 
ing in October the city council contracted for a 
new building to be used as a city hall to be erected 
on the corner of Broadway, just east of Hewitt 
avenue. This building with some improvements 
is still employed for muncipal purposes. 

As is scarcely necessary to say to anyone who 
saw Everett during those years or to anyone who 
has read these pages, the years 1891 and 1893 were 
ones of tremendous activity. Yet it was not of a 
feverish or speculative sort. On the other hand 
the vast enterprises under way and the fact that a 
permanent population of laborers as well as of busi- 
ness and professional men were engaged in the 
erection of permanent and substantial buildings, 
as well as in the inauguration of every species of 
solid industrial activity, saved Everett from the 
collapse which beset many less substantial places 
during the hard times soon to come. Everett was 
indeed too solidly constructed to suffer serious back- 
sets, although in common \yith all other Pacific 
coast cities the movement of her active life was 
checked for a time. During the two years prior 
to the panic enterprises were undertaken and events 
occurred of such amount and variety that it would 
transcend our limits to mention even a tithe of them. 
We can record here but a few of the business under- 
takings and events which were of the most impor- 
tant bearing upon the progress of the city. 

Among these miscellaneous events of importance 
we find record of the contract made by the Everett 
Land Company with Hoge & Swift of Portland, 
agents of the American Tube & Iron Company of 
Youngstown, Ohio, to lay three and a half miles 
of water mains. The contract was completed on 
June 1, 1892. On the first of May the great steel 
barge works were finished. This immense manu- 
factory was built on two thousand piles, upon 
which was planking a thousand feet long and two 
hundred feet wide. We find also an item in the 
I-'verett Times to the effect that the first brick build- 
ing on the bay side division of Everett was begun 
on February 29th, the owner being Mathew P. 
Zindorf. 

At about the same time the gigantic nail works 
were inaugurated and entered upon active life. 
April 21, 1892, witnessed the installation of the 
two mammoth engines, which were set in operation 
by a touch from the hands of two children. Agnes 
r)uryee and Alec Campbell. Upon the arrival of 
the Orbis from Amsterdam with a cargo of steel 
wire all preparations were made for the actual pro- 
duction of nails and on May 11th, in the presence 



of hundreds of interested spectators, the first nail 
was manufactured from a silver dollar furnished 
by Manager Whitney. The first keg of nails was 
shipped to the New York office of the company, 
after which an order for two carloads for Schwab- 
acher Brothers of Seattle was entered upon and 
completed in two days. 

The following brief enumeration of the manu- 
facturing establishments at Everett in the summer 
of 1892 will give the reader some conception of the 
vast gathering of industrial interests at the place : — 
Pacific Steel Barge Company, Puget Sound Wire 
Nail & Steel Company, Puget Sound Paper & Pulp 
Company, Everett Chair Company, Smith Lumber 
Company, Dewey Lumber Company, Hart Lumber 
Company, Industrial Mill Company, Everett Tile 
works. Bast Brick works, Sherman & Wasson Brick 
works, Everett Mill Company, Parminter & Robin- 
son, Darling & Allen, Everett Sand & Brick Com- 
pany, Blackman Brothers Shingle factory. These 
works had a combined capital of $1,753,000, em- 
ployed 925 men, with a monthly pay roll of $72,100, 
and a monthly product of the value of $310,000. 

From the issue of the Everett Times of Decem- 
ber 8, 1892, wc Irani that about five million dollars 
was expended during the year in investments in 
the various manufacturing establishments, business 
blocks and residences, street improvements and 
public buildings. From the same paper we learn 
that the following banks, named in order of age, and 
having a combined capital of $475,000, were then 
doing business in Everett : Bank of Everett, Hew- 
itt-Lombard bank, Rucker, First National, Everett 
National, Fidelity Trust & Savings bank, and Puget 
Sound National. 

During the summer of 1892 the first brick build- 
ing on the river side, a splendid three story struc- 
ture on the corner of Hewitt avenue and Pine 
street, was erected by W. G. Swahvell, at a cost of 
thirty thousand dollars. 

Three immense enterprises were taking shape 
during this same period, viz., the smelter plant of 
the Everett Reduction Company, the completion of 
the overland line of the Great Northern railroad, 
and the completion of the Everett & IMontc Cristo 
railroad, which was itself tlie most important ad- 
junct to the operations of the great smelter. One 
million, four hundred tlidusand brick were em- 
ployed in building the smelter and were provided 
by the Everett Brick & Tile Company. The im- 
portance of this great metal refinery may be real- 
ized from the fact that Seattle offered a subsidy 
of three hundred thousand dollars for its establish- 
ment at that city. The offer of eighty acres of 
land, however, in East Everett, was considered 
more advantageous by the company. The capital 
stock of this company was nine hundred thousand 
dollars, held by New York capitalists, who also 
controlled the Three S road and its extension to 
the mines, the Everett & Monte Cristo road. 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



The Great Northern Railroad Company com- 
pleted its through line and ran its first overland 
passenger train from St. Paul in June, 1893, and 
on the 25th of that month the first train passed 
through Everett. This was indeed an event of 
great moment to the new town and the entire state. 

Another valuable industry was established in the 
closing months of 189S, namely the Everett tan- 
nery, owned by Bardeen, Perrin & Company, still 
in operation. It employs hemlock bark, being the 
only tanner}' in the state to make use of this kind 
of bark. 

An important event of the same busy year was 
the official listing by the Everett Lancl Company 
of their lots in the bay side district. This region 
had been held back by the land company and Rucker 
Brothers until the great industrial enterprises of the 
place should be started. On March 1st they placed 
on the market two thousand, one hundred lots of the 
main site of Everett. These lots were sold under 
the restriction that each purchaser should erect a 
building of the value of at least one thousand dol- 
lars, but with this restriction the lots were sold on 
very easy terms. The amount of money paid for 
lots sold during the summer, together with the in- 
vestments required to comply with the building re- 
strictions, was $3,584,-400. 

The growth of the schools of Everett during 
this same period kept, pace with that of the in- 
dustrial enterprises. In September, 1891, there was 
one school building and two teachers. In Septem- 
ber, 1S92, there were nine school houses with ten 
teachers and six hundred pupils. 

One of the notable events of 1893 was a legal 
contest before a special jury of the Superior court 
of Snohomish county upon the question of the 
appraisement placed by the tide land commissioners 
upon the tide lands adjoining Everett. The pro- 
prietors of the town site desired to use a portion 
of the tide lands as a fresh water harbor, and while 
the case was pending in the courts action in that 
direction as well as the incorporation of the city 
was delayed. At the final trial the special jury 
decided that the act of the tide land commissioners 
in raising the appraisement by twelve thousand dol- 
lars was not justified and that therefore the lands 
must be sold at the former figure. The settlement 
of this question removed a great obstacle to the 
growth of the city. At about the same time the 
suit of Charles F. Jones to recover possession of 
three hundred and twenty acres of land, a part of 
the Everett Land Company's holdings, was decided 
in favor of the company and this at once removed 
another obstacle to the progress of the city. 

The year 1893 was marked by the beginning of 
work on the Great Northern railroad tunnel under 
the city, by the completion of the street car system 
belonging to the Everett Electric Railway Company, 
which ran its first cars on July 3(1, and by the in- 
auguration of regular train service on the Everett 



& Monte Cristo railroad. Another event of far 
different nature was the establishment of the Ever- 
ett hospital. This was the work of a devoted com- 
pany of Everett women, and their invaluable labors 
were recognized by the board of trustees in the 
appointment of a board of lady managers, at the 
head of which was Mrs. Augusta Plummer Foster. 
The association built a substantial home upon 
Broadway avenue, but by reason of the subsequent 
establishment of the Catholic hospital and still 
another by Mrs. Friday, the Everett hospital build- 
ing was sold to the Norwegian school known as the 
Bethenia high school and the furniture to INIrs. 
Friday, who has retained the name of the Everett 
hospital to the present time. 

The disastrous state of business throughout the 
country during the years 189;5-4-5 produced a 
temporary suspension of operations in nearly all 
of the great manufacturing plants of Everett and 
several of the banks met the fate which came to 
so many banking institutions throughout the state, 
but in spite of these disasters the barge works 
launched the magnificent steamship. City of Everett, 
on October 24, 1894. It was a gala day for Everett, 
and it was estimated that not less than twelve thou- 
sand people witnessed the launching of this, the 
first whaleback built upon the Pacific coast. At 
twenty-eight minutes past' two in the afternoon 
Superintendent Calderwood gave the signal and five 
axmen severed the ropes which held the ship in 
position upon the ways. As she started to glide 
into the water a young lady. Miss Katrice Lentzy, 
broke the traditional bottle of champaign over the 
bow and said, "I christen thee City of Everett. 
God speed thee." The ship glided into the bay with- 
out the slightest mishap, eloquent speeches were 
delivered by Judge Delaney and Governor McGraw, 
and a general jubilee accompanied this notable 
event. 

In spite of the retardation of industry through 
the hard times there was an immense amount of 
traffic at the port of Everett. During the year 
ending June 30. 189G, the total exports by water 
amounted to 23,320 tons, valued at $1,538,583. 
There were exported by rail 94,856 tons, valued at 
$610,000. The total imports bv water and rail were 
122,015 tons, valued at $1,185',937. 

A work of incalculable value to Everett is the 
harbor improvement in charge of the United States 
government, the primary object of which is to ex- 
cavate a harbor at the mouth of the Snohomish river 
which may serve as a fresh water harbor. The 
primary motive leading the Chamber of Commerce 
and the municipality of Everett to urge this upon 
the general government is the well-known fact that 
ships which have become covered with barnacles 
upon their ocean voyages become cleaned by lying 
for a few days in a fresh water harbor and thus 
avoid the large expense for dry dockage entailed 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



upon ships which are confined to salt water. With 
this is the equally important fact that piles driven 
in fresh water are not subject to the devastations 
of the teredo, which has made necessary the ex- 
penditure of enormous sums to maintain wharves 
upon salt water fronts. The Snohomish river has a 
delta consisting of several channels entering the bay 
through strips of low lands and upon the first in- 
spection of the proposed site by the founders it 
became apparent that proper work could result in 
the creation here of a magnificent fresh water har- 
bor. Lieutenant Symons, of the United Coast and 
Harbor service, was detailed by the government to 
examine and report upon the propriety of govern- 
ment appropriation for this purpose. His report 
was adverse to making an appropriation at first, on 
the ground that traffic did not yet justify it and that 
it was essentially a matter of local interest. But 
the people of Everett were persistent in their de- 
mands upon government for attention to this pro- 
posed great work, and on November 4, 1893, the 
Secretary of War granted permission to the Everett 
Land Company to construct works designed to 
produce a fresh water basin at the mouth of the 
Snohomish river. As time passed on and as the im- 
portance of Everett as a shipping center increased 
an interest in it was elicited which finally resulted in 
a definite plan of harbor improvement under the 
government and appropriations have been made 
systematically and work carried on right down to 
the present time. 

In 1901 congress made an appropriation of three 
hundred and ninety-two thousand dollars to continue 
the work already begun. The harbor as now in proc- 
ess of excavation is to be four and a half miles in 
length and five hundred feet wide. At the salt 
water entrance there is a pond fifteen hundred feet 
square. The harbor is built after the pattern of the 
harbor at Kingstown, Ireland. For commercial ad- 
vantage, completeness of equipment, beauty of 
appearance and general interest in every feature of 
its development, this is one of the most notable 
improvements anywhere undertaken within the 
United States. 

An event of great moment in the business of 
Everett was the organization of the Everett Im- 
provement Company in January, 1900, and its 
acquisition of all the landed interests formerly con- 
trolled by the Everett Land Company. That' great 
company, after having borne such an important 
part in the founding and upbuilding of the city, 
operating its various industries throughout the hard 
times, at last succumbed to the pressure, passed into 
the hands of a receiver, and finallv reverted to its 
original founder, John D. Rockefeller. Its holdings 
were purchased after long but successful negotia- 
tions, in December, 1899 by W. J. Rucker acting 
as the agent of the James J. Hill interests, and 
almost immediately the Everett Improvement Com- 
pany was incorporated by the purchasers. In 1901 



the Improvement Company acquired the Everett 
Railway & Electric Company's plant and later the 
property of the water company. In the spring of 
1905 these two properties were consolidated under 
the title, the Everett Railway, Light & Water Com- 
pany. 

The first three years of the present decade have 
been characterized by a tremendous growth in every 
feature of the industrial life of Everett. Not only 
has its manufacturing output and its commercial 
activity increased by leaps and bounds, but the 
business of agriculture and horticulture in the parts 
of Snohomish county accessible to it has increased 
to correspond. It has been discovered that the 
soil in the valley of the Snohomish and even the log- 
ged-ofif uplands, which were thought formerly 
not to be productive, are the natural habitat of 
berries, vegetables, fruits and grasses. The tre- 
mendous disaster which was brought upon the mi- 
ning business by the great flood of 1897, which 
obliterated the Everett & Monte Cristo railway, and 
as a result of which the mining business lay dormant 
for a time, has been overcome and the work of 
mining and of smelting has developed not a little. 
The lumber and shingle business of the city has 
attained enormous proportions, for Everett is un- 
surpassed among all the towns on Puget sound in 
the timber resources within its reach and in facili- 
ties for handling and shipping the manufactured 
products. 

While these great essential productive enter- 
prises of the city are adding their millions yearly to 
its accumulated wealth, the citizens have been in 
the forefront in the use which they have made of 
their swiftly increasing resources. Magnificent 
business blocks, fine public buildings, beautiful 
private residences, attractive church buildings, 
commodious and elegant school buildings, and am- 
ple and well kept streets attest the general high 
standard of aspiration and achievement among the 
citizens of Everett. 

A general outline of the public school system of 
the city may be given as follows : The city super- 
intendent is Professor D. A. Thornburg. The 
schools, with the principals and the number of 
teachers in each are as follows : High school, 
Ellis H. Rogers and eight teachers ; Monroe, J. E. 
Van Allsburg and eight teachers ; Jeflferson, J. F. 
Knight and eleven teachers ; Lincoln, L. J. Camp- 
bell and sixteen teachers ; Garfield, A. H. Sherwood 
and thirteen teachers ; Jackson, W. N. Whitelaw 
and ten teachers. Besides these principal school- 
houses there are three small ones known as the 
Thirty-seventh street, the Smelter school and the 
Eighteenth street school. The buildings have an ag- 
gregate value of $270,712. During the past year 
there was a total enrollment of 3,121 children, 
though the school census footed up a total of 4,145. 
The number of teachers employed was seventy- 
three. The members of the school board at the 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



present time are, president John C. Curran ; vice- 
president, W. R. Stockbridge; E. N. Metzger, M. 
M. Smith, F. M. Kennedy, and as secretary, Charles 
K. Green. The present school system is in mar- 
velous contrast with the rough wooden structure 
with its one teacher and ten pupils which con- 
stituted the public school system of Everett in the 
first part of 1891. 

An equally striking contrast would be afforded 
by a comparison of the present churches of the 
city with the church facilities of fourteen years 
ago. According to Atwood's "Glimpses of Pioneer 
Life" the first preaching service in Everett was 
held in the real estate office of Mr. Swalwell by 
A. H. Marsh, pastor of the Methodist Episcopal 
church at Marysville, and that was in the year 1891. 
The churches of the'present time are as follows : Cath- 
olic Bayside church, H. P. Saindon, rector ; Church 
of our Lady of Perpetual Help, Rev. Charles Clae- 
sens; First Baptist, Rev. J. A. Bessiguie ; Evangel- 
ical Association, Rev. E. D. Hornschouch ; United 
Brethren. Rev. E. D. Burton ; First Methodist, Rev. 

A. B. Chapin ; First German Methodist, Rev. H. 

B. Mann ; Congregational, Rev. J- R- Knodell ; 
Gennan Baptist, Rev. Adolph Guenther ; Swedish 
Baptist, Rev. C. D. Scott; Christian, Rev. O. W. 
McGaughey; Zionist, Rev. Earnst ; Unitarian, Rev. 
W. G. Elliott ; Trinity Episcopal, Rev. John Brann ; 
First Presbyterian, Rev. Herbert Thompson ; United 
Presbyterian, Rev. R. L. Lanning ; Zion Norwegian, 
Rev. Benjamin A. Sand; Swedish Lutheran, Rev. 
B. N. Thoren ; Norwegian Lutheran, Rev. P. O. 
Laurhammer; German Lutheran, Rev. H. G. 
Schmelzer; the Norwegian, Rev. L. C. Foss ; Uni- 
tarian, Rev. O. G. Nelson, pastor. 

There are at the present time four banks : the 
American National, of which the president is J. T. 
McChesney ; Bank of Commerce. W. R. Stock- 
bridge, president; Everett Trust & Savings Bank 
W. J. Rucker, president; First National, W. C. 
Butler, president. Their last statements show 
them to be in an unusually healthy financial con- 
dition. 

Everett abounds in clubs, and of these four are 
of the gentler sex ; namely, the Anoka, the Lowell 
Book club, the Woman's Book club and the Ever- 
ett Ladies' club. Of other clubs we may mention the 
Cascade, the Everett Baseball club, the Everett 
Lacrosse club, Everett Tennis club, Snohomish 
County Rod and Gun club. 

There is a strong Y. M. C. A., with an elegant 
building and regularly organized classes. There 
is also a new city library, costing $25,000, which 
bears the name of the great library donor, Andrew 
Carnegie. Among the city's miscellaneous schools, 
are the Acme Business College, School of Elocu- 
tion and Physical Culture, Everett Commercial 
College, Everett School of Music, and a kindergar- 
ten in charge of Miss Caroline Saunders. 

Naturally one of the most important lines of 



business in Everett is the system of wharves and 
docks. These are as follows : Ocean dock, at the 
foot of Pacific avenue ; City dock, at the foot of 
Hewitt avenue ; Fourteenth street dock. Merchant's 
dock, at the foot of Hewitt; Weyerhauser Timber 
Company's dock, Railroad avenue; Riverside Mill 
Company's wharf, foot of Everett avenue; Spithill 
wharf, foot of California; Washington Produce 
Company's dock, foot of Hewitt on the river side. 
Everett abounds in societies and fraternities. 
There are two lodges of Good Templars and three 
W. C. T. U. organizations. Of the secret orders we 
may mention Everett Lodge, No. 52, United Work- 
men; the Degree of Honor, No. 48; B. P. O. E., 
No. 479 ; Brotherhood of American Yeomen, No 
493 ; Catholic Order of Foresters, No. 522 and No. 
1.220; Danish Brotherhood of America, No. 131; 
Foresters of America, No. 57 ; Fraternal Brother- 
hood, No. 233 ; Order of Eagles, No. 13 ; G. A. R. 
John Buford Post, No. 84; W. R. C, No. 10; 
Ladies of the G. A. R. ; Red Men, Pillchuck Tribe, 
No. 43; Degree of Pocahontas, No. 11; Indepen- 
dent Order of Foresters, No. 3,111 ; Order of Lions, 
No. 142 ; five lodges of Odd Fellows ; three of Re- 
bekahs ; Knights of Columbus. No. 763 ; three 
lodges of Knights of Pythias ; Rathbone Sisters, 
No. 2G; K. O. T. M. tent No. 4 ; L. O. T. M. hive 
No. 2; Knights and Ladies of Securities, No. 1,103 ; 
two lodges of Masons ; R. A. M. No. 24 ; Royal and 
Select Masters, No. 8 ; Knights Templar ; Order 
Eastern Star, No. 33; Modern Brotherhood of 
America, No. 958; Modern Maccabees, No. 1,161; 
M. W. A., No. 5,385 ; two lodges of Royal Neigh- 
bors ; Order of Railway Conductors, No. 456 ; 
Order of Washington ; Royal Arcanum, No. 1,798 ; 
Royal Highlanders, No. 320; Royal Tribe of 
Joseph, No. 5 ; Sons of Herman, No. 7 ; Tribe of 
Ben Hur, No. 20; three lodges of Woodmen of 
the World and two of the Women of Woodcraft. 
The city also has six well organized and prosperous 
musical societies. It possesses in the Everett 
theater on Colby avenue one of the most beautiful, 
substantial and well-equipped play-houses in the 
state. 

As is perhaps almost needless to state, Everett 
has practically limitless shipping connections and 
has also at her own doors the Great Northern rail- 
road and by means of a short connecting line the 
Northern Pacific and through the latter connection 
with the Canadian Pacific. 

As might be expected from a city whose inhabi- 
tants are principally industrial, Everett has a large 
number of well organized trades unions. There are 
twenty-five of these, representing every leading oc- 
cupation. 

Everett has three strong newspapers. The Daily 
Herald, issued evenings, is under the management 
of J. B. Best, with F. E. Wyman as editor-in-chief. 
The Morning Tribune, successor to the Everett 
Evening Record, is under the business management 




VIEWS AT EVERETT AND AT SNOHOMISH 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



of W. R. Connor and is edited by S. E. Wharton. 
The Labor Journal is pubHshed weekly by the News 
I'ublishing Company, A. J. Morrow, proprietor, M. 
W. Sills editor. 

So rapid a summary of the history and resources 
of this remarkable city has of necessity omitted 
many things worthy of record. We may only say, 
as Edmund Burke said of the American colonies, 
"Such is the strength wilh which population shoots 
in that part of the world, tiial, state the numbers 
as high as we will, while the dispute continues the 
exaggeration ends. While we are discussing any 
given magnitude they are grown to it." 

With vital and essential resources of the most 
ample sort, with commercial connections which 
bring the world to her very doors, with both out- 
ward appearance and inward worth of which she 
may well be proud, with sons and daughters whose 
ambition and industry may well make them worthy 
successors of the fathers and mothers who have 
transformed the wilderness in these few years into 
the habitations which we now behold, the city of 
Everett sits like a queen upon her stately throne, 
expecting each year to add more wealth to her cof- 
fers and more jewels to her crown. 

SNOirOMlSII 

As the beginnings of Snohomish City were prac- 
tically identical with the beginnings of Snohomish 
county, they have already been adverted to in these 
pages. When E. C. Ferguson came in March, 1860, 
he brought with him a small stock of goods to be 
sold to the few white settlers who were already on 
the river and those who might come, as well as to 
the Indians. He kept store for a year or so, but 
his finances were greatly depleted in building trails 
and in making his expensive and fruitless trip to 
the Kettle river mining country, and he was forced 
to retire from the mercantile business. The next 
store was started by W. B. Sinclair, who came in 
December, 186 i, in which month and year also 
came Isaac Ellis, foreman for the Port Ludlow Mill 
Company, who shortly afterward gave inception to 
the logging industries at Snohomish. Mr. Sinclair 
continued in the mercantile business for a number of 
years, but eventually Mr. Ferguson, the pioneer 
merchant, again started up and Sinclair soon after 
retired. 

As the first settlers of the town and county were 
all bachelors, and as but few families came during 
the sixties, there was no occasion for the organi- 
zation of a school until 1869. In that year, however. 
Miss Robie Willard taught for one short term the 
very few children then resident in Snohomish City. 

The slowness of the development of Snohomish 
and vicinity is evident from the fact that although 
Cady, Barnes and Tucker were sent out by the Fort 
Steilacoom parties for the express purpose of found- 
ing a town, and though Mr. Ferguson never gave 



up the project, and though the county seat was 
located at Snohomish by vote of the people in 1861, 
it was not thought worth while to lay out a town site 
until 1871. In that year, however, E. C. Ferguson 
and W. B. Sinclair platted portions of their home- 
steads, aggregating a little over fifty acres in all, 
into streets, alleys and town lots. Five years later 
the village consisted of two general merchandise 
stores, two hotels, a saloon, a postofifice, a shoe shop, 
a barber shop, about thirty dwelling houses and 
perhaps one hundred and fifty people. In January, 
1873, a literary society had been organized, known 
as the Atheneum, which proved to be quite a factor 
in the social and intellectual life of the town. It 
prospered wonderfully under the nurturing care of 
Eldridge Morse and others and in 1876 was said to 
possess one of the best scientific libraries and the 
finest museum in the territory. The corner stone 
of the Snohomish Atheneum building was laid 
on the 5th of June of the year mentioned, and the 
hopes and purposes of its founders were thus glow- 
ingly set forth in the Northern Star of the time: 

"If I mistake not," said the editor, "the character 
of the settlers of the Snohomish, and I have devoted 
years to the study of their character, they represent 
the pioneers of civilization and of thought more 
fully, and have cut loose from the shackles . of 
bigotry and intolerance to a degree scarce ever 
equaled in a community of similar size. They take 
a leading position in representing the most advanced 
thought and culture of our day ; and the work we 
now have in hand is to erect this edifice as a temple 
of science, of literature and of art, as a means of 
carrying out more fully the work of this our repre- 
sentative society, the Snohomish Atheneum. * * * 

"Undoubtedly the expenditure required in com- 
pleting this our cherished enterprise will be a severe 
tax upon all of us, yet will be cheerfully borne, and 
no portion of its beneficial work will be left un- 
accomplished. Let the work of our Atheneum 
continue as in the past, only with manifold increased 
powers for usefulness, to instruct, to improve and 
elevate the human mind, to form enlarged concep- 
tions, and true and noble ideas. It will wage unceas- 
ing war upon ignorance and its allies ; it will make 
itself as well as its generous supporters known, and 
their influence felt afar off. It will shape the 
thoughts and actions of our whole people so that 
though this building may become dust and ashes : 
though the treasures of literature, art and science 
we may here accumulate may be scattered by the 
hands of time, and this place where we are about 
to erect this noble building may be forgotten or even 
the existence of the Atheneum may be lost in the 
progress of time, yet its efi^ect in moulding, elevat- 
ing and improving the minds of those subject to its 
influence will be felt through all coming time." 

Other institutions which had become established 
in the town prior to 1876 were the Union Presby- 
terian church, whose (juaint old edifice stood until 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



very recently beside the splendid new one, the Sno- 
homish Free Religious Association, the Snohomish 
County Agricultural Society, the Snohomish Tele- 
graph Company, the Snohomish Cemetery Associa- 
tion, and last but by no means least the Northern 
Star, which, though then in its first year was a 
large, five-column, eight-page weekly paper, all 
home print, with an overflowing ambition to be truly 
lepresentative not alone of Snohomish and vicinity, 
but of the entire sound country. 

At this period in the development of Snohomish 
county, agriculture was in its infanc}', and practi- 
cally the only industry was logging. Snohomish 
was little more than a welj developed logging camp, 
and it was i i perfect sympathy with the logging 
intere-sts. When logs sold readily at a good price, 
times were lively and everybody happy and hopeful, 
but when logs were a drug on the market, there 
was a local panic with all the stagnation and retro- 
gression that the word implies. While logs were quot- 
ed at from five to five and a half dollars per thousand 
in 1877, a price which, with cheaper feed for oxen 
and better facilities, would have been fairly good. 
not a single log was marketed from the Snohomish 
river from spring to December, and the elYect on the 
town may be imagined. Before the year closed, 
however, a demand came for logs and tlu- pressure 
was relieved. Yet the population of Siinhnmish 
remained at a standstill numerically fur the four 
years following 1876, if the Star's estimate of popu- 
lation at the beginning of that period was correct, 
for according to the United States census of 18S0, 
Snohomish liad just one hundred and forty-nine 
people. 

Times were c[uiet throughout the years 1880 
and 1881, yet it is but fair to assume that the town 
made some advancement during that period, though 
there is a great dearth of extant records, and details 
of the period are lacking. 

An important acquisition of the year 18S2 for 
Snohomish was the Eye newspaper, whose initial 
number appeared January 11th. The proprietors of 
the unpretentious little sheet were H. F. Jackson 
and C. H. Packard, the first to embark in journalism 
in the town since Eldridge Morse's more ambitious 
paper, the Star, had made its valedictor\- bow in 
187!). The Eye was only a four-page, four-column 
paper at first, somewhat smaller, as its salutatory 
editorial admitted, than the New York Herald or 
the London Times, but destined to increase in size 
and power as the growth of the town justified, and 
continue a potent advocate of political purity and 
material progressiveness for many years. 

It w-as in 1882 also that Blackman Brothers, who 
subsequently did so much for the manufacturing 
interests of the town, began the erection of their 
first saw-mill, which was to be operated by steam 
power and to have a capacity of fifteen thousand 
feet or more per diem. Completed in ISS."?, it was 
improved in the spring of 1884, by the addition of 



machinery and appliances for the manufacture of 
sash, doors, mouldings, etc. 

With the dawn of the eighties the old "logging 
camp," as Snohomish was later styled, entered upon 
an era of prosperity and substantial development, 
though to one looking backward, the increase in 
population of these years seems small enough. The 
Eye of February 28, 1883, gives us an insight into 
the condition of things at that early period. It savs : 

"During the past week, seventeen lots were sold 
in Snohomish City, western part, by the town site 
proprietor's attorne\-, and the demand is still good. 
It is confidently asserted by those who are in a 
position to know that every lot in the original plat 
will be disposed of before the present year has run 
one half its course. We hope the suggestions of 
the E}'e, in regard to buildings to let, will be put 
into effect, and that new buildings will be erected 
on each of these lots. Dwellings are in demand. 
In several houses there are three or four families 
living. Fifteen or twenty houses could be rented 
at the present time, and before fall twice that 
number. Mr. Ferguson informs us that in a few 
weeks he will lay off an addition to Snohomish 
City, north of the east end. on the flat, which con- 
tains forty acres. He will also lay off in five-acre 
lots a tract containing sixty acres, lying north of 
the new addition and also on the flat. * * * He 
further informs us that he will probably plat, this 
fall, an addition to the west end of about forty 
acres, which will give Snohomish an area of about 
two hundred and twenty acres." 

By 1885 the place had grown to a town of six 
hundred inhabitants and was the possessor of two 
fine church edifices, the Presbyterian and Methodist, 
a good public school, two hotels, two restaurants 
with bakery and confectionery stores attached, a 
good theater building, two public halls, four general 
merchandise stores, one dr\-^ goods store, one tin 
and hardware store, a grocery store, two meat 
markets, a millinery store, a jewelry store, two boot 
and shoe estahlishnients, twd l)lacksmith shops, a 
steam saw-mill with a capacity (if twenty thousand 
feet daily, a furniture, sash antl door factory, a real 
estate office, express and telegraph offices, five 
saloons, a Chinese laundry and a number of good 
private residences. 

Throughout 1886, building operations progressed 
steadily, and the structures were mostly of a per- 
manent character, though the advance was not quite 
so marked as in the preceding twelvemonth. In 
]887 the growth of Snohomish was greater in pro- 
portion to population than that of any other town 
on the sound, the cost of improvements being forty- 
five thousand dollars. It was during this year that 
the first system of water works was instituted in the 
town and it was during this year also that Snoho- 
mish City began seriously to wrestle with railroad 
]iroblems, though the railway situation had been 
watched with interest for \-ears. Al)out the middle 



CITIES AXD TOWNS 



333 



ot December a mass railway meeting was held in 
Odd Fellows' hall "to discuss railroad and other 
questions relating to the future prosperity of the 
town." Of this meeting H. S. Spurrell was elected 
cliairman and C. H. Packard, secretary, whereujion 
E. C. Ferguson stated the specific objects of the 
convocation. He told the story of a conversation 
with President Canfield. of the P.ellingham liay and 
ISritish Columbia Railroad Company, in which that 
worthy informed him that a good location for his 
l)roposed road had been found passing through 
tlie country via Marysville and Lowell. Mr. Fer- 
guson argued the superior advantages of a road 
further back from the sound, passing through 
Snohomish City, and the outcome of the con- 
versation was a proposition by President Can- 
field to build through Snohomish provided a 
bonus of twenty-five per cent, of the town lots 
should be given. Later, Mr. Ferguson and two 
other leading Snohomishites met the Seattle. 
Lake Shore & Eastern ofiicials, who offered to build 
a branch to Snohomish if the right of way and 
depot grounds were furnished. Mr. Ferguson and 
his associates secured the right of way from all but 
three persons along the line, by the payment from 
their private purses of fifteen hundred dollars, and 
they were now asking that others interested in the 
town should furnish funds to complete the purchase. 
Clark Ferguson and H. Blackman were appointed 
to circulate a subscription list among the business 
men and others, that the needed funds might be 
secured. 

The prospect of a railroad had a decidedly stim- 
ulating effect upon business enterprises and 
speculation in town and county. "At Snohomish," 
said the Seattle Press in September, 1887. "every- 
thing betokens prosperity. The foundations of a 
new brick bank have been laid, and the building, 
when finished, will be a credit to the builder and 
the city. All kinds of business are in a flourishing 
condition, everyone is busy. The merchants are 
tliriving and consequently happy." 

The railroad, anticipated in ISST, became an 
accomplished fact in 1S8S. Throughout the whole 
of the latter year the main topic of interest was the 
doings of the right of way clearers, the graders, the 
bridge builders and the track layers. The long 
expected first train crossed the bridge near town at 
'.1 :30 in the morning of September l.ith, the memor- 
able event being witnessed by a large, enthusiastic 
and joyous crowd. In commemoration of the occa- 
sion the Eye published the following verses from 
tlie pen of its agricultural editor, George W. Head : 

^'At the sound of the whistle of cars on the bridge 

Men, women and children did run, 
Each screaming aloud at the top of his voice. 

The Lake Shore and Eastern is done. 

''A town that for years has been counted as dead 
To new business and Hfe will soon come, 



We all can have wealth to go where we please 
Now the Lake Shore and Eastern is done. 

"Our moss covered mayor can live at his ease, 
He can wear a plug hat and drink rum, 

And advance fifty dollars the price of each lot 
Now the Lake Shore and Eastern has come. 

"Old bummers and drones can take a back seat 
And give way to new blood that will come. 

They've all had their day and their goose will be cooked, 
When the Lake Shore and Eastern is done. 

"New sidewalks and bridges the village will have 

And all business will go with a hum. 
From village to city our growth will be quick. 

Now the Lake Shore and Eastern has come. 

"We surely will build a new court-house and jail 
And we'll take care of tramps if they come ; 

It will furnish some work for the marshal, you see. 
When the Lake Shore and Eastern is done." 

Citizens of Snohomish were rejoicing at this 
time in the railroad blessings that had already come 
to them, and they were also looking for the early 
completion of the road to \'ancouver, B. C, and for 
the branching off of the trans-Cascade division at 
their town, which would make Snohomish the con- 
necting point of two great highways of travel. 
During this important year, the town incorporated, 
and inaugurated extensive improvements, among 
them a system of water works. A national bank 
was established : the finest hotel north of Seattle 
was built; an electric light company was organized; 
also a fire department and a building and loan 
association. A shingle mill with a capacity of 
about forty thousand commenced operations, 
and another, to have a capacity of fifty thou- 
sand was in course of construction, while the 
old mill was so enlarged and improved as 
to double its capacity. In proportion to size, 
more building was done than in any other 
to\\ n in western Washington, the building improve- 
ments aggregating one hundred and twenty-five 
thousand dollars, and the railroad improvements 
two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. 

P.y 1S8!) Snohomish boasted of three general 
merchandise stores, four groceries, four hardware 
and tin stores, three dry goods, two fruit and con- 
fectionery, two book and stationery, two jewelry, 
three furniture, two pharmacies, five meat markets, 
five hotels, one crockery and glassware store, three 
liver\- and sale stables, a fruit and fish stand, five 
restaurants, two harness shops, one machine and 
wagon shop, four blacksmith shops, three churches, 
a fourteen thousand dollar brand new school- 
house, an opera house. Odd Fellows' and Masonic 
halls, a photograph gallery, three saw-mills, two 
shingle mills, two sash and door factories, two brick 
}ards, an abundant supply of water for domestic 
and protective purposes, belonging to the Snoho- 
mish Water Company ; and elect^ric'lights, fiu-iiished 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



by the Snohomish Electric Light, Power & Gas 
Company. 

Manufacturing activity was great. Blackman 
Brothers' plant, recently improved and extended, 
with a capacity of one hundred thousand feet of 
lumber, one hundred and twenty-five thousand 
shingles, one hundred doors and as many window 
frames, was busy continuously. The same was true 
of Dow & Stevens" mill, capacity thirty thousand 
to forty thousand, of Morgan Brothers' factory, 
of the Snohomish Manufacturing Company's 
capacious plant, of J. B. Nolls' and I. N. Mud- 
gett & Sons' shingle mill, of Pearsall's steam brick 
manufactory, which had a capacity of thirty-five 
thousand brick a day and of E. Bast's yard, 
capacity six to eight thousand brick. The num- 
ber of men engaged in manufacturing and 
as skilled laborers throughout the town ex- 
ceeded two hundred; many more were engaged 
in teaming, freighting and the like, while five hun- 
dred men, most of whom claimed Snohomish as 
their home, were at work in the woods in regions 
tributary to the town, to say nothing of those 
employed in clearing land, developing the agricul- 
tural resources of the surrounding country, etc. 

The era of rapid development, which came with 
the certainty that railroad building was about to 
begin, continued throughout the whole of 1890, 
though the spring of that year was 'somewhat 
quieter than usual, especially for transient men, and 
those whose affairs were not established on a sub- 
stantial basis. The influence of the Port Gardner 
real estate excitement was distinctly felt. As was 
natural, country property to westward of Snoho- 
mish, between that and the expected ocean port, 
soared skyward in price. Great quantities of farm 
land, improved and unimproved, were bonded, and 
sales at prices ranging from one hundred to two 
hundred dollars an acre were frequent. At the same 
time, men were asking themselves what would be 
the effect upon Snohomish of the building of a large 
city so near, and as none could foresee clearly, an 
element of uncertainty existed. 

But while the halting conservatives may have 
been troubled with fears "and forebodings, tlie gen- 
eral opinion was that the amount of business done 
in Snohomish would not be greatly lessened by the 
new city, though its character must needs be 
changed' radically. Progress was the slogan of the 
surrounding countn', and the progressive citizens 
of Snohomish could not lag behind. As the year 
advanced, they threw whatever apprehension of 
evil any of them may have had to the winds and 
joined heartily in the progressive movement. Early 
in the summer, the Robinson-Cyphers block was 
completed, and a correspondent of the Seattle Post- 
Intelligencer, writing in July, stated that excava- 
tions were then completed and the brick was on the 
ground for the Burns block, which was to be a two- 
story building with a basement, and to cost seven 



thousand five hundred dollars. The same writer 
tells us that a great many expensive residences were 
either in process of erection or just turned over by 
the contractors. 

A special edition of the Snohomish Sun furnishes 
a list of buildings erected in Snohomish in 1S!)0 with 
the estimated value of each, from which it ajipcars 
that more than two hundred and twenty thousand 
dollars were thus invested in a single twelvemonth. 
The list includes the county court-house, which cost 
thirty thousand dollars. 

The law imder which Snohomish was incorpo- 
rated as a village in 1888 having been declared null 
and void in the spring of 1890, the town was for a 
time without municipal government of any kind, but 
eventually it was reorganized under the new law as 
a city of the third class. The temporary officers 
were as follows: Mayor, H. Blackman; council- 
men, James Burton, W. M. Snyder, Lot Wilbur, D. 
W. Craddock, H. D. Morgan : city clerk, J. V. 
Bowen; city attorney, F. M. Headlee ; city treasurer, 
Charles L. Lawry ; marshal, William l'.ni\\n; city 
engineer, George James ; health officer. Dr. S. B. 
Limerick ; street commissioner, A. Van Buren ; city 
assessor, E. K. Crosby. They took up with energy 
the work of general improvement of the city. It is 
stated that contracts for street grading, planking, 
sidewalk huililing, etc., to the amount of eighty 
thousand dollars were at once let. They also greatly 
improved the fire protection of the city by the in- 
stallation of a new fire engine and other fire fighting 
apparatus. 

Great was the activity in and around Snohomish 
at this time in the development of manufacturing 
industries. Blackman Brothers were erecting a mill 
fifty by three hundred feet with two wings each fifty 
by one hundred feet in place of the plant destroyed 
by fire the preceding September. At Cathcart, four 
miles south of Snohomish, a shingle mill and steam 
saw-mill were put in operation, while within the 
limits of the town the water power saw-mill and 
factory of Morgan Brothers and the Snohomish 
Manufacturing Company were in full blast, turning- 
out lumber, sash and doors, blinds, mouldings and 
all kinds of house furnishing materials. Many other 
enterprises were contemplated at this time, among 
them a steam pulp mill. Manufacturing improve- 
ments in and around Snohomish in 1890 were enum- 
erated as follows: Snohomish iNIanufacturing- 
Companv, $1-4,000; Snohomish Lumber Company, 
$25,000 ;' Electric Light improvement, $20,000 ; Cath- 
cart's saw-mill at Cathcart, $25,000; Cathcart's 
shingle mill at Cathcart, $5,000 ; Pearsall's brick and 
tile works, $10,000 ; work on Blackman Brothers'' 
mill, $15,000; Dubuque's saw-mill. $15,000; Missi- 
mer & Illman's mill, $5,000; E. D. Smith's mill at 
Lowell, $10,000; total $144,000. It was expected 
that Blackman Brothers' plant, when completed, 
would cost nearlv $300,000. It consisted of a saw- 
mill, lath mill, sash and door factory, machine shop. 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



335 



turning lathe and dr_y kiln. Power was to be fur- 
nished by three mammoth engines, and the mills 
were to have a capacit}' of one hundred thousand 
feet of lumber and one hundred and twenty-five 
thousand shingles per diem. 

The year 1891 brought some rather serious dis- 
asters to Snohomish. About midnight on the 9th 
of June, the existence of fire in Blackman Brothers' 
mill, in South Snohomish, was announced by a 
chorus of blasts from factory whistles, and a sleep- 
ing populace was awakened to the fact that the 
plant in which the towns-people had such just cause 
for pride was falling a victim to the great destroyer. 
Little could be done to stay the fury of the flames 
and soon nothing was left of the once splendid 
plant but broken and heat-warped machinery, 
charred embers, ashes and the tall smoke stack, 
standing like a lone sentinel in the midst of the 
desolation. The loss was estimated at from one hun- 
dred thousand to one hundred and ten thousand dol- 
lars, not covered by insurance and some that fell 
upon the insurance companies. The owners of the 
mill had been burned out about a year and a half 
before, at a loss of nearly one hundred thousand 
dollars, hence this disaster was especially discourag- 
ing to them, but it bore heavily also upon the town, 
which had been deriving not a little benefit from 
the money distributed by this large enterprise. 
While inferior in size to some other plants on the 
sound, this mill took rank among the most com- 
pletely equipped and conveniently arranged. 

The mill was in charge of a watchman who 
claimed to have gone over the entire premises on a 
tour of inspection about five minutes before twelve. 
Finding everything all right he went to his midnight 
lunch, to which he had hardly sat down, when he 
lieard the alarm. Rushing out to ascertain the cause, 
he saw flames issuing from the engine room, and 
on more minute examination he found it to be all 
ablaze. The origin of the fire is unknown. 

The 19th of August the peaceful little city was 
again startled by the dread alarm bell. The fire this 
time was found to be in a frame building owned 
by Rufus E. Patterson and occupied in front by 
Kistler & Company, a grocery firm, and by the 
bakery of B. Zonstein in the rear. The assertion 
has been made that ten persons were asleep in the 
second story of the building at the time and that 
these effected their escape with difficulty by jump- 
ing from the second story window to the awning 
and descending thence to the ground by ladder. 

The firemen reached the scene with due alacrity, 
but experienced much difficulty in finding a hydrant 
to which they could attach their hose. At la-st con- 
nection was obtained two blocks away, but the pres- 
sure was not sufficient to force water through such 
a length of hose, and not until the entire pressure 
from the main could be brought to bear on the 
hydrant, did tiie firemen succeed in obtaining a 
stream to play on the flames. 



Meanwhile the dread scourge was getting in' its 
work most effectually. The entire block was de- 
stroyed as was also an adjoining dwelling, occupied 
by F. Imo, who, however, succeeded in saving most 
of his household goods. The loss was estimated at 
six thousand dollars, distributed as follows: Mr-. 
Patterson, $3,000, insured for $2,000; Kistler & 
Company, $2,000, insurance $1,500 and B. Zonstein, 
$1,000. 

The city government in 1891 was in the hands of 
E. C. Ferguson, mayor; James Pearl, I. Cathcart, 
C. H. Bakeman, W. H. Ward, U. Stinson and II. 
Spurrell, councilmen ; T. E. Marks, city clerk; J. 
A. Coleman, city attorney; Charles L. llawry, city 
treasurer ; William Brown, marshal ; H. C. Comegys, 
city assessor ; Dr. S. B. Limerick, health officer and 
John Swett, street commissioner. Unfortunately a 
somewhat serious official quarrel developed before 
these gentlemen had been long at the helm. The 
city council brought charges against Marshal 
Brown, accusing him of dishonesty and peculation, 
and although they subsequently became convinced 
that they could not convict him and withdrew the 
charges, yet they dismissed him 'from his office. 
The case was taken into the court and the marshal 
reinstated, whereupon the council again arraigned 
him, gave him a trial before their own body, found 
him guilty and again dismissed him. It seems that 
Brown did not care to appeal this time, but he 
declined to turn over the properties of his office 
until his bondsmen were released. Thereupon, safe 
breaking experts were sent for, and one day about the 
1st of October, two gunsmiths arrived from Seattle, 
having come for the purpose of opening the safe 
in which these properties were kept. This they did, 
in the presence of Cleveland and three others, two 
of them officers. As the two gunsmiths were about 
to return next morning, they were arrested and 
taken into Justice Griffith's court, where they waived 
examination and gave bonds in the sum of three 
hundred dollars each to appear before the superior 
court. Brown claimed that the safe was the prop- 
erty of the county and was simply loaned to him by 
the commissioners for use during his term of office. 

One of the great achievements of 1891 and the 
following year was the establishment of the city 
water system. Before this time water had been 
supplied in a rather unsatisfactory manner by a 
private company. At a meeting held June 20, 1891, 
the council decided to construct a immicipal system 
and the matter was a live issue until late in 1893, 
when the water works were completed. They con- 
sisted of two double action pumps with an aggre- 
gate capacity of two hundred thousand gallons per 
diem ; a reservoir of five hundred thousand gallons 
capacity, miles of mains and laterals ; a large num- 
ber of hydrants, well distributed, etc. 

Although there was no real boom in .Snohomish 
during the latter eighties and the early nineties, 
building activity was great and the increase in pop- 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



Illation rapid. The Tribune of September 22, 1892, 
tells us that many unfinished buildings were then in 
course of construction in the city and many more 
in contemplation, among the former being the 
Dorrance Academy, which was located on Avenue 
A., between First and Second streets. The claimed 
population of the town in 188S was eight hundred, 
in 1890 it was one thousand nine hundred and 
ninety-five, and no doubt the same ratio of increase 
was almost if not altogether maintained during the 
ensuing two years. 

Such being the condition, the financial depres- 
sion of 1893 might be expected to come as a special 
shock to Snohomish. It did give the speed of the 
car of progress a rather sudden check, but the re- 
action was not so pronounced as one would expect. 
The Tribune tells us that considerable building was 
still going on in various parts of Snohomish in 
July, 1893, and that times, though quiet, were far 
better than in many other localities. It is a signifi- 
cant fact that not one of the Snohomish banks was 
even shaken by the financial storm of 1893, while all 
the business houses managed to weather the gale. 

But the year did not pass without bringing to 
Snohomish its share of disaster. On the last day 
of January, t,he fire alarm warned the people that 
something was wrong, and it soon became generally 
known that the Great Northern saloon, on the corner 
of First street and Avenue A, was on fire. The 
cause of the conflagration is a matter upon which 
reports differ, but the one that seemed plausible 
was that the dead and dry remains of fir boughs, 
which had once served to adorn the ceiling of the 
room, caught from the stove pipe, causing the entire 
interior to become enveloped in a flash. There must, 
from some cause, have been undue delay in turning 
in the alarm, for though the firemen responded with 
alacrity, the building was all ablaze inside and out, 
when they arrived. Further delay in beginning the 
struggle with the destroyer was caused by the fact 
that the nearest hydrant was frozen up. By the 
time connection was secured with one a block away. 
Kirk's furniture store had caught and was being 
rapidly consumed, but soon two streams were play- 
ing upon the flames, and presently a third began its 
work, the frozen hydrant near the fire having been 
thawed out by placing a barrel over it and building 
a fire inside. For some reason it was impossible to 
get a heavy flow of water and for a while appear- 
ances were that the entire row of buildings on that 
side of the street would be wiped out of existence. 
Finally the engine, whose pumps were frozen up, 
was gotten into action and from that time on the 
fortunes of the battle belonged to the firemen, who 
brought the career of the flames to an abrupt end. 

The saloon was entirely destroyed as was also 
a small barber shop, while Kirk's establishment was 
damaged to the extent of fifteen hundred or two 
thousand dollars. This loss was covered by insur- 
ance, but Mr. Kirk himself suffered a loss of about 



two thousand dollars in stock and household goods 
destroyed or damaged by fire and water. The loss 
of the Great Northern saloon was fully covered by 
insurance. 

Again in the fall the consuming elements went 
on the rampage in Snohomish, destroying, early in 
the morning of September 16th, the Bakeman block 
and Rice & Gardner's meat market. The efforts of 
the fire department were prompt, efficient and well 
directed but the location of the fire was such that it 
was almost impossible to get water to the hottest 
point. 

"The flames," says the Tribune, "rolled out 
under Rice & Gardner's building and the fish market 
until the west and south sides of these two buildings 
were a mass of flames. Chief Allen kept his men 
hard at work and it was thought for a while that 
all of the buildings would be partially saved, but the 
fire had burned so long in the top basement that the 
south side wall was burned through and after giving 
a few cracks and lurches that warned the firemen 
to get out of the way, the tall structure toppled over 
toward Gittlesohn i3rothers' clothing store, carry- 
ing the little fish market. Rice & Gardner's store 
and Lang's fruit stand with it. The whole thing 
landed at the bottom of the gulch. The firemen kept 
pouring water on the burning ruins until ten o'clock 
this morning, when the last of the fire was extin- 
guished. 

"When the fire was discovered, the smoke was 
so thick in the building that nothing could be gotten 
out and the loss is consequently very heavy. Out of 
Bakeman & Company's immense stock of furniture, 
it is very doubtful if one hundred dollars' worth of 
goods are left. Their stock filled the two large 
basements and the first floor, while the second floor 
was occupied by Headlee & Headlee, lawyers ; Dr. 
J. L. McCain, dentist ; Dr. Thomas Keefe, physician . 
L. H. Coon, citv attornev and W. T. Elwell, citv 
clerk." 

Little was saved by any one of these gentlemen, 
but fortunately Mr. Elwell succeeded in finding most 
of the city record books, though somewhat scorched 
and water-soaked. The losses were substantially as 
follows: C. H. Bakeman & Company, building, 
$8,000, insurance, $4,000; C. H. Bakeman & Com- 
pany, stock, $9,.500, insurance, $4,-500 ; Rice & Gard- 
ner,' building and stock, $2,400. insurance, .$1,000; 
W. T. Elwell, $250; Headlee & Headlee, $4,000; 
Dr. Keefe, $3,000; Dr. McCain, $1,000; L. H. 
Coon, $1,000. 

This fire was undoubtedly of incendiary origin, 
for the smell of burning kerosene could be distinctly 
noticed by those who first arrived, though none was 
kept or used in the building, and it was observed 
that the first flame was of a blue color. About nine 
weeks previous, fire had been discovered in the same 
part of the same building, at about the same hour 
of the morning, indicating that some fiend was de- 




SNOHOMISH, WASHINGTON 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



icnnined upon its destruction for his own malicious 
purposes. 

"When sorrows come, they come not single 
spies, but in battalions.'" The same seems to be 
true of misfortunes generally. Two weeks had not 
])assed, before Snohomish was again roused by the 
cry of fire. Norbett Barrett's wholesale liquor store 
this time being the spot where the destroying demon 
began the attack. The fire company had trouble 
in getting ready for defense, some one having tam- 
])ered with the cocks on the engine, and before efifec- 
tive resistance could be offered. King's grocery 
store was ablaze. But this time the victory was on 
the side of the fire fighters, with their five batteries 
of water and the fire was confined to the two build- 
ings, neither of which was a total loss, although the 
liquor house was nearly so. Barrett's loss in goods 
destroyed was heavy and King's grocery was badly 
water-soaked. Both these men carried insurance, 
as did also F. Blackman, w^ho owned the building 
occupied by Barrett. 

The financial depression, which wrought such 
widespread stagnation in industrial circles through- 
out the United States in 1894, was not so potent for 
evil in Snohomish as in many other towns of the 
sound. Its business failures during the twelve- 
month numbered only two, and one of the bankrupt 
firms was able to resume operations almost immed- 
iately. Its banks, which stood the crash of 1893, 
were in an excellent condition. There was consid- 
erable industrial activity in and around the town 
throughout the whole of the year and not a little 
street grading and other municipal improvement was 
undertaken. The Tribune tells us that during 1894 
the following amounts of lumber were cut by the 
Snohomish lumbermen, namelv, William Hulbert. 
C.OOO.OOO feet; Cvphers & Stinson, 4,000,000 feet; 
E. H. Elwell, 1,000,000; William McGee, :!,000,000; 
Arthur McShane, 1,500,000; Butler & Meredith, 
:!00,000: Geirin & Pearl, 3,000,000; Solberg. l.r.OO,- 
OOO; McDonald Brothers, 1,000,000; JMosher & Mc- 
Donald, 1,200,000; Frank Witherell, 600,000. "Our 
mills," says the same paper, "converted much of this 
into shingles and lumber, while the remainder found 
a market elsewhere. Buck & Sons shipped 56.000,- 
OQO shingles and the Standard Mill Company, prior 
to the fire in July, cut 10,000,000 shingles and 
2, 560,000 feet o"f lumber, while Mudgett Brothers 
cut 16,000,000 shingles and J. F. Webber & Com- 
pany, 14,000,000." 

The fire in July, referred to, was that which 
resulted in the entire destruction of the Standard 
mill, a splendid lumber and shingle producing plant 
belonging to Logget Brothers & Evans, of Seattle. 
When, during the afternoon of the 19th. the fire 
began its operations, the mill was as dry as tinder, 
and the flames spread so rapidly that the men at 
work in the mill had to flee for their lives, many of 
them without their coats and hats. It is supposed 
that the fire originated under the fire box. as the 



flames, when first seen, were near the engine. The 
mill was beyond saving when the fire alarm was 
rung, but the department did efficient work in pre- 
venting the flames from spreading. The loss in 
buildings, machinery and lumber amounted to about 
sixty-five thousand dollars. Only thirteen days 
previous, the dry kiln of the same plant had taken 
fire and the building and the shingles and cedar 
lumber stored therein had been greatly damaged. 

This was the only important fire in 1894, except 
that in Young & Tennant's store in October, which 
greatly damaged the building and destroyed over 
two thousand dollars worth of goods. 

Early in 189.") a somewhat important point for 
many of the citizens of Snohomish was scored in 
the district court of the county, when Judge Denny 
sustained the demurrer of the defendants in the suit 
of the Haskell heirs z's. Elwell, Ford and Clay. The 
question at issue was one that had received con- 
siderable attention in the county for five or six 
years, the title of the holders to a large amount 
of real estate, including the Clay fann, adjoining 
Snohomish and Clay's addition to the town, being 
in jeopardy. The contention of the plaintififs was 
that they were owners of a half interest in all this 
property, inasmuch as their mother, at the time of 
her death, was the possessor of an undivided half 
interest, which Mr. Haskell had no power to convey. 
The defense called attention to the fact that in 1878, 
the year of Mrs. Haskell's demise, the law of the 
territory was that a wife's community property 
passed at her death to her husband ; that the law 
by which her children could inherit from her did 
not come into force until the following year. The 
contention of the defendants was sustained by the 
court to the great relief of the many citizens who 
had purchased portions of this property and built 
homes upon it. The total value at issue was nearly 
fifty thousand dollars. 

The citizens of Snohomish seem to have had 
much better success in their efiforts to throw oE the 
blighting, withering influence of the wide-spread 
financial depression than many other towns of the 
Northwest. In the sjjring of 1894, they began 
reaching out for a creamery and secured a propo- 
sition from a man named Alexander, of Kent, to 
locate a four thousand dollar plant in their midst 
provided they would give him a five-year lease on an 
acre and a half of land and a suitable building. The 
bonus was speedilv forthcoming, and the plant was 
secured. In the fall of 1895, C. H. Knapp proposed 
to build another saw-mill if the people would assist 
him with a site and a cash bonus. Both w-ere con- 
tributed promptly, notwithstanding the extreme 
scarcity of money. In 1896, traveling men and 
others 'who visited Snohomish united in pronoun- 
cing it the best small town in the state, and when 
prosperity returned, it was ready to resume the 
march of progress at its wonted pace. 

One of the achievements of the year 1897 was 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



the completion of the big ten-block mill of the 
Snohomish Shingle Company, which began opera- 
tions July 14th. Snohomish citizens had watched 
the building of this big mill with almost a personal 
interest, on account of having subsidized it liberally, 
and because they expected much help from it to the 
community in general. The mill proper had a floor 
space of fifty feet square, while the dry kiln was 
capable of holding a million shingles. The power 
was furnished by a seventy-five horse-power engine, 
supplied by boilers of one hundred and fifteen horse 
power. The enterprise gave employment directly 
to about forty men in the plant itself and in tlie 
woods. 

But Snohomish had hardly gained this enter- 
prise when it temporarily lost another. J. T. Weber 
& Company, who had manfully stemmed the tide of 
adversitv in 1S93, when they lost thirteen thousand 
dollars in the Duniway failure, and throughout the 
four years of depression which followed were 
forced' to the wall in 1897, after the price of shingles 
had risen and prosperity was again abroad in the 
land. On the 19th of August they suspended oper- 
ations, assigning to the crew the shingles on hand 
in payment of labor claims. The disposition of this 
firm to do the right thing by their creditors has 
never been questioned. By their pluck, energy and 
business acumen, they had succeeded for years, 
under the most trying circumstances, in keeping 
their paper at par, and for several months prior 
to the suspension they had been working over time, 
turning out one hundred and fifty thousand shingles 
a dav. Another year of prosperity and a little more 
leniency on the part of those to whom they looked 
for their timber supply would have put them on a 
firm footing, but casli was demanded for timber, 
and this at\he time they were unable to pay. The 
mill resumed operations in April, 1898, under the 
management of a new firm, Maughlin Brothers. 

In Mav, 1900, the fire demon, who seems to have 
an implacable enmity against the saw-mill men of Sno- 
homish, made a fierce attack upon the "Ten-block," 
destroying the big dry kiln between the mill and the 
Great Northern depot, despite the efforts of the fire 
companv. Only a few thousand shingles were 
saved. 'The loss amounted to alnMit li\e thousand 
dollars, only six hundred dollar.-, of which was cov- 
ered by insurance. It is said that there was delay 
in getting the fire apparatus out, owing to a report 
that the alarm, sounded by mill whistles, was a false 
one ; but it is doubtful if the kiln could have been 
saved even if the fire company had made the best 
time possible. 

There were many indications of good times in 
Snohomish during 1901. The population within 
the limits of the town and contiguous thereto was 
increasing as a result of the immigration of home- 
seekers from the middle West, and the result was an 
infusion of new life and new hope. It was stated 
in an issue of the local newspaper about the 1st of 



May that more homes had been built or bought in 
Snohomish in the preceding six months than in five 
years previous to the beginning of that period. Dur- 
ing the spring months the electric light company 
was busy disposing of the machinery in its old plant, 
and getting its new plant in running order, its new 
machinery installed and everything in readiness, as 
one of its members expressed it, "to give the best 
service in the state." 

A very pleasant event of the year was the pre- 
sentation to the city by library association ladies of 
the sightly and splendid property now in use for 
library purposes and as a species of public play 
ground. The formal dedication and presentation 
of the deed occurred on the evening of July 12th 
on the lawn, which was brilliantly illuminated for 
the occasion. The presentation speech was made 
by C. W. Gorham, who in the course of his remarks 
read the simple warranty deed conveying to the city 
of Snohomish lots numbered one, two, seven and 
eight and the west half of lot six in block numbered 
eleven, Snohomish City, eastern part, and condition 
"that the above described premises shall be used 
for a free public library and for city and pul)lic 
park purposes, and that no jail, stable, or fire station 
shall be erected thereon, and that no intoxicating 
liquors or intoxicating beverages be ever allowed 
on said premises." Mayor Turner, as the legal rep- 
resentative of the city formally accepted the prop- 
erty. 

This was the pleasant culmination of a very 
praiseworthy effort on the part of the ladies of the 
library association, beginning the November pre- 
vious. It had long been the ambition of an element 
in Snohomish to have a fine library in their midst. 
From the time when Morse. Ferguson, Dr. Folsom 
and others organized and financed the Snohomish 
Atheneum, a reading room or library had been main- 
tained at various times. It was thought that the 
failure to establish anything of a permanent char- 
acter was due largely to the fact that the library 
had no permanent home, so in November, 1900, a 
number of ladies put their heads together, elected 
Mrs. T. F. Thompson their manager and began the 
struggle to obtain and pay for a suitable building. 
It was found that the Jackson property, at the cor- 
ner of First and Cedar streets could be had at a 
cost of about two thousand five hundred dollars. 
The ladies engaged heroically in a strenuous effort 
to secure this large sum, soliciting subscriptions 
among business men, giving entertainments and 
benefits, etc. The county cnmmissioners were im- 
portuned to remit back taxes on the property in 
part and gcner<nislv did so. To clear the title and 
secure inununit\- from the possibility of litigation 
in the future the matter had to be taken into the 
courts, but John Watterson Miller kindly gave his 
services as attorney free; so this was done at no 
great cost. All the money necessarv was eventually 
raised : the property was secured ; the deed was pre- 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



sented to the city, as heretofore stated, and to-day 
.Snohomish is in possession of a commodious library, 
with all the newspapers and periodicals in its read- 
ing; room and a goodly and constantly increasing 
number of well chosen books on the shelves. The 
lawn, also, is a valuable possession, furnishing a 
small public park, and a sightly, pleasant place for 
outdoor entertainments, social gatherings, games, 
etc. 

In ]\Iay, 1901. work was begun by the Snoho- 
mish Brick & Tile Company on their plant near 
Snohomish and by September they were turning 
out a superior quality of bricks, for which there was 
a ready demand. This was perhaps the most im- 
portant industry started in the town during the first 
year of the new century. 

The year 1901 did not pass without a fire in 
Snohomish. About four o'clock one morning very 
early in September, it was discovered that Buck's 
dry kiln was on fire, and the department was speed- 
ily summoned and speedily came. There was some 
delay in getting water, and before connection with 
a good strong pressure could be secured, the build- 
ing was doomed. The loss, which included also 
575,000 shingles, was covered in part by insurance. 
In making a fierce fight to save as much as possible 
of the movable stock, Merton Hewitt. John Pup- 
plett, G. N. Cochran and William Hesche sus- 
tained more or less serious injuries, the first 
mentioned having an arm broken. 

A much more serious disaster befell the city in 
November, 1902, when a terrible explosion occurred 
in the power house of the electric light company, 
killing one man, seriously injuring a second, badly 
bruising a third, and reducing the building to a mass 
of ruins. At 4:15 in the afternoon of the fatal day. 
Superintendent R. L. Padden, Engineer Adam An- 
derson, J. C. Shumaker and John Mulliken were 
working around the plant, Padden and Anderson at 
the boilers, when boiler No. 1 exploded. A piece of 
flying iron struck Mr. Padden in the head, knock- 
ing him twenty feet, and of course killing him in- 
stantly. Mr. Anderson, who was on top of another 
toiler, tightening some bolts, was thrown to the rear 
of the building and buried in debris. Mv. Mulliken 
Avas digging a hole at the rear of the building at the 
time. He too was buried deep under brick and 
boards, but assistance soon arrived and both he and 
Anderson were rescued and taken to their homes. 
The latter was seriously injured. 

The cause of the explosion has never been ascer- 
tained. Many old engineers examined the wreck, 
but not one was found who could advance a prob- 
able theory to account for the disaster. The men 
in charge had been connected with the plant for 
A ears, and were considered thoroughly competent. 
The boilers also had been declared in perfect con- 
dition a year before, when the Electric Company 
liad entered into contract with the city to take 
charge of its pumping plant and have the use of 



its boilers. It was one of those strange accidents 
which sometimes occur to machinery, and for which 
the best mechanics are at a loss for an explanation. 
The company was fully insured, so there was but 
little delay in the work of getting ready for resump- 
tion of business. 

But notwithstanding this serious and very re- 
grettable disaster, Snohomish made substantial 
gains during the year along many lines, especially 
in the direction of building substantial homes. It 
was claimed that more people owned their own 
homes in the city than in any other in western 
\\'ashington, about six-sevenths of the houses being 
the property of the occupants and^ generally free 
from debt or mortgages. 

The forward movement continued with unslack- 
ened pace during 1903, and the years following and 
still continues. Any observing person in Snohomish 
to-day will see that the town is not at a standstill 
by any means, neither is it in a fever of excite- 
ment such as attend a building or real estate boom. 
It is simply improving every day adding here a 
little and there a little : becoming more and more 
substantial and attractive and more and more a 
city of homes. Though shaken to the foundations 
by the removal of the county seat and the building 
of a metropolis in its near vicinity, it has fully re- 
covered from the shock and is demonstrating that 
the resources which originally called it into exis- 
tence are sufficient to sustain it and supply the 
sinews of continued growth. At this writing, the 
carpenters are busy on an excellent three-story hall 
for the Eagles fraternity, and carpenters, masons 
and millwrights are at work putting up a capacious, 
up-to-date lumber and shingle mill, of w^hich any 
city might well be proud. 

With the prosperity which has blest the first 
years of the century, has come also a full share of 
disaster. Almost every year has had its destructive 
fire, those of the last and the present seasons being 
quite severe. In 1904 the victim of the fire fiend's 
fury was the Cascade Cedar Company's mill and 
that special object of the wrath of the fates, the 
electric light company's plant. The entire loss was 
sixty-five thousand dollars. This year the Cyclone 
mill has fed the flames, together with the new plant 
of the unfortunate electric company, the date of the 
disaster being Sunday, June ISth. The light com- 
pany, with its usual pluck and energy, went to work 
before the ashes had cooled to arrange for a re- 
sumption of service. A dvnamo was secured from 
Everett and olaced in position ; a temporary building 
was erected, the boiler and engine from the 
burned building were placed in position and re- 
paired and within a week the current was again 
coursing over the wires. The mill, which was a 
ten-block, with a capacity of one hundred and fifty 
thousand a dav, will not be rebuilt. 

I'ndoubtedly the loss of this worthy enterprise 
would have weighed more heavily upon the spirits 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



of the people of Snohomish were it not that, a short 
time before the fire, work had been begun on another 
mill which, when completed, will more than take the 
place of the unfortunate Cyclone. Pride in the 
new plant will be heightened by the fact that the 
people will owe it solely to their own enterprise. 
A number of the local business men have incorpo- 
rated under the name of the Cascade Lumber Com- 
pany, purchased the lease and other rights of the 
old Cascade Cedar Company and are building a 
splendid mill, modern in all its appointments, to be 
equipped with brand new machinery throughout 
and to have a capacity of from sixty thousand to 
one hundred thousand feet of lumber and more 
than one hundred thousand shingles per diem. 

With a brief description of the Snohomish of the 
present, this already too lengthy review may be 
drawn to a close. Business houses in the town are 
so numerous that it is difficult to list them all, but 
they include three drug stores, two second hand 
stores, a racket store, five groceries, four meat 
markets, a fish market, a steam laundry, a number of 
fruit and cigar stores, two bakeries, four shoe 
stores, two book stores, two hardware stores, three 
or four hotels, several lodging houses, six or more 
restaurants, twelve saloons, two banks, a cold stor- 
age, several warehouses, a wood yard, a coal yard, 
a tea store, four barber shops, two furniture stores, 
one crockery store, an iron foundry, an electric light 
plant, a printing office from which issues the 
Weekly Tribune, a job office, several carpenter and 
shoe shops, and in or near town two saw-mills, 
besides the large one now being erected, four 
shingle mills, a furniture factory, a brick yard, a 
grist mill, a bottling works, a bicycle repair shop, 
a bowling alley, undertaking parlors, a creamery, 
bakeries, two logging company's offices, telegraph 
offices, express offices, etc. There are two Odd 
Fellows' halls and one Masonic hall in the town 
and a fine Eagles' hall is in building as before 
stated. The professions are represented by six 
physicians and surgeons, two dentists, and four 
practicing attorneys and there are two justices of 
the peace and one police judge. 

Snohomish has three excellent public schools, 
Central high school, the Ludwick and the Emerson, 
also two overflow schools in rented buildings. It 
is thought that the teaching force in these schools 
is not inferior in qualification and general ability 
to that of any other town of the size in the state. 
Puget Sound Academ\-, under the auspices of the 
Congregational churches, is also located here. 

The church organizations of the city are the 
Presbyterian, Methodist Episcopal, Bapti.st, Episco- 
pal, Lutheran, Congregational, Free Methodist and 
Christian Scientist. Of these the Presbyterian is 
said to have the distinction of being not only the 
oldest in Snohomish county but one of the very old- 
est in the state. The dedication on March 5th of 
the current year of its splendid new church edifice 



called forth a historical article in the Tribune from 
which the following paragraphs are quoted,. 

"In 187.5 this settlement had a population of 
about one hundred souls, and brave, honest, hopeful, 
big-hearted men they were. John R. Thompson, a 
home missionary in Olympia heard of them and 
with the true missionary spirit determined to go to 
see them; so one day in 18T5 a trading vessel put 
him off at the mouth of "Sleeping Waters" (Indian 
designation for the Snohomish river) where the 
city of Everett now stands. He came with his pack 
up the river trail — the rivers are always the first 
highways of civilization. 

"The preacher was ferried across the river and 
lodged that night in a saloon to which was attached 
a hotel. He found the people without a church, 
but ready to listen to his message. He secured the 
use of "The Blue Eagle," a dance hall on the river 
and there preached the gospel. It is said of Mr. 
Thompson that he sat in the hotel-saloon and 
watched a game of cards during the early part of 
the evening and after a while interrupted the game 
and said 'Now boys, when you finish that hand, I 
want you to come down to the hall and hear nie 
preach.' They went. He organized the L^nion 
Presbyterian church with seven members. 

"The next year he came again and with the 
help of the board of church erection and the com- 
munity, which gave both dollars and labor, the old 
Presbyterian church was erected. Many of the 
builders of the old church live here yet. Among 
them are the following: Robert Hughs, Francis 
Phelps, G. D. Smith, Tamlin Elwell, E. C. Fergu- 
son, Lot Wilbur, John Hilton, Robert Parsen, J. .\. 
Cedargreen, Lam Elwell. Judge Ward was for many 
years the choir leader ; he is still the most sought- 
for singer in this county. Leslie Packard, then a 
small boy, was janitor." 

The Methodist was the next after the Presbyte- 
rian to organize and erect a building and the other 
churches have followed in due course. They are 
for the most part well supported by the church- 
going community, vital, active and efficient. 

Like most of the towiis in the West, Snohomish 
has the fraternal spirit well developed, and is abun- 
dantly supplied with lodges. The pioneer of them all 
is that ancient fraternity, the Masonic. Centennial 
Lodge No. 35, having been establisiied Decem- 
ber 16, 1876. In a very interesting address deliv- 
ered on the twenty-fifth aniii\-ersary of this date. 
William Whitfield gave the names of the first offi- 
cers and members as follows : H. D. Morgan. 
W. M. ; Hugh Ross, S. M. ; William Whitfield, J. 
W. ; Charles Baker, G. G. England, E. Blackman, 
J. E. Getchell, R. D. Hilton, E. S. Gregory, S. O. 
Woods, George Plumb, A. A. Blackman, H. Black- 
man, W. H. Deering, and J. C. Gregory. The first 
lodge room, he says, was in an old building, since 
torn down, opposite the First National Bank build- 
ing, and the furnishing of the room was accom- 






SNOHOMISH COUNTY TOWNS 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



plished by the aid of other lodges and friends. From 
the first the lodge enjoyed a prosperous career. 
June 12, 1891. a chapter of Royal Arch Masons was 
formed and March 22. 1892, is the date of the in- 
stitution of Golden Rod Chapter, O. E. S. 

In February, 18TS, Snohomish Lodge No. 12, 
I. O. O. F. was organized in what was then the 
Masonic hall. It held regular sessions there until 
the summer of 1879, when its own hall was com- 
pleted. There are now two lodges of Odd Fellows 
in Snohomish and an encampment, also two lodges 
of the ladies' auxiliary society, the Rebekahs. A large 
number of other fraternities have been instituted 
since the Masons and Odd Fellows, among them 
the Knights of Pythias, Degree of Honor. Forest- 
ers of America, ilodern Woodman, Royal Neigh- 
bors, the Eagles, who are now building a fine new 
hall. Grand Army of the Republic and Sons of 
Veterans, Knights and Ladies of the Maccabees, 
Royal Highlanders, Order of Pendo and others. 
Here also are a number of non-secret societies and 
clubs, including the Commercial club, Cosmopolis 
club, and the Hiu Wawa, the last a women's 
society. 

Snohomish enjoys a picturesque and favorable 
location. On a clear day a view may be had from 
an elevated position of Alounts Baker and Rainier, 



with the connecting range between them, that is 
hard to equal anywhere, while the crest of the 
classic Olympics, dim and indistinct in the distance 
is also visible. The hills back from the river furn- 
ish excellent sites for beautiful homes, and these 
have been utilized to the fullest by an esthetic, 
home-loving and thrifty people. An eminently 
satisfactory street car service between Snohomish 
and Everett makes it possible for the people to 
enjoy all special attractions that may come to .the 
latter city, hence the residents of Snohomish have 
many of the advantages which only those who live 
in cities of considerable size may ordinarily enjoy, 
while retaining all those which are supposed to 
attend life at some distance from the busy whirl. 
Snohomish is no longer seriously influenced by an 
ambition for metropolitan proportions. It is, how- 
ever, much more than a residence and educational 
town and always will be. With two transcontinen- 
tal railroads and two branch lines and with the 
river to fall back on always in case of a ruinous 
rise in freight charges or any discrimination against 
it in the matter of rates, it has decided advan- 
tages as a business point. Its prosperity rests on a 
substantial and permanent basis ; its future is cer- 
itainly bright. 



CHAPTER VII 



CITIES AND TOWNS (Conlinucd) 



MARYSVILLE 

In the progress of this history we find occasion 
to describe mining centers, lumbering centers, 
manufacturing centers, commercial and agricul- 
tural centers. There are, however, locations which 
combine several of these great primary industries. 
Such a point is Marysville. Adjacent to this city 
is a wide area of agricultural land, both upland and 
tide land, capable of the most flattering returns 
to every expenditure of labor and capital. Upon 
these lands has stood and to a large extent still 
stands one of the most magnificent timber belts, 
fir. spruce, cedar, hemlock, to be found in the state 
of Washington, unrivalled as it is in timber re- 
sources. ^Mineral belts of unknown value are near 
at liand. Within sight of the town stretch the 
waters of Port Gardner bav and Port Susan bav 



with their myriad resources of fish, of navigation 
and of commerce, and to cap the climax there is 
every facility for the establishment of manufac- 
turing enterprises in wood and iron. Correlative 
with all these advantages is transportation, both b\' 
water and by rail, which place the city in constant 
communication with every part of the country. 

This attractive and promising little city is 
located at the mouth of the Snohomish river, just 
at the entrance of the northern branch of that 
river into the inlet which constitutes a portion of 
Port Gardner bay. Immediately west of the town 
lies the Tulalip Indian reservation. South of it 
at a distance of nine miles is the superbly located 
city of Everett. The Great Northern railroad 
passes directly through the town. 

With this brief glance at the appearance which 
Marysville might present to the traveler of the 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



present day we may turn back a few years and in- 
quire by whom and under what circumstances it 
received its foundation. 

We soon learn that the father of Marysviile was 
James P. Comeford, for many years one of the most 
active promoters of enterprise in the city and still 
living there in a hale old age, although having re- 
tired from business. Mr. Comeford went to 'the 
Tulalip Indian reservation as Indian agent in the 
spring of 1873. His attention was soon drawn to 
the possibilities of improvement in the region im- 
mediately adjoining the reservation and he accord- 
ingly sought to purchase a tideland claim from 
John Stafford on the farther side of Ebey slough. 
He found that Truman Ireland and Louis Thomas, 
who, together with Stafford, had taken claims at 
that point in the early sixties and had already done 
a large amount of logging upon them, had made 
such an agreement that it was necessary to buy 
all the claims, if any. Accordingly Mr. Comeford 
purchased the three claims, together with another 
belonging to Captain Renton of Port Blakely, all 
together constituting a tract of twelve Iiundred and 
eighty acres, for a total outlay of four hundred and 
fifty dollars. 

For three years after making this purchase ^Ir. 
Comeford engaged in logging the uncut portion of 
his land and conducting the trader's post at Tulalip, 
from which he supplied as many as eighteen camps 
on the reservation. In September, 1877, he decided 
to establish himself permanently upon his tract of 
land. Moving to the present site of Marysville he 
erected a store upon what is now Front street, on 
the south side just west of the old Johnson hotel 
and near the reservation line. He built also a 
small dock upon Ebey slough and an addition to his 
building for hotel and warehouse purposes. Feel- 
ing the need of a postoffice in his new location, and 
there being no white people there to sign a petition 
to that end, Mr. Comeford secured enough Indians 
to sign Yankee names to a petition which he headed, 
to make a respectable list of petitioners and thus 
secured the establishment of a postoffice during 
the winter following his establishment. About this 
time James Johnson and Thomas Lloyd of Marys- 
ville, California, visited Mr. Comeford and while 
there requested that if he founded a town he would 
name it after their home place. He assented to this 
request and thus the name of Marysville became 
•established. Messrs. Johnson and ' Lloyd subse- 
quently became permanent citizens of the place. 
For four or five years Mr. Comeford was obliged 
to carry the mail himself from the steamboat land- 
ing on Steamboat slough one and a quarter miles 
distant from the postoffice. Frequently he had to 
wade three feet deep in the marshes. The first 
steamboat to carry the mail was the Chehalis. The 
Nelly, buih at Snohomish, afterward carried the 
mail for many years. There were no settlers at 
all then in the vicinity of IMarvsville and the busi- 



ness was entirely supplying the numerous logging 
camps. 

After the buildings already referred to, the next 
was one constructed by Mr. Comeford for a hotel 
in 1883. This he called the Marysville hotel; it 
is now occupied by William Turner as a saloon. 
Although not completed until 1883, the floor of this 
building had been finished by Mr. Comeford and 
a band of Siwashes on the evening of July 3, 1883, 
with the special intent that it be ready for use on 
the glorious Fourth. A great crowd of people, 
mainly loggers and Indians, gathered at that time 
to participate in the celebration. The chief features 
of this were the reading of the Declaration by an 
eleven year old boy, Ronoldo Packwood, and a 
performance by Will Morris upon the first bicvcle 
that had ever been seen in that region. These per- 
formances were followed by a grand feast, which 
in turn was succeeded by dancing throughout the 
day and night following. In 1884 Mark Swinner- 
ton and Henry Myers bought out Mr. Comeford's 
store business, which thev operated, until 1900. 

In the fall of 1889 Mr. Comeford, while out 
duck hunting, encountered a party laying out a 
town on Port Gardner bay, and thinking he might 
as well follow suit he proceeded to survey and lay 
out forty acres of his land for a regular town 
site. There was at first some rivalry between the 
embryo towns, but the harbor advantages of Everett 
were of such a nature that Marysville was soon out 
of the race. 

Railroad building became the order of tlie dav 
in 1889, 1890 and 1891. The Seattle, Lake Shore 
& Eastern railroad was built four miles east of 
]\Iarysville in 1889 and in connection with the new 
demands on trade thus created the railroad con- 
tractor purchased and used the old Comeford store, 
Swinnerton & Myers building a new one on Front 
street. The Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern railroad 
was subsequently acquired by the Northern Pacific. 
The attention of the people of Marysville was 
therefore turned toward the I'airhaven & South- 
ern railroad as offering their best chance for rail- 
load connections. A subsidy of a hundred and twen- 
t> acres of land was raised for that road and the 
supposition was that it would locate a depot in the 
eastern part of the town. The road, however, was 
acquired by the Great Northern, which decided to 
pass through the heart of Marysville and asked for 
right of way and depot grounds upon the new 
site. A tract of thirty-five acres was accordingly 
donated for that purpose. The railroad was com- 
pleted through the place and the depot constructed 
in 1891. 

Times were active in Marvsville during the time 
of the completion of the railroad. In 1890 there 
was a population of about two hundred people. The 
steamer Nelly was at that time making regular 
trips in charge of Captain Charles Lowe. In com- 
mon with the other towns ^larysville enjoyed the 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



boom of 1890, lots rising as high as a thousand 
dollars in the business portion of the town, and in i 
common also with the other towns, it suffered a 
disastrous collapse two years later. ' 

In spite of the business reaction and hard times [ 
there had been established at Marysville some per- 
inanent industries which were the forerunners of the 
large enterprises of the present day. In 1887 | 
the first manufacturing establishment, a small saw- ' 
mill, with a capacity of from three thousand to 
five thousand feet of lumber per day, was inaugu- j 
rated by E. G. Anderson. This building stands on 
Front street a block east of the Great Northern rail- 
road and is still in business. In the fall of 1888 
Carl Ford built a small shingle mill with an up- 
right machine, the power of which was an old 
threshing machine engine. This was located near 
the reservation line and a half mile back from the 
water front. In 1889 Cox Brothers erected the [ 
second shingle mill in the town on Second street ; 
near the reservation line. In 1890 Stevens & Robe 
l)ut in the third shingle mill in the lower portion of 
.\nderson's saw-mill. j 

Although prior to the year 1890 there was 
scarcely enough population in Marysville to entitle ; 
it to tile name of a town yet the region tributary ; 
to it had already attained a considerable degree of ! 
cultivation. A correspondent of the Eye of March 
K5, 1886, preserves for us a pleasing picture of a 
steamboat ride on the steamer Nelly from Snoho- 
mish to Marysville. He describes the scenery of 
the Snohomish as unfolded from the steamer's 
deck as indescribably grand. Giant fir and spruce 
trees were to be seen "more grand than the historic 
trees that beckon the weary traveler along the 
Lebanon. Beautiful farms are to be seen upon j 
every hand, and the lowing of cattle in green | 
meadows and the gathering of sheep and swine \ 
upon the banks of the river forcibly reminds one I 
that he is indeed traversing civilization, where only j 
a few years ago was nothing but a wild wilderness, 
inhabited only by the various tribes of Indians." 
'i'his correspondent describes his hearty old-time 
welcome at the Marysville house, kept by iMr. 
Comeford, and his observations about the town, 
which he regarded as the future metropolis of 
Snohomish county. He was especially impressed 
by the beauty of the natural park two miles from 
the town which he expected would become the fair 
ground and race course of the county. Directly 
across from Ebey slough he viewed some of the 
finest reclaimed lands in the territory, and he de- 
clares that there were thousands of acres of equalh- 
good land awaiting the hand of industry to make 
ihem homes for added thousands of people. He 
also found the logging business in the vicinity ac- 
tive. Blackman Brothers, two miles from Marys- 
ville being just at the point of instituting an engine 
service upon their logging road. The site of 
Marysville and much land in its vicinitv had been 



logged by that veteran logger, so frequently men- 
tioned in these annals, E. D. Smith. 

A correspondent of the Sun of June 2T, 1890, 
tells us that Marysville at that time contained 
forty-seven dwellings, fourteen business houses, 
two shingle mills and one saw-mill. A large sash 
and door factory was in process of erection. The 
business houses of the town at that time were the 
following: Mark Swinnerton, general merchandise 
and farm implements ; H. B. Myers, general mer- 
chandise and drugs ; Fisher & McDonald, groceries 
and provisions ; S. VV. Holland & Company, real 
estate ; E. L. Holt, proprietor of the Johnson hotel ; 
E. W. Burns, proprietor of the Pacific hotel ; 
Charles Trousdale, livery stable and telegraph 
operator; Edmund. Smith, hardware and farm im- 
plements ; Major Smith, meat market ; A. R. Somer- 
ville, shoemaker ; L. McCorkindale, blacksmith ; 
Cox Brothers, shingle mill; Anderson, Plate & 
Curtis, saw-mill; Stevens & Sparks, saw-mill. Dr. 
J. S. Mcllhaney was the practicing physician of the 
place, C. H. Schaefer the postmaster. The farmers 
in the vicinitv were enjoying great prosperity, par- 
ticularly those engaged in raising berries, for which 
: the soil and climate of Marysville is peculiarly 
', adapted. The correspondent states that the town 
! was well provided with schools, churches, debating 
societies and other social and literary advantages. 
There was also an excellent band under the instruc- 
tion of Prof. John Hilton. D. S. Quinn was en- 
gaged at the time in the construction of a new 
wharf a hundred and fifty feet in length. Mark 
Swinnerton was also constructing a wharf and 
warehouse adjoining his store. There was a third 
wharf at that time belonging to Mr. Steele. 
j The vast body of fertile lands, both tide lands, 
higher valley land and upland susceptible of the fi- 
! nest horticultural products, constituting, as some 
I estimated, about twenty-five thousand acres im- 
mediately tributary to Marysville, led to the applica- 
tion to her of the name of the "Garden City" of the 
sound. Besides the great staples of oats and hay 
common to all the tide lands were vegetables, ber- 
: ries and fruits of every sort, which found their 
] shipping point at Marysville. In the year 1890 the 
i steamers City of Quincy and Mabel made daily 
I trips to Seattle and intermediate points. The 
population in the year 1890 was estimated by this 
i visitor at four hundred. There was an enrollment 
of eighty children in the public schools. Although 
I there was at that time no church building in the 
town, there were regular services maintained by the 
Methodist and Catholic denominations. 

A correspondent of the Tribune of May 17. 

1894. looks in upon the prosperous little town of 

I Marysville and finds that in spite of the hard times 

' it was making a substantial gain in all standard 

] lines of business. The Stimson Lumber Company 

had become an important factor at that time in the 

development of the logging business. They opera- 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



ted a logging railroad seven miles in length, having 
headquarters at Marysville. The shingle mills at 
that time were under the control of Anderson & 
Eesmer and Stevens Brothers & Ladd. These 
firms together employed about forty men and cut 
about two hundred thousand shingles per day. In 
that year Dr. J. F. Hawkins was the physician 
of the town, Judge Sisco was the Justice of the 
Peace, and the Marysville bank had been estab- 
lished, of which C. E. Olney was president and 
S. F. Smith cashier. The Marysville Globe was 
the newspaper of the town at that date, independent 
in politics but with a Democratic editor, Steve 
Saunders. 

Like the other ambitious villages of Washington 
state, Marysville aspired to the rank of a city, and 
in 1891 became incorporated as a city of the fourth 
class. The first council meeting was held on 
March 20, 1891, and the first officers of the city 
were as follows : Mayor, Mark Swinnerton ; coun- 
cil, Henry Plate, H. B. Myers, C. H. Schaefer, Ale.x. 
Spithill, Ednumd Smith; clerk, M. F. Shea; treas- 
urer; David A. Ouinn. In 1901 the city erected 
a city hall at a cost of twenty-seven hundred dol- 
lars, having a fire department in the lower floor. 
As a municipality Marysville has had an exception- 
ally quiet and well-ordered life. 

The Methodist church seems to have been the 
pioneer religious organization of the town. Marys- 
ville was part of the Snohomish circuit, of which 
Rev. A. J. McNamee was pastor. In 1891 Rev. 
W. C. Hockett became pastor and built a three 
thousand dollar church, which was dedicated in 
August. 1891. The charter members of that church 
were Mr. and Mrs. F. L. Chesney, Lestella Bed- 
ford, Maria Ladd, Mrs. E. Munson. Annie Munson, 
Mary Munson, Edwin Norum, Mary E. Pease, 
Alice Pease, Vesta Pease, Nellie Robins and Rose 
Stevens. In 1903 Rev. L. J. Covington became 
jmstor of the Methodist church. The Catholic 
church was built in 1895, the Congregational in 
1898 and the Baptist during the present year, 190.5. 

One of the foremost factors in the business life 
of the city at present is the Marysville State Bank, 
occupying a fine brick building erected in the fall of 
1904 on Cedar and Second streets at a cost of eight 
thousand dollars. S. T. Smith is president. C. E. 
Olney vice-president and E. E. Colvin cashier. The 
deposits amount to $120,000, the loans and dis- 
counts. $75,000; cash available, $60,000. We find 
a number of milling and shingle enterprises at and 
near Marysville. Of the shingle mills there are the 
Smith Manufacturing Company, with a capacity of 
a quarter of a million shingles per day ; the Ebey 
]\Iill Company, with from a hundred and fifty thou- 
sand to two hundred and fifty thousand shingles per 
day ; the Harrington Shingle Company, a hundred 
and twenty-five thousand shingles per day ; the Dex- 
ter Mill Company, seventy-five thousand to a hun- 
dred thousand shingles per day ; Marysville Shingle 



Company, two hundred thousand shingles per day. 
besides sixty thousand feet of lumber. The above 
mills are all located within the city itself. The 
following are within a few miles: the Marysville 
Company, one hundred thousand shingles; the 
Summit Mill Company, fifty thousand; J. A. Ken- 
nedy, fifty thousand; Barlow Shingle Company, 
one hundred thousand ; Nelson Lumber Company, 
thirty thousand feet of lumber per day ; Kruse 
Brothers & Roberts, thirty thousand feet of lumber 
per day. The Stimson Logging Company, whose 
terminus and booms are in Ebey slough, is an 
important factor not only in the lumber business 
but also in the transportation business. During 
the current summer they incorporated the Marys- 
ville & Northern Railway Company, and by means 
of their road not only tapped one of the finest 
bodies of timber in the country but make connection 
with the Northern Pacific railroad at Arlington 
and thus bring the town into connection with a 
second transcontinental line. 

Of the miscellaneous lines of business in Marys- 
ville we find the following: Drug stores, Edgar 
H. Blair, C. Teager; paints and wall paper, Charles 
A. Anderson ; meat markets, Carl A. Gehlhaar , 
Bertois Packing Company, George A. Hauschen; 
hardware, Myers & Turner , Smith & Asbery , Mc- 
Corkindale ; blacksmith shops, Harrj' Bowman , L. 
McCorkindale ; stationery stores, Harry A. Rath- 
von , Mrs. Matson ; photograph gallery, W. J. 
Wood ; billiard hall, Louis Swanson ; fruit and con- 
fectionary store, A. E. Heider; livery stable, Allen 
& Delano ; bicycle store, Samuel Andrews ; shoe 
store, Myers Shoe Company; poultry market. Dex- 
ter N. Fowler; jeweler, James Harbridge; real 
estate and insurance, Steve Saunders; F. G. Mer- 
rick ; general merchandise stores, F. L. Bartlett , 
C. T. Conrad, M. A. Guy, Mrs. C. E. Webster, 
Hagen; feed store, C. N. Schumacher; undertaker, 
Charles Schaefer ; restaurants, Mrs. T. Stahl , Mrs. 
John Overton, T. N. Hoyt, Mrs. Thomas, C. F. 
Morehead; hotels, the Florence, W. E. Sauntry , 
the Marysville, W. W. Howard ; tailor, Carl Rohde ; 
shoe shop, William Tyson ; barber shops, Henry 
Ludwigsen , Charles Raymond ; foundry, William 
White ; grocery stores, O. G. Hagen , George 
Hauschen. 

The electric light system belongs to the Everett 
Railway, Light & Water Company, W. W. Glazier 
being manager. Marysville is now supplied with a 
waterworks system under control of a private cor- 
poration, which brings water in pipes from a spring- 
five miles east of the town. 

The public schools of Marysville are a just 
source of pride to her citizens. Beginning with a 
rude school house on the present Woods farm two 
miles east of Marysville in 1885, the public school 
accommodations of the place have evolved into 
the present elegant brick structure, built in 189'? 
at a cost of about ten thousand dollars. 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



349 



The municipal officers are as follows: Mayor, 
C. T. Conrad; councilmen, W. F. Harrington, W. 
II. Roberts, J. Regan, J. P. Comeford and C. E. 
Olney; clerk, M. Swinnerton; treasurer, C. A. 
Doan; police judge, F. C. Merrick; marshal, Austin 
McDonald; attorney, B. E. Padgett. There is a 
volunteer fire department, of which Edward Con- 
rad is chief. 

The churches of Marysville with their present 
pastors are as follows: Baptist, Rev. W. C. King; 
Catholic, Father P. Card; Congregational, Rev. O. 
L. Anderson; ]\Iethodist, Rev. H. G. Ward. 

Marysville has a large list of fraternities, and 
these with the chief officers at present are the fol- 
lowing: W. O. W., Jeffery Hilton, C. C. ; J. W. 
George, clerk ; Royal Neighbors of America, Mrs. 
Nettie Secrist, oracle; Mrs. M. McRae, recorder; 
Foresters of America, O. H. Tyson, C. R. ; O. J. 
Morrison, F. S. ; Fraternal Knights and Ladies, 
G. E. Benjamin, com. ; Mrs. George Johnson, secre- 
tary; Masons, C. E. Munn, W. M. ; M. Swinnerton, 
S. W.; M. W. A., C. H. Schaefer, clerk; D. C. 
Somers, V. C. ; Degree of Honor, Mrs. Alma Cum- 
berland, C. H. ; Mrs. H. A. Rathvon, recorder; 
Odd Fellows, R. V. Delano, N. G. ; Austin Mc- 
Donald, V. G. ; Order of Pendo, Mrs. Harrington, 
councillor; Mrs. Mav Davis, secretary; Women of 
Woodcraft, Mrs. T. Raymond, G. N. ; Mrs. George 
Allen, clerk ; Brotherhood of American Yeomen, 
O. H. Tyson, H. F. ; F. G. Merrick, cor.; Daugh- 
ters of Rebekah, Mrs. Emma Myers, N. G. ; Miss 
Mertie Myers, secretary; International Shingle 
Weavers' Union, D. J. Noonan, president; William 
Ross, financial secretary, Ferd Brady, recording 
secretary. 

Last but not least among the organized institu- 
tions of Marysville is the newspaper, the Marysville 
Globe, published every Friday and edited by O. L. 
Anderson. This is a bright, newsy paper, indepen- 
dent in politics, and thoroughly devoted to the up- 
building of the town. 

The population of Marysville is estimated in 
the recent publication of the State Secretary's 
office at twelve hundred. This comparatively small 
population gives one little hint of the extensive 
business carried on in this city. One might travel 
far without finding a more energetic, attractive, 
and altogether desirable communitv than Marys- 
ville. 

STANWOOD 

If the reader of these records will kindly take 
his map in hand while he reads, he will discover 
a large number of rivers issuing from the towering 
snow peaks of the Cascade range. By reason of 
the great snow fall and rain fall in those mountains 
these streams, though short, convey large bodies of 
water. Their upper parts are foaming torrents, 
often milk white from the grinding of the glaciers 



upon the lofty peaks. In their middle reaches they 
are usually impetuous, yet in many instances navi- 
gable by light draft steamboats. Their lower parts, 
subjected to the influence of the ocean tides, are 
commonly deep and still and afford almost bound- 
less opportunities for boat traffic. Among these 
streams, with such a history as we have sketched, 
we find the Snohomish and the Stillaguamish trav- 
ersing Snohomish county. About the deltas of 
these streams and extending for a number of miles 
along their banks are extensive tide lands. These 
lands constitute the most extensive body of such 
lands in the state next to those of ' Skagit county. 
As has been developed at various points in this work, 
these tide lands, when drained, are of enormous 
productiveness for every species of grain, fruit 
and vegetable to which the climate is adapted. These 
lands are the home of the small farmer, for on a 
tract of from five to twenty acres it is possible to 
make as good a living as could be derived from a 
quarter section of ordinary farm land. A dense 
population is therefore certain to arise upon these 
surpassingly fertile tracts of land. We now behold 
those regions in their making. Co-extensive with 
the development of these agricultural belts is the 
lumbering interest of the same region, for in theirna- 
tive state these lands are densely timbered. Therefore 
the region which the lumberman had culled of its 
splendid logs the farmer afterward enters, and by 
clearing and burning the refuse of the logging 
camps he provides a place for permanent and beau- 
tiful homes. As a natural result of these con- 
ditions there have been founded and are now being- 
founded numerous towns along the Snohomish and 
Stillaguamish rivers and along the railroads which 
now traverse Snohomish county in all directions. 
Near the mouth of the beautiful Stillaguamish we 
find a small town which, for its population, is one 
of the most wealthy and well built places in the 
county. 

This town is Stanwood. Like the other towns 
of this region Stanwood had its origin in the 
necessities and incentives of the early lumbering 
and trading necessities of the decades of the sixties 
and seventies. The first settlement of any kind in 
the vicinity of what is now Stanwood was 'a .saloon 
and trading post put up by Robert Fulton in 186G 
on Florence island at its most westerly point on 
Davis slough. In the summer of that year John 
Gould bought out Fulton and was himself followed 
in turn by George Kyle, who took a claim there and 
got a postoffice established which was known as 
Centerville, Kyle himself being the postmaster. The 
mail was brought from Utsalady. At some time 
prior to 1873 the postoffice was moved to Robert 
Freeman's place just below the present site of 
Stanwood, still retaining the name of Centerville. 
In 1873 H. Oliver took up a homestead on the land 
now occupied by the greater portion of the town. 
In 1875 James Caldon bought out Freeman and 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



established a hotel and saloon on the river three 
hundred yards below the present town, his place 
being known as the Pioneer. In a few years Peter 
McLaughlin and Michael McNamara purchased 
Caldon's interests, but on account of failing to make 
good their financial obligations were obliged to 
surrender it to Caldon in 1882, and from that time 
on Caldon again managed the establishment. In 
1876 a man destined to have an important connec- 
tion with the town and vicinity arrived at the little 
hamlet. This was Mr. D. O. Pearson. Mr. Pear- 
son brought' lumber with which he intended building 
a store to supply the logging camps upon the river 
above. Leasing a tract of land for five years he 
erected a wharf, a building for a store and a 
warehouse. His store was a substantial structure 
which still stands just opposite his present store. 
On April 4, 1877, he brought and opened up in his 
store a stock of goods of the value of from four to 
five thousand dollars. Two years later G. H. Irvine 
built a store on Main street, the same building 
which is now used by S. A. Thompson for his 
general merchandise business. 

In the meantime Mr. Pearson had been ap- 
pointed postmaster and had changed the name of 
Centerville to that of Stanwood in compliment to 
his wife, that being her maiden name. 

Other buildings were added as the necessities 
(if the growing community seemed to demand. To 
supply the raging thirst which, even in spite of the 
.salubrious climate of Puget sound, seems to have 
tormented the inhabitants of most of those early 
towns, H. Oliver built and conducted the O. K. 
saloon. Peter McLaughlin became the pioneer 
blacksmith at about the same time, his blacksmith 
shop being on the present site of John Hall's livery 
stable. Within a year or so after entering upon 
this business Mr. McLaughlin died and his wife 
Rose opened a hotel. At about the same time an- 
other saloon was established by Samuel Gilpatrick 
on the site of the present Palace hotel. About the 
year 1882 Andrew Tackstrom established a shoe 
shop and A. E. Klaeboc opened a drug store. Henry 
W. Poor opened the second blacksmith shop about 
1884. 

Until the year 1887 Mr. ( )liver, the original 
town proprietor, had sold lots sini])lv In- metes and 
bounds, but in that year William K. .Sidckbridge, 
who had come to Stanwood from PuNallup. Ixiusht 
out all the Oliver holdings and in the Idlldw iiii; 
year laid out a town site of twenty acres. This was 
surveyed by Peter Leque and filed on September .'s, 
1889, as a plat belonging to William R. Stockbridge 
and his wife. Augusta i\I. Stockbridgc. 

During the last years of the decade uf the 
eighties the little town made rapid improvement. 
During that time M. A. Goodykoontz established 
his present hardware store, and at about the same 
time the second hotel in Stanwood, known as the 
Melbv House, was erected, .^bo^t the rear 1800 



Louis H. Smith opened the third general store in 
the town, selling out in a few years to George J. 
Ketchum, who still conducts the business. 

The railroads and rumors of railroads which 
marked that time had the same effect upon Stan- 
wood as upon the other towns of the county. The 
Stanwood people endeavored to secure the con- 
struction of the Fairhaven & Southern railroad 
directly through the town site in 1891 by offering 
a subsidy of four thousand dollars. The railroad 
people, however, did not see it to their interest to 
accept the proposition and the line now passes a 
mile east of the town. During the period of the 
boom Messrs. Pearson and Ketchum laid out forty 
acres of land as an addition to Stanwood in the 
direction of the railroad, but they never sold a lot. 

Those years which we have sketched so rapidly 
were years of greater progress in the country round- 
about than in the town itself. It appears from 
correspondence which we find in the Eye of August 
2, 1884, that that year witnessed the garnering of 
immense crops of oats and hay upon the fertile 
lands about Stanwood, while great quantities of 
the finest fruit and vegetables rewarded the toil of 
the settlers. This correspondent speaks with 
especial admiration of the orchard owned by Mr. 
Gardner Goodrich about two miles above Stanwood 
on the river. 

Stanwood suffered a severe blow on May 2, 
1892, by a fire which broke out in Armstrong's 
hotel on Market street. Thirteen buildings in the 
central part of the little town were destroyed. 
There was no means of fire protection and as a 
result the citizens were helpless except for the valu- 
able aid of the steamer William F. Munroe, which 
happened to be lying at the wharf at the time. The 
heaviest losses sustained in this fire were those of 
John LI. Armstrong by the destruction of his hotel, 
and L. H. Smith, who lost his general merchandise 
store across the street from the Armstrong hotel. 
Both these buildings, however, were insured, 
whereas many of the smaller ones destroyed carried 
no insurance. One rather comical incident is re- 
called by the old timers and that is that the members 
of the Good Templars lodge, in session at the time, 
rushed from their hall clad in the regalia of the 
order and rendered most efficient service in help- 
ing Air. Arnistning save his stock of whiskey. 
.Aniimg (itlier buildings burned in this fire was the 
Norwegian Lutheran church. The burned area was 
rebuilt almost inimediatel\- and Stanwood has never 
since had another fire. 

Carrying our vision down from the early history 
of the town to the present, we find that it has had 
a steady, healthy growth correlative with that of 
the rich and varied region surrounding it. The 
year 1898 was one of the most important in the 
history of the place, for it marked the inauguration 
of the fishing business at the mouth of the Still- 
aguamish. The cannery established at that time 




Mr 


pn^^n 


•^i^ 


^l^ligpK^^ 


K 


iL^.-... -^^^^.':^^^!■^^fc^ . 



IN THE STANWOOD SECTION 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



has continued to be one of the best-conducted on the 
sound and an important agent in the distribution 
of trade. The first installment of fish for this can- 
nery known as the Friday fish cannery, consisted of 
a thousand fish, which were converted into seven 
thousand cans of extra quality canned salmon. The 
cannery, as first opened, had a capacity of between 
four and five thousand cases per day and employed 
fifty men. 

Stanwood became an incorporated town of the 
fourth class in September, 1903. The first officers 
chosen were the following: Mayor, D. O. Pearson; 
councilman, O. R. Allen, Ira Galloupe, Iver John- 
son, H. Hafsted, Charles Chadbourne. The fol- 
lowing year the municipality erected a town hall on 
the corner of Irvine and Oliver streets at a cost 
of seven hundred dollars. The town has not yet 
acquired its own water system, and that necessity 
is furnished by water works installed in 1888 by 
II. Orchard, now owned by Peter Harvey, deriv- 
ing its supply from Lake Young, four miles distant. 

Although enjoying steamboat connections of a 
very convenient and economical nature, the citizens 
of Stanwood felt that they could not afford to let 
the Great Northern railroad, only a mile distant, 
be neglected, and accordingly a steam suburban 
line of standard track connects the town with the 
station. This line was built and is managed by John 
W. Hall. 

There is as yet no general electric lighting 
system in the town, but R. J. McLaughlin operates 
a private plant at his shingle mill and has under- 
taken to furnish lights to buildings in various por- 
tions of the town. 

The reader will fonn a better impression of the 
opportunities of business in this town when he 
learns something of the great production of the 
tide flats immediately adjoining it. It is estimated 
that the oat crop exported from Stanwood in 1905 
amounted to about sixty thousand dollars, and the 
hay crop about twenty thousand. 

One of the most interesting business enterprises 
of Stanwood is the co-operative Creamery Associa- 
tion. This conducted a business of fifty thousand 
dollars during the year past. Its ofiicers are N. P. 

Leque, president ; Nelson, vice-president ; O. 

Fjerlie, secretary ; Andrew Anderson, treasurer and 
manager. It is estimated that the output of this 
creamery for the current year will exceed two hun- 
dred thousand pounds. 

The lumbering business centering in Stanwood 
is one of its most important features. The Stan- 
wood Lumber Company's mill, of which A. S. 
Howard is president and manager and C. D. Bennie 
is secretary and treasurer, has a capacity of twenty 
thousand feet per day and employs fifteen men the 
year round. R. J. McLaughlin's shingle mill em- 
ploys fifteen men and manufactures a hundred thou- 
sand shingles per day. Those two mills are located 
directly in the town. Within a short distance are 



five other mills, as follows : John Hall's shingle mill, 
manufacturing 150,000 shingles per day; Manlev 
& Church shingle mill, 65,000; Benedict's shingle 
mill, 48,000; Becker's shingle mill, 60,000; Cedar 
Home Lumber Company, 75,000 shingles and 20,- 
000 feet of lumber. The majority of the business 
done by these mills centers in Stanwood. 

Mr. Pearson estimates the commerce of Stan- 
wood at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars a 
year. 

Of the general lines of business in Stanwood 
we make the following summary. Hardware 
stores : Stanwood Hardware Company, Peter 
Leque, president, Iver Johnson, manager; general 
merchandise, D. O. Pearson, George J. Ketchum, 
People's Union, S. A. Thompson & Company : 
physicians, Urs. O. R. Allen and D. McEachern ; 
dentists, Drs. Joseph Mondy, E. L. Hogan ; black- 
smith and wagon works, Ole Aalbu ; photographer. 
J. T. Warbass; harness store and shoes, A. Jack- 
strom; fruits and confectionary, H. L. Hewitt, W. 
B. Norris, A. E. Hall ; meat markets. The People's 
Union, in charge of Ole Berge ; the Frye-Bruhn 
Company, Andrew Olson, manager; builders and 
contractors, Plett & Paddock; teamsters, Ben Wil- 
lard ; Drugs, Klaeboe Drug Company ; tailor, 
Benjamin Stoulp; livery, J. W. Hall; millinery, 
Mrs. May Watson ; postoffice book store and post- 
office, A. E. Hall, postmaster; restaurants, Mrs. L. 
Edwards, John Wickdall ; hotels, Hotel Stanwood, 
I. L. Galloupe, proprietor, the Palace, W. H. Con- 
ners, the Melby, O. K. Melby ; miscellaneous stores. 
Novelty store, E. A. Dimmick ; furnishings and 
jewelry, K. Knudson ; laundries, Mrs. S. Miller, 
Chinese laundry; undertaker, Ben Willard ; bak- 
ery and restaurant, — 'Patterson ; lawyer, G. N. 
Mitchell. 

There is a good hospital at Stanwood known as 
the O. R. Allen hospital, established last year by 
Dr. O. R. Allen. There are two telephone com- 
panies, the Sunset Telephone Company, of which 
Martha Matthews is the local manager, and the 
Farmers' Mutual Telephone Company, of which 
Grace Love is manager. 

The regular steamboats making stops at Stan- 
wood are the steamer Lily, William Cole, captain, 
and the Skagit Queen, H. H. McDonald, captain, 
stopping at Stanwood three times weekly. Captain 
McDonald has been for fifteen years on the route 
between Mount Vernon and Seattle, stopping at 
Stanwood and other points, and has been a great 
factor in lowering rates of traffic. 

One of the most interesting things in connection 
with the business enterprises of Stanwood is the 
co-operative association known as the People's Union, 
incorporated in April, 1903. This association con- 
ducts a store and a meat market. Both have been 
a great success. The store was conducted at an 
expense of eight per cent, of the gross earnings, 
paid an interest of one per cent, on the paid up 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



shares, and had a surplus of over two thousand 
dollars at the expiration of the first sixteen months. 
The officers of this association are, president. 
Christian Joergenson ; vice-president, Andrew 
Anderson ; secretary, O. A. Prestrub ; directors, 
C. F. Hanson and H. Thorson ; manager and treas- 
urer, E. G. Keep. 

Stanwood has a well-conducted bank, known as 
the Bank of Stanwood, which was organized in 
August, 1904. It occupies a brick building at the 
corner of Main and Broadway streets. The offi- 
cers are H. C. Anderson, president; Peter Leque, 
vice-president ; W. C. Brokaw, cashier ; S. A. 
Thompson, assistant cashier. 

Stanwood has had well conducted schools from 
the beginning of its history. The first schoolhouse 
was erected about 1880 and is now occupied as a 
residence by John Carlson. The first teacher in 
Stanwood was Ella Granger. The present school 
building was constructed in 1892 at a cost of five 
thousand dollars.' It is a well built structure, con- 
taining six rooms, and occupies a sightly location 
upon ample grounds owned by the district at the 
northern edge of the town. The present directors 
are C. R. Durgan and George J. Ketchum. A. S. 
Howard, clerk. The public schools provide ten 
grades of instruction, the last two being in a union 
high school composed of districts four and eighteen. 
The teachers at present in the Stanwood schools are 
Catherine Anderson, principal, Harry T. Raymond, 
Effie Bates and Jessie Havens. The enrollment of 
the year closed was a hundred and sevent}-. 

As seems to have been usually the case in this 
region, the Methodists were the pioneers in relig- 
ious work, the first church services being conducted 
in 1877 by C. Derrick at the home of F. H. Hancock 
and wife. At a later time Rev. B. F. Van Deven- 
ter held regular services at Stanwood as a part of 
the Skagit circuit. Later Rev. A. Atwood served 
in the same field. The present Methodist church 
building was erected in 1889 under the pastorate 
of Rev. M. C. Van Tyne. The present pastor of 
this church is Rev. E. B. Reese, who divides this 
charge with Florence. The strong Norwegian 
population of Stanwood is represented by the Luth- 
eran Trinity church, the first society of which was 
organized in 1876. The first church built by this 
denomination in 1879 was burned in the fire of 1892. 
A new church was erected in 1890, which has be- 
come the meeting place of a strong denomination. 
The pastor at the present time is Rev. H. M. 
Tjernagel. 

The present city government of Stanwood is 
composed of the following officers : D. O. Pearson, 
mayor; Carl Ryan, clerk; K. Knudson, treasurer; 
George Mitchell, attorney; A. Tackstrom, O. R. 
Allen, George Ketchum, j. W. Hall, N. R. Olson, 
councilmen. 

Any account of one of our towns would be in- 
complete without a full reference to the representa- 



tion of the press. Stanwood possesses an excellent 
weekly newspaper, in the Stanwood Tidings, pub- 
lished every Friday. Lane & Clemens are the 
publishers and Charles T. Price is the editor. 



The shore line uf Snohomish county from Ever- 
ett southward is mainly one long, bold headland not 
available for town sites. But almost at the southern 
extremity of the county lies the beautiful and en- 
ergetic little city of Edmonds upon one of the 
most attractive sites anywhere upon the shores of 
the sound. Upon a gentle slope rising from the 
water to a succession of benches, singularly well 
adapted for the building of a town, this pleasant 
little city cannot fail to arrest the attention and 
preserve the interest of the traveler. Not only is 
the location a beautiful one, but the view in all 
directions is one of the finest. The magnificent 
expanse of Admiralty inlet lies to the westward, 
beyond which stretch the timbered slopes of Kitsap 
county, while high above all tower the serrated 
heights of the Olympic mountains. At first sight 
the breadth of the harbor upon which Edmonds 
lies would suggest the possibility of heavy winds 
and seas, but experience shows that the harbor is 
seldom visited by severe storms and that the facili- 
ties for wharfage and anchorage are of the best. 

It does not require a very vivid imagination to 
picture to oneself the time when this w^ell-built town 
of eleven hundred people will be multiplied by twenty, 
thirty or fifty and the magnificent beach and sightly 
slopes above will be dotted with residences, manu- 
factories and business establishments of every sort. 
Truly Edmonds has all the conditions necessary for 
the creation of one of the large cities of Puget 
sound. And it may be interjected in this connection 
that while Puget sound will doubtless follow the 
ordinary course of human experience in that some 
one large city will predominate over all others, yet 
there can be no doubt in the mind of a discerning 
observer that this naturally finest commercial region 
of the world ofifers unusual facilities for the main- 
tenance of a large number of splendid cities not 
greatly differing in wealth and population. There 
can be no question that Edmonds will ultimately 
occupy a place in the list of superb cities with 
which the shores of Puget sound will soon be 
marked. While the manufacturing and shipping 
resources of this place attract first attention, yet 
on the logged off lands adjoining there are all the 
natural resources for a highly developed agricul- 
tural region. 

Edmonds already has excellent transportation 
connections, being upon the coast line of the Great 
Northern railroad and having four passenger 
trains each day. Steamers in any numbers may visit 
her wharves and even at the present time one of 
the fast steamers of the sound connects the city 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



35.J 



six times a day with the large cities north and 
south. 

Turning from the bright present of this city 
to a brief view of its history we learn that the site 
upon which the town is now located is a part of 
the original pre-emption claim of Pleasant H. Ewell, 
whose patent bears date, October 10, 18(J6. On 
March 25, 1870, Mr. Ewell sold his place for two 
hundred dollars to Morris H. Frost, Jacob D. Fow- 
ler and Nat B. Fowler. It was thought by the 
purchasers to be a good agricultural location, al- 
though being partially timbered. Mr. Ewell had 
built a log cabin on the first bench, which was 
doubtless the first building erected anywhere in that 
vicinity. 

In ISTO there came a man destined to have a 
prominent part in the history of Edmonds. This 
was George Brackett. . He found a man named 
Daniel Hines making shingles at that time. Mr. 
Hines afterward located on what is now the Potts 
place two miles south of town. It seems to have 
been of the nature of an accident that Mr. Brackett 
located here. He was going across the bay in a 
canoe and on account of rough weather landed and 
tlius had the opportunity to observe the superb 
location and to form the impression that it would 
sometime become the site of an important city. 
However, he did not remain at that time, but re- 
turning in two years found Thomas F. Kennedy 
living on the shore just north of the Ewell place. 
J. C. Purcell had also located a claim on the tide 
lands adjoining the Ewell place on the south. In 
1876, while Mr. Brackett was engaged in logging 
at Ballard, he purchased the original Ewell claim 
of Messrs. Frost and Fowler for six hundred and 
fifty dollars. He at once entered into the logging 
business on his claim and also put in ditches for the 
purpose of draining the marshy flat upon the first 
bench. He built a house upon the site now occu- 
pied by his modern residence. 

In accordance with the usual method of pro- 
cedure the next step in the growth of the town was 
the establishment of a postofifice, Mr. Brackett be- 
ing the first postmaster. Mr. Brackett was an 
admirer of Senator Edmunds of Vermont, and 
desired to name the new founded place after him. 
but through an error in writing the o instead of ! 
the u was inscribed in the government records, ! 
and hence the name thus appears. 

There was little improvement in the place until 
1883, when Mr. Brackett put up a building for a 
postofifice on the site now occupied by the Com- 
mercial hotel ; also built the first wharf a little 
north of the present wharf. Soon after Mr. Brack- 
ett brought a stock of goods into his postofifice 
building and so became the first merchant of Ed- I 
monds. 

On August 23, 1884, the plat of Edmonds was 
dedicated bv George Brackett and wife, Etta E. 
Brackett. This plat embraced an area two blocks 



in breadth and five blocks deep extending inland 
from the old wharf. In February, 1885, Mr. Brack- 
ett sold his store business and turned over the post- 
ofifice to Matt E. Hyner. The next addition to the 
business resources of the town was the City hotel, 
erected by Charles Dietz in 1887. This was'located 
on Front street and was recently burned. Two 
years later the Bishop hotel, now called the Olympic 
View hotel, was built by the Edmonds Improve- 
ment Company, of which James H. Bishop was 
president. In 1888 the store of Johnson & Ash- 
croft, now occupied by Otto's saloon, was built, and 
in the same year Fred L. Brown established a 
cigar factory. Eighteen hundred and eighty-nine 
was marked by the establishment of the first drug 
store by John N. Martin and by the very impor- 
tant fact that in that year Mr. Brackett erected 
at his wharf the first saw-mill of the place, a mill 
of a capacity of twenty-five thousand feet of lumber 
per day. This mill carried on an excellent business 
tmtil 1883, when it was destroyed by fire. Messrs. 
Codd & Dwyer leased this mill and added to it a 
shingle machine. In the same year of 1889 two 
brick yards were established on the old Hines place 
south of town by the Wells Brick Company and 
Bryant & Stanley. 

Eighteen hundred and ninety will be recalled 
by everyone as marking the height of the boom. 
In that year a very important step was taken in the 
progress of Edmonds by the establishment of the 
Minneapolis Realty and Investment Company, of 
which James H. Bishop was president, Galin H. 
Coon vice-president and manager, D. B. Ward, 
secretary and treasurer, and several other Minne- 
apolis men stock holders. This company purchased 
four hundred and fifty-five acres of land of Mr. 
Brackett, embracing the site of Edmonds and land 
adjoining. Mr. Brackett still retained a hundred 
acres of his land and received thirty-six thousand 
dollars for the part sold. The company made a 
new plat of the town which provided for a strip 
nine blocks in breadth by six deep. The men in 
this company formed in a short time a new organ- 
ization known as the Edmonds Land & Improve- 
ment Company. The chief undertakings of the new 
corporation were the erection of the Bishop hotel 
already referred to, and the construction of a new 
ocean wharf. The building now used for the post- 
office was also erected by that company as their 
office building. As is only too well known by most 
of the people then resident in Edmonds and the 
rest of the sound country, the boom was soon 
followed by the crash and among many of the prom- 
ising enterprises that "went broke" was that 
Minneapolis company. Its career came to an end 
and by foreclosure of mortgage the property re- 
verted to Mr. Brackett. The hard times of course 
checked all manner of speculative enterprises, but 
Edmonds being so comparatively small and new a 
place, having at that time only two or three hundred 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



inhabitants, and also having^ such bountiful and 
substantial resources in sight, suffered less than 
most of her neighbors, and has since gone on with 
a steady, substantial growth, with no backward 
stages. 

We find that Edmonds, during that foundation 
period of her history, was attracting the attention 
of one of the omnipresent correspondents of the 
Sun. for in the issue of that excellent paper for 
December 25, 1889, we find a good description of 
the place and its surroundings. Particular mention 
is made of the fact that the bight in the shore 
line known as Brown's bay, was so well protected 
by Ten Mile point from the heavy south winds of 
winter as to be an excellent harbor for vessels and 
also a good location for log booms. The fine tim- 
ber was also noticed as furnishing material enough 
for several saw-mills for years. The establishment 
of orchards and farms in the region immediately 
adjoining is also noticed. Mention is made, too, 
of the inexhaustible supply of the finest of clay, 
for the utilization of which, as we have seen, two 
large brick yards were established that year. A 
discovery of a coal vein within three miles of Ed- 
monds was also chronicled by the same correspon- 
dent. With a good eye for all the beauties of scenery 
he did not fail to notice the magnificent distant 
marine and mountain views visible from Edmonds 
upon which the visitor of the present day wishes 
to exhaust the panegyrics of language. He also 
calls attention to the fine location of Edmonds for 
attracting steamboat traffic, since practically all 
steamboats up and down the sound could easily 
land with but little additional expenditure of time 
and trouble. He observes that there was a school 
of fifty pupils, one incorporated church, the Con- 
gregational, and an excellent public hall, started 
by the Edmonds Public Hall Company, of which 
Dudley Brown was president and Frank Ashcraft 
manager. It appears, however, that Mr. Brackett 
completed that structure, which, after having served 
for some time as a house of worship for the 
Free Methodists, became and is still used as a public 
hall. 

The building activity in Edmonds was so great 
in 1890, and particularly its steamboat facilities 
were so good, and upon the completion of the Great 
Northern railroad its rail connections were so con- 
venient, and in addition to these advantages its 
attractiveness as a manufacturing center was so 
marked, that it was believed by many at that time 
that it would have an undisputed march to the head 
of the column of all the cities north of Seattle. 
Such was the conviction expressed in the Sun 
special of 1890. But. as has of course been devel- 
oped in later times. Everett was destined to attain 
that coveted pre-eminence. 

In the same active year of 1890 A. C. Allen 
olatted the site of North Edmonds, consisting of 
rifty acres of land laid out in lots of fifty by a hun- 



dred feet, with streets of eighty feet in breadth. 
Mr. Allen also erected a three story hotel known as 
the Alameda, now used as a residence. The smalt 
stone pier at the same point was built at that time. 
Among other enterprises inaugurated by Mr. Allen 
at that period was the Snohomish nursery. Among 
the citizens of North Edmonds at that time, besides 
A. C. Allen, the proprietor, were Willard M. 
Allen, J. N. Currie, H. G. Chase, Fred McKilligan. 
M. J. Berg and O. C. Sorenson. The proposition 
was made by the proprietor of North Edmonds to 
give both a residence lot and a business location 
to anyone who would guarantee to establish a 
mill or a factory. 

Turning from the Edmonds of the past to that 
of the present we may say that anyone seeking 
either pleasure or profit might well make this com- 
ing city of Snohomish county and its attractive 
surroundings a prolonged visit ; but we will, if you 
please, run through it somewhat more rapidly than 
inclination would justify and see with our own eyes 
what the rising young city now contains. We find, 
first of all, an excellent water system. This is 
owned at the present time by Yost & Sons, pur- 
chased by them of W. D. Perkins, who in turn had 
bought the pioneer system started by Mr. Brackett. 
Mr. Brackett had secured on March 3, 1893, a 
franchise from the city council to put in a system 
of water works at the place. The system has been 
much enlarged and improved in recent years and not 
only furnishes an excellent supply of water but 
affords thorough fire protection. The water sup- 
ply is drawn from springs upon the hill three-fourths 
of a mile from the city. Edmonds also possesses 
an electric light plant, which, when developed ac- 
cording to present plans, will furnish abundant 
light for both street and residence purposes. 

We find that this ambitious young city has been 
for fifteen years incorporated as a city of the fourth 
class. Its birth into that order of cities took place 
in August, 1890, and the first officers were the 
following: Mayor, George Brackett; clerk, Frank 
Ashcraft: marshal, F. H. Darling; police judge. 
George P. Bartlett ; street commissioner, James 
Ault ; treasurer, T. C. Roscoe ; councilmen, William 
Plumber, Wellington Smith, Peter Schreiber, Fred 
L. Brown and Captain W. H. Hamlin. In early 
times the council meetings were held in Brackett 
hall. At the present time the municipal building 
on Fifth street is used as Council Chamber. The 
present city officers are the following : Mayor, James 
Prady, city clerk, George M. Lyda; marshal, C. T. 
Roscoe ; treasurer, W. H. Schumacher ; street com- 
missioner, Eric A. Wickland ; councilmen, L. P. 
Arp, C. J. Carlson, Z. Howell, W. J. Rowe and 
Russell Mowat. 

Among the other important public institutions 
is the Edmonds Chamber of Commerce, having 
a membership of fifty. Its president is Zopher 
Howell and secretary, Col. S. F. Street. This is a 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



very active organization and is accomplishing much 
for the city. 

Taking up the general lines of business in Ed- 
monds we may note that there is an active though 
not large agricultural community immediately sur- 
rounding it. As in most other cities of the sound 
the foremost business is wood and lumber. An 
enormous business is done in the handling of cord 
wood and shingle bolts. It is estimated by F. H. 
Darling that during the past fifteen years at least 
a quarter of a million dollars' worth of wood has 
passed over the Edmonds city dock. One boat 
alone, the Greyhound, has taken a hundred and 
twenty thousand dollars' worth of wood. This city 
wharf is now owned by a corporation consisting 
of A. M. Yost. S. J. Mothershead, George jNI. Bart- 
lett, Samuel Foultner and F. H. Darling, the last 
named being manager. This wharf has been ex- 
tended from time to time until it now extends 
three hundred and fifty feet from shore. The 
steamers City of Everett and Telegraph have been 
making regular trips thrice daily to Edmonds from 
Seattle and Everett, though the Telegraph has been 
now transferred to the Columbia river. 

The lumber and shingle business centering at 
Edmonds is of vast extent, embracing seven large 
mills, all of which manufacture shingles and several 
in addition saw lumber. These mills with their 
daily capacity are as follows : A. M. Yost & 
Sons, 70,000 shingles and 20,000 feet of lumber; 
Edjnonds Shingle Mill, owned by Charles Peterson 
and Chris Anderson, .50,000 shingles ; Western 
Shingle Company. 100,000 shingles; George H. 
^lowat & Company, 120,000 shingles; Mowat Lum- 
ber Company, 70,000 shingles and 70,000 feet of 
lumber ; Keystone Mill Company. 100,000 shingles ; 
James Brady, 70,000. Besides these lumbering 
establishments there are two others three miles 
distant which are tributary to Edmonds. These 
are the Echo Lake Shingle Mill and Lake McAleer 
Lumber Company. 

In visiting Edmonds we find ourselves unusually 
fortunate in the matter of hotels, there being two 
uncommonly good ones, the Olympic View, man- 
aged by (3. W. Johnson, and the Commercial, 
managed by A. Johnson. A journey through the 
town discloses to us a number of rustling business 
men, whose occupations and business may be sum- 
marized as follows: General merchandise stores. W. 
H. Griffith, Rasmus R. Konnerup, W. H. Schu- 
macher ; hardware stores, Edmonds Hardware Com- 
pany, Adolph Cahen and Cyrus Drew, proprietors ; 
blacksmiths, L. McBride, J. M. Kennedy ; barbers, 
Ayling & Pursel ; saddlery, Andrew Simondson ; 
physicians, O. W. Schmidt, H. W. Hall ; meat mar- 
kets. Otto & Shank, Mothershead & Waddle; hay 
and feed store, George Hales ; Edmonds Bakery, 
Henry Boshhart ; notions and school supplies, J. C. 
Holmes ; transfer and express, Ed Woodfield ; drug 
store, H. C. Hansen ; cigar factory, Fred L. Brown ; 



cigar store, L. C. Engle; real estate and insurance 
offices, Frederick L. Brown, Col. S. F. Street, 
Erben & Howell ; plumbing shop, Zophis Konnerup : 
dentist. Dr. W. C. Mitlan. 

There is a prosperous banking institution, the 
Bank of Edmonds, organized in January, 1905. 
This is a private bank, and the directors are J. N. 
Otto. O. W. Johnson. W. H. Schumacher and W. 
H. Phelps. W. H. Schumacher is president and 
W. PI. Phelps cashier. 

Edmonds is provided with excellent churches, 
the Catholic, Congregational, the Free Methodist 
and the Swedish Methodist. The first of these 
churches in organization and in building was the 
Congregational, organized in 1890 by Rev. O. L. 
Fowler. The present pastor is Rev. Frank T. Bent- 
ley. The Catholic congregation has just com- 
pleted a new church building. Their pastor is Rev. 
Father O'Brien. The Free Methodists are led by 
Rev. J. F. Leise and worship in a church erected in 
1898. The pastor of the Swedish Methodist is Rev. 

Johnson, and this congregation also possesses 

a building, dedicated in 1904. 

Edmonds is not lacking in that other essential 
of a well ordered community ; to-wit, a newspaper. 
The Edmonds Review fills this indispensable need. 
This enterprising paper was founded in August, 
1904, and is published every Friday by M. T. B. 
Hanna. In politics it is independent. 

The fraternal organizations of Edmonds are the 
Edmonds lodge. No. 96, of the Odd Fellows, and the 
Crystal Rebekah lodge. No. (i5 ; a lodge of the 
Woodmen ; the Independent Order of Foresters, No. 
09 ; and the A. O. U. W. ; North Star, No. 69. 

There remains only to speak of the public school 
system of the city, and we find, as we might expect 
of such a progressive community, that the town 
of Edmonds maintains a school system which may 
well be a source of gratification to its citizens. The 
Edmonds school, district number 15, was organ- 
ized in 1884 with twelve pupils. It was then 
housed in a little building between Third and 
Fourth streets on a site now occupied by Dr. Hall, 
donated for the purpose by Mr. Brackett. Miss 
Box. of Tacoma, was the first teacher. In 1891 the 
Realty company led thereto mainly by the influence 
of Mr. Brackett, donated half a block to the district 
for a new school building. This was a very con- 
venient and attractive building, for the purpose of 
erecting which the district issued bonds to the 
amount of ten thousand dollars. The building oc- 
cupies a sightly spot and aflfords room for six 
grades. In addition to this main building there are 
three small buildings with one-room departments 
to provide for the increasing numbers of the dis- 
trict. The curriculum of the public school pro- 
vides for a two-year high-school course. The 
enrollment of pupils for the last year was two 
hundred and ninety-one. The Meadowdale school 
is in charge of W. H. Cook; the Burleson 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



school of Miss Hattie Capron ; and the Combine 
school is at the present writing awaiting 
an appointment. One item worth noting in 
connection with the schools of Edmonds is the fact 
that this district was the first in the count)' to adopt 
the free text-book system. 

Edmonds has suffered but one fire of sufficient 
moment to require record, and this was on August 
1, 1905. The loss was but six thousand dollars, 
with partial insurance. 



Intimately associated with the metropolis of 
Snohomish county and partaking of many of the 
same advantages of location, as well as of the 
intelligent and progressive type of its population, 
is the beautiful little city of Lowell. Like so many 
of the other towns of western Washington the 
town of Lowell originated in the requirements of 
the logging business. The first location upon the 
site of the present city was effected in September, 
1863, by Eugene D. Smith and Otis Wilson. Es- 
tablishing there the pioneer logging camp of the 
Snohomish river, they also acquired squatters' 
rights to the claims of Frederick Dunbar and Bur- 
lington Brown. These men belonged to the class 
commonly denominated "squaw men" and made 
locations at that point in 1861. Dunbar's house was 
just behind the present Lowell wharf, while Brown's 
was nearly at the present site of the paper mill. 
Dunbar's claim was in Township 28 and Brown's 
in Township 29. The township line separating 
the two claims now passes almost through the 
center of the town. 

The first attempt at any kind of a structure at 
that point, aside from those of the logging com- 
pany, was made by Reuben Lowe about 1866. He 
put up a squaw dance hall on the Snohomish river. 
In 1870 Lowe, together with Martin Getchell, deter- 
mined to secure the land originally squatted upon 
by Dunbar. Mr. Smith not having tried to file on 
the land. By a compromise Lowe was allowed to 
file a pre-emption claim and as soon as the patent 
was issued he sold the claim to Baker and Jameson, 
and from them Smith again in turn purchased the 
property. 

While the contest over the ownership of the 
claim was in progress Mr. Smith established a store 
just back of the wharf and in front of the present 
Great Northern hotel. Mr. Smith erected that pio- 
neer mercantile building in 1869 and soon after built 
the first wharf. In 1871 the postoffice was estab- 
lished and Mr. Smith appointed postmaster. This 
position he held for twenty-one consecutive years. 
The name of Lowell was applied by the department 
to the place at the request of Reuben Lowe, who 
was a native of Lowell, Massachusetts, and wished 
thus to perpetuate the name of his home town in 
his new western home. 



The site upon which the new town was located 
is a somewhat hilly one, though with the beautiful 
Snohomish river conveniently at hand and navigable 
for steamboats of any ordinary size. The town was 
not platted until 1884. E. D. Smith and his wife, 
Margaret B. Smith, were the town-site proprietors 
and filed the plat. The surveying was done by Will- 
iam Jameson. 

In 1874 Mr. Smith continued his building opera- 
tions by erecting on the hillside back of the store 
a two-story frame building which became the first 
hotel in the place and was known as the Lowell 
hotel. This building is still standing. At about 
the same time Mr. Smith also erected a blacksmith 
shop. If we may be allowed to anticipate a little 
we may say that in 1889 Mr. Smith also erected the 
first saw-mill in the place. 

The great activity of 1889 and 1890 resulted in 
a great growth in the little place and in 1890 and 
1891 we find Mr. Smith again energetically engaged 
in building. His additional structures consisted of 
a wing to his store, a large warehouse, a new wharf 
and the Great Northern hotel. That hotel was 
for the time a very costly and elaborate affair, cost- 
ing about fourteen thousand dollars. Messrs. Inger- 
soll and McDonald about the same time built a 
lodging house and a small grocery store. 

The railroad known as the "Three S" road was 
built through Lowell in 1891 and a year later the 
town became the Pacific coast terminus of the 
Great Northern. The paper mill was built at about 
the same time, the supposition being that Lowell 
would be incorporated with Everett. This expecta- 
tion has not been realized, however, for Lowell has 
always maintained a separate corporate existence 
and postoffice. 

The paper mill just referred to is one of the 
most important enterprises of the place. There are 
about two hundred and twenty-five men and women 
constantly employed, and it may be said in fact that 
the industrial life of the town depends very largely 
upon this paper mill. 

After the depressing influences of the period of 
the hard times had passed Lowell went on rapidly 
with increasing business and population , and has 
now attained a population of about one thousand. 

Lowell has both steamboat and railroad connec- 
tions, together with a street-car line to Everett, and 
Snohomish. Located between Everett and Snoho- 
mish it can avail itself of the advantages of both 
I the larger towns, while at the same time it con- 
ducts a surprisingly large amount of business with 
the population in its immediate vicinitv. 

The saw-mill erected by E. D. Smith in 1889 
stood on the site of the present creosote factory. 
This mill had a capacity of sixty thousand feet of 
lumber, besides many laths and shingles; but in 
1895 it was destroyed by fire, entailing a loss upon 
its owner of seventy-five thousand dollars. A new 
mill was erected upon the same location by Messrs. 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



Foley, Adams and Crosby. The new mill had a 
capacity of twenty-five thousand feet per day, but 
it too was burned in 1898. 

The creosote factory, to which reference was 
made, was built by the Puget Sound Creosote Com- 
pany, of which P. F. Dundon is the principal owner. 
The first structure for the creosote factory met 
with the same fate that had befallen the saw-mills, 
but has recently been followed by another plant 
located upon the same spot by successors of the 
Puget Sound Creosote Company. 

Turning again from present conditions to the 
records of the past and glancing at the history of 
education in Lowell we find that the pioneer school 
was established in 1873. There were only six pupils, 
and they met in a little vacant building belonging to 
Mr. Smith, at the foot of the Main street of to-day. 
The first teacher was Mrs. Hercanus Blackman. 
In ISSO Mr. Smith gave the land on which to build 
a new school building located on what is now 
Second street. In 1893 the present elegant school 
building was erected at a cost of twenty-three thou- 
sand dollars. 

Lowell has but one church edifice, and this was 
built in 1890 by means of public subscription as a 
union church. It was used then, as it still con- 
tinues to be used, by the Methodist and Congrega- 
tional denominations. 

Mr. Smith, whom we have seen to be the pioneer 
in so many enterprises in Lowell, also established 
the water works in the early nineties. He trans- 
ferred his rights to this property to the Everett Im- 
provement Company, which now supplies the town. 
The company is at present engaged in installing 
hydrants for fire protection and otherwise improv- 
ing the water system. 

The paper mill is the great source of the busi- 
ness prosperity of Lowell. This enterprise was 
steadfastly maintained throughout the period of 
the hard times and thereby did much to sustain the 
industrial activity of the place. A similar character 
of stability has pertained to the saw-mill, logging 
camps, lime industry, creosote works, and the 
business enterprises in general of the place, and 
this has given a feeling of confidence on the part of 
the people which has been of the highest value in 
the progress of the town. 

Lowell has been comparatively free from dis- 
asters by flood and flame, though by no means en- 
tirelv preserved from losses by fire. The most 
serious of these was the destruction of the saw-mills 
and creosote plant to which reference has already 
been made. In addition to that we find record of 
a fire on the 34th of July, 189o, which destroyed 
five wooden buildings on Second street. The build- 
ings destroyed were the grocery store of Tuttech 
Brothers, the dwellings of ]\Irs. Samuel Holland 
and H. Harmon, the Holland House, owned by Mrs. 
Alice Holland, and the old school building. By vigo- 
rous effort the fire was confined to these five build- 



ings, but if it had passed beyond their limits it 
would almost certainly have taken the entire lower 
part of the town. In April of 1901 there was an- 
other fire which resulted in the burning of a ware- 
house and store building belonging to Buckly & 
Company. The loss, though being quite consider- 
able, was almost entirely covered by insurance. 

Lowell has never become an incorporated city. 
Although so near Everett as to be somewhat of a 
suburb to the larger place it has maintained a 
separate individuality which seems likely to con- 
tinue for some time to come. 

ARLINGTON 

Near the confluence of the Skykomish and the 
Snoqualmie rivers, on a magnificent natural town 
site, is the rapidly growing town of Monroe. Some- 
what similarly situated near the forks of the two 
branches of the Stillaguamish, on an equally mag- 
nificent natural town site is Arlington, one of the 
best and most progressive little cities in all the 
sound country. The two towns named are analo- 
gous in several respects, the most noticeable of 
which is that in the last two or three years they 
have each enjoyed a most remarkable growth, the 
one multiplying its population by five, the other 
by two. 

In the pioneer days of any community the chief 
highways of transportation are the rivers and 
streams, hence the lands along the banks of these 
are the first settled and pioneer trade centers are 
necessarily riparian. 

Arlington came into existence as a result of the 
building of the railroad, yet it stands practically on 
the same spot it would have occupied had it been 
built at an earlier date; when the streams deter- 
mined the location of towns. It tlius enjoys about 
all the advantages of situation which an inland 
town can have, its waterways penetrating far into 
the forest and furnishing a cheap means of trans- 
porting shingle and saw timber to its mills, while 
the railroad gives it for its finished product easy 
access to the markets of the world. 

For a number of years there were two ambitious 
towns near the confluence of the North and South 
forks of the Stillaguamish. Haller City and Arling- 
ton, and although it must have been plain to ever>'- 
one that the two must some day become one. if 
either amounted to anything, yet there was a spirited 
and at times bitter rivalry between them. Haller 
City was a little the older of the twain. Its first 
store was started about 1888 by Tvete & Johnson. 
During the summer of 1889. A. L. Blair, of Stan- 
wood. "started a movement for the opening of a road 
from Silvana to "The Forks," and the loggers and 
others, tired of the exorbitant charges of Indians 
for canoe freighting, gave the scheme their hearty 
support and co-operation. The result was that the 
road was very soon an accomplished fact. Mr. 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



Blair brought the first load over it with an ox team. 
So great was the demand for goods, that this pioneer 
freighter kept two yoke of oxen going almost con- 
tinuously that summer, while Bert Crawford ran 
a tri-weekly wagon stage and did some freighting 
with horses. 

In the fall of 188!), the White House hotel was 
Iniilt in Haller City by Lee Rogers and Al. Dins- 
more, and this with Tvete & Johnson's store and Al. 
Gifford's logging camp constituted Haller City, 
while just across the river was the Likens blacksmith 
shop. This development had come in anticipation 
of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern railroad, 
whose preliminary survey had been made. Late 
tliat fall the railroad company gave earnest of its 
intention to push ahead by sending a camp of men 
to clear the right of way. and on the 13th of June. 
1S;)0, the construction train reached the site of 
Arlington. The first freight train came on the 23d 
of July. 

It was in 1890, that Arlington proper, as distin- 
guished from Haller City, had its start. The man 
who platted the latter town was Maurice, son of the 
well-known military man, Granville O. Haller. 
Maurice Haller had acquired the land for this pur- 
pose from one John Irving, who had secured it 
from Lou. Smith, the man to whom it had been 
conveyed by United States patent. While the 
town was yet in its early infancy, Maurice Haller 
was accidentally drowned, and his town-site interests 
passed to three persons, by whom they were con- 
veyed to three others, namely, Theodore Haller, a 
brother of Maurice, Simon Rumph and a Swede of 
the name of Andrud. From them, the title passed, 
in 1892, to Charles B. Hills, of Seattle, who still has 
it, A. L. Blair being his agent. 

Had Maurice Haller lived, the history of Haller 
City might have been different in several important 
respects from what it now is ; possibly the rival 
town might have been platted as an addition to it, 
doing away with all strife and jealousy. As it was. 
Earl & McLeod, who were contractors on the rail- 
road, Irought forty acres from Al. Gifford and 
platted a new town site, to which they gave the name 
of Arlington. Between it and the Haller City town 
site was a forty-acre tract, held by two rival claim- 
ants, Thomas McMann, and a man named Stephens. 
The unsettled condition of this land made it im- 
possible for the two towns to grow together and 
become one during the early days, and the inevi- 
table struggle for prizes soon had its inception. 
Both wanted the railway depot, of course. It could 
not be located half way between them on account 
of the Stephens-McMann dispute, hence a struggle 
for its possession was inevitable. Arlington won. 
The next difficulty was over the location of the 
schoolhouse. The same cause was operative (and 
perhaps there were other causes) to prevent an 
amicable agreement, and the outcome was the divi- 
sion of the district, so that each might have its 



own school. As a result both towns were deprived, 
for several years, of the first class educational ad- 
vantages they might otherwise have had. Fortu- 
nately this error was eventually corrected by the 
reuniting of the two districts, when at last the 
towns wisely decided to come together. 

At first Haller City grew more rapidly than its 
rival. Before the close of 1890, two saloons had 
been started with lunch rooms in connection ; A. 
L. Blair had put up a shed for the accommodation 
of teams, furnishing grain and hay ; the town-site 
company had built a saw-mill, Ed. Walker had built 
the present Walker house, a large four-story build- 
ing, Teagar's drug store had been started, L. B. 
Roe had put in a four-story hotel. W. J. Brounty 
had a meat market and the Times newspaper had 
come up from Stanwood and established itself in 
the cabin, which had been Lou. Smith's pioneer 
home. A number of residences had also been built. 

The first business in Arlington was the Still- 
aguamish Star, which sent forth its first issue on 
the 9th day of August, 1890. Thomas Moran, how- 
ever, had an "eating tent," where meals might be 
obtained, but the man without his blankets must 
go to Haller City for lodging, or make himself as 
comfortable as possible in a hollow stump. Tvvd 
days later than the Star, the store of Earl & McLeod 
began business, though its building was not com- 
pleted and the shelving was not all in. Next came 
F. P. Bonney's saloon, and a little later the first 
meal was served in Thomas Moran's handsome 
three-story hotel, "The Arlington." That same fall 
John Z. Jones opened a general merchandise store. 
Hill & Moran, a hardware store and McMillan & 
Rideout and E. K. Molden restaurants. The first 
daily mail enjoyed by the settlers of the upper Still- 
aguamish came with the establishment of the Arling- 
ton postoffice November 29, 1890. The volume of 
business done in Arlington during the first five 
months of its existence was relatively very great. 
"The total amount," says the Snohomish Sun in its 
special edition of January, 1891, "foots up to almost 
fifty-seven thousand dollars, nearly seventy-five 
per cent, of it being spot cash. In addition 
to this the railroad company has done an 
almost equal amount of business at the Arling- 
j ton station, the ticket sales amounting to 
$4,031, while the freight receipts ran up to 
$47,438.71,— a total of $51,460.71, and a grand total 
for the first five months of Arlington's existence of 
$108,500, in round numbers. * * * There is now- 
being put in here a shingle mill with a capacity of 
45,000 a dav and a saw-mill with a capacity of 
20,000 feet a day. 

* * Arlington has three miles of finely 

graded streets, the work all being paid for by the 
owners of the town site." 

Before the hard times came both Haller City and 
Arlington made a very rapid growth, the population 
of the two in 1893 being about five hundred. The 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



Mc Mann-Stephens contest was eventually decided 
by the former's buying the latter out; hence the 
barrier which separated Arlington and Haller City 
was removed, and the way opened for their mani- 
fest destiny, — ultimate reunion. They remained 
apart, however, until the return of good times in 
1897, when some of the principal business houses 
of Haller City moved to Arlington, among the num- 
ber being Teagar's drug store. 

The financial depression of 1893-6 did not cause 
stagnation in Arlington as in many other towns of 
the Northwest. The development of these years was 
relatively slow, to be sure, but it was unceasing 
and substantial. In February, 1897. under the head, 
"A Lively Town," the Snohomish Tribune had the 
following to say regarding it : 

"Arlington, so say the S. & I. train men, is the 
liveliest station on the line ; and indeed the fresh, 
white lumber of new buildings as it glistens in the 
sun does give the town a singularly industrious 
air. Kelley & Company's saw-mill, is almost its 
only manufacturing industry, but Arlington is be- 
coming recognized more as a social and commercial 
center for the smaller places around it. * * * 
Quite a number of new buildings went up last sum- 
mer, and several more are now in progress. Mr. 
McGilligan has a fine dwelling house well under 
way, and on the hill back of the town is the new 
Catholic church, which will soon be ready for dedi- 
cation. 

"Strolling along its one short sidewalk, the visitor 
meets with many lumbermen and mill men from 
stations north and south, as well as ranchers from 
far up and down the river ; and for no reason ap- 
parent to the casual observer, the little town seems 
to prosper amid the general depression of the times." 

It is needless to state that the town, which had 
made progress during the period of financial 
stringency, forged ahead with increased momentum, 
when the sun of prosperity once more illumined the 
heavens. It received a slight check in 1899. how- 
ever, when, on the morning of July 29th. the 
shingle department of the Arlington Lumber Com- 
pany's plant was destroyed by fire, together with 
the mill office, the residence of A. Gififord, the 
boarding house and Kranshoff's and Kennedy's 
blacksmith shops. As these buildings were in the 
heart of the city, it was with some difficulty that 
the fire was kept from spreading to other blocks. 
The mill was valued at eight thousand dollars, and 
was only insured to the extent of one thousand 
dollars. The lessee. W. R. Sutherland, to whom the 
stock belonged, estimated his loss at five thousand 
dollars less fifteen hundred dollars insurance. 

Belief was current at the time that a logger 
named Murphy, who entered the mill about mid- 
night in an intoxicated condition, was cremated in 
this fire. Several persons heard shrill screams 
soon after the alarm was sounded and this circum- 
stance, together with the disappearance of Murphy, 



were thought to argue that he had met a terrible 
fate. 

According to the United States census of 1900. 
there were 853 people in Arlington. It must be 
remembered, however, that at that time the town 
was not incorporated ; its limits were not defined and 
the enumerator had a wide latitude in judging how 
much should be included in his report. It is said 
that, being interested in booming the town as much 
as possible, he made the most of his opportunity. 

This must have been true, for although Arling- 
ton continued to grow steadily during the ensuing 
three years, the enumeration made in 1903, for the 
purpose of incorporation, showed a population of 
only 800, within the proposed corporate limits. 
j These included Haller City. Taking this cnumera- 
I tion as substantially accurate, and there is no rea- 
j son to doubt its accuracy, the population of 
Arlington has more than doubled in the past two 
j years for a recent school census shows that the 
I people now living in Arlington number about one 
I thousand seven hundred. 

j The present industrial and commercial develop- 
ment of the town may be seen from a list of its 
I business establishments and business men. Its 
I general stores at this writing are those of Johnson 
& Wick, Funk & Law. N. K. Tvete, John Z. Jones. 
G. W. Wallsteed, C. C. Brown ; confectionery and 
i cigar stores, G. F. Heiss, John Woods & Company, 
I Allen Brothers. Vanderhoof & Smith; bakeries G. 
, T. Wallsteed. Mrs. M. E. Crotser; bowling alley, 
! J. F. Wood & Company : drug stores, the C!)wl, J. 
B. Riley, proprietor, the Arlington Drug Company's 
and Mrs. M. C. Teagar's ; department store, Peter- 
[ son Brothers ; gents' furnishing goods and shoes. 
i Chris Duer ; hardware, the Moran Hardware Com- 
; pany. Allen Hardware and Plumbing Company 
I plumbers. Hoover & Dunn ; jewelry, P. F. Larsen. 
the Kay Jewelry Company and D. S. Pruitt. the 
last mentioned dealing also in groceries; furniture, 
G. W. Mayberry and Thomas Moran, the latter 
carrying it in connection with his hardware ; 
harness and saddlery, S. H. Preston, K. Jesperson; 
racket goods and wall paper ; Mrs. F. W. Price : 
livery, Arlington Livery & Transfer Company, 
Chadburn & Archer ; hotels. Walker House, Thomas 
Dorgan. proprietor , the Commercial, O. L. Allen, 
the Arlington, Fred English , the White House 
Cafe, Joseph Britton , the Grand Central. Mrs. 
Minnie Kinyon , the Evergreen. I'rank Miller, and 
the Twin City. H. Bremer: photograph galleries. 
L. Kirk and J. E. Asplund ; blacksmith shops, Frank 
Kranskoff. J. W. Gales : barber shops, George May- 
berry, E. C. Pantzke ; meat markets, the Snohomish 
Grocery Company's, the Daisy. W. J. Brounty & 
Son, proprietors , the City, George Murphy, pro- 
] prietor: Arlington carpet weaver. C. M. McCaulley: 
j Arlington State Bank, C. E. Bingham, president, 
! A. E. Holland, vice-president, R. S. Bloss, cashier; 
I the Arlington Commission Company ; bicycle repair 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



shop, L. B. Thomas, proprietor; lumber yards, 
the Arlington Lumber Company and the Williams 
Lumber Company; restaurants, the Two Jacks, the 
Seattle Chop House; millinery, Miss Kate Pearl, 
Mrs. C. C. Brown, Mrs. H. Townsend; tailor shops, 
Paul Hoppe, M. Ferris ; carriage store, Jasper Sill ; 
shingle and saw-mills within and in the vicinity, 
Lincoln Mill Company, Smith Brothers, proprietors, 
Brown & Koontz, the Arlington Shingle Company, 
L. A. Wheeler, president; the Verd Cedar Company, 
William Verd, proprietor; the Arlington Lumber 
Company, Albert Brown, manager; the American 
Red Cedar Shingle Company ; the Arlington Water 
& Light Company, Crippen & Mescher, proprietors ; 
the Arlington Laundry Company's steam laundry; 
I. C. Peterson's turning and carpenter shop ; cream- 
ery and cold storage, the Arlington Co-operative 
Association ; Thomas Jensen, president, W. 0. New, 
manager ; the Valley Gem Dairy & Bottling Works, 
C. H. Wrage ; postmaster, C. H. Jones ; newspaper, 
the Arlington Times, C. L. Marsli, editor and pro- 
prietor. There are also eleven saloons in Arlington. 
Its professional men include physicians, Drs. J. E. 
Phelps, E. M. Adams, W. F. Oliver, E. Mohrmann ; 
graduate nurse, Margrathe Mohrmann ; dentists, E. 
K. Adams, E. W. Turner; lawyers, L. N. Jones, E. 
N. Livermore. Its dealers in real estate are A. L. 
Blair, Jones & Toles and Brumby Brothers & Hud- 
son, and C. L. Marsh is a regularly appointed 
United States land commissioner. 

The churches that have been established in 
Arlington are the Methodist Episcopal, Rev. 
Charles A. Owens, pastor ; Free Methodist, Rev. G. 

W. Escher; Norwegian-Lutheran, Rev. Dale; 

Baptist, Rev. J. J. Ticker, and the Catholic, with no 
resident pastor, but supplied by Father O'Brien, of 
Snohomish. Local lodges or camps of the following 
fraternities have been organized and are being 
maintained, namelv, the A. O. U. W., D. of H., M. 
W. A., W. O. W.', Women of Woodcraft, I. O. O. 
■R, Rebekahs, A. F. & A. M., O. E. S., Modern 
Brotherhood of America, the Fraternal Brother- 
hood and the F. of A. The shingle weavers and 
engineers have unions, and the Women's Christian 
Temperance Union and the Loyal Temperance 
League each maintain local organizations in the 
town. 

The most important event in the recent history 
of Arlington was the building in 1900 and 1901 of 
the Arlington-Darrington branch railroad, about 
twenty-eight miles long. The only trains being nm 
over the road at this writing are tri-weekly accom- 
modation trains, which are not specially satisfactory 
to passengers, yet the road is developing a magnifi- 
cent section of county along the north fork, bring- 
ing its wealth of lumJaer and shingles to the market 
of the world, and encouraging the development of 
its great agricultural possibilities and causing a 
great influx of population, all of which is more or 
less tributary to Arlington. It is als<i lending en- 



couragement to the development of the Darrington 
copper producing belt, which, if indications are to 
be trusted, has a grand destiny in store for it. 

With a splendid site, magnificent natural drain- 
age, great tributary wealth of timber and agriculture 
and mines, a progressive people, a record of past 
achievement of which it has cause to be proud, the 
young town of Arlington looks out upon the future 
with confidence that it is destined to occupy no 
second place among the inland towns of northwest- 
ern Washington. 



It would be difficult to imagine a more sightly 
location for a town than that occupied by Monroe. 
Near it is the spot named by the early settlers, 
"Park Place," because of its park-like beauty, and 
the site of the present town is scarcely inferior in 
natural attractiveness to that so justly celebrated 
from the earliest times. Indeed, Park Place may 
reasonably be considered a part of Monroe, though 
not included in the corporate limits, for the semi- 
rural, semi-urban homes, wdiich are a prominent 
characteristic of Monroe, extend all the way to 
Park Place, making the two a unit in fact, if not 
in law. Not content with bestowing transcendent 
beauty upon this favored spot. Nature, in her 
partiality to it, gave also the elements of wealth 
with a lavish hand. The statement has been made 
that if Monroe were considered the center of a 
circle, with a radius ten miles long, more natural 
resources would be included than in a circle of like 
area described about any other town in the state. 
Plowever this may be, it is certain that the natural 
wealth tributary to Monroe is indeed great. Sit- 
uated in the celebrated Forks country not far from 
the confluence of the Skykomish and Snoqualmie 
rivers, it is the natural trading point for the 
splendid valleys of these waterways, valleys rich 
in timber, rich in agricultural achievements and 
still richer in agricultural possibilities. It also en- 
joys the trade of Woods creek, another tran- 
scendently rich section, and of course has a right 
to its share of the trade of the Snohomish valley. 
While Monroe is certainly not to be classed with 
those temporary towns which depend entirely upon 
tl;e timber and disappear as soon as the work of 
the logger and the mill man is done, its rapid 
development during the past few years has been due 
to the great activity in the lumbering industry. So 
very abundant is the timber contiguous to it, that 
even were this its only resource, it would have 
assurance of a long life, but the demands of the 
multitudinous manufacturing population which must 
some day establish itself around this gateway to 
the Pacific will cause the splendid agricultural 
jjossibilities of its tributary bottom lands to be 
developed to the utmost, giving it assurance of 
immortality as a town. 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



At least as early as 1878, the desirableness of 
Park I^lace as a site for a town was appreciated, 
and it is said that some efforts were made by Salem 
Woods to start one there. Little resulted from 
these efforts, however, for J. A. Vanasdlen tells us 
that when he came in October, 1889, a saloon, which 
had been maintained there previously, was closed, 
and that there were only two small buildings in 
the place. Mr. Vanasdlen brought with him a 
stock of general merchandise, starting the first 
store. In 1890 he secured the establishment of a 
postoffice, to which the name "Monroe" was ap- 
plied and of which he continued to be master for 
the ensuing seven years. In the fall of 1889 came 
also Ladd & Elliott, who opened a large hotel and 
a saloon. The next business was the blacksmith 
shop of George Beaton, established in the spring 
of 1890, about which time the town site was platted. 

The development of 1891 consisted of a small 
grocery store of J- W. Halvert, the butcher shop 
of Shannahan & Chitwood ; the hotel of John John- 
son, and a large public hall building, while about 
one mile below town C. Dubuque & Son built and 
began operating what is now known as the Stocker 
saw-mill. Here the growth of Park Place was 
arrested by the location of the Great Northern 
railway, which passed about a mile from the town, 
making it evident that the location of the business 
part must be changed. 

Mr. Vanasdlen, who was the first, at least in 
later times, to locate in the old town, was also the 
first to move to the new site. He and John Stretch 
platted what was known as Tye City, so named 
after the man who he says was the real locating 
engineer of the Great Northern, though John F. 
Stevens is usually credited with having accom- 
plished that task. Tye City was platted on Mr. 
Stretch's homestead, now the northeastern part of 
Monroe. Its name has fallen into disuse, while the 
name of the old town and the first postoffice sur- 
vives. Mr. Stretch tells us that the name of the 
railroad station originally was Wales, but 
that the name "Monroe" was substituted on 
his solicitation. The next building after Van- 
asdlen's to move to the railroad was Elliott 
Brothers' saloon ; then John Brady bought and 
moved the pioneer blacksmith shop, which is still 
in use. The Independent Order of Odd Fellows 
purchased the old hall building and brought it to 
the new town, where it was utilized for lodge and 
social purposes until destroyed by fire. John John- j 
son also move^ his hotel building, that which is now 
occupied by the First and Last Chance saloon. The 
last building to be moved was placed in the new 
town about five years ago. 

In the meantime, new buildings were being 
erected continuously until the depression of 1893 
and subsequent years caused a pause in general de- 
velopment and progress. Though Monroe revived 
as did almost all other towns in the sound countrv, 



as soon as good times came, its population in the 
fall of 1902, when it incorporated,, was only 300 
persons. A year or two before it had suffered se- 
verely from a fire, supposed to be of incendiary 
origin, which started under the roof of the I. O. O. 
F. hall, and did not stay its ravages until the whole 
of the main business block, the one numbered forty- 
one on the Monroe Land & Improvement Company's 
plat, was in ashes. A complete list of the losses 
cannot be attempted here, but the principal ones 
were: Independent Order of Od4 Fellows, $3,000 
to $1,000; Henry Dennis, $800 or $1,000; J. E. 
Dolloff, $G,000 or $7,000; H. M. Treadwell, $2,000; 
B. L. Monck, $3,000, insurance $1,000 ; E. F. Wel- 
bum, $1,000; John Brady, $2,000; Lot Wilbur, 
of Snohomish, $800 to $1,000; George Mack, $3,- 
000; W. R. Pearsall, $1,000. Slight losses were 
also sustained by persons in other blocks. Mr. 
Vanasdlen's three buildings were scorched, the loss 
being $11G. fully covered by insurance. 

The destroyed buildings were speedily replaced, 
mostly by the men who sustained the losses, but the 
I. O. O. F. located their fine new hall building in 
another block nearby. 

Since Monroe was incorporated very late in 
1902, it has multiplied its population by five. The 
people will not admit that there has been any boom, 
but contend that all this growth is the legitimate 
result of developments in the rich timber lands con- 
tiguous and in agriculture. Monroe's population is 
conservatively estimated at fifteen hundred within 
the corporation limits, while in the immediate vicin- 
ity of the town are at least a thousand more. 

The main occupations of the people in the coun- 
try immediately tributary are lumbering and farm- 
ing, the former business having the ascendency at 
present. The manufacturing establishments in the 
vicinity are those of Stephens Brothers, incorpo- 
rated, producers of rough and dressed lumber, 
shingles, sash and doors, moldings, etc., E. Milton 
Stephens, president, Elmer E. Stephens, vice-presi- 
dent, B. F. Bird, secretary; the Monroe Water & 
Light Company, A. H. Buck, president; the Mon- 
roe Mill Company, S. A. Buck, president; August 
Holmquist, shingle manufacturer; W. E. Stocker, 
lumber and shingle manufacturer; John Johnson, 
lumber manufacturer. 

Many of the farmers are engaged in the pro- 
duction of milk foi the two creameries of Monroe, 
namely, Weinstein & Company's, Charles Hanson, 
manager, and the Monroe Creamery, W. E. Bar- 
tholomew, proprietor. The reputation of the Forks 
country, in which Monroe is situated, for the pro- 
duction of berries and small fruits has long been 
established. Adjoining the town is a berry fann of 
some fifty-five acres, while within and around it 
are many small tracts on which raspberries, black- 
berries, strawberries, etc., may be seen growing in 
great perfection and abundance. It is highly prob- 
able that in future, when the development of the 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



sound country shall demand it, this entire region 
will be devoted almost exclusively to small fruits. 
The population it will then sustain will number 
many thousands. 

One of the institutions in which Monroe takes 
special pride is its annual district fair, which last 
year was held late in August. Under the head of 
"Welcome," its president and directors wrote, in 
their published premium list for 1904, the following : 

"The pride that the citizens of Monroe and its 
neighborhood and the directors feel in this little 
fair, using that term in its endearing, not its dimin- 
utive sense, is such a sentiment as binds communi- 
ties closer, unifies their action, rejoices in every 
one's achievement, and teaches that the success of 
one is the prosperity of all. We take honest pride 
in the belief that our town of Monroe and vicinity 
will appear to visitors of both occasions to have 
made a greater and more permanent growth since 
the first local fair a year ago than any other place 
in Snohomish county. Nor is the reason for that 
growth for from immediate view; the very situa- 
tion and evironment of the town is its capital stock, 
paid up non-assessable, open to all who will with 
honest work or honest capital draw upon it, and 
over and above all, stock incapable of diversion, 
not subject to graft. We welcome impartially all 
who come. To those on pleasure bent we promise 
a good time; to ihe merely curious much that will 
interest ; to those with the more serious thought of 
location or investment, food for earnest consider- 
ation. 

Besides those already mentioned, the established 
businesses of Monroe are as follows : Monroe State 
Bank, E. M. Stephens, president, A. J. Agnew, vice- 
president, C. L. Lawry, cashier ; Stephens Hospital, 
Dr. L. L. Stephens, proprietor; hotels, Hotel Pear- 
sail, R. J. Stretch, proprietor; the Washington, Mrs. 
I. Van Horn, the Hotel Monroe. J. L. Wallace, 
Hotel Northern, Mrs. Emma Bell ; real estate, J. 
A. Vanasdlen, E. T. Bascom ; the Monroe Land 
Company, S. E. Tallman & Son, J. McKean, town- 
site agent ; general stores, P. Sjostrom, Monroe 
Qothing Company, Harrv Weller, manager, Charles 
Knosher & Brother, Warner & Harris, J. E. Dolloff 
& Company, Moody's Racket, Sherman J. Moody, 
proprietor, also another racket store ; drug stores, 
E. A. Roberts and W. E. Mansfield ; the Monroe 
Furniture store, J. A. Vanasdlen and Nellis Francis, 
proprietors; shoe stores, Prescott & Company and 
the Monroe Shoe Store, Mrs. Wilma Cedergreen, 
proprietor; C. E. Ritchie, jeweler; barber shops, 
Mrs. Tillie Hewitt, the Pioneer, H. J. Dennis, pro- 
prietor. H. A. Barnhart, the latter mentioned also 
a dealer in jewelry ; Monroe Livery, Feed and Sale 
Stable, J. P. Joos, proprietor. Metropolitan Livery 
and Feed Stable, B. J. Dougherty, meat market, 
Charles F. Elwell ; millinery, Mrs. M. E. Holcomb; 
Monroe Hardware Company, Monck & Evans, pro- 
prietors ; confectionery, tobacco and stationery, A. 



B. Spraw & Company ; stationery, Thomas W. 
Stranger; confectionery, cigars and notions, W. R. 
Pearsall; W. D. Bruce, cigars and tobacco; whole- 
sale and retail dealers in meats, groceries, and farm 
implements, Bruhn & Henry, Inc. ; restaurants, 
Olympia Cafe, Monroe restaurant, Charles E. Cun- 
ningham, proprietor, and two others ; the Mercer 
blacksmithing and repairing shop ; Andrews & Sons, 
blacksmithing and repairing; the Pioneer Cyclery; 
A. Strandberg, shoemaker; Bradley Williams, con- 
tracting painters and paper hangers ; tailors, James 
Holmes, John Veith ; Star bakery and grocery ; A. 
H. Lemon, dealer in wood, coal, brick, cement, etc. ; 
Roberts Brothers, manufacturers of ice cream and 
dealers in ice ; Monroe bakery, J. P. Schmitt, pro- 
prietor ; carpenter shop, John Harris ; Joseph Den- 
nis, pioneer drayman ; Andrew Lindquist, building 
contractor; J. E. Stirton, contracting carpenter; 
photograph gallery, D. W. Funk, now leased to the 
Rigby sisters; second-hand store, J. H. Hoffer; 
James Farmer, builder and plasterer; Monroe hand 
laundry, John Uhey, proprietor; plumbing and tin- 
smithing, J. T. MacKenzie ; postmaster, R. H. Sta- 
pleton ; veterinary surgeon, G. L. Wainwright ; har- 
nessmaker, E. H. Nims; saloons, Bank Liquor 
store, J. L. Wallace, proprietor. Rainier, W. C. 
White, proprietor, Olympia bar. Peter Suhl, pro- 
prietor. Horseshoe, Malone & Donovon, proprietors. 
First and Last Chance, Charles Dickson, proprietor, 
Gardell & Bloom ; newspapers, Monroe Monitor, E. 

C. Bissell, publisher, Washington Transcript, G. W. 
Head, publisher; dentist, Dr. R. S. Stryker; physi- 
cians, Drs. L. L. Stephens and Harry K. Lum ; at- 
torneys, L. C. Whitney and E. T. Bascom. 

One church, the Methodist Episcopal, W. J. 
Rule, pastor, has established itself in the town, and 
there are a number of fraternities, including the K. 
O. T. M., L. O. T. M.. L O. O. F., Rebekahs, M. 
W. A., I. O. G. T.. and F. of A. Monroe has excel- 
ent common and high school facilities. 

The town was incorporated late in 1902. It en- 
joys city water, electric lights, and other advantages 
which it could not have without incorporation. Its 
municipal interests are at present in the keeping of 
the following officers : Mayor, W. J. Williams ; coun- 
cilman, P. W. Anderson, R. J. Stretch, B. L. Monck, 
E. Milton Stephens, W. C. White ; clerk, E. C. Bis- 
sell ; treasurer, E. A. Roberts ; marshal. E. P. Shipp ; 
attorney, L. C. Whitney; police judges, William 
Sawyer and John A. Swett. 

GR.\NITE F.\LL.S 

Situated on the Monte Cristo branch of the Nor- 
thern Pacific railroad, at its point of entrance into 
the rich upper Stillaguamish river valley and located 
on the narrow plateau dividing that valley from the 
Pilchuck on the south, Granite Falls occupies a com- 
manding position as a commercial center. While 
these valleys are not of great area, when fully devel- 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



oped they will support a large farming community 
and in the meantime their timber is a great producer 
of wealth. Their minerals have already been so en- 
ergetically exploited as to give the district an im- 
portant position among those of the Northwest. 
From the West the trade of both valleys for many 
miles around comes to Granite Falls. The land is 
similar to that at Arlington, especially adapted for 
dairying and gardening. Recently a $4,500 bridge 
was built over the Stillaguamish a mile below town, 
bringing the Jorden country with its well known 
farms and zinc properties into close communication 
with the city. 

The geological survey gives the town's altitude 
as 396 feet and that of Mount Pilchuck, ten miles 
east, as just a trifle over a mile. The valley of the 
Stillaguamish is much lower than that of the Pil- 
chuck. It is interesting to note that the beautiful, 
noble waterfall of the former stream, from which 
the town derives its name, lies about a mile and a 
half up the river and is about to be transformed 'by 
the corporation which owns it into a great power 
producer. 

Long before there were any white settlements 
on the Stillaguamish-Pilchuck plateau the neck of 
land embracing the town site was known as the 
"portage" among Indians and pioneers. It lies be- 
tween the waters of the county's largest rivers, the 
Pilchuck being a branch of the Snohomish. In 1884 
the first actual settlers arrived, William M. Turner 
and F. P. Kistner, the former coming first. Turner 
took for his claim the southwest quarter of Section 
18, Township 30 north, Range 7 east, and Kistner 
took the quarter section adjoining on the south. 
A year later W. H. Davis took the piece west of 
Kistner's and in 1886 Robert Wright homesteaded 
the quarter adjoining Turner on the west and Davis 
on the north. At that time these places were cov- 
ered in part by forest, in part by a large "burn," 
the latter giving it an added attraction for settlers. 

When the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern came 
through Snohomish county in 1889, these settlers, 
together with a few who had joined them, loggers 
and trappers, secured a post-office, John L. Snethan 
becoming the first postmaster. The mail was car- 
ried over occasionally from Getchell. In August, 
1890, deeming the little settlement then ripe for 
local commerce, Mark Swinnerton, of Marysville, 
established a store on Kistner's homestead, near the 
junction of the four original claims, or a few yards 
beyond the schoolhouse on what is now the main 
street of the town. T. K. Robe erected the building. 

The next step in the town's progress was the [ 
platting of the site. Eighteen blocks were laid out, j 
twelve on Wright's land and six on the Davis place. 
Although the recorded plat, dated August 4, 1891, 
bears the names of Henry W. and Abbie D. Davis 
and Robert Wright, S. W. Holland and T. K. Robe 
were the real promoters of the town. In 1891, also, 
George C. Monroe put in a grocery store and a few 



months later work was begun by James Roycroft 
on the Granite Falls hotel, a two-story frame struc- 
ture. It was completed and opened before the rail- 
road builders reached the place. Blackman Brothers, 
late in the fall of 1891, erected a tie mill near the 
town for the purpose of supplying the Everett & 
Monte Cristo road. Later, in 1893, they built a large 
saw-mill and shingle plant at Blackman's lake, but 
unfortunately these important industries were de- 
stroyed by fire a year later. The railroad reached 
the town October 16, 1892, and the following spring, 
a station was established. During this period of 
construction work, Granite Falls became a bustling, 
populous camp. 

Swinnerton was succeeded in 1892 by Anderson 
& Davis, the former of whom shortly acquired the 
property, erected the town's pioneer shingle mill, 
a double block, and organized the Granite Falls 
Manufacturing and Mercantile Company. T. K. 
Robe kept a store for a time in 1893. His building 
began to be used about 1895 by Dr. Frank Chappell 
as a drug store. In the spring of 1897 Percy Par- 
minter built a double block shingle mill a short dis- 
tance east of town and in 1898 he established the 
little store which has since developed into B. E. 
Chappell's large mercantile house, having passed in- 
to the latter's hands in 1902. J. H. Boyd and T. K. 
Robe also entered business in 1898 at Granite Falls, 
the former succeeding the mercantile company. That 
concern had actually closed its doors for several 
weeks during the hard times, leaving the settlement 
without a business house. Boyd sold to Morgan & 
Goodrich a few years later, and subsequently this 
firm became the present Granite Falls Mercantile 
Company. T. K. Robe and George Whitcher also 
operated a store during the latter nineties. 

In 1900 the town had perhaps fifty or sixty peo- 
ple, Boyd's and Palminter's general stores, Dr. 
Chappell's drug and hardware store, the post-office, 
railroad station and four tributary shingle mills; 
Palminter's, Shafer Brothers' on the Pilchuck, 
Swartz & Stacey's east of town, and Anderson's 
pioneer mill, which had been removed to what is 
now Sobey. A general awakening came with the 
opening of the century. Settlers mvaded the forest 
to commence the hewing out of homes, miners came 
in numbers to bring to light the mineral treasures 
of the district, lumbermen attacked the heavy timber, 
installing mills for the manufacture of lumber and 
shingles, and to supply all and handle the growing 
commerce came merchants, tradesmen and profes- 
sional men. For four years, beginning with 1900, 
the population of Granite Falls has doubled each 
twelve-month, — a remarkable growth, yet a sub- 
stantial one justified by the resources of the region. 
It has become a town of first importance on the 
Monte Cristo line and is undoubtedly one of the 
best small cities in the country. 

The pioneer school of Granite Falls was opened 
in Robert Wright's old cabin, half a mile northwest 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



of town, and was taught by Miss Eva Andrus. After 
two terms there, the school was removed, in 1889, 
to a temporary shack house erected on the site oi 
the present building, Mr. Kistner having donated 
a block of land there to the district. When Holland 
became the owner of the place, he confirmed the 
title to district No. 21. Charles Gregory first taught 
this school. The present school-house was erected in 
1893 at a cost of $5,000 and to it an "L" has re- 
cently been added, doubling its size. The district, 
embracing thirty-six square miles, also had another 
school-house at Sobey's mill, known as the Outlook 
school. 

Granite Falls also maintains two thriving churcK 
organizations, the Congregational and the Catholic, 
both of which have substantial church homes. The 
former was established five years ago and practically 
since its inception has been under the able charge 
of Rev. Campbell W. Bushnell. The Catholics erect- 
ed their church building in 1903. They are minis- 
tered to at intervals by a priest from Snohomish. 

The fraternal spirit is strong in the town. Three 
years ago, in the summer of 1902, the Modern 
Woodmen erected at a cost of $2,000, a combination 
hall and opera house, and next year the Odd Fellows 
expect to put up a $5,000 building suited to the same 
purposes. The societies and lodges of the town 
are as follows: Modern Woodmen of America, 
Roval Neighbors, Woodmen of the World, Women 
of Woodcraft, I. O. O. F., Rebakahs, Foresters of 
America, Court of Honor. Independent Order of 
(iood Templars, Order of Lions, Shingle Weavers' 
Cnion, G. A. R., and the Women's Relief Corps. 

July 25, 1903, the Granite Falls Post was started 
in the town by Niles & Moore. Two years later it 
came into the possession of its present proprietors, 
Frank Niles and R. G. Messner, the former being 
its editor. The Post is a most worthy little paper 
which enjoys the full respect and patronage of the 
community. 

The city is soon to have an electric light plant, 
to be installed in connection with a new shingle mill 
by O. Lewis, of Snohomish. A franchise has been 
granted and at this writing poles are being set. 

November 8, 1903, Granite Falls became a city 
of the fourth class. Its first officers were : Mayor, 

B. E. Chappell; councilmen, J. H. Fox, J. G. Luckev, 
D. I. Carpenter. L. H. Messner and W. H. Earl; 
clerk, C. T. Smith; treasurer. Dr. Frank Qiappell ; 
marshal, L. A. Clinton. The present corps of city 
officials are as follows: Mayor, D. I. Carpenter; 
clerk, C. T. Smith ; treasurer. Dr. Frank Chappell ; 
marshal, L. E. Luckey; councilmen, Dan Ashe, A. 
S. Critse, Emil Mongraine, William Fredregill, and 

C. E. Willoughby. The Robe building adjoining 
the post-office is occupied as a city hall. 

There are nearly a dozen mills in and around 
Granite Falls. Robe & Menzel operate a modern 
plant, just south of town, erected in 1902, consisting 
of a saw-mill with a daily output of :!0,000 to 40,- 



000 feet, planing m.ill and lath factory. Of shingle 
mills there are eight : Sobey Manufacturing Com- 
pany, a mile and a half west ; Chappell Shingle Com- 
pany, a mile north ; Sullivan Brothers, two and a 
half miles west: Fred Johnson, three miles west; 
Sobey Manufacturing Company, a mile south : Ewald 
Brothers, two miles east ; Swartz & Stacy, three 
miles east and the Best Shingle Company, three 
miles northeast, all large establishments. Besides 
these, the Lane Logging Company operates a camp 
five miles down the valley, employing forty or fifty 
men, and the Starr Logging Company is opening 
an immense camp three miles northwest, which will 
use two miles of steam railway and employ one hun- 
dred and fifty men. 

Only a mile and a half east of town, directly on 
the railroad, lies the well known Wayside copper 
property, one of Snohomish county's few producing 
mines. Between forty and fifty men are employed 
in its operation. 

A list of the business men and establishments 
of the present town would include the following: 
The Commercial Bank, J. B. Gibbons, cashier, es- 
tablished in June, 1905; the Granite Falls Post; 
general stores. Granite Falls Mercantile Company, 
of which J. L. Shumway is president, E. L. Knapp 
vice-president, and F. R. Morgan secretary-treasur- 
er; Granite Falls Co-Operative Union, F. P. Ander- 
son manager ; dry goods and groceries, B. E. Chap- 
pell, William Harding & Company ; hotels. Com- 
mercial, W. H. Earl proprietor. Granite Falls House, 
Mountain View, Ralph PuUen proprietor, Park 
House, Fred Stacey proprietor ; drugs and hard- 
ware. Dr. Frank Giappell ; drug store, Samuel 
Yerkes ; hardware, Ashe Brothers, Willoughby & 
Gallaugher; book store, E. E. Knapp: jewelry store, 
Charles Gourdon: millinery. Vincent Rinard ; tailor 
shop, F. Wilson : blacksmiths, Ashe Brothers : meat 
market, Bruhn & Henry ; shoe store, Fred Brush ; 
shoe repairing, Igrac Dezort ; real estate, insurance, 
etc., Charles Smith, A. P. Waterhouse, E. G. South- 
well : transfer company. E. E. Doolittle : barber 
shops, H. H. h"i>kc, L. D. Baker ; confectionery, 
fruits, etc., W. W. Robe, P. W. Laughead, William 
Freregill ; cigar factory, Henry Bogaske ; postmas- 
ter, A. C. Robe : physicians. Dr. Frank Chappell, 
Dr. William Green. 

January 1, 1903, Granite Falls had, by actual 
count, 155 people ; a year later its population was 
350 and the census taken by the Post January 1, 
1905, showed a population of 670. Since that date 
the growth of the town has been steady and rapid, 
and with all its tributary resources, and all the means 
already installed for developing them, there would 
seem to be no reason why this rapid increase should 
not continue indefinitelv. 



A convenient, central location on the overland 
route of the Great Northern railway through the 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



Skykomish valley, a rich tributary region as yet 
slightly developed, an abundance of progressive 
public spirit, plenty of private enterprise, these are 
some of Sultan's most valuable assets. Upon these 
pillars the inhabitants of the present town are surely 
and steadily erecting a more pretentious structure. 
Sultan is the oldest town on the Skykomish river, 
which adds to its interest and importance. 

The Sultan river, draining the Sultan mineral 
district and an extensive timbered area, flows into 
the Skykomish at the western edge of the village, 
which lies along the northern bank of the latter 
stream. As yet the fertile valley lands at this point 
are covered for the most part by timber, though there 
are numerous farms and ranches in various stages 
of development and considerable dairying is carried 
on. Monroe, the metropolis of the valley, is located 
only four miles further down the Skykomish and 
between these two towns the country is well settled 
by prosperous farmers, who are rapidly converting 
the forest lands nito cultivated acres. 

Sultan's pioneer settler is John Nailor, who came, 
with his Indian wife, in 1880, settling upon the town 
site. He erected his cabin on the bank of the slough. 
At that time the placer mines of Sultan river were 
being worked by a considerable number of men, a 
condition which scx)n gave inception to the settle- 
ment at the river's mouth. In 1885 Sultan post- 
office was established with Mr. Nailor as postmaster, 
the name being taken from that of the river, which 
in turn is thought to have been derived from a pio- 
neer Indian resident. Sultan John. The Pioneer 
hotel was erected by Mr. Nailor in 1888. 

In 1889 the little town began to take more defin- 
ite shape. William B. Stevens arrived at this time 
and he and his wife, Agnes Stevens, purchased 
twenty acres of the Nailor homestead and platted 
the track into the town site of Sultan City, the dedi- 
cation being dated October 19, 1889. Mr. Stevens 
also bought the Nailor hotel, and at once established 
a small store, thus initiating his town site project 
in earnest. To these holdings he added in 1890 an- 
other large tract also acquired from Mr. Nailor. 

Dr. J. L. Warren put in a drug store in lS90, 
and that year McDevitt & Davis, of Olympia, suc- 
ceeded Stevens in the general merchandise busi- 
ness. Before the close of 1890 Stone & Ewing were 
operating a saw-mill of twelve thousand feet ca- 
pacity, on the site of the present depot. The next 
year T. W. Cobb & Company, general merchants; 
Shaw Brothers, clothiers and dry goods merchants ; 
Dr. M. L. York, dentist and barber; B. F. Mc- 
Pherson, furniture dealer; H. M. Baker, real estate 
dealer and executor of the Stevens estate; Beebe 
& Son, blacksmiths ; George Childs, laundryman ; 
Solomon Hufford, and Mummey & Bernard, butch- 
ers, and A. W. Hawks also located in the town. I 
Two hotels, the Sultan, E. M. Taylor proprietor, 
and the Skykomish, D. B. Lewis proprietor, were 



also added, and in 1891, too, H. M. Shaw estab- 
lished the Sultan City Journal. 

While construction work on the Great Northern 
was in progress during the latter part of 1891 and 
in 1892, Sultan City was used as a supply station by 
the contractors. As a result, between eight hundred 
and one thousand people were congregated there 
for several months during the busiest season. Three 
river steamers plied regularly between Sultan and 
down-river points : the Minnie M., the Monte Cristo 
; and the Florence Henry, the latter built especially 
I for the Sultan trade ; all were stern wheelers. The 
distance between Snohomish City, the lower ter- 
minus of the lines, and Sultan City is sixteen miles. 
For at least two years boats made occasional trips 
to this up-river metropolis, hidden away in the 
woods, though the railroad reached the place in the 
fall of 1892 and a station was established. 

Of course the financial panic of the middle nine- 
ties destroyed the town's prosperity, bringing dis- 
aster to its business houses and distress to its 
citizens, but they did not become completely dis- 
couraged. Never did a little band of townsmen 
work more unselfishly together. In April, 1895, 
these citizens organized the Sultan Millsite & Im- 
provement Company, capital $1,000, officered as fol- 
lows : president, George Mann; vice-president, 
John Nailor, secretarf; A. W. Bower, treasurer; 
A. C. Williams. Water rights and rights-of-way 
were located, ditches dug, flumes installed and a 
small tract of land within the town limits was pur- 
chased. Then a lease of this ground and power 
was offered as a subsidy to any mill company which 
would install a plant. Keefe & Perkins, of Machias. 
accepted the offer and immediately erected a double 
block shingle mill, employing sixty to seventy men. 
The mill prospeied, new mills were added, and 
Sultan City gradually threw off the incubus of hard 
times and became a substantial, growing town. 

Sultan was incorporated June 10, 1905, as a city 
of the fourth class. The census taken at the time 
showed a population of four hundred people. At 
the election which followed officers were elected as 
follows: Mayor, H. M. Meredith; clerk, Thomas 
W. Musgrove ; treasurer, Eli Marsolais ; council- 
men, John F. Warner, G. V. Pearsall, E. A. Beebe, 
George W. Fowler. J. T. .A.twood is marshal and 
A. L. Peterson street commissioner. 

The pioneer school-house was built in 1890 witH 
money voluntarily subscribed. The site was that of 
the present structure and Miss Matie Warren was 
the first teacher. The old building was replaced in 
1891 by a fine, frame school-house, costing perhaps 
thirteen hundred dollars. 

There are seven fraternal orders in the town: 
the Odd Fellows, Rebekahs, Modern Woodmen, 
Royal Neiglibors, Foresters of America, Royal 
Highlanders, and the Order of Pendo. Sultan 
Lodge No. 193, I. O. O. F., was organized in 1902 
and the year following it built, at a cost of si.xteen 



368 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



hundred dollars, a combination fraternal home and 
public hall, the only institution of the kind in the 
town. 

A unique industry of Sultan is a trout farm, 
established about two years ago by the Commercial 
Trout Company, composed of local capitalists, 
headed by H. M. Meredith. This plant is situated 
on the Sultan river, two miles above town, and is 
apparently destined to achieve a great success. 
L. E. Mayhall, ex-state fish commissioner, is in 
charge of the enterprise. About a mile above Sul- 
tan on the Skykomish the state maintains one of its 
numerous hatcheries in charge of Henry Baldridge, 
which utilizes one set of traps in the Sultan river, 
and operates a branch station further up the main 
stream. 

The largest logging firm. in the region is the 
Sultan Logging & Railroad Company, U. K. Loose 
president, operating a mile and a half north of town. 
This company employs a hundred men constantly 
and uses its own private railway system, connecting 
with the Great Northern at Sultan Junction. The 
camp of the Wallace Lumber Company, another 
large concern, lies on Housladen lake, only three 
miles north of Sultan. On Sky slough, near the 
river, the Creekwood Manufacturing Company, 
Leon Johnson & Son proprietors, is operating a 
plant engaged in the manufacture of various wood 
novelties. The Murett Shingle Company has a 
plant of fifty-five thousand capacity at Winter's 
lake, north of tov. n ; the Superior Mill Company 
operates a shingle mill of from ninety thousand to 
one hundred thousand capacity; and a still larger 
shingle plant is that of Robinson & Idema, right in 
the town. As heretofore stated. Sultan is also 
headquarters for the Sultan Basin mining district 
and the well known Forty-Five mine, Nathan Jones, 
in charge of the Pinkham interests, residing at 
Sultan. 

September 7, 1905, John A. Swett, of Sno- 
homish, established the Star, Sultan's representa- 
tive in the newspaper field, a folio sheet, politically 
independent. 

The business houses and professional men of the 
town at present, other than those heretofore men- 
tioned, are embraced in the appended directory : 

Hotels, the Suitan, A. L. Peterson proprietor. 
Pioneer, G. V. Pearsall proprietor; general stores, 
John F. Warner, William Cook, G. V. Pearsall, Eli 
Marsolais; drug store and notions, T. J. Atwood ; 
physician and proprietor private hospital, Dr. F. S. 
Sandborg; physician. Dr. Thomas W. Musgrove; 
attorney-at-law, real estate, E. T. Bascom; black- 
smiths, E. A. Beebe & Son; livery, Wellington & 
Baldwin; meat markets, E. M. Taylor, G. V. Pear- 
sall ; shoe store, Joseph LePage ; plumbing, J. C. 
Holmes; barber shop, Louis Richel ; carriage re- 
pairing, Wellington & Baldwin; station agent, H. 
Duree ; postmaster, T. J. Atwood. 



Similar to Stanwood in its general surround- 
ings and in the nature of the occupations to which 
it is open is the village of Florence. This pleasant 
little place is located upon the south bank of the 
Stillaguamish river three and a half miles by boat 
and two miles by road east of Stanwood. It is lo- 
cated upon what may be called the delta of the 
river created by the sediment brought down through 
ages by that stream and by the spreading channels 
with which it enters the waters oi the sound. A 
few miles above Florence the main river divides 
and a channel known as Hat slough leaves it toward 
the South. A little below Florence the river is again 
divided, what is known as South slough parting 
from it. Thus between the main river and the two 
sloughs and the waters of the sound lies a beautifLil 
and fertile island. This is known as Florence island. 
The town of Florence is at the head of regular 
steamboat navigation on the Stillaguamish river. 

The town of Florence has the distinction of oc- 
cupying a site upon the first claim ever taken on the 
Stillaguamish river, that of Harry Marshall in the 
year 1864. In 186G James H. Perkins came to the 
! «ame point to take charge of the pioneer logging- 
camp of Reynold and Duvall, and in the fall of that 
year he purchased Marshall's right and became a 
permanent resident of the place. He is still living 
i there. Mr. Perkins at one time platted a town site, 
1 but this was subsequently recalled and the village 
has grown without any regular town lots. 

By reason of its convenient and pleasant location 
Mr. Perkins' claim and others which were soon 
taken adjoining seemed to invite the creation of a 
I business center, but not until 1884 did any one take 
j advantage of the opening offered. In that year 
F. E. Norton erected a store and warehouse and 
brought in an excellent stock of goods. At the same 
time the postoffice was established, with Mr. Norton 
as postmaster. It is said that the name of Florence, 
which he applied to the place, was that of his old 
sweetheart. In the fall of 1884 a hotel known as the 
Corinth was built by Messrs. Coltenbaugh & Car- 
rins. At about the same time Messrs. Oually, Ole 
Nass, James Hall, Hans Lawsons and Captain Mar- 
vin erected comfortable dwelling houses. In 1885 
Mr. Perkins built the Florence hotel. The excellent 
business which Mr. Norton had inaugurated in 
Florence was purchased by Jasper Still in 1888, and 
he sold out in turn a year later to the present owner, 
E. A. Hevly. 

During the decades of the eighties and nineties 
much of the land adjoining the town of Florence 
was cleared of the stumps which had been left there 
by the operations of loggers, and small and well 
tilled farms succeeded. Also the tide lands were 
j diked and cleared and brought into a high state of 
j productiveness. There has seldom been any injury 
to these lands by flooding, and the lot of the farmers 



CITIES AXD TOWNS 



there is an unusually pleasant one. Enormous crops 
of oats and hay are produced, the oats yielding an 
average of a hundred bushels to the acre. In late 
years cattle raising and butter making has become 
a prominent industry and many of the ranchers 
have large herds of the choicest grades of cattle. 
Almost every farm upon the island may be reached 
by the steamboats that ply upon the sloughs and 
hence the transportation question is solved without 
any further difficulty. 

A number of important shingle mills are con- 
tiguous to Florence and bring much business to the 
place. Of these we may mention the shingle mill 
of John Hall, of Manley & Church and the Florence 
shingle mill, which together make three hundred 
and twenty-five thousand shingles a day. At the 
western end of Florence island Port Susan bay is 
located the Port Susan logging company, which 
employs a hundred and fifty men and operates a 
steam railroad with three locomotives. Florence is 
the headquarters tor the supplies of this company. 
At the present time the following are the business 
men of Florence : J. H. Perkins, proprietor of the 
Florence hotel ; E. A. Hevly, general merchandise 
store; Walter J. Hogan and J. H. Perkins, saloons; 
Joseph Dolph, barber shop; John Heeney, black- 
smith ; Peter Satra, livery stable ; Alexander Rob- 
ertson, Justice of the Peace, a position which he has 
held for fifteen years ; S. A. Satrum, postmaster. 
Florence has the advantage of a large public hall, 
which is owned by Mr. J. H. Perkins. There is a 
regular stage line making two trips a day to Stan- 
wood, of which Peter Satra is the proprietor. 

There are two well-built little churches in the 
town, the Methodist and the Lutheran, which are 
ministered to in both cases by the pastors resident 
at Stanwood. 

Florence has an excellent school with a good 
building, built in the early nineties and having re- 
ceived an addition during the last year. The teach- 
ers are Mrs. R. A. Small, principal, and Mrs. L. J. 
Havens, and Miss Kristine Thomle, assistants. It 
is recalled by the old settlers that the first school in 
the neighborhood was taught by Kate Bradley in a 
little house on the Sly farm. 

In the beauty of its location and in the constantly 
developing country about it and in the growing in- 
terests of lumbering and navigation which center 
there, as well as the progressive social and mental 
life of the people, the village of Florence may be 
considered as a genuine American community. 



One of the very oldest towns in Snohomish 
county, Mukilteo is well known to all pioneers of 
Puget sound. Its splendid location on salt water 
for years encouraged the hope and expectation that 
it must certainly become a city of no little magni- 
tude and importance, but circumstances have been 



against it from the beginning and so far all its 
aspirations for great things have been disappointed. 
It must be borne in mind, however, that the Puget 
sound country is still in its infancy and that the fu- 
ture of any town with a frontage on a good harbor, 
while it cannot be clearly seen, is yet perceived to be 
a wearer of bright and glowing colors. 

The founders of Mukilteo were J. D. Fowler and 
Morris H. Frost ,who formed a partnership for the 
purpose of establishing a general business where the 
town now is before Snohomish county was organ- 
ized. Frost was a custom house officer at Port 
Townsend. In traveling over the sound in discharge 
of his duties, he noticed the many points in favor 
of this spot as a site for a town. He called the at- 
tention of Fowler, who was then in the hotel busi- 
ness at Ebey's Landing, on Whidby island, to the 
opportunities there presented, and formed a partner- 
ship with him for the purpose of establishing a gen- 
eral store, hotel and saloon business at that point. 
Frost took the land which forms the site of the town 
and Fowler a claim adjoining him on the north. 
They went to work at once and soon had some 
rough buildings erected. That in which the store 
was kept remained on its original site until 1890, 
when it was destroyed by fire. In its stead was built 
a large frame structure, which is still in use as a 
saloon. The original hotel building is standing at 
this date, forming a part of the present postoffice 
building. 

Frost & Fowler, besides conducting a general 
hotel, merchandise and saloon business, also en- 
gaged in logging and fishing and some time in the 
middle sixties erected a brewery, which was burned 
about 1883, and was never rebuilt. For many years 
Frost & Fowler shipped beer, berries, fish and ice 
from the Snohomish river to all points on the sound 
in their three sailing vessels, the Tibbals, the Pigeon 
and the Gazelle. Fowler was the active partner of 
the firm. Frost coming to Mukilteo only occasion- 
ally during the early years, though later he lived 
there. 

The original name of the place was Point El- 
liott, but when Mr. Fowler came he renamed it 
"Mukilteo," which in the local Indian language 
means "good camping ground." A town was platted 
along the water front about 1861, but the plat was 
never recorded and is believed lO be lost. The 
original, recorded plat was filed by Louis K. Church 
and wife in June, 1890. 

Mukilteo's first telegraph office came as early 
as 1864, when the line was built northward from 
Seattle to Whatcom. Mr. Fowler was the first post- 
master. His commission was issued by Postmaster 
General Montgomery Blair, June 24:, 1862, and it re- 
cites that Jacob D. Fowler was appointed post- 
master of Mukilteo, county of Snohomish, Wash- 
ington territory, and took the oath of office March 
26, 1862. Fowler continued to serve as postmaster 
until 1891, when he was succeeded by William 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



Hazard. L. H. Foster was Hazard's successor and 
on April 5, 1898, he handed the office over to Mrs. 
Louisa Sinclair, daughter of J. D. T'owler. The 
postoffice has therefore been in the hands of Mr. 
Fowler or a member of his family from 18G2 to the 
present date, except for one comparatively short 
period. 

One of the promising industries of the early 
days at Mukilteo was a salmon cannery, put up on 
the point by George Myers & Company in 1877. 
It is said that this cannery proved a fair success, 
until the heavy snows of the winter of 1877-8 broke 
down the structure, when the plant was removed to 
Seattle. It is claimed to have been the i)ioneer can- 
nery of Pit ■■-'i sound. 

Some five years later, a company headed by 
Frank Tuttle erected another cannery at Mukilteo, 
larger than the Myers plant and much better 
equipped, but it, too, moved away after successful 
operation for two seasons. 

About the yeai 1877, Frost & Fowler became 
somewhat involved financially, owing to the prevail- 
ing hard times, and their property was placed in 
the hands of M. V. B. Stacey, of Seattle, as trustee. 
George Myers, who was formerly in charge of the 
pioneer cannery, rucceeded the old firm as store 
keeper and hotel proprietor. Stacey made an effort 
to build up the town, whose fortunes were waning 
rapidly at the time, hut had no permanent success 
and the old town mnde no progress to speak of for 
many years. 

In 18!)() Mukilteo had quite a boom, owing partly 
to the general industrial revival which followed the 
admission of the territory to statehood, but more 
directly to its prospects of becoming the Puget 
sound terminal of the transcontinental railroad. 
Several additions were platted and much land was 
sold, but the town was once more doomed to dis- 
appointment. Furthermore in 1891, the Port Gard- 
ner boom connnenced, resulting in the rapid up- 
building of the city of Everett and taking away from 
the ancient town all hope of a rapid development in 
the near future. The people were left just as they 
had been before the dawn of the railway era, de- 
pendent almost entirely upon the fishing and logging 
industries. 

For many years prior to 1903, the population 
of Mukilteo did not exceed seventy-five or eighty, 
but in the year mentioned the Mukilteo Lumber 
Company erected and began operating a large saw- 
mill, causing a rapid increase in the number of resi- 
dents of the place. The present population is about 
two hundred whites and one hundred and fifty Jap- 
anese, most of whom are employed in the mill.' This 
large institution naturally brought new buildings 
and new business houses and gave a decided im- 
petus to general progress. At the time of the 
writer's visit (September 11, lOOn,) three ships 
were loading in the harbor, one of tlicni a great irun 
freighter from London, England. 



It is fitting to add a further word regarding this 
mammoth mill. It is not inferior in size to any on 
the sound, its capacity being two hundred thousand 
feet in ten hours. It is also equipped for manufac- 
turing all the Li-products, such as lath, etc. ; indeed 
it is one of the most modern in its appointments as 
well as one of the largest in all the world. The 
company is officered by M. J. Clark, president; E. 
A. Nickerson, vice-president, manager and treas- 
urer and O. B. Whitney, secretary. 

There is another saw-mill at Mukilteo, that of 
Ira Heath, which, though small, adds its contribu- 
tion to the prosperity of the town. The leading 
general store is that of the Mukiltoe Mercantile 
Company (Gilkey & Runkel), who established their 
business May 1, 1904, succeeding the Mukilteo 
Lumber Company, which had previously kept a 
store for the convenience of its employees. Other 
business establishments are: Meat market, Mc- 
F.eath & Russell; barber shop, W. O. McAllister; 
candies and notions, J. P. Brennan ; general mer- 
chandise, N. J. Smith; three hotels, confectionery, 
cigars, etc., Dan Wood; real estate, M. W. Smith. 
.\. D. Brooks is in charge of the railway station. 

The Mukiltoe public school district was organ- 
ized in May, 1874, and a young man named Rogers 
was its first teacher. During the boom days a mag- 
nificent, three-story frame school, one of the hand- 
somest in Snohomish county, and one large enough 
for a town of two thou.sand inhabitants, was erected. 
It is now used as a lodge room, church and public 
hall as well as for school purposes. 



There are few niorr |)iclnresi|iu'ly sitnate<l vil- 
lages in the sound country llian index, it lies along 
the overland route of the (ireat Northern immedi- 
ately above the junction of the north and south 
forks of the Skykomish rivers, at the very base of 
the Cascades. Here the Skykomish valley is quite 
narrow and, shut in by the gradually rising hills, and 
with its heavy t-mber, dense foliage and dashing 
mountain stream, is alike attractive to the home- 
builder and the sportsman. During the summer 
season this region is frequented by hosts of recrea- 
tion seekers. 

But scenery and climate are not Index's only 
assets. Besides being the home of two large mills 
engaged in cutting lumber and shingles, it is the 
headquarters of the Index and Silver creek mining 
districts, which contribute not a little to the support 
of the town. At the present time a Seattle syndi- 
cate, the Mineral City Power and Transportation 
Company, is planning to tap the latter district and 
the immense body of timber lying on the north fork 
of the Skykomish and its branches with an electric 
railway. Engineers are now in the field under the 
direct supervision of the president, O. O. Rowland, 
who expects to begin construction work before the 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



vear 1905 comes to a close. The opening of this 
rich mining district will undoubtedly cause a healthy- 
business revival. 

Amos D. Gunn, the founder of Index, came to 
the site in April, ]8;»0, and upon the ground where 
his residence now stands opened a little way sta- 
tion for the benefit of travelers, miners and claim 
seekers. The following spring he filed on seven 
placer claims lying at the forks of the river, upon 
which the town of Index was platted, April '.^4, 
18!)3, by Amos D. and Persis E. Gunn, after patents 
had been issued to Mr. Gunn. He also secured a 
postofifice in the spring of 1891, becoming the first 
postmaster. After the line of the Great Northern 
had been definitelv determined, considerable activ- 
ity began to manifest itself at Index, which shortly 
became a construction depot and the home of a small 
mill engaged in sawing ties and bridge timbers. 
The railroad reached Index from the west in Oc- 
tober, lS9"i, and the following February through 
connection with Spokane was established by a junc- 
tion of the rails at Madison hot springs, just west 
of the summit. After platting the town, j\lr. Gunn 
sold a half interest to the Everett Terminal Land 
and Milling Company, whose successors still retain 
what is left of that portion. That corporation be- 
came involved in litigation as a result of the finan- 
cial panic of 1893 and for many years its affairs 
were sadly entangled, but they have now been ad- 
justed. 

The original Gunn hotel was burned July 22, 
1893, together with every building in the town ex- 
cept the depot. Mr. Gunn then built the Hotel In- 
dex, in which he also maintained a small store. 
During the next four years this combination busi- 
ness constituted the commercial portion of the town, 
but in 189T Andrew I. Indredson put in a general 
store, and shortly afterward came a saloon. Fol- 
lowing the opening in 1898 of the well known Cop- 
per Bell and Sunset copper mines in the immediate 
vicinity of Index came a decided boom period for 
tliat section. It is estimated that fully a thousand 
prospectors and miners made Index headquarters 
that summer, the town becoming a vast field of 
tents and shacks — a typical frontier mining camp. 
That year witnessed the establishment of John A. 
Soderberg's general store, now owned by Baitingcr 
cS: Ulrichs, Isaac Korn's drug store, the building of 
the Bush and Grand Pacific hotels and the erection 
of a saw-mill by a man named Haybrook. 

In November, 1902, the town received- a seriotis 
setback. About half past three o'clock one Satur- 
day morning, a fire broke out in the Sunset lodging 
house, conducted by Harry Hoback above his sa- 
loon. Six men were sleeping in the hotel, all of 
whom managed to escape except James Kelly, 
whose body was fcund among the ruins. As near 
as the facts could be ascertained by the coroner, 
Kelly had retired late on the previous evening, 
thoroughly tired out by a walk from the mines at 



Galena. He had evidently started for the stairway 
upon being awakened, but was suffocated before 
effecting his escape. Besides the Sunset lodging- 
house, E. Saindon"s barber shop, the Korn drug 
store, C. R. Reckling's assay office and a restaurant 
building owned by L. H. Foster, of Mukilteo, were 
destroyed. 

At the present time Index has a population of 
between two and three hundred, though during the 
summer season there is a large floating population 
also. The past two years have witnessed an in- 
crease of at least fifty per cent, in the growth of the 
town with excellent prospects of this rapid growth 
continuing. A small but complete water works sys- 
tem was installed by John E. Soderberg two years 
ago, water being obtained from a spring north of 
town and carried in eight inch mains. Incorpora- 
tion will probably be the next move of importance. 
The larger of the two mills is that owned by Syl- 
vester Smith and located in the town limits. It is a 
combination saw and shingle plant of forty thousand 
feet lumber capacity, and perhaps sixty thousand 
shingles daily, erected in 1901. Mr. Smith is now 
preparing to install a lighting plant to supply his 
mill and the town. The other mill saws lumber 
only, its capacity being about 25,000 feet a day. It, 
too^ was erected in 1904. H. J. Miller, of Chehalis, 
is owner and manager. In addition to these indus- 
tries, John O. Soderberg operates a granite quarry 
along the Great Northern, three-quarters of a mile 
below town, in which seventy men arc employed 
most of the time. This quarry is nov. engaged in 
supplying material for the construction of the new 
federal building in Seattle. The remaining business 
institutions are as follows : General store, Baitin- 
ger & Ulrich ; grocery and meats, C. E. Lewis ; 
drugs and assay office, C. R. Redding; hotels, the 
lUish, C. N. Bush proprietor. Index, H. E. Johnson 
proprietor, and Grand Pacific, Mrs. Julia Russell, 
]5roprietress ; confectionery, Ross Phillips ; station 
: agent, T. A. Skalley; po.s'toffice, Miss P. E. Gunn, 
postmistress. The Index Miner, published by C. W. 
Gorham, of Snohomish, is a valuable little paper, 
now in its seventh volume. 

In 1892 the Index school district, road district 

j and voting precinct were established, but not until 

j the spring of 1891 do we find record of the holding 

of a term of school. At that time Miss Lena Gunn 

commenced teaching in a portion of the dwelling 

now occupied by R. C. Van Vechtan, and taught 

two successive terms. The present school-house 

I was erected in 1899 at a cost of $400, and in it forty 

pupils are now registered, the teachers being Mrs. 

Belle Dermady and Miss Clara Beach. The Con- 

gregationalists, who are now engaged in building a 

chapel, have held regular services in Index for the 

' past year and a halt. The town's public hall, erected 

I by the Red Men three years ago at a cost of $2,000, 

is a handsome, substantial structure that is a credit 

both to the order and to the community. 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



Charles Niemeyer, Sr., one of the earliest pio- 
neers of the Pilchuck valley, is the man who secured 
from the United States government title to the land 
upon which the town of Machias has been built. 
Mr. Niemeyer was one of a number of men who in 
1877 surveyed the township in which it it located, 
namely. Township 29 north. Range 6. He filed upon 
this land the following year. At this date there was 
not a road up Pilchuck worthy the name, much less 
a railroad, and the time when the conveniences of 
civilization would be enjoyed by the Pilchuck pio- 
neers seemed indeed remote. Before locating his 
family upon their new home, Mr. Niemeyer assisted 
his neighbors, Horace Andrus and W. A. Clark, in 
cutting out a possible road up the valley, and over 
this he brought his household goods and small chil- 
dren in a sleigh drawn by oxen. The white popula- 
tion of the valley at this time consisted of Messrs. 
Niemeyer, Clark and Andriis, already mentioned, 
the two Dubuques, Gregory and Fred Foss, but 
there were many Indians, especially just across the 
Pilchuck from Mr. Clark's, where there was a large 
camp. A little later the country began settling quite 
rapidly, among these who came being the Granite 
Falls pioneers and a German settlement near Hart- 
ford, and long afterward, when the building of the 
railroad became a certainty, every available acre 
was speedily appropriated. 

The contract by which Mr. and Mrs. Niemeyer 
granted the right of way to the railroad company 
was executed October 4, 1888. The road was built 
soon after that date and early in 1890 the town was 
started by L. W. Getchell and others, who bought 
for the purpose eighty acres of land from Mr. Nie- 
meyer. 

Before this time, a postoffice named Rudd had 
been established in the vicinity and a store was 
maintained by C. B. Miller, but the first business 
house opened in the town proper was the grocery 
and supply store of A. Sapp, who, for a number of 
years, enjoyed a monopoly of the trade of the sur- 
rounding country. The writer was in his place of 
business in 1896, and distinctly remembers that 
though the country was then just emerging from a 
four-year period of great financial depression, Mr. 
Sapp and his assistants were rushed with work fill- 
ing orders that were pouring in upon them. 

Of course, one of the first essentials of an am- 
bitious new town in a timber country is a saloon, 
and Machias was not long without its vendor of 
grog. A blacksmith shop, another prime requisite, 
was early started by Samuel Cox. The main sup- 
port of the town was the logging and shingle manu- 
facturing industries, both of which received a 
mighty impetus from the building of the railroad, 
but the dull times which followed so hard upon the 
starting of Machias prevented it from securing the 
splendid early development which it might otherwise 



have had. Mr. Sapp's first competitor in the mer- 
cantile business, aside from a very small candy 
store, was A. H. Boyd, who, after a few years, was 
succeeded by W. H. Moore. The third general 
store was started by one Frank Smith, who went out 
of business after trying it for a year or more. 
George C. Thomas succeeded him, but he also re- 
tired after a brief experience, leaving the field open 
for Frank King, who is in the grocery business in 
Machias at this date. 

It is believed that the first hotel was kept by 
Samuel Long in connection with a saloon, but very 
early in the history of Machias came Mrs. Frances 
Miller, who opened a hotel in a building belonging 
to Mr. Sapp. This hotel is still maintained, though 
it is now in the hands of another proprietress. 

At the present writing there is within the limits 
of Machias the business houses of W. H. Moore, 
dealer in dry goods and notions ; of A. Sapp, dealer 
in groceries, hardware, boots and shoes, etc. ; of F. 
King, grocer; the restaurant of Mrs. Ed. Rogers: 
the Hotel Machias, Mrs. Flora Curry, proprietress; 
the blacksmith shop of James Haze ; the meat mar- 
ket of Nathan Carpenter ; the Machias athletic hall ; 
a Congregational church, R. H. Parker, pastor; a 
two-room school-house, in which last year R. H. 
Britton and John St. John presided as teachers ; two 
saloons and a barber shop recently established. 

There is a very considerable population in the 
immediate vicinity of Machias, employed in the mills 
and camps. The m.ain reliance of the town is lum- 
bering. John Anderson & Sons have a shingle mill 
near ; the Bolcom Bartlett Mill Company has three 
mills not far from town, and about a mile away is 
the Hulbert Lumber Company's logging camp, 
which employs some thirty men. Saturday even- 
ings, after the work of the week is done, the shingle 
weavers and lumber men flock into Machias, making 
it a very lively place for the time being. 



This thrifty little industrial center, along the main 
line of the Great Northern four miles above Sultan 
City, is one of the rapidly growing towns of the 
Skykomish valley. It is the home of the Wallace 
Lumber and Manufacturing Company, which is 
operating one of the most complete milling plants 
in the county and has a monthly payroll of approxi- 
mately nine thousand dollars, and employs in all 
departments an average of one hundred and sixty 
men. With this extensive industry as its main sup- 
port and the commerce drawn from a steadily in- 
creasing agricultural community. Startup, or Wal- 
lace, as it is also named, has gained the reputation 
of being a substantial and prosperous place. 

For ten years prior to 1899 Startup consisted of 
merely a trading hamlet. Along in the middle 
eighties F. M. Sparlin homesteaded the site, erect- 
ing a dwelling large enough to serve as a way sta- 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



tion for travelers up and down the valley. In 1889 
John F. Stretch arrived and established a store with 
hotel in connection; with his wife and William 
Wait he dedicated the town-site March 21, 1890; 
a little later A. C. Reeves put up another store and i 
hotel and these establishments constituted the prin- 
cipal business part of Wallace when the Great 
Northern came through in 1892. The succeeding 
financial stringency set the village back to one store 
and Sparlin's place, the former being conducted by | 
H. J. Langfit, successor to Mr. Stretch. The build- j 
ing of the saw-mill at Wallace in 1899 inaugurated i 
a new era in the town's history, and as that enter- 
prise has expanded from time to time the town has 
enjoyed a proportionate expansion. 

The business of the town is done b'y the follow- | 
ing establishments : The plant of the Wallace Lum- 
ber and Manufacturing Company, including a saw- ! 
mill with sixty thousand feet capacity, shingle milt ' 
with one hundred and thirty thousand capacity, plan- 
ing and lath mills, all but the first named occupying 
yards within the town limits ; two general stores, 
those of T. E. Lewis and Armstrong & Burkhold, 
the former being the older ; two hotels, the Forty- 
five, conducted by F. M. Sparlin, the original owner , 
of the town-site, and the Wallace, built three years \ 
ago by J. R. Giddings ; W. J. Webster's meat mar- 
ket, established in 1901 ; a livery stable, owned by 
J. R. Giddings also: L. L. Ramala's jewelry store; 
C. D. Shaw's blacksmith shop ; two confectioneries 
owned by Combs & Lewis and H. G. Cinnamon re- 
spectively ; and a barber shop, conducted by the lat- 
ter gentleman. Mr. Lewis, a pioneer of 1891, is 
also postmaster. 

Two churches and a good school promote the 
moral, educational and social welfare of Startup. 
Of the churches, the Methodist is the older, having 
been erected in 1898 ; its present pastor is Rev. 
H. C. Wilson. The Baptist house of worship was 
erected in 1901 and is presided over by Rev. Adolph 
Guenther. In 1893 the main portion of the present 
neat school-house was erected, superseding a small 
shack. Two additions have since been added, the 
last in 1904, giving the building four rooms. 

Down to the year 1901 the postoffice and rail- 
road station bore the name^of Wallace, but trouble 
caused by confusing it with Wallace, Idaho, at that 
time led the depaitment to suggest to the citizens 
the adoption of another name. This they did, choos- 
ing Startup in recognition of the part their fellow 
townsman, the manager of the mills, had taken in 
upbuilding the town. 

MONTE CRISTO 

The business center of the rich mining district 
in eastern Snohomish from which it takes its name 
is Monte Cristo, a small, picturesque village buried 
in the heart of the Cascade range. Notwithstand- 
ing its isolated location, at an altitude of four thous- 



and feet above sea level, a standard gauge railroad 
connects it with the outside world, the Monte Cristo 
branch of the Northern Pacific. Three trains ar- 
rive and depart each week at present. 

Monte Cristo's founding was contemporane- 
ous with the beginnings of active development in 
the district in 1891. That summer a postoffice was 
established with Owen McDevitt as postmaster. 
The Monte Cristo Mercantile Company, A. J. Ag- 
new manager, opened the pioneer store in the old 
log cabin still standing just east of the present store, 
and the Monte Cristo Alining Company built a hotel, 
the Monte Cristo, which stood back of the Royal 
hotel. A saw-mill was also installed by the mining 
company near the hotel and store. The next season 
Jacob Cohen opened another hotel, the Pride, and 
a number of other business enterprises were insti- 
tuted. With the arrival of the railroad in 1893, the 
building of an immense concentrator and heavy 
work at the mines, the town attained a population 
of perhaps four hundred. 

February 24, 1893, is the date upon which the 
town-site was formally dedicated by Joseph L. 
Colby as president and Charles F. Rand as secretary 
of the Monte Cnsto Mining Company. One hun- 
dred and thirty-six lots were laid out on portions 
of Junction Placer claims Nos. one, two and three 
at the junction of Glacier and Seventy-six creeks. 
This place is probably the nearest approach to a 
flat there is in the vicinity of the mines and works, 
and that is more accurately described as a rolling 
hillside. 

The fortunes of the town have varied in sym- 
pathy with those of the camp and need not be en- 
tered into here as they have been fully treated else- 
where. W^ith the revival of extensive operations now 
being inaugurated, Monte Cristo's business enter- 
prises will likewise expand, keeping pace with the 
prosperity of its only supporting industry. 

At present the Monte Cristo Mercantile Com- 
pany, of which J. M. Kyes is manager, maintains a 
large general store ; Jacob Cohen and Mrs. Sheedy 
are proprietors of a most excellent modern hotel, 
the Royal; besides which the town has a saloon 
and a barber shop. A comfortable little school- 
house is in charge of Miss Francis Moncrief, five 
pupils being the enrollment. 



Silverton lies on the Monte Cristo branch of the 
Northern Pacific in the heart of the Silverton min- 
ing district, which has been described at length in 
the chapter dealing with the mines. As with Monte 
Cristo, the history of the town is practically iden- 
tical with that of the district. At present the busi- 
ness of the town consists of two general stores, Will 
McDonough's and O. L. Lee's ; two hotels, the Sil- 
verton. of which Robert Murray is proprietor, and 
that of D. N. Price; and three saloons. Robert 
McDonough is postmaster. There is also a tele- 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



graph and express office at Silverton. A thriving 
school is maintained with Miss Hogg as teacher. 

Shortly after the first prospects were opened in 
1891, a meeting was held by the miners at whicH 
the district was christened the Stillaguamish Mining 
District and the settlement Silverton, the date of this 
meeting being August 26, 1891. The following win- 
ter a town-site was established by Qiarles McKen- 
zie, Parker McKenzie, J. B. Carrothers, William 
Whitten and John F. Birney, and the fortunes of 
the place since have risen and fallen with those of 
the mines, upon which the inhabitants depend almost 
entirely for their support. Several of the more 
prominent properties, including the Bonanza Queen, 
the Bornite, and Imperial, have recently undergone 
extensive development and expect soon to begin 
shipping. The Bonanza Queen has installed a tram 
and is already for immediately placing its copper 
ore upon the market, so that a revival is looked for 
very soon. Silverton also has a new two hundred 
and fifty-ton concentrator on the Independence 
property near the town, but pending an adjustment 
of business matters, this fine plant is idle. 

Silverton is reached thrice a week by train. In 
the summer season it is considerable of a fishing and 
health resort. The altitude is only half that of 
Monte Cristo, fifteen miles further up the line, or 
about two thousand feet. 

DAKRINGTON 

Nowhere, perhaps, in all Snohomish county is 
there a more transcendently beautiful spot than 
that which forms the town-site of Darrington. 
Though at the very doorstep of the Cascades, and 
sitting at the feet of that magnificent, towering, 
snow-capped and glaciated peak known as White 
Horse, with other grand mountain uplifts in the 
near prospect, it is itself remarkably level, — a fact 
which makes the bounding mountain sides seem all 
the more rugged and grand. A growth of small 
evergreen trees helps to beautify the landscape, but 
at the same time hides from view the Sauk river, 
one of the most magnificent streams in the state, 
which, coming from its remote sources in the Cas- 
cades, passes to the right of Darrington, around the 
base of Gold mountain and away to a junction with 
the Skagit. The town-site is on the gravelly di- 
vide between it and the head waters of the north 
fork, which flov/ in a very different direction, 
reaching the sea through a more southerly channel. 
Its inspiring scenery, its refreshingly cool summer 
climate, its proximity to the mountains and to rush- 
ing mountain torrents would seem to indicate future 
favor and fame for Darrington as a summer resort. 
It is not without an agricultural basis, and a good 
one, but its hope of greatness rests upon the valua- 
l)le minerals which lie buried in the depths of the 
neighboring mountains, outcropping in places to in- 
cite to effort the prospector and the miner. Most 
active of these developers are the owners of the 



Bornite copper mine, which is situated some twelve 
miles from Darrington, and connected with it by 
tramway. They are now running a tunnel three 
thousand feet long to strike the ledge at a great 
depth, thus testifying their faith in the merits of 
their property by spending large sums of money in 
its development. Should they begin shipping ore in 
December, as they hope to do, and should they real- 
ize the returns they have every reason to expect, 
there will probably be great activity among the other 
mine owners of the Darrington district, with a con- 
sequent stimulus to growth in the *-.own itself. 

While many prospectors and miners came to the 
Darrington region in the early nineties, and later a 
number of homesteads were taken, among them 
those of S. B. Emens, George Knudson, Lester K. 
Alvord and Fred Olds, the town did not begin to 
be developed until the building of the Darrington 
branch was assumed. Since then it has been pro- 
gressing steadily, though somewhat slowly, for no 
town depending largely upon copper mining can 
hope to develop rapidly at first, the opening of mines 
of this character being so very expensive and, where 
capital is lacking, necessarily attended with such 
long and discouraging delays. 

The business establishments of Darrington at 
I this writing consist of the general stores of the Dar- 
! rington Mercantile Company and Montague and 
Moore ; a hotel ; the saloon and lodging house of 
Joe Chenier; the Eagle saloon, Kennan Bros., pro- 
prietors ; a saw-mill with a capacity of forty thous- 
and daily, owned by the Sauk Lumber Company; a 
tie mill, owned by Seymour Brothers ; a railway de- 
pot, postoffice and a number of residences. 



About three and a half miles north of Arlington, 
on the line of the Northern Pacific, is the small lum- 
bering village known as Bryant. The first settlers 
in the neighborhood were Samuel Erdahl and Carl 
Berge, who filed on their land and made settlements 
upon it some time in the latter eighties. In 1893 
Charles Verd and Thomas Sanders, under the firm 
name of the Bryant Lumber and Shingle Company, 
began operations in the locality, building a shingle 
mill and inaugurating a logging plant. Recently 
this company sold its mill and a logging railroad 
about five miles long, with what land and timber it 
had, to the Stimson Lumber Company, who are now 
building a railroad to IMarysville. to secure an out- 
let to the sea for their lumber. The road is de- 
signed primarily for the conveyance of logs, but 
under the terms of its charter, the lumber company 
is required to carry passengers and freight and in 
all respects comply with the law regulating common 
carriers. 

The building of the road will make Bryant a 
junction, and will no doubt give quite an impetus to 
the town. At present it consists of a general mer- 
chandise store, a pool room and a number of small 



CITIES AND TOWNS 



dwelling houses, all belonging to the mill company ; 
a railway depot; a postoffice. Miss Mary Sumner, 
postmistress; a saloon and a few farm houses. 



About the year 1889 a postofifice was established 
on the North 'Fork, to which the name Allen was 
given in honor of John B. Allen, delegate to con- 
gress. Soon after a town near Tacoma was named 
Allyn, and to avoid missending of mails, the name 
of the North Fork postoffice was changed to Oso. 
No town was thought of at that time nor for years 
afterward, but wl-en the .\rlington-Darrington rail- 
road was built, it began to assume greater import- 
ance. At present there are here the dry goods and 
grocery store of A. L. Cogswell, who also has the 
postofifice; the grocery store of Robert Wheeler; 
Schwager & Nettkton's shingle mill, j\I. G. Con- 
over's hotel; Aldridge & Prathier's meat market 
and a public hall, and two saloons, owned respec- 
tively by F. H. Covey and Dan McGillivray. 

CICEKO 

One of the lumbering towns on the Darrington 
railroad is Cicero, in which the milling firm, known 
as the Heath-Morley Company, is the moving spirit. 
This firm has a saw-mill in the town and a store and 
hotel. Stephen Cicero also has a store, in which is 
the postoffice, Mrs, Cicero postmistress ; Nain &: 
Flemming keep a saloon and the O. M. Robertson 
Shingle Company operate a shingle mill. 

M.\LTBY 

The land upon which Maltby is located was 
homesteaded by a man named Dunlap in 18ST. The 
fall of the ensuing year a postoffice named Yew was 
established, but at a later date the name was changed 
to Maltby. It has a mill with a capacity of ten 
thousand feet of lumber and thirty-five thousand 
shingles a day ; two general stores, a hotel, a sa- 
loon, a cobbler's shop ; a school, established about 
1889, and a Congregational church ; and it is the 
shipping point for the product of the Advance 
Shingle Company of Cathcart. There is some agri- 
cultural land in the vicinity, but the main support 
of the town is the lumbering and logging industry. 

HARTFOIiD 

The junction point of the Bellingham and Alonte 
Cristo divisions of the Northern Pacific, founded in 
1891, at the time the first named division was being 
constructed. A year later the construction of the 
other branch made Hartford a junction point. 
James V. Vanhorn and wife Kate platted the town- 
site June 23, 1891, and soon thereafter a thriving 
village sprung into existence. Fire destroyed the 
place early in September, 1901, wiping out the four 
lauildings constituting the business center, including 
J. W. Phillips' general store, B. E. Lee's saloon, and 
his hotel. However, new buildings soon replaced 



those burned and to-day there are the usual business 
houses to be found in a village of perhaps seventy- 
five people. Lake Stevens, a growing summer re- 
sort, lies only half a mile away. 



Situated just west of tunnel No. six on the 
Monte Cristo branch of the Northern Pacific, a vil- 
lage of comparatively recent establishment, the 
home of the Canon Lumber Company. This con- 
cern operates an extensive plant employing proba- 
bly a hundred men. The company's mills, store and 
a saloon constitute the business of the place. The 
name of the postoffice is taken from that of the 
town-site's pioneer settler. Granite Falls lies eight 
miles west along the same road. 



A station on the Monte Cristo branch of the 
Northern Pacific, just west of Hartford. The life 
of the community is to be found in the Sobey 
Shingle Company's plant. A school and postoffice 
are maintained. 

GOLD B.^R 

Gold Bar is a thrifty saw-mill town of between 
two and three hundred people, in the Skykomish 
valley along the overland line of the Great Northern 
railway, twenty-nine miles east of Everett. Platted 
September 18,' 1900, by the Gold Bar Improvement 
Company, it has grown very rapidly and is now 
among the substantial villages of the county. A 
two-story school-house has been erected in which 
forty-three pupils receive instruction, besides which 
the town enjoys good telephone, telegraph and 
transportation facilities. As the timber lands be- 
come available for agricultural purposes, many small 
farms are coming into cultivation, thus furnishing 
additional support for Gold Bar. Last year eight 
hundred and eighty-six cars of lumber and shingles 
were shipped from this point, which is indicative of 
the town's volume of business. The Gold Bar Lum- 
ber Company operates an extensive lumber and 
shingle plant there. 

ME-\DO\\'D.\LE 

This is a newly settled community on the Great 
Northern coast line and Puget sound, between 
Mukilteo and Edmonds. It has a station, a hand- 
some and unique log cabin hotel, a postoffice and a 
school with fifty pupils. It is beautifully situated at 
one of the most inviting points along the east shore 
of Puget sound and is rapidly developing berry, 
fruit and gardening industries. 

Those commercial centers, possessing postofifices, 
not fully described in the preceding portion of this 
chapter on the cities and towns of Snohomish county 
are : Cedarhome, Edgecomb, Fortson, Getchell, 
Goldbasin, Hazel, Jorden, Lochsloy, Norman, Pil- 
chuck, Sisco, Three Lakes, Trafton and Tulalip. 



PART IV 

SUPPLEMENTARY 




i'URES'l-, MOUNTAIN AND STRRAM 



PART IV 

SUPPLEMENTARY 



CHAPTER I 



DESCRIPTIVE 



The Puget sound country is one of Nature's 
challenges to the children of the world. To 
aboriginal man it cried "Come in and subdue 
the land and possess it." He accepted its 
gratuities of fish and clams and game and 
berries, but failed to answer the challenge. The 
wealth of its forests might remain there forever 
for all of him. He lacked the strength to 
stretch forth his hand and possess it. The call 
of its rich valleys and tide marshes was inaudible 
to his savage ear. The treasures of its granite 
mountains made their appeal in vain. They 
were there for the man with granite in the fiber 
of his being. The iron in their depths was for 
a race with iron in its blood. Their hidden gold 
was for those with some of the golden in their 
characters, and he who would have their copper 
must have the virtues of copper and not its 
color only. The grand land-locked sea of water, 
the enticing crystal rivers, mirroring the wealth 
of foliage along their banks and stooping to 
meet them, failed utterly to incite the savage to 
the construction of nobler craft than his pigmy 
canoe. To this he clung until he, too, became a 
pigmy, dwarfed in stature, misshapen and dis- 
torted in body, deteriorated and disennobled. In 
no way commensurate with the prodigious 
country he called his own, he failed to see the 
opportunities she held out to him, much less to 
grasp them. The country has cast him out with 
the mark of unworthiness upon his brow. vShe 
has given her vineyards to the charge of other 
and worthier husbandmen. The graves of his 
people are the heritage of the stranger, and as 
he looks out over the vast Pacific upon the 
peclining sun he sees in it a type of the decline 
of his own race, never again to rise. Vanquished 



and vanishmg, he must take what satisfaction he 
can out of the traditional glories of the misty 
past, for the future holds for him no golden bow 
of promise. 

To the pioneer navigator, the country sent its 
challenge. He came, he saw, but did not con- 
quer. He accepted the challenge as far as the 
waters were concerned. He threaded the innu- 
merable channels, sounded their depths, gave 
them names, wrested them from the domain of 
the unknown and added them to the domain of 
the known, then called his work good. The 
sea was his field of fame, and with the land he 
would have naught. 

To the fur trader, also, the challenge of the 
country came. He, like the Indian, was willing 
to accept gratuities, but not to make returns. 
He failed to meet the challenge. He did not 
measure up to the fullness of the stature of the 
men and women she desired for her chosen 
people, and she cast out him also as unworthy. 

There is no place for the sluggard or the 
weakling in the sound basin. Its prizes are 
many and rich, but they are for the strong, the 
vigilant, the active, the stout of heart. They 
must be won by force or not at all. The 
country itself is a type of the men and women it 
will have for its own. Hemmed in between the 
Olympics on the west and the lofty Cascades on 
the east, it partakes of the ruggedness of its 
mountain boundaries, while almost everywhere 
over its surface is a dense growth of giant firs 
and cedars and hemlocks, in places excluding 
almost entirely from the soil the sun's light and 
warmth. 

The mild climate, the long growing season, 
the abundance of rain cause vegetation to spring 



382 



SUITLEMICNTARY 



fortli in almost tropical luxuriance. A tangled 
network of small trees and shrubs and vegetable 
growths made exploration exceedingly difficult 
to the pioneer. If he ventured away from the 
waters of the sound or the rivers and streams 
llowing into it, he must hew out his pathway with 
an axe. To the lumberman it offered its most 
obvious attractions but it placed in his way grave 
difficulties. The timber near the water could 
be easily secured. When that was gone, he 
must face the problem of getting the giants over- 
land to water. The solution of this problem 
called for great natural skill in engineering and 
much ingenuity. Its practical working out has 
placed the sound country at the head in all the 
United States in the perfection of logging rail- 
roads and scientific appliances for the transpor- 
tation of timber. Yet no appliances and no 
ingenuity can obviate the necessity for the 
hardest kind of physical labor. Let no weakling 
enter the lumber camps. 

The barriers in the way of him who would 
earn his living by agriculture were even greater 
than those which confronted the logger. If he 
niade his home on the tide marshes, he must 
build a breastwork against the sea; if in the j 
river bottoms he must protect his crops from ! 
overflow; if on any lowlands he must drain. 
Wherever he went, he must remove the dense i 
forest of towering conifers and the tangled net- 
work of variegated undergrowth, before he could 
begin to secure a return in crops and then he : 
must continue the battle with stumps, stumjis 
everywhere, stumi)s so small that the plowshare I 
would overturn them and stumps so large that 
houses might be built upon them. Me, too, might 
eni])loy the forces of nature in his battle. Appli- 
ances might be invented and pressed into service. , 
Powder and dynamite might give him the use | 
of their illimitable power; but in no way could 
he avert from himself a full and abundant meas- 
ure of the curse pronounced upon Adam. 

For the prospector, also, the country had its 
array of drawbacks. To him there were no 
terrors in its ])rofound solitudes. He could hew 
through its interminable forest mazes a trail for 
himself and his ])ack horse, and he could find 
water in abundance wherever he might wan- 
der. But the difficulty came in the develop- 
ment of his prospects when discovered. The 
ores are for the most part refractory, requir- 
ing great capital. The barriers of isolation 
from the world without were hard indeed to 
break. The building of roads was nowhere 
fraught with greater difficulty. The wait for 
results was nowhere longer. 

Rugged in aspect, replete with difficulties, 
the terror of the timid, the despair of the weak, 
the sound country yet held and still holds inspira- 
tion and hope unlimited for a people brave and 
sturdy and stalwart, like unto its own grand self. 
To such it opens wide its doorway; for such it 



holds the richest treasures, the most abundant 
rewards. 

With all its rigors, the aspect of this land is 
not a frowning and forbidding one. On the con- 
trary, it is more inviting than that of almost 
any other. For the richness and grandeur of its 
scenery, it might challenge comparison with the 
most famous of earth's resorts; in some respects 
it is without a peer. 

A forest growth the like of which can nowhere 
else be found in North America supports itself 
upon its sturdy bosom, clothing it in colors most 
pleasing to the eye, softening its roughness, 
hiding away the unsightly. vSo deep and per- 
sistent is its verdure that it has won for the state 
the familiar name of "livergreen,," a fitting sobri- 
quet so far as the western part is concerned, 
for nowhere will one find more abundant green 
of every shade. Wherever you look there are 
vistas of verdure. Destroy the timber and 
shrubbery, burn them with fire, and presently 
Nature, hurrying to resent the injury and repair 
the damage, has again covered the blackened 
earth and the charred remains with her own 
favorite color. If a forest giant, too ambitious, 
rearing too lofty and too large a crown, is con- 
quered in a battle with the elements, she covers 
its carcass with lichen and moss. A blackened 
stump, or a heap of rubbish is speedily enfolded 
in verdure. Almost irresistible is this rush of 
green. Each unused nook, each sequestcreil 
spot, it claims for its very own. It will fight for 
possession in the streets of the towns and peep 
at pedestrians through the cracks in the walk. 

Grand, indeed, is a view of this verdure-clad 
region from a commanding eminence. It has 
been the writer's privilege to look upon some of 
the sublimest scenes in all this northwestern 
wonderland, but nowhere has he beheld anything 
more entrancing in its magnificence and pictur- 
esque beauty than the view which may be had on 
a clear evening from an elevated location in the 
little city of Snohomish. Far to the southward 
is grand old Mount Rainier, snow-clad, rose- 
tinted by the subdued touch of the evening 
sunlight, mightiest effort of the mountain Babel- 
builders to pierce the heavens with a spire. 
Away to the northward is old Mount Baker, indis- 
tinct in the distance and almost hidden from 
your sight, while uniting the two and passing far 
to eastward of your viewpoint is the first range 
of the Cascades, its outline broken and tattered 
with rugged protuberances, yet possessing withal 
a subdued, dreamlike beauty. To the westward, 
just over the tree-tops, is the blue crest of the 
classic Olympics, still more indistinct, still more 
dreamlike, much less rugged in aspect, while 
between the two ranges, forming the foreground 
of the picture, is one great sea of verdure over- 
flowing in its profusion and abundance. Match- 
less the scene, yet there is lacking from it, 
because wholly invisible from our viewpoint, the 



DESCRIPTIVE 



region's most sublime, most characteristic fea- 
ture, that marvelous inland sea, wonder of the 
world, the far-famed Puget sound. 

And those famous sunsets! "Tell me," said 
one of the country's own poets,* "where is there 
a land in which the darkest day of winter flings 
her dull coverings at evening and lays the pure 
flaming gold of her heart over the whole country, 
sea and mountains, as it does on Puget sound. 
Every land may occasionally have a gorgeous 
sunset; and then, when one does stray in unex- 
pectedly, how the whole country comes and stares 
at it, and how the newspapers rave over it, and 
liow they look at each other and trot out that 
old, weary 'Talk about Italy,' until our own ears 
and eyes and nerves fairly tingle! But think — 
only think! — of a land where each evening from 
si.x o'clock until ten in summer, and from four 
until six in winter, the whole western sky and 
the sea that dances beneath are one flaming, 
tremulous, dazzling glow of blended and blend- 
ing gold, purple, scarlet, orange, green, blue, 
opal and pearl — shifting, fading, melting, burn- 
ing, until one's breath almost; fails in a very 
ecstasy of passionate admiration of it. Column 
on column of amethyst and pearl pile up and 
stand toppling ready to fall in the clouds; and in 
the far distance of the rainbow-tinted tunnel, 
one sees the sun — a great wheel of flaming gold 
—laying his trembling rim upon the low, grace- 
ful fir trees reaching upward quiet arms, until 
each fine, spicy needle stands out, clear and 
delicate, against the luminous background. 
And many and many a time, while the west is 
light with sunset fires into the clear blue east 
rises slowly the harvest moon — silver and cool 
and large — whitening and softening everything 
before her. 

"Sometimes, too, when there is a mist brood- 
ing upon the bosom of these blue waters, all the 
tinted sun and cloud rays sinking through it, 
touch it to life and vivid color, till it seems one 
vast distance of trembling thistle-down, blown 
this way and that by the strong, salt sea-winds. 
The 'Sunset' state! There is temptation to the 
lover of beauty — and who does not love beauty? — 
in the name. I have seen the laborer, toiling 
with bared breast and swelling muscles at the 
huge walls of rock cliffs with pick and mallet, 
pause and turn wondering, wistful eyes across 
the sparkling waves to the glory of the dying 
day; I have seen the true artist stand with dim 
eye and hushed breath — speechless — awed into 
insignificance before the painting that God "has 
swung before His children, saying: 'Come the 
rich and the poor, the young and the old, the 
strong and the feeble, the saint and the sinner — 
come one and all!' Here is a painting traced on 
heaven such as no man can copy and no man can 
buy. The veriest beggar that crawls the earth 
may drink in the glory of this scene side by side 

"Klla Hieginson. 



with the king, if he only has the simple love of 
beauty and of Nature's God in his heart. It is 
free — for the gold of the earth cannot buy the 
gold of heaven! O! you who love this land — let 
it be our own 'Sunset' state!" 

Another of the powerful allurements of the 
sound, one which appeals most potently to the 
people of less-favored climes, is the mildness and 
equa'oility of all its seasons. Damp and mild in 
winter, damp and mild in spring, dry and mild 
in summer; ideal in autumn'; it never shocks by 
extremes of either heat or cold. No sunstrokes, 
no blizzards, no cyclones; plenty of special 
indulgences from the loving hand of Nature; few 
diseases of climatic origin. 

These are some of the inducements which the 
sound basin offered a people bold enough to 
undertake its conquest, — scenery magnificent, 
climate approaching the ideal, prizes rich and 
alluring, abundant rewards for abundant, well- 
directed industry, a future, limitless in its possi- 
bilities. With its billions of feet of timber 
awaiting the woodman's axe, tHe boundless 
Pacific sending its mighty arm and hand and 
multiplied fingers hundreds of miles inland, as if 
reaching for the commerce of a great state, and 
anxious to bear its natural wealth upon its own 
broad bosom. — with all these advantages the chal- 
lenge of the country could not long remain un- 
taken however great the labors and the sacrifices 
of the battle. For three score years now the con- 
flict has continued. Victory has attended the 
invading arms. The forest, the sea, the soil and 
the mountains have been forced to give up their 
treasure; cities rich and populous have sprung up 
in the heart of the wilderness, and the achieve- 
ments of the past are as nothing compared with 
those yet to be. 

The course of future development may be a 
matter of some uncertainty — the future is always 
uncertain — but it can hardly fail to pursue three 
separate lines, development of the maritime, 
development of manufacturing, development of 
intensive agriculture. The awakening of the 
Pacific is fraught with great interest and great 
meaning for the Puget sound country, the natural 
northern gateway to the Orient. Nature has 
endowed this country with a wide, deep and safe 
sea. path, extending its entire length, ramifying 
through it, reaching to the very heart of a great 
state, furnishing abundant harbors everywhere. 
This is the first indication of a grand maritime 
destiny for the region tributary to the sound. 
The awakening of Alaska has meant much for 
this region. One great advantage of the posses- 
sion of that gold-bearing peninsula by the United 
States, one pregnant with meaning to Puget 
sound citizens, has but recently come to light. 
It forms the second indication of a maritime 
destiny for our land. , Within the last two years 
a voyage of discovery under the direction of the 
United States government has been completed. 



384 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



"its results were momentous. "In the opinion of 
naval experts, nothing in the explorations of the 
past hundred years equals it in importance." 

"The discovery is that in the long chain of 
Aleutian islands, stretching westward from the 
Alaska mainland almost across the Pacific, there 
is a succession of harbors; that they are safe and 
open throughout the year; that they are unob- 
structed by rocks, and that the channel to some 
of them is so deep and commodious that half a 
dozen fleets could enter them simultaneously. 

"In the event of war, should a squadron flying 
the flag of the United States start for Chinese 
waters, it could stop every night in a safe Amer- 
ican anchorage until it reached Attu island, 
nearly four thousand miles west of Puget sound. 
Steaming from that distant island outpost of the 
United States, our men of war could, within a 
short run, reach the center of the contested seas 
of Asia. The ownership of an archipelago reach- 
ing far outward toward Asia, and indented with 
many convenient harbors, is a national asset of 
incalculable future value. 

"Without consulting a globe, or following the 
ocean track of trans- Pacific steamers, it is diffi- 
cult to comprehend the vast future importance of 
these re-discovered Aleutians. It is a shorter 
distance between Oriental and Pacific coast 
points by way of the great northern circle route, 
which skirts the southern shores of the Aleutian 
islands, than it is straight across the Pacific. All 
the American, British and Japanese vessels from 
Puget sound to Yokohama, and some even from 
San Francisco, select the northern route. In 
fact the few inhabitants of the Aleutian islands, 
now harvesting the first fortunes from this archi- 
pelago, report that it is almost a daily occurrence 
to sight steamers moving between Japan and 
America. 

"Maps issued by the hydrographic ofiBce of 
the United States reveal "that a straight line 
drawn from San Francisco to Yokohama measures 
4,7i)l miles, while just south of the Aleutian 
chain, is only 4,r)36 miles in length. A straight 
line from Port Townsend to Yokohama is 4,575 
miles long, while the way by the Aleutian circle 
is only 4,240 miles. Similarly the trip from San 
Francisco to Manila, by way of Midway islands 
and Guam is 6,578, while the more northerly 
voyage under the Aleutian islands is 6,241 
miles."* 

From this it will be seen that in the develop- 
ment of a great oriental commerce, to which the 
United States is impelled by every consideration 
of self-interest, every impulse toward the achieve- 
ment of its highest national greatness and to 
which it has unmistakably committed itself by 
the retention of the Philippines, the sound 
country is destined to have a part first in extent 
and importance. If China is to become a wheat- 
eating nation and the United States is to assist in 

♦Harold Bolce in Booklovers for April. 1904. 



feeding her, the wheat must go out through the 
ports of the sound; if the awakened Orientals- 
demand our manufactures the sound will furnish 
their ports of departure. It will do more; it will 
produce its full share of manufactured articles- 
at home. Nowhere is there a country better 
suited to manufacturing than this. It has water 
power, and fuel in abundance. For the textile 
industries, its climate would seem to be ideal. 
Its transportation facilities are superior to those 
of any other port on the shores of the Pacific; its 
harbors for shipping are everywhere. 

Long years ago, before Japan had begun her 
march toward civilization, before Russia had 
become a factor on the shores of the Pacific, 
while China was yet deep in the sleep of ages and 
our own coast was in its early morning of settle- 
ment, in a moment of inspiration William H. 
Seward uttered these words: "Henceforth 
European commerce, European politics, European 
thought and European activity, although actually 
gaining force, and European connections, al- 
though actually becoming more intimate, will 
nevertheless relatively sink in importance; while 
the Pacific ocean, its shores, its islands and the 
vast region beyond, will become the chief theater 
of events in the world's great hereafter." 

The day of the fulfillment of this prophecy is. 
at hand and in the grand unfoldment of the 
commercial destiny of the Pacific, Puget sound 
beholds its future, brilliant as one of its own 
summer sunsets. New Yorks, Chicagos, Phila- 
delphias and Baltimores of this new commerce 
there must be, and who is too blind to discern 
that the shores of this matchless inland sea must 
have their share of these? 

SKAGIT COUNTY 
The necessity for the foregoing brief review 
is sufficiently apparent. While the two counties- 
which form the subject of this work are but a 
part of the sound basin they are an integral part 
with all the general characteristics of the whole, 
having the same physical aspects, possessing in 
common with several other counties the ranges- 
of the lordly Cascades, and in common with all 
the waters of Puget sound, traversed by the 
same railroads, linked to all by the closest ties- 
of trade relationship, rejoicing in a common hope, 
a common destiny. It is fitting, however, that 
more extended notice be given the immediate 
theme of the volume, and that the special fea- 
tures and special industries of these two counties 
of the sound be traced with some minuteness 
and detail. The more northerly of the twain 
and the larger in area is Skagit county, the 
mainland of which is bounded by the Eighth and 
Ninth standard parallels, north, the summit of 
the Cascades and the sound. The county also 
includes Fidalgo, Guemes, Cypress and a number 
of other islands, its total area being one thousand! 
eight hundred and seventy-four square miles. 



DESCRIPTIVE 



Perhaps the most important feature in its 
topography is the Skagit, the largest stream 
flowing into Puget sound. The course of this 
noble river through the Cascade mountain 
region is marked by all the wildness and fierce- 
ness of flow characteristic of mountain streams, 
while its environs are grand indeed. Upon 
emerging from the mountains, the river- at once 
lays aside its superfluous impetuosity and as- 
sumes an air of great dignity and calm, though 
it still presses onward to the sea at no sluggard's 
pace. Swelled by tribute from the majestic 
Sauk, the turbulent Baker and a number of other 
streams of less magnitude, it becomes a broad 
river, navigable by almost any kind of craft, with 
sufficient propelling power to overcome the force 
of its current. Naturally this river attracted the 
attention of the earliest visitors to what is now 
.Skagit county. Some of the prospectors and 
adventurers who rushed into the Fraser river 
country in 1858, made superficial reconnoissances 
of the Skagit and its tributary streams. The 
old Northern Light, a newspaper published in 
Whatcom during the first boom on Bellingham 
bay, a few copies of which have come down to 
our time as slight relics of the past, describes at 
least one such exploration. It tells us that 
Milton F. Mounts and a company of prospectors, 
entered the mouth of what they called the Skat- 
skat in a canoe and navigated the river for seventy 
miles, making several portages on account of the 
accumulations of driftwood. They saw large 
droves of deer and elk on its banks, as well as 
an abundance of other game. They failed not 
to note that the lands in its valley were rich and 
well adapted to agriculture, nor did they fail in 
their quest for gold, for they informed the editor 
that they found it everywhere though the waters 
were high, preventing them from giving the 
bars a thorough test. 

But long before the first white man had 
plowed its turbid waters or turned admiring eyes 
to the beauty of its verdure-clad, forested shores, 
or cast an envious glance at the lavish, natural 
wealth, — ages before, — the river had begun its 
work for man. Joining forces with its parent, 
the glacier, it has been patiently carrying to the 
sea the silt and sand and volcanic ash and pul- 
verized rock of whatever kind; the rich grist of 
Nature's mill. This it threw into the waters of 
the sound, which, as if resentful of the offense, 
attempted to hurl it back at the river. The 
struggle between fresh water and salt, between 
tide and current, went on, the river continually 
proving victorious on account of its superior 
activity and persistence, until a large domain 
was won from the sea. Indeed it has been 
claimed that long reaches of the present river 
beds of the sound basin were once arms of 
the sound. Perhaps in the dim past the sea 
covered the entire area of what is now the valley 
of the Skagit, laving the feet of the lofty Cas- 



cades. Perhaps the impetuous mountain tor- 
rents, bearing debris in their rushing floods, 
gradually filled up that arm of the sea, forming 
the valley we now behold. Certainly such a 
process has been carried on, is being carried on 
at the present day, though the e.xtent of its past 
achievements may be a matter of opinion. Cer- 
tain it is that not alone the Skagit delta, but the 
Swinomish flats, the Samish country and prac- 
tically all the rich agricultural land in Skagit 
county, along the shore of the sound, were 
formed by the Skagit river and its ally in the 
work, the Samish. 

It was not until after the dawn of the sixties 
that white men came to take advantage of the 
great beneficial labor of the rivers and to hasten 
the consummation of their processes The work 
of these men has been adverted to elsewhere It 
stands as a monument to their persistency, their 
ambition and their worth, and none will grudge 
to the pioneer diker of these flats the splendid 
reward he is receiving for his patience and his 
toil. How splendid that reward is will appear 
presently. The land he thus won from the 
domain of the tides is so rich and prolific, yields 
such abundant returns for the labor bestowed 
upon it, that the fortunate ones who possess it 
refuse to set a price upon their holdings. They 
are wealthy beyond an equal number of agricul- 
turists anywhere else on the surface of earth. 
With a soil that will never fail of its annual har- 
vest of hay or of oats, with a climate that 
approaches the ideal, with all the refinements of 
an advanced civilization in their midst, with a 
market hungry for their products, with the sound 
at their front door and extending its arms to their 
granaries, with plenty of means to farm econom- 
ically and successfully, they are indeed kings and 
princes in the earth. Protected from the heavy 
seas of the straits of Fuca by the natural break- 
waters of Whidby and Fidalgo islands, they 
have little to fear from damage to their dikes, 
although occasionally a breach is made and a sec- 
tion of the country is flooded, entailing great loss. 
The flat is traversed by sloughs from the sound, 
navigable at high tide by vessels of moderate 
draft permitting them to sail up to the granaries, 
built for the purpose along the slough bank, and 
receive cargoes of grain. "These steamers, 
when seen moving through the sloughs, with 
only their upper works and smokestacks visible, 
present a verj- strange appearance, apparently 
floating on the growing grain." 

The Swinomish flat is said to contain between 
twenty and twenty-five thousand acres reclaimed 
by dikes and divided into farms. The Samish flat 
is somewhat smaller in area, though equally pro- 
ductive. It lies about the town of Edison and 
extends from the Chuckanut range to within a 
few miles of Bayview. Beaver marsh, which 
has been credited with an area of twelve to fif- 
teen thousand acres, lies just back of Swinomish 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



flats, with which it is connected by a narrow 
neck extending around the extremity of Pleasant 
Ridge. It never was tide land, but had to be 
reclaimed from the overflow of the Skagit by a 
long levee. It is claimed that Olympia marsh, 
further north, is of about equal area. Its recla- 
mation is of more recent date than that of the 
other marsh land in its vicinity, it having been 
ditched only about seventeen years ago, and 
cleared of brush a year later. 

The people of these various communities have 
a soil as productive as that of Holland, and a 
climate as mild, while they possess a tremendous 
advantage over their Dutch brethren in that the 
enormou.-. wealth of their lands flows into the 
pockets of a comparative few, whereas the popu- 
lation of Holland is more dense than that of any 
other country in Europe. 

"From the summit of the northern extremity 
of Pleasant Ridge, a few miles back of La Conner 
can be seen a landscape of agricultural beauty 
and wealth unequaled in Washington. The 
entire Swinomish flats and Beaver marsh are 
visible from here, stretching out to the right and 
the left without a rise or a depression, a sea of 
verdure as smooth as a mirror, dotted with resi- 
dences, barns and granaries and the light verdure 
of trees and shrubbery. To the northwest in 
the blue distance rise the peaks of (iuemes, Orcas, 
Fidalgo, Cypress and other islands, between 
which the vision extends through endless azure 
vistas over the (iulf of (Georgia. To one used [ 
to a landscape clad in the somber verdure of our 
coniferous forests, this view in the summer time 
when the face of the country is veiled in the I 
lighter green of growing grain and deciduous | 
trees, or later, when the grain turns to harvest 
gold, has an effect most novel and charming." 

Furnished by sea and sound with the cheapest i 
transportation known, the residents of the flats f 
of Skagit county need pay no subsidies to rail- | 
roads. They are, however, most deeply inter- 
ested in the improvement of Swinomish slough, 
and the inner passage. The difficulties in the 
way of its navigation have long been a menace 
to their interests.. The slough is entered through j 
a tortuous opening aptly styled the "Hole in the 
Wall," and when the vessel is once inside, its 
difficulties commence. It twists and turns in 
curious fashion, seemingly executing some occult 
and intricate design. If the pilot is skilful and 
the tide high and fortune favors, it will get 
through all right, but many and many a time 
have steamers grounded, compelling a long wait 
for tides and bringing down bitter maledictions 
from irate passengers on the inoffensive town of 
La Conner. 

Agitation for the relief from these annoyances 
began many years ago; indeed almost simultane- 
ously with the inception of settlement in the La 
Conner country. So far adequate relief has not 
been afforded, but something has been done by 



our generous and vigilant, if sometimes tardy, 
government. In accordance with the river and 
harbor act approved September Ifl, LSSX), Captain 
T. W. Symons made a preliminary survey for a 
channel one hundred feet wide and four feet 
deep at low water, from Skagit bay to deep water 
in Padillabay. The following appropriations have 
been made: Act of Julv 13, LS!)2, $2r),()0(): act of 
August 18, 1S!)4, $25,()b0; act of June 3, 1890, 
$25,000; act of March 3, LS!)!), $2(1,000; act of 
June 13, 1!)02, $30,000.. Of this amount $50,000 
were expended up to 1890 in dredging the slough 
from "Hole in the Wall" to Padilla baj'. The 
rest has been spent in dams, dikes, etc., south 
of La Conner, and has now been nearly all used. 
In accordance with the recommendation of 
Inspector Thomas Huddleston an additional 
$50,000 has been appropriated for expenditure 
during the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1!)05. 
Major John Millis, of the U. S. A. engineers, at 
Seattle, has just recommended an appropriation 
of $149,430 for the improvement of Swinomish 
slough. Major Millis considers the four-foot 
channel wholly inadequate and is planning for a 
much deeper one such as will permit the entrance 
of moderate draft vessels at any time. A ship 
canal through the slough would cost, it is esti- 
mated, between two and three million dollars, 
but there is a possibility that it will some day be 
built, nevertheless. At any rate the improve- 
ment of the inner passage for the accommodation 
of smaller vessels is a work of great and pressing 
importance, for the two outer passages between 
the northern and southern portions of Puget 
sound are both more or less dangerous and ditli- 
cult for such craft. The route through Rosario 
strait and the main sound, to the west of 
Whidby island and Admiralty inlet, is frequently 
rendered dangerous by heavy seas. The route 
through Rosario strait. Deception pass, Skagit 
bay and Saratoga passage is subject to the same 
objection and is further rendered objectionable 
by the exceedinglv' swift currents during the high 
tides. It is therefore apparent that the improve- 
ment of the inner passage, the shortest as well 
as the safest of the three, is a matter of more 
than local interest. 

In order to provide the mariners of the lower 
sound with better lighting facilities, the govern- 
ment is at present erecting a' very substantial 
lighthouse on Burrow's island near the outer 
entrance of (Iuemes channel, to cost fifteen 
thousand dollars This will light the straits. 
Deception pass, Bellingham channel and Rosario 
strait, in addition to (niemes channel. 

The old Skagit jam, near where Mount \'ernon 
now is, formed the dividing line between what 
are termed locally the upper and lower Skagit 
valleys. It cwnspired with numerous other 
obvious causes to delay the settlement of the 
upper valley until the lower was quite generally 
pre-empted, hence the development of the 



DESCRIPTIVE 



country above Mount Vernon is a number of years 
behind that below, though the upper country, 
since the building of the railroads, has been 
forging ahead at a lively pace. Its length prob- 
ably exceeds seventy miles; its width varies 
greatly, the environing mountains approaching 
sometimes within a few miles of each other and 
then recede again, until they are ten miles or 
more apart. While the upper valley does not 
compare with the Skagit delta and the Swinomish 
Hats in point of agricultural development, it is 
in many parts scarcely less rich in its possibilities. 
The writer has seen oats right under the brow 
of the Cascades which could hardly be surpassed 
around La Conner or anywhere else. Further- 
more, the upper valley, when cleared of timber, 
is suited to more diversified crops than is the tide 
land nearer the sound. The soil is warm, sandy 
and rich, — a mixture of vegetable mold and rock 
sediment from the mountains, easily cultivated 
and of great depth, capable of producing cereals 
of all kinds, vegetables, fruits, berries, etc., etc., 
in abundant quantities, of the finest quality and 
of many varieties. 

But the hope for the future of the valley rests 
upon more than one foundation. Much of the 
timber in the river bottom has been removed, to 
be sure, but on the environing hills and moun- 
tains are belts of coniferous trees, still untouched, 
which will yield billions of feet of saw timber, 
billions of shingles. In some of these same 
mountains, beneath the roots of the trees, are 
great ledges of coal and iron. For miles in the 
mountains across from Hamilton iron may be 
found almost anywhere. The development of 
both these industries has long been delayed, 
owing to a variety of causes, none of which go 
to the merits of the minerals themselves. Their 
([uality seems to stand the tests of the mineralo- 
gist. These mines cannot remain idle always, 
and when their development is begun in good 
earnest, the Skagit valley will teem witii a 
numerous population. 

What has been said of the valley is true in the 
main of all the tributary valleys; those of Baker, 
Cascade and Sauk rivers and Nookachamps 
creek. All are possessed of a great wealth of 
timber; all have agricultural possibilities as yet 
undeveloped; some may prove rich in minerals. 
The topography of the Nookachamps has a 
charm all its own, arising from the presence of 
numerous lakes, beautiful as can be imagined, 
reflecting the dark green foliage of their heavily 
timbered shores, and withal possessed of great 
economic value in the facilities they afford for 
the transportation of timber and its manufacture 
into lumber. On the shores of some of these 
lakes considerable towns have sprung up, as 
Montborne on Big Lake and McMurray on the 
lake of that name. 

The eastern part of the county is traversed 
by the Cascade mountain range, which is of 



inestimable value for its climatic effect, inter- 
cepting the vapors from the Pacific and precipi- 
tating them as rain on their western side. 
These mountains may be said to be the parents 
of all the rest of the county. They are the birth- 
place of the smaller rivers and streams; their 
pulverized and decomposed rock and ash enter 
into the composition of the soil; by intercepting 
a'nd condensing the escaping moisture, they have 
caused the growth of the vast bodies of timber 
not alone on their own surfaces and foothills, but 
on the valley between them and the sound; they 
are the main hope of the prospector and miner; 
while to the sportsman, the seeker of pleasure or 
recreation and the lover of Nature at her wildest 
and her grandest, they are a never failing foun- 
tain of delight. 

Of the county's island possessions, Fidalgo is 
easily the chief. Though classed as an island, it 
has all the advantages of an intimate connection 
with the mainland, being separated only by a 
narrow slough, which has been bridged without 
difficulty so that one may drive across with a 
team or ride over safely on a Great Northern 
train. The island is likewise in close connection 
with a number of other islands, being separated 
from Cruemes, Cypress, Burrows, Allen, Cotton- 
wood, Hat, Hope and Samish only by narrow 
passages, all of which are navigable. During 
the boom days in Anacortes, property on many 
of these islands showed a marked upward tend- 
ency in price, moving in sympathy with the great 
center of interest, for indeed the scheme of the 
town builders was comprehensive enough to 
embrace a future "Venice of America," covering 
not alone Fidalgo, but all the neighboring islands. 
Had it succeeded, there would be plenty of seats 
for American doges, a grand new world inviting 
conquest by American gondoliers. 

While there was no warrant for the extrava- 
gant expectations of the boom days, the reasoning 
in favor of Fidalgo island as a favorable site for 
a great seaport town was of undeniable force. 
It was pointed out in 1SS7 that "a vessel bound 
up sound to .Seattle must use a tow-boat and 
waste considerable time. The tow-boat's charge 
is three hundred dollars; and during the time lost 
all the officers and crew are on pay, making the 
total cost seven hundred dollars more for a sailing 
vessel to go to Tacoma or Seattle then to Ship 
harbor." This and other arguments in favor of 
the long-talked-of town have lost none of their 
cogency with the flight of time. Should the 
Great Northern extend its Anacortes-Rockport 
road over the mountains to a connection with its 
eastern system and make Anacortes its Pacific 
coast terminal, other roads would be obliged to 
build into Anacortes and establish terminals 
there also, in order to compete successfully for 
the ocean trade. The result upon the town's 
growth may be easily imagined. 

Skagit county can claim high rank among the 



;rpri.i:Mi-.x r.\Rv 



counties of the sound in point of diversity of 
natural elements of wealth, but its clear promi- 
nence over all others is in tide-land reclamation 
imd the production of tide-land crops. Its suc- 
cess in these has gained it a fame which is more 
than statewide and more than nation-wide. It 
is claimed that nowhere else on the earth's 
surface can be found an equal area which will 
produce equal yields of oats. There is no dearth 
of authentic accounts of phenomenally larjje 
yields. In ISSS, a tract of twelve and one-half 
acres on the Conner pre-emption yielded one 
hundred and fifty-six and one-half bushels an 
acre. The same year a twenty-acre tract on the 
Sullivan place yielded one hundred and fifty-two 
and two-thirds bushels. In ISHU ten acres of 
E. A. Sisson's land yielded one hundred and 
sixty-eight bushels an acre, counting thirty-two 
pounds a bushel and this year (IdOrO eighty-two 
acres averaged one hundred and twenty-five 
thirty-twopound bushels. In I'.HU, William Arm- 
strong raised over one hundred and seventy-seven 
bushels to the acre on a four-acre piece which had 
been cultivated at least twenty-five years, while 
on the Conner place, one of the oldest in the 
county, Lewis Seigfried, produced one hundred 
and ninety-five thiriy-two-pound bushels to the 
acre, the same year, on a seven-acre field. 
Herbert S. Conner tells us that in 18S);? twelve 
acres of his father's land produced one hundred 
and fift3'-six thirty-six-pound bushels an acre, 
which is equivalent to one hundred and seventy- 
five and a half bushels according to the present 
thirty-two-pound standard; that a portion of this 
crop, together with a sworn statement of the 
yield, was sent to the Columbian Exposition at 
Chicago and won first award for the state. 
"Another yield of unusual proportions," says Mr. 
Conner, "was a recent one on our farm near Stan- 
wood, under the management of John Hanson. 
There two hundred and fifty acres produced an 
average of forty-six sacks to the acre, which 
would mean about one hundred and forty-nine 
bushels under the thirty-two-pound standard." 

But no section of country can achieve and 
maintain a lasting reputation on phenomenal 
yields alone. It takes large average yields over 
a wide area, repeated through a term of years to 
form the basis of a permanent renown, and on 
just such a basis does the fame of this oat belt 
rest. It cannot be doubted that the entire belt, 
one acre with another, the results of good farm- 
ing averaged with those of bad, no allowance 
whatsoever being made, has repeatedly returned 
a yield per acre, which in other communities 
could scarceh' be had on a small patch and under 
the most favorable circumstances. Perhaps the 
average for the entire belt, since it was first 
devoted extensively to oat production, has never 
fallen below seventy-five bushels. It seldom 
falls below eighty and often reaches a hundred. 
Herbert S. Conner says that the average oat crop 



for the past few years has been little less than 
one hundred bushels. It must not be assumed 
that oats are the only product of this land. It 
is scarcely less famous for the production of hay 
as a subsidiary and sometimes as an alternate 
crop. Indeed most of the farmers of the Hals are 
believers in diversified industry, and in addition 
to the enormous returns they receive from the 
sale of their oats, get much additional revenue 
from the land in the pasture it affords for live- 
stock. On a recent trip over the Rockport- 
Anacortes branch, the writer saw several fields 
of hay in the Swinomish country which could not 
fail to average at least four tons per acre, and it 
is said that six-ton yields are not specially 
uncommon. The Argus is authority for the 
statement that S. P. Kendall last year harvested 
one hundred and twenty-two tons from twenty 
acres. The average price of this hay, which is 
mostly a mixture of timothy and clover, was 
ten dollars per ton in 1!HU. E. A. Sisson says 
his farm has averaged four tons to the acre for 
the past ten years. The average, Mr. Conner 
says, is from three to five tons, generally nearer 
five than three. T. P. Hastie says he raised a 
crop of timothy, some of which was eight feet four 
inches tall. It would completely hide a sixteen- 
hand team. 

An idea of the diversity and quantity of the 
products of the oat belt may be gained from a 
perusal of statistics compiled by U. S. Engineer 
Thomas H. Huddleston for the calendar year 
ISHU. Compiled for the purpose of determining 
the advisability of appropriating money for the 
improvement of Swinomish slough, they only 
include those products which pass through that 
channel, hence are not complete for the whole 
tide marsh area, let alone the county. They 
show an exportation of 2r> tons of agricultural 
implements, value §11,000; 43 tons of butter, 
$30,000; IS tons of fruit. $720; 3(U tons of fish, 
$109,1-20; •2ri,000 tons of grain, $025,000; 14.000 
tons of hav, $ir>4,000; 12 tons of hides, S2,0ri2; 
20 tons hops, $15,()00; To tons live-stock, $l(i,SOO; 
39r> tons merchandise, $!)S,750; '24 tons poultry, 
$5,760; 00 tons potatoes, $1,200; IS tons cabbage 
seed, $4,0S0; o tons wool, $S40; 21,000 dozen 
eggs, $4,200; 3S, 000,000 feet logs (board meas- 
ure), $22S,000; 3,100,000 feet lumber, $24,000. 
From this it will be seen that the value of all the 
exports exceeds $1,300,000. Imports for tlie 
same period according to the same authority, 
consisted principally of agricultural implements, 
binding twine, coal, flour, fruit, grain bags, 
grain, gravel, hardware, iron work, ice, live- 
stock, machinery, general merchandise, paper, 
potatoes, paints and oils and wagons, and were 
valued at $430,352. 

From the above it will be seen that the pro- 
duction of cabbage seed is an important industry 
of the flats. The well-known A. d. Tillinghast 
was the one who introduced it into the county. 



DESCRIPTIVE 



391 



He is certainly the leading spirit in this as in 
other garden-seed production; at the present 
time and for years he has been widely known 
throughout Washington and other states as a 
successful seedsman. Through him Charles E. i 
Wightmen, of Avon, sells to Ferry & Company , 
of Detroit, Mich., a very large quantity of the | 
*'Sure Head" variety of cabbage; indeed it is i 
claimed, a quantity sufficient to supply practi- , 
cally the entire market of the United States. 

While the Skagit country is not especially 
noted as a fruit-raising region, yet it produces 
large quantities of apples, pears, plums, cherries 
and other fruits indigenous to this climate. A 
small amount is being exported annually to 
points on the Pacific. As the bench lands 
become. cleared, horticulture will become a more 
important factor in Skagit's commerce. In this i 
connection it is worthy of note to speak of the i 
county's pioneer nursery. Albert L. and Frank 
Graham, pioneers of Fidalgo island, established ! 
this amlDitious industry on that island in JSS4, 
under the name of the Anacortes Nursery. They 
carried a general stock, grown directly from the 
seed, utilizing ten acres. One year this firm 
grafted ten thousand apple trees and their i 
average annual sales during the ten years of the 
nursery's existence are estimated by A. L. I 
Graham at five thousand trees, in addition to 
specialties and berry bushes. Mr. Graham is 
still one of the county's leading horticulturists, 
having a twelve-acre orchard of mixed fruits. 
H. R. Hutchinson & Sons of Mount \'ernon 
are the proprietors of a large celery farm which 
is rapidly becoming widely and favorably known. 

As a by-product of fruit raising, the vinegar . 
industry has also made its appearance in Skagit , 
county. David Batey established a factory at \ 
Sedro-Woolley in ISOS and is producing a very 
creditable product, his plant being enlarged year 
by year. 

Reliable statistics of agriculture in other parts 
of Skagit county are not obtainable. The agri- 
cultural and horticultural resources are not fully 
developed outside of the marshland districts, nor 
inside of them, for that matter, but the amount 
of land cleared and cultivated is increasing very 
rapidly. Outside the oat belt diversified farming 
and stock raising are in vogue everywhere. In 
places the difficulty of clearing off the timber 
necessitates the intensive cultivation of lands 
already cleared, but crops of all kinds yield so 
bountifully and pay so well, that the farmer 
usually gets an abundant reward for the cost and 
labor of clearing. The logger, who has lent so ■ 
much encouragement to agriculture by furnish- ' 
ing local markets for all the products of field and 
herd, is rendering it a further service by remov- ^ 
ing the heavy timber, so that the smaller growth 
can be slashed and burnt off, the land seeded to ' 
clover, orchard grass or some other forage plant, 
and a pasture for cattle, horses and sheep created. 



As the process of denudation progresses, the 
live-stock industries will naturally increase. An 
idea of their extent at this writing may be had 
from the assessor's summary for Jii04, which 
certainly possesses one virtue in a marked degree, 
the virtue of conservatism. It shows horses, 
mules and asses in the county, 2,Jil7, value 
$103,505; cattle, H,'.)]'.), value $120,053; sheep, 
.3,9Hi, value $7,829; hogs, 1,458, value $4,033. 

The lumbering industry in Skagit county 
dates back to a very early period. It was, how- 
ever, somewhat overshadowed in interest during 
the pioneer days by the absorbing occupation of 
tide-land diking and cultivation, hence never 
achieved the pre-eminence it enjoyed in Snoho- 
mish county. However, the business of logging 
and lumber manufacture has long been a great 
source of wealth and "the end is not yet." All 
the activity of the many logging camps, logging 
railways, saw-mills and shingle mills for more 
than three decades has not resulted in the remov- 
al of half the merchantable timber from Skagit 
county. According to United States government 
reports, there were in l'.i()2, eleven billion, ninety 
eight million, one hundred and eleven thou- 
sand feet still standing of timber considered 
merchantable according to present standards. 
"There is no question, however," says the 
report, "that, as is the case in the eastern white 
pine, a much larger amount will ultimately be 
realized, for several reasons: First, the stand- 
ard will certainly be lowered, so that instead of 
using only one-third of the tree two-thirds may 
be used, and many small trees now destroyed by 
fire in the culled areas will be cut; second, spe- 
cies not now used may come into the market; 
third, areas now considered inaccessible will 
serve as sources of supply; fourth, the new 
growth on cut and burned areas will reach 
merchantable size long before the old growth is 
exhausted." 

It will therefore be seen that Skagit county 
would be an important lumber producing re- 
gion for many years, even if its lumbermen 
were confined to their own county for their 
raw material. They are not, however, for 
much timber outside of the county must pass 
through it on its way to a market and much 
of it will no doubt be manufactured in the 
county's mills. The end of the lumber industry 
is certainly not in sight at this date. 

A good general idea of the present status of 
lumbering in Skagit county may be had from 
statistics of the industry kindly furnished by the 
assessor. These show the following logging 
camps: English Lumber Company, Conway, 
four railroad engines, 125 men: Tyee Logging 
Company, Conway, which also logs by rail, 75 
men; Dickey & Angel, Fredonia, 35 men; Clear 
Lake Lumber Company, Clear Lake, two railroad 
engines. 125 men; Lyman Lumber Company, 
two railroad engines, 75 men; Bradsbury Log- 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



ging Company, Sedro-Woolley, 25 men; Patrick 
McCoy, Edison, one locomotive, six miles of 
railroad, three donkey engines, 50 to (iO men; 
Ballard Lumber Company, Bay View, one loco- 
motive, three miles of railroad, 40 men; Hough- 
ton Lumber Company, McMurray, 125 men. At 
the present time the Blanchard Lumber Company, 
on Blanchard slough, is not operating its mills 
and camps, but it deserves mention both on 
account of the long period of time during which it 
has followed the business of logging on the 
sound, and on account of its having been the first 
company in the county, indeed the first in the 
sound country, to use an all steam outfit. Per- 
haps mention should also be made of the Alger 
Logging Company, which some time in the later 
eighties bought out the Samish Logging Co'n- 
pany and moved the outfit to McElroy slough, 
where for years it operated very extensively. It 
sold in 15)00 to the Lake Whatcom Logging 
Company. It is said that whatever may have 
been the failures of R. A. Alger, as secretary of 
war, he was one of the most skilful managers of 
a large lumbering company that ever operated on 
the sound. 

The saw-mills now operating in Skagit county, 
with the location and daily capacity of each, are 
as follows: A. W. Fox's , Fredonia, 10,000 feet; 
Gorton Brothers', Bay View, (i.OOO; Cedardale 
Lumber Company's, Mount Vernon. 15,000: 
North Avon Lumber Company's, 20,000: La Con- 
ner Lumber Company's, 10,000; Edison Lumber 
Company's, 10,000: Clear Lake Lumber Com- 
pany's, S5,000; Fidalgo Mill Company's, Ana- 
cortes, 40,000; Hightower Lumber Company's, 
Hamilton, 15,000; Tower Mill Company's, Van 
Horn, 25,000; Butler Brothers', Bow, 15,000; 
Atlas Lumber & Shingle Company's, McMurrav, 
S0,000; Nelson & Neal's, Montborne, 75,000; 
Day Lumber Company's, Big Lake, 100,000; 
Lyman Lumber & Shingle Company's, 45,000; 
W. M. Rodger's. Anacortes, 75,000; Jacobs & 
Harpst's, Avon. 10,000; North Avon Lumber 
Company's, 25,000; D. J. Cain & Company's, 
Thorn wood, 40,000; Great Northern Lumber 
Company's, Anacortes, 100,000. 

Inception was given to the shingle mill busi- 
ness in Skagit county by Mortimer Cook in the 
fall of 18N(i. Mr. Cook deserves the further and 
greater honor of having been one of the very 
first who introduced the red cedar shingle of 
Puget sound to the markets of the middle western 
states, thereby starting a trade which has grown 
to enormous proportions, and contributing 
immensely to the development of the entire 
sound basin. As a result shingle mills are 
abundant in every accessible part of western 
Washington. That Skagit county is not behind 
in the extent to which this industry has been 
developed will appear from the following list of 
mill men and companies operating at present: 
Hawley Mill Company, Milltown, 125,000; Green 



Shingle Company, Sedro-Woolley, two mills. 
200,000; Baker River Lumber Company, 125,000; 
Hatch Bonser Mill Company, Milltown, SO. 000; 
Siwash Shingle Company, Mount. A'ernon, 180,- 
000; Fidalgo Island Shingle Companv, Anacortes, 
50,000; Cleary Brothers, Belleville, .55,00(1; Sterl- 
ing Mill Company, Sedro-Woolley, 100,000; Sulli- 
van Shingle Company, Sauk, 100,000; Boyd 
Shingle Company, Sauk, 125,000; Rockport 
Shingle Company. Marblemount, 30,000; Hawk- 
eye Shingle Company, Sauk, 125,01)0; Baty 
Shingle Company, Anacortes, 150,000; Burpee 
Brothers Company, Anacortes, 125,000; Ana- 
cortes Shingle Company, 150,000; P. E. Berard 
Shingle Company, 150,000; Little ;Mountain 
Shingle Company, Mount A'ernon, 130,000; Win- 
ner Shingle Company, Bow, 75,000: Allen Roray 
Company, Bow, 75,000; Blanchard Shingle Com- 
pany, Fravel, 50,000; Kalberg & Schaffer, Bow, 
50,000; Belfast Manufacturing Company, KW.OOO; 
Castle & McKay, Bow, 60,000; De Can & Yorks- 
ton, Wickersham, 50,000; Clear Lake Shingle 
Company, 100,000; Clear Lake Lumber Com- 
pany, 200,000; Burke & McLean, Anacortes, 
150,000: James H. Cavanaugh, Anacortes. 150,- 
000; Burlington Mill Company, 50.000; F. N. 
Hatch, Conway, 33,01)0; Burns Mill Company, 
Sedro-Woolley. 100,000; J. M. Hoyt, Prairie, 
60,000; T- D- Cain, Prairie, 60,000; James Van 
Horn, Van Horn, 125,000; O. K. Shingle Com- 
pany, Van Horn. 125,000; J. W. Hall, Avon, 
50,000; Butler Brothers, Bow, 75,000; George 
Heathman, Burlington, 20,000; McLeod eV- But- 
lers, Desmond, 60,000; Pingree & Day, Ehrlich, 
125,000; J. C. Stitt, Bay View, 45,000; Lyman 
Lumber & Shingle Company, 125,000; Minkler & 
Vanderford, Lyman, 65,000; Hitchcock-Kelley 
Company, Lyman, 50,000; North Avon Lumber 
Company, 100,000; Grand Rapids Shingle Com- 
panv, Sedro-Woolley. 100,000; J. A. Childs, Ly- 
man, 100,000; Taylo'r & Ristine, Lyman, 100,000; 
Puget Single & Lumber Companv, Milltown, 
30,000; Williams & Henry, Milltown, 30,000; 
Hawkeye Shingle Companv, Rockport, 100,000; 
Clark & Lennon, Sedro-W'oollev, 125,000; Ner- 
drum & Meddaugh. Sedro-Woolley, 100,000; 
Woolley Shingle Company, 40,000. 

The mineral wealth of Skagit county is in a 
verv undeveloped condition notwithstanding its 
existence has been known for many years. The 
two principal minerals are coal and iron, though 
discoveries have not been limited to these by any 
means. More effort has been expended upon the 
coal veins than any of the other minerals, perhaps 
more than on all of them put together, yet the 
output of coal from the county has never been 
great, notwithstanding the somewhat wide distri- 
bution of outcroppings and the fairness of their 
promise. 

"In the western half of Skagit county." 
says the report of the Washington geological 
survey for 1902, "coal measures outcrop at 



DESCRIPTIVE 



a number of places. Surrounding these out- 
crops, as a rule, there are small coal basins, 
which seemingly have never been connected 
but have always been separated one from 
another. In the northwestern part of the 
county, the large coal field of Whatcom county 
extends into Skagit for a little way. A mile 
west of Thornwood on Samish river, there is an 
outcrop of coal where a little development work 
has been done. Immediately east of Montborne 
there is a small area of coal measures with a few 
coal outcrops. Near Cokedale and Hamilton 
there is in each case a coal measure area in 
which well-known veins of coal occur. 



"At the town of Cokedale a coal mine has 
been in operation for a number of years. The 
mine is located at the extreme Northern limit of 
the coal basin, the lowest vein of coal being but 
a few feet from the schist which lies below. The 
coal measures of Cokedale outcrop along the 
northern boundaries of the district, but for the 
most part they are covered by the alluvial 
deposits of the Skagit river. The district is not 
believed to be a large one extending from Coke- 
dale southward to the Skagit, and in an east and 
west direction from near Lyman to a point a 
little way beyond Sedro-Woolley. 

"At the Cokedale mine three veins of coal 
are found, viz., the north or Klondike vein, the 
middle vein and the south vein. The north vein 
is the lovvest one in the series and has a thickness 
varying from ten to twedty-five feet; the middle 
vein lies one hundred and forty feet above the 
north vein, stratigraphically, and has a thickness 
of from four to eight feet, with an average of six 
feet; the south vein, lying forty feet above the 
middle vein, has a thickness varying from six 
inches to two and a half feet. * * * j^, (-j^g 
deformation of the coal measures, the coal was so 
greatly broken that in mining it is obtained only 
in small pieces, and never in large lumps. It is 
a good coking coal, and a large part of it is made 
into coke. The coal is all passed through 
washers after leaving the mine; the coarser part 
is then used for steaming and domestic purposes, 
while the finer part is taken directly to the coke 
ovens near by. Forty ovens are now in place. 
They are of the beehive pattern, each having a 
capacity of five tons. In 1901 the output of the 
Cokedale mine consisted of 12,013 tons of coal 
and r),S(>6 tons of coke, and in 1902 it consisted 
of 19,017 tons of coal and (301 of coke." 

The coal measures in the Cokedale region 
were first uncovered by Lafayette Stevens about 
187S, some four years after he with Amasa Everett 
and Orlando Graham discovered the coal veins 
at Hamilton. Stevens first associated with him 
J. B. Ball, B. A. Marshall and a man named 
Smith and proceeded to develop the prospects, 
but capital was lacking and little more than to 



acquire property in the district could be attempted 
though one tunnel, three hundred feet in length, 
was driven. When the Fairhaven &- Southern 
railroad was built from Whatcom to Sedro in 
1SS9, Nelson Bennett and his associates, under 
the name of the Skagit Coal & Transportation 
Company, acquired the property and immedi- 
ately began extensive developments. C. X. 
Larabee bought Bennetfs interest in 1891. 
Under his management the mining of coal in that 
locality became an enterprise of considerable 
magnitude. In 1894 shipping by rail was begun 
and the next year forty coke ovens were installed 
at an expense of twenty-five thousand dollars. It 
was at this time that the town of Cokedale 
sprang up. From 1894 to 1S98 the mines pro- 
duced heavily. In the early nineties, James J. 
Hill, of the Great Northern, bought a quarter 
interest in the properties and in 1N99, his road, 
under the name of the Skagit Coal & Coke Com- 
pany, acquired the entire property. It was 
operated continuously until May, 1904, since 
which time nothing has been done. Six thousand 
acres are embraced in the Cokedale property. 

A few miles to eastward of Cokedale is the 
Hamilton district or Hamilton field as it is 
called. "The rock outcrops of the Cokedale and 
Hamilton districts are separated by the broad 
alluvial plain of the Skagit, and it is not known 
at the present time whether the coal-bearing 
rocks extend from one district to the other. At 
several places in the Hamilton district coal veins 
of commercial importance are known to outcrop. 
Upon some of these veins considerable develop- 
ment work has been done and in times past some 
coal has been mined and sold. The coal is of 
good quality and of a variety that may be made 
into coke. " 

The story of the discovery of coal in the 
mountains just across the river from Hamilton 
has been already told. J. J. Conner says he first 
learned of the existence of coal in that vicinity 
from an Indian chief, and that it was at his 
(Conner's) suggestion that Amasa Everett, 
Orlando Graham and the others investigated this 
coal region. Subsequent to their discovery, a com- 
pany was organized by Mr. Conner and others, 
some of them Seattle people, to exploit the coal, 
but nothing resulted from their efforts. Mr. 
Conner then obtained entire control of the prop- 
erty, and in 1S80 mined and shipped a hundred 
tons for the supply of blacksmiths, but the local 
demand was limited and no further efforts in this 
direction were made. In 1885, F. J. Horsewell, 
an employee of certain San Francisco men, 
obtained from Mr. Conner a working bond on a 
part of the property. The Skagit Cumberland 
Company was incorporated, much stoj:k was sold 
to English capitalists and by borrowing addi- 
tional money, funds were raised to operate on a 
large scale. Toward the close of the eighties 
they got started in good earnest, and for two or 



,aii<:ntary 



three years a large force of men was employed, 
an air compressor and other machinery were 
installed and two tunnels, three hundred and 
eight hundred feet respectively, were run. 

Meantime, however, the company had become 
involved in litigation with Mr. Conner, who 
claims they tried to defraud him of his proj^erty, 
and a shut down eventually resulted. About 
this time Henry Wood, agent for the Northern 
Pacific Company, investigated the property. 
Having satisfied himself as to its merits, he 
offered, on behalf of his principals, three-tiuart- 
ers of a million dollars for the holdings of the 
Skagit Cumberland Company and Mr. Conner, 
the latter to receive one hundred and fifty thou- 
sand dollars. The company would not sell, and 
for seven years litigation between them and 
Conner continued. Conner says that the entire 
property is now in the hands of himself and his 
associates and that they are able and willing to 
sell to any person or corporation with the means 
and experience to operate the mine. Recently 
a deal seemed on the point of materializing by 
which English capitalists were to purchase this 
Hamilton property entire, together with Mr. 
Conner's iron interests, in all five thousand two 
hundred and eijjhty acres of mineral land, on 
which are one hundred and fifty million feet of 
timljcr, for five hundred thousand dollars. It is 
said that the purchasing agent went so far as to 
■enter the bank in New York to draw his check 
for the first payment, but the deal fell through 
nevertheless. The reason for the purchaser's 
sudden change of mind is unknown, but Mr. 
Conner thinks he was influenced from his orig- 
inal intention by railroad interests. 

Tn March, iSSO, iron was discovered in the 
vicinity of Hamilton, but across the river from 
that town, by J. J. Conner. He had tests made 
of the ore, and in 1S8I succeeded in interesting 
David Lester, R. F. Radabaugh, General vSprague 
and others, who formed the Tacoma Steel & Iron 
Company, in the property. Two tons of ore 
were shipped to Philadelphia, where a satisfac- 
tory test was made and a capitalist willing to 
back the enterprise found in the person of C. B. 
Wright. On learning that Tacoma was to have a 
steel and iron plant, Seattle became exceedingly 
jealous. Some of her citizens at once chartered 
a steamer, proceeded to the mines, jumped the 
various unpatented claims and took possession 
generally. Before Conner's title could be (juieted, 
the deal had fallen through. It is said that 
Tacoma got revenge on vSeattle a few years 
later when iron works were about to be estab- 
lished at Kirkland, by cutting off transportation 
through her influence with the Northern Pacific. 
Certainly the Kirkland plant failed to mate- 
rialize. 

In ISiK) Conner negotiated a sale of his iron 
property to Nelson Bennett for fifty-five thousand 
dollars, but this deal failed on account of Senator 



Canfield's having placed a cloud on the title. 
The cloud was later removed by an agreement 
with Canfield's administratri.K. In the early 
nineties, D. H. Oilman, attempted to exploit 
Washington iron by starting a car-building 
establishment which should utilize iron from the 
local mines. He failed financially, losing every- 
thing. Some years ago. Homer H. Sweeney, of 
McKeesport, Pennsylvania, took up the iron 
matter, secured the Irondale plant at the head of 
Port Townsend bay, and commenced turning out 
a fine product. Mr. Conner shipped him four 
hundred tons, but the cost of the ore to him 
proved too great, on account of heavy freight 
charges. The ambitious plans of Mr. Sweeney 
were cut short by his death, he having been one 
of the victims of the Clallam disaster, and the 
mineral interests of Washington thereby sus- 
tained an incalculable misfortune. 

In just such ways, the development of the iron 
industry in Skagit county has been prevented. 
Iron veins extend from Iron mountain, near Ham- 
ilton, up the Skagit for miles, and there is little 
doubt of the abundance of the mineral. The 
estimated amount of iron ore in Conner's prop- 
erty alone is twenty million tons. It cannot be 
developed by its present owners, owing to their ■ 
lack of capital, and so far every proposed sale 
to men of means has failed to materialize. None 
of the various reasons for these failures seem to 
go to the merits of the property. Mr. Conner 
says that when Prof. Cherry, a friend of Carne- 
gie, who had charge of ore tests at the Colum- 
bian exposition, made an analysis of a sample of 
Hamilton ore, he was impressed with the desir- 
ability of making a working test. This he did. 
He succeeded in making a bar of steel two inches 
square and eighteen inches long, which he pre- 
sented to Dr. G. \'. Calhoun stating that there 
was only one other mine in the United States 
which furnished ore from which steel could be 
made in this manner. Usually it is necessary to 
mix ores from different mines in order to produce 
steel. He expressed himself as willing to invest 
heavily, if the mine was what it appeared to be, 
and asked Dr. Calhoun to investigate. He never 
lost interest in Washington iron from that date 
until the time of his death. Many analyses of 
the Hamilton iron have been made, differing 
slightly in results. One of them shows: Iron, 
52.1)0 per cent. ; silica, 20 15; sulphur, .0.")!); phos- 
phorous, .039; manganese, 5.40; alumina, 2.70; 
lime. 3.10. 

In the same general region, near the mouth 
of Baker river, Amasa liverett discovered a 
cement clay, which is being utilized at the pres- 
ent time, causing an influx of people and the 
laying out of a town known as Cement City. 
The value of the clay was discovered by accident. 
Mr. Everett was showing a lime ledge to an 
expert, when the latter dropped a remark about 
some of the clay which had been built into fire- 




MT. BAKF.R AND Ml'. RAINIER 



DESCRIPTIVE 



397 



places, saying it was more valuable for cement 
than it was for brick. Everett "took the hint," 
and while trying to sell his lime ledge in New 
York, showed also a sample of the clay. The 
ultimate result was the formation of the Wash- 
ington Portland Cement Company, and the 
inception of development work on a large scale. 
The company is now employing all the men it 
can get, building a twelve hundred barrel plant 
and it is expected that next y^r the capacity of 
the plant will be doubled. 

Talc is another mineral tliat exists in quantity 
in Skagit county. One deposit was discovered 
by an old prospector named George Neal, who 
later associated with himself Robert Moore and 
A. M. Searight and secured a lease of the school 
land on which the main body of talc was located. 
With Fletcher Brothers, who had secured a tract 
of talc land adjoining, they incorporated a com- 
pany and began to prospect the property 
thoroughly. It is said that their labor has 
demonstrated that the mineral exists in almost 
inexhaustible quantities and is of high quality. 
The property is located near Bow on Samish bay 
within one hundred yards of the Great Northern 
railroad. The company is getting ready for 
active operations as rapidly as possible. There 
are also valuable deposits of talc near Marble- 
mount, for the elaboration of which T. M. Alvord 
& Son have erected a water-power mill, the only 
talc mill in the county at present. 

Discoveries of asbestos, graphite, mica and 
other minerals have been made from time to 
time in various parts of Skagit county as well as 
of lead, nickel and the precious metals. In the 
summer of 1S90, there was much excitement 
over the discovery of rich bodies of ore near the 
head of Cascade river, and over the sale of one 
mine to Eastern parties for a reputed price of one 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars. There are a 
number of prospects in this Cascade district as 
yet undeveloped, and to the north and east in 
Whatcom, Okanogan and Chelan counties are 
several mineral belts of no little promise. 

The taking and canning of various kinds of 
salt-water fish is another Skagit county industn,- 
of enormous and constantly growing proportions. 
The waters of the sound, the gulf, the straits 
and adjacent ocean teem with cod, herring, stur- 
geon, anchovies, flounders, perch, halibut, shad, 
sole, bass, salmon, smelts, etc., as well as 
oysters, clams, shrimps, crabs and other varieties 
of shell fish. There is profit for the experienced 
fisherman who engages in the capture and pre- 
paring for market of any of these varieties, but 
salmon catching and canning far surpass any 
of the other fishing industries in magnitude 
and importance. Seven of the largest salmon 
canneries on Puget sound are located in Skagit 
county, and their product runs high into the 
millions of cans. "The actual number of cans 
manufactured in Anacortes, " says the American 



of June 15, 1905, "is as follows: Northern 
Fisheries Company, 4,500,000; Alaska Packers 
Association, 5,000,000; Fidalgo Island Packing 
Company, 3,000,000; Porter Fish Company, 
2,500,000, or a total of 15,000,000 cans manu- 
factured in Anacortes during the year 1905. 
This is the total product of the can -making plants 
of this city, but it is not the total amount of cans 
used. The White Crest and Apex canneries buy 
their cans already made, which adds to the 
number used about 2,000,000 more cans, or a total 
of 17.000,000 cans. 

"The seventh cannery at Anacortes is that 
of Will A. Lowman, who employs forty-five 
white men and fifty Chinamen, turning out about 
50,000 cases annually. 

The first run of salmon begins about the 
middle of April. Although these are caught 
and utilized, they are inferior in value to the 
sockeye, whose season commences aboiit July 
15th. Humbacks, silver salmon and steelheads 
follow, none of which are comparable to the 
sockeye, but with them all the season lasts about 
ninety days. 

In order to render the salmon industry per- 
manent by conserving the supply of fish the state 
has enacted strict laws regulating the distance 
between fish traps, seins, gill nets, etc., that a 
sufficient number to keep up the supply of young 
salmon may be allowed to spawn. Furthermore 
there are twenty fish hatcheries in the state, 
which, it is estimated, turn out one hundred and 
forty million young salmon annually. A very 
large proportion of these return to the parent 
stream in from two and a halt" to four years, and 
many of them are taken by Skagit county fisher- 
men while on their way. 

The Baker Lake Salmon Hatchery which is 
located on Baker Lake at the head waters of the 
Baker river, one of the main tributaries of the 
Skagit, was established about ten years ago by 
the Washington State Fish Commission and 
operated by them for about three years when it 
was sold to the United States government. This 
is one of the most important stations that the 
Bureau of Fisheries operates, as it is on one of 
the very few streams which the sockeye ascend 
in numbers to warrant artificial propagation. It 
is of course very expensive to run owing to its 
geographical location, being situated eighteen 
miles from Baker, a small town on the Great 
Northern railroad, and reached only over a 
rugged mountain pony trail. The buildings are 
all constructed from lumber split out with a froe, 
the main hatchery being one hundred feet by 
forty feet and fitted up with one hundred sixteen- 
foot salmon troughs. 

The Bureau also operates a small sub-station 
at Birdsview on the Skagit river and the two 
stations together have an annual output of about 
twenty million fry including the following 
species: Sockeye, Quinnat and silver salmon and 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



Steelhead trout. The plant is under the super- 
intendency of Henry O'Malley. 

While the habitat of the cod is the northern 
seas, the work of preparation for market may as 
well be done in more genial climes. Anacortes 
is the possessor of a mammoth plant fitted up 
for cod curing purposes— that of the Robinson 
Fisheries Company. This was organized in 
IS97 as the Robinson-Colt Company for the man- 
ufacture of fertilizers and iish oil. In 1900 ihe 
size of the plant was greatly increased. In 1904 
the company reorganized, assumed its present 
name and launched out into the codfish business. 
It has enjoyed great prosperity and a phenom- 
enal growth, the result of much care in treating 
the fish, much thought in perfecting drying 
methods and miich effort in introducing Pacific 
coast codfish in the markets of the East. The 
company is also using the skins of the fish in the 
manufacture of liquid glue. 

With a word about the oyster industry, this 
brief review of the fisheries may be brought to a 
close. Inasmuch as a large part of the Samish 
oyster beds are under control of Bellingham 
people their product -is very often credited to 
Whatcom county. In reality, however, not a 
single oyster was ever raised in Washington 
north of Samish bay. These oysters belong to 
Skagit county, and they form one of its important 
assets. "When I came here, I was dum- 
founded," said Superintendent A. II. Brown, of 
the Bellingham Oyster Company, "to find the 
residents of Skagit county so ignorant of the 
wealth that lay within the very palms of their 
hands. Skagit county, with its eighteen hundred 
acres of oyster lands (which is far in excess of 
any other county of Puget sound), had hardly 
been touched by white men. The Indians and 
poachers had for years scraped the Samish flats 
and had put them in a deplorable state until 
about two years ago (1902), when they were 
bought up by individuals, and today there are one 
hundred acres of oyster lands under cultivation in 
Skagit county. There are few who realize what 
this means, and it is but the beginning of what 
is destined to be one of Washington's greatest 
industries." Mr. Brown considers the Samish 
oyster far superior to the Olympia, or, in fact, to 
any other bivalve in Washington. His company 
is also importing and cultivating Japanese and 
Eastern oysters. i 

P'rom the foregoing incomplete and very 
imperfect outline of Skagit county's resources, it 
will be seen that they are very diverse, very rich ! 
and practically limitless in their possibilities of | 
development. Agricultural lands of almost j 
unparalleled richness, timber equal to the finest 
in America, plenty of coal and iron of good 
quality, bright prospects for the development of 
other minerals, plenty of talc and pulp wood for 
the supply of paper mills, abundance of fish of I 
all varieties, a climate mild, healthful and suited 



to the textile industries and all other lines of 
manufacture, as well as to the rearing of all 
kinds of live stock, safe and commodious harbors, 
water power in abundance, at the front door a 
sea just starting into world-wide commercial 
importance, trans-continental railways entering 
at the back door and competing for her trajJe — 
these are the possessions of Skagit county, the 
basis of her present prosperity and the solid 
foundation of her hope for the future. 

SNOHOMISH COUNTY 
To the south of Skagit, and between it and 
King, is Snohomish county, which also has for 
its eastern boundary the summit of the Cascades, 
and its western the sound. The salt water and 
the mountains here approach a little nearer each 
other than further north, making Snohomish 
county somewhat shorter from east to west than 
Skagit; and though it enjoys a greater frontage 
on Puget sound, than its northern neighbor it is 
a little smaller. Its superficial area is one thou- 
sand six hundred and fift"y-one square miles. 
While the pride of Skagit county is its tideland 
development, that of Snohomish is most justly 
the S])lendid achievements of its loggers, lumber- 
men and shingle manufacturers, achievements 
which have placed it in the front rank among 
lumbering communities. Snohomish is one of 
the banner counties of the sound basin for the 
magnificence of its natural covering of timber, 
many ([uarter sections yielding eight or ten 
million feet of merchantable saw logs, some even 
more, while comparatively few have had less 
than three millions. The timber is very widely 
distributed over its entire surface, prairies being 
few and relatively insignificant, though some of 
them are of great agricultural value, and the 
only other untimbered acres being the rocky 
crests of a few lofty mountain peaks. 

As is true of all other countries on the east 
side of the sound, its most striking physical 
features are the deep salt sea along its western 
border, and the lofty Cascades, which occupy its 
entire eastern part, and cover nearly half its 
area. Much of its present importance and hope 
for, the future is due to its location on the 
strategic Puget sound, giving it immediate 
access to the rapidly developing markets of the 
Pacific, and making it a participant in whatever 
the future may have in store for this singularly 
favored region. So many are the natural har- 
bors of Puget sound that almost every town on 
its shore may have one, but it is claimed that of 
Everett is in some respects superior to any 
other, even to those of Seattle and Tacoma. 
Notwithstanding the bitter county-seat fight of 
the middle nineties between Snohomish City and 
Everett, it may, perhaps, be safely said that it is 
the ambition of the entire county to build on 
Port Gardner bay, a great maritime and manu- 
facturing center, and no doubt the highest good 



DESCRIPTIVE 



of the county at large demands that this be 
done. 

The Cascade mountains are of value, not 
alone for their billions of feet of merchantable 
timber, and for the marvelous effect they have 
upon climatic conditions, but for the great 
wealth of hidden treasures they are known to 
contain. Much of their timber is beyond the 
reach of the lumberman at present, being 
included along with other bodies of timber in 
Snohomish and neighboring counties in a gov- 
ernment forest reserve, but the law does not 
prohibit mining, nor prevent the taking of 
sufficient timber for that purpose, so the develop- 
ment of their mineral deposits is now in progress. 

Another physical feature of transcendent 
importance is the two river systems of the 
county. These are somewhat similar in several 
respects. Both have westerly currents and 
both consist of a short river formed by the con- 
fluence of two others, the branches heading in 
the Cascades. The Stillaquamish pours its 
water into the sound in the northwestern part 
of the county. Its north fork drains the west 
half of the extreme northern part while its south 
fork rises well toward the center of the county. 
Between the two, which unite near Arlington, is 
a large body of country, including tlie western 
spur "of the'Cascade range, the spur m which is 
the celebrated White Horse mountain, nearly 
seven thousand feet high. Rising deep in the 
Cascades, flowing northwesterly until it rounds 
the base of Gold mountain, and separated at 
Darrington from the waters of the north fork by 
a narrow divide is the Sauk river, one of the 
noblest streams in the sound basin. It continues 
its northerly course until its waters unite with 
those of the Skagit. 

The drainage of the southern part of the 
county consists, for the most part, of the magni- 
ficent and beautiful Snohomish river and the two 
equally magnificent streams which unite to form 
it, the Snoqualmie and the Skykomish. Both 
of the smaller streams rise in King county, hence 
have a northerly as well as westerly course, but 
the Skykomish belongs principally to Snohomish, 
while the Snoqualmie is largely a King counly 
stream. It has, however, contributed very 
materially in the past to the wealth and pros- 
perity of this county. Its logs have sought an 
outlet through the Snohomish river, and the 
trade relationship of its rich valley with our sec- 
tion has been very intimate. Its sublime water- 
fall where its current leaps perpendicularly 
downward through nearly two hundred feet of 
space is a source of pride to the whole sound 
country. 

One of the pleasing physical features of 
Snohomish county is its multitude of miniature 
lakes. Just north of the Tulalip Indian reserva- 
tion and between the Great Northern railroad 
and the sound is a splendid cluster, including 



Lakes Goodwin, Shoecraft, Crabapple, Cranberry, 
Ki, Howard, Martha and others. A short distance 
west of Machias is Stevens lake, cutting out 
portions of several sections while well distributed 
over the surface of the county are many smaller 
bodies of fresh water, among them being Roe- 
siger. Chaplain, Plowing, Panther, Storm, Silver, 
McAleer, Mud, Conner, Bosworth, Upper and 
Lower Twin and Riley. Each of these magni- 
ficent lakes, with the towering evergreens on its 
banks and the water lilies and other plants 
growing thick near its border, forms a scene of 
rare attractiveness and beauty. 

The country being covered thick with tlie 
finest timber and possessed of two great rivers 
whose tributary streams penetrate far into the 

j heart of the forest, furnishing easy conveyance 

' to market, it is not surprising that lumbering 
should early take first place among the industries 
of Snohomish and that it should continue to hold 

1 pre-eminence through all the years of the coun- 

j ty's history. 

I For forty years, now, the logger and the mill 
man have been at work, yet the time seems far in 
the future when the timber supply of the county 
will begin to show the first signs of exhaustion. 
According to United States government report 
issued in 1902, there were then only 2')'2 square 
miles of logged off lands in the county; the 
burned area was only 119 square miles in extent 
and the timberless area 28, while on I,2r)2 square 
miles, the timber was still standing. Of course 
much of this timber is inaccessible, some being 
remote from established routes of transportation 
and still more reserved by the government. The 
report estimates the amount of timber still in 
the county in feet, board measure, as follows: 
red fir, 7, 3r)(;, 337,000; cedar, 2,050,630,000; 
hemlock, 1,055,737,000; lovely fir, 214,742,000; 
white fir, 04,423,000; Engelmann spruce, 42,955,- 
000; other species, 107,371 ,000; total, 10,892,195,- 
000. The average stand per acre on the timbered 

I area was estimated at 13,500 feet board measure. 
From time to time in the past remarkably 
large trees have been discovered in different 
parts of the sound country and noticed in the 
local press. Near Snohomish is a large cedar, 
through which a passage way has been cut and 
a bicycle path constructed. Photographers have 
striven to surpass one another in producing 
artistic pictures of it and they and the engraver 
and the printer have succeeded in advertising it 
quite widely over the country. The bicycle tree, 
as it is called, is a source of much pride to the 
people of Snohomish City and vicinity, who have 
surrounded it with a wire netting to save it from 
the pocket knives of the thoughtless. It is much 
more celebrated than its nearest neighbor on 
the other side of the county road, which, how- 
ever, greatly surpasses it in size, being more 
than sixty feet in circumference, while the bicycle 
tree is probably not more than forty-five. 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



In 1890, the Seattle Press called attention to 
a tree on Ulmer Stinson's land three miles east 
of Snohomish City, which was twenty-three 
feet in diameter, indeed much greater than that 
at the surface of the ground. The tree had 
been hollowed by the action of fire and there 
were indications that the room inside had been 
used as a camping place by Indians from time 
to time. It was estimated that this tree was 
more than one thousand years old, for eight hun- 
dred rings had been counted on a much smaller 
tree near by. 

In its issue of June 19, 1891, the Snohomish 
Sun quoted the Arlington Times as saying: 

"The largest tree in Snohomish county, prob- 
ably, is a cedar which stands a little way from 
the Kent's Prairie and vStanwood road, about six 
miles from Arlington. A party of nine went 
down from this place last Sunday to satisfy 
themselves of the truth of what were regarded 
by them as exaggerated reports of its size. It 
has been claimed that the tree is ninety-nine 
feet in circumference, but the measurement 
taken Sundaj'- shows it to be only sixty- eight 
feet. If measured around the roots and knotty 
protuberances the tree would likely measure the 
ninety-nine feet claimed for it, but that is not a 
fair test. Sunday's measurement was as close 
to the body of the tree as a line could be drawn. 
About seventy-five feet from the ground the 
tree forks into four immense branches. Just 
below the forks is a big knot hole and five of the 
party climbed up and made an exploration of 
the inside of the tree, which is a mere shell, 
though still green. A peculiar feature which 
they noticed was that the tree is barked on the 
inside the same as on the outside." 

The largest trees in the sound country are 
cedars and usually hollow, but some very large, 
solid fir trees have been found and reported to 
the local press. The Skagit News states that in 
April, 1888, Joseph Cozier put a log into Baker 
river forty-eight feet long, which scaled one 
hundred and eight inches at the top and one 
hundred and twenty at the butt and contained 
thirty-two thousand four hundred and forty-eight 
feet of lumber. J. P. McCoy told one of the com- 
pilers that he cut a fir on the banks of the 
Samish from which five logs were made, with an 
aggregate lumber content of twenty-four thou- 
sand feet, and doubtless much larger stories could 
be told by other logging men in consistency 
with literal truth. 

Sections of the big trees of Snohomish, Skagit 
and other counties of the sound have been 
exhibited at the different world's fairs and at 
numerous smaller expositions in various parts of 
the country, and they have invariablj'' attracted 
much attention. In Snohomish county's exhibit 
at the Lewis & Clark Centennial, recently 
concluded at -Portland, was a cross-section of a 
tree thirteen feet in diameter. The cross-section 



was about a foot thick, with its upper surface 
polished so as to make a smooth floor. On it 
were several other cross-sections of smaller trees, 
some of which had been shaped into stools, while 
others were carved into comfortable chairs. A 
typewriter desk was also there made by taking a 
cross-section about four feet long and three feet 
thick, standing it on end and cutting away a 
place for the knees. On a high chair beside it 
sat a stenographer to whom any one wishing to^ 
dictate letters might do so without charge. 
Naturally this novel exhibit was the center of 
much interest, and no doubt it gave to many a 
resident of the less-favored East a new vision of 
the glory and wealth of occidental America. 

The importance of Snohomish county as a 
lumbering country rests, however, not upon its 
forest giants, though it has them in abundance, 
but rather upon the thick stand of ordinary trees 
from two to six feet in diameter, which covers 
the timbered area. An outline of the methods 
by which the huge logs were in the past and now 
are transported from the forest to the rivers or 
the railroads may be of interest. The modus, 
operandi of handling logs in the woods, like most 
other processes, has been one of development. 
The most primitive method was that of the hand 
logger who traveled over the sound and its 
tributary streams in his boat or canoe, established 
a temporary camp wherever he might find a 
cluster of trees close to the water's edge, felled 
them into the water or so near it that, when cut 
into logs, they could be rolled in with peavey or 
jackscrew, and final!)' floated them to the 
nearest satisfactory market. The hand logger 
also operated upon river jams or wherever the 
timber could be profitably handled with no other 
than hand power and by the use of a few simple 
tools such as saws, axes, handspikes, peaveys, 
jackscrews, etc. 

The men who logged in this way probably 
did so because without money to purchase an 
outfit, rather than from want of knowledge of a 
better method. 

Even in the earliest days of the industry on 
Ptiget sound, oxen were used in taking out 
timber, and they furnished practically the only 
power employed by lumbermen until the middle 
or latter eighties. A man wishing to engage in 
the business would first look up a suitable loca- 
tion within convenient reach of water where 
there was sufficient timber to keep him busy for 
a number of years. This found, his next con- 
sideration was a logging team, for which he must 
go to the farming districts. None but large, 
young cattle girting not less than seven and a 
half feet would satisfy his requirements, but if a 
steer was suitable in other respects, he cared 
little how wild or vicious he might be as his 
teamster would take a pride in "bringing up 
standing with a round turn" the wildest and 
seemingly most incorrigible animal. 



DESCRIPTIVE 



401 



In a moderately large camp the crew would 
consist of a foreman, a teamster, two fallers, two 
sawyers, two skidders, two swampers, two 
barkers, a hand skidder, a hook tender, a skid 
greaser, a landing man, a cook and perhaps two 
or ihree extra hands, and the wages paid were 
about as follows: Teamster, $100 to $125 a 
month: foreman, $100; fallers, skidders, hook 
tenders and sawyers, $70 to $80; swampers, $55 
to $(■)(); all others from $40 up. To earn these 
stipends, however, the men had to be experienced 
woodsmen, familiar with all the requirements of 
the work they might undertake to do. 

An outfit secured and a crew hired, the logger 
would charter a steamer to convey all to the 
scene of operations. The day of departure was 
one of hustle, hilarity and excitement. The 
vessel's cargo would consist of a motley array of 
miscellaneous equipage — lumber for the camp, 
barn and sleeping sheds, baled hay and ground 
feed for the oxen, provisions and general mer- 
chandise in large quantities, blacksmithing tools, 
yokes, boom-chains, anchors, jackscrews, cables, 
pike poles, axes, saws, shovels, peaveys, etc., 
etc. On reaching their destination men and oxen 
would disembark, the provisions and tools would 
be piled up on the shore, and soon all hands 
would be busy in erecting sheds, setting up the 
cook stove and making other preliminary arrange- 
ments. Before a week had passed a thriving village 
would have sprung up in the heart of the forest. 

As soon as everything was set in order the 
entire crew would be put to work, constructing 
a landing and various main roads into the 
timber. The preliminary clearing away of 
brush ai»d debris was the duty of the swampers. 
Skidders followed, smoothing up the ground 
with shovels and putting in the "skids," or 
timbers ten to eighteen inches in diameter and 
twelve to sixteen feet long. 

These were arranged across the road and half 
or more than half buried in the ground, then 
chipped out at or near the center to form a run- 
way for the logs. They must needs be set care- 
fully, according to certain lines and natural 
principles or the road would be a failure, and in 
a rough country no little engineering skill was 
required of the skidder. When the landing was 
ready and roads were constructed sufficient to war- 
rant a start in taking out timber, the fallers, 
sawyers, teamsters and other men would be 
assigned to the specific duty for which they 
were hired, leaving the skidders to carry on all 
further road building alone. 

In falling timber what are called spring 
boards were and still are universally employed. 
These are heavy plank-like pieces of wood, five 
feet long, about a foot wide at one end and five 
or six inches at the other, smooth on their upper 
surfaces, with a horse-shoe shaped piece of iron 
riveted to the small end. To permit their use 
deep notches are cut into the tree to be felled at 



a convenient height above the ground, so shaped 
that when the little ends of the spring boards are 
fitted into them, the boards will have a horizon- 
tal position. The notches are also shaped to- 
permit the outer end of the spring board to be 
moved from side to side as convenience may 
require, while the toe-calk of the horse-shoe 
shaped iron before mentioned sinks into the 
upper surface of the notch and prevents the 
spring board from slipping out and falling to 
the ground. The advantages of these contriv- 
ances are obvious. They give the fallers a level 
surface to stand upon while at work and enable 
them to cut the tree at such a height above the 
ground that the tough protuberances and "churn 
butt" are in most instances left in the stump. If 
large trees had to be felled by men standing 
on the ground, it would probably be necessary in- 
many instances to cut away four or five feet fromi 
the butt, so that the first log could be hauledi 
over the road without tearing up the skids. 

Standing on their spring boards, the fallers 
make a shallow incision with their saw on the 
side toward which the tree is to fall, cut away 
with axes some of the timber above this so as to- 
form a scarf, then turning around and swinging 
their spring boards back, take up their saw- 
again and cut toward the scarf until the tree is 
ready to fall. By the scarf in front and the use 
of steel wedges behind the direction in which 
the tree shall fall may be very largely controlled, 
and skill in this work consists in so felling the 
timber that it may not be broken on striking the 
ground and may be "yarded out" with the 
greatest possible facility. It is interesting to 
watch the men at work on a large forest giant. 
The merry music of the saw gives place at inter- 
vals to the measured strokes of the heavy mallets- 
as the steel wedges are hammered into the cut; 
sawing and hammering continue alternately for 
some time. Finally a spasmodic quivering is- 
noticed in the topmost twigs, the death shudder 
of the giant of ages: a few parting strokes are 
given the wedges; the tree starts downward, 
slowly at first; the fallers call out the last word' 
of warning as they jump from their spring boards 
and rush back to a place of safety from the 
falling branches; there is a crashing sound as 
limbs from the tree itself and limbs from sur- 
rounding trees are torn off by the force of the 
fall; finally an awful crash, accompanied by a 
trembling of mother earth for yards around, 
announces the completion of the tragedy of the 
forest. 

The sawyers come next and cut the tree into 
logs, one man operating a saw. This part of 
the programme would not be difficult if the tree 
would always lie in an ideal position, but it sel- 
dom does, and sometimes much skill and inge- 
nuity are required to prevent splitting the 
timber, or to overcome its tendency to bind on 
the saw. Occasionally it is necessary to saw 



SUPPLEMEiNTARY 



from the bottom up, a difficult feat, but one 
usually accomplished b}' standing a forked stick 
against the tree in which the saw rests back 
downward while being operated. 

In order to reduce friction on the skids a por- 
tion of the bark must be removed from the logs, 
and to do this is the work of the barkers. In 
the summer season, when the sap is circulating, 
the bark comes off very freely. At such times 
it was and still is customary to remove it all, but 
in winter, when the bark sticks, only that on the 
"riding" side of the log is removed. To find 
this particular side is the part of the barker's 
duty that requires experience and skill. 

The use of the donkey engine in the woods 
has modified considerably the duties of the hook 
tender and has removed the necessity for much 
of the swamping and hand skidding, but in the 
days of logging by oxen, it was necessary to 
clear away brush and debris and make a rough 
pathway for the oxen from the skid road to the 
timber. This was the work of the swampers. 
The hand skidder supplied small, temporary 
skids to facilitate "yarding," while the duty of 
hook tender was to "snipe" the log (as round- 
ing off with a sharp axe the end to go ahead 
was called), to hitch the team to it by driving 
into it the large dog hook on the end of the ox 
chain and otherwise to assist the teamster in 
yarding out. If the log was in an awkward 
position or had to come up a steep hill so that 
the team could not pull it on a direct haul, a 
block and tackle was used. This consisted of one 
or more pulleys and a large rope or wire cable. 
The end of the cable was attached to a tree or 
^tump in the direction the log was to be moved, 
the block itself was attached to the log and the 
team pulled on the other end of the cable. This 
arrangement doubled the power, and if a still 
greater purchase was necessary it could be had 
by the use of additional pulleys. The logs were 
"yarded" to the skid road one at a time, but a 
considerable number of logs varying with their 
size, the power of the team and other conditions, 
could be taken over the skid road to the landing. 
To facilitate hauling on the road, the skids were 
carefully swept after each "turn," and for the 
purpose of further reducing friction, the skid 
greaser walked between the team and the fore- 
most log and gave each skid as he came to it a 
brush of oil. As the timber logged in those days 
was close to the water's edge, the skid roads 
naturally had a general down grade, so that 
gravity assisted the team in getting the big logs 
to the landing. Sometimes in starting a load 
and often in yarding what is called a samson was 
used. This is a piece of timber about three 
feet long set up in front of the log and under the 
draft chain, in such a way that when the chain 
tightens it has a lifting effect, and overcomes any 
tendency of the log to plow into the ground or to 
butt against a skid. 



Such in general was the logging method in 
the vogue prior to and during the middle 
eighties, though the process might be varied 
somewhat to suit special conditions or the fancy 
of individual operators. 

It is thought that Blackman Brothers, of 
Snohomish, deserve credit for having introduced 
more improvements and appliances in the hand- 

! ling of logs than any other firm of loggers on 
Puget sound. The Blackmans were mechanics 
by nature and training, also possessed in a high 
degree the inventive faculty. 

Very early in the eighties they took out a 
patent on a huge logging truck, designed to run 
on wooden rails, which came into quite general 
use in the camps of the sound country. It was 
hauled at first by horses, but at a later date by 
steam, and eventually was superseded by the 
steam logging railroad which, in its highest 
development, is not essentially different from 
the railroads in use throughout the country for 
general freight and passenger transportation. 

It is said that Peter Boyce, now of Roosevelt, 
in Snohomish county, was the first to employ the 
donkey engine successfully in yarding in the 

! woods, and that he did so in Blackman Brothers' 
camp. The donkey is an engine with a huge 

I wooden platform for a base, the whole on large 

j wooden runners. By means of a cable fastened 

I to a tree or stump, it can pull itself around from 
place to place, and when in proper position and 

! securely fastened, it develops such tremendous 
power that almost anything it may be hitched to 

I has to come regardless of intervening obstacles. 

j The use of the donkey in the woods and the 
steam railroad between there and the. point to 
which the timber is to be delivered, has revolu- 
tionized the logging industry, and brought into 
the market large bodies of timber which were 
utterly inaccessible to loggers employing only 
oxen, horses or mules. While most of the 
logging on the sound to-day is done by steam, in 
some camps heavy draft horses are still used, but 
the days of the ox-team and the shouting, profane 

1 "bull-puncher" are gone forever. 

During the early days it was customary to 

j float almost all logs cut on the east side of the 
sound down the rivers to salt water, then tow 
them to the west side where all the large saw- 
mills were located. But for many years now Sno- 
homish county has had mills of its own, and since 
the advent of the railroads these have increased 
in number and capacity until it has been sug- 
gested that Snohomish might now very properly 

; be given the nick-name of "Mill" county. In 
190,") the assessed valuation of saw, shingle and 
other wood working mills exceeded $;r>0(l,(MH), and 
they are not assessed at their full value by a 

I long way. The Weyerhauser Lumber Company 

j leads off with a valuation of $59,0(X); then come 
the Clark Nickerson Lumber Company, $54,000; 
the Mukilteo Lumber Company, $51,500; the 



DESCRIPTIVE 



403 



Three Lakes Lumber Company, $28,500; Parker 
Brothers & Hiatt, $22,500; Eclipse Mill Com- 
pany, $16,500; Ferry Baker Lumber Company, 
$16,500; Wallace Lumber & Manufacturing 
Company, $13,400; Gold Bar Lumber Company, 
$12,400; and the Mitchell Lumber Company, 
$11,000. 

A complete list of the saw- mills of Snohomish 
county without shingle mills in connection is as 
follows: E. J. Anderson's, capacity 20,tHK) feet 
per diem ; Arlington Lumber Company's, 20,000; 
Clark Nickerson Lumber Company's, 160,000; 
Cedarhome Lumber Company's, 80,000; Crescent ! 
Lumber Company's, 20,000; Dexter Mill Com- 
pany's, 15,000; John Johnson's, 5,000; Kruse 
Brothers', 15,000; Lake McAleer Lumber Com- 
pany's, 20,000; G. H. Mowatt & Company's, 
15,000; Marysville Shingle Company's, 40,000; 
Maughlin Brothers', 20,000; Morgan Brothers', 
35,000; Robe Menzel Lumber Company's, 30,000; 
Stanwood Lumber Company's, Sauk Lumber 
Company's, 30,000; Smith Lumber Company's, i 
25,000; W. E. Stocker's, 10,000; Seymore i 
Brothers', 5,000; Summit Saw-mill, 5,000; | 
Totham-Nelson Lumber Company's, 10,000; 
A. M. Yost's, 10,000; Hydraulic Power & Mill 
Company's. 5,000. The saw-mills with shingle 
mills in connection are those of the Canon 
Lumber Company, Eclipse Mill Company, Ferry 
Baker Lumber Company, Gold Bar Lumber 
Company, Gray Lumber Company, Heath- 
Morley Company, Mukilteo Lumber Company, 
Mitchell Lumber Company, Parker Brothers & 
Hiatt, Silver Lake Shingle Company, Stephens 
Brothers, Three Lakes Lumber Company. Wal- 
lace Lumber & Manufacturing Company, T. H. 
Williams & Company, Weyerhauser Timber 
Company. 

The shingle manufacturing industry is much 
younger than logging and lumbering, but it has 
had a rank growth, encouraged by the great 
demand of the Eastern states for red cedar ; 
shingles. The Blackman Brothers in Snohomish 
county and Mortimer Cook in Skagit were leaders i 
in introducing the sound shingles in the middle 
West, and to them is due a large measure of 
credit for the building up of the splendid shingle 
industry and the very important etfect it has had 
on the general development of the country, j 
Prior to about 1.SS6 there were no shingle ! 
mills in the sound basin; now there are eighty- 
three in Snohomish county alone, in addition 
to those in connection with the saw-mills. Tliese I 
are the property of the following firms and indi- | 
viduals: ; 

American Red Cedar Shingle Company, 
capacity 90,(^00 a day; Advance Shingle Com- 
pany, 80,000; Arlington Shingle Companv, 
50,000; Arlington Shingle Company, 110,000; i 
John Anderson, 90,000; Anderson Brothers, 
40,000; C. A. Blackman, 120,000; Brady Shingle 
Company, 60,000; Barlow Shingle Company, i 



40,000; Bass Shingle Company, 90,000; Best 
Shingle Company, 60,000; Big Three Shingle 
Company, 40,000; Bolcom Bartlet Mill Company, 
80,000; Bolcom Bartlet Mill Company, 120,000; 
Bryant Lumber & Shingle Company, 90,000; F. 
H. Benedict, 40,000; Carpenter Brothers, 100,- 
000; Cavelero Mill Company, 140,000; Chappel 
Shingle Company, 40,000; Coomljs Lumber 
Company, 90,000; Cooper & Aplin, 90,000; Cras 
& Larson, 40.000; Carlson Brothers, 180,000; 
Dorgan Brothers, 60,000; Edmonds Red Cedar 
Shingle Company, 80,000; Eby Mill Company, 
90,000; Edgecomb Mill Company, (;0,000; E. 
Eggert, 120,000; Ewald Brothers, 90,000; Ford 
Shaw Lumber Company, 110,000; Florence 
Shingle Company, 90,000; Fenton & Kimbal, 
()(),()00; Fortson Shingle Company, 80,000; Grace 
Mill Company, 90,000; John Hals, 120,000; Han- 
son Timber Company, 90,000; Hartford Shingle 
Company, 110,000; Hazel Lumber Company, 
110,000; G. K. Hiatt, 1()0,000; August Holin- 
quist, 120,000; Harrington Shingle Company, 
100,000; Wilson Hill, 60,000; Keystone Mill 
Company, 80,000; J. A. Kennedy, 90,000; G. J. 
Ketchum, 40,000; Lake Riley Shingle Companv, 
40,000; R. A. Lauderdale, 80,000; Lincoln 
Shingle Company, 100,000; Lea Lumber Com- 
pany, 120,000; Lochloy Shingle Company, 
60,000; Mann Shingle Company. 120,000; R. J. 
McLaughlin, 90,000; Monroe Mill Company, 
120,000; Maughlin Brothers, 140,000; Marley & 
Church, 90,000; Marysville Shingle Company, 
90,000; Meuret Shingle Company, 40,000; James 
McCulloch, 120,000; Neukirchen Brothers, 
60,000; Newcomb McCall & Company, 60,000; 
T. H. Parker, 140,000; Puget Shingle cS: Lumber 
Company, 200,000; Rainier Cedar & Shingle 
Company, 120,000; Robinson & Idema, 100,000. 

It is not claimed that the capacities assigned 
are absolutely accurate, but they are given by 
Assessor E. M. Allen as close conservative esti- 
mates. 

In this connection it is proper to mention the 
sash and door factories of the county which are 
owned and operated by the following companies 
and individuals, namely: Arlington Shingle 
Company, John Anderson, American Lumber & 
Manufacturing Company, G. W. Mowatt & Com- 
pany, Marysville Shingle Company, Snohomish 
Shingle Company, J. Swartz, Totham-Nelson 
Lumber Company, Wheelihan Weidauer Com- 
pany Western Shingle Company, A. M. Yost. 

From what has already been said in these 
pages regarding the mines of the county it must 
be evident to the reader that they have from the 
first given great promise. While it is frankl}' 
admitted that so far their promise has not been 
fulfilled, there is no good reason for discourage- 
ment, for if the mineral belt has not been proven 
by development, so far as it has been carried, to 
be one of great merit, the contrary has certainly 
not been shown. Furthermore, there are many 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



good reasons for the slowness of the region in 
coming to the front other than lack of merit. 

In an interesting article on the mines of this 
section Hon. Albert W. Mclntre calls attention to 
the fact that many meritorious districts in Colo- 
rado, California, British Columbia and elsewhere 
had the same experience. They were once un- 
known to fame and had to struggle through 
ignorance, scepticism and poverty. He also de- 
nies that there is any antecedent improbability 
that a great mining industry may be developed 
in the Snohomish county Cascades arising out of 
geological conditions. 

"It was," said he, "the writer's good fortune, 
last August at the session of the American Min- 
ing Congress held at Portland, Oregon, to meet 
Prof. J. S. Diller, of the United States Geo- 
logical -Survey, and personally of the highest 
authority in economic geology. Recognizing my 
opportunity, I asked Dr. Diller whether there 
was anything to justify the statement I had 
heard more than once very dogmatically made in 
Seattle, I think, to the effect that there was no 
use of looking for mines in the Cascades because 
the geological conditions were wrong. Dr. 
Diller answered that there was nothing to justify 
such a statement but, on the contrary, that suffi- 
cient disturbances had occurred in those moun- 
tains to produce the necessary fractures and that 
the vein contents or deposits were mineral as in 
other like regions; that this was apparent from 
the fact that there were mines to the north and 
the south of us (in the Cascades) and further 
that reports of the geological survey in the field 
indicated that doubtless upon development our 
part of the Cascade range would be found fully 
as rich." 

The mineral belt of Snohomish county is 
roughly speaking twenty miles wide and thirty- 
six long, covering the eastern portion of the 
county and including the Darrington, Monte 
Cristo, Goat Lake, Silver Creek, Troublesome, 
Sultan and Stillaguamish districts. "Beginning 
near the north line of the county in the Darring- 
ton districts in a schist country rock, chalcopyrite 
occurs carrying gold in veins up to one hundred 
feet wide, between diorite or porphyry and slate 
walls. These are low grade ores. On White 
Horse mountain, on the west side of the Sauk 
river, the country rock is granite. Copper occurs 
as bornite in the veins with good values. Pyrrho- 
tite often occurs on the surface. The ores run from 
sixteen dollars to eighty-four dollars in value. 
Darrington seems to be on the eastern side of the 
copper belt. Silverton, about twelve miles due 
south of Darrington, is well in the copper belt, 
which seems to run from a point somewhat west 
of Darrington through the Silverton district, 
although perhaps the center line is to the west 
of Silverton. This mineral belt continues almost 
directly to Mount Index, thence toward Mount 
Stewart, running roughly parallel to a line 



between those mountains and somewhat to the 
west of it. Granite is the country rock about 
Silverton, although the veins often occur between 
diorite and granite, and also in the diorite. The 
ore is chalcopyrite carrying gold values and silver 
when galena occurs. " 

Among the pioneer prospectors of the Dar- 
rington districts were Soren Bergenson, Knute 
Neste, Charles Burns, George Knudson, B. C. 
Schloman, John Robinson and William Giesler, 
who went in about 1890 and located numerous 
mining claims near the head waters of the north 
fork. Almost southeast of the town of Darring- 
ton stands Gold mountain, with the Sauk river 
laving its southwestern base. Upon it something 
like one hundred claims are said to have been 
located between 1895 and 1900. The formation 
is slate with porphyry dykes, and the ore is iron 
sulphurets carrying gold, copper and other 
minerals. On the southwest side is the Myrtle 
C. group, with four hundred feet of development " 
work ; and just south of it is the Blue Bird. 
Both these properties are owned by the Blue Bird 
Consolidated Mining Company. North of the 
Myrtle C. is the Forest Lode, discovered by S. B. 
Emens, but now owned by the Darrington Mining 
and Reduction Company of Seattle. About three 
hundred and sixty feet of development work has 
been done, but for the past two years the prop- 
erty has stood idle. On the west slope, a 
thousand feet up, is the Burns group discovered 
by Charles Burns, which in 1900 was bonded to 
Montana capitalists for thirty thousand dollars. 
It was sold two years ago to J. G. English of 
Danville, Illinois, and is now in litigation. The 
Sauk River Mining Company has a group of 
claims on the northeast slope of this mountain, 
with several hundred feet of development work, 
and, it is said, a fine body of ore on the dump. 
On this mountain also are the properties of the 
Huron Mining Company, adjoining the vSauk 
River Company's on the east; the Frank Lode 
claims on the northeast end; the Harley Gold 
Mountain Mining & Smelting Company, and 
Hawkinson & Snider. Considerable develop- 
ment work has been done on some of these prop- 
erties, and almost all promise well. 

Jumbo mountain, about two miles south of 
Darrington, is of a porphyry and schist formation 
and its ores are sulphates carrying copper, gold, 
lead and other metals. On its east side Knudson 
Brothers have seventeen claims, with ore assay- 
ing from three dollars to seventy dollars per ton 
but in recent years they have done nothing but 
assessment work. The Keywinder group, located 
by Bergenson Brothers, Charles Burns, Knute 
Neste and George Knudson, has between five and 
six hundred feet of development work done on it 
and has made some good showings. A mile 
southeast of the Keywinder is the Hunter group, 
with two hundred and fifty feet of developments, 
now owned by Charles Burns, while on the 




ON PUGET SOUND 



DESCRIPTIVE 



western slope of the mountain in Cedar Basin, are 
several properties owned by James Smith, Charles 
Hudson, Martin Evert, James Elwood and John 
Spangler. These are said to be high grade cop- 
per and lead properties but at the present noth- 
ing but assessment work is being done on them. 

White Horse mountain, three and a half 
miles southwest of Darrington, whose highest 
peak is 7,000 feet high, and which is glaciated in 
places, is also the site of some promising prop- 
erties. The formation is gray granite and ande- 
site, the contact extending north and south 
through the center of the peak, with slate 
lapping up on the north side and porphyry 
dykes in several of the north spurs. On its east 
slope are the Coffin & Mallet mines, owned now 
by Samuel Nichols of Everett, said to be rich in 
lead, gold and silver. The Buckeye basin, on 
the northeast slope of the mountain contains over 
twenty mining claims carrying copper, lead, gold, 
silver and other metals. They are now known 
as the Roosevelt group, having been relocated 
last year by Charles Burns. It is said that there 
are also some valuable mining locations in and 
around Wellman Gulch on the north side of the 
mountain, and near the base of White Horse is 
the Schloman mine, with one hundred feet of 
development work, a gold and copper proposition, 
sold recently to A. L. Purdy, of New York. 
Jasper Sill, S. S. Stevens, and Charles Wrage, 
of Arlington, have valuable locations on the 
north slope of the mountain, yielding lead, 
copper, gold and silver and on the southwest 
side, J. W. Morris has five prospects. 

Almost south of Darrington, and some twelve 
miles distant is the celebrated Bornite mine, 
owned by the Bornite Gold & Copper Mining 
Company, of Bangor, Maine. It is by far the best 
developed of all the properties in the Darring- 
ton country, many thousands of dollars having 
been spent in the construction of a tramway to 
connect it with the railway at Darrington, in the 
harnessing of water power and the installation of 
aerial trams, air drills, air compressor, electric 
lights, etc., also in work on the ore body itself. 
At the time of the writer's visit to the district, a 
tunnel was being driven under contract three 
thousand feet to strike the ledge some twelve 
hundred feet down. Charles G. Austin, of 
Seattle, who is interested in the company, states 
that he expects to ship ore about the first of 
December, 1905. He also informed the writer 
that ore from this mine is of a quality that 
smelters desire; hence either the smelter at 
Everett or that at Tacoma will gladly reduce it 
for one dollar and eighty cents a ton. As soon 
as the Bornite mine begins shipping there will 
no doubt be a great revival of interest in the 
Darrington district, which will probably result 
in the development of other producers. A 
branch road from the Northern Pacific at Arling- 
ton gives the district a convenient outlet. 



South of the Darrington district the mineral 
belt widens out considerably. This central por- 
tion has been rendered readily accessible by the 
construction of the Everett and Monte Cristo 
railroad, now owned by the Northern Pacific. 
The Monte Cristo branch leaves the Bellingham 
division at Hartford, follows the Pilchuck a short 
distance, then the south fork of the Stillaguamish 
to its head waters, passing thence through Bar- 
low pass to the south fork of Sauk river, which 
it ascends to the junction of Glacier and Seventy- 
six creeks. In less than fifty miles of road six 
tunnels have been constructed, one nearly a third 
of a mile in length. Four per cent, grades are 
numerous and in one place there is a six per cent, 
rise ; that is to say, the road climbs 317 feet to the 
mile. The final ascent to Monte Cristo is accom- 
plished by means of a switchback. The tunnels 
are all between Granite Falls and Robe station, 
in the canon of the Stillaguamish, and just below 
the latter point a half mile of concrete road bed 
has been found necessary as the canon is here 
a deep gorge, through which, in flood time, wild 
torrents race madly with their burdens of debris. 

The scenery from the entrance of the Stilla- 
guamish caiion onward is everywhere grand, 
but it increases rapidly in sublimity and impres- 
siveness as the train proceeds. In no part of 
their course are the Cascades without scenic 
charm, but at Monte Cristo they present their 
wildest, most fascinating, most overwhelming 
aspect. The town lies in a sort of basin, sur- 
rounded by a complex of precipitous ridges, 
thousands of feet in altitude, their bases laved 
by rushing crystal creeks; their crests crowned 
with perpetual snow. From the glaciers of this 
region come Glacier and Seventy-six creeks, 
which, uniting at the foot of a bold, sheer head- 
land known as Wilmans peak, together form the 
south fork of the magnificent Sauk, noblest 
tributary of the mighty Skagit. 

The first mining property one reaches in 
traveling eastward on the Monte Cristo branch 
is the Wayside, on the extreme western edge of 
the copper belt, just two miles east of Granite 
Falls, its supply point. The ore carries copper, 
silver and gold, in the proportion of six parts 
each of the first two to one of the yellow metal. 
There are two veins, the Phoenix and the Red- 
bird, about 900 feet apart, the former of which 
is developed by 200 feet of tunnel and several 
open cuts, the work of the original locators years 
ago; the latter by 1,500 feet of tunnels and one 
shaft down 212 feet, and being sunk to a depth 
of 300 and raised 100 to a new tunnel to be driven 
into the hillside above the railroad track. A 
cross-cut will then be run to connect the main 
tunnel with the Redbird vein at a depth of 300 
feet. A compressor, hoisting works and electric 
light plant are now being operated at the 
tunnel's mouth and it is expected that when the 
improvements now contemplated are completed, 



408 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



the company will supplj' Granite Falls, as well 
as the mine, with light and power. C. M. 
Carter, who has been superintendent of the mine 
for the past four years, states that last winter 
the mine shipped 1,2(10 tuns of ore which 
averaged thirty dollars to the ton, while several 
cars went as high as fifty-four dollars. From 
fifty to seventy-five men are employed. 

The Wayside was discovered by H. H. and 
James Humes, of Seattle, shortly after the rail- 
road was built up the Stillaguamish. They 
expended about eight thousand dollars in devel- 
opment work. In l!)()2 they sold to Dr. 
Alexander DeSoto, who at once transferred a 
half interest to J. J. Habecker and his associates 
of Philadelphia. They expended, it is said, forty 
thousand dollars within a few months. Subse- 
ciuently the property was acquired by a stock 
company, headed by Mr. Habecker, which has 
been pushing developments with vigor and 
plans to continue so doing. 

Farther east is the Silverton district, one of 
the best known in the county. Granite is the 
country rock, the town of Silverton being very 
near the center of a belt of granite several miles 
wide, extending a little east of north and west 
of south. This copper-bearing granite formation 
has been traced from the north fork of the Stilla- 
guamish, southward across White Horse moun- 
tain, the south fork valley and the vSultan, Silver 
creek and Index districts to the head of Miller 
river in King county. The ledges carry chal- 
copyrite. bornite, iron pyrites, and arsenical iron 
and are rich in copper, gold and silver, while 
occasional bodies of galena are found. The 
Silverton district was opened in 1N!)() and 18!)1 
as a result of the Monte Cristo excitement. In 
the summer of the latter year the Hoodoo ledge 
of pyritic ore was located by Abe Gordon and 
Fred Harrington, and a few days later William 
and James Hanchett staked out the Independent 
on Silver Gulch, a great ledge carrying arsenical 
iron and galena. Before the close of the season 
George Hall and W. M. Molesque discovered 
the Anacortes ledge, now known as the Imperial; 
then the Bonanza Queen was staked out on Long- 
mountain by J. F. Bender, Z. W. Lockvvood and 
J. O. Marsh. The district was organized August 
2(), 18'.)1, and during the winter following, the 
town of Silverton was founded by Charles and 
Parker McKenzie, J. R. Carrothers, William 
Whitten and J. F. Birney, who cut a pack trail 
to Hartford in November. In 1892, a wagon 
road was constructed down the valley and the 
Monte Cristo railroad was graded to the town and 
beyond to Barlow pass. That year also the 
Helena ledges, on the divide between Deer and 
Clear creeks, were discovered by Louis Lundlin, 
John Jackson and Thomas Johnson, and the 
Perry creek claims by Theodore Lohr. In IS'.K) 
it was found that the mineral belt extended over 
Long mountain to Martin creek, and in July, 



18!)(i, an asbestos deposit was opened on the 
divide at the heads of Deer, Martin and Clear 
creeks, by R. C. Myers and Louis Callihan. 

At present there is only one property ready 
to ship in the Silverton district, the Bonanza 
Queen, although several other mines have in the 
past shipped rich ore and could be doing so now 
if they were not shut down pending reorganiza- 
tion. The Bonanza Oueen group comprises ten 
claims, owned by the Bonanza Oueen Mining 
Company, S. A. Warner, manager. The main 
ledge of this great copper property on which are 
four claims, crops out sixty feet wide in a gulch 
running down Long mountain to Deer creek. 
Until the present owners took the property 
recently, two tunnels, one three hundred feet 
long and the other one hundred and twenty feet 
along this outcrop constituted the major portion 
of the development. Now the main working 
tunnel is eleven hundred feet in length Twenty- 
six men are employed at the mine and in building 
a surface tram to the railway about a mile above 
town. The company expects to be shipping by 
the middle of October. The principal value in 
this mine is its large body of high-grade copper 
ore. A compressor plant is operated. 

The Bornite mine, previously mentioned, is 
likewise on Long mountain, but as its produce 
will go out through Darrington, over the Dar- 
rington branch, it has been noticed in connection 
with the Darrington district. 

The Imperial Company has been employing, 
for over a year, several men on its property, the 
Anacortes group, which lies on a ledge 
paralleling the great Independence vein. The 
property has made an excellent showing of 
arsenical iron, galena and copper. It is owned 
by li^verett, Marysville and Monroe people. 

What is perhaps the most prominent property 
in the camp lies idle at present, pending the 
adjustment of internal matters. This is the 
Copper Independent group, right at the town of 
Silverton. The main ledge crops to a width of 
sixty feet in the bed of a gorge running toward 
the mouth of Silver gulch. Four levels have 
been run in the vein, developing it t]uite thor- 
oughly. Two years ago a threehundred-ton 
concentrator, with modern equipment, was 
erected in the river at the town, and operated 
for a few days, but it has ever since lain idle and 
no further development work has been done. 
Boston capitalists own the group. The Indepen- 
dent is looked upon as one of the camp's sub- 
stantial properties and universal regret is 
expressed that its owners have seen fit to sus- 
pend operations. 

Just over the divide to the south in the Sultan 
basin lies the noted "Forty-five" mine, nearer 
Silverton as the eagle flies but tributary to 
Sultan City is the Skykomish. Both districts 
receive benefit from its activity, the main offices 
"being at Silverton in charge of Chester F. Lee, 



DESCRIPTR'E 



409 



manager, while the -heavy shipping goes in and 
out by way of Sultan creek. Extensive opera- 
tions are about to be instituted by the owners, 
the Lydia E. Pinkham estate. 

Hundreds of claims have been located in the 
Silverton district upon many of which, in addi- 
tion to those mentioned, assessment work (and 
in some cases much more than assessment work) 
is being done. Among the more prominent 
groups and claims which have been considerably 
developed, but which for one reason and another 
are idle at present are the following: Hoodoo 
group, Cleveland, Helena, Eclipse Bell & Crown, 
Big Four, Hannah, Copperhead, Asbestos, 
Arlington, Deer Lake and Eureka. 

Such were the difficulties of access to the 
Monte Cristo district before the building of the 
railroad that very few of the earliest prospectors 
ventured far into its rugged retreats. In 1889, 
however, an adventurous mining man named 
Joseph Pearsall, came to the region. Pearsall 
had left the school room in 1878 to go to Lead- 
ville, and had since traveled extensively in search 
of gold, winning laurels wherever he went for 
his intrepidity and daring. These characteristics 
naturally impelled him, when he came to the 
Snohomish mineral belt, to push boldly forward 
over the bonds of the unknown, so he formed a 
partnership with a congenial spirit, named Frank 
W. Peabody, and together they began their 
explorations. Ascending Silver creek to its 
source, they climbed to the top of Silver Tip 
peak, whence, for the first time, they surveyed 
the majestic mountainous complex all around 
them. Carefully they scanned with their glasses 
the cliffs and mountain sides in search of indica- 
tions of mineral. They noticed great stains of 
red everywhere due to the presence of oxidized 
iron and finally far across the chasm of Seventy- 
six creek, Pearsall's sharp eye descried a glit- 
tering streak on Wilmans ridge, which he look 
to be galena. He lost no time in descending the 
mountain, and making his way to the spot, there 
finding to his great satisfaction that his surmise 
as to the character of the find was indeed correct. 
The ledge was a large one twenty to thirty feet 
wide. He staked out a claim for himself and 
Peabody, naming it "Independence of 177()," in 
memory of the fact that he had got his first 
glimpse of the mineral on the 4th of July. 
Without making public their discovery Pearsall 
and his partner went forthwith to Seattle to 
interview the Wilmans Brothers, who were 
friends of Peabody. They had recently con- 
cluded a highly successful venture in Park City, 
Utah, extracting a half million dollars in less 
than a year from a mine that had been aban- 
doned, hence had plenty of means at their com- 
mand. J, M. Wilmans grub staked the two 
prospectors and sent them back to explore the 
region thoroughly, and locate everything in 
sight, promising to push any worthy prospect 



they might find. They took sixteen or seventeen 
claims, among them the Monte Cristo, Pride of 
the Woods, Pride of the Mountains and Mystery. 
Samples brought back by them to Seattle assayed 
twenty-seven dollars in gold and silver, for which 
only they were tested. In September F. W. 
Wilmans joined Pearsall and Peabody in another 
locating trip which lasted until winter set in. In 
September Pearsall and Peabody determined to 
explore the stream to its mouth, and they spent 
seven days in so doing, cuttmg their way 
through the forest, wading or swimming when 
necessary and subsisting toward the last on rais- 
ins, nuts and berries. Finally, exhausted and 
half starved, they reached a farmhouse, nine 
miles above Sauk City, and learned that the 
river they were descending was none other 
than the celebrated Sauk. 

On their return in April, 1S!)0, the miners 
named the camp "Monte Cristo. " They erected 
on the Seventy-six, the first cabin in the region, 
and during the summer they cut a trail to Silver 
creek. The cabin is still standing. 

The second party to enter the Monte Cristo 
district consisted of Andrew Lochrie, Newton 
Anderson, and C. H. Packard, the last mentioned 
of whom grub staked the two others, also, at a 
later date, James Lillis, Oliver McLean and Ben 
James. The Packard party, which went in in 
May, 1890, located the Sidney, Philo, Rantoul, 
Whistler and O. & B. groups. 

Before the season of IS'JO came to a close the 
richness and extent of the district were fully 
known, and plans were matured to handle a 
large proposition. The Wilmans soon bought 
out Peabody for seven thousand five hundred 
dollars and Pearsall for forty thousand dollars. 
They interested their brother, S. C. Wilmans, 
and others, finally associating with themselves 
Colonel Thomas Ewing, Judge H. G. Bond, of 
Birmingham, Alabama, L. S. Hunt, H. C. Henry 
and Edward Blewett. A wagon road was built 
that season from Sauk City by way of the Sauk 
river to the camp. It is said to have cost twenty 
thousand dollars. An air compressor and other 
machinery were brought over this road and duly 
installed upon the Pride- Mystery group. 

While prospecting in the summer of ISill, 
Fred Anderson and F. M. Headlee discovered 
Barlow pass. They communicated this fact to 
the Wilmans Bond Company, which had placed 
a corps of engineers on the Sauk, and the com- 
pany had the pass investigated. It was found 
to afford a practicable gateway to Monte Cristo; 
also that the route via the south fork of tlie 
Stillaguamish was preferable to any other. 

Meanwhile Judge Bond had been striving to 
interest in Monte Cristo what is known as the 
Colby-Hoyt or Rockefeller syndicate, which was 
at the time engaged in an effort to build a large 
manufacturing city on Port Gardner bay. He 
aventually induced them to purchase a control- 



410 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



ling interest in the Monte Cristo, Pride of the 
Mountains and the Rainy Mining Companies, the 
deal being closed in the fall of ISfll, after three 
searching examinations of the property had been 
made, the last by Alton L. Dickerman, an expert 
of national repute. Although at the time less 
than three hundred feet of development work had 
been done in the entire district, so well exposed 
were the veins by the action of natural forces 
that the experts could pass intelligently upon 
the merits of the camp; so it happened that three 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, half cash, 
were paid for properties which, under other cir- 
cumstances, would be considered mere prospects. 

The Rockefeller syndicate was not long in 
commencing operations on a gigantic scale, and 
it continued to push developments with vigor 
throughout the entire period of the hard times. 
The railroad was built to Silverton in 1892, and 
to Monte Cristo the following spring, at a cost of 
over two million dollars for the purpose of fur- 
nishing transportation for the ore; a smelter, 
costing two hundred and fifty thousand dollars 
was built at Everett by the same interests under 
the name of the Puget Sound Reduction Com- 
pany, and at the mines a concentrator was built, 
a double section mill with a capacity of three 
hundred tons every twenty-four hours. It is run 
by a two hundred horse-power engine, which also 
operates a one hundred horse-power generator, 
furnishing power and light to the mines. 

Until late in 18!)7 the Rockefeller Company 
and others interested pushed developments and 
operations with vigor, maintaining a lively camp, 
but m November a disastrous flood on the Still- 
aguamish so damaged the road bed as to stop 
traffic permanently. Of course this caused a 
suspension of operations all along the line, and 
for three years there was little activity in the 
Monte Cristo or Silverton districts. When in 
July, 1900, trains again commenced running, 
operations at the mines were begun immediately, 
and for a number of years there was great activity 
in the district, W. M. Wilmans, one of its original 
promotors and now a leading operator, believes 
that the total production of the camp to date 
must be in the neighborhood of 300,000 tons, 
and states that some of the ore has run as high 
as $100 to the ton, while very little has fallen 
below $15. For years the shipping and smelting 
charges were $9.50 a ton, but now they are down 
to $5. Developments have proven the existence 
of a great series of ledges of refractory ore of 
low or medium grade, and that this ore, when 
economically mined, will pay fair profits on the 
necessary capital. Ore is now being shipped 
without concentration or other treatment, but it 
is admitted that the only practical way to operate 
successfully on a large scale is to treat the ore 
at least once on the ground, thereby saving 
freight and securing to the mine owners at least 
oneof the valuable bi-products, arsenic. 



At present there are only three mines in the 
district shipping ore. the justice, the Rainy and 
the Sidney. The Justice Gold Mining Company, 
of which J. M. and F. W. Wilmans are principal 
owners, is operating the old Thomas property, 
first worked by the Golden Cord Mining Com- 
pany, which the Justice absorbed. Fourteen 
claims comprise the group, lying mainly on 
Wilmans mountain between Glacier and Seventy- 
six creeks, just above town. The main claim in 
the group and the one for which the company is 
heading, is the Oneida, through which runs the 
mother lode. This great vein is to be tapped by 
the Thomas crosscut on Glacier gulch, now being 
driven with all possible speed. From this tunnel 
the ore shipments are being made regularly. It 
is eight hundred feet and when it shall have 
gone four hundred feet more the Oneida will be 
tapped at a depth of three thousand feet. No 
other mine in the district will have anywhere 
near this depth and if the ore proves to be there 
as expected, the question of permanency with the 
depth will be answered most satisfactorily. The 
Thomas vein will average six feet in width, with 
a pay streak of from two to two and a half feet, 
carrying arsenical iron, gold, silver and some 
copper. Wilmans Brothers located these claims 
in 1S90 and developed them until about 1895, 
when they left the camp. 

Something over seven years later they 
returned, to remain. Chiefly through their 
efforts the Justice Gold Mining Company and 
later the Potomac Mining Company, were 
organized, the latter only eighteen months ago. 
The first step taken toward placing the camp on 
an economic basis was the harnessing of Glacier 
falls, a mile above the town of Monte Cristo, 
where a vast stream of water falls four hundred 
and six feet in half a mile. To develop two 
hundred and seventy-five horse power the Justice 
Company laid a pipe line with twelve inch head 
to a plant on the creek below erected in the sum- 
mer of 1904. The plant consists of two compres- 
sors, also two Puthill water wheels and a two 
hundred and twenty volt, thirty-five ampere 
Erickson-Wyman dynamo which supplied both 
the Justice and Rainy mines. Six thousand dol- 
lars covered the cost of utilizing that magnificent 
water power, only a portion of which is harnessed. 
Why the old Monte Cristo Company maintained 
an enormous steam plant within almost a stone's 
throw of the present Justice plant, importing 
coal at heavy cost, is one of the puzzles of Monte 
Cristo's history. 

On the other side of Glacier creek, a little 
below the power plant, is the main tunnel, 
entering the Rainy mine, which is now operated 
by the Potomac Mining Company. This group 
of seven claims, discovered in 1890 by the 
Wilmans Brothers, and sold to the Rockefeller 
Syndicate in the fall of 1891, was purchased at 
sheriff's sale about two years ago, for something 



DESCRIPTIVE 



like $6,000. The present company was organized 
with H. C. Henry of Seattle, H. F. Balch of 
Minneapolis, and VV. M. and F. W. Wilmans as 
stockholders. They proceeded at once with 
developments, and have a six hundred foot 
tunnel and a shaft two hundred and forty feet in 
depth, the workings being one thousand feet 
below the Thomas tunnel, though but two hun- 
dred and forty feet below the apex of the Rainy 
vein. This vein is full twenty feet wide in 
places, with a pay streak varying from two to 
eleven feet, really an unusual showing. Its ore 
is said to run four or five dollars richer than that 
in the Thomas vein, or in the vicinity of twenty 
dollars a ton. That the Rainy is producing rich 
ore cannot be questioned, but as both the Poto- 
mac and the Justice are close corporations, defi- 
nite official figures are not easy to obtain. 

Fifteen men are employed at the Rainy at 
present, and forty at the Justice, both of which 
crews are to be shortly doubled, it is said. New 
modern tramways connect both mines with the 
terminal bunkers at the railroad tracks. One of 
the sights at the camp is these numerous cable 
trams, stretching hundreds of feet across gulches 
and trailing gracefully down the movintain sides 
to the ore bunkers. 

Frank W. Peabody, before mentioned as one 
of the discoverers of the district, is now success- 
fully operating the Sidney in Seventy-six basin, 
and is just beginning to ship. A six-hundred- 
foot double track tunnel is being driven on the 
Sidney claim, which is expected to tap the main 
vein at a depth of two hundred feet. Then 
Peabody will drift to the eastward along the 
vein, gaining a foot in depth for every foot 
driven. The ore will average, perhaps, fourteen 
dollars, the values running about like these in 
the other mines of the camp. From the tunnel 
in the mountain side, a shoot carries the ore to 
Seventy-six creek, where it is loaded in small 
cars, and run over a three-foot gauge wooden 
tramway, a third of a mile from Monte Cristo. 
This group was originally located in 1S90, by 
Lochrie and Anderson, while prospecting on 
C. H. Packard's grubstake. Subsequently Pea- 
body bought it, but not until quite recently has 
any extensive development work been done on 
the property. 

The district's newest mine is the Mackinaw, 
situated on the divide, southwest of Monte 
Cristo, perhaps three miles. Everett parties are 
developing it. It is said that a ledge twenty-one 
feet through has been cut, assaying twenty-five 
dollars. Several hundred feet of tunnel have 
been driven. A reorganization of the company 
is now in progress. 

One of the oldest properties in the district and 
yet one only slightly developed is the Philo, 
comprising four claims. A long tunnel is being 
driven, now in five hundred and fifty feet, which 
will tap the main ore body at great depth. Three 



shorter tunnels have been driven from time to 
time at higher levels. The mine is equipped 
with a cable tram connecting with the main 
Pride-Mystery line from the summit of Mystery 
hill to the railroad. 

The Rantoul group consists of four claims 
located about five hundred feet north of and 
parallel with the Pride-Mystery and adjoining 
the Philo, another shipper. 

The vein is a large, well defined and strong 
one that outcrops in several places from the 
Keystone at an elevation of three thousand 
five hundred feet to the Merchant at an elevation 
of six thousand feet. On the latter the outcrop 
is sixteen to twenty feet wide. These claims 
cover a region on the western side of Cadet 
mountain from its base at Glacier creek to the 
summit. The outcrop which has made the 
property noted in local mining circles is on 
the Rantoul. Here the main vein from six 
to fourteen feet wide is exposed for a dis- 
tance of four hundred feet, where snowslides 
and a small stream have "blocked out" the ore. 
The paystreak is one to three feet wide where 
exposed by tunnels and open cuts. In 1N92 this 
property was bonded for one hundred thousand 
dollars to the Colby-Hoyt syndicate, but the 
financial panic prevented the complete consum- 
mation of the deal. A new two-hundred-foot 
tunnel lower down to cross-cut the main ore 
body, is now being driven by the Packard Min- 
ing Company, Incorporated, owners of the mine. 
A compressor plant and a small crew of men are 
employed in this work at present. The old Pride 
tramway is being used. C. H. Packard, the 
secretary and superintendent, is one of the dis- 
trict's pioneer operators and has been active for 
fifteen years in its development. 

Owned by the same company is the Whistler 
group of three claims located about fifteen hun- 
dred feet north of the Rantoul-Keystone, noted 
for the high grade of ore found in a shoot almost 
as large as that on the Rantoul. This group 
adjoins the famous mine of the Penn Mining 
Company just over the divide in the Goat Lake 
district, which may tunnel through this divide 
via the Whistler claim to gain an outlet at Monte 
Cristo. Both groups lie on the same vein. A 
short tunnel and open cuts constitute the de- 
velopment in the Whistler. 

Although closed down for the past two years, 
the Monte Cristo Mining Company's property is 
worthy of mention here. It consists of twenty- 
eight claims, including mill sites and placers in 
the caiion, and mineral locations in Glacier, 
Seventy-six and West Seattle gulches. In 
Glacier gulch the ledges run nearly north and 
south between walls of diorite and granite; in 
Seventy-six gulch their course is northeast and 
southwest between diorite and basalt; and in 
West Seattle gulch, north and south with both 
walls of diorite. The ledge matter is silicious 



412 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



porphyry. Thousands of feet of work have been 
done upon these different properties, but the 
main development is tunnel No. 3, topping the 
Pride-Mystery group from the west face of 
Mystery hill. This tunnel has been driven three 
thousand feet through the hill and under Glacier 
creek into the Pride claims. It is expected that 
the entire group of claims in that region will 
eventually be worked through this tunnel when 
operations are resumed. A fine cable tram sys- 
tem, thousands of feet in all, carries the ore to the 
mill and bunkers at Monte Cristo. Ore with as 
high values as one hundred dollars has been 
taken from the Pride. A considerable galena 
streak has been opened in Mystery hill, but the 
main values lie in the arsenopyrite, gold and 
silver as elsewhere in the district. That this 
great property should be closed is of course a 
misfortune to the camp. John D. Rockefeller 
and his associates have patented all the claims 
and still retain possession of the great original 
ledges which have brought fame and credit to 
Monte Cristo. 

There are large numbers of partially devel- 
oped mines in the district upon which at present 
but little is being done. Prominent among 
these is the O. & B., lying on the Silver Lake 
divide. Considerable work was done upon this 
well-known property during the nineties and sev- 
eral hundred tons of rich ore were shipped, but 
in recent years it has lain idle. The hills are 
dotted with prospect holes, and one can find 
stringers bearing mineral almost anywhere. 

No attempt will be made here even to 
enumerate these, much less to describe each in 
detail. Enough has been said to indicate in a 
general way the character of the district. Cer- 
tainly there is much foundation for the hope that 
IMonte Cristo will yet take rank, and shortly, 
among the famous producers of the Northwest. 

The Goat Lake mining region is usually con- 
sidered a part of the unorganized district of Monte 
Cristo, but is separated from the basin of that 
name by a high divide. It is the eastern exten- 
sion of the Monto Criste mineral belt and lies 
at the headwaters of the north fork of the Sauk 
and on Goat lake, from which it takes its name. 
The lake, which is less than a mile long, empties 
into the south fork of the Sauk. The mountains 
at its head and on each side are veined with 
mineral. The formation is syenite, granite and 
schist, cut by dikes of porphyry, quartz and 
slate. The principal ledges run in an easterly 
and westerly direction, and vary in character 
from a clear, white, slightly mineralized quartz to 
a very dark quartz carrying much gold, also a 
fine grained arsenopyrite, also gray copper, 
galena and sometimes charcopyrite. Gold and 
silver occasionally predominate. 

Discoveries on Goat lake were first made in 
August, 1891, when Bishop located the Foggy 
and parallel ledges on the divide between the 



lake and the north fork. Many valuable veins 
have been uncovered since, but the Foggy lode 
and its branches are the only ones that have 
been developed to any great extent. The 
Foggy, however, has the distinction of being the 
most thoroughly developed of any in the county, 
there being in the neighborhood of fifteen thou- 
sand feet of work upon it. It has been stated 
that three hundred and seventy-five thousand 
dollars have been expended upon this mine, but 
no official figures are at hand. Certain it is that 
ever since 1901 a large crew of men has been 
employed almost continuously blocking out the 
ore, it being the policy of the company to 
develop the property very thoroughly before 
attempting to ship. The ledge is known to be a 
large, true one at a depth of a thousand feet, 
similar in character and value to that of the 
Pride on the opposite side of the mountain. A 
compressor of several drills capacity and an 
electric light plant are among the operating 
equipments. The present manager, W. M. 
Mackintosh, deserves the credit for the develop- 
ment of this mine, he being the man who 
enlisted the interest of several Pittsburg capital- 
ists, and associated them with himself in the 
work. The Penn Mining Company is regarded 
as one of the most progressive in the mining 
operations of Snohomish county. 

That portion of the mineral belt which lies 
too far south to be tributary to the Monte Cristo 
railroad is traversed by the main line of the 
Great Northern. The passenger journeying 
eastward on that road enters the first mining 
district at Sultan. Placer mining is carried on 
from the confluence of the river with the 
Skykomish to the big canon twelve miles above, 
where the river emerges from a deep gorge, 
above which is Sultan basin, the site of the 
Wallace camp. Naturally the ancient river beds 
are richest in deposits of the yellow metal. The 
gold is in flakes and nuggets of small size, the 
largest reported weighing only twelve dollars 
and fifty cents, but it is of great fineness, its 
average value being seventeen dollars and eighty 
cents an ounce. So far the simple sluice system 
of saving the metal is in vogue. In early days 
some rich cleanups were made, but in late years 
from three dollars to five dollars to the man is 
considered a good average. 

At present but few men are employed in the 
district. The extensive properties of the DeSoto 
Mining Company at Horseshoe Bend have not 
been worked since 1902, though they were the 
scene of extensive operations in the latter 
eighties and early nineties, a tunnel one thou- 
sand feet long being driven about this time for 
use as a tail race. The company has one hun- 
dred and seventy-six acres of placer ground 
which was patented about ISSS. Four miles 
above Sultan the Sultan Placer Mining Company 
is at work with a force of twelve men on two 



DESCRIPTR'E 



claims, sluicing. An average of from three 
dollars to five dollars per diem to the man is 
reported. Henry C. Williams, a pioneer, is oper- 
ating on a small scale on the old Habacker prop- 
erty, and it is estimated that from thirty to forty 
other men work the placers along the river every 
winter, commencing as soon as the fall rains and 
snows furnish sufficient water. 

. From the Sultan mining section Wallace dis- 
trict was cut off in LSUU, mainly for the purpose 
of segregating the quartz interests of the Sultan 
river and Wallace creek from the placer country. 
The new district is bounded, north by the Silver- 
ton divide, east by the Silver creek district, 
south by the Skykomish river and west principally 
by the Sultan district. The country rock on the 
west side is a kind of diorite and on the east 
granite, the contact of the two running north 
and south through Copper lake. . In the diorite 
region the strike of mineral veins is usually east 
and west, but when the granite country is 
entered the ledges run north and south as at 
Monte Cristo and Silver creek. Developments 
show that the ledges increase in size and richness 
with depth. 

By far the leading property in the district and 
one of the foremost in all northwestern Washing- 
ton, is the Forty-five, Consolidated, which con- 
sists of thirty-two claims at Marble pass, owned 
by the L. E. Pinkham estate. The mine has 
recently been bonded by the Magus Mining Com- 
pany, of Seattle, under an eighteen-month agree- 
ment, and will be developed extensively during 
the next few months. 

Four parallel ledges run through the claims, 
namely, the Forty-five, the Forty-five Xo. 7, the 
John L. and the Bryan. The first mentioned, 
which is the main ledge, is seven feet wide at a 
depth of three hundred and fifty feet, with a pay- 
streak of pyrites and galena, carrying gold and 
silver in high values; the John L. is a three-foot 
vein of arsenical iron carrying about five dollars 
in silver; Forty-five No. 7, an eighteen-inch 
ledge, is of the same general character as the 
John L., while the Bryan has two feet of gold 
and silver bearing pyrites and galena. As high 
as twelve per cent, lead ore has been taken out 
The development work on this property is exten- 
sive. On the Forty- five ledge there are four 
openings, one of 210 feet on the Hard to Beat 
claim at the eastern end of the group; 80 feet 
on the Duepree, the next claim to the west, and 
a series of tunnels on the Magnus. Cross cut 
tunnel No. 1 is the highest opening and from 
it a drift of 240 feet has been made along the 
vein. Tunnel No. 2, 220 feet lower, is 233 feet 
long, with a drift !)00 feet, sloped and connected 
with the workings of No. 1 above. Here also is 
a shaft 135 feet in depth, with two drifts, one at 
the 75 foot level and one at 130 feet. A steam 
hoist operates the shaft at present, but a gaso- 
line plant is being installed. Eight hundred feet 



lower down on the vein is tunnel No. 3, now being 
driven, and 400 feet below it again is No. 4, onlj- 
30 feet in length at this writing, but being rapidlj' 
extended. It will strike the Bryan ledge before 
reaching the Forty-five. The fifth tunnel is also 
in course of construction, SOO feet below No. 4, 
which will strike the Bryan and Forty-five at 
great depth. The company's equipment includes 
an air compressor, a small saw-mill, and an elec- 
tric light plant, while an aerial tramway, two 
thousand feet in length, connects the mine with 
the Monte Cristo railroad at Silverton, just over 
the Stillaguamish divide. Next spring the com- 
pany expects to utilize the water of Copper lake 
in developing twelve thousand horse power at 
the mine. The machinery will be taken in this 
winter from Sultan. At the present time twelve 
men are employed, but thirty-five have been en- 
gaged all summer and at least twenty will be 
required for the winter campaign. Charles F. 
Lee, with offices at Silverton, is the engineer in 
charge and Nate B. Jones, of Sultan, is superin- 
tendent of the saw-mill and of transportation. 

The history of this mine goes back to the 
spring of 1891, when George Hall and W. M. 
Moleque located the Forty-five claim. About the 
same time James and Ambrose Duepree staked 
out the Ninety-five group, adjoining, on the same 
ledges. Under various managements these prop- 
erties were worked separately until the season 
of 1897, when a coalescence was effected under 
the name of the Forty-five, Consolidated. In all 
more than one hundred and two thousand dollars 
worth of ore has been shipped from the property, 
and there is every reason to believe that the mine 
will be a heavy producer for generations to come. 

Another notable property of the district is the 
Little Chief, lying in the basin south of the 
Forty-five, a low grade copper proposition of 
enormous proportions, concerning which little is 
known by the general public. A great knob of 
ore fully one hundred feet wide projects from 
the side of the mountain, giving evidence of 
the existence of an immense deposit beneath. 
Some tunnel work has been done and a great 
deal of prospecting, the results of which are 
known only to those interested. It is claimed 
that one hundred thousand dollars were spent 
upon this property by the English syndicate that 
owns it, but nothing has been done during the 
seven years last past. 

On other properties of the district than those 
just described only desultory work is being done 
at present, owning to lack of transportation facil- 
ities. The Cornucopia group of two claims, just 
west of Copper lake, is undergoing some slight 
developments. 

The next district east is the Index, which, 
roughly speaking, lies on and between the two 
forks of the Skykomish for a distance of several 
miles above their confluence at the base of Index 
mountain. The country to the eastward is so 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



rugged and difficult of access that the prospector 
has not yet definitely determined the eastern 
boundary of the copper belt, but the town of 
Index appears to be a little west of the center of 
the belt. The developed portion of the Index 
district is compact and easily accessible from the 
Great Northern or by wagon road and the camp 
has the further advantage of being at a com- 
paratively low altitude, most of the properties 
being less than a thousand feet above sea level 
and a few, such as the Copper Bell, Sunset and 
Ethel, at little more than half that elevation. 

Only five miles west of Index, and practically 
on the line of the Great Northern is the well 
known Copper-Bell mine, embracing fifteen 
claims. For five years past this group has been 
steadily worked with the result that a producing 
mine has been developed. More than five thou- 
sand feet of tunnels, shafts and uprises have 
been made and at a depth of two thousand feet 
the veins have proven true and as large and rich 
as ever. A thirty-six-drill compressor operates 
half that number of drills at present. Last 
summer a forty-ton concentrator was built and 
since its installation steady shipments have been 
made to the Tacoma smelter. Thirty men are 
employed in and around the mine, the main force 
being engaged in driving a long tunnel, which 
is now in something like two thousand five 
hundred feet. This is the working tunnel. The 
ore lies in two immense veins, occurring in gran- 
ite, the Copper-Bell twenty feet wide and the 
Jumbo with twice that width. Copper is the 
predominating value, though a small amount of 
gold and silver are also found. The ore is low 
grade, running between two and three per cent, 
in copper and concentrating ten into one, chal- 
copyrite constituting the pay streak. In charac- 
ter and value the copper ores of this mine and 
district are similar to those of Butte, Montana. 

The Gray Brothers, L. W. and C. H., dis- 
covered the Copper-Bell mine during the middle 
nineties and operating under the name of the 
Copper-Bell Mining Company, themselves opened 
the smaller vein with a four-hundred-foot tunnel. 
Three years ago the property passed into the 
hands of Metropolitan Life Insurance people, 
who organized the Bunker Hill Mining and 
Smelting Company. This corporation has 
expended a large sum upon its property, bringing 
it to an advanced stage of development. Wilbur 
Morris is manager. 

Six miles up the north fork of the Skykomish 
is another copper property, owned by the Sunset 
Copper Mining Company, Incorporated, W. H. 
Baldwin, general manager. The mine has been 
extensively developed, but for more than a year 
has been shut down on account of litigation. 
The veins are known to be rich in bornite and 
chalcopyrite, averaging perhaps four per cent, 
copper. There are a number of ledges running 
through the thirty claims which constitute the 



group, the largest being the Sunset vein, which 
is twenty-five feet wide. A compressor has been 
built on Trout creek a mile above its confluence 
with the north fork, and tunnels and uprises 
aggregating two thousand feet have been driven, 
the working tunnel being a cross-cut six hundred 
feet in length near the level of the creek. A 
depth of between five and six hundred feet has 
been gained. Seven years ago a surface tram of 
wood with iron straps on the rails, was con- 
structed from the mine to the railroad at Index 
at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars. 

Just across the river from the Sunset is the 
Ethel, which embraces between thirty-five and 
forty claims. The ledge has been located for 
over three miles. In quality the ore is of the 
same generally as that found elsewhere in the 
district, except that it carries copper glance and 
some good silver values. .Several car loads of 
concentrates have been shipped, some of which 
are said to have netted to the mine owners as 
high as three thousand dollars each. A surface 
tramway, three thousand feet long, carries the 
ore from the mine to an eighty-ton concentrator, 
erected two years ago on the river. This splen- 
did, modern plant, together with compressors, 
light works and a saw-mill, constitutes the 
principal equipment of the mine at present. The 
main tunnel is nearly three thousand feet long 
and has several uprises, but another tunnel of 
about equal length opens the ledge, higher up on 
the mountain. The vein is said to be fully 
twenty feet wide. For some reason the Penn- 
sylvania Company which owns the Ethel has 
allowed it to stand idle for the past year. 

Four miles south of Index and a mile from the 
south fork is the property of the Buckeye Copper 
Company, in the development of which eight men 
are being employed at this time. They are driv- 
ing a cross-cut tunnel to tap the main ledge and 
have already run eight hundred of an estimated 
thousand feet. At a depth of a thousand feet the 
ledge is between four and five feet wide and has 
a pay streak of perhaps not more than twelve 
inches, though very rich, carrying copper glance 
or almost pure copper. Thomas Mclntyre is the 
company's manager. 

The Index Mining Company, consisting of 
Shohomish men, is developing a rich glance 
and bornite property four miles up the south 
fork. More than seven hundred feet of tun- 
neling has been driven and a vein of eight to ten 
feet of concentrating ore uncovered. 

On Gunn's mountain a rich chalcopyrite mine 
is being opened by the Gun's Peak Mining Com- 
pany, which has already driven eight hundred 
feet of tunneling. Many other properties and 
prospects in this district are receiving more or 
less development work from time to time, among 
them the Helena, on the north fork; the Uncle 
Sam, three miles southeast of Index; the Mer- 
chant-Townsend group and the Nonpareil on 



DESCRIPTIVE 



Trout creek, the Acme near the Ethel and the 
Columet, six miles southeast of Index. 

The history of the Silver Creek district was 
thus outlined by L. K. Hodges in 1897: 

"The first mineral location of which there is 
any record was the Norwegian, made in 1874 by 
Hans Hansen, who carved the name and date on 
a tree, showing that the claim ran up the moun- 
tain on the left bank from a point five hundred 
feet above the forks of the creek. Shortly after- 
ward a man named Johnson discovered a cropping 
of iron pyrites on the bank of the creek and 
mistaking it for gold, located the Anna. He 
then carried the news to Snohomish, causing a 
stampede among the loggers all along his route, 
and induced E. C. Ferguson, Theron Ferguson, 
Lot Wilbur and William Whitfield to spend two 
or three thousand dollars in building an arrastre 
on the present site of Mineral City." 

"Prospecting really began in 1882 when the 
late Elisha H. Hubbart cut a trail to Galena, 
relocated the Anna, with the Trade Dollar on the 
extension and the Morning Star on the Parallel 
ledge to the north. Discoveries then followed 
one another in rapid succession until in 1890 
there was quite a boom, and the towns of 
Mineral City and Galena were established, a trail 
having been meanwhile cut through. It was 
during the four succeeding years that the road 
was cut from Index to Galena, partly by the 
county and partly by the miners." 

In the Silver creek district, the principal 
mine in operation at present is that of the New 
York-Seattle Copper Mining Company, consisting 
of a group of twelve claims on the east fork of 
Silver creek. It is predominantl}^ a copper 
proposition, the principal mineral being chal- 
copyrite, but it also has its values in gold and 
silver. Three ledges, parallel to each other, 
extend through the group to tap and open which 
a thousand feet of developments have been made. 
Since the property came into the hands of its 
present owners four years ago fifteen to twenty 
men have been employed continuously. The 
equipment of the property includes an air com- 
pressor and saw-mill, and the erection next 
spring of a concentrator is contemplated by the 
company's plan. The east fork of Silver creek 
furnishes plenty of water power. Of this com- 
pany H. D. Cowden, of New York, is the present 
president and Philip Hingston is manager. 

A mile farther up the east fork is the Bonanza 
Mining & Smelting Company's group of fourteen 
claims. The ore in this mine is more of the type 
found in the Monte Cristo basin, the values being 
in gold, silver and arsenical iron. Ten tunnels, 
of an aggregate length of two thousand feet, 
have blocked out an immense ore body which 
will return heavy dividends as soon as transpor- 
tation facilities are furnished to the district. A 
small force of men .is still at work in this mine 
under the management of Charles Lovejoy. 



Another mine in the Silver creek district upon 
which work is being done constantly is the ' 
Ontario, two miles above Galena. The ore 
carries gold, silver and lead as its principal 
values and requires concentration. Some of it 
is said to run as high as a thousand ounces of 
silver to the ton. A. P. Michaud, the company's 
manager, is now engaged with a force of men in 
driving a tunnel and sinking a shaft. 

The Lucky Day group lies on the high divide 
just south of Monte Cristo. Six leads, parallel- 
ing each other, pass through the six claims con- 
stituting the property, carrying copper, gold and 
silver in moderate quantities. One small lead 
is very rich. Developments are all on the Lucky 
Day claim, where a hundred-foot tunnel has been 
driven, with a seventy-five-foot uprise in one 
place and a shorter uprise in another. There are 
also, on the claim, a number of open cuts. The 
tunnel is now being extended by a small force of 
men under direction of Manager James Peccalo, 
who expects to open up a large ledge. 

At the Orphan Boy, in the same mountain, 
four men are at work this season, extending the 
tunnel and otherwise developing the property. 
Seven claims constitute the group, on all of 
which high values in gold, silver and arsenical 
iron are known to exist, the ore being of the 
same general character as that which occurs in 
the Monte Cristo district, of which Silver creek 
is in reality only an extension. The Copper 
Chief, lying near the Ontario, carries gold, silver 
and arsenopyrite, but little or no copper. At 
present a long tunnel is being driven to tap the 
ledge at depth. The Monte Carlo group, two 
miles above Galena, is also being developed 
slowly at this writing, and it already has three 
tunnels. Some work is in progress, too, on the 
Seattle & Aurora, Consolidated, the Libby and 
the National groups near Mineral City, and the 
Trolley, Ohio, Corona and Victory in and around 
Galena. On Troublesome creek, which empties 
into the north fork of the vSkykomish just above 
Silver creek, no activity is being manifested at 
present, though the region is counted a rich one. 
Many years ago a German syndicate installed a 
compressor plant upon a property in the locality 
and developed it sufficiently to secure patents, 
then discontinued operations entirely. The 
great need of the Silver creek district is a rail- 
road, and this the Mineral City Power and 
Transportation Company are planning to supply. 
They expect to build a road from Index to Trout 
creek in 1905, and thence to Mineral City in 
1906. Should they do so a tremendous impetus 
will be given to mining operations in the entire 
country contiguous to their lines. 

In any description of mining development in 
Snohomish county, due credit should be given to 
the influence of the Everett smelter, for in a 
country of base ore propositions, convenient 
access to such a plant is the sine qtia non of mining 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



activities. The plant was started about 1892, 
but was not ready for operation until some two 
years later. The capacity is two hundred and 
fifty tons of ore daily, and it is supplied with the 
latest appliances for the accomplishment of its 
purpose in an expeditious and satisfactory man- 
ner. "The business of the Reduction Company 
is the smelting of gold, silver, lead and copper; 
the refining of lead and the making of dore bars. 
The latter, it may be explained for those not 
familiar with the terms used in the business, is 
a bar of precious metal, gold and silver mixed, 
which is nine hundred and ninety parts fine out 
of one thousand, or exceeds that proportion. 
This is the work of the refining department. 
The ordinary smelter simply reduces ores and 
turns out a pig of metal, that is principally, 
almost wholly, lead. By the refining process the 
gold and silver are made into a dore bar, and this 
needs only the separation of the two to give the 
actual bullion of commerce. The finished prod- 
uct of this plant, therefore, is pig lead, and this 
is refined to a degree not excejled by any other 
refinery in the United States." This smelter also 
has the splendid distinction of having in connec- 
tion with it the only arsenic plant in the Amer- 
ican republic. 

Although the leading industry of Snohomish 
county always has been and still is lumbering, 
and although the development of agriculture has 
been necessarily slow on account of the great 
body of timber which covered the face of the 
country, yet the agricultural possibilities of this 
section were long since demonstrated in part. 
In 1S74 the Snohomish County Agricultural 
Society was organized, and for five successive 
years afterward fairs were held annually. Each 
year selections from the county exhibit were sent 
to the territorial fair at Olympia and each year 
without a single exception the county carried off 
first premium for its display of fruits and vege- 
tables, though in competition with all other 
counties of the state. The dull times of the 
latter seventies put the society out of existence, 
otherwise the record might have been main- 
tained indefinitely. i 

The Stillaguamish flats, perhaps the largest 
and best developed body of farm land in the 
county, is in almost all respects similar to the 
Swinomish flats of Skagit county, whose agricul- 
tural possibilities have been previously described, 
and all that has been said about the phenominally 
large yields of oats, hay and other products in 
the Swinomish country may be applied with 
equal truth to the Stillaguamish tide land.s. The 
principal difference is that the latter are much 
smaller in area than the Skagit county flats. 
The marsh lands of the Snohomish river are not 
yet as fully developed as those on the Stillaguam- 
ish, but they furnish extensive areas of grass 
land upon which dairy cattle are kept, and in the 
course of time they will be fully reclaimed and 



drained and converted, no doubt, into vegetable 
gardens. Experience has proven that there is 
but little land in Snohomish county not adapted 
to some form of agriculture, aside from the Cas- 
cade mountain areas. The river bottoms will 
produce oats, hay, vegetables and almost all 
other products of the temperate zone, while the 
highlands are specially adapted to the production 
of clover and other vetches, fruits, berries, etc. 

The heavy timber and the difficulty of clear- 
ing land have forced the development of inten- 
sive agriculture from the beginning, and the 
adaptability of the soil and climate to that 
industry has been abundantly proven. "Persons 
familiar with farming here," says the last report 
of the State Bureau of Statistics, referring to 
Snohomish county, "never recommend operating 
on over twenty acres and many do better on less, 
unless dairying or general farming- on a large 
scale is contemplated. The country is suited 
to intensive farming and careful attention to 
small acerage. A ten-acre tract, farmed on 
intensive principles, will support ten to fifteen 
cows, and the cost of butter fat need not exceed 
two cents per pound. A good herd will average 
from three hundred pounds to three hundred 
and twenty pounds of butter to the cow per year. 
A five-acre tract in fruit and berries should pro- 
duce four hundred dollars per acre. Poultry 
farming or truck gardening as a specialty offers 
excellent inducements. The rapid improvement 
of the rural districts of the county by way of 
good roads, trolley lines, 'phones and rural free 
delivery is making the agricultural life attrac- 
tive." 

In an article in the Everett Daily Herald of 
August 27, 1!)U4, J. F. Littooy, fruit inspector 
for Snohomish county, says that the county is 
especially adapted to the production of red 
clover, the great fertilizer. Italian rye grass, 
oats, which yield from eighty to one hundred and 
forty bushels to the acre, potatoes, which yield 
from five to fifteen tons an acre, hops, which yield 
three-quarters of a ton to an acre, cabbage and 
cauliflower seeds, bulbs, cranberries, celery, 
tomatoes, peas, corn, carrots, mangles, sugar beets 
and rutabagas. "All varieties of fruit, except 
the citrus fruits do well here," he tells us, "and 
especially is this the home for small fruits. 
Strawberries yield from 8()() to C(M» crates of 24 
pounds each an acre; raspberries, 300 to TOO; 
blackberries, 400 to 700; currants, 400 to 800; 
gooseberries, 300 to ."iOO. " Thousands of acres of 
logged off land, much of it of excellent quality, 
are available at reasonable prices to home- 
seekers. The excellent market afforded for 
poultry, eggs, and all kinds of fruits, berries and 
garden vegetables by the logging and lumbering 
camps cannot fail to hasten the clearing, and 
cultivation of all this land, and Snohomish county 
may reasonably expect a ijpeedy and splendid 
agricultural development. 



DESCRIPTIVE 



One direction in which great strides have been 
made in the past few years is dairying. In 1899 
there were nine creameries making 170,010 pounds 
of butter; in 1900 the number had increased to 
14 and the product to 214,126 pounds; in 1904, 
there were 28 creameries, producing 821,541 
pounds of butter, and the number and capacity 
are rapidly increasing. 

Snohomish county has, of course, its share in 
the fish industry of the sound, and its ports are 
the homes of numerous fishing-craft, yet nowhere 
is salmon catching and canning made anything 
like the industry it is on Fidalgo island. The 
county is, however, ahead of its sisters in possess- 
ing a unique plant for fish culture, that of the 
Commercial Trout Company, Incorporated. The 
company was organized in 1902, with a capital 
stock of seventy-five thousand dollars fully paid. 
It has ever since been engaged in installing a 
mammoth trout farm, two miles west of Sultan. 
Already fifty thousand dollars have been 
expended on the plant, and improvements and 
enlargements are still in progress, a force of 
eleven men being employed at present. The 
water supply is secured by means of a dam in Sul- 
tan river, from which a flume three by four feet, 
with a capacity of thirty-seven thousand gallons 
a minute extends three thousand five hun- 
dred feet to the plant. The plant proper consists 
of a hatching and propagating shed forty by one 
hundred and twenty feet, in which the spawn is 
treated in the same manner as at state salmon 
hatcheries. The fry is kept in octagonal tanks, 
five feet in diameter, until developed sufficiently 
to be turned into the outside ponds, which are 
thirty in number, and each about fifty feet in 
diameter. Grading of the fish, according to size, ' 
is an important part of the work, owing to their I 
cannabalistic habits, and for this purpose, a trap 



is used. To provide a flow of water free from 
sediment, the company is constructing a thirty 
acre settling pond, which will also furnish a 
home for mature fish. A refrigerator will also be 
installed. It is expected to make the first ship- 
ment of trout about January 1, 1906, and to place 
on the market a million mature fish annually 
thereafter. 

, In the development of large manufacturing 
industries, Snohomish county has already made 
long strides. In all parts of its territory the hum 
of machinery may be heard, saw-mills, shingle 
mills, sash and door factories, and other wood- 
working plants being greatly in the ascendency, 
of course. Everett, the county's seaport and 
commercial center, was originally designed as a 
manufacturing city, "a city of smokestacks, " and 
though its barge v/orks are out of service, it has a 
pulp and paper mill turning out twenty-two tons of 
book, writing and wrapping paper daily, and giv- 
ing employment to upwards of two hundred and 
fifty persons; a smelter employing more than one 
hundred men ; the only arsenic plant in the United 
States; an iron foundry, with a large pay-roll, 
plenty of saw-mills, and other factories of less 
magnitude. Saw-mills, shingle mills, flour and 
feed mills, brick plant, machine shop, foundries, 
breweries, stove works and emery wheel factory, 
a trunk factory, wagon works, concentrator, 
creameries, etc., constitute the manufacturing 
plants of the county at present, but there is no 
reason why plants of many other varieties should 
not be installed in course of time, increasing the 
county's pay-roll and population many times. 
Here is a climate specially fitted for the textile 
industries, and for all other lines of manufacture; 
here are almost limitless water powers, ready to 
be harnessed, and here at the front door are the 
markets of the world. 



CHAPTER II 



EDUCATION 



Citizens of the state of Washington need not 
be ashamed of their schools, public and private. 
While it is not possible that a state so new as 
this should provide educational facilities equal in 
all respects to those of the older states, we may 
justly claim that in the basis which has been and 
is being laid, and in the prospects which this foun- 
dation assures, the state of Washington has every 
reasonable certainly of attaining a front rank 
among the states of the Union. Indeed at the 
present time it is a well-known fact that the 
Western states have less illiteracy than those of 
any other portion of the United States. Nebraska 
and Iowa in the older West and Oregon and 
Washington upon the Pacific coast stand at the 
head of the column in freedom from illiteracy. 
This high standing of our new states is due in 
part to the fact that almost all of their immi- 
grants had already acquired the essentials of 
education before coming here and partly to the 
fact that it has been the pride of Western com- 
munities to maintain good schools from the 
pioneer epoch to the present. 

We purpose in this chapter to give a sketch of 
the history and present condition of the schools 
in the two counties which constitute the subject 
of this work. It is fitting, however, at the 
outset to outline briefly for the benefit of the 
general reader the provisions of public education 
in the state as a whole, for the educational history 
of Skagit and Snohomish counties is essentially 
one with that of the other counties of the state. 

Washington has had, both as a territory and as 
a state, generous provision for public education. 
Although during territorial days the scanty popu- 
lation and isolation from all great centers pro- 
duced of necessity somewhat narrow conditions, 
yet even then the ambition and energy of the 
early settlers and their willingness to sacrifice 
something of outward ease for the mental fur- 
nishing of their children made their early schools 
fit ancestors of the more elaborate and well- 
equipped schools of the present time. Since the 
isolated and scantily settled territory entered 
into statehood, with its international connections, 
its great and rapidly growing cities, its phenom- 
enal development of all sorts of industry, and its 
inrush of wealth and population, the vital instru- 
mentalities of public education have not been 
neglected, and indeed have more than held their 
own in the forward and upward movement. 

The state of Washington provides four great 



departments of public education. The base of 
the pyramid is of course the common schools, 
the next the high schools, followed by the nor- 
mal schools, and these in turn by the state college 
and university. 

When Washington became a state the enabling 
act provided that sections sixteen and thirty- 
six in each township should be set apart to create 
an irreducible fund, the income from which 
should be employed for the common schools. In 
addition to this regular income there is a state 
school tax and a district school tax. For the year 
ending June 30, 1904, the total receipts for the 
maintenance of common schools in the state 
was $5, (U9, 315. 98. Of this the amount expended 
for teachers' wages was$2,24(),t)G2.48. The total 
value of school property in the state at the period 
covered by the same report was $8,732,990. The 
school population of the state for the same period 
was 19(5,347, and the total attendance for the 
same time was 101,651. Comparing the year 
1904 with 1903, we find an increase in the three 
items of receipts, of valuation of school property, 
and of number of pupils of about ten per cent. 
The report of the state superintendent for the 
year 1905 is not accessible at this writing, but it 
is understood that the gain of 1905 over 1904 is 
even more than ten per cent. 

The total number of high schools in the state 
is 105, with an attendance of 7,202. These are 
conducted largely by teachers of college or 
university training in addition to specific normal 
school training; are provided with excellent and 
in many cases costly buildings, and have 
adequate equipment in libraries and scientific 
apparatus. 

There are three state normal schools, located 
respectively at Cheney, at Whatcom and at 
EUensburg. The enrollment of students in these 
three institutions was for the year ending June 30, 
1904, 678, and the value of the grounds, buildings 
and equipment of the three was approximately a 
million dollars. 

Of higher institutions of learning the state 
provides the state college at Pullman and the 
state university at Seattle. The former is com- 
posed of two institutions with two separate 
sources of revenue, the first being the agricul- 
tural college department and the second the 
school of science. As an endowment for the 
combined purposes the United States has 
provided a hundred and ninety thousand acres of 



EDUCATION 



land, together with an annual appropriation 
from the Morrill and the Hatch funds, which, in 
addition to the state appropriation, provide an 
income of about ninety-five thousand dollars a 
year. This institution has a faculty in all 
departments of fifty, and a total of enrollment 
for the year closed of about 750. The value of 
grounds, apparatus, buildings and library in the 
state college is three hundred and twenty-three 
thousand dollars. 

The state university, established in IS61, and 
having for a number of years a precarious 
existence and a small and irregular number of 
pupils, has enjoyed for a period of six or eight 
years past a development hardly equaled by 
that of any other state university in the Union. 
When the first legislature of Washington terri- 
tory assembled in lS-'')4 Governor Isaac I. Stevens 
recommended that congress be memorialized to 
appropriate land for a university. Congress 
granted the request by the appropriation of two 
townships of land for such an institution. After 
some abortive attempts at establishing two 
universities, the legislature of 1861 definitely 
established it at Seattle, and on May 21, 1801. 
the corner-stone of the first building was laid. 
During the following winter actual teaching was 
begun. Not until the administration of the 
seventh president, Dr. A. J. Anderson, was real 
college work undertaken. The income was 
meagre until the establishment of statehood, but 
from that time on the legislatures have provided 
generous appropriations. In 1803 the magnifi- 
cent location on Lake Washington was provided, 
and two years later the beautiful and convenient 
buildings now constituting the main part of the 
university structures, though added to from time 
to time, were occupied. The approximate worth 
of the grounds, buildings, apparatus and library 
of the state university is one million, one 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The faculty 
number twenty-seven, and the enrollment of 
students was about nine hundred during the year 
just closed. By reason of its location near the 
metropolis of the state, its ample equipment, its 
proximity to one of the most beautiful lakes in 
the world, and the character of the instruction 
given by its well-selected faculty, the State 
University of Washington is already becoming 
an institution of recognized importance and is 
destined to be at no distant day one of the lead- 
ing institutions of the United States. 

From this bird's eye view of the systems of 
public education in the state, we turn to take up 
specifically the educational work, past and pres- 
ent, in the counties of Skagit and Snohomish. 

The school system of vSkagit county may be 
considered as having begun with the year 1SS4, 
when the county itself was organized from the 
southern half of Whatcom county. Nevertheless 
it is fitting that we learn from the records of the 
latter-named county something of the pioneer 



age of schools in that area which is now known 
as Skagit. There seem to have been no schools 
taught prior to the year 1872. That year was 
marked by the opening of several schools in 
pioneer communities, all of which seem to have 
been taught in private houses or in little shacks 
erected in the first place for some other purpose. 
As far as we can learn the first district on the 
Skagit was organized in the fall of 1872. The 
school board consisted of William Sartwell, 
Orrin Kincaid and "Little" Johnson. This 
school was held in Sartwell's original log cabin, 
a building so low that even the children could 
hardly get in without stooping. There were 
seven pupils and the teacher was Zena Tingley, 
who afterward became Mrs. J. H. Moores. The 
length of term at that time was but three 
months. This school was housed for two years 
thereafter in an old cabin on John Kelley's 
homestead, now occupied by Peter Egtvet. Sub- 
sequently, by tlie efforts of Mrs. C. C. Ville- 
neuve, who went around to the lumber camps 
with a Siwash pilot, lumber was procured and a 
new building erected upon an acre of land 
donated for the purpose by Mr. Kelley. By 
reason of a difference between the people of the 
north and south sides of the river, this acre of 
land with the school building passed into the 
hands of Mr. Egtvet and the pioneers erected a 
new schoolhouse at the delta on John Wilbur's 
place. This was used for a number of years, 
until a separate district was established on the 
south side of the river. Among the teachers in 
the old Wilbur school were G. E. Hartson and 
Mrs. Kate Washburn. 

Another one of the pioneer schools was that 
at Pleasant Ridge, opened in July, 1872. This 
school was held in Albert Leamer's house, and 
the teacher was Ida Leamer, at that time but 
fifteen years old. It is worthy of special notice 
that this girl, now Mrs. E. A. Sisson, secured 
the first teacher's certificate ever granted in the 
present boundaries of Skagit. Her certificate 
was granted by Dr. W. T. Deere, then superin- 
tendent of schools for Whatcom county and 
residing near the present site of Anacortes. It 
seems to be a question whether Miss Leamer's 
school did not open at a little earlier date than that 
of Miss Tingley previously mentioned. The 
directors of this first Pleasant Ridge school were 
James Harrison, John Cornelius and Charles J. 
Chilberg. The pupils were Fanny, Mary and 
Edward Chilberg, William and Arthur Cornelius, 
and Edgar Stacey. The next term of this same 
school was held in Mr. Harrison's residence, and 
was also taught by Miss Ida Leamer. 

Still another of the pioneer schools may be 
noticed briefly, namely that in the Padilla dis- 
trict. This was opened in April, 1877, in a little 
school building erected by Richard Ball, who 
also provided it with desks and other necessary 
equipment. It was located on the present Purdy 



i-.mi'h. then o\viic>l l>v Simlli .uul M^ricll.m. 
riu- ihstfut was uumluT llnnocii of Wli.itcniu 
coimty iiiul it inolmU-vl the ttMiitory (lom V\v- 
douia north to |oe l.arrv's slou>;h iiiui to the Iniv. 
Tlie fust toticiuM- was Kellt- l'.Ulriai;e. now Mis, 
John I'Mens of Hfllin).;haiu ()tlu>r ti\u'hois of 
the early pevioil wftf r.uiif I'lr.ih.mi .uul luuily 
Hai^iulorn. 

Another of the pioneer schools was that just 
below Mount X'ernon in the neinhborhooil of 
whioh Mr. ami Mrs. Isaac Lanninj; were pio- 
neers, Kla Lanninj;, then a ^irl of only sixteen, 
taujjht the lirst school in that district, dnrini;- the 
snniiuer of IS7','. 

Turninjj to the upper Skai^it roj;ion we find 
the first school district orjiani/cd there to have 
included the Sterling, Wilson and Sedro settle- 
ments. The year of its organization was l.S.S;!, 
and the directors were David lUitey, Daniel 
Benson and Enunett \'an Fleet; the clerk, ]. M. 
Smithson. The school met in a cedar shack 
>lonaled to the district by 1. B, Ball. Eva Wal- 
lace wart the tirst teacher, 'Phe Sedro district was 
formed by a division from the one just described 
in ISM!. 

While the foundations of the school system 
were thus beinjj laid on the mainland, the 
islands, whose general developmei\t at that time 
was faster, hud acquired better educational 
facilities. On Fidaljjo island in ISS',' there were 
three school districts. The first was that ot 
Anacortes, which had an enrollment of twenty- 
seven pupds and was in charge of ICmily Haga- 
dorn, now Mrs. Kdward Stuart, of Anacortes, 
There was also a school in the Best district in 
charge of Ailelbert \'an Valkenberg, and one in 
the Fidalgo district near Munk's Landing. This 
Inst-nameil school was organiaed about IST.'i, 
Miss Belle F.ldred, of Whatcom, teaching it that 
year. 

Schools were organised at about the same time 
on Guemes island, but not nntil ISSh was there a 
building for school purposes. In that year a 
comfortable schoolhouse was erected on the faru\ 
of William lulens, the means for which were 
dt>nated bv the ranchers, with the exception of a 
hundred and sixty dollars appropriated from the 
public school fund. In speaking of this school 
the Northwest Knterprise urges a new subscrip- 
tion "for desks and seats such as will not break 
the backs of the rising generation." 

The lirst teachers' examination held in pres- 
ent Skagit county occurred during the adminis- 
tration of 1, M. Bradley, the last superintendent 
of Whatcom prior to county division. The 
examining board consisted of Henry McBride, 
Kiuily llagailorn aud Josephine Bradlev. Second 
^rade certificates were granted to ^Ir.s. |ohn 
Chilberg, 15va Wallace, May Bradley, Sdith 
Peck and Alice Foster; and a third grade to 
Leila Turner. 

l'\n- ft pictvire of early conditions in school 



.ill.iiis wi- j;'^'<" lu'icwith some of tiic priiu-i|i.il 
fc.uurcs in'tlic report o( llu- voar INS,", hv C. V.. 
Ihutson, superintendent of schools. The dis- 
tricts at that time were as follows, with the 
number of i>upils in each: Swinomish, 'J'J; 
Fidalgo, :!7; Skagit. I'J; L.i (.\umer. !l(l; Isl.nul. 
L'3; Krie, -JS; Samish. lit; JetTerson. 35; Wash- 
ington, ST; Lincoln, 7;5; I'^ranklin, r>0; Lyman. 
43; Bavview, i'>4; IMeasant Ridge, "J3; t'alhouu. 
;!7; Fir, 21I; Sterling, :U); Wooten, 37; River- 
side, (it; Harmony, 'Jli; Guemes, 3r>; Minklcr, 
IS; Warner, l.'i; C'ooper, IS; Orilla, 34. Thciv 
was a total of twenty-five districts, with nine 
hundred and .seventy children of school age. 
For the same period there were twentv-two 
teachers. The avt^r!lge length of time for whicli 
schools were provided was four and tme-half 
months. The number of sclioolhonses in the 
county was twenty of which three were built 
during lSSi">. The anumnt of money raised for 
school purpo.ses was $r),tlSH.(ii). The estimated 
value of school grounds, houses and apparatus 
was $4, 743. '..')■>. The average salary paid male 
teachers per month was $40. 1(1, and the average 
salary of female teachers was$3S..S!), 

To the report just given we may append the 

I districts established during the remainder of the 

' decade as follows; Lyman, ISSli; Hamilton 

t having succeeded to the place formerly occupied 
bv the Lvman district; Sedro, ISSfi; Cypress, 
1SS7; Ridgewav, ISS7; Centerville, ISSS; Bav- 
view, ISSS; Tiiigley. ISSS; iMear Lake, ISsit; 

j Sauk, ISS'.t; Yomig. ISSi); Cedardale. ISDO; 

! liibralter. lSiU>. 

The records of 1SS(> show .i material incre.i;>e 
in every respect, except the average salary paid 
teachers. The total amovint of money raised for 
school purposes was six thousand eight hundred 

; and seventy-two dollars and seventy-seven cents. 

I Thirty-one teachers were employed. The average 
number of months taught was five, schoolhonses 

I built during the year were four, the estimated 
value of school pn^iperty was seven thousand, five 

I hundred ami thirty-nine dollars and eighty cents, 
and the number of pupils in the county of school 
age was one thousand, one hundred and twenty- 
one. 

The year LSS(5 was marked by an event which 
could not fail to be of interest in the education.d 
progi-ess of the cminty. This was the organi.'.i- 
tion of a teachers' association, effected at Avon, 
August 10, 1SS(5. ], B. Moody was chosen 
president and May I'iradley secretary. It was 
provided that regular meetings should be held 
on the second Saturdays of February. May, 
August and November. 

Reference to occasional reports of superin- 
tendents during the period beween ISS(> and the 
present date gives us a cle.'irer conception of the 
advancement of all things educational during 
that time. We find the report of J. M, Shields, 
superintendent for the year ending Juue3i>, ISIM. 



shows tlu- rollowin;; suium.iri.-s : NiuuluT ..f 
ohiKircu ol" srliool .li^o, -J.*!;-,', o( wlik-li 1,S<S won- 
oMrolk-a in tlie puiilio scliools. TIk- ii'iimbor of 
piiiiils in pi-ivMto schools li;ul ^jreatly iiicri-asoil, 
houii; then '.U. 'Plu- miniborof teachers eniployoil 
w.is HO. All nii-nibcrs of tho tcaohiiij; profession 
will be _i;ratilieil to see tiiat there was a marked 
advance in the salaries, tiiose of male teachers 
iiavinj; readied $51.70 and of feniale teachers 
$l().tH). The averajje miniber of months of 
school was f>.S7. of school districts in the ciumtv, 
17, of school bnildinj;s, ;!(>, and tiie total value of 
school property, $C.-J,-J7;{. 

t.'onsidtinj;- a>;ain tlu- reports of superintend- 
ents, and lakin.n- the year ISDS as the middle 
period between the date last i;ivcn ant! (he 
present, we lind that snperintendent K. L. 
MclClreath sunimari/.es the educational status as 
follows: Number of children of school a,i;o,!{,fi-S, 
of which 'J, MS were enrolled in the public 
schools; Di") teachers were employed; the avciai^e 
number of months tauijht was ."i.^O and tlic total 
value of school property was $i;l t.tKl".'. 

The report of Superintendent J. Cl. l.owman 
for the year ending- June ;J0, isioi, the latest 
icport accessible at this writini;', j;ives the t(Ual 
number of chiUlren in the ct)unty as ri,(VJ(); l.sri 
bciu); enrolled in the public schools. It is rather 
interesting' to note that the number of the two 
sexes are .almost exactly cnual, 2, lOU males and 
'J,-U() females beinj;- enrolled. The number of 
teachers employed durini; the year was l."i."), and 
the averaj;e salary of the male teachers was 
$i\H\{\. and of the' female teachers, $r>!5 00. The 
avera,i;e number of months tauj^lit was ".(KP.?. 
Tin- number of school districts in the county was 
SO. .ind the number of school buildin,v;S, 71. The 
tot.d v.due of all school propertv was ,|!lS7.(i;l:.'. 
and amount I'aid out by the couu'tv for all school 
purposes was $1 I7,(ii;!.7;!. i >iu' other inter- 
estini; class of statistical matter not incorporated 
in pre\ious reports pertains to tiie character of 
the ccitilicues licUl by the teachers of the 
com.lv. These .ue ,is follows: Number of 
tc.ichcrs luildim; st.ile or territorial certilicates 
or diplom.is, 7; number holiliny;- diplomas 
from normal dep.ntutent of stiitc university, 1 ; 
number holdinj; eertilie:ites frt)m state norm.al 
schools, '.'; number luddin^;' lirst j^rade county 
certiliiMtes, LTi; iiuudier holdinj.; second ^rade 
county rrrtilicates, 7-1; number holdinj;- third 
;; r.idc county certilicates, 27; number havinj; 
tempoi.iry lu-rniits, 12. These statistics indicate 
a very ^;reat increase in all the essentials of 
school resources, as, amount of school property, 
lenjvth of period taught, proportionate nmuber of 



not only .Slcaj^it counl 
\V.ishiii};ton has evinci 
<'ducalion UN a neeessa 



.urowtli of \u^h .sch.H.ls. The first hi^;h school or- 
j;,iui.-,cd in the county w.is at Mount \ernon. At 
the present time there are eijjht hijjh schools. Of 
these, three. Mount \'ernon, Sedro-Woolley and 
La (.'onner, maintain fidl four years' courses in 
lMi,i;lish, classical and scientific studies. The 
Anaeortes hii^h school oilers three years of work, 
wliile Hayview, Hamilton, Hurlin,i>tou and ICdison 
provide two years each, in addition to these the 
foUowinji' districts maintain somethiti};' in addi- 
tion to the rcj^idar oi).jht j;rades of common 
school work: Pleasant Kidj^e, Kir, Avon, I-yman, 
Clear Lake, McMurray, Conn and MilUown. 

Some evidence of the ambition and thorouj»h- 
nessof the Skai;it schools has been shown diirinjj 
the current year by the fullness and excellence 
of their exhibit at the I^ewis and Clark fair. 
One thinj; worthy of special note was that the 
fourth and fd'th .grades of the Anaeortes school 
sent as a contribution an orijjinal melody of both 
words and music, said by ^ooil judges to be of 
hiyh quality for children of such an ai;e. 

There are few counties of the state of Wash- 
ington uniirovided with some kind of |n-ivate 
scliools, which, in im[iortant respects, supplement 
and )»ive special aim to the facilities provided by 
the public. Skagit county has had its share of 
such institutions. The first of these was what 
became known as AUlen academy. There is 
consider.able interestini;- history involved in this 
institution, althou.v;h the forces which sustained it 
afterward turneil their energies in another 
directiiin. In November, 1S77, Rev. E. O. Tade, 
a Conj;re.i;ational minister, came in a schooner 
called the Fidal.uo Traveler to Fidaljio island. 
lie h.id for his purpose the organization of a 
small colom- .ind the establishment of a Christian 
school .ifter tlu- p.itternof the New ICn^laud or 
Ohio academies. In tlu- vear foUowin^j' his 
arrival at Fidal,L:o Isl.ind Mr. Tade erected a 
buildiuj;- and dedicated the school. It was 
located about two miles si>uth of Anaeortes. 
This school was subcquentlv uiuler the manajje- 
ment of Professor A. T. iUirnell, formerly of 
Oberlin. Althou>;h Aldeii Ae.ulemy m.iiut.i'incd 
its existence for only four \'e:us it seems to li.i\c 
■secured the favorable attention of all the pcople 
in th.it portion of the county. The est.d>lish- 
meul of I'll;;.! Sounil Academy, tirst locatcil 

Snohomish, of which we sh.ill sped; in .inothci- 
place, led to the ab.iiuloiimeiu oi AMeu .\c.id<-mv. 
The bnildinjj' wasemploved lor .i time .is .i public 
school, l^irrie (irah.im beiu,-; tlu- tc.iclu-r, but at 
the lu-eseut time the buildin.i; is used .is a resi- 
deiu-e bv Mrs. R. 1',. Whitney. 

More recentiv tliere has become establislied 
.1 pnv.ilc iiistitiiliou known as tlu- I'orest Home 
liidu:.lii.il .AiMdcmw This institution is under 
the couiiol of th<' ,Scv<-iUh Ifiv Adventist church 
.uul is lociicd two .iiul .1 h.ili miles from Mount 
\ iTiiou. I'he msiiiuiiou possesses thirty-live 



424 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



acres of fertile land and has already erected sev- 
eral excellent buildings and is making prepara- 
tions for adding to its equipment. Each pupil 
is required to devote two and a half hours a day 
to industrial work. The head of this institution 
is L. I. Stiles. In addition to the industrial 
education offered this academy offers instruction 
in all the common English and scientific branches 
taught in high schools. 

From whatever point viewed the educational 
advantages of Skagit county may well be a source 
of pride to her citizens and approbation by her 
neighbors. 

We now direct our attention to the educa- 
tional history of Snohomish county. Snohomish 
county originally constituted one school district. 
This was district number one and centered at 
Snohomish City. District number one was 
organized in the year 1S69 and the first school 
was opened in what afterward became known 
as the Blue Eagle, situated on the bank of the 
Snohomish river, on the west side of Union 
avenue. This building has few rivals in Sno- 
homish county for the number of uses to which 
it has been put. Employed at one time as a 
church, where the soul of man was filled with 
truth, it became a restaurant, where the stomach 
of man was somewhat indifferently supplied with 
physical nourishment. Becoming afterward a 
saloon, it served the most effective purpose that 
its proprietors could devise, to the destruction of 
both soul and stomach. It afterward served a 
sentence for a term of years as a dance house, to 
be rescued from this use and fitted as a store. 
It subsequently degenerated to the status of a 
wash house, and after that ceased its active life. 
It seems not to have been long employed for 
educational purposes, for within a year or two 
the district constructed a very creditable school 
building on lots donated for the purpose by Mrs. 
M. L. "Packard. That building fulfilled the 
needs of the district until 1S>S7, when it was sup- 
plemented by an addition the same size as itself, 
and a year later an excellent school building was 
erected at a cost of fourteen thousand dollars 
which has since been the main school building 
of Snohomish. District number two was organ- 
ized from district number one in 1S70, having at 
that time about twenty pupils. The year 1872 
was marked by the organization of district 
number three, the Florence district, and number 
four, the Stanwood district. Florence was pro- 
vided with an excellent school building almost 
from the first, the building also being employed 
as a church, but it was a number of years before 
Stanwood erected a building adequate to its 
growing needs. The first teacher in the Florence 
district was Kate Bradley, and the school was 
held in Sly's workshop. There were no white 
children at that time, all the pupils being half 
breeds. For the next year a schoolhouse of 
cedar shakes was used, each family providing 



desks for its own children. Terzy Bigelow was 
the first teacher in this building. The next year 
the people of Florence developed so much ambi- 
tion as to build and equip the best schoolhouse 
in that part of the county. The first Stanwood 
school was opened in 1876 and was taught by 
Mrs. Carolina Christianson, followed by Kate 
Bradley. 

The process of subdivision went on and 
Lowell district, number five, was organized in 

1873. As is common in our early communities, 
the schoolhouse was also used as a church and 
public gathering place. Mukilteo was the next 
to join the procession as district number six in 

1874. The Mukilteo school was provided with 
an excellent building at a cost of eight hundred 
dollars, furnished with patent seats, and well 
supplied with charts, maps and blackboards. 
District number seven embraced Tualco and the 
region immediately about. This also was pro- 
vided almost at first with a comfortable and 
well-equipped school building. The eighth dis- 
trict, which became known as Krischell's, was 
organized in 1875. 

We find the report of the superintendent of 
schools for the year 1875 notes the fact that at 
that time there were eight districts in the county, 
in six of which schools had been maintained for 
an average term of three and two-thirds months. 
District number one, embracing Snohomish City, 
contained nearly half the children in the county, 
having in that year two hundred and thirty-seven 
of school age. The amount apportioned for the 
maintenance of the district was $'J()4.()7. 

The development of the educational system 
of Snohomish county did not differ widely from 
that of the other counties of our state. With the 
inflow of population district after district was 
established, building after building erected, 
length of period taught increased, added facilities 
in the way of library and apparatus provided, 
high schools established here and there, and a 
great onward impetus given to all the educational 
forces of the county. 

The report of Superintendent Dixon in the 
year 1N91 comments somewhat unfavorably upon 
the imperfect reports of school clerks and their 
apparent inability to present full and complete 
statistics. Superintendent Dixon also notes the 
glut in the market for teachers and as a means 
to avoid this condition he recommends a more 
difficult standard of examination. There were 
at that time 2,828 children of school age in the 
county, of which 2,0r)0 were enrolled in the 
public schools and 127 in private schools. There 
were 67 teachers in the county, the male teach- 
ers receiving an average salary of $53.30 and the 
female teachers $45.30. The total valuation of 
school property at that time was $56,207, and 
the schools were maintained on an average five 
and four-tenths months. The fifty districts of 
the county were provided with thirty-nine school 



EDUCATION 



buildings. The outlay of the schools during that 
year was $24,846.00. During that year ten girls 
and twenty-seven young men undertook the 
examination for first grade state certificates, one 
only being successful, namely. Royal J. Tilton, 
of_ Arlington. Although Superintendent Dixon 
was somewhat critical of the educational condi- 
tions of his county at that time, he anticipated 
great improvements in the future. His hopes 
seem to have been realized, sooner, perhaps, than 
he expected. 

We find the report of Superintendent R. E. 
Friars, for the year ending June 30, 1898, to 
show a very great gain over the condition of the 
preceding years. For the period covered by 
that report the number of school children in the 
county was reported as 5,002, of which 4,338 
were enrolled. The number of teachers em- 
ployed was 143, of which 10 held state certificates, 
39 first grade, 39 second grade and 55 third 
grade. The estimated value of school property 
in that report was $221,815, and the average 
length of the school year six and one-half 
months. The report notes 115 pupils in high 
schools. The number of school districts in the 
county _ had increased to 78 and the number 
of school buildings to 75. The total expendi- 
tures of the schools of the county for the year 
amounted to $()9,9S5.(J(). 

Passing over the intervening period and tak- 
ing up the report of Superintendent Thomas A. 
Stiger, for the period ending June 30, 1904, we 
find that the number of children of school age 
had increased to 10,812, the number enrolled to 
8,712, the average length of the school year to 
eight months, and the number of teachers to 213. 
The average salary paid to male teachers had 
attained the sum of $r)2.00 and to female of 
$52.00. The number of pupils in attendance at 
the high schools was 397, and at the private 
schools, 220. Nine new school buildings had 
been erected during that year, making a total 
of ninety-five buildings in the ninety-one districts 
of the county. The estimated value of school 
property was $419,582. Six high schools and six- 
teen graded schools were reported. Of the 213 
teachers of the county, 22 held state diplomas, 2 
had certificates from the normal department of 
the state university, 7 had elementary diplomas 
from state normal schools, and fourteen from 
the advanced course of the normal schools. Of 
those authorized to teach by county certificates, 
77 possessed first grade, 05 second grade and 12 
third grade. The total amount expended for 
school purposes for the year was $210,081. (i4. 

In addition to the excellent service rendered 
to the rising generation of Snohomish count}' by 
the public schools, there is opportunity for educa- 
tion along special lines or under' particular 
auspices afforded by several first class private 
institutions. 

The most prominent of the private institu- 



tions of the county is Puget Sound Academy, 
under the auspices of the Congregational 
churches of western Washington. It was incor- 
porated under the laws of the territory on 
September 4, 1880. Its location at that time was 
Coupeville, in Island county. 

After having done work of a high grade for 
twelve years it was decided to relocate the 
academy at Snohomish. The moving of the 
county seat from Snohomish to Everett left 
vacant the county building, which, largely by the 
beneficence of the Ferguson Brothers, was 
secured for the use of the academy. The loca- 
tion of the academy is sightly and convenient, 
while the view of the Olympics and Cascades, 
and towering over all. Mount Ranier, the King of 
themoiintains.is one of combined beauty and sub- 
limity hard to match even upon Puget sound. 

Puget Sound Academy provides courses of 
study in classical, scientific and English branches 
in addition to a high grade business course. At 
the present time the faculty consists of Rev. 
William Worthington, principal and instructor 
in Greek, history and Bible; Charles A. Palmer, 
instructor in science and mathematics; Bess \'an 
Boskirk, preceptress and instructor in English, 
French and physical culture; Linnie May Marsh, 
instructor in Latin and German; C. A. Wilbur, 
instructor in stenography, typewriting and book- 
keeping; Rev. Carlton Merritt Hitchcock, direc- 
tor of musical conservatory and instructor in 
piano and pipe organ; Catherine Williams, 
instructor m piano; Florence Brown, director of 
Art department; and Mrs. Martha McKay, 
matron of boarding department. 

With a faithful and thorough faculty, a body 
of ambitious and capable students and a location 
in the most beautiful part of the beautiful town 
of Snohomish, Puget Sound Academy certainly 
may be regarded as upon the high road to a career 
of prosperity and usefulness such as will fulfill 
the generous aims and high hopes of its founders 
and constituents. At present an effort is being 
made, and not without success, to raise a fifty 
thousand dollar endowment. 

Of aims somewhat similar to those of Puget 
Sound Academy was the academy inaugurated 
by the people of the Presbyterian denomination 
under control of the Rev. J. W. Dorrance. 
This institution was established in 1891, and 
received the name of the Dorrance Academy. 
Its purpose was to provide thorough, practical 
and Christian education in the customary lines 
of academic courses, besides a practical business 
education. 

The Dorrance Academy was convened first 
on June 2, 1891, in the basement of the Presby- 
terian church. The growing patronage of the 
institution soon led to a demand for more com- 
modious quarters, and Mr. Dorrance set to work 
with great energy to secure the funds and put 
into execution the erection and equipment of a 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



building which was at that time a great credit 
to the town of Snohomish. 

In 1893 Mr. Dorrance resigned his appoint- 
ment as pastor in the Presbyterian church in 
order that he might devote all his energies to the 
building up of Dorrance Academy. Everything 
seemed to portend a permanent and successful 
career for the institution, but circumstances 
subsequently led Mr. Dorrance to decide to 
remove to California, and as a result of the 
withdrawal of the head of the institution and 
its main inspiration, the history of Dorrance 
Academy came to an end. It had accomplished 
much good during its existence and its discontinu- 
ance was a source of great regret to the citizens 
of Snohomish. 

There are located in the city of Everett two 
church academies which have attained a high 
grade and extensive patronage. First of these 
is the Academy of St. Dominic, a select boarding 
and day school for girls and young women. It 
was founded in 1900 and is under the control of 
the Dominican sisters. The location is an attrac- 
tive and favorable one on the corner of Cedar 
street and Everett avenue. Its central aim is to 
give an education which shall be at once thorough 
and artistic. As in all institutions under the con- 
trol of the Catholic denomination, special atten- 
tion is paid to the refinements of domestic life and 
to the fine arts. The course comprises four years 
of study in the standard branches besides offer- 



ing a thorough commercial course. The number 
of pupils is rapidly increasing, the enrollment of 
1900 having been one hundred and thirty-four 
while that of 1904 was three hundred. 

The other church school in Everett is the 
Bethania High School and College. This institu- 
tion is under the control of the Norwegian-Luth- 
eran church, and is located on Broadway avenue. 
The business manager of the institution is Rev. 
B. A. Sard, and the principal of the scholastic 
department is P. J. Christens. This institution 
has so commended itself to the favor of the 
people of the Norwegian race and churches in 
Snohomish county that plans are already in prog- 
ress for the establishment at Everett of a large 
collegiate institution to be known as the North- 
west Norwegian College. If carried out according 
to hopes and expectations this will be such an 
institution as to redound to the credit of the city 
in which it is located. 

The limits of space have compelled summar- 
iiiing in a dry, brief manner the essential facts 
in the history of both public and private educa- 
tion in the counties of Snohomish and Skagit. 
The work may indeed be considered in its 
incipiency, and yet so much has been accom- 
plished as to establish the certainty that these 
two fair counties will not lag behind their sister 
counties in the great task of securing to the 
children the education and the discipline de- 
manded by the strenuous times in which we live. 



CHAPTER III 



THE PRESS OF SKAGIT AND SNOHOMISH COUNTIES 



PUGET SOUND MAIL 

The oldest newspaper in western Washing- 
ton, north of Seattle, is the Mail now published 
at La Conner, Skagit county, but originally estab- 
lished in the old town of Whatcom more than 
thirty-two years ago. To have reached such an 
age would in itself have been a distinction in a 
state where so many changes have taken place 
in so few years; to be known also as the pioneer of 
journalism in this section is an added distinction. 

In his salutatory, appearing in the initial 
number July 5, 1S73, James A. Power, founder, 
publisher and editor, remarks among other 
things: 

"With this, the first number of the Belling- 



ham Bay Mail, we greet the citizens of Whatcom 
county. Trusting in their generous promises 
liberally to patronize and support a newspaper 
published within their precincts and specially 
devoted to their interest, we have undertaken 
the task of establishing one for them. The 
necessity for such an enterprise has been seri- 
ously discussed during the past few months by 
gentlemen who have a special interest in the 
welfare of the county and in the development of 
its resources. These men were constantly in 
receipt of letters from different parts of the 
Eastern states asking for information in regard to 
the country bordering Bellingham bay. Had 
there been a paper published here the necessity 
for this correspondence would not exist. * * * 



THE PRESS 



427 



"A very large percentage of the settlers com- 
ing to Washington territory have designs on 
Whatcom and Bellingham bay. Their anticipa- 
tions in regard to this place may be a little too 
sanguine, but present indications point to it as 
one most likely the Northern Pacific Railroad 
Company will select for their terminus. As 
they have put under contract one hundred miles 
of track from Tenino, which takes the road 
Olympia and Seattle, there would seem to be 
only one or two more eligible points left for 
them to determine upon. Our citizens, however, 
are willing to submit the natural and commercial 
advantages of their locality with those of any 
other on the sound to the impartial judgment of 
the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, and 
patiently await the result. 

"In adopting a title for our paper we were 
quite 'at sea' until a happy thought struck us it 
ought to be called after the beautiful bay upon 
whose borders our town is situated, and which, 
for exquisite scenery and ample harbor facilities 
to accommodate the commerce of many nations, 
challenges the admiration of tourists from all 
parts of the world. 

"We will add that the Mail will be Repub- 
lican in politics, but while upholding the funda- 
mental principles of Republicanism, it will 
advocate any and all praiseworthy measures 
proposed by parties and individuals holding 
opposite political opinions." 

Nor has the Mail, during its long, prosperous 
existence materially swerved from the course 
mapped out in the preceeding paragragh. Able, 
aggressive, possessing constructive power, dis- 
pensing the news of the time fully and interest- 
ingly, the Mail early assumed an important place 
in the life of the territory and became a factor in 
its upbuilding. Its influence upon the progress 
of the northern part of the sound has been deeply 
felt for nearly a third of a century, and especially 
has it been instrumental in shaping the destinies 
of Whatcom and Skagit counties. 

With the decline of the erstwhile city of 
Whatcom into a straggling village late in the 
seventies, Mr. Power decided to remove his' 
paper to La Conner, then a growing town in a 
rapidly developing country. Accordingly the 
first week in September, 1S79, the plant was 
transferred, and September 13th resumed publi- 
cation under the name of the Puget Sound Mail. 
Mr. Power continued to devote his abilities and 
energy to the Mail until April, 1884, when 
Walsh & Riggins leased it, Riggins remaining in 
the firm only a short time, however. October 1, 
ISS'i, Power sold the property to the Mail Publish- 
ing Company, and thereafter, Henry McBride, 
later to become governor of Washington, and R. 
O. Welts, were the fir.st editors and managers. 
McBride and Welts retamed control until Feb- 
ruary, 1S87, when the stock passed into the 
hands of Fred Leroy Carter and June Hender- 



son, they immediately assuming charge. Four 
years later Mr. Henderson retired from the 
company and was succeeded by George E. 
Knapp, son of Gov. Knapp of Alaska. Hender- 
son left the state subsequently, studied law, and 
is now on the bench in Boulder county, Colorado. 
Speaking of the Mail in 1891 at the time of Mr. 
Henderson's retirement, a contemporary. The 
Skagit News said: "Always courteous with 
those who differ with it in opinions, never 
descending to throw mud or abuse at other 
journals who did not agree with its editorial 
utterances, the Mail has achieved a reputation 
for fairness and honesty of purpose which com- 
mands the respect of every citizen of Skagit 
county." A. J. Morrow succeeded Knapp in 
October, 1892, taking charge of the mechanical 
department, and was connected with the Mail 
until May, 1901, when he, too, stepped out, 
selling his interest to W. A. Carlson, an experi- 
enced newspaper man who had been with 
the News-Herald, of Mount Vernon, for three 
years previously. Messrs. Carter and Carlson 
at present constitute the Mail Publishing Com- 
pany, the former serving the paper as editor. 
The plant occupies a commodious office erected 
in 1889 to take the place of the original La Con- 
ner office, which is now used by James Caches 
as a barn. In 1873, the form of the Mail was 
that of a five-column folio, and had a patent 
outside, the subscription price demanded being 
three dollars a year. With varying periods of 
prosperity, the size has changed, and at the 
present time the paper is in folio form. The 
Mail is La Conner's only representative in the 
newspaper field and is deservedly popular among 
those with whom it comes in closest contact. 

THE SKAGIT NEWS-HERALD 

Shortly after the bill creating Skagit county 
had become a law and the new county a reality 
early in the spring of the year 1884 there came 
one day to the straggling up-river hamlet named 
Mount Vernon, a young man of distinguished 
parentage, anxious to win his way in the new 
West. The fortune seeker was William C. 
Ewing, a son of General Ewing, of New York. 
At that time there were but two newspapers in 
the county, the Mail at La Conner and the 
Enterprise at Anacortes, while the thrifty river 
metropolis, ambitious as it was in a political 
way, too, had no representation in the newspaper 
field whatever. Young Ewing believed he saw 
an opening, canvassed the situation thoroughly 
and finally decided to give the venture a trial. 
Clothier & English, the leading merchants and 
proprietors of the town site, furnished a room 
over their store free of charge and assisted very 
substantially in launching the Skagit News, the 
first copy of which appeared Tuesday, March 4, 
1884, with William C. Ewing as publisher and 
editor. 



428 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



In his salutatory, Mr. Ewing said, among 
other things: 

"The character of this paper is indicated by its 
title. It is intended to make the publication of 
news the principal feature. To that end such 
papers as we can get by exchange, purchase or 
loan will be fed to our shears; and we shall 
chronicle the doings of the people in this and the 
neighboring rivers with as much industry as we 
can bring to bear. * * * Our quota to the develop- 
ment of the county will be the recording of the 
deeds of the actors. * * *" 

Nor did he fail to keep his promises, for the 
News speedily became an acknowledged news 
conveyor of merit and a distinct force in the new 
county. It was Mount Vernon's powerful advo- 
cate in the county seat struggle that same fall 
and to it no little credit is due for the victory 
which came. 

But the talented young editor did not remain 
long at ]\Iount \'ernon for September 29, ISSo, 
G. E. Hartson, one of the valley's oldest pio- 
neers, although then a young man who had been 
elected superintendent of schools, assumed 
charge of the News. It is stated that Ewing 
remained in newspaper work and ultimately 
attained a high position in his profession. 
About this time also the size of the page was 
increased from four to six columns, with added 
length, and a new face type was added to the 
plant. The new editor brought to the paper a 
vigorous policy, ability and a wide knowledge 
of the surrounding country, all of which contrib- 
uted to the success and progress of the enter- 
prise, the paper developing as the county itself 
grew. With the entrance of the News upon its 
iifth volume, a new Campbell news press was 
installed, marking an important epic in the 
journal's history. The plant was at that time 
located in its own building on Main street, the 
structure being a portion of the present residence 
of Mr. Hartson. 

Although Mr. Hartson devoted his personal 
attention to the News to as great an extent 
as possible during the next few years, he was 
assisted by various local editors, among them Al. 
Sebring, who later became well known in Pnget 
sound newspaper circles. Mr. Sebring retired 
in 1N95 to establish a Populist journal, using the 
plant of the defunct Avon Record. January 4, 
1S97, the Skagit Valley Herald, which had been 
published for some time past by Ed. C. Suiter 
at Mount Vernon, was consolidated with the 
News, forming the present News- Herald, the 
proprietorship being vested with Mr. Hartson. 
The consolidation was a success and under this 
name the paper has appeared steadily since. 
Three years ago, September 15, 1902, Ralph C. 
Hartson, a son of the proprietor, succeeded his 
father as editor and manager of the enterprise 
and is at present occupying the same positions. 
Mr. Hartson is a graduate of the Mount Vernon 



schools and acquired the rudiments of newspaper 
making in the office over which he now presides. 
The fact that the News-Herald is the oldest 
newspaper, save one, in the county speaks vol- 
umes for its stability and the position it has won 
in the hearts of the public. It is still issued as a 
weekly, Monday being the publication day, and 
appears as a four-page folio. Politically, it is 
Republican and has been since its inception 
twenty-one years ago. 

The plant is supplied with presses, paper 
cutter, and other necessities of a well conducted 
country office, in charge of J. C. Merritt, fore- 
man. It is situated on Main street in the build- 
ing adjoining the postoffice. One of the most 
valuable assets of the News-Herald is its 
complete, well bound files, to which the com- 
pilers of this work are indebted for much 
information concerning the history of the city 
and county. 

MOUNT VERNON ARGUS 

Few of the smaller cities of the state can 
boast of a newspaper as ably edited and neatly 
printed as the journal whose name appears at 
the head of this article. Frederick K. Ornes, 
the publisher and editor, is a newspaper man of 
varied and long experience and is ably assisted 
in his work by his wife, Mrs. Susan Currier 
Ornes, who is recognized as a talented writer in 
addition to being an educator of state reputation. 
An eight page paper, all printed at home, is 
issued each week. Recently the Argus has 
erected a handsome, two-story frame building in 
the business center of the city, all of the lower 
floor of which it will occupy with its offices and 
mechanical department. The plant is a modern 
one, in both news and job departments. In 
political matters the Argus is Republican, 
though liberally disposed toward all, and is a 
strong moral force in the community it covers. 

The Argus is the outgrowth of several of the 
county's pioneer newspapers. The first of these 
was the Mount Vernon Chronicle, E. K. Matlock 
and W. H. McEwen, publishers and editors, 
whose initial number appeared Friday, July 24, 
1891. as an eight column folio, all home print. 
Its plant was a modern and an expensive one, 
and its columns show unmistakable ability. 
However, the following February, the Chronicle 
practically went down before financial distress, 
and was purchased by a stock company, known 
as the Democratic Publishing Company, com- 
posed of T. B. Neely, president; Frank Quinby, 
secretary-treasurer; E. C. Million, J. N. Turner, 
W. E. Schricker, A. P. Sharpstein, J. P. Millett 
and Thomas Smith. James A. Power, formerly 
publisher of the Puget Sound Mail, became the 
editor and manager, and the paper's name was 
changed to the Democrat, its politics changing 
at the same time. Elden W. Pollock succeeded 



THE PRESS 



Mr. Power and was in turn succeeded by Wil- 
liam M. Sheffield. December 30, 1892, the name 
was again changed, this time to the Post. Num- 
erous vicissitudes followed, culminating in 
October, 1893, in the failure of the stock com- 
pany and the sale by mortgage foreclosure of the 
property to Mr. Pollock, though his right to the 
plant was contested in the courts subsequently 
without success. Jay B. Edwards took hold of 
the Post in March, 1894. The next important 
step in the life of the enterprise was the organi- 
zation of the Post- Argus in August, 1897, by Mr. 
Edwards, as the successor of the Post, its politics 
still remaining Democratic. Later that year, in 
November, the old Record, a journal established a 
short time previously for campaign purposes, was 
consolidated with the Post-Argus, Mr. Edwards 
still remaining at the head of the combination. 
In 1899, the files indicate that H. L. Bowmer is 
steering the destinies of the property, but he 
did not remain long, selling to Jessup & Jessup 
that spring. This firm conducted the paper, 
then known simply as the Argus, only a short 
time, A. Z. Jessup assuming the owersliip. The 
next change in proprietorship took place April 
24, 1903, when the Argus Publishing Company, 
composed of Frederick L. Ornes formerly of the 
Anacortes American, and Al. Sebring, of Mount 
Vernon, purchased it, the latter merging into 
the plant the old Acme Printing Company. Still 
another printing company was absorbed, how- 
ever, the Riverside Publishing Company, W. B. 
Russell retiring. Mrs. Ornes at once took charge 
of the Argus as editor. In May the name of the 
paper was changed to the Mount Vernon Argus 
and at the same time its political faith was 
changed to Republican. During the county fair 
of 1903, the Argus issued a daily, the second one 
ever issued in Skagit county, the old Anacortes 
Progress having been the pioneer in that line. 
Subsequently Mr. Sebring retired from the firm, 
leaving the property solely in the hands of the 
present publisher. 

PUGET SOUND POST 

In the belief that Skagit county afforded room 
for another wide-awake newspaper, an indepen- 
dent semi-weekl}-, the Post, was brought into 
existence at Mount Vernon, September 19, 1905, 
by the Post Publishing Company, of which 
Charles W. Taylor is manager and editor. Nor, 
at this writing, do the hopes and beliefs of the 
founders appear to have been without substan- 
tial foundation, for the Post is rapidly winning 
its way into the good will of the people and has 
already obtained recognition as among the lead- 
ing country publications of the sound. Its six 
pages are printed exclusively at Mount Ver- 
non, being issued Tuesdays and Fridays, and 
typographically as well as editorially the ear 
marks of skilled workmanship are easily discern- 



ible. A special feature of the Post's work is 
its plan of thoroughly illustrating the resources 
and special scenic features of the county in addi- 
tion to its comprehensive descriptive articles. 
Mr. Taylor is a man of wide and successful 
experience in journalism and has been identified 
with many ambitious publications in the East 
as well as the West. 

THE SK.\GIT COUNTY COURIER 

The youngest of Sedro-Woolley's newspapers 
is the Courier, Foster & Totten proprietors, 

published weekly. Politically it is Republican. 
U. E. Foster, formerly with the Journal and 
Herald at Norfolk, Nebraska, and later with the 
News at Plainview in the same state, is the 
founder of the Courier. He issued the first 
number May 1, 1901, and remained sole owner 
of the enterprise until June 1, 1902, when he 
sold a half interest to his present partner, W. H. 
Totten, of Fullerton, Nebraska, the firm name 
being changed to the Courier Publishing Com- 
pany. The Courier has been a success from the 
start and is steadily attaining to still greater 
success. In the summer of 1905, the plant 
received a most valuable addition in the shape of 
a simplex typesetting machine, costing approxi- 
mately $2,000, the only other typesetting 
machine in the county being that of the Ameri- 
can at Anacortes. 

THE SK.A.GIT COUNTY TIMES 

Sedro-Woolley's oldest paper now being 
issued is the Skagit County Times, established 
in the old town of Woolley early in February, 
1S91, by Messrs. Henshaw & Lucas, as a six 
column quarto. Democratic in its politics. Wool- 
ley had been platted but little more than a year 
and was then at the height of its boom period. 
Subsequently the Times passed entirely into 
the hands of Mr. Henshaw, and in 1892 into 
possession of the Sedro Land & Improvement 
Company, which removed the journal to the 
adjoining town of Sedro. During the next eight 
j-ears J. B. Alexander, practically its owner, 
leased the property at different times to Walter 
Gillis and Seneca Ketcham, the latter of whom 
died at Woolley, and in 1901 to A. C. Edwards. 
Mr. Edwards was succeeded in December, 1902, 
by W. H. Pilcher, a Kansan, who is the present 
publisher and editor. Mr. Pilcher possesses a 
good country plant, which is comfortably housed 
in a neat office in the business portion of the city. 
The Times appears as a four column, twelve 
page sheet of convenient size, and by the able, 
conservative manner in which it is conducted, 
reflects credit upon all associated in its produc- 
tion. It is now an ardent advocate of Republican 
principles. One great disaster has overtaken the 
Times in its comparatively long existence, 



430 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



namely, a fire in 1895, which ruined a portion of 
the plant and burned the files. In point of age, 
the Times ranks third among the newspapers of 
Skagit county. 



ANACORTES AMERICAN 

Sole representative of the press on Fidalgo 
island, survivor of a dozen predecessors and con- 
temporaries, third oldest journal in Skagit county, 
for more than fifteen years the American has 
held its course unfalteringly and it is now reaping 
a deserved reward. Because of the checkered 
fortunes which have marked the life of the city 
and island, the American has had unusual odds 
to contend against, but despite all obstacles, the 
high standard set in the beginning has been 
closely adhered to. Few weeklies in the state 
to-day can truthfully claim superiority in any 
respect, or boast the possession of so modern and 
complete a plant. 

The pioneer hamlet on Guemes channel had 
just donned the mantle of cityhood when, early 
in April, 1«90, Douglass Allmond and F. H. 
Boynton arrived on the scene. AVith them, from 
the eastern terminus of the Northern Pacific, 
they brought probably the largest single ship- 
ment of printing material that had entered 
Washington up to that time. Two cars carried 
the machinery, type, etc., valued at approxi- 
mately ten thousand dollars. By hard work the 
outfit was finally installed in a fine two-story 
building on the corner of Tenth street and 
Avenue M, which had early in May been erected 
for its occupation, and on Thursday, Maj' 15th, 
the initial number was struck off. It consisted of 
eight six-column pages, all printed at home, well 
filled with news items and editorial matter and 
carrying a gratifying amount of advertising. 

The venture was an immediate success. The 
American's independence and aggressiveness, 
coupled with its modern methods, won golden 
opinions. By June 12th, according to the sworn 
statement of its publishers, it had a circulation 
of four thousand five hundred and sixty copies. 
The files of this period are a complete diary of 
the community's progress and condition during 
the remarkable boom of 1890 and 1891. There 
was no more progressive institution in the city 
than the American, certainly none with more 
faith or more courage in living up toitsconvictions. 

Mr. Allmond was left alone in the business 
after August 12, 1892, when his partner with- 
drew. During the years of depression the career 
of the American was in sympathy with the career 
of Anacortes. Once, when the gloom was 
darkest, Mr. Allmond tells of going on a two- 
weeks' fishing trip, leaving the "devil" to issue 
the editions with purely plate matter. But the 
American had patience and persistence and not 
infrequently its issues were filled with articles of 
various kinds in addition to local news. 



Mr. Allmond continued to conduct the Amer- 
ican with assistance from time to time until the 
spring of 1902, when Frederick Ornes succeeded 
him. About the same time prosperity came to 
Anacortes, thus encouraging the business greatly. 
The American's present editor and publisher, 
Frank Barnett, acquired the property January 1, 
1904, succeeding Mr. Ornes, who became the 
publisher of the Mount Vernon Argus. 

A year later the American absorbed the 
Sentinel, and at present it is the city's only 
newspaper. Under Mr. Barnett's aggressive 
management the American has won the con- 
fidence and good will of its community and has 
attained an enviable position among the news- 
papers of the state. A daily edition with 
associated press despatches, etc., is contemplated; 
indeed has been partly provided for by the recent 
installation of a typesetting machine. The plant 
and offices occupy the whole ground floor of a 
brick block on the main thoroughfare of the city. 
The plant is modern and comprehensive, thor- 
oughly in keeping with the policy of the manage- 
ment. In politics, the paper has been constant 
in its adherence to Republican principles. 

SCHOOL BULLETIN 

The Skagit School Bulletin, as its name 
implies, was founded as a technical newspaper, 
devoted to educational interests, particularly to 
those of Skagit county. It was established in 
September, 1900, by Miss Susan Lord Currier, 
now Mrs. Frederick Ornes, and was published 
by her during her four years' service as superin- 
tendent of the schools of Skagit county. The 
Bulletin, under her inspiration, soon became 
recognized as a very able exponent of school 
matters in general and an exceedingly bright, 
breezy little monthly, attaining a large circula- 
tion. Some of its special issues were noteworthy 
for their great excellence. The Bulletin's first 
home was at Anacortes, from which it was 
removed to Mount Vernon, the county seat, 
where it is still published. Recently the journal 
passed into the hands of C. O. Bradshaw, of 
Bradshaw's Business College, Mount Vernon. 

HAMILTON HERALD 

Nearly four years ago the present Hamilton 
Herald came into existence, its founder and pub- 
lisher being H. F. Wilcox. It was then a four- 
page, six-column, patent inside paper. After 
editing it for two years, Mr. Wilcox sold to Hans 
J. Bratlie, who still publishes it. At present it 
is a seven-column folio with a patent inside. In 
politics, as in all else, it is independent. 

SKAGIT COUNTY LOGGER 

Pioneers of the upper Skagit valley well 
remember this peculiarly named journal, which 



THE PRESS 



431 



was closely identified with the exciting times of 
the early nineties in that section. It was 
founded May 23, 1NS9, at Hamilton, by Messrs. 
W. H. Willis and B. J. Baker. An old army 
press was first used, and other facilities were in 
proportion, yet the first numbers of the logger 
are quite attractive typographically. Their pages 
are filled with exceptionally good articles, 
presenting an interesting, vivid account of the 
period. None of the political organizations were 
favored, the policy of the owners being to 
maintain political independence. At that time 
Hamilton was enjoying a strenuous growth. 

In July of the following year the paper was 
sold to Edward Suiter and H. C. Parliament, ex- 
perienced newspaper men ; they at once placed the 
journal in the Republican column, and, August 
8, 1890, changed its name to the Hamilton 
Herald. The Herald passed through the whole 
range of journalistic vicissitudes during the next 
five years, finally yielding the struggle in the 
spring of 1896. At this time it was the Populist 
organ of the county. 

AVON RECORD 

The Avon Record was established in February, 
1891, as a six-column folio at Avon, by James 
Power and W. A. B. Sehl, the former acting as 
editor, the latter as business manager. It was 
discontinued upon the advent of hard times. 

The Sauk City Star was another newspaper 
product of the rapid development of the upper 
Skagit during the early nineties. Established at 
Sauk City in June 1891, it remained there until 
September, 1894, then was moved by Editor 
Mitchell to Hamilton and conducted as a Hamil- 
ton paper until its suspension a year or so later. 

Another up-river newspaper of short life was 
the Birdsview Bell, pubhshed by H. A. McBride 
in 1891. 

NORTHWEST ENTERPRISE 

Inseparably connected with the early history 
of Anacortes and the romance of Fidalgo island, 
is the Northwest Enterprise, the second news- 
paper established in Skagit county. The story 
of the Enterprise is in itself a most interesting 
one. 

When Amos C. Bowman, late in the seventies, 
conceived the idea that some time a great 
maritime city should make Fidalgo island famous, 
he at once set to work with a will to found that 
city. No man could probably have shown 
greater zeal than he did in the upbuilding of 
Anacortes from the time his pioneer store was 
erected and the postoffice shingle displayed until 
his death. In 1882, the inhabitants of Anacortes 
might almost have been counted on one's fingers, 
so few were there, and no newspaper could 
possibly have existed on the income from the 
community alone. A small settlement on Fidalgo 



bay, a few scattered settlers in different parts of 
the island and the resurrected hopes of Ana- 
cortes ultimately being chosen as the Pacific 
coast terminus, constituted the chief assets of 
any newspaper that might have the monumental 
courage to enter such a field. 

Yet, Saturday, March 25, 1882, the first num- 
ber of the Enterprise was issued in half sheet 
form, sixteen inches in length, with four pages 
of five columns each, the outside pages being 
"patent." A pretentious title decorated the first 
page, wherein was pictured a steamer tied up 
at an immense wharf, alongside of which stood 
a railroad train, while stevedores were busily 
engaged. The mechanical work of the entire 
issue was neatly executed. From the intro- 
ductory remarks made in this initial number by 
the publishers, Alf. D. Bowen and F. M. Walsh, 
one may gain some idea of the paper's aims and 
purposes: 

"With this, our first number, we present to 
the people of Whatcom and adjoining counties, 
the Northwest Enterprise, hoping it will meet 
the approbation and kindly support of all those 
that are directh- or indirectly interested in the 
development of the new Northwest. The Enter- 
prise will be run on independent principles, will 
advocate all enterprises that may lead to more 
rapid and permanent settlement of the Puget 
sound country; it will work for the interests of 
Whatcom and San Juan in particular. Island 
and Snohomish counties in general, and the 
whole Northwest over all; it will work to promote 
our educational facilities, and to perfect the pos- 
tal, custom-house and transportation service of 
our district. 

"We shall publish general items of news from 
all parts of the country, as well as to try and 
give a good local report from throughout the 
county, and shall endeavor, with the aid of our 
patrons, to make it a leading weekly newspaper 
of the Northwest. 

"Thinking this introduction will meet the 
approval of all, and pointing out the stand which 
we take, we will begin our career, hoping our 
subscribers and advertisers may grow rich and 
prosperous out of the Enterprise." 

From time to time the size of the paper was 
changed, doubtless reflecting the financial con- 
dition of its owners. A noteworthy feat of this 
pioneer office in 1882 was the publishing of an 
original map, portraying the Puget sound region 
quite minutely and setting forth the advanta- 
geous location of Anacortes with reference to rail- 
way movements. Mr. Bowman himself drafted 
this map and engraved the lithograph plates, 
while the Enterprise did the printing and mount- 
ing. The result was an accurate, handsome 
map of which many a modern office might well 
feel proud. These maps were sent all over the 
United States and were a mighty factor in first 
advertising Anacortes to the world. 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



The Northern Pacific failing to build its line 
to the lower sound, thus deflecting immigration 
from this region, the Enterprise gradually 
accepted the inevitable. In January, 1883, the 
business was transferred by Bowen & Walsh to 
its chief patron, Mr. Bowman, who placed 
George Riggins in charge. Slowly the Enter- 
prise dwindled in its service, but still persisted 
courageously until its publication became a 
spiritless labor and an increasing financial bur- 
den to Mr. Bowman. 

The last number, bringing to a close the 
fourth volume, is dated Saturday, March 13, 
188(i, and contained not more than two sticks 
(about four inches) of local composition. Thus 
came to a close the life of this old pioneer news- 
paper, but it was not barren of substantial 
results. It had a mission which was modestly 
accomplished. Three years later the island 
teemed with struggling humanity, clearing away 
the forests and laying the foundations for the 
present city of Anacortes. 

AN,.\CORTES PROGRESS 

When finally prosperity dawned upon Ana- 
cortes in 18S9, the first newspaper to fill the 
usual demand in American communities for a 
local journal was the Progress. The first num- 
ber appeared August 3, 1889, with C. F. Mitchell 
as publisher and editor. From the beginning 
the Progress was a wide-awake, progressive, 
able factor in the city's development. In August 
there was a mere handful of buildings grouped 
around the ocean wharf; by January, 1890, the 
town had several hundred inhabitants and build- 
ings were going up over an immense area on the 
whole northern side of the island. The city 
grew with wonderful rapidity, so rapidly that 
the publishers of the Progress in February, 1890, 
considered the field large enough to support a 
daily, and on the 11th of that month, the Daily 
Progress appeared. Its issue was hailed with 
delight by an enthusiastic public, which gladly 
paid twenty-five cents a week for its delivery to 
their homes or places of business. A few weeks 
later the Progress claimed to have the second 
largest printing establishment on the sound, a 
doubtful claim, but indicating that it did possess 
an extensive plant. Anacortes continued to 
grow by leaps and bounds, and with it all the 
Progress kept pace, as a perusal of its interesting 
old files shows. W. H. McEwen took the daily 
in April, 1890, Mr. Mitchell remaining with his' 
weekly. 

At last, however, the reaction came with 
deadly effect, and January 22, 1892, the city's 
second pioneer newspaper, both weekly and 
daily, simultaneously suspended. There was no 
tinge of bitterness in the valedictory; in fact, a 
great future for Anacortes was prophesied. 
While it lived, the Progress undoubtedly chron- 



icled the development of Anacortes impartially 
yet loyally and optimistically. 



Among Fidalgo island's other pioneer news- 
papers which for one reason and another have 
long since joined the silent majority, are the 
following: Washington Farmer, founded by 
Legh R. Freeman in 1889 at Gibraltar; Ana- 
cortes Courier, by J. B. Fithian, successor to the 
Progress in 1892; the Anacortes News, published 
by C. F. Mitchell a short period during the middle 
nineties; Skagit County Churchwork, H. L. 
Badger, about 1895; the Anacortesan in 1902, 
surviving but a few months; and the Sentinel. 

The Anacortes Sentinel was established vSept. 
9, 1903, as a Republican paper, by A. G. Morse, 
formerly superintendent of the city schools. 
During the campaign of 1904, Thomas <S: Davis 
conducted the journal, having succeeded Morse 
in August of that year, but December 1, 1904, 
transferred it to Frank Barnett. Mr. Barnett 
merged it into his newspaper, the American. 

SEDRO PRESS 

The first newspaper to be published in the 
town of Sedro-Woolley was the Sedro Press, 
whose home was in Sedro. George W. Hopp 
instituted this venture April 18, 1890, and from 
a copy of the first number it is evident that the 
publisher understood newspaper making, edito- 
rially as well as typographically, although the 
sheet was only a seven-column folio with patent 
insides. The Press survived five years or until 
the plant was destroyed by fire. 

THE NORTHERN STAR 

Much interest always centers around the first 
enterprise of a given kmd in any community. If 
the Northern Star had no other claim to attention 
than that it was the first newspaper to establish 
itself in Snohomish county, it would certainly 
elicit the interest of the student of local history. 
One would be disposed to wonder at the courage 
of any man who might undertake the publication 
of even a little local sheet in a small, struggling, 
pioneer logging community in the heart of a 
dense forest, and to admire his success in case he 
succeeded. Imagine, then, the surprise of one 
who peruses the files of the Star and finds that in 
the town of Snohomish, in January, 1870, when 
the dense forest was scarcely a stone's throw 
from any part of the village and the stumps 
were still standing in the streets, a paper began 
to make its appearance which, for literary excel- 
lence, variety of subjects treated and general 
ability might safely challenge comparison with 
the best and brightest weekly papers of the pres- 
ent time. 

"1 shall endeavor," said the editor in his sal- 
utatory, "to make the Northern Star represent 
fully the interests of Snohomish and afford aid 



THE PRESS 



in the development of all praiseworthy enterprises 
of this community. I do not intend to use 
patent insides or outsides for the paper, feeling 
that I have already sufficient support raised to 
get along without such aid, and preferring to 
make my own selections from ample means at 
my command. After being fairly under head- 
way, in addition to local matter, 1 shall try to 
give the latest telegraphic news of the day, as 
fully as it is given by any in the territory." 

The man who took upon his shoulders this 
great task was Eldridge Morse, who is still a 
resident of the county. He was assisted during 
the first months by Dr. A. C. Folsom, whose life 
story is briefly told in another portion of this 
volume. Morse and Folsom were the pioneer 
professional men of Snohomish, the one being a 
lawyer, the other a practitioner of medicine. 
Both were possessed of more general culture and 
literary and scientific knowledge than perhaps 
any other men in the county at the time, and 
more than one would expect to find among 
pioneers of a logging village in the depths of the 
forest primeval. 

With men of such resources at the head of 
the Star, things were accomplished which under 
other conditions would have been impossibilities. 
The paper fulfilled all of its editor's promises. 
It did much more. It published original descrip- 
tive articles about the various points of interest 
and various enterprises established around the 
sound country. Its columns were ever open to 
almost any writer who had anything inoffensive 
to say. Its eight large pages were always well 
filled with telegraphic and local news, scientific 
articles, religious discussions, etc., etc., and its 
files give as vivid and perfect a picture of the life 
of its community and the sound during the period 
of its existence as it is possible for cold print to 
convey. The intellectual contests, literary aspira- 
tions, social life, political battles, and industrial 
achievements of the early days — -all are portrayed 
with great ininuteness and fidelity to truth. The 
few remaining copies of this old, pioneer paper 
should be preserved as a treasure in a fire proof 
vault, for the sake of the light they cast upon 
a most interesting period in the history of Snoho- 
mish county and the sound. 

The effect of this paper upon the settlement 
and development of the country cannot be esti- 
mated at this late date. It is safe to assume, 
however, that the Star itself did not vary from 
the truth when it claimed that its descriptions 
were always considered authoritative by the 
press and people of the territory; that business 
men had been guided by its suggestions in their 
investments; that its accounts of the resources 
of the .Skagit, Stillaguamish and Nooksack 
valleys induced the permanent establishment 
of direct and regular stream communication 
between those sections and the older business 
centers of the sound, and that of the great 



number of people it had induced to make Wash- 
ington territory their home, none had ever com- 
plained that its descriptions had misled and 
deceived them, but that on the contrary they 
united in testifying that they had been assisted 
by the information furnished, so they knew at 
once what to do when they arrived. 

One noticeable feature about the Star is that 
it more than almost any other paper of its time 
of which the writer has knowledge, avoided undue 
virulence in its utterances and everything like 
personal abuse. When, however, it was forced to 
measure swords with its rivals in the journalistic 
field, it did so with spirit and skill, and when in 
May, 1879, it decided to suspend publication, it 
could truthfully say: "The Star's record has 
been fair and honorable. It has compelled 
respect from its enemies. It has silenced the 
voice of ridicule. Of all its numerous rivals and 
former enemies, not one is left in a situation to 
boast of his attacks, or to rejoice at its downfall. 
Its course has been such as to convert most of its 
enemies into sympathizing friends and well- 
wishers for its prosperity. There are few even 
of those who have wished it ill but will be sorry 
for its departure, while thousands of friends 
will miss it as their trusted representative." 

Perhaps this is as good a place as any to give 
a brief outline of the career of the man who 
stood at the helm of the Star during the three 
years and more of its existence, and by the 
power of whose personality it was what it was. 
Eldridge Morse was born in Wallingford, Con- 
necticut, April 14, 1847. His family was of 
Puritan stock, one of his ancestors, John Moss 
(the name was spelled Moss originally), having 
come among the earliest settlers of Massachu- 
setts. Moss, the pioneer American geographer, 
and S. F. B. Morse, the inventor of the tele- 
graph, were among his descendants. 

Eldridge Morse received his early education 
in the public schools of his native town. Being 
raised upon a fruit and vegetable farm, he 
acquired a knowledge of market gardening and 
intensive farmmg, and this has been his most 
constant pursuit since, though he has been 
engaged in several others at difjerent times. 

Being only fourteen years old the day Fort 
Sumter fell, he did not have part in the heavy 
fighting of the Civil War, though on the Gth of 
April, 18(5."), he enlisted in Company D, Battalion 
of Engineer Troops, U. S. Regular Army, and 
for three years thereafter he served as a soldier, 
acquiring an intimate knowledge of the theory 
and art of war. He had inherited a taste for 
the military, both his maternal and his paternal 
ancestors for hundreds of years back having 
been soldiers in France, England and America, 
rendering faithful and efficient service in their 
day and generation. He served in Virginia, 
Washington, D. C, and New York harbor, and 
was finally discharged in California, after which 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



he returned to Wallingford. He regrets that 
he did not enter Yale College at this time. 
What he did do was to move westward to Albia, 
Iowa, where he taught school and followed other 
occupations, meanwhile studying law. In April, 
1869, he was admitted to the Iowa bar, and next 
year he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws 
from Michigan University, where he studied not 
only law but medicine and the science of geology. 

In May, 1870, Mr. Morse opened a law office 
at Albia, Iowa, in partnership with Judge W. P. 
Hammond. It was there on the 2Gth of April, 
1871, that he was first married, the lady being 
Martha A. Turner. His eldest son, Edward C, 
who is now a metalurgist and mining engineer 
of note in Alaska, was born there April 1, 1872. 

In September, 1872, Eldridge Morse set out 
for the Puget sound country, coming by way of 
San Francisco. He reached Snohomish October 
26, 1872, and his home has been in Snohomish 
county ever since. In 1873 he, with E. C. Fer- 
guson, W. H. Ward, Dr. A. C. Folsom and 
others, organized the Snohomish Atheneum, the 
first literary and scientific society in the county. 
A year or so later the Snohomish County Agri- 
cultural Society was organized. Much of the 
labor of organizing and sustaining these and 
other societies fell upon Mr. Morse, who, 
between 1873 and 1877, with the help of his asso- 
ciates, raised thousands of dollars for public pur- 
poses. By 1875 the museum and scientific 
library of the Atheneum v/ere the best in the 
territory, but the hard times of 1877, by destroy- 
ing all the "public spirit" of the community, 
resulted in the overthrow of the Atheneum, the 
agricultural society and other public institutions 
in which Morse was deeply interested. 

For a number of years after the suspension of 
the Star, Morse devoted himself to travel and 
investigation. In 1881, he furnished H. H. Ban- 
croft, of San Francisco, for his series of Pacific 
Coast histories, three thousand five hundred pages 
of manuscript. From 1883 to 1887 S. H. Piles, 
now United States senator, and Morse did most 
of the law business of Snohomish county, usually 
being on opposite sides in contested cases. In 
18S4, Morse prepared a special report upon all 
the tide marsh lands of the territory for the 
Department of Agriculture, which was so highly 
pleasing to Hon. B. Loring, United States Com- 
missioner of Agriculture, that he paid double the 
agreed price for it. Beginning in the year 1889, 
Morse wrote for the Eye a series of articles on 
the history and resources of Snohomish county 
and the sound country generally. He says that 
his article of this series on the Clyde river 
improvement and its lesson for Snohomish 
county attracted the attention of Henry Hewitt, 
Jr., and resulted in the founding of Everett. 
Later the Everett Land Company requested 
Morse to write the substance of that article for 
use as a foundation upon which to base their 



application for twenty thousand dollars for 
Everett harbor improvements. He did so and 
the appropriation was speedily secured. 

Retiring from the practice of law in the latter 
eighties, Mr. Morse devoted himself to agricul- 
ture and by 1892 he had a valuable farm. This, 
however, he lost during the hard times, for those 
were times when a very little debt would fre- 
quently carry oflf a very large property. He has 
not been able since to recover himself financially 
and at the present time he is not the owner of 
very much property, aside from his library and 
manuscripts. His third wife died in 1900, leav- 
ing him with five small children, whom he 
supports by raising and selling vegetables. 

Eldridge Morse is one of the unusual char- 
acters of whom Snohomish county has had a 
goodly share. His overmastering passion for 
the acquisition of general knowledge has pre- 
vented his putting the concentrated effort into 
any one thing which would have enabled him 
to win what the world would esteem success. 
Throughout his entire life he has been an exceed- 
ingly voluminous reader and his readings have 
taken a very wide range. From his tenth year 
he has spent several hours a day devouring the 
contents of books. Before entering the army he 
read hundreds of volumes of theological, historic 
and biographical literature. In the army he 
read military histories, medical text books, works 
on military engineering, army tactics, etc., as well 
as treatises on geology and other branches of 
science. In later years he attacked the Encyclo- 
pedia Britannica, but found it unprofitable read- 
ing in his stage of mental development, so laid 
it aside for Chambers' Cyclopedia, Appleton's 
Cyclopedia of American Biography and other 
works, after a perusal of which he again took it 
up and read it through twice, making full notes 
on its contents. He has devoted much time to 
the reading of books which are usually used for 
reference only, such as government reports on 
geological surveys, army reports, etc. Being 
possessed of a marvelous memory, he has very 
much of the information thus acquired at his 
tongue's end and he can discourse entertainingly 
for hours on any subject, clothing his thoughts 
in English of almost classical purity and vigor. 



After the suspension of the Star in 1879, the 
city of Snohomish was without a paper until 
January 11, 1882, when the first issue of the Eye 
appeared. It came partly in response to the 
encouragement lent such enterprises in timbered 
areas by the law requiring notices of final proof 
upon timber land to be published in the paper 
nearest to the tract sought to be purchased. It 
was a four-page, four-column weekly, not much 
larger than as many pages out of a large quarto 
volume, but it was all the advertising patronage 



THE PRESS 



justified. Its founders and editors were H. F. 
Jackson and C. H. Packard. 

In their salutatory address, these gentlemen 
said: "We do not intend to apologize for the 
publication of the Eye — even if it is not at first so 
large as the New York Herald or the London 
Times — for it is but the natural result of the 
increasing demands of our people for a live 
county paper. If we do not succeed in supply- 
ing those demands in a manner that is acceptable 
to each and every one, it will not be our fault. 
As it is impossible to please all, we will try to 
please ourselves. An article may receive the 
approbation of a whole community, with but one 
exception, and that one will rave and tear around 
and call us idiots, simply because we happen to 
write or copy from an exchange something that 
does not just suit his esthetic tastes. That's all 
right. We expect as much. 

"We did not start this enterprise because 
time hung heavily on our hands, nor for the 
glory that is said to permeate the atmosphere 
surrounding a country newspaper office, but to 
make a paying success of it to our patrons, 
advertisers and ourselves. 

"We will spare our readers the usual lengthy 
program of what we intend to do as a moulder 
of public opinion. But, before proceeding further, 
it will be well to remark parenthetically that 
in all questions which may come up, politi- 
cal and otherwise, we will be independent (not 
neutral), impartial and truthful. 

"The Eye will keep a sharp lookout for the 
best interests and pleasures of the people of the 
territory in general and of this county in partic- 
ular, and we will endeavor to lay before our 
readers, in a newsy and readable manner, all 
matter of general interest. Its columns are open 
to all who couch their communications in re- 
spectful language, and avoid personalities. 

"Thanking our friends and patrons, who have 
contributed beyond our expectations to the suc- 
cess of the enterprise, and with the earnest hope 
they will not be disappointed, we submit number 
1, volume 1, of the Eye for inspection, and will 
with modest blushes listen respectfully to the 
compliments and comments expected to flow in 
return from advertisers, subscribers and ex- 
changes." 

]Modest in its pretensions at first, the paper 
steadily improved in size and influence. In 
1883, it was increased to a five-column folio with 
the length of columns considerably extended. 
Two years later the columns were again in- 
creased in length and two more added, making 
the paper decidedly larger than it had been and 
more than twice the size of its first number. 
In July, ]S!)1, the most important advance of all 
was made, a tri-weekly edition being commenced, 
which was delivered in Snohomish by carriers. 
Subscription rates were five dollars per annum. 

The Eye was issued by Jackson & Packard 



until January 17, 1883, when Mr. Jackson retired. 
About the same time C. A. Missimer became 
interested in the paper, and his connection with 
it lasted until May, 1884, at which time the 
partnership was dissolved and C. H. Packard 
became sole proprietor. A little later Charles 
F. Packard bought an interest, which he 
retained for a year, selling then to his brother, 
the senior partner of the firm. George E. 
McDonald was prominently connected with the 
paper in lS!)l-2-3, but not as owner, or part 
owner. The Eye suspended publication in 1897, 
and the young man who had been editor for 
fifteen and a half years gave his attention to 
mining in the Cascades, though not deserting 
the newspaper business entirely. 

During all the years of its existence the Eye 
was a valiant advocate of clean politics, and very 
outspoken in its condemnation of corruption in 
public officials. Its editor was a true and ardent 
friend of what he conceived to be the best 
interests of Snohomish City and county. The 
files of this old paper are indeed valuable for the 
interesting side-lights they throw upon the 
developments, the current happenings and the 
political squabbles and campaigns which go to 
make up the history of Snohomish county. 

SNOHOMISH TRIBUNE 

The predecessor of the Tribune, the Snoho- 
mish Sun, was started in the summer of 1888, 
by the Sun Publishing Company, with George 
W. Head as manager. It must have received 
great encouragement as a weekly, for on July 5, 
1889, when it was little more than a year old, it 
announced that in about two weeks the first issue 
of the Daily Sun would appear. "It will," said 
the announcement, "in every way be a first class 
journal, containing the telegraphic despatches 
up to within a few minutes of going to press. 
Nothing will be left undone to make the editorial 
and local departments of the Daily Sun spicy, 
interesting and instructive. We can say without 
egotism, that, considering all things, this is the 
greatest undertaking in the history of the county 
and the results that will follow cannot be over- 
estimated. A brand new job plant, costing 
several thousands of dollars has been ordered, and 
will, in a few days, be in a position to turn out any 
kind of work brought to us. The first issue of the 
Daily Sun will be a large one, and will be distrib- 
uted free to every home in and around the city." 

No one conversant with the situation would 
deny the magnitude of the undertaking, yet 
though the daily did not appear quite as soon as 
was expected, it did appear, and continued to 
make its appearance regularly for several years. 
A weekly was also published. 

In March, 1891, the Sun Publishing Company 
sold to Mussetter Brothers, the plant, patronage 
and good will of their paper, and the purchasers 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



announced that while they would always con- 
tribute their mite to the furthering of the inter- 
ests of the commonwealth, their primary aim 
would be to advance Snohomish county first, 
knowing that their own prosperity was the 
natural sequence of the prosperity of the county 
of their adoption. 

No more eloquent commentary on the abound- 
ing prosperity of city and county could be 
found, than the fact that the daily was not only 
able to sustain itself, but in May, 1891, to 
increase its size to eight pages. 

"A resident of Snohomish . can truthfully 
assert," said the paper itself, "that it is the 
only city in the United States with a population 
of three thousand that has an eight-page daily 
paper in which all but three of the advertise- 
ments are contracted for by the year." 

But the overflowing prosperity of the county, 
due to the inception and progress of railroad 
building, could not contintie always and the Sun 
was eventually compelled to content itself with 
a tri-weekly instead of a daily edition, the 
weekly, of course, being continued as formerly. 
Late in July, 1892« the Sun plant passed into 
the hands of Ed. E. Warner, whose first issue 
appeared August 2d. The politics of the paper, 
which had always been Republican, remained 
unchanged, but the name Tribune was substi- 
tuted for Sun, and by that name the paper has 
ever since been known. With the change of 
ownership came no change in editorial control, 
George W. Head remaining in charge as for- 
merly. 

March 14, 1S93, Head and M. J. Hartnett 
assumed control, but about the first of the 
ensuing July, the connection of the former with 
the Tribune ceased entirely, and Hartnett became 
soliciting agent for the owner, Ed. E. Warner. 

Gorham & Clemans purchased the paper 
October 21st of the same year, and from that 
date until 1896, the year of the strenuous free 
silver campaign, the two continued to edit it 
jointly. Then, however, joint-editorship became 
no longer possible; as Mr. Clemans identified 
himself with the advocates of free coinage, while 
Mr. Gorham supported the St. Louis platform in 
its entirety, gold standard plank and all. 

It became necessary for Mr. Gorham to 
assume the entire editorial management of the 
paper, while Mr. Clemans, though retaining his 
interest, devoted himself to mining matters. 
Their partnership was finally dissolved in Sep- 
tember, 1S98, when C. W. Gorham became sole 
proprietor. 

The next change of management came in 
1899. Mr. Gorham announced in the issue of 
July 28th that he had sold the paper to W. H. 
Dopp and Richard Buschell, Jr., of Seattle, and 
that with feelings of mingled pain and pleasure 
he would bid farewell to journalism for a time at 
least. But in the Tribune of November 9, 1900, 



his name again appears at the head of the 
editorial column, and he continued in full charge 
until the duties of the office of state printer, to 
which he was elected in November, 1904, made 
it necessary for him to withdraw. He is still 
owner of the paper, but has entrusted the local 
management to J. F. Seaman. Mr. Gorham is 
also proprietor of the Index Miner, a paper 
devoted especially to the mineral interests of the 
Cascades. 

EVERETT DAILY HERALD 

As is the case with so many successful news- 
papers, the story of the Herald is a tale of the 
survival of the fittest, for it has been built upon 
the ruins of other aspiring but not entirely suc- 
cessful journals. In perhaps no other line of 
business is this merger process more marked than 
in journalism for many good reasons patent to 
every able newspaper man and not necessary to 
here discuss. 

In the fall of 1891, W. B. Shay, formerly 
owner and publisher of the Marysville Leader, 
came to Snohomish City during the lively period 
in that town just preceding the Everett boom, 
and commenced the publication of the Snoho- 
mish Republican. The following year, j\Iarch 
8d, J. W. Frame established the Democrat, on 
the ruins of the Republican and for some months 
devoted himself personally to its publication. 
However, the next February, Representative 
Frame turned the management over to Major B. 
F. Smythe and a little while afterward the plant 
was leased to Smythe and Charles Morath. 
About the same time that the Republican came 
into existence, J. W. Gunn issued the first 
number of the Independent at Snohomish. Both 
papers remained at Snohomish only a compar- 
atively few years, removing one after the other 
to the growing city of Everett. A merger soon 
followed, the new paper coming out as the Inde- 
pendent, which became a very substantial and 
able journal, though the succeeding years were 
dark ones in Everett's history and the life of a 
newspaper was more uncertain than the weather. 

Then came the Everett Daily Herald, S. A. 
Perkins, the Tacoma syndicate man, publisher, 
and S. E. Wharton, now of the Everett Morning 
Tribune, editor. This new bidder for the favor 
of the public absorbed the old Independent, thus 
ending the career of that sheet. The first num- 
ber of the Daily Herald appeared Monday, 
February 11, 1901, and the first issue of the 
weekly, February Ki, 1901. At one jump Everett 
secured a cosmopolitan paper of eight pages 
and with excellent press service. The Herald 
offices were at 281 G Rucker avenue, in the 
very heart of the business district of the city. 
Everett was then enjoying its second especially 
prosperous period and in the marked revival 
following the years of depression the Herald 



THE PRESS 



437 



secured its full share of business. In June, 1903, 
F. E. Wyman, formerly of Duluth, assumed the 
editorial management of the Herald, and under 
his able, reliable guidance the Herald continued 
its forward movement. September 1, 1905, a 
syndicate of Everett business men at the head of 
which was James B. Best, who had been business 
manager of the Herald for some time previously, 
organized the Daily Herald Company and pur- 
chased the property from Mr. Perkins. The 
purchase included a handsome steel and pressed 
brick building, erected in 1903 at the corner of 
Colby avenue and Wall street, costing $2.j,()()0, 
which is occupied by the Herald and Tribune 
offices. j\Ir. Best was elected president and 
manager of the new company and Thomas J. 
Dillon, formerly with the St. Paul Globe, suc- 
ceeded Mr. Wyman as editor. 

In addition to the substantial home occupied 
by the Herald, said to be the first newspaper on 
Puget sound to have erected its own building, 
the company possesses one of the most complete 
plants in the state, though it is exceeded in size 
by a few others. It includes a battery of three 
linotypes, a double feed Dispatch news press, 
and a new Miehle book press, costing three thou- 
sand dollars, the finest type of book press 
manufactured. The Herald owns the franchise 
in Everett for the evening service of the Asso- 
ciated Press and with the Post-Intelligeucer, of 
Seattle, controls the morning franchise. In 
July, 1905, the sworn circulation of the daily was 
given by the publishers at four thousand two 
hundred and fifty, which speaks highly of the 
rapid strides this journal has made during its 
short existence and is a fine testimonial to its 
popularity. Since its inception the Herald has 
been a staunch advocate of Republicanism. 

THE MOKMNG TRIBUNE 

Everett's morning daily is the Tribune, S. E. 
Wharton editor, published by the Morning 
Tribune Company, of which Mr. Wharton is 
president and W. R. Connor, vice-president and 
manager, E. E. Perry acting as secretary. It 
is an eight-page sheet, issued every day in the 
week except Monday, using a private telegraphic 
press service from the main news centers of the 
West, and affording a local service such as one 
might expect to find in a daily with such a field 
around it. Politically, the Tribune is Repub- 
lican. 

The Tribune is the outgrowth of the old 
Evening Record, established in the fall of 1900 
as the successor of the Everett Times, one of 
the city's trio of pioneer journals, the others 
being the old Herald and the News. Thus, in this 
way, the Tribune may trace back its lineage to 
the year 1891, in December, when the bay side 
district of Everett did not have half a dozen 
business houses on it. The history of the Times 



is given elsewhere in this chapter. B. F. Sher- 
wood, receiver of the Record, sold the property at 
receiver's sale, June 17, 1905, to S. E. Wharton, 
formerly editor of the Daily Herald. Mr. Whar- 
ton changed the name to the Morning Tribune 
upon resumption of publication of the paper 
after fire had seriously damaged the plant, July 
4th. At that time the Record was being pub- 
lished in the basement of the Colby building on 
Hewitt avenue. From the Colby block the new 
Tribune went into the Herald building, where it 
is still located, occupying handsome, commodious 
quarters in this fine block. October 1, 1905, the 
Morning Tribune Company was incorporated 
with S. E. Wharton as president as heretofore 
stated. 

The Tribune leases the linotype machines and 
press of the Herald at night, but has its own 
composing rooms. A private news service from 
the various large centers of the West furnishes 
the most important news to its subscribers, while 
the local field is closely covered. Sundays from 
twelve to sixteen pages are issued. The ener- 
getic, skilful policy adopted by the management 
is bearing fruit for the advertising and subscrip- 
tion patronage is steadily increasing. 

THE LABOR JOURNAL 

The official paper of the Everett Trades 
Council and the successor of one of the city's 
oldest newspapers is the journal whose name 
forms the caption of this review. The Everett 
News was founded by J. W. Connella at Swal- 
well's Landing, toward the close of the year 1890, 
and early attained the reputation of being an 
able newspaper devoted to the upbuilding of the 
new metropolis on the sound. Mr. Connella 
remained the leading spirit of the journal for 
many years. The present News Publishing 
Company is owned by A. J. Morrow; the editor 
of the Journal being M. W. Sills, who is also 
president of the Trades Council. The Journal 
appears every Thursday and is published in com- 
modious offices in the Greenberg block, 2902 
Wetmore avenue. The usual size of the Journal 
is a six-column folio and, as might be expected, 
its typographical work is of an exceptionally 
high standard. 

ARLINGTON TIMES 

The Arlington Times, which on the 1 5th of 
July last issued the thirty-eighth number in its 
sixteenth volume, was founded at Stanwood as 
the Stillaguamish Times, by George Morrill, who 
moved to Haller City in 1890. From that date 
until 1894 it was published under the name of the 
Haller City Times. Early in its career it bought 
out the Star, the pioneer paper of Arlington, 
thus acquiring for its own the entire field of the 
upper Stillaguamish. In 1894, it was purchased 



438 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



by C. L. Marsh, who has ever since been its 
proprietor and publisher. 

When the Times moved to the Forks, that 
region was in its infancy, and for a brief period, 
the paper had to content itself with the shelter 
of a tent. It antedated the Star, the pioneer 
paper of Arlington proper, of which the well- 
known newspaper man, George W. Frame, was 
one of the moving spirits. Its files contain a 
practically complete record of the upper Still- 
aguamish country from the advent of the railroad 
to the present time. It has chronicled the 
various happenings among the pioneer citizens; 
their successes and failures, the accidents which 
befell them, their social pleasures, the births, 
deaths and marriages among them, etc., etc. 
Even the history which was made before its 
advent has been quite fully preserved by the 
publication of reminiscences from the pens of 
the oldest residents and by reporting the pro- 
ceedings of pioneer reunions and the like. 

Thoroughly familiar with the past of his 
town and section, familiar also with its great 
resources, developed and undeveloped, and in 
close sympathy with the genius of its people, 
the editor of the Times is certainly well equipped 
for the duty which lies nearest his hand, while a 
firm faith in the future of the country makes 
him an enthusiastic advocate of a boldly progres- 
sive policy along all lines. 

MONROE MONITOR 

The pioneer paper of the thriving town of 
Monroe is the Monitor, a four-page, six-column 
weekly, all printed at home. It was established 
January 14, 1898, by Major B. F. Smith, as a 
four-page, five-column weekly. About a year 
later it passed into the hands of E. C. Bissell, its 
present proprietor and editor. The plant is 
eqiiipped with a Vaun's Ideal hand press, two job 
presses, an abundant stock of type, etc. The 
paper is loyally devoted to the interests of 
Monroe and vicinity, but strives to be duly rep- 
resentative of the whole county and to give its 
readers a synopsis of general news. In politics, 
it maintains an independent stand. 

THE WASHINGTON TRANSCRIPT 

This is a new paper recently established in 
Monroe, but its founders and publishers, G. W. 
and H. P. Head, are well known to the news- 
paper fraternity of Snohomish county and the 
sound. The Transcript is an eight-page, six- 
column, patent-inside weekly, Republican in 
politics. It is printed in large clear type and 
presents an attractive appearance. Its news 
columns are well filled, while the abundance of 
advertising which adorns its pages proclaims its 
popularity among the local business men as a 
medium of publicity. 



GRANITE FALLS POST 

Established July 25. 1903, by Frank Niles 
and A. R. Moore in the little village of Granite 
Falls, the Post in the short time that has elapsed 
since that date has made a most excellent record. 
It has kept pace with the progress of the town 
and has taken no small part in forwarding that 
progress. Its columns are filled with news, 
alert, ever looking toward the moral and com- 
mercial progress of the community and its adver- 
tising columns indicate that it is strongly 
supported by the people. The plant, occupying a 
building by itself on Main street, is well 
equipped for a country office. Politically, the 
Post is independent. Although founded by 
Niles & Moore, the enterprise was conducted by 
Niles alone, by Messner Brothers and by R. G. 
Messner successively until July, 1905, when the 
present firm composed of Frank Niles and R. 
G. Messner took it. Mr. Niles has charge of the 
editorial department, Mr. Messner of the me- 
chanical. Both are young men of energy and 
ability. 

INDEX MINER 

C. W. Gorham publishes the Miner, now in 
its seventh volume, which is a little weekly 
reflecting the doings of the community and 
advertising to the world the resources possessed 
by that mining and lumber center. The printing- 
is done at Snohomish. 

STANWOOD TIDINGS 

Of several newspapers which have so hope- 
fully aspired to permanence at Stanwood, only 
the Tidings survives. It may, indeed, be con- 
sidered the successor of the others. 

The Times was Stanwood's first paper. It 
was founded late in the year 1SS9 by George 
Morrill, an enterprising young man, who made 
of it a bright, influential little weekly. About 
two years later. Editor Morrill concluded that 
the newly opened Arlington region further up 
the Stillaguamish ofi:'ered better business advan- 
tages, so removed the plant to that point. 

In the fall of 1890, F. S. and D wight Stevens 
placed another paper in the Stanwood field left 
vacant by the removal of the Times, but this 
journal had only a short life, though a life by no 
means devoid of useful accomplishment. Then 
in 1897 the Press appeared, and for several years 
was published by different ones, among the last 
being O. S. Van Olinda in 1902. But it, too, 
went the way of its predecessors. The Post was 
another product of the early nineties. 

The Tidings appeared about June 1, 1903, its 
founders being Lane & Clemens, the latter, H. A. 
Clemens, acting as manager and editor. Mr. 
Clemens has since succeeded to the entire owner- 
ship of the paper. The columns of the Tidings 



THE PRESS 



reflect graphically the enterprise and thrift of 
the community, in both news and advertising 
departments, while the typographical work is 
highly meritorious. In size the Tidings is a six- 
column folio, all printed at home. In political 
complexion, it is Republican. The plant and 
office occupy a comfortable frame building on 
Main street. 

THE EDMONDS REVIEW, 

an eight-page, five-column weekly, published bv 
Mrs M. T. B. Hanna and edited by F. H. 
Darling, reflects the social and religious life in 
and about that progressive Snohomish county 
town. Two features make the Review unique in 
local journalism, the fact that it is managed by 
a lady, and that its home is out over the waters 
of Puget sound, the office being in the city wharf 
building. 

The Review was established Friday, August 
T), 1904, by Richard Bushell, Jr. He guided its 
destinies during the first five months, until it 
came into the hands of its present publisher. 
Politically the Review is independent. At pres- 
ent the mechanical work is done in Everett, 
though a plant will doubtless be installed at 
Edmonds soon. 

THE MARVSVILLE GLOBE, 

the sole occupant of the journalistic field in the 
substantial city of Marysville, was founded by 
T. B. Hopp, February 2, 18!)2, and since that 
date has appeared continuously. Mr. Hopp dis- 
posed of the business a year later to Steve 
Saunders, who guided its destinies for nearly 
eight years, the most discouraging period of its 
life. The great financial panic threatened to 
end its existence again and again, but still its 
doughty publisher held fast until at last pros- 
perity "dawned. In November, 1!)()1, Richard 
Bushell, Jr., arranged to purchase the plant, but 
in May, 1904, withdrew from the business, being 
succeeded by Frank Tallmau. Mr. Tallman 
remained in possession of his lease until the fol- 
lowing October, when it was turned over to O. 
L. Reynolds and George D. Reynolds. Four 
months later the latter retired, leaving the busi- 
ness in sole possession of Mr. Anderson, who is 
still editor and publisher. He was formerly 
engaged in publishing, and came to Marysville 
from Seattle. In addition to his newspaper 
work he is also filling the pulpit of the local 
Congregational church. In the hands of this 
experienced, talented man, the Globe is a worthy 
paper, editorially as well as typographically. It 
is ever exercising to its best ability those func- 
tions peculiar to the newspaper. Politically it 
is independent, though from its birth until 
recently it had been Republican. 

The Globe occupies a neat office on the main 



business street of Marysville, and is well 
equipped with presses, type, paper cutter and 
other accessories of a country establishment. 
The old plant, together with all of the files, was • 
destroyed by fire, excepting two forms of type, 
in February, 1902. 

SULTAN STAR 

Like most thrifty towns of its size, Sultan has 
its hustling weekly newspaper, in this case the 
Star, a four-page folio, six columns wide. John 
A. Swett, formerly of Snohomish and one of the 
county's pioneers, although a comparatively 
young man, established the Star, September 1, 
1905. Its columns are newsy, interesting and 
wholly devoted to portraying the life of the sur- 
rounding community and to promoting the best 
interests of Sultan and the public generally. 

EVERETT TIMES 

Intimately associated with the history of 
Everett almost from its earliest beginnings, and 
a material factor in the upbuilding of this city by 
the sea, was the Everett Times. For nearly 
thirteen years it reflected the life of this com- 
munity, partook of its successes and suffered its 
reverses. To have done this, considering the 
vicissitudes that Everett has experienced during 
its fourteen years of existence, is certainly a 
somewhat noteworthy feat. 

While yet the bay side portion of the city was 
simply a slashing in the forest with few streets 
marked through the fields of stumps and brush, 
with only one small store, a postoifice and a lodg- 
ing house, and these all in one rough building, 
the home of the Times was erected on the site 
by permission of the Everett Land Company. 
That was early in December, 1891, before the 
original plat of Everett was thrown open to the 
public. In Swal well's three-month-old town on 
the river, two newspapers had been established a 
little earlier in the fall, the News and the Herald, 
but the Times was the pioneer of the bay side. 
Its first number appeared Thursday, December 
17, 1891, and was in every way an unusually 
creditable issue. Its publisher was the Times 
Publishing Company, composed of W. P. Rice, 
president; James M. Vernon, vice-president, 
treasurer and manager; S. F. Robinson, secre- 
tary. Mr. Vernon was practically the head of 
the enterprise, as he was both editor and manager. 
He, accompanied by Mr. Rice, had come to 
Everett from Port Payne, Alabama, where he 
had been publisher and editor for some time pre- 
vious of the Herald, one of the strongest weeklies 
in that section of the country. In his salutatory, 
Editor Vernon announced that the political com- 
plexion of his journal would be liberal Republi- 
can, and to this it remained true until the end. 

Except to state that the Times was always 



440 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



progressive, of unswerving faith in the destiny 
of its home city, aggressive, able and public 
spirited, we shall not dwell on its life during the 
next ten years. In February, 1901, Mr. Vernon 
relinquished his ownership and guidance of the 
Times to Bower & Lowton, who soon after began 
publishing the Daily Times. In a short time, 
however, they leased the daily paper to R. A. 
Grant and several associates, who changed its 
name to the Record. Then Paul W. Custer 
conducted the daily for a brief period. Finally 
Hubbard Hunt and Horace Peters secured both 
the Times and the Record properties and they 
continued to issue the Times as a weekly and the 
Record as a daily. In May, 1904, however, a 
new policy was adopted whereby the weekly 
was discontinued, thus bringing to an end the 
career of that pioneer newspaper. The daily 
is still published, under the name of the Morning 
Tribune, its name having been changed recently. 
To the old files of the Times we are indebted 
for much valuable information concerning early 
days in Everett. 

EVERETT HERALD (Discontinued) 

Everett's first newspaper was known as the 
Herald and is spoken of in high terms by those 
who remember this pioneer journal. Its publi- 
cation was begun at Swalwell's Landing, Decem- 
ber 10, 1S91, within a few weeks after the influx 
of population set in, by James M. Bradley, 
formerly of Tacoma. A. B. Bailey, formerly 
with the Tacoma Globe, became the Herald's 
city editor, and C. H. Boynton, also formerly 
with the Globe, assumed the responsibilities of 



the business management. With this array of 
talent it was but a short time before the Herald 
climbed to a high position among its contem- 
porary journals of the state. For many years it 
was Everett's official paper. The hard times 
were the principal cause of its discontinuance 
about 1895. 

THE EDJIONDS CHRONICLE, 

which was discontinued in 1S92, upon the com- 
plete destruction of the property by fire, appeared 
first in the spring of 1890, published and edited 
by Hartnell & Lintz. At that time Edmonds 
was enjoying its great boom, and it was through 
the activity of the town-site owners, the Minne- 
apolis Realty & Investment Company, that 
Hartnell & Lintz were led to enter the field at 
that point. The plant occupied a handsome, 
substantial, two-story frame building, erected 
for its use by the Realty & Investment Company. 
During the two years of its existence, the 
Chronicle won for Messrs. Hartnell & Lintz a 
commendable reputation as capable newspaper 
men. 

Following the abandonment of the Chronicle, 
came the 



another weekly, whose initial number appeared in 
July, 1893. J. Hartson Dowd was its founder 
and publisher. However, the Lyre could not 
weather the financial storm of that period and 
soon sank to rise no more. 



CHAPTER IV 



INDIANS OF SKAGIT AND SNOHOMISH COUNTIES 



There are in Skagit, Snohomish and adjoining 
counties five small Indian reservations, four upon 
the shore of the sound and one somewhat inland, 
yet so near the coast as to be subject to essen- 
tially the same conditions. The leading one of 
these reservations, bsing the headquarters for the 
agency and its schools, as well as being the 
largest both in area and population, is the Tula- 
lip. The Tulalip reservation is immediately 
north of Port Gardner bay, its entire southern 
and western line bordering that bay and the 
adjoining portions of the sound. The eastern 
line of the reservation just reaches the city of 
Marysville. 

The Swinomish reservation occupies the 
southeast peninsula of Fidalgo island, separated 
from the town of La Conner by the Swinomish 
slough. 

The Lummi Indian reservation is in Wliatcom 
county upon the peninsula lying between Lummi 
bay and Bellingham bay. 

The Port Madison reservation is adjoining the 
town of that name and about eighteen miles dis- 
tant from Seattle. It was at this reservation 
that the old chief, whose name is now preserved 
in the city of Seattle, lived and died. 

The fifth of these reservations is a very small 
one but well located, being in the heart of the 
fertile White river valley about twenty-five miles 
distant from Seattle. This reservation is known 
as Muckleshoot. 

These reservations, though some of them are 
thus outside of the limits of Skagit and Snoho- 
mish counties, all center in the principal one of 
the number, Tulalip, and therefore for purposes 
of description may be regarded as a part of the 
area under consideration. 

These reservations are of great interest to the 
historical student, for the reason that they origi- 
nated in the great convention held at Makilteo 
on January 22, 1855. This great meeting was 
one of a number of similar gatherings held at 
different places throughout the territory of 
Washington by Governor Isaac I. Stevens for the 
purpose of negotiating treaties with the Indian 
tribes. These treaties were followed in many 
instances by desperate wars and the scattering of 
some of the tribes and the breaking up in some 
instances of the treaty limits planned by Gov- 
ernor Stevens, but in the main the reservation 
limits agreed upon in those various great con- 
ventions still exist. The convention at Mukilteo 



was held with the D' Wamish and allied tribes of 
Indians. It created the agency and sub-agencies 
of Tulalip and by its terms the Indians agreed 
to relinquish to the United States all their right 
to the lands included within the area bounded as 
follows: Beginning at a point on the eastern 
side of Admiralty inlet known as Point Puldy 
about midway between Commencement and 
Elliott bays, thence eastwardly to the summit of 
the Cascade range of mountains, thence north- 
wardly along the summit of that range to the 
forty-ninth parallel of latitude, thence west 
along- said parallel to the middle of the Gulf of 
Georgia, thence through the middle of said gulf 
and the main channel, through the canal De 
Haro to the straits of Fuca, crossing the same 
through the middle of Admiralty inlet to 
Suquamish Head, thence in a general course 
along the divide between Hood's canal and 
Admiralty inlet around the foot of Vashon island 
eastwardly to the place of beginning, including 
all the islands within those boundaries. As will 
be seen the area thus outlined embraces practi- 
cally all the large cities of the sound region north 
of Tacoma and is of a prospective value beyond 
computation. 

The government on its part agreed to estab- 
lish four specified reservations of the five now 
embraced under the general order of the Tulalip 
agency. It stipulated moreover that Tulalip 
should be made the location of an agriculti:ral 
and industrial school for all the Indians west of 
the Cascade mountains, a school which was to 
have a capacity of educating a thousand Indian 
children. ■ The pledge of the government called 
for the equipment of this school within a year 
and its maintenance for at least twenty years. 
It is a rather melancholy reflection upon the 
carelessness of the great American government 
in dealing with Indians that this school was not 
established until a year ago, and then with facili- 
ties for only seventy-five children. 

The devotion of missionaries of the church, 
to whose oversight this group of reservations was 
committed, that is, the Roman Catholic, has been 
a partial substitute for the failure of government. 
There is, in fact, in connection with the estab- 
lishment of the Catholic mission schools, a most 
interesting historical record to preserve. The 
St. Paul of the Catholic church in Washington 
was Father Chirouse. He was one of those 
devoted men who forget self absolutely in their 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



desire to minister to the needs of their fellow 
men and to carry out some great aim of their 
religious order. The first mission of this self- 
sacrificing priest was on the Yakima in 1847. 
His work at that point received the enthusiastic 
plaudits of Theodore Winthrop, author of that 
brilliant book "Canoe and Saddle." Driven 
from the Yakima by the Indian war of 1S55, 
Father Chirouse took up his location at Olympia 
at the mission of the Oblate Fathers. In Sep- 
tember, 1S5T, he, in company with Father 
Durieu, went to Tulalip and started a mission 
school with five girls and six boys. In 1858 they 
moved to the point which, from their location, 
became known as Priest Point. The fine orchard 
and garden which they there established became 
famous throughout the country at that early time 
and afforded means of subsistence for many of the 
Indian children whom they gathered there. It 
may be remarked in passing that Priest Point 
afterward became the general rendezvous of 
all the loggers of the Snohomish, Skagit and 
Stillaguamish rivers. In 18()4 the mission school 
was removed from Priest Point to its present 
site upon Tulalip bay, where it became known 
as the Mission of St. Ann, and was maintained 
until July 1, 1901. This noble work of the good 
Catholic fathers has kept the Tulalip Indians 
from entire destitution of training, and it is 
devoutly to be hoped that the government will 
now prove true to its plighted faith by establish- 
ing at once such institutions as may fulfill the 
promise of those benevolent schools of the 
fathers. 

Upon the closing of the mission school a small 
school was opened under government control in 
the mission building, but this building was 
destroyed by fire in the spring of 1!)()2 and the 
government authorities decided to abandon the 
old site and erect a new school building at the 
agency. This location is a fine one for the pur- 
pose of the school as well as for the agency itself. 
There is a tract of three hundred acres set apart 
originally for the purpose, directly fronting 
Tulalip ba}'', of the finest nature imaginable for 
the purpose of grounds and buildings. Moreover, 
as an inspection of a map will show, the central 
location of Tulalip affords a specially desirable 
point for centralizing the whole governmental 
work in connection with the Indians of the sound. 
The wharfage facilities are also of a high order, 
and, all in all, the site is a very fortunate one for 
such of the native tribes as still remain to take 
advantage of this tardy provision for their better- 
ment. 

The school in the new building was opened 
January 23, 1905, just a half century after the 
creation of the treaty which provided for the 
establishment of a school ten times as large 
within one year. However, though so unfor- 
tunately delayed and even now so inadequate in 
size, this Tulalip school is an excellent one in so 



far as it goes. It is designed to afEord both 
scholastic and industrial education. It provides 
boarding, housing, clothing, teaching and care 
for the children ten months in each year. Each 
pupil spends half his time in the schoolroom and 
half in the manual training department. Both 
boys and girls are to be taught the plain English 
branches in the class room, while the boys in the 
industrial department are to receive instruction 
in agricultural pursuits and the manual trades. 
The girls are to be taught cooking, sewing, 
housekeeping, nursing and other domestic arts. 

The employees of the school at the present 
time are a superintendent, matron, principal 
teacher, assistant teacher, industrial teacher, 
latmdress, seamstress, cook, engineer, laborer 
and night watchman. The intention is that 
as soon as possible the school shall be made self- 
supporting by the industrial work actually 
carried on. 

Among other equipments the school is pro- 
vided with a fire department, consisting of a hose 
company and a chemical company. There are 
four fire stations inside the building and three 
outside, affording full fire protection. Fire drills 
are held regularly in order to test the apparatus 
as well as to drill the boys in the qualities of 
mind and body necessary to efficiency. This 
school, though only in its inception, has gained 
the hearty approval of the people who are famil- 
iar with its operation, and it affords much hope 
that something of what was originally planned 
for these Paget sound Indians may yet be 
attained. The present agent. Dr. Charles M. 
Buchanan, is emphatically the right man in the 
right place, having a clear conception of the 
needs of his charge and practical as well as 
philanthropic views upon the subject of Indian 
education. 

Turning from the school to the Indians them- 
selves we find that the Indians gathered at the 
Tulalip reservation are fragments of a number 
of broken bands whose names in the native ver- 
nacular are almost unpronounceable by an 
American, and hence have been softened down 
to their present sound. The name Tulalip is a 
corruption of the Indian Duhhaylup and signifies 
the landlocked nature of the harbor. The leading 
tribes there gathered are the Sdohobsch and the 
Sdoqualbhu. The former name has become the 
Snohomish of our own speech and the latter has 
become the Snoqualmie. The Sdoqualbhu are 
declared in the native legend to have come hither 
from the moon, which their name signifies. 

The Tulalip Indians are, with few exceptions, 
canoe and fishing people. Their living is derived 
from the salmon, flounders, crabs, clams, inussels, 
etc., of the sound, and its beaches, to some extent 
supplemented by the wild berries which they 
find in the woods. Although their reservation 
contains some land of the best quality it is 
densely timbered and to prepare it for cultivation 



THE INDIANS 



would require heavy labor in clearing and grub' 
bing such as most of the Indians are entirely 1 
incapable of. Therefore the aim of the various 
agents has been to train the Indians in economi- 
cal and efficient ways of taking and disposing of 
fish and other marine products rather than to 
expend useless energy in endeavoring to make 
farmers of them. The agents who have been in 
charge prior to Mr. Buchanan were Michael T. 
Simmons from 1S53 to ISOO, then Captain Hill, 
who was in charge from that date to LS72 and 
was succeeded by James P. Comeford, who 
retained the post for two years and was succeeded 
by ISIajor Edmond Mollett who remained in 
charge for about a year, then gave way to Dr. 
Alfred N. Marion. Short terms of service were 
filled after this by John O. Keane, Edwin Eells, 
Patrick Buckley, 'Chester C. Thornton, Daniel C. 
Govan and Edward Mills. Dr. Buchanan came 
first as physician in ISO-I: and became agent in 
1901. The burning of the records of the agency 
several years ago has destroyed some data neces- 
sary to a continuous narrative. It is believed, 
however, that for a short time in 1870 Father 
Chirouse, whose great work has already been 
detailed, acted definitely as agent at this reser- 
vation. Some of the records which have been 
preserved of the early days in Tulalip history 
show encouraging progress in the labors of the 
reservation. Thus a report of Captain George 
D. Hill, dated September 1,1 S70, records the fact 
of the building of a new wharf, the fencing of 
twelve acres of ground, the planting out of eight 
hundred fruit trees, the raising of between fifteen 
and twenty tons of potatoes, six tons of oats, two 
tons of peas, and two thousand head of cabbage. 
This report also mentions the fact that there 
were sixty children in attendance at the school. 

As at present outlined the Tulalip reservation 
contains twenty-two thousand four hundred and 
ninety acres of land, all except four hundred 
acres of which has been allotted to individual 
holders. The census of 1904 shows a population 
of four hundred and sixty-five. The area of the 
Swinomish reservation is seven thousand one 
hundred and seventy acres, all of which except 
ninety, reserved for school purposes, have also 
been allotted. The Swinomish Indians, like 
those of the Tulalip, derive their living mainly 
from fishing and have become reasonably pros- 
perous financially. There are said to be now 
practically no "blanket Indians" on either 
reservation. 

Upon these reservations Indian courts are 
maintained to try small offenses, with Indians 
presiding over them as judges. Fines are im- 
posed either in the form of money or specified 
amounts of road work. As another proof of the 
possibility of intelligent labor on the part of 
Indians, we may relate the facts connected with 
the building of a bridge across the stream known 
to the whites as Sturgeon creek 'and to the 



Indians as Duh-kwih-ty-id-sid-dub slough. This 
bridge is in the near vicinity of Marvsville. It 
is four hundred feet in length by twenty in width 
and is not only substantial but, for a bridge 
structure, of very attractive appearance. It was 
built in 1903 by 'five full-blood Tulalip Indians. 
Not only did these Indians construct the bridge 
itself, but they built their own pile driver, which 
they operated with horse power, and the manage- 
ment of which was superintended by one of their 
own number named William Shelton. The only 
part taken by a white man in any manner was 
the drawing of the plans by Agent Buchanan. 
The total cost in cash of the bridge to the gov- 
ernment was only six hundred and fifty dollars, 
and good mechanics declare that the actual worth 
of the bridge is not less than three thousand 
dollars. They state, moreover, that it is an 
object lesson in skilful bridge building. This 
single fact is enough to substantiate the claim 
that rational industrial training and stable 
methods of administration will elicit the best 
efforts of Indians as of other people and that 
these offer the only true avenue to the peaceful 
and economical solution of the Indian problem. 

Of the three other Indian reservations 
included under the management of the Tulalip 
agency, the Lummi reservation contains 12, 31:^ 
acres of land, the most of which is allotted, and a 
population of 385. The Muckleshoot reservation 
contains 3,367 acres, practically all of which is 
allotted, and which has a population of 153. The 
Port Madison reservation contains 7,284 acres, of 
which about three-fourths is allotted, and a popu- 
lation of 1G5. 

Worthy of some special mention in connection 
with all of these Indians is the basket making 
industry. Since the present fad for the collection 
of Indian baskets there is a large demand, which 
the squaws of these tribes endeavor to supply. 
The material of which they make them is partly 
the tide grass of the sound shores and partly the 
"squaw grass" which grows in such profusion at 
the base of the snow mountains, especially of 
Mount Rainier. The labor of gathering the 
material and weaving these baskets is so great 
that the poor squaws receive a comparatively 
scanty remuneration for their patient toil. 

It may be said in general terms that the 
United States government and the white race 
owe much to the majority of the Indians gathered 
at these reservations, and particularly at the 
Tulalip reservation. These Indians never took 
part in the earlj' wars against the whites. It is 
affirmed by those competent to judge that no 
Indians ever cost the government less or gave 
the government more than the Tulalip Indians. 
Contrary to the impression entertained among 
many of their white neighbors, these Indians are 
not a source of expenditure in any considerable 
degree to the government. For years they 
have been practically self-supporting, receiving 



SUPPLEI^IENTARY 



neither rations nor other supplies. Aside from 
the school now started the government is doing 
nothing for them. Not only does the govern- 
ment owe a debt ot gratitude to these Indians 
themselves, but also to some of their early 
teachers, particularly Father Chirouse, whose 
influence is said to have led some of the doubtful 
tribes into a policy of peace instead of war during 
the troublous times of early settlement. 

It is fitting to incorporate in the conclusion of 
this chapter a few words upon the earliest white 
settlements and enterprises in the vicinity of 
Tulalip. Mention has already been made of the 
settlement of Priest Point in 1857 by the Catholic 
Fathers, but this was antedated four years by a 
group of pioneers, the leader of whom was John 
Gould, who lately died at Coupeville. Mr. 
Gould, with a few associates, established a saw- 
mill upon Tulalip bay in ]8.-)3, two years prior to 
the establishment of the Tulalip agency. Upon 
the establishment of the reservation the govern- 
ment condemned the holdings of the white 
settlers, paying for them at an appraised valua- 
tion. With the other property the old mill was 
taken by the government. It is a historical 
curiosity, having one of the old style upright 
saws, slow and cumbersome, but still capable of 
doing excellent work in the hands of the Indian 
employees. 

There were also a number of post traders 
whose establishments passed over from the era 
of the Indians to that of the whites. Prominent 
among those early traders were Messrs. Laurin 
L. Andrews and J. S. Hill, who conducted the 
trading post at Tulalip in 18(59. A little later 
John Carney conducted the same business 
These post traders, as well as the agents and 
other employes of the reservations, went in sev- 
eral instances from the reservation work to take 
up locations and become prominent men in the 
growing settlements open to white occupation in 
their vicinity. 

A detailed account of the habits and customs, 
ceremonials, legends, etc., of the Tulalip Indians 
cannot here be attempted, but that something of 
their peculiarities and the problems concerning 
them may be made known to the reader, space 
ina}^ here be given for two excellent articles from 
the able pen of Dr. Charles Milton Buchanan, the 
present agent, a man who has devoted much 
study to the Puget sound Indians, so much 
indeed that he is winning a national reputation 
for his contributions to the fund of general knowl- 
edge concerning them. 

THE INDIAN: HIS ORIGIN AND LEGENDARY LORE* 

The whole breadth and depth of our broad 
domain is dotted with latter day homes of the' 
Indian, for comfortable and comforted he dwells 



*Published original 
diiced by permission. 



in Overland Monthly. Repro- 



to-day on the reservations set aside for his exclu- 
sive use by a kindly, a paternal and a powerful 
government. The high hills, the lowly valleys, 
the broad plains, the long accustomed hunting 
grounds, all, all now know him no more. 
Gradually he has been swept back by the increas- 
ing floods of civilization, until it became neces- 
sary to guarantee him a sure and positive foothold^ 
or else to drive him from the continent into the 
sea. So to-day this great and once powerful race 
remains little else than so much flotsam and 
jetsam upon the tides of time, water-logged by 
civilization and sluggishly jostled by the currents 
of life where they touch it at all. Still never 
for an instant does the kindly and watchful 
government lose its interest in its dusky wards, 
nor does it ever relax its endeavor to raise this 
people from degradation to a full, enlightened 
and civilized citizenship. 

What of the origin of this strange race? 
Whence came they? What are they? What has 
been their history? The future — what will it be? 
It is easy indeed to ask these questions. Can we 
reply to them? 

It has been said that the curability of a dis- 
ease is in an inverse ratio to the number of 
positive specifics proposed for its cure. So it 
happens that pulmonary tuberculosis, one of the 
most deadly and intractile of all diseases, is 
famed for the legion of specifics and "sure 
cures," which trail in its wake to mock the 
limitation of the power of the physician over the 
disease. So, too, with the proofs of the origin 
of "Poor Lo." Their name is legion; there are 
almost as many opinions as there are minds and 
in all frankness it must be admitted that, how- 
ever diverse in intent, however chimerical they 
may seem at first sight, not one but can put 
forth some shadow of reason at least, as an 
excuse for its being. It is true that many 
theories have been advanced upon this perplex- 
ing point; but we must not lose sight of the fact 
that many of them are as yet but theories — so«ne 
of them not even that, being the merest and 
baldest hypotheses. 

It is a favored notion among ethnologists that 
primitive man in America was not a "son of the 
soil," but an emigrant from Asia in those da_\-s 
when the star of empire had not yet taken its 
westward way. In support of this contention 
many statements are put forth. They point to 
the chain of Aleutian Islands which dot the sea 
between the two continents and speak of them 
as the peaks of the partially submerged volcanoes 
and mountains of that isthmus which once pos- 
sibly formed the tangible connecting link between 
the eastern and western hemispheres. Here are 
the people, and there is the way, say the adher- 
ents of this view, though there are other circum- 
stances which are apparently confirmatory. It 
is indeed a matter of much more moment than is 
superficially apparent and it has occupied the 



THE INDIANS 



447 



most careful attention of the Morris K. Jesup and 
other expeditions of recent years. It is several 
years now, also, since Monsieur, le Docteur, 
E. T. Hamy, a French anthropologist, discussed 
in an address the subject of the spread of the 
yellow race from eastern Asia. He claimed to 
recognize eight distinct types, including not only 
the Chinese, Turks and certain Siberian tribes, 
but also the Aleuts of the Alaskan side of Bering 
Strait and the Esquimaux of northeastern Green- 
land. He expressed utmost confidence in the 
belief that one or more waves of emigration had 
not only extended from Siberia across Arctic 
America, but also further southward, penetrating 
down into the very heart of the continent. So 
far as America is concerned, his argument is 
based chiefly upon resemblances between the 
skulls and other bones of the races of both shores 
of the Pacific. But for the matter of that, even 
we, at the present day, can see in the living 
Indian some traces of what appears to be a 
Mongolian strain — such as the tint of the skin,' 
the tendency here and there to "almond eyes" 
and perhaps most marked of all, the high cheek 
bones. But the evolutionist in reply says that 
both races live or lived upon the shores of the 
same great ocean, under very similar conditions 
(or what were probably so then). How far, then, 
may not similarity of environment have produced 
similarity of habit and speech (for the Hon. W. 
"Wickershaw of Tacoma affirms that there is a 
similarity in speech), and how far might not 
similarity of environment and habit induce and 
produce similarity of physical structure? And 
so we have gone in a circle. We have reached 
our starting point and we find the question 
thrown as wide open as ever. 

A further theory of forced rather than volun- 
tary migration has been suggested. This is put 
forward upon the basis that a spirit of enterprise, 
restlessness, or adventure, coupled with the 
overcrowding of old homes (which often explain 
the peaceful invasions of new territory), might 
have been factors in this hypothetical peopling of 
America by the Asiatics. It was in the year 
1S!)(I that the German investigator, Sittig, wrote 
upon "Compulsory Migrations in the Pacific." 
In this instructive paper he calls attention to the 
fact that there are a large number of recorded 
instances in which both boats and ships have 
been carried out of their course to distant lands. 
Scores of voyagers in the region of the trade 
winds were wafted westward, so he claims, from 
the Gilbert Marshall Tonga and Samoan groups 
of islands. It is to be noted also that further 
north the Kuro Shiwo, the great Japanese Gulf 
Stream, which laves our coast with its benefi- 
cent tides, had carried shipwrecked or storm- 
tossed sailors from China and Japan to the shores 
of Alaska and elsewhere in the Pacific Northwest, 
even as Eric the Red was once wafted across the 
broad Atlantic from Iceland to Greenland. Sittig 



argued that if a few cases of thiskind had occurred 
within the short period for which any record is 
obtainable, it seems probable that many more 
may have happened of which the story, the 
record, has been lost. But from its very nature 
such migration must of necessity have been 
limited and intermittent, and even if it did occur 

I at all, still the inexplicable question recurs, was 

I it sufficient to found a new race or merely to 

! infuse a new strain into the old one? 

i These are a few of the arguments which are 
used to substantiate the belief that primitive 
man in America was an emigrant from Asia. 
But we have shown how the arguments are 
answered, in part at least, by those who do not 
hold to the theory and how, when direct rebuttal 
is not to be had, one question is answered by 
another equally pertinent. There are two sides 
of the shield, and perhaps no one in this country 
at least, is better able to express an opinion than 
Major J. W. Powell, of the United States Bureau 
of Ethnology, for it is the work of his bureau to 
delve and dig and gather material of this nature, 
and he has directly at hand the fruits of years of 
such scientific labors. He says upon this point: 

Many attempts have been made to prove that aborigi- 
nal .America was peopled from .\sia by way of Bering 
strait, and a vague belief of this nature has spread widely, 
but little scientific evidence e.xists to sustain it. On the 
other hand, investigations in arch:eology have made it 
clear that man was distributed throughout the habitable 
earth at some very remote time or times, in the very lowest 
stage of human culture, when men employed stone tools 
and other agencies of industry of a like lowly character, 
and that from this rude condition men have advanced in 
culture everywhere, but some to a much greater degree 
than others. The linguistic evidence comes in to sustain 
the conclusions of archeology, for a study of the languages 
of the world leads to the conclusion that they were devel- 
oped in a multiplying of centers, that languages of distinct 
stocks increase in number as tribes of lower cidture are 
found, and that probably man was distributed through the 
world anterior to the development of organized or gram- 
niatic speech. 

There are those also who from a combination 
of religious and sentimental, but far from scien- 
tific, reasons claim that the North America 
Indians are the direct descendants of the lost 
tribes of Israel, Scientists generally contend 
that this is nothing more than a pleasing myth. ' 
And yet it is a very poor theory indeed which 
cannot muster some show of truth. No idea, 
however wild or improbable, need suffer for lack 
of some slight semblance of foundation in fact. 
And so it seems astounding when we read the 
book of Deuteronomy (xx\ : 5, et. seq.), and also 
the book of Ruth. As we read we are struck with 
amazement, for here is described and prescribed 
a custom strikingly similar to the Indian custom 
of sbah-loth-sid, as it existed when the white man 
first came into the Indian country, and as it still 
exists to-day in some places where civilization has 
touched the race with a lightsome stroke. The 
Biblical passages refer to the old levirate law 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



It is interesting also, in passing, to note that the 
same custom is found among the Hindoos. 

Again, in many respects the legends of the 
Indians of Puget sound marvelously duplicate 
some of the features of the mythologies of the 
beauty-loving Greeks and of the more sensual 
Romans. At death the soul is ferried across a 
barbaric styx by an equally barbaric Charon, and 
thus reaches the ski-u-swaht-ih-liuh-tid, or the 
land of the departed spirits. The analogy might 
be continued. Even those least interested in the 
subject can recognize the strong resemblance 
between the Latin and the French et and the 
Snohomish cla, both of which are identical in 
meaning. Bad, baba and papa are variant forms 
of the word father in Snohomish (for in this 
Indian tongue the letters h, iii and p are practi- 
cally identical, having approximately the same 
phonetic valuation; thus the English word sir 
might be rendered equally correct in vSnohomish 
as se-ab, se-a>n or sc-ap). The analogy that exists 
between the English and the variant Snohomish 
forms is obvious. And indeed baba and papa can 
also be foiind occasionally in the Latin and in, 
the French, as well as in English. The Snoho- 
mish kilo and the Latin cito are ii/uoii et idem in 
their meaning. The Italian says adesso and the 
Snohomish says adessa. The Italian says cosi (so 
or thus), and the Yakima says cos or ikosi. The 
Italian »ta (still) is the Snohomish nta or e/na 
(still) also. The old lr\ih pi or si (she) is the Sno- 
homish se (or si with the French phonetic valua- 
tion). In the old Irish or (Erse) tongue we find 
all of the gutturals and the hard consonants that 
abound in the Snohomish tongue (and the basic 
principles of the Snomohish tongue are those of 
most of the Indian tongues of Puget sound, many 
being dialectic variants of one common tongue). 
Moreover, there are a great number of Irish and 
Snohomish words as well as roots which have the 
same meaning. The words for heavy and black- 
berry are strikingly similar; so also the word for 
permission and this, — even without the interven- 
tion of Grimm's law. The resemblance between 
the Erse guala and the Snohomish ^i^/W<7/' (shoul- 
der) is obvious. So also that between the Erse 
tiomtia (a will) and the Snohomish or Klickitat 
teinva. The German da is exactly the Snohomish 
da or ta. The English send, the German scfiden 
and the Snohomish send or tsend bear their rela- 
tionship visibly. And so this idea, this mere 
suggestion, might be expanded to the tedious 
proportions of a volume. Let this suffice. 

What then and where then is the origin of the 
Indian? We have seen that theory might be 
piled upon theory until the whole dizzy structure 
fell to earth of its own weight and mightiness. 
But again occurs the question, — it will not down. 
The Indian, what is he, whence is he? Is he 
Mongal, Tartar, Turk, Jew, German, French, 
Irish, Latin, Hindoo? I know not, — do you? 
What do I think? Well my opinion is a matter 



of very small moment indeed, but since all of 
the theories appear to be true, at least in part if 
not in toto, why not call them all true and be 
done with it? Could anything more strikingly 
indicate than these variant and various theories 
that the Indian belongs to the whole universal 
race of mankind, that the common blood of 
brotherhood leaps within our veins, that he is 
brother to the whole wide world? All signs 
point infallibly therefore, whatever else they 
may indicate, to the fact that he is the child of 
^the ages, one of the numerous progeny of old 
Mother Earth, and that the secret of his primi- 
tive origin is locked up beyond our ken together 
with the great and coeval mystery as to the 
origin of life, whether by special creation or by 
evolution. Whence he came we do not know. 
But it is certain that he has inhabited this conti- 
nent for a very long period of time, long enough 
to have established here a people, a race, well 
differentiated, and concerning whose purity and 
whose antiquity at least there can be no question. 
It may be that the countless resemblances which 
have been so often traced to all peoples are 
fortuitous, though that may not be stated as a 
positive fact. Powell has said: 

It may be that the unity of the human race is a fact so- 
profound that all attempts at a fundamental classification 
to be used in all the departments of anthropology will fail, 
and that there will remain multifarious groupings for 
the multifarious purposes of the science, or otherwise 
expressed, that languages, arts, customs, institutions and 
traditions may be classified, and that the human family will 
be considered as one race. 

But what has the Indian to say upon the sub- 
ject of his origin? Alas, he has no written 
tongue, and therefore no ponderous and dusty 
tomes, heirlooms of the ages, that we might 
consult upon the subject. Still he has the 
imperishable traditions of his race. He must go- 
back to his abundant and never failing legendary 
lore, which teaches him that man was once an 
anitnal and that thence he came, in which view 
he would, no doubt, have the indorsement of 
Mr. Darwin and his friends. Verily, verily, 
there is nothing new under the sun! 



Ever since the days of Columbus have we 
placed about "Poor Lo," the robe of romance, if 
we have not decked his brow with the halo of 
saintliness. Columbus found them a simple, 
peaceful, almost harmless folk, but he left them 
not so. What did the old world bring to the 
new? Small need have we to blame them that 
they learned too well the lessons of treachery, 
bloodshed, deceit, lust and greed which the 
Spanish conqtiistadores taught them. Their his- 
tory is pathetic. I have used the term history, 
though we must remember that the barbaric clio 
of the Occident hardly yet knew either quill or 
tablet, for she dwelt in a realm of fancy where 



THE INDIANS 



44a- 



not yet had come the graphic arts. These people 
had no written tongue, therefore no need for 
waxen tablets, papyrus, vellum, parchment, or 
paper. Naught had they save those imperishable 
records which experience or memory has stored 
away in the wonderful mind of man as treasures 
to be gloated over at leisure. By word of mouth, 
from father to son, through countless generations, 
have they handed down their changeless and 
unchangmg legendary lore, at once the history 
and the literature of a great people — great at 
least in their own peculiar way. Hoary and old, 
these traditions come to us with the dust of the 
ages. 

The legends of these simple folk, of these 
children of Nature, teem with the adventrires, the 
haps, the mishaps, the loves, the hates, the 
ambitions, the desires, the kists and the fates 
which befell the present race of animals in that 
dim, distant, dusky "once-upon-a-time. " These 
tales were replete with the craft, cunning and 
immorality of Spce-yoiu, the Fox, the vulgar 
ambitions and greedy lust of Bus-chub, the Mink, 
the vain and empty boastfulness and conceit of 
Kcm<-uks, the Raven, the wisdom and sagacity of 
Kiki, the Blue Jay, the modesty and worth of 
Sgivul-liihb. the Plieasant, the modest merits of 
tiny Tzit-Tzcese, the Warbler, the Terrors and 
powers of the awful and all-powerful Whny- 
kivah dee, the Thunder Bird, the wiles of PiiUh- 
chub, the Wildcat, the sorrows of Sboh-kzoali, 
the Crane, the deceit and duplicity of Hoh-hwy, 
the Little Diver, the might and brutality of 
Knb-kdh-datc-suJi, the great giant who ate people, 
and many, many others, for their name is truly 
legion. 

By reason of environment, the aborigine of 
the Pacific Northwest is either huntsman or 
fisherman, or both. Therefore, it is expected 
that these vocations and their associations should 
play an important part in the evolution of their 
aboriginal mythology. Such in fact we find to 
be the case. The legends are fairly peopled with 
the birds of the air, the beasts and creeping 
things of the woods and plains, as well as the 
mammals and fish of the briny deep, with all of 
which they were familiar, and many of which 
became actual participants, as it were, in the 
Indian's very life-history. But all through this 
legendary race, this people of the mythland, runs 
a broad and most palpable streak of human 
nature, which sufficiently attests the earthly and 
earthy origin of both the tales and the adven- 
tures which they portray. All of which seems 
but to indicate that the mythical individuals, in 
spite of the glamour or romance thrown about 
them and the endorsement of tradition, are but 
mortals masquerading in the guise of the brute 
creation, like the ass in the lion's skin, or like 
erstwhile gods of high Olympus come to earth 
again. For they are all, every one, creatures of 
like passions as ourselves and molded from the ' 



selfsame clay, and in recounting their deeds the 
untutored savage but repeats the lesson which he 
has learned from the ages, when he "Holds the 
mirror up to Nature," instead of following the 
custom of many latter-day raconteurs who hold 
Nature up to the mirror. Of a truth, these 
legendary heroes and heroines are not altogether 
inhabitants of the cold and misty land of mysti- 
cism — not they indeed! Through their veins, 
leaks the warm, red tide of life tumultuous, lusty 
and strong, singing, as it runs its course, of ambi- 
tion and its fruition, of envy, lust and love, of 
affection, of hate and all the changing emotions 
which have ever served to sway the human heart 
or to dominate the human mind. And so springs 
into being this great picture whose colors brightly 
glow from the vast but intangible scroll whereon 
is depicted the history of mankind. 

So it happens that in the vvinter season, wheni 
comes the moon of GuUi-beck (the big moon of 
feasting — it is a lunar month, as all their months, 
were, in the neighborhood of our December), 
which some prefer to call Shuk-seei-scl--,vahss (put 
up the paddle), the canoes are drawn high upon 
the beach. It is then that the paddles are put. 
by and the craft are carefully groomed, like 
marine race-horses, and then snugly housed, 
between rush-mat and cedar-shake, high above 
the reach of even the greatest tides. The season 
has come when the winds sweep madly down to 
smite the luckless wayfarer and the sharp edges 
of the wind-whipped rain cut keenly, like a knife, 
if indeed any one is so foolish as to be abroad at 
such a time. There is no son of Sdoliobsh who- 
does not know that it is no fit season for hunting, 
nor for fishing, nor indeed for any pursuit which 
may take one out of doors for any length of time. 
And since the woods and the waters have 
become deserted, each lodge, each ah-lahl 
becomes populous with braves and gay with jest, 
song and story, for, of a truth, this is not the 
season of the sad heart. "Lo" is by no means 
the mirthless stoic which the white man's fancy 
dreams him to be. 

It has come — the winter, the time of feasting. 
The great communal houses are filled to over- 
flowing, well-nigh to bursting. It is now that 
the winter stores will be subjected to havoc in 
the days and nights of feasting, when each one 
takes his leisure and incidentally his fill of food. 
It is then, too, that the old people, barbaric bards 
of old, tell again to embryonic brave and squaw 
all those tales of glory, the wonderful traditions 
of the past, which have been handed down from 
father to son since the time when the world was 
young, and the animals were such a race of 
braves and warriors as man has never since 
beheld, nor is likely to behold again. It is at 
this time that the weird, wild historian of the 
West is at his best and in his fullest glory. No 
one fears the sharp tooth of the gale howling 
dismally without — in sooth, no one hears it, for 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



all are too intent on the story. The heavy rains 
beat down upon the shakes till they tremble be- 
neath the mighty impulse, and the dripping gusts 
come swirling down the great smoke-hole which 
gaps and yawns in the roof like a mighty cavern of 
black. Up leaps the great flame and the cloud 
of smoke to meet the challenge of the rain and 
wind, and dying in vapors of mist the moisture 
without may not reach within. And then, per- 
chance, they think of Suh-hn'ay and how he 
brought the great floods in the long ago; how the 
winds and waters both rose at his magic song, 
and never ceased to do his bidding while one of 
his enemies lived. 

Or perhaps the unaccustomed lightnings may 
flash and the thunders roll as the rain beats 
steadily down upon the oozing earth. Then 
their thoughts will dwell upon the awful Whay- 
k-wah dec, the terrible Thunder-bird, from whose 
pinions the thunders roll, from whose eyes the 
lightning fires flash, and from whose feet the 
rushing rains reek forth upon a patient earth. 
Or mayhap when the rain is done the sun will 
shine again in his accustomed place in the heav- 
ens. Great bats wheel their lazy flight through 
the liquid ether, but high above is painted the 
great Koh-baIi-c]md (rainbow), a wonderful 
^skdh-Idli-liC-toot (a supernatural thing) glowing 
with awesome beauty in the shiik-szvahi-ili-liuh- 
lid (land above). And so the winter, with its 
short, rainy days and its long, dark nights would 
be whiled away in song and story. No tedious j 
moment would mark its flight. 

When at last it happened that the good season 
of summer returned, that the rains ceased and 
the sun lingered longer and warmer in the heav- 
en above, then, with the long, warm days and 
the short bright nightscrystalline with stars — Oh, 
then it is glorious to be alive, then is the time to 
hunt, to trail the bear, to stalk the deer, to snare 
the salmon, and to lure the seal! Then is the 
golden time of all the year, when Kature yields 
her liarvest with abundant hand. Then the 
squaws garner food against the time when 
Nature will again wear a forbidding face, against 
the time of feasting and song, — for all must come 
again even as day must be followed by night. 
And all day long the children sport on the sands 
of the beach and the lazy camp fires send upward 
their straggling trails of smoke, while the clams 
blush brown at its fumy kiss. Day after day the 
great piles of fern-root are parched and the cainas 
baked. Stores of spay-koolts (tubers of a variety 
of Sagittaria — they resemble potatoes, and hence 
potatoes are known by the same name — spay- 
koolls in Snohomish, and zvapato in the Chinook 
jargon) are gathered in. It is the season when all 
the racks of Sclntli-tlaliks are red with the drying 
fish, and the air is heavy with the oily aroma of 
salmon. And other racks than those of Scliidi- 
ilahks are bending beneath their burdens of berries 
drying in the open air and sunshine, that the sun 



may the better steal away the perishable and 
juicy fragrance and thus preserve them against 
the time of need. 

But whether it be summer or winter, whether 
it be rain or shine, dew or frost, hail or snow, 
heat or cold, all the time is a happy time, 
whether it be the time for food or the season for 
feasting upon it. What boots it? Is it Winter? 
Then let us feast and be merry together while we 
may, for the summer will soon come again and 
the winters too in their turn! Is it Summer? 
Then let us live while we live and prepare against 
the time of mirth and feasting. Why should we 
grieve for a day or a season? Let us make the 
most of each day as it comes and squeeze every 
enjoyment out of it, for when we die we are dead 
a long time. O barbaric sage of the sands! 
Who taught you the subtle purports of your phil- 
osophy? Can it be that Divine Nature, who 
schooled Plato, taught Aristotle, educated Epic- 
tetus, trained Zena, taught you also in that self- 
same school of experience and made you also, 
perhaps, the peer of them all? 

Ah, but the legends!— those legends, the 
hoary heirloom of time, bequeathed by those 
ages when History wove neither warp nor woof 
in her yet unfashioned loom, those ;tons when 
Clio had not yet found her quill nor dreamed of 
her scroll. Who can reproduce them as they are, 
save when they come to him a natal birthright, 
the heritage of the ancients? Who can hope to 
match the savage at his art? But it is a treasure 
by no means to be despised even at second-hand. 
So in the telling of them let us not despise the 
version told by proxy; for not all of us may hear 
them at first hand nor understand them as they 
are, garbed in their natural dress of uncouth but 
poetic Snohomish, or other tongue of the children 
of Nature. Let us remember that half a loaf, 
which is said to be better than no bread. 

It is night, and all are seated in circle about 
the comfortable blaze which sheds its mystic fire- 
light over all, transforiuing things with a subtle 
alchemy altogether its own. See the bard as he 
sits in the midst of the dusky circle of hearers. 
The eyes glisten with eager anticipation and each 
ear is strained with the very personification of 
rapt attention. The fire dies down to smoldering 
coals and fitfully spurts into flames and dies back 
to its dull glow again. The thin line of smoke 
trickles upward through the smoke-hole in the 
roof. Inthe distance some lone dog howls dis- 
mally. See the bard! Keep your eyes fixed 
upon his face. His strong features are silhou- 
etted boldly against a very background of light, 
and the fire of prophecy seems to glow within his 
eagle eye as he scans the circle. The mystic 
shadows draw figures, on the sand and on the 
walls. There is a subtle spell working some- 
where, somehow — how, where, why? Let it 
suffice that it should be, and note the skill of this 
uncouth man as he plies his imaginary brush in 



THE INDIANS 



very masterpieces of word-painting. See how he 
loses no opportunity "to point a moral or adorn 
a tale!" In the midst of the fire of talk see how 
he mingles and weaves strands of philosophy, 
morality and ethics! So beneath the magic 
touch and subtle skill of the aboriginal academi- 
cian these legends of prehistroic adventures 
become, in spite of occasional gross lapses from 
virtue into vulgarity, veritable sermons in 
allegory. To those who do not really know 
"Poor Lo" as he actually exists, it seems singu- 
lar to note how high an appreciation he has (in 
the abstract if not in the concrete), of all that we 
more cultured creatures have long deemed 
desirable in the up-building of character. 

Indeed, it is often surprising to find one so 
wild, so free, with natural bents unchecked, 
becoming a moralist in the rough, for we must 
always do him the justice to judge him by his 
own standards, and not by ours. Entirely in 
theory, and largely in practice, he may, and 
indeed does, become a surprising (at least so it 
seems to us) idealist. Though often again, and 
alas, he finds himself, like many more noted and 
less dusky preachers, running far short of his 
ideals. He is not skilled in the subtleties of 
Paley, nor filled with the esoteric mysteries of 
Lecky ; he probably never heard of Zena, of Plato, 
of Aristotle; he does not know that such men 
existed, nor indeed that he himself is an unsus- 
pected and unsuspecting philosopher. But like 
our own refreshing and invigorating Emerson, he 
hitches his wagon to a star, however much 
betimes it may trail in the dust, the star-dust of 
the universe. It is surprising how these stories 
have passed unchanged through the ages, as the 
rock-ribbed hills. Down through generation 
after generation have they come with no altera- 
tion in their essential features, and not even for 
the yoimg have vices been changed to virtues. 
What though the garb of words may have 
changed with each speaker, as the garb of man 
may change with every passing fashion, — the 
meat remained the same; the marrow was there; 
they remained unchanged and unchanging 
through all time. 

This was the education of the Indian youth. 
Here was his kindergarten, his school, his acad- 
emy, college, university, his all. Here he 
learned such lessons as youth learns in every 
clime and beneath every skj- — nay, more, for the 
lessons of his youth did not have to change with 
adolescence. He learned things just as they 
were, no matter how young he might he nor how 
inexperienced in worldly wisdom and wickedness. 
He was taught to know that vice and sin existed 
in the world, and why they existed, and how each 
sin bore with it its own punishment, while "vir- 
tue is its own reward." So that the lessons 
which Dame Experience taught him in his later 
years were but coiatinuations of those lessons 
which he learned with lisping lips in his baby- 



hood at his mother's knee or in his father's 
arms. The Book of Life was not sealed to him 
at any time, it was his to read at all times and at 
all ages. I do not presume to say whether it was 
better so or not; 1 am content to chronicle fact 
rather than create fiction. It was by means of 
these legends that the young were educated, and 
by means of which they became inculcated with 
those manly attributes and those maidenly vir- 
tues which were considered desirable above all 
else by his tribesmen and his people. So he 
grew up hand in hand with Life and Experience. 
Human virtues, vices, passions and weaknesses 
were ascribed to the members of the animal 
kingdom which were most familiar to the people, 
and thus was acquired the dramatis pcrsome of 
those domestic comedies and tragedies recounted 
and re-enacted for ages in the lodges of the chil- 
dren of Nature. Great moral lessons (from their 
own standpoint, at least), v/ere thus taught by 
the qualities given to their heroes, heroines and 
villains of the brute creation. I say "villains" 
advisedly, for aboriginal literature was by no 
means devoid of them. They stalked through 
the legends, plotted, pursued, succeeded, failed, 
or were punished in the end, exactly as happens 
with their brethren of the modern drama and 
stage. 

Take them all in all, these stories and tales of 
the redmen are but the stories of human vices 
and virtues as old as time. They are the trage- 
dies — and let us hope more often the comedies 
also — whicli life has ever been repeating through 
her various mouthpieces since she first endowed 
them with a lusty being and since Time and Man 
first began to co-exist and doubtless they will 
continue to exist as long as flesh and blood con- 
tinue to endure the shock of the ages. We must 
remember, too, that the Indian is a man like 
ourselves in all of his primitive emotions, perhaps 
only lacking in the culture which is accustomed 
to hide but not eradicate those ineradicable emo- 
tions. He is simply an edition of mankind bound 
in red— perhaps not an edition dc luxe, as some 
would say, but certainly one that has served to 
withstand the wear and tear of time as well as 
the wars, onslaughts and feuds of intertribal 
warfare. And certainly we can all afford to 
indulge the hope that we may long see copies of 
this edition of a great master-work upon the 
shelves of Life's large library. 

And so it happens that the narration of these 
legends, so ancient that their origin is undreamed 
of even by the Indian himself, forms at once the 
education, the histor}-, and the literature (and in a 
sense, the very life history) of the aborigine with 
whom they deal. 

CANOES, CANOEING AND CANOE BUILDING 

What the horse is to the Indian of the plains, 
even so is the canoe to the aborio-ine of the Pacific 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



Northwest, for he belongs to a race of fisher folk, 
and hence is amphibious — indeed his better half 
may be termed aqueous without any great stretch 
of either the truth or imag-ination. Very slowly 
is the canoe being supplanted, though gradually; 
here and there the white man's boat is encroach- 
ing, co-eval with the march of the white man's 
methods, the white man's implements and the 
white man himself. For this reason the race of 
canoe builders, learned in their cunning craft, is 
slowly disappearing and it need be no cause for 
wonder that the right hand of the aborigine is 
forgetting its whilom cunning, both in wood craft 
and sea craft. 

It requires little imagination to follow graphi- 
cally with the mind's eye the evolution of the 
canoe. Is it not Dryden who says: 

Some log, perhaps, upon the waters swam 
An useless drift, which, rudely cut within 

And hollowed, first a floating trough became 
And 'cross some riv'let passage did begin. 

We can readily picture primitive man navigat- 
ing the fringe of water bordering the shore, his 
gallant craft a drifting tree or log, and his means 
of propulsion comprising only that afforded by 
sticks or poles — or, perhaps, when the wind blew 
favorably, he found it advantageous to hoist a 
fragment of brush as a sail. We can easily imagine 
that he was not long in discovering that the pad- 
dle was mightier than the pole, and that it gave 
more speed in return for an expenditure of less 
exertion; moreover, it did not compel him to 
limit his excursions to the shallow water near 
the shore. Nor in his primitive sailing could he 
have been over long in discovering that skins 
stretched upon poles would waft his log along 
better than brush. But the log itself was unsea- 
worthy and rolled in rough water unbearably. 
To overcome this he split the log in half, in order 
to be rid of the imstable top hamper. This made 
such an improvement in seaworthiness that he 
straightway began to hollow the log out, not only 
to make it still lighter but also to make room for 
himself and the fruit of his forays. It was, as 
the poet himself very practically sings: 

In shipping such as this the Irish kern 

And untaught Indian on the stream did glide 

Ere sharp-keel'd boats to stem the tide did learn, 
Or fin-like oars did spread from side to side. 

The many refinements which have since 
sprung into existence have been so decidedly 
advantageous that to-day we would hardly recog- 
nize in the slender and handsome race canoe the 
offspring of our primitive progenitor's unwieldy 
and unpromising log. 

As canoe builders the Indians of British Col- 
umbia are acknowledged to excel all others among 
the tribes adjacent to Puget sound, at least in 
the making of the large, so-called "Chinook" 
canoe; it is from such source that most of the 
Indians of the vicinity obtain their craft, either 



by barter or by purchase. Not that good builders 
do not exist among our own Indians of the sound 
country, but they do not exist as a distinctive 
class and the few instances are only sporadic 
cases, like the proverbial exceptions that prove 
the rule. The British Columbia Indians for some 
reason do not seem to have adopted the methods 
of civilization to quite the same extent as their 
brethren on this side of the line. They of the 
"other side" still adhere to many of their old cus- 
toms, habits and occupations and they have not 
suffered themselves totally to forget the knack of 
canoe building and the skill of sea craft and this 
adds another to the already large and growing 
list of so-called "lost arts," consequently their 
canoes are in more or less demand, and fine, large 
Chinook canoes in good condition frequently 
bring as high as one hundred dollars or even 
more. Yet they can also be obtained at a very 
much more reasonable figure, so that they may 
be classed as necessities or luxuries as suits the 
case. 

It is in the making of the Chinook canoe that 
the British Columbia Indians excel, for the 
others are made almost universally over the 
sound; indeed wherever an Indian's shack may 
dot the beach. 

Some well-known authorities consider the 
birch-bark canoe to be the very highest type of 
aboriginal, nautical craft, but in very many 
instances the canoes in common use by the 
natives of the Pacific Northwest equal and indeed 
often excel it. Indeed the birch-bark canoe 
is only superior in lightness, ease of repair and 
in portability; this latter property allowing it 
to be carried from place to place with ease. But 
here in the tide-water region, where rocky 
beaches are as common as sandy ones, the con- 
stant dragging of the canoe down to low water 
and up out of reach of high water, would wear it 
to pieces in a very short time. Certainly the 
native craft of the Northwest are more sub- 
stantial and long-lived and the reason is obvious, 
when it is considered that they are fashioned out 
of one entire piece of solid wood. Yet the wear 
and tear incident to their ordinary usage is very 
great, and in spite of their apparent invulnera- 
bility, they cannot be continually, carelessly or 
roughly handled. They demand careful treat- 
ment, for their creation is an arduous task, and 
any roughness in beaching the canoe on a rocky 
coast, or any severe shock may split it from end 
to end, and cavalier treatment is thus promptly 
resented. In case of injury the work of repair is 
comparatively difficult, because of the non-plastic 
and unyielding nature of the substance from 
which it was fabricated, whereas the work of 
repair in the case of a birch-bark canoe is speed- 
ily and readily effected by bark patches. 

The canoes of Puget sound may be classified 
into four different and distinct types or models, all 
of which are made from a single piece of wood (al- 



THE INDIANS 



most invariably white cedar), and vary in length 
from five and ten feet to fifty and sixty, the longest 
and largest even of race canoes very rarely exceed- 
ing the latter figure. When thoroughly seasoned 
this cedar is exceedingly light and comparatively 
easy to work, and only well- seasoned timber is 
used in the construction of such craft. It is selected 
as free from blemishes and imperfections as possi- 
ble. After felling the tree, a dead and seasoned 
tree, or else after finding a suitable windfall in 
the forest or a drifted log of suitable size and 
condition upon the beach, it was flattened upon 
top and roughly shaped, either with an axe or an 
adz. Before the advent of the white man and his 
superior utensils of metal, the flattening was 
effected by splitting the log by means of a stone 
maul and a wedge fashioned from tough elk horn, 
or else of stone, and all of the subsequent work 
of rough shaping and finer finishing was accom- 
plished by means of a small '' pec-yali-knd," or 
hand adz, to be mentioned and described further 
on. Then the work of hollowing or cutting away 
the interior began. In earlier days much of this 
work was accomplished by means of slow fires 
built upon the top of the log and kept constantly 
and carefully under watch and control, so as to 
cause them to burn down into the substance of 
the log with slowness and uniformity. Now, 
however, the axe or adz roughly and certainly 
more surely and speedily effects the same end. 
When the burning had proceeded sufficiently the 
fires were extinguished and the interior scraped, 
or rather "pecked," for the latter word is much 
more truly descriptive of the actual process used. 
This work was and still is done by means of what 
is practically a small hand adz, called by the 
bnohomish Indians a " pct'-ynh-knd." It was made 
by lashing a sharpened piece of elk horn, or of 
flint, obsidian or other hard stone, suitably shaped 
to a small wooden handle made from the forks of 
a sapling. The lashing was effected either by 
means of wrappings of withes of wild cherry bark 
wound tightly and evenly, sometimes over a slight 
layer of pitch or balsam, or else by means of deer 
thongs bound on while fresh or wet and allowed 
to dry and harden in place. Sometimes strips of 
buckskin were used, but they proved a much 
more unsatisfactory form of fastening than eitlier 
of the other two. The use of wild cherry bark 
withes was much more common among the tribes 
bordering upon salt water, while the fastenings 
of deer thongs were used almost exclusively by 
the tribes dwelling more inland than the former. 
Nowadays the use of elk horn, or of stone for the 
cutting or chiseling blade has been discarded and 
old files (shcctsiun) or old broad bladed knives 
are sharpened like chisels and then lashed to sim- 
ilar handles as of yore. This is the chiefest and 
most important instrument in the whole of the 
canoe-builder's armamentarium and with it he, 
the canoe- builder {dus-f'y-yit''). goes carefully, 
slowly and laboriously over the whole surface of 



the canoe, with each hlovj ,oi the pee-yah-hid r&- 
moving only a thin and tiny flake of wood not 
much larger than a man's thumb nail. This 
process is continued, internal and external, until 
the whole surface of the canoe has received his 
tender ministrations and passes satisfactorily 
beneath his careful and critical scanting. 
Then fires are again built inside and outside 
of the canoe and allowed to smoulder and to 
char the wood slightly. The pee-yah-kud is 
again called into requisition, and the same roii- 
tine followed until a satisfactory degree of thin- 
ness and finish is secured. The firing, in addition 
to clearing away and hollowing out the center, 
is supposed to season the timber thoroughly and 
to act as a safeguard against subsequent sun- 
cracking or warping. Frequently a final finisli is 
given with the curved knife, and this is some- 
times followed by a scraping. The curved knife 
is not an aboriginal instrument, being of compara- 
tively recent origin, certainly subsequent to the 
time when the pah-stud totobsch (white man) 
brought steel and iron to the ken of the natives. 
They found these metals to be so well adapted to 
their uses that they have ever since discarded the 
stone or elk horn of their former and crude imple- 
ments. 

After the completion of the canoe, it is 
"spread" and braced by several thwarts or cross 
pieces, the latter being lashed to the sides or to 
the gunwale by means of withes of wild cherry 
bark and serve to prevent further spreading, 
shrinking or warping. With the larger canoes 
the soft cedar was carved into a common and char- 
acteristic form of prow, which to my mind, resem- 
bles nothing more than it does a small terrier or 
watch dog, with ears erect, on the alert to scent 
a foe and give the alarm. Not infrequently the 
Indian further ornamented the prow by carving 
upon it his family totem. 

If the craft is to be painted, as is customarj% 
then the charred surface is scraped free from all 
semblance of charcoal and the paint applied. As 
a rule not more than three colors at most are used 
in canoe decoration (red, black and yellow) and 
more often only two (red and black) are used, 
red for the interior and black for the exterior. 
This latter system of coloring is almost universal, 
the little color decoration of the black exterior 
being in red. These consist merely of eyelike 
dots upon the prow, a few stripes at the base of 
it, and a few diagonal stripes at the stern. If the 
craft is not to be painted, then it is left invested 
with its slight carbonaceous scale of burned wood 
as a protection from decay and from the ravages 
of barnacles and other crustaceans. 

Sometimes, in spite of every possible precau- 
tion a defective log is chosen and the defects are 
not discovered until the canoe is so near comple- 
tion that it would be a waste of both time and 
endeavor to discard it. A new problem confronts 
poor diis-py-yuk (canoe-builder), for his new 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



canoe that has not been launched — or, indeed, 
even finished — needs repairs, for the process used 
is exactly similar to that of repair when damage 
results from the natural usage of the craft. The 
defective conditions that may be encountered are 
obviously numerous. For example the wood may 
be found to be knotty; in some instances the 
knots may become loosened and drop out, leaving 
gaping holes that would be fatal to the buoyancy 
of any kind of boat. Eut dus-py-yitk is not cast 
down; he does not despair, but goes bravely to 
work to ream out of each hole any of the unsound 
wood that may remain. He then fashions sound 
plugs of wood, hammers them home, trims them 
off and gives them their final finish. Or perhaps 
a decayed streak may be met in the interior of the 
log and he is called upon to restore its lost integ- 
rity. In such a case the defective portion is 
exactly duplicated from another piece of wood, 
and when finished it is tennoned into the place of 
the defective part, which has been thoroughly 
removed. Hence it may happen that while the 
finished canoe is in intent a single piece of wood, 
it may in reality quite often consist of a dozen 
different pieces so cleverly and snugly fitted 
together that not even the keen eyed waters may 
be able to find the joints, search hovv they may. 

For bailing out his canoe the Indian uses a 
very picturesque and simple bailer (kzi'ad-giL'ild), 
fashioned from cedar bark, cedar wood and withes 
of wild cherry bark. A piece of cedar bark nearly 
two feet long is taken; this piece is about six 
inches in width. Placing it with the concave side 
up — that is, the inner surface of the bark — it is cut 
across and nearly through about six inches from 
each end. The cutting is not for the purpose of 
division, but merely to facilitate bending the 
bark at these places without breaking it. These 
end pieces are then turned perpendicularly up, 
crinkled together at each end, and split slightly 
to allow the insertion of a cedar stick for a handle, 
which is then lashed firmly on with withes of 
wild cherry bark, and the kiL'ad-gwild is com- 
pleted. This forms a very serviceable implement, 
and one that always strikes the artistic fancy of 
white persons who see it for the first time. 

As has been previously said, there are four 
types of canoes used by the Indians in navigating 
the waters of Puget sound. At least two of the 
four have no English names which are at all dis- 
tinctive, and therefore we must fall back upon the 
graphic and gutteral Snohomish (Indian) tongue 
for their names. The four types are (1) the tlie 
or shovel-nosed canoe; (2) sUc-u'hattl; {o) sice- 
wliectll; (-1) ah-oli-tiiss, or "Chinook-canoe." The 
second type is quite uncommon and the first 
comparatively so. By far the commonest forms 
are the third and fourth, each of which has its 
own advantages and disadvantages which espe- 
cially adapt it to its own peculiar uses. 

The tlie, or "shovel-nose," is very well de- 
scribed by its name. It is not pointed at either 



end; it is a double ender, each end being 
flattened and in shape very like the bowl of a 
large coal shovel. The tlie is used almost exclu- 
sively for river navigation, is exceedingly swift 
when properly manned and propelled, but is not 
so commonly seen now. It is the simplest and 
most primitive form of canoe; is undoubtedly 
the primary form of craft from which the others 
were derived in a process of evolution. 

The stce-ivliecttl is usually small. It is a 
light, easily propelled craft, but quite unsteady, 
bobbing around upon the surface like a cork, or 
an Z'gg shell, and therefore it is unsuited to the 
stress of rough or windy weather. It is used for 
hunting and fishing chiefly and is commoner on 
sheltered bodies of water. It is very common 
indeed and may be seen all over Puget sound. 
We can easily imagine it to be evolved from the 
primary form of the tlie by a sharpening of stem 
and stern and the modeling of the former into a 
cut water, thus making it more wieldy, more 
rapid and slightly more seaworthy. 

The stec-zvliattl is a type almost obsolete. It 
has a projecting, squarely cut prow, cut squarely 
away beneath instead of the curve of the stcc- 
ivhccttl, which it markedly resembles. In the 
evolution of this form the stcc-ivheettl becomes 
less slender and tapering and the pi'ow is angular 
instead of gracefully curved. 

The ali-oli-tuss is usually larger, heavier, more 
stable and much more seaworthy than all the 
other forms. It is therefore the craft more gen- 
erally used for traveling and transportation, for 
which purposes its greater carrying capacity and 
its comparative stability peculiarly fit it. It is 
the model followed in the building of all race 
canoes and war canoes and therefore represents 
the very highest type in the evolution of the 
canoe of this vicinity. 

For the propulsion of these canoes, paddles of 
two different kinds are used, one for men and one 
for women, and fashioned preferably from alder 
wood. Both forms, however, were furnished 
with small cross-pieces or cross-bars at the end of 
the handles, which were necessary for the proper 
manipulation of the paddles. The essential 
difference between these two forms is in the 
blades; the paddle for the man and called the 
man's paddle (totolnch i7-'.<ukss) having a longer 
and narrower blade with a more sinuously curved 
border than the woman's paddle {lali-dic-cU- 
ivass), which was shorter and broader and rather 
more gracefully curved as to the border and edge. 
While the men customarily use their own paddles 
and the women their own, yet in race canoes or 
war canoes, or in large craft manned by a num- 
ber of braves and where speed is desired, the 
shorter and broader woman's paddle is almost 
universally used. In addition to the paddle most 
of the canoes, especially the larger ones, are pro- 
vided forward near the first thwart with step or 
chock for a light mast which usually carries a 





ON THE TULALIP AND SWINOMISH INDIAN RESERVATIONS 



THE INDIANS 



457 



square or spritsail to be used in sailing before 
the wind. It is well-nigh impossible to indulge 
in either beating or tacking, for the canoes have 
no keels and, because of their smooth and broadly 
rounded bottoms, any attempt to beat results in 
slipping away rapidly to leeward. 

To "the uninitiated it seems almost border- 
ing on witchery to see an old Indian seated in the 
stern of his light canoe, troll trailing astern, con- 
tinually paddling on one side of the canoe only 
and yet going straight ahead in a relatively 
straight line, when, apparently, by all the can- 
nons of kinetics he should be traveling in a 
beautiful circle. The manner of effecting this is 
very simple indeed and consists solely in trailing 
the paddle rudder-fashion after every couple of 
strokes and thereby correcting the natural ten- 
dency of the craft to turn in response to an 
impulse continually directed from one side. 

There is also another method of paddling used 
by hunters or others when it is desirable to mask 
all the sound made by the paddle. To accomplish 
this the blade is kept continually in the water and 
its motion is directed as though cutting figures 
of eight. All noise from rippling or the dipping 
of water from the uplifted paddle is avoided and 
the craft is forged slowl}- and silently ahead upon 
the unsuspecting quarry much as a propeller 
would supply motive power. 

While the canoe is necessarily a tricky and 
imstable craft, yet its stability, when properly 
handled, even under adverse stress of wind and 
weather, is something remarkable. Nevertheless 
travel in rough and stormy weather is avoided 
as far as it is possible to do so. 

No celebration of any magnitude on Puget 
sound is considered altogether complete if it has 
not down on the programme an Indian canoe race 
— and, indeed, even a " kloochman race," kloocJi- 
iiian being the Chinook word for woman. Thus 
often may the original American be seen enthu- 
siastically celebrating the birthday of the nation 
of his supplanter and benefactor. The model of 
the race canoe is generally the same as that of 
the ordinary Chinook canoe (or rt://-(7/!-//«.s), except 
that, as becomes a racer, they are more slender, 
light, clean and well trimmed — indeed the racer 
craft is so very suggestive of speed and a fine 
blooded and well groomed race horse that it could 
be easily picked out on sight. The lines which are 
graceful and light in the extreme, themselves 
speak of the swiftness which they give to the canoe. 
The racers are fashioned with infinite care, pride 
and labor, and the hull is worked at inside and out 
until it remains but the merest shell of cedar wood. 
They are exceedingly unsteady, however, and the 
marvel is that they can be kept right side up long 
enough to complete a most exciting race with 
eleven strong, swarthy and brawny braves, com- 
pletely carried away by their enthusiasm and 
fairly leaping in their seats in the earnestness of 
their effort to force the frail form through the 



resisting tide. As the slender craft is urged 
along with incredible swiftness it is not by any 
means unlike a huge, black marine monster cran- 
ing its head as it flies over the water — and the 
fantastically carven prow does not serve to dispel 
any such illusion. In a race recently held over 
a three-mile course, the winning crew ran at the 
rate of three miles in nine minutes, or twenty 
miles an hour, a rate which would indicate speed 
even in a steamboat. 

In the great majority of races the course is 
not straight away, but go and return, rounding 
some stake boat and then coming back again to 
the point of starting. Many such racesr>are won 
by means of the very trick which Ben Hur played 
so successfully in the famous chariot race in Gen- 
eral Wallace's excellent novel. Indeed the fine 
Tulalip race canoe was built especially for just 
such a trick. As might be imagined, a craft of 
such length (the Tulalip canoe is forty-four feet 
long), though it may be remarkably agile and 
swift in running straight ahead, would from its 
very length, find much impediment in making a 
quick, sudden or close turn or other similar man- 
euver. Noticing and appreciating this difficulty, 
it was very properly conceived that such a weak- 
ness might be largely overcome by cutting away 
the bottom of the canoe fore and aft and leaving 
it much deeper in the center than at either end. 
When made in this fashion, the canoe in turning is 
practically pivoted on its center and is enabled to 
come about with remarkable facility. With such 
a canoe and by just such means as were used by 
Ben Hur, the Tulalip crew was enabled in a 
Fourth of July race in Seattle, some years ago, to 
beat the famous crack crew from Victoria, B. C, 
much to the surprise of the former and to the 
disgust of the latter. 

In the olden days the canoe was all in all to 
the Indians of Puget sound and its tributaries. 
As a child it was his first, if not his only, toy. 
The greater portion of his boyhood was spent in 
mastering its mysteries and learning its tricks, 
and the secret of compelling it to become his will- 
ing servant. In manhood it was the means by 
which he obtained shelter, support, covering and 
nourishment for his family, for seldom was an 
excursion made, pedatory or otherwise, except 
through the agency of the inevitable canoe. Out- 
side of it the aborigine was a fish out of water, 
ungainly, awkward and ill at ease. Inside of it 
he was master of all he surveyed. Small wonder, 
indeed, that among these tribes the art of canoe 
building, in the days of long ago, was carried to 
a remarkable degree of perfection for a so-called 
savage race and in spite of the crudeness of the 
implements afforded the barbaric artisan. 

As the Indian lived in his ci^ft in life, so also 
he dwelt in it in death, for canoe burial was the 
common, and indeed the universal, custom among 
the fisher folk of the Pacific Northwest. When 
a man went down to death in those days, after 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



wrapping the body in blankets or rush mats, it 
was placed in the largest canoe belonging to the 
deceased warrior. A smaller canoe was placed 
bottom upward inside of the first, and served 
as a covering and protective for the body, and 
then the whole was left in the locality devoted 
to the dead, either upon a light scaiTolding, or 
else hauled high in the tree tops, where the dead 
and departed brave was left, literally and meta- 
phorically unable to "paddle his own canoe." 

What an impressive sight is such a flotilla of 
the dead bound upon that last and spectral jour- 



ney to the dark beyond. Here, with gentle 
motion, they sway in the tree-tops as though in 
their native element, and one might almost think 
that they do not bear the departed in their last, 
eternal and dreamless sleep. Over them the 
swaying trees murmur runic requiems of eld. 
Afar off, from below, is wafted the sound of the 
crooning of the surf, as it sends its streamers of 
salty spume to die on high upon the sands of 
the beach. Even the breakers are moaning a 
perpetual lullaby, for the sea is tender to her 
own. 



CHAPTER V 



REMINISCENCES AND POETICAL SELECTIONS 



REMINISCENCE OF TWENTY" FIVE YE.^RS AGO 



On the third day of May, ]8S(), I, with my 
husband and little three-year-old daughter, bade 
adieu to every familiar face and scene in our 
native home of Fleetville, Lackawanna county, 
Pennsylvania, and started West to make us a 
home in the forest somewhere in the Puget 
sound country. I shall never forget that sad 
morning. Several kind friends and neighbors 
had called to say goodbye, but 1 could not say 
one word. As my husband helped me to get my 
wraps on and half carried me out to the wagon 
more than one suppressed sob reached my ear. 
A brisk drive to the station and we had started 
West. The lovely morning and beautiful scenery 
soon drove away all feeling of homesickness. As 
neither of the three northern lines were then built 
we came via the Central Pacific to San Francisco. 
There we took passage on the ocean steamer 
Oregon for Portland. After stopping there a 
day or two we went back down the Columbia 
river to Kalama, then took the train for Tacoma, 
then on to Seattle by boat. 

As a 'bus drove us to the Occidental hotel 
(then a plain wooden structure) I remarked that 
it was strange that they would call so small a 
place a city, for it looked to us more like a coun- 
try village, with the streets not all cleared of the 
stumps, and such big stumps with notches cut in 
them, which excited our curiosity. As the last 
letter we had received from Mr. Van Fleet's 
brother Luther was written from Sterling, on 
Skagit river, we took passage on the steamer 
Chehalis for that place. I was a little abashed 



to find that I was the only woman on board the 
boat with at least forty men bound for the Ruby 
creek gold fields. However, I soon found that 
they were kindly disposed, well bred and intel- 
ligent men. One of them gave me a paper to 
read which contained glowing accounts of the 
gold being discovered at Ruby creek. One day 
and night on the steamer and we were landed at 
Ball's logging camp, instead of a village as we 
had e.Kpected to find. A man clerking in the 
little log store at the camp, Mr. Smith by name, 
soon made himself known and invited me in to 
meet Mrs. Welch, a daughter of Mr. Ball. She 
was the only white woman in camp, in fact the 
only white woman anywhere .in the vicinity. 
She was very kind, and as I was quite weary 
after our twenty days' travel, she soon prevailed 
upon Mr. Van Fleet to let me stay with her until 
the next steamer would go up the river. The 
next morning Mrs. Welch showed me the two 
large rafts her father had made. There had 
been four feet of snow on the level that winter 
and as they knew the snow was very deep on the 
mountains they were afraid of an overflow. She 
also pointed out to me the high water marks that 
were then plainly discernible on nearly all the 
trees about six feet up from the ground. 

We spent the first three months with brother 
Luther on the place now owned by Ira Brown, 
then pre-empted the claim we still own and 
moved in our shanty which was built from split 
cedar. Several families of Indians were our 
nearest neighbors. Jerry Benson and his father 
Stephen Benson were our nearest white neigh- 
bors; next came William Woods, William Dunlap, 
Joseph Hart and Mr. Batey. The place where 



REMINISCENCES 



459 



Sedro-Woolley now stands was a vast unbroken 
forest, owned principally by Scott Jameson. 
The Woolley portion was still government land. 

There were no roads, no schools, no churches 
— in fact no white woman except Mrs. Welch in 
Sterling-, and no white children. I lived here 
five years before I saw a horse. About the mid- 
dle of December, ISSO, a Chinook wind caused 
the river to rise very rapidly. As we had never 
lived near a river before, but had read of great 
overflows, we concluded it best to be on the safe 
side, so Mr. Van Fleet built a platform up about 
twelve feet in a large hollow cedar stub, and 
split cedar boai-ds so we could go on up Oil feet if 
necessary. Some of the neighbors had rafts tied 
to trees close by, others had a canoe securely 
fastened to the house. When the water was at 
its highest point we had a heavy earthquake 
shock, which was a startling experience. 

People settled mainly along the banks of the 
river at first. The voting place for those who 
lived above the township line, which runs 
through Sedro- Woolley, was at Lyman; below 
this line it was at Mount Vernon. 

Our only mode of travel was by canoe or 
steamer. The Chehalis, Josephine, Daisy and 
Nellie made regular trips up the river and as the 
river was high all through the summer of 1880, 
sometimes they went as far as Portage, above 
Sauk, with miners and supplies. 

A postoffice had just been established at Mr. 
Ball's camp, called Sterling, but there was no 
regular mail carrier. Any one that happened to 
be coming up from Mount Vernon brought the 
mail. Scott Jameson owned the logging camp 
farthest up the river, it being a mile above Ster- 
ling and in charge of Charles Harmon, foreman. 

We felt fully prepared to work hard and fare 
poorly a few years and the reality did not fall 
short of our expectations, but we had not realized 
how lonely life would be before we had neigh- 
bors, schools, etc. Sundays especially were very 
dreary. When we grew tired of reading there 
was nothing to do but roam around in the forest 
and listen to the singing of the birds and the 
chatter of the squirrels. In August, Mrs. David 
Batey came into our midst. Two other ladies 
also resided in Sterling the latter part of the 
summer and fall, namely, Mrs. Millan and Mrs. 
Scott, but as they did not stay long there were 
but four of us white women here for some time. 
We used to visit each other frequently and had 
pleasant times. As there were four children of 
school age in our respective families our principal 
topic of conversation was how to get the old 
bachelors married off or families enough in the 
neighborhood so we could have a school. I well 
remember how we worried and fretted when we 
learned that Mr. Batey had located two more 
bachelors in the neighborhood, namely Charles 
Wicker and Will Mitchell. But soon Mr. 
Wicker's friends began to come from the East, 



which soon convinced us that no mistake had 
been made in locating them here. 

We had not lived here very long when an old 
Indian, Pawquit-zy by name, called to have an 
understanding with us. As he could talk neither 
English nor Chinook he brought a young Indian 
along to interpret for him. After the old man 
had talked and gesticulated for some time, the 
j'oung Indian told us that he had said we had no 
right here. That all the land from the head of 
Sky-you slough to the mouth of the Batey slough 
belonged to him, had belonged to his father and 
his grandfather for many years. Mr. Van Fleet 
quietly remarked, "Oh, tell him white man cut 
down trees and raise potatoes to trade to Indian 
for fish. " This pleased the old man and he went 
away in better humor. We learned afterward 
that other Indians were afraid to hunt, fish or 
trap on the old man's ground. The old Indian 
kept a fish trap in the creek near us and used 
frequently to bring us a nice mess of fish. In 
the spring of ISSl Mr. Van Fleet and two other 
white men went down on the flats to buy cattle, 
and, on account of having to open up the trail in 
many places, were gone several days longer than 
they had expected to be. I got out of wood and 
one of my Indian neighbors, finding it out, 
brought his wife and sister up to help me in the 
house while he cut up a nice lot of wood for me. 
This was but one of the many acts of kindness 
shown us by them. 

The cows lived on browse and did very well. 
We sold butter to the logging camps for a good 
price. In the fall we turned them upon the low 
ground to winter on rushes. They came out nice 
and fat in the spring. In June, 1882, we had 
quite an overflow in which we lost our cow. 
Then in November, 1883, came another big over- 
flow in which we lost six head of cattle, so we 
concluded it best to keep them off the low ground 
as much as possible. By that time we had a 
large enough clearing so we could raise hay 
enough to winter them at home. 

Frequently when I was busy with my work I 
would hear the door open cautiously and in would 
walk several Indians, men, women and children. 
Our little daughter would entertain them by 
showing them pictures in her books, and after 
watching me work a while they would leave as 
unceremoniously as they had entered. One day 
when there was quite a crowd of them there, 
five or six of their dogs began playing havoc with 
my flowerbeds. We asked them'if they couldn't 
keep the dogs off of them, whereupon the men 
and women called the dogs to them, held and 
beat every dog to death, then threw them on a 
log heap. We tried to expostulate but it was no 
use. They said the dogs were no good anyway. 
Doubtless you can imagine I was a little nervous 
when they left. 

One day an Indian woman and her daughter 
were here, when, in looking at the pictures in a 



460 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



book, they came across the picture of the Savior 
on the cross. The woman knelt down and for 
some time seemed to be praying, then she told 
her daughter the story of the crucifixion. I 
could not understand a word she said, but by the 
moaning of the daughter and the look of conster- 
nation on her face 1 think the mother's descrip- 
tion must have been very good. She showed 
how the nails were driven in the hands and feet, 
the crown of sharp thorns pressed upon the brow, 
the spear thrust in the side and the blood flowing 
away. I would liked to have talked to her to 
ascertain if she really understood that the par- 
doning blood was shed for her, but could not. 
There were several tribes of Indians in the Puget 
sound country and each tribe seemed to be at 
enmity with all the rest. It was a common 
occurrence for one Indian to kill another Indian. 
The white people never molested them in this 
lawlessness among themselves. When an Indian 
had been killed one of his friends would kill one 
of the murderer's friends, never being particular 
to get the guilty one, thus keeping all the 
Indians in perpetual fear for their lives. We 
have frequently seen an Indian "poling" his 
canoe up the river, sounding the death cry which 
would seem to echo from hill to hill, and cause 
every Indian's face to blanch, for he knew 
when he heard that cry that at least one of his 
friends was dead. 

They lived principally on dried salmon, these 
Indians, which was also legal tender with them. 
They did not bury their dead in the ground, but 
built platforms upon poles and laid their dead up 
to decay, or else put them in old canoes and ran 
the boats off into the brush. One of their plat- 
form resting places was on Sky-you island, and 
a lot of their skeletons rested in old canoes at 
the mouth of the Batey slough. All of the old 
Indians had flat heads. They thought that they 
would not be bright if their heads were not 
pressed or bound to a board when they were 
infants. Usually a "potlatch" was held once a 
year. Sometimes there would be several hun- 
dred Indians in attendance and usually several 
would be killed before their jubilee broke up. 
At a "potlatch" the Indian who could give away 
the most presents would be chief the ensuing- 
year. 

One July afternoon, when I was out picking 
strawberries in the garden an Indian that I sup- 
posed to be at the Potlatch gathering called and 
asked for milk for his babe. He was quite 
excited, told me his wife was dead, had been 
poisoned at the gathering; how, several years 
before, her parents sold her to a Siwash she 
did not love. She ran away frotn that man and 
came and was his wife. How she was lying on 
her back at daybreak in their tent at the Potlatch 
when her first man came and poured something 
down her throat. She was soon taken with con- 
vulsions and died. Then the Indian said, "Me 



kill him." I said, "Oh, no, I wouldn't do that." 
He showed me his dirk knife which he carried in 
his belt, and said, "Me did kill him. Siwashes 
all stand around in big circle: in less than an 
hour me had him all cttt up." I gave him the 
milk, but as the babe had never seen milk before 
he would not touch it. 

Wild animals were quite plentiful; frequently 
the deer tracks along the trail would look like a 
flock of sheep had been there, and many were the 
venison dinners we used to have. One morning 
we found a fawn running with the calves in the 
yard. Pheasants were very numerous, often 
thirty or forty in a flock. When Mr. Brown used 
to take down the gun to kill them to fry for 
breakfast I would say, "Now don't kill more 
than five or six for you know they will waste." 
Bruin's tracks were all around in the cattle trails. 
We used to see them occasionally, but they 
would always run, and never did us any harm. 
Mr. A'an Fleet killed several of them, but he can 
tell the bear stories better than I can. 

Wildcats and hawks were a constant menace 
to our chickens. After being bothered several 
months I concluded to try to shoot them myself, 
and have had the pleasure of seeing many a 
pheasant and hawk drop at the report of my 
shotgun, but can only boast of killing one wild- 
cat. The cat would come every day and take a 
chicken or two until half our flock was gone. Mr. 
Van Fleet would leave his work and watch for the 
cat by the hour, when, off in another direction, a 
chicken would squall. Finally, one morning 
when his patience was exhausted, he asked me 
to watch while he went to Mount Vernon after- 
strychnine to poison him with. All day long in 
the hot sun I sat and watched a log which 
spanned the creek. A large hawk came and lit 
on a stub over my head, which was too big a 
temptation. I fired, but missed him. Quite 
indignant with myself I loaded the gun, thinking 
that I would be a great one to shoot at a wild- 
cat. But about sundown, happening to look 
toward the house, T saw the wildcat sitting par- 
tiallj' behind a stump watching me. I walked 
up to within two rods of the stump, then paused, 
when the cat came slowly creeping forth from the 
other side of the stump. I took a step so I could 
see more of him and said to myself, "Mr. Wild- 
cat I own a few of those chickens," and fired. 
My little girl then came running down and cried, 
"Oh ! mamma! you have killed the wildcat. Oh ! 
don't he look frightful, though?" Yes, our 
trouble was ended. I ran with my little girl to 
the nearest neighbors, a half a mile away, for- 
getting in my excitement to leave the gun at 
home, which quite frightened Mrs. Benson as we 
rushed in. "I have killed the cat," I cried. 
"Oh, good!" was her reply. They came back 
up with us and George Benson, then a lad of 12 
years of age, hauled it to the house for us. The 
strychnine, however, came handy to use to poison 



REMINISCENCES 



the cougars that came for our hogs. But for 
fear 1 am writing for the waste basket I will 
change the subject. 

We still have an agreement paper which reads 
as follows: 

"Dec. 2, 1884. 

"We, the undersigned, do agree to give two 
days' work on the road between Batey's home- 
stead house and the Van Fleet bridge in road 
district No. 29. Emmett Van Fleet, Charles 
Wicker, Will Mitchell, George Benson, G. O. 
Wicker, William Woods, David Batey, W. A. 
Dunlap, A. Johnson, E. M. Barnes, J. Greenhagen, 
August Poke, G. W. Wiseman." 

They did the first work on that section of the 
road after the surveying was done by Mr. 
Savage. In 1883 a school district was established 
at Sterling, which included the new Sedro- 
Woolley and Wilson districts. Mr. Batey, Mr. 
D. Benson and Mr. Van Fleet were appointed 
directors, and Mr. Smithson clerk. Miss Eva 
Wallace began the first school, which was fin- 
ished by Miss Turner. In 1886 the district was 
divided and the Sedro district formed, which 
included the Wilson district. Mrs. Ira Brown 
went around with a subscription paper and 
received one hundred and fifty dollars in a day 
and a half to furnish material for the new school- 
house. The work on the biiilding was also 
donated, and Miss Fairy Cook employed as 
teacher. Rev. Mcilillan delivered the first ser- 
mon in Sterling, Rev. Dobbs in Sedro. 

^lortimer Cook came among us in 1884, 
employed Mr. Batey to build a residence and 
store, and made arrangements to apply for a 
postoffice and christen the place "Bug." 

I did not like the name, so persuaded several 
of our neighbor women to go with me, and talk 
to Mr. Cook about it. We found him seated (m 
a pile of lumber, whittling. We told him we had 
lived here several years in peace and quiet and 
had come to protest against his calling the new 
postoffice "Bug." After scratching his head 
a while he remarked, "Don't suppose you 
ladies will sign my petition for the postoffice 
then?" I replied, "Never. How our letters 
would look addressed to ' Bug ! ' " He said that he 
had just received a letter from his wife in Santa 
Barbara; that she didn't like the name and was 
afraid it would soon be changed to "Humbug;" 
further, that she didn't think she would come 
until the place had a better name. 

"Well," he said, "seeing Bug doesn't suit 
the ladies the name shall be changed." The 
next time I saw him he asked how the name 
Sedro would do, said it was the Spanish word for 
"cedar." We all thought it a very good name so 
our postoffice was named Sedro. I sometimes 
wonder if our town would now be called Bug- 
WooUey had the name not been changed. Mr. 
Cook also built and operated the first shingle 
mill in Skagit county. His wife and two daugh- 



ters came in June, 1885, and were the first 
women to reside in Sedro proper. But the work 
done by Mr. Cook, like Mr. Ball's work in Ster- 
ling, is fast being obliterated. 

And so methought 'twill quickly be 
With every mark on earth of me; 
A wave of dark oblivion's sea 

Will sweep across the place 
Where I have trod the sandy shore 
Of time, and been to be no more— 
Of me, my day, the name I bore. 

And leave no track or trace. 
Sedro-WooUey, Dec. 10, 1000. 

SOME UPPER STILL.4GUAMISH HISTORY 

During a Fourth of July address, delivered 
many years ago, it was Charles Sprague who 
said: "Not many years ago where you now sit, 
surrounded by all that exalts and embellishes 
civilized life, the rank thistle nodded in the wind, 
and the wild fox dug his hole unscared * * * * 
and the Indian lover wooed his dusky maid." 

This eloquent sentiment well applies to the 
Stillaguamish valley so far as the dog salmon- 
scented Siwash amorita are concerned, but the 
rank thistle came with the thrifty Canadian and 
the wild fox was not in evidence at all. 

Until the year 1884 the North Fork of the 
Stillaguamish River was called "Starve-Out- 
Valle_v, " for the reason that up to that time all 
the settlers were bachelors, who went in with 
packs of blankets and provisions, and by the time 
that a shake shanty had been built, a few trees 
had been cut, the "last bit of bacon was in the 
pan, fried," the last batch of sour dough was 
baked on the coals in a cedar board fireplace, the 
pack-strap settler hailed a passing Siwash canoe 
and went to Stanwood for another pack of sup- 
plies. Many never returned and the places were 
taken by others, who in time abandoned them. 
And thus the hopeful bachelor came and the 
hungry bachelor went until a woman demon- 
strated that a human being could not only exist 
on the products of the North Fork, but' could 
live there for eighteen years and grow stouter all 
the time. Historians have been too loud in their 
praises of what the forefathers have done, and 
far too silent in their hints that the foremothers 
were there. The womanless settlement of 
Jamestown was abandoned by the faint-hearted 
men. Some turned pirates and some wanted to 
burn the town; while at Plymouth, where the 
Pilgrims landed on a frozen shore, where but 
seven persons were able to nurse the sick and 
bury the dead, and where they dug more graves 
than they builded houses — not a faint-hearted 
Pilgrim returned with the Mayflower in the 
spring, because the women were there. 

On the first day of March, 1884, Mr. and :\Irs. 
Collingwood, Ed. Fisher and a Mr. Parks pitched 
their tents at the McEwan place, three miles up 
the North Fork, and took possession of an aban- 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



doned bachelor cabin. They had been taken up 
the river in a canoe by Siwash John Friday and 
his kloochman and reached the place the third 
day after leaving Stanwood. That night a heavy 
snow fell and the next day the men began to cut 
a heavy trail to Mr. Collingwood's homestead 
claim, three miles to the westward, which 
required eleven days. Then the cabin was built, 
the supplies packed in and Mrs. Collingwood — 
the first white woman of the North Fork — took 
her canine body guard, "Shep," and moved into 
her first forest home. Mr. Parks located on the 
D. S. Baker place, and during the summer James 
McCuUough took up the claim that is now occu- 
pied by the river a mile west of Cooper's shingle 
mill, and George Moore located the present 
Brazelton place and relinquished it to that family 
a year later. 

On the fourth of July, 1884, a picnic was held 
at Kent's place, on the prairie that bears his 
name. Tliose present were Mr. and Mrs. Kent, 
Mrs. Kent's father and mother, Ed. Lewis and 
wife, Mr. and Mrs. Condent who lived on the 
present Armstrong place, and two fruit tree 
agents. The household of Collingwood was 
invited, but Ed. Fisher went to Stanwood to 
work for Chilly Pete, while the others accepted 
the invitation, and when they were yet a great 
way off, Mr. Condent, who was a Mormon 
preacher, went and killed the fatted calf (which 
in this case was a fatted lamb), and there were 
feasting and sack races. 

During August of that year the Collingwoods 
commuted the homestead and moved to the place 
now occupied by Mrs. Collingwood, taking it as 
a pre-emption. Here she and "Shep" lived for a 
week in a half-finished house, while Mr. Colling- 
wood was running a threshing machine on the 
Stanwood Flats, and the working men were 
away building cabins on their claims. 

The year 1884 brought a number of claim- 
takers. Among them were Jay Lock, who 
helped Mr. Collingwood clear a garden spot, 
and James Shields, who located the Hildebrand 
place. Mrs. Collingwood helped him to build his 
cabin, which is still standing just below the rail- 
road bridge, across the river from the Harmon}' 
schoolhouse. 

Christ Fisher located the (Confederate) John 
Hamilton place; John Jerro the Fox place; 
Allen & Hubbard the Grant place; Timothy 
Ryan the Dixon place, and Dan McMillan the 
place where Mr. Hayton now lives. The follow- 
ing January Mr. McMillan was married in Seattle 
and while making a thirty-mile wedding tour on 
foot, after leaving the steamer at Stanwood, they 
were benighted on the island below Silvana and 
camped in a hollow stump. Mr. Hildebrand 
located on the Setzer place in 1886, which he 
soon abandoned, and bought out Jim Shields. 
After continuous residence and somewhat exten- 
sive improvement he died there in 189G. 



Malachi Ryan located the place that he still 
owns, in May, 1885, and the same year John Han- 
cock located the Frailey place, William Connors 
the upper Hayton place and John C. Ward the 
place that is now owned by Harley Aldridge. 
Mrs. Hancock died suddenly in the summer of 
1887, and her body was taken in a canoe to 
Stanwood for burial. 

In February, 1886, D. S. Baker, then living 
on White River, saw a letter in the P. -I., writ- 
ten by James McCullough, in which he extolled 
the Stillaguamish valley as the home-hunters' 
haven, but suggested that "picnic settlers were 
not wanted. " The next day he met Mr. Parks, 
bought his claim and moved from Tacoma to 
Florence in a sailboat. Thence he came up the 
river in a canoe, landing on the 1st day of March. 
He was elected county commissioner in 1888, and 
four years later, like one of Old Mother Goose's 
thrifty heroes, having stored his larder shelves 
with a surplus of bread and cheese, he went to 
London, or rather, to Litchfield, Minnesota, and 
got him a wife. 

The year 1886 brought the McEwans, but 
recently from Scotland; Thomas Jefl:erson, 
Hiram Monty, the Fox brothers. Christ Christer- 
son, who took the abandoned Grant place; Mr. 
Richards, George Morrison, who took the 
Aldridge claim; Fabian Sorrial (the Old French- 
man) took the place where Joe Hollongsworth now 
lives and carried fruit trees on his back from Stan- 
wood to his claim, thirty-five miles away. He was 
a soldier in the Army of the Potomac, and is now 
in the Washington Soldiers' Home at Orting. 
The same year, J. H. Armstrong took the claim 
that is now the town site of Oso, and John D. 
Wilson, another bachelor located his present place. 
Three years later, Mrs. Jessie Wilson and her 
three girls came, and like prudent and practical 
people, they each proved up a homestead and 
then married. 

In January, 1887, Captain Oliver and Mr. 
and Mrs. Dixon, having bought the Tim Ryan 
claim, landed in the snow from a Siwash canoe, 
and in April the lies were canoed to the mouth of 
the Pilchuck, having bought the Armstrong 
claim. The same month William Aldridge, the 
pioneer of the Kansas colony, arrived and took 
the abandoned Morrison claim, and was speedily 
followed by Robert Wheeler, Ed. HoUoway, 
John Renfro and L. C. Prather, John Grant, 
Henry Frailey, who bought the Hancock place; 
John Burch, J. W. Kern, I. B. Yancil and 
Thomas Bond. The advance guard of the Michi- 
gan settlers came the same year, including the 
Damons and the Lillies, the Ciceros, the Stevens, 
Martin Everett and C. A. Hudson, who came in 
1889. 

On April 21st of that year, Leroy Fry and 
his family reached his present homestead in a 
canoe and had to stand in it and cut the brush 
before he could find room to land and pitch his 



REMINISCENCES 



tent. After he had paid the Indians he had sixty 
cents left and was four hundred dollars in debt. 
Now he has a fine farm and a big house, comes 
to town with his big team, has a railroad station 
just across the river and "money to burn." So 
much for Stillaguamish thrift. 

In 1.SS8, Daniel and Hector McKilligan and 
Joe Ferguson established a logging camp on the 
South Fork, and the next year the McKilligans 
took claims adjoining John D. Wilson's. It was 
while the same firm was logging these lands in 
LSflO, that Mr. Daniel McKilligan lost his life by 
being struck by a flying cable. 

The summer of ISIIT brought two canoe loads 
of real "picnic settlers" from Kansas City. The 
women were gowned in silk and were beribboned 
and befeathered. The men wore silk hats, 
Prince Albert coats and kid gloves. They 
camped on the Emerson place, built half of a 
house, and one day they hailed a fleet of Siwash 
canoes and floated down to tide-water, with 
mildewed hopes and fallen feathers. 

With this year a series of fatal accidents 
began. John Sandberg, John Nordwell and 
Charles Johnson were in a canoe near the Baker 
place, when it split on a snag and Mr. Sandberg 
was carried under a drift and drowned. His 
body was found some months later in a slough 
on Jim Dorsey's place. In April, 1888, Mr. 
Vancil, Miss Aldridge, Miss Wheeler and Miss 
Thompson were drowned at the mouth of the 
Pilchuck by the overturning of a canoe. The 
bodies were all recovered, the last, that of Mr. 
Vancil, having been found at the Grant place, 
four miles from the place of the accident. The 
fall of 1889, T. D. Lillie was killed at the Hamil- 
ton place by a falling tree. 

Charles Sandberg came and took his dead 
brother's claim and the next year went to Seattle 
and brought his bride. Mr. and Mrs. Setzer 
having boiight the Henry Monty claim, arrived 
there on May 14, 1888, having walked from 
Stanwood, Mr. Setzer carrying a two-year-old 
girl in a gunny sack on his back, and another, 
six months old, in his arms. The burning tim- 
ber drove them out of the trail at the Fox place 
and they got lost in the woods. Mr. Barr came 
this year, and also Mr. George Esterbrook, who 
bought the McCullough claim; and Mr. Sipprell 
who located adjoining it on the east. The 
Trafton schoolhouse was built in the fall of 1887, 
Mrs. Jefferson, nee Dennis, being the first 
teacher, and the Oso schoolhouse the next spring. 
Mrs. Emerson, nee Johnson, taught the first 
term. She was brought from Stanwood in a 
canoe by W. H. Connors and a Siwash. 

During the summer of 1S89, a wagon trail was 
opened from Stanwood to "The Forks," as this 
locality was then called, and Bert Crawford ran 
a tri-weekly wagon line to Gifford's camp, near 
Mr. Sill's house and Tvete & Johnson's store in 
the log building that is still standing near Mr. 



Sill's barn. At this time, Mr. Likens built a 
blacksmith shop across the river from Ford's 
mill, and in the fall Lee Rogers built the White 
House Hotel, on Indian Gardner's land, on the 
point between the two branches of the river, the 
railroad preliminary survey having been made 
and there being other symptoms of a town. 

At the election in October of this year that 
adopted the state constitution, the people of the 
county voted to issue eighty thousand dollars in 
bonds for the purpose of building bridges, 
including one over the South Fork and another 
over the North Fork at Hildebrand's, but owing 
to a legal doubt the bonds were not issued until 
the case was passed upon by the superior court, 
four years later, and the bridges were built in 
1894. 

During all this time the settlers were holding 
their claims by "squatters' rights" solely, the 
land never having been surveyed by the govern- 
ment. Numerous petitions asking for a survey 
had been sent to Washington city, and as many 
indefinite promises had been received, but it was 
not until the fall of 1890 that George James, of 
Snohomish, came into the woods with a contract 
to plat Townships 5 and 7 on the North Fork. 
Then a long year went by before the survey was 
inspected and then another tedious wait until it 
was accepted and the Seattle Land Office author- 
ized to accept filings on claims. 

In 1888 a special postoffice was established at 
McCullough 's — special in the sense that the 
department did not furnish a carrier. The set- 
tlers took turns in bringing the mail from Still- 
aguamish (now Silvana) postoffice, kept by Iver 
Johnson. The mail came once a week. The 
name of the new oflSce was Glendale, but the mail 
for it, Glendale, Oregon, and Glendive, Montana, 
got mixed so often that the name was changed 
to Trafton after Mr. Esterbrook took the office. 
The next year, Allen postoffice was established 
at Mr. Bond's house at Pilchuck, named in honor 
of John B. Allen, who had been elected delegate 
to congress. About that time a boom town near 
Tacoma was named Allyn, and Oso was substi- 
tuted in place of Allen for the name of the 
office. 

In the spring of 1892 a representative of the 
proposed Monte Cristo railroad secured contracts 
for right-of-way as far as the Pilchuck, paying 
twenty-five cents as the first payment for each 
contract, and although a viewing engineer went 
over the route, it was never surveyed. Soon 
afterward a preliminary surveying party of the 
Great Northern came through Indian pass and 
down the river, but all that it left to prop up our 
fallen hopes were some mysteriously marked 
stakes. 



Mr. Baker brought the first organ on the North Fork 
in a canoe. 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



Mr. Brazelton brought up the first farm wagon — in a 
canoe. 

Mr. Collingwood brought up the first cow and calf, 
fording and swimming them from bar to bar in the 
river, there being no trail that they could travel. 

Mr. Setzer preached the first funeral sermon, over the 
body of John Sandberg, and instituted the Sunday school. 

Captain Oliver was the first justice of the peace and 
officiated at the first wedding, the second marriage of Mr. 
and Mrs. Brazelton, after they had been married for thirty 
years. The court-hnuse and the record of their marriage 
had been burned ami thty wanted a record to exist. 

A man named Ketcheni laid the foundation for a store 
at Pilchuck, in 1889, and then went down the river and was 
never heard of again. 

The Baker Brothers opened the first store at Oso in 
the spring of 1891. It was sold to Carroll & Moore in 1893, 
and they added a hotel and feed stable. 

The Wana postoffice (named in honor of Postmaster 
General Wanamaker)was established at Mr. Frailey's in 1892, 
and lasted until the roads were improved and bridges built. 

Hiram Monty was the first high constable on the 
North Fork. 

The Harmony School District was established in 1892, 
the first term was held in John Fox's house (since burned). 
The teacher was Miss Amelia Bond. 

Mr. Baker was the first county officer elected on the 
North Fork. The second was Mr. Dixon, who was elected 
county superintendent of schools in 1890, and the third was 
John McEwan, county assessor from 1895 to 1897. 

The first wagon that went in on its own wheels was 
taken up by Mr. Thurston in the fall of 1889. He held the 
claim above the Hildebrand bridge on the south side of the 
river. The river at present occupies most of the ground. 

Henry Hayden took the first buggy up the river as far 
as Oso on Memorial Day, 1891. He drove from Fir on 
the Skagit river with Miss Jennie Grant. The South Fork 
was so deep that the horse swam, and the buggy was 
carried across in a canoe. 

Wire foot-bridges were strung across the Pilchuck 
river at Oso in 1891, and another at Hildebrand's in 1893. 
When the wagon bridge was built it was moved to the 
site nf Cooper's mill. 

In June, 1887, the writer landed from ofif the steamer 
City of Quincy at Stanwood, lodged at Mrs. McLaugh- 
land's hotel, where he met Mrs. Collingwood who had 
been brought from the claim in a canoe intending to go to 
a Seattle hospital. She was put under treatment and 
advised to remain under the care of Mrs. McLaughland. 
The next day Mr. Collingwood and the writer walked to 
the McEwan place over a trail that was lost a half dozen 
times. Two weeks later the writer went down the river in 
a canoe with Malachi Ryan and Hugh McGavet (now 
deceased) and picked up Neal Brown on the way. His 
second advent on the river was in September, 1889, when 
he came up on Crawford's so-called stage, was put down 
at "The Forks" at dark, supped on canned goods and 
crackers from Tvete & Johnson's store and slept in his 
hammock that was hung on Liken's blacksmith shop, and 
then went over the trail and took a pre-emption claim about 
half a mile above the site of the Hildebrand bridge. 

Time does not permit this sketch to cover events later 
than 1890 when the railroad was built, for the people came 
so numerously after that that it is impossible to mention 
all. We have yet to mention two unusual instances of the 
inherent fortitude of women. Mrs. Shafifer moved on a 
homestead claim twenty-five miles from "The Forks," and 
never came out of the woods until final proof was made 
five years after. Mrs. McEwan went up the river in 1886 
and did not come down again until 1897. During that 
eleven years the railroad came and a town grew up within 
three miles of her home. 

During the eighteen years that have gone since the 
first family began to make a home on the North Fork, fate 
has brought many misfortunes and time has brought 
many blessings ; and, yet, it may be questioned if the fine 
flour and the porterhouse is quite as palatable to the old 



settler as were sour dough and salt bacon to the pioneer 
because it was seasoned with hope. 

• W. F. Oliver. 
Arlington, Washington, July 4, 1902. 

SCRAPS FROM A PIONEER'S DIARY 

Bv O. B. IVERSON 

Editor Tidings: — To fulfill a rash promise 
made during my Christmas visit to Stanwood I 
send you an account of the discovery of the 
Stillaguamish by the Norsemen in 1876. I state 
it this way because I, Columbus-like, lay claim 
to being a discoverer, being the first of that tribe 
to navigate the waters of the now so fainous 
Stillaguamish. True there were a few individ- 
uals from Maine and other places who had some- 
how stumbled into the country, and some natives 
who had "growed" there. This, however, does 
not affect the validity of ni}' claim to discovery 
any more than the fact of previous discovery 
affects the validity of the discovery of Christo- 
pher Columbus, Esq. 

August 3, 1870, an expedition under com- 
mand of Ross P. Shoecraft, United States deputy 
surveyor, left the capital of Washington in the 
sloop Albatross, Captain Budlong. A rumor had 
reached the ear of the government that up north 
somewhere a large river with the euphonius 
name of Stolucwahmish discharged its turbid 
waters into Puget sound, Port Susan bay or 
Behring sea. 

Commander Shoecraft carried instructions 
from the government to find this river, determine 
latitude and longitude, note topographic, cliinatic 
and hydrographic conditions, and incidentally to 
survey and mark the boundaries of seventy-two 
square miles of land. This being a United States 
scientific expedition it was of course equipped 
with the usual instrumentsfor such work and with 
much more than usual talent. 

In order to make this history fully intelligible 
to the reader I take the liberty in the beginning 
to introduce the personnel of the expedition and 
sketch in outline their characteristics and special 
qualifications. Ross P. Shoecraft, C. E., from 
Boston, United States, America, a scientist of 
eminent executive ability, held the general com- 
mand. Professor Washington P. Frazier, of South 
Bay, Washington, second in command, was a sci- 
entist of wonderful attainments. He was not only 
an A. C. but an L. L. D., M. D., D. D., Ph. D. or 
any other combination you might fancy to put up. 
I think he could speak any language spoken by 
men and some others. He said he could under- 
stand the crows, and I have good evidence to 
believe that he did. He did understand the 
natives and I could detect no difference between 
their speech and that of the crows. In short our 
professor knew and could do about everything — 
anything he did not know was something which 
had long been forgotten — he was the most trans- 



REMINISCENCES 



cendent universal genius that could safely be 
allowed to run at large. James McFadden, a 
good engineer and a good fellow. The writer was 
selected because of his innocence, having lately 
arrived from Dakota and being therefore entirely 
innocent of knowledge of Pacific coast conditions, 
hence qualified to give unbiased judgments. 

This completes the official part of the expe- 
dition. There were, however, Tom, Sam, Jim, 
Bud (they may have had additional names to 
me unknown), who will be duly noted as the 
account progresses. 

Anchor lifted at nine A. M. and before a very 
light breeze drifted out of the picturesque harbor 
of Olympia. About nine P. M. left Olympia 
harbor and entered Danas passage twelve miles 
from Olympia having sailed at the comfortable 
speed of about a mile an hour. We compli- 
mented the captain on the speed of the vessel. 
Through Danas passage the tide currents ran 
about six miles an hour and the light breeze gave 
barely steerage way, without rufflng the water 
in the least. It was smooth as glass and the 
minutest details of the wooded shores were 
reflected on the glassy surface. To my inexperi- 
ence it seemed like sailing through space between 
two worlds, one of them bottom side up. As it 
grew darker a phenomenon to me altogether new 
appeared. The phosphorescence in the water 
curling at the bow and the wake of the boat was 
luminous, and looking into the depths I could see 
fish large and small darting in every direction 
leaving luminous zig-zag streaks like pale streaks 
of lightning. I pointed out to the company this 
wonderful phenomenon, and remarked that it 
seemed to me that we were riding a comet with 
a fiery head and tail through a thunderstorm. I 
was told that if I did not get better before we 
passed Steilacoom (where there is an insane 
asylum) they would have to land me. 

We landed at Johnson's point for supper. 
This promontory with a sand-spit at its foot was 
inhabited by Dogfish Johnson, an American by 
birth, and Kanaka John from sunny Hawaii. 
Their major and minor responsibilities were 
enjoying themselves digging and cooking clams, 
and rolling in the sand. Verily life on Puget 
sound is idyllic. Here I first made the important 
discovery that the clam is a sort of sea potato and 
had to be dug. I asked the professor if the clam 
was classed as a vegetable, whereupon he 
remarked that he didn't think it advisable to 
take me past Steilacoom. 

The professor had a tin of alcohol aboard, for 
scientific purposes of course. Jim, 1 think, had 
found it in landing and tapped it and of course 
divided it among the other unofificials, and before 
supper there were none but the officers sober 
enough to cook. The professor understood at 
once whence this hilarity. He said he didn't 
care for the alcohol, as he could replenish at 
Seattle, but he feared it might not agree with 



the boys, as he had just poured it otf of some 
tarantulas and centipedes and a gilamonster he 
had collected in Arizona, explaining that it had 
not been sufficiently diluted and had dissolved his 
specimens, for which he was sorry. Well, it did 
not agree with the boys, nor stay with them, and 
it took along when it left them about all the boys 
contained. Afterward the professor told me in 
confidence that he had bought the alcohol at 
Manns' drug store just before we left Olympia 
and that the gilamonster and other reptiles were 
a myth. He said it was a fine demonstration of 
the power of imagination. 

August 4th, 7 A. M. — Fair and delightfully 
cool. The cooked provisions used up, we made 
the discovery that we had no trained cook. Jim, 
who was relieved of his portion of the gilamon- 
ster first, seemed the most fit, and was duly 
installed with ceremony. Jim meant well but he 
had no experience or cook book. The professor, 
however, knew everything and gave Jim a lec- 
ture on slapjacks. He explained that cream 
tartar, an acid, and soda, an alkali, mixed in 
flour and water would combine and form carbonic 
acid gases and puff up the flour like a sponge. 
After the stuff was sufficiently puffed he was to 
spoon it into a frypan, heat one side, flap it and 
heat the other side until done. With these 
instructions Jim waded in. 

Among the provisions we had some very 
unique bacon. We could never know by the 
sense of taste whether it was fish or flesh. It 
was neither or both. The swine whose remains 
had furnished the raw material had led a sort of 
vagabond existence on the sea shore, living 
chiefly on sea food, hence the fish quality. The 
flesh quality was probably due to heredity. But 
there could be no mistaking the fat fried from 
this bacon. It was fish oil pure and simple. To 
distinguish it from other fish oils we named it 
hog-fish oil, thus adding item No. 1 to the 
vocabulary. 

We were pretty hungry and Jim's first flap- 
jack looked pretty good. It was more, it was 
beautiful. A shining golden yellow disk turned 
out of the pan. But, alas, it was not edible. 
The professor tried and he said it tasted like 
whale-oil soap. It was not a slapjack, so we named 
it soapjack. (Item No. 2.) Poor hungry Bud 
dolefully remarked that all is not gold that 
glitters. The originality of this remark was 
highly applauded. The professor and McFadden 
made some edible slapjacks and we filled our 
persons and proceeded on the voyage. 

We passed the narrow strait between McNeal 
and Wallace islands just at sunrise. Across the 
bay, about five miles distant, extending from the 
shore up a gentle slope lay Steilacoom, a strug- 
gling village of white houses among the orchards, 
with background of a dark purplish green forest 
of young firs. Back of this fir belt to the Cascade 
mountains the country was shrouded in a fleecy. 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



white mist, pierced by the great ice cone of 
Mount Rainier. The first rays of the rising sun 
began to tinge the deep blue into pale amber, 
illuminating the outlines of the cone, leaving its 
broad front in partial shadow. It seemed very 
near, details on its face being plainly visible. 
Presently the margins turned golden, the shad- 
ows purple, the golden flood of light rolling 
down the slope, dissipating the mist, down the 
sleepy slope of Steilacoom, over the bay, turning 
the light ripples on the water into all the colors 
of the prism and all the shades these colors can 
produce, giving a picture of such sublimity and 
beauty as few mortals have beheld, and when the 
professor spoke about getting out his colors he 
was at once notified that if he did he would be 
landed at Steilacoom at once. 



August 6th, 4 P. M.— From the middle of 
Port Susan bay we sighted the spruce covered 
lowlands near the mouth of the Stillaguamish. 
Light wind and unfavorable tide delayed us until 
it was quite dark when we entered, as we 
thought, the channel of the river. The weather 
was sultry with occasional flashes of lightning. 
We soon discovered that the current was against 
us and it being dead calm we got out and manned 
the sweeps to propel the Albatross up the stream. 
It was so dark that we could not see the low 
shores, but we could see a large snag nearby and 
it soon became evident that we were practically 
stationary. We double-manned the sweeps, 
still the snag seemed to stay by us. It was now 
quite dark and losing sight of that spectrous 
snag, we worked the sweeps with renewed 
energy. About this time I think it was Sam who 
noticed a peculiar grating, crackling sound com- 
ing from the jib stay which was wire. The pro- 
fessor undertook to account for it from the fact 
that there was considerable electricity in the 
atmosphere and that it was playing hocus-pocus 
in the rigging. * * * * Presently the water 
left us, and finding our craft fast on a sand bar 
we took in the sweeps. The electrical disturb- 
ance also subsided and all being tired we went to 
sleep. 

August 7th, 7 A. M. — On a sand bar in the 
middle of Davis slough with the mast against the 
telegraph wire which was strung across the 
slough. How much energy we used up on this 
wire in labor and scare will never be known, but 
the electric phenomenon was accounted for. 

As the boat was safely moored for several 
hours until the return of the tide all the party 
except Captain Budlong started for Centerville 
(now Stanwood) across the flats. After jumping 
or otherwise crossing several channels we were 
about half way across the flats, when the profes- 
sor, who was in the rear, called lustily for help. 
He had disappeared, that is, mostcf him had. 
Only his intellectual head appeared in the grass. 



He explained that he had fallen into a blind 
slough and was stuck. We pulled him out, 
together with a quantity of rich gray loam. Soon 
we came to the river channel where it forks 
(Leque's point) and after considerable expendi- 
ture of voice and wind. Bob Freeman, represent- 
ing the authorities, came across in a boat and 
offered us the freedom of the city. We accepted 
and embarked with him and about 9 A. M., 
August 7, 1S76, we took possession of the 
metropolis on the Stillaguamish. We were not 
entrusted with the keys of the city, I think 
because there were no locks. 

The problem of transportation we solved 
ultimately by employing a native with the poetic 
name of Slit-lip Jim, who owned a number of 
shovel-nose canoes and several squaws. We 
transferred our freight and passengers from the 
Albatross to a couple of large shovel noses. 
Pointing their problematical prows up stream, 
propelled by squaw power, we left the metropolis 
behind. I said up stream which was not true at 
that moment, although an hour before it had 
been. This seemed uncanny but from previous 
experience I had become wise enough to say 
nothing about what I thought of this strange 
river that chose to defy the law of gravity and 
flow up streaiTi half of the time. 

August 7, 187() — About dark we came to the 
big jam about six miles up the river. Here again 
was something to rivet the attention of the inno- 
cent from Dakota. The river at this point was 
about one hundred yards wide, but the water was 
out of sight. A mass of trees, logs, stumps and 
brush and all imaginable kinds of drift filled the 
river from bank to bank for more than half a mile. 
Immense forest giants three hundred feet long 
and ten to nineteen feet in diameter with all the 
limbs and with roots spreading forty feet or 
more, lying crosswise, lengthwise and at all 
angles locked and matted together, it seemed 
that nothing but an earthquake could disturb it. 
It seemed to be built on the plan of a crow's nest 
exactly and knowing that it would now be incon- 
venient to take me to Steilacoom I ventured to 
ask the professor if he was sure that it was not 
the work of pre-historic crows. He said he was, 
but it was unfair to ask such questions after we 
got beyond civilization. On shore alongside the 
jam was a narrow trail over which we hauled the 
canoes and carried the baggage. About dark it 
commenced to rain and before the portage was 
made we were thoroughly wet. However, we 
got up a shelter tent and after the exercise we 
had making the portage and a not especially rich 
supper, we went to sleep as tired men with good 
consciences and digestions only can. 

August 8th — Rain. Just above the jam the river 
runs rapid among snags. With the passengers 
aboard the canoes are too heavily loaded to navi- 
gate this box of water. The professor took com- 
mand of the fleet and we became land forces. We 



REMINISCENCES 



467 



had only about four miles along the bank to go to 
the next jam just above the south slough and by 
very strenuous labor we got there before dark. We 
got aboard the canoes and went a short distance 
up south slough and made a portage across a 
narrow strip of land between the slough and the 
river above the jam (about where tlie G. N. R. 
R. bridge now is) and camped on this point Aug- 
ust Sth. 

August 9th — River running yellow and too 
full of drift to navigate — steady downpour — con- 
cluded to wait and let the river clear some. Only 
feared that at the rate tlie drift was coming the 
river would jam up to its head before the flood 
went down. * * * 

August 10th — Still raining but less drift in 
the river. Launched the shovel noses above the 
jam and proceeded up stream. 1 am now informed 
that we are above the influences of the tide and 
that above this point the Stillaguamish, like any 
civilized river, runs down stream. We had very 
tangible evidence directly as whole rafts of drift 
bore down on us and we had to hug the bank 
behind a snag to let it pass. I never saw more 
tangible evidence. In the afternoon we arrived 
at the mouth of the Pilchuck which was free of 
drift and we made harbor. This is our initial 
point for the survey. 

August 11th — Our point of beginning the 
survey is near the mouth of the Pilchuck. Dur- 
ing the night we had just enough clear sky to 
get a pole star observation and we established a 
meridian about fifty feet long, into a crab apple 
jungle. Next morning we got some good exer- 
cise cutting through it. Crab apple is hard and 
tough and the trees were growing about as thick 
as they could stand and were twisted and matted 
together so that it was impossible to get them 
down after they were cut. We simply had to 
cut a tunnel. It took two hours to cut three 
hundred feet of line. This jungle terminated in 
a swamp with about two feet of water and two 
hundred feet more or less of mud. We bridged 
across this swamp by piling brush into it and 
arrived at the foot of a steep hill. This hillside 
was completely covered with fallen timber and 
progress on the ground being impossible we took 
the chipmunk route. Each man carried a pack 
of fifty pounds or more and the exercise we got 
on this aerial ascent was decidedly of the stren- 
uous kind. About half way up the hill Jim 
slipped and fell, Jim on one side of the log he 
was walking, and his pack on the other. There 
he hung about twenty feet from the ground. 
The remarks the boys made to poor, hung-up, 
helpless Jim were scandaloiis. Bud said he 
looked like the decorations on a mining camp 
clothes line and suggested that he be left until 
dry. Sam said he looked like a horse thief in the 
last act. But Jim being cook, we had to have 
him, and after some maneuvering we got him 
separated from his pack and hoisted back on the 



elevated, and after ten minutes more balancing 
we arrived on terra firma, at the top of the hill. 

From this point we have a magnificent view 
of the valley of the Stillaguamish. Southward 
across a sea of tree tops the view is bounded in 
the far distance by the horizon — to the east by 
the ragged summits and ice fields of the Cas- 
cades, to the west by Puget sound, with its 
islands, and the Olympic range, serrated and 
snow streaked, with the bald head of Olympus 
towering above Mount Constance, Three Brothers 
and other monarchs of the range, and in line of 
the straits the limitless expanse of the Pacific 
Ocean. This view is not a picture, it is a pano- 
rama. This I ventured to remark at the time, 
and for once the professor agreed with me. 

To the west the view terminated at the nearly 
solid wall of virgin forest. Not the mark of an 
axe or a foot print of man anywhere. Only 
forest giants alive and dead, erect and prostrate, 
covered with damp moss, the atmosphere charged 
with the smell of decaying wood. It is solitude 
personified — no twitter of bird or chirp of chip- 
munk — -only vegetation run riot in the gloom, 
the walls of giants excluding the rays of the sun 
from the struggling undergrowth at their feet. 
A break in the clouds in the south lets a flood of 
sunlight across the valley, bringing out details of 
the foliage in the dark green mass of fir tops and 
the lighter green of the deciduous belt of trees 
along the river giving the valley a resemblance to 
a dark green rug with a lighter green serpent 
across it. Here and there the river appears like a 
broken thread of silver. On the side hill just 
described we found croppings of coal, a brown 
lignite. Later we tried it for fuel. It made some 
fire and much smell. It is probably of no value 
except as an indication that we are in the coal 
measures. 

To continue Mr. Iverson's highly humorous 
and interesting account of the further experi- 
ences of this pioneer surveying party is foreign 
to the purpose of our work. The great signifi- 
cance of his "discovery of the Stillaguamish" 
consists in the fact that while engaged on this 
survey he became impressed with the possibili- 
ties of the country. His faith in it and the 
advertising he gave it among his friends and 
countrymen soon led to the settlement of large 
numbers of Norsemen in the valley, and the 
ultimate development of its natural resources to 
a degree which would have been impossible 
without the presence of those industrious and 
thrifty Scandinavian- Americans. 

Edison's gold excitement 

There are few western communities in prox- 
imity to mineral districts that have not had their 
hoax gold excitements with accompanying 
humorous incidents. It is distinctly a Western 
amusement, never fails to draw, always leaves 



468 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



in its wake broad smiles and happy recollec- 
tions. 

r Edison gave its "gold discovery" comedy in 
1891. One week of the balmy month of May had 
about sped by when, on a Friday (unlucky day), 
a coterie of the village wits, after long and 
ardently canvassing the situation, came to the 
unanimous conclusion that a wholesome tonic 
was needed to stimulate life. The peace and quiet 
that reigned on the Samish was depressing; the 
limit had been reached. Nothing would wake 
people up so quickly, so thoroughly as a gold 
excitement. That was just the thing. Once 
decided upon, quick action was taken and before 
the sun went down on the seventh day of May, 
the scenery was arranged, characters selected 
and the play made ready for performance. 
Several pieces of bronze and brass had been 
filed up and the "dust" scattered judiciously as 
well as lavishly over a patch of ground on Pat 
Smith's place near Edison. 

At ten o'clock that evening, or thereabouts, 
the curtain rose. Paddy Mohr, a cook in the 
Blanchard Logging Company's camp, gathering 
around him Jack Cain, John Morrison, Lee 
Byles, Charlie Barber, and one or two other kin- 
dred spirits, announced the discovery of yellow 
dust on Smith's place that afternoon, exhibiting 
some "pay dirt" to back up his statements. Of 
course, only a casual examination in the shade of 
a flickering lamp high against the wall was 
allowed the curious, and care was taken to secure 
comparative secrecy. "Thought we'd let a few 
of you Samish fellows in on the deal before 
the news leaks out and the whole country piles 
in on us," explained Mohr. 

It was also suggested that then was the 
accepted time to stake a claim. 

In small groups, by couplfes and sometimes 
singly, the gold seekers silently stole out into the 
darkness. The news spread with rapidity, a 
prerogative of such secrets, and by midnight the 
rush was on in dead earnest. Lanterns and 
lamps flitted over the flats like frolicking fireflies. 
Joe Bland, the local justice of the peace and 
notary public, was summoned from his warm 
bed to draw filing papers before half the hours 
allotted to man for sleep had passed. Edison 
awoke earlier even than on the Fourth of July. 
By eight o'clock twenty claims had been staked 
on Smith's ranch and "prospectors" were 
branching out over the adjoining property. 
"Colors" were plentiful and dirt began to fly 
at break of day. Soon quantities of the gold 
began to move toward town for closer private 
inspection and for the assayer. A sound 
steamer left early for Seattle and one man, en- 
thusiastic over his good fortune and determined 
to startle Seattle with the good news, boarded 
the boat with a coffee sack well filled with 
the precious pay dirt, but before the boat 
pulled out he was persuaded to wait another 



day. The name of this excited individual is 
omitted out of consideration to his feelings. 
Mining property commenced moving at a good 
figure, early, too, and quite a number of claims 
changed hands on surface showings. 

Thus the play went on without interruption, 
act by act. The few who saw through the plot 
merely winked cautiously at one another. At 
the opportune moment, when the comic had been 
carried as far as taste and discretion would per- 
mit, the curtain was allowed to drop, and the star 
actor explained in an epilogue the harmlessness 
and purport of the little performance. Its 
humor was appreciated by all the spectators and 
those performers who furnished sport at their 
own expense soon forgot their chagrin and joined 
in the general laugh. 

A CELEBRATED ADVERTISEMENT 

Peculiar interest attaches to the following 
unique advertisement from the pen of Morti- 
mer Cook, founder of Sedro, now part of the com- 
bined city of Sedro- Woolley. The advertise- 
ment is illustrative of the writer's character, 
who, by the way, attained unusual success in 
business, and was copied throughout the United 
States, even in Europe it is said. It was pub- 
lished in the first issue of the Sedro Times in 1890. 

STOREKEEPING 

BY MORTIMER COOK 

About the lowest and most unprofitable business on 
this earth is keeping a one horse store; and the more 
horses you put on the more dangerous it becomes. Any 
man with money, brains and jaw enough to make a success 
in this line can make ten times as much in some other 
way. The average youth and many beyond in years 
think if they can only get a nice store somewhere, talk 
obsequiously to customers, particularly the ladies, under- 
stand book-keeping, write a nice letter, make out a bill 
quickly and smartly, get insured, have a nice spread-eagle 
"ad" in the local paper that no one ever sees or cares a 

about except themselves, part their hair in the middle, 

etc., that they are on the high road that leads to glory. 

Not so. The sohd substance of this earth don't come 
that \va}'. Five years, and nine-tenths of these poor, 
deluded people will be sunk deep in deeper moats, or 
rising out of them, if brains enough, with worn and dirty 
garments, looking dazed but wiser. 

Now as for myself, must plead guilty of keeping a 
small shop in Sedro— overflowed Sedro! Jumping, buck- 
ing, floating, but always coming Sedro. Kumtux? Don't 
pretend to keep a full stock of anything, always out of 
something; don't get goods by every steamer or train, nor 
are they all fresh; lots of things no good. Nor do I for a 
moment pretend to sell cheap or at one price, or strictly 
for cash, or otherwise. 

All the clerks are instructed to put on such a price as 
they please, sizing every customer up, and to get the most 
money out of them possible. And finally if Fritz or 
Smash 'em pays one thirty-second of a cent more than 
some other man, don't want him to come 'round whining. 
Let him go out and kick a stump or improve his looks 
"Capit." 

THE SALMON AGE 

Benson creek, or slough, rising on Coal 
mountain just above Sedro- Woolley, and flowing 



REMINISCENCES 



into the Skagit river at the old Benson place, has 
always-been noted as a fishing and spawning 
stream despite its small size. Emmett Van 
Fleet, living on the creek near its mouth, says 
that years ago he often speared as many as four 
hundred hookbill salmon in two hours during the 
spawning season. To get a wagon load was an 
easy task; in fact the surrounding settlers were 
accustomed for a long time to take them away 
by the wagon load for use as orchard fertilizer. 
Not only was Benson creek full of fish in season 
but every stream down to mere rivulets was alive 
with the finny tribe. Even the dogs went fre- 
quently to these runways and fished by the 
hour apparently enjoying the sport as much as 
men and women. Bears were so fond of salmon 
that they infested these little shallow streams by 
night as well as by day and in season ate so 
many fish that bear meat was positively sickening, 
repelling in odor and taste. Hogs, also, soon 
learned to like the salmon and with their glut- 
tonous appetites more often than not became 
worthless as meat. The fact of the matter is, 
says Mr. Van Fleet, that for a time salmon 
threatened to embarrass the pioneer along the 
streams, strange as it may seem to the present 
generation. 

AN INCIDENT OF PIONEER TRAVEL 

Before the days of transcontinental railroads 
when people westward bound had to travel by 
wagon much of the way to the Pacific, many 
thrilling adventures were had by the weary 
pilgrims, many experiences which tried their 
souls as with fire. Mrs. John Ball, now residing 
on the Swinomish flats, has a very vivid picture 
on her memory's wall of one such experience in 
central Washington. She and her husband and 
family had been camped for weeks in the Yakima 
valley waiting for the genial warmth of spring 
to melt the snow in the mountains and call the 
succulent grasses into being. At length they 
decided to press on. Indians warned them not 
to attempt a passage of the Yakima river as they 
would surely be drowned, but they heeded not 
the warning. In making the crossing Mrs. Ball 
occupied a seat on a roll of blankets and other 
bedding which in turn was on top of a trunk in 
the front part of the wagon. In one arm she held 
her two small children, Amos and Globe, while 
with the free hand she led three unharnessed 
horses. Soon horses, wagon, people and all 
began floating rapidly down the stream and it 
looked as though the prediction of the Indians 
was about to be fulfilled; but at the critical 
moment, when the struggle seemed lost, a tall 
bay mare in front gained a foothold on tora 
firma and she brought all safely to the land. 

Shortly afterward Mrs. Ball's nerves were put 
to a still more severe test. When the family 
reached Thorp's Prairie, her husband found it 



necessary to leave her alone with the children, 
while he went on with an Indian guide to pro- 
cure a log raft and prepare for the crossing of a 
lake ahead. That evening, when the lonely 
lady had milked the cow and was just ready to 
sit down with the children to supper, she heard 
a dog bark and, looking in the direction of the 
sound, saw a dozen stalwart Indians approaching 
rapidly on their fleet ponies. In a moment they 
were all around the camp, brandishing knives, 
shouting their awful war whoops and striving to 
outdo each other in demonstrations of savage 
frenzy. The terror of the poor woman may be 
imagined. Clinging to her dress were her 
frightened, crying children ; around her frenzied, 
yelling, apparently hostile savages and nowhere 
any prospect of help. The situation was soon 
relieved, however, for presently the Indians, 
obedient to some unknown impulse, suddenly 
mounted their ponies and were gone. 

It is possible they may have gained knowl- 
edge of the approach of white men, for no 
sooner had they disappeared than two came to 
camp, much to the relief of Mrs. Ball. They 
reported having seen her husband near the lake 
and told her not to fear as they would camp 
nearby for the night and afford her what protec- 
tion they could. But her nervousness was not 
entirely overcome, and throughout the long, 
lonely winter night, with her husband's old 1859 
six-shooter in her hand and the dog for her com- 
panion she stood guard over her sleeping children 
and her belongings. Next day Mr. Ball returned 
and the journey was continued without exciting 
incident until they were safe in Skagit county. 

ALPINE, THE DESERTED VILL.^GE 
By Elizan M. Wallace 

Shade of Oliver Goldsmith, where have I found 
thee! Not in far away English romance, but in 
Skagit county at the end of a runaway road, up 
hill and down dale; — there, on the shores of Lake 
Cavanaugh lies Alpine. 

Lake Cavanaugh is fourteen miles northeast 
of McMurray and can be reached only by wagon 
road. It is one of the most beautiful and pictur- 
esque lakes of our Northwest, three miles long 
and a mile wide. It is a nursling of the hills and 
is guarded closely by their wooded slopes. Many 
years ago an effort was made to establish a pleas- 
ure resort at this place. A number of families 
filed on the land bordering the lake, building their 
homes at the water's edge. Some erected very 
comfortable two-story houses of split cedar. The 
most pretentious of these was designed for a hotel 
but was never entirely completed. A school- 
house was built and school held within. A post- 
office was also established and mail arrived three 
times a week, being carried in by way of the 
McMurray road. 

After a time the homesteads were proved up 



70 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



and the owners, seeming to find the loneliness 
growing oppressive, returned one by one to outer 

civilization. Many things were left behind rather 
than pay the expense and take the trouble of 
hauling them over the long, uneven road. In 
the upper story of Hotel Cavanaugh are beds, 
decaying carpets, half detached from the floors, 
clothing, old furniture — habitations now of scurry- 
ing wood rats. Below the rickety stairs are 
kitchen utensils and heavy dishes which the sum- 
mer camper may use at pleasure, — if he choose. 

Tumble-down stoves, tables and bedsteads 
add to the internal desolation of this dilapidated 
building. Upon the edge of the lake, a good boat 
and two dugouts are lying. Tacked on the hotel 
door is a cordial invitation to all comers to make 
free use of the boat, mildly requesting that oars 
and oarlocks be returned to the house after use. 
The old schoolhouse, with its once used register 
still within, still stands, so deserted one can 
scarcely imagine it ever rang with merry chil- 
dren's voices or echoed the teacher's bell. In the 
old postoffice, tmtil very recently, the old post- 
office stamp remained, its impress bearing the 
legend, "Alpine, August 7, ISSti, Washington," 
probably the date of the last receipt of mail. 

This is Alpine, the deserted village. 

In the gardens Japanese wineberry bushes 
bear fruit beside their country cousins, the salmon 
berries. Luscious cherries and plums drop from 
the burdened limbs to tangled grass in the midst 
of alder growth and young firs, while wild black- 
berry vines peep curiously in at broken windows. 
Quail and pheasants whir away through the trees, 
startled from their feeding places. 

There is something mutely pathetic about it 
all. The empty houses, haunted by ghosts of 
bygone memories and lying so drearily in the 
solemn silence of the hills; the tangle of wild 
vines overgrowing the door steps undisturbed by 
straying feet; the half open doors, swinging 
like soldiers' empty sleeves; the orchards and 
gardens springing up with wild growth. Nature's 
perpetual protest against the "invasion of her 
domain; the old well with curb caving in — age 
without a staff — all are monuments of unfulfilled 
human ambition. 

CAUGHT IN A PUGET SOUND BLIZZARD 

The terrible experience of G. W. L. Allen 
and his ten-year-old daughter, Minnie, now Mrs. 
Paul Jones of Semiahmoo, during a blizzard which 
swept this section in 1880, is vividly recalled by 
many Skagit county pioneers. 

Wednesday, January 7th, according to the 
date recorded in E. A. Sisson's noted diary. 
Sheriff Allen, accompanied by his daughter, went 
to Fidalgo on business. Late in the afternoon he 
headed his boat homeward across Padilla bay. 
Hardly had they gotten well started on the five- 
mile row, however, before a snow storm set in 



which soon became a blinding blizzard. The 
flakes of snow and the darkness, together with 
a high, cold wind from the north, resulted in 
the boat's being diverted from its course in spite 
of all that the sheriff could do, and the result was 
that he landed at the mouth of Telegraph 
instead of at the mouth of Indian slough. This 
placed him on an island embracing about two 
hundred and fifty acres, in the form of a square, 
bounded by the bay. Telegraph and Indian 
sloughs, and a canal dug by the settlers in 1S77, 
connecting the two sloughs. Telegraph slough 
was so named from the fact that the old Western 
Union's wires were strung along its banks. 

Night had now fallen. The storm raged with 
unabated fury, blotting out the whole world from 
view, though fortunately the temperature was 
not dangerously low. The hardy old pioneer and 
his child were not very warmly clad, and natur- 
ally they made all haste to reach shelter. They 
went straight across the field to R. E. Whitney's 
place, which was on the opposite side of Indian 
slough, to the east, and tried with all their 
might to attract attention, but without success. 
The elements were against them. Then they 
struck out toward the home of H. E. Dewey, Mr. 
Whitney's nephew, who lived on the slough 
nearby. 

In the darkness they missed the house, again 
reaching Telegragh slough after a hard tramp 
lasting what seemed to them ages. In fact they 
tramped around in the deepening snow, wet to 1 he 
skin and chilled, for hours, in futile efforts to 
locate a house. As often as they started on a 
course, they went astray. Ultimately their con- 
dition became so serious that had they stopped to 
rest, they must surely have been overcome by the 
cold and frozen to death, but they tramped and 
tramped unceasingly through the long night. 
Toward morning they reached Telegraph slough 
once more. Carefully following it to the canal, 
they slowly and painfully followed that until they 
reached a point opposite James Calahan's place 
on Indian slough. Here the distance to the 
house was not great, and after exhausting efforts 
by both father and daughter, Calahan was at 
last aroused. He quickly responded with a boat 
and soon had the sufferers snug under his hos- 
pitable roof. Only with the utmost care and skill 
were serious effects of the exposure averted and 
it was long afterward before the recovery of 
either of the unfortunate pair was complete. 
Mr. Sisson found the boat the next day. 

REMINISCENCES OF AN EX-INDIAN AGENT 
By John P. McGlinn 

I arrived in Olympia from Logansport, Indi- 
ana, in October, 1872, having been appointed 
Indian farmer for the Tulalip Indian Agency by 
General R. H. Milroy, superintendent of Indian 
Affairs for the territory of Washington. The 



REAIINISCENCES 



471 



white population of the territory at that time 
numbered thirty thousand. My arrival was 
shortly after President Grant's famous order 
changing the whole system of Indian govern- 
ment. The president, by an executive order, 
divided the Indian agencies of the United States 
among the different Christian denominations, 
holding each denomination responsible for the 
good conduct of the Indians, as well as the 
honest and efficient administration of their 
respective agencies. Grant's policy was fiercely 
assailed by different factions of the American 
press. Its result, as foreseen from the start, 
was that it pleased very few, least of all the 
politicians, and after years of trial it was finally 
abandoned. Under the new regime the Tulalip 
agency was assigned to the Catholic church and 
the Rev. Father E. C. Chirouse, one of the 
oldest missionaries on the Pacific coast, was 
appointed Indian agent. 

Father Chirouse was one of the best of men, 
one of the most unselfish men it was ever my 
good fortune to be associated with. He was a 
Frenchman who, with other young French 
priests as zealous and as self-sacrificing as himself, 
abandoned home and kindred to establish mis- 
sions and schools among the Indians on the Pacific 
coast. One of those missions was established at 
Priest point, opposite the present city of 
Everett, but was afterward removed to Tulalip. 
As a linguist of the different Indian dialects, 
Father Chirouse had no equal on the coast. He, 
with his co-laborers, not only taught the young 
Indian the common rudiments of an English 
education, but compiled a dictionary of their own 
language. The Lord's Prayer and the Apostle's 
Creed as well as the hymns of the church were 
translated by him into the Indian tongue. 
Father Chirouse has been dead many years, but 
his good works live, and perhaps, always will 
live. 

My first visit to La Conner was in December, 
1872. I was sent by the agent to the Swinomish 
reservation on some business in relation to the 
agency that has escaped my memory. There 
were three white people residing on the reserva- 
tion, L. L. Andrews, the post-trader, and James 
A. Gilliland and wife. ]\Ir. Gilliland was the 
Western Union telegraph operator. La Conner, 
directly across the channel from the Indian 
village, was located on what was at high tide an 
island. It is bold and rugged, the highest 
elevation being about eighty feet, and must in 
ages gone by have been thrown up by some 
convulsions of nature. The adult population of 
the place were J. S. Conner and wife, James 
O'Lcughlin and wife, Messrs. J. J. Conner, 
James and George Gaches, and Dr. Winslow, 
brother of Admiral Wmslow. There was a 
store and postoffice combined, conducted by the 
Gaches brothers. J. J. Conner was owner of 
the town-site claim and proprietor of the hotel. 



(The La Conner House). Mr. O'Loughlin had 
started a tin shop and J. S. Conner was diking 
and improving his pre-emption claim upon which 
his family resides at the present time. I 
attended a dance on the evening of my arrival, 
given in the hotel dining room. All the ladies 
for miles around were present. They were 
Mrs. J. S. Conner and her daughter, Ida, then 
about ten years of age; Mrs. James O'Loughlin, 
Mrs. James A. Gilliland, Mrs. John Terrace, 
Mrs. Robert White, Mrs. John Cornelius and 
Mrs. E. T. Dodo-e. 



In the spring of 1873 there came an order 
from the Indian Department at Washington that 
all employees of the government in the Indian 
service who were living with Indian women, 
should marry or be dismissed from the service. 
There was a man by the name of Finkbonner, 
who, at that time, was a sub-agent on the 
Lummi reservation. Mr. Finkbonner was an 
intelligent, well-educated man, who had come to 
the territory at an early date and had been liv- 
ing with an Indian woman for years, in fact, had 
a large family of children by her. He refused, 
however, to marry the woman and as a conse- 
quence was dismissed from the service. I was 
appointed in his place. The singular thing 
about this episode was that a year later the 
Masonic order promulgated about the same 
order, that IMasons living with Indian women be 
suspended from their respective lodges unless 
they abandoned or married them. Mr. Finkbon- 
ner, who was a Mason of high standing, decided 
to marry his squaw rather than suffer dismissal. 
It was the first wedding of a white man to an 
Indian woman that I ever attended. I was 
invited by Mr. Finkbonner to witness the mar- 
riage ceremony at his home on the Gulf of 
Georgia. There were six or seven of their 
children that sat down with us at the wedding 
breakfast. The squaw men were in those days 
among the leading people of the sound. Mr. 
Finkbonner had been treasurer of the county, 
representative to the territorial legislature and 
probate judge. Charley Couts and John Plaster, 
both squaw men, were serving as sheriff! and 
probate judge respectively, when I took charge 
of the Lummi reservation. John Plaster's 
squaw died shortly after my arrival, and on the 
very day of the funeral, the bereaved husband 
made an offer of forty dollars for the heart and 
hand of her sister who was then about fourteen 
years of age. The Indian father declined the 
munificent offer, telling the judge he should be 
ashamed of himself — that the girl was only a 
child. Plaster a year or so later married the 
dusky maiden. As the territory increased in 
population and the white women became more 
numerous, the squaw man lost his social stand- 
ing as well as his political prestige, and as a 



472 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



consequence he was.slowly but surely relegated to 
the rear. To-day the squaw man is but a memory. 

In 1873, I attended the first Fourth of July 
celebration ever given in La Conner. While the 
audience on that memorable occasion was the 
smallest of any like gathering I have ever wit- 
nessed, yet it made up in patriotic enthusiasm 
what it lacked in numbers. A man by the 
name of John Campbell was the orator of the 
day. Campbell at that time ran a small trading 
post at the jam on the Skagit river. He was a 
fluent and ready speaker and kept his audience 
convulsed with laughter during the entire dis- 
course. His picture of La Conner and its people 
in 1900 appeared to most of those present as it 
appeared to me, considering the raw state of the 
country and our isolation from the rest of the 
world, "a pipe dream," a picture drawn from 
a too fervid imagination, yet those who live to 
recall that epoch in our history will agree that it 
fell short of the actual realization. Poor Camp- 
bell did not live long enough to see any of his 
predictions verified. 

On a canoe trip up the Skagit river the fol- 
lowing year in company with James O'Loughlin 
and wife, Mrs. J. S. Conner, James Caches and 
Edward Seigfried, while camping for the night 
opposite the present town of Hamilton, Camp- 
bell became violently insane. He had retired 
without the knowledge of the rest of the party 
some distance into the forest, and startled his 
companions from a sound slumber into sudden 
wakefulness by the most piercing, blood-curdling 
shrieks, repeating a number of times, "Ted- 
auh-an, Ted-auh-an," the name of a Skagit river 
Indian. That most of the party were dreadfully 
alarmed, not knowing or suspecting what really 
had happened, goes without saying. It was a 
terrifying moment. The wild and unsettled 
country, the unearthly shrieks coming at such an 
hour, and in such a place, completely unnerved 
them, making the hair on their heads stand and 
thrilling the blood in their hearts. 

After locating Campbell in the woods, it was 
all the three men could do to restrain him, but 
fortunately for them, after the first outbreak, his 
insanity took a milder form of religious dementia. 
To induce him to return to La Conner without 
force (as the ladies of the party refused to pro- 
ceed further or return with him) O'Loughlin hit 
on the expedient of using the writer's name to a 
letter that he clain:ed he had received from an 
Indian courier from La Conner. The letter 
requested Campbell to return to La Conner imme- 
diately as Father Chirouse was at the Swinomish 
reservation and wanted to see him. Campbell 
took the bait without the least suspicion. 



In the spring of 1876 there were five young 
men who had taken claims at the junction of 
Baker river with the Skagit. I can only remem- 



ber three of their names, Messrs. Everett, Cobb 
and Sanger. Shortly after locating their claims, 
the Indians, who were jealous of this advance 
guard of civilization, became very insolent and 
even threatening. They landed one morning in 
considerable force at Everett's home, where the 
white men were gathered for mutual protection, 
all togged out in their war paint and feathers. 
They demanded that the whites abandon their 
claims and move down the river, that the land 
was theirs, given to them by the great Soc-la- 
Tyee (God) and that they would resist any fur- 
ther encroachment on their lands. The settlers 
were well armed, determined men, but knowing 
well the temper of the Indians, very conciliatory; 
and fortunately for all concerned the matter 
passed off without bloodshed. 

Complaint, however, was made by the young 
men in a letter to General R. H. Milroy at 
Olympia, stating the facts in the case with the 
request that an agent be sent up as soon as pos- 
sible to settle the trouble, as owing to the temper 
of the Indians, they (the subscribers) were in 
danger of their lives. I was selected to fill the 
important mission. I secured a couple of Skagit 
river Indians to pole me up the river in one of 
their shovel-nosed canoes, one standing in the 
stern, the other in the bow. The sound Indians 
at that time were afraid of the river Indians and 
I could not prevail on any of them to take me up 
the river. They said that the Stick (wood) 
Indians were "high-as-machy" (very bad). It 
took us three days to reach Everett's place. The 
first obstacle we encountered was the log jam be- 
tween the present towns of East and West Mount 
Vernon. The jam was fully three quarters of a 
mile long. Trees of large growth were growing 
in many places on it, proving conclusively that 
this tremendous obstruction to the navigation of 
the largest river in western Washington had 
been the accumulation of years, before the settle- 
ment of the country by the whites. Clothier & 
English were running the only store in the place, 
and a Mrs. Shott the hotel, which consisted of 
one room and a kitchen, with a loft overhead for 
the traveling public to spread their blankets. 

I remember, after eating a hearty supper of 
bacon and eggs (Mrs. Shott was a good cook), I 
reached the garret by climbing a ladder through 
a trap door. A tallow candle illuminated the 
room where there were already a dozen or so of 
men asleep. The first night out after leaving 
the jam I spent with a settler by the name of 
Williamson, on the present site of Lyman. Will- 
iamson was engaged in the cultivation of hops; 
the pioneer of the hop industry in Whatcom 
county (Skagit county did not exist). I slept, 
rolled up in my blankets on an Indian mat, in 
front of a huge fireplace. It had but one jam, 
so that logs of most any length that could be 
brought into the cabin could be burned. It was- 
a great labor-saving fireplace. 



REMINISCENCES 



On my arrival at Mr. Everett's cabin, I sent 
word to the Sauk river Indians to come down 
and have a friendly talk with me. They arrived 
next day headed by John Wha-wit-can, their 
head chief. We held our council on the banks of 
the Skagit river. I spoke very plainly, but 
kindly to the Indians. I gave them to under- 
stand that the whites were acting within their 
rights in taking up homesteads in what they (the 
Indians) claimed as their exclusive territory, that 
they had ceded all those lands by the Point Elliot 
treaty in 1855; that, as a tribe their homes were 
either on the Tulalip or Swinomish reservation 
as they might elect, and finally, that the white 
settlers would be protected in their rights by the 
strong arm of the Great Father in Washington. 

The young bucks became greatly excited on 
hearing my statement, and one of the sub-chiefs 
openly advocated force, but the good counsel of 
John Wha-wit-can prevailed. They insisted, 
however, that the white settlers should go no 
higher up the river. They claimed that they 
had never ceded their lands by treaty or other- 
wise to the government of the United States; 
that their Tyees' did not take any part in the 
Point Elliot treaty and therefore were not bound 
by its compact; that Governor Stevens fooled the 
Indians and robbed them of their lands by false 
promises and citltiis ictus (cheap trinkets), and 
that they would never go on a reservation, so 
our council closed, the old chief presenting me 
with a beautiful feather hat as a token of his 
regards. 

Several years later and shortly after the 
subsidence of the Ruby Creek gold excitement, a 
surveying party headed by Tilt Sheats, a veteran 
surveyor, was driven out of the county by the 
Indians. A company of soldiers was sent up on 
the steamer "Fanny Lake" (the jam having 
been removed), and remained most of the sum- 
mer patrolling the upper river. This demonstra- 
tion of force by the government broke the war- 
like spirit of the Indians. They saw that it was 
useless, so submitted to the inevitable. There 
is but a remnant of this once powerful tribe left. 
They were true to their traditions and could not 
be induced to leave the home of their fathers. 

GENERAL MCDOWELL AND CHIEF BONAPARTE 

The disposition to judge the man by his dress 
is not confined to barbarians or savages, but 
perhaps the untutored Indian is even more likely 
to err in that respect than his refined and civ- 
ilized white brother, who is so frequently victim- 
ized by the immaculately attired charlatan. It 
is difficult for any of us to realize that men are 
not always what they seem. A dainty cravat, 
plenty of starch, carefully creased pantaloons, a 
well-fitting frock coat and a high silk hat, com- 
bined with a studied dignity of bearing, will at 
once place their possessor in the ranks of the 



distinguished, while the man in negligee attire 
will have hard work to impress anyone that he is 
much above the common herd, however exalted 
his talents, high his rank, or proud his name. 

An amusing incident is related of a failure of 
negotiations with an Indian chieftain on the Tul- 
alip reservation, because the representative of the 
government on that particular occasion had laid 
aside his military garb and was following the 
example of Grant at Appomattox in the matter 
of dress. 

Many years ago, when General McDowell was 
making a tour of the sound, he visited a number 
of the Indian reservations, among them the Tul- 
alip in Snohomish county. S. D. Howe, who 
was then agent, received him cordially, and 
wishing to gain as much good as possible to his 
wards by the visit, called in all the chiefs to the 
agency buildings for a conference, stating that a 
big soldier man was there and wished to see 
them. The chiefs came at once, among them one 
whose name was Whonaper, but who was known to 
the whites as Bonaparte. 

Now Bonaparte was a firm believer in the 
fitness of things, and was fully resolved that so 
momentous an occasion as a conference between 
himself and the representative of the govern- 
ment should be characterized by great dignity 
and elaborate display. Accordingly, when he 
entered the council room accompanied by his 
interpreter, he was attired in strict accord with 
his notions of propriety. His habit consisted of 
a pair of black pantaloons; a British red coat 
with epaulets, a stove-pipe hat bedecked with 
gorgeous feathers, a red Spanish sash about his 
waist, in which were partially concealed a brace 
of old flint-lock horse pistols; a long sword hung 
at his side ; a pair of unmatched kid gloves ; a pair 
of brass-bowed spectacles astride his nose; a 
long cane with a large brass head in his hand 
and a fancy necklace adorned with talons and 
beaks of hawks and eagles, the tooth of a beaver 
and other savage ornaments. 

As soon as the general and the chiefs had 
been introduced with due ceremony, Mr. Howe 
addressed the assembly substantially as follows: 
"General McDowell is a very great chief among 
the soldiers, the greatest chief of all; the Presi- 
dent has sent him out here to have a talk with the 
Indians on Puget sound, and if any of you have 
anything to say the general would be pleased to 
hear it, and to repeat all you have to say to the 
great chief at Washington. " 

Meanwhile Chief Bonaparte had been eyeing 
suspiciously General McDowell's very ordinary 
suit of citizen's clothing, and plainly sizing up 
their owner very unfavorably. For some min- 
utes after Howe had ceased speaking, not a word 
was said, but at length Chief Bonaparte arose 
with becoming dignity, and speaking through his 
interpreter, said: "If General McDowell has 
come here to talk with us, he must first speak." 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



Thereupon the general arose and said: 
"The great chief, the president, at Washington, 
had been informed that the Indians were dissat- 
isfied with the treatment they had received from 
the Bostons, and that they had threatened to 
fight and kill the white settlers on Puget sound. 
I have come out here to inquire into the matter, 
to find out what is the trouble, and to try to fix 
up things without killing each other. If any of 
the Bostons have molested or injured any of the 
Indians, I want to know it, and I will have them 
punished. The great chief at Washington does 
not wish to fight and kill the Indians. I think 
there is room enough here for all the Indians and 
whites, and hope they will live and get along 
peaceably together." 

Another silence followed this speech, then 
Bonaparte rose to his full height, smote himself 
proudly on the breast, and with great fire and 
hauteur said: 

"Look at me! Do I look like a common 
Siwash? 1 am dressed as becomes a warrior and 
a chief among my people. Look at me! Do 1 
look like the rest of my people? I am a chief 
among my people and my dress shows it. You 
say you are a chief, a great soldier man, that 
you have been sent out here by the great chief, 
the president at Washington. I look at you; 
your dress is the same as Mr. Howe's. You look 
the same as any common white man. I have 
seen soldier chiefs at Steilacoom, and I have 
seen King George's soldier chiefs at Victoria, and 
they dressed differently from common people; 
they dressed as I do; but you dress the same as 
any worthless Boston. I do not believe you are 
a chief at all. I think you lie. Good day, sir." 

Thereupon the old chieftain strode out of 
the room, followed by all the other Indians, 
abruptly terminating the interview. The confu- 
sion of Mr. Howe and General McDowell may 
be imagined. 

AN INDIAN SHAM BATTLE 

Comparatively few white men, now living, 
have enjoyed the opportunity of witnessing 
Indian inter-tribal warfare, and hardly less 
rarely have white men witnessed sham battles 
among the red men, yet David E. Kimble, a 
well known pioneer of Mount Vernon, has seen 
both at his place on the Skagit in early days. 
It appears that"Jim," a "Stick," or Skagit river 
Indian, was foully murdered in the summer of 
1874 at Utsalady by the "Salt Waters." The 
affair caused intense excitement among the 
"Sticks," who forthwith commenced preparations 
to go on the warpath. The killing of an Indian 
was not an incident of rare occurrence, for these 
tribal attacks were to be counted upon as cus- 
tomary diversions from the routine of hunting, 
fishing and sleeping; nevertheless each ">iii?)ta- 
loose" only recalled the past with renewed 



bitterness and desire for revenge. In these 
sanguinary conflicts, the sound, or salt water, 
Indians very often came out ahead, but neither 
tribe won complete victories, and the warfare 
dragged along in Indian fashion. At times in 
the conflict pitched battles of considerable mag- 
nitude were fought, then the struggle would 
again relapse into mere individual encounters, 
but it never ceased entirely until the whites 
became so numerous that undisturbed battle 
grounds could no longer be found. To this day 
the sound Indians look down upon their inland 
brothers, while the river dwellers have an utter 
contempt for the clam diggers of salt water. 

On the occasion of Jim's death, Thomas 
Craney, the Utsalady mill owner, on whose prop- 
erty the murder took place, sent word to the 
"Sticks" to come and get the bod)'. "Skookum 
Charlie," a chief of the tribe, with one hundred 
warriors was found by the messenger encamped 
at a ranchere near Campbell's store at Skagit 
City. A pow-wow followed in which all the 
head men participated and which was still in 
progress when sentinels came rushing in to 
report the arrival of the enemy. There was no 
mistake, for swiftly the dreaded war canoes came 
around the bend and set toward the ranchere. 
War cries, shrill, blood-curdling, ringing with 
frenzy, rent the silence of those unsettled soli- 
tudes, alternately chilling and heating the blood. 
Full sixty half-naked, painted Camanos manned 
their marvelous canoes. The quick rhythmic 
stroke of the paddles, the stroke shortening as 
the scene of battle was approached, sent the 
high-prowed boats through the water by leaps. 
As they neared the shore paddles were replaced 
by weapons of all sorts and styles, the coxswain 
alone retaining his to guide the speeding canoe. 
The most casual onlooker could observe at once 
how wonderful was the skill of these savage 
boatmen, how delicately responsive to their 
slightest touch the long, narrow shell, and how 
perfectly graceful and at ease their movements. 

Bravely the "Sticks" met the attack from 
behind trees, brush, hillock and grass. With an 
exultant yell, the attacking boatmen swept up to 
the bank, poured out a volley, disembarked and 
rushed to the attack. The "Sticks" took the 
offensive the moment the enemy landed and 
with whoops and yells rushed at the Camanos. 
Rifles cracked, shot guns roared, pistols blazed 
forth the fury of the combatants, clubs and 
missiles were hurled back and forth, but the 
battle was but for a moment. The "Sticks" had 
never recovered from their surprise, could not 
withstand the fierceness of the Camanos' 
onslaught, and soon began a slow retreat into 
the woods, endeavoring to lure on the foe. The 
foe divined their game, however, and, having 
accomplished its objects successfully, rushed to 
the waiting canoes and was soon going down 
stream as rapidly as it had come up, giving 



REMINISCENCES 



expression to its exultation in prolonged yelling. 

Several "Sticks" had joined their forefathers 
in the happy hunting grounds, among them one 
nearly blind, shot down by a boy in revenge for 
the supposed death at his hand of the lad's father. 
It was noticed that two or three Camanos fell 
from the canoes in the attack, but so far as is 
known they were only wounded. Before the sun 
went down that night the defeated, chagrined 
"Sticks" had gathered together their dead, and 
over the bodies of the fallen heroes were chant- 
ing the last sad dirges. Shortly afterward, 
wrapped in their brightest blankets and supplied 
with food, clothing and trinkets, the deceased 
braves were carefully laid away in favorite canoes 
placed high in the branches of the nearest "mim- 
jiloosc" grove. Thus the first and tragic part of 
the incident was closed and Mr. Kimble returned 
to his peaceful task of homebuilding as though 
nothing of moment had occurred. 

A month later "Skookum Charlie," leading an 
immense band of the "Sticks," gathered from far 
up and down the river, appeared at the Kimble 
cabin. The warriors were dressed and armed for 
fighting, fierce in expression and aggressive in 
movement. It was plain that they meant business. 
Mr. Kimble had just returned from a trip to the 
postoffice and store at La Conner, — an arduous 
journey in those times and one seldom made. 
The haughty chief came to the point, after the 
customary exchange of civilities without which 
no Indian chieftain ever proceeds seriously, with 
a request for temporary use of Mr. Kimble's land 
for "cultus nidDitna poo" purposes. In plain 
English the Skagits wished to fight a sham battle 
on the ranch, probably because they had used that 
ground in former days before the white man's 
advent and for the further reason that, being 
partly cleared, it permitted of more maneuver- 
ing than was possible in the woods. Further- 
more, it is evident that the Kimble place was 
regarded as a species of neutral zone. The sham 
battle was not a diversion with these Indians, a 
mere play. Its purpose was to convey a challenge 
to their enemies, as reports of it would be carried 
by special messenger to the coast, with descrip- 
tions of its skill, fierceness, length and other 
details important in judging of its true signi- 
ficance. 

Just opposite the old Kimble home, separated 
from it by a narrow, short slough, a low, sparsely 
timbered and partly cleared point jutted out into 
the river. Here the warriors made headquarters. 
The battle was fought in three parts, or rather, 
repeated three times, with brief impassioned 
addresses after each part by "Skookum Charlie" 
and leading braves. These savage orators spoke 
from stumps with much impressiveness, much 
feeling. There was eloquence in their bodies, in 
the eye, which needed not the interpretation of 
vocal language to convey its meaning to the 
spellbound Kimble family who watched the scene 



from the cabin. The battle demonstrations con- 
sisted in wild rushes from out the woods, the 
firing of guns, fiendish yells and whoops, beating 
of war drums, and, to some extent, the production 
of physical distress. It was a picturesque affair, 
strange, intensely interesting, weird, typically 
Indian in its every phase. 

WHITE M.\N VERSUS INDIANS 

About two miles, by water, above Stanwood, 
or less than three-quarters of a mile by trail, the 
Stillaguamish makes a final sharp bend before 
taking a straight course for Florence. The point 
of land so form^ed is now the Goodridge ranch, 
widely famed throughout the valley for its 
picturesque location, its cherry orchard and its 
hospitable owners. When Gardner Goodridge 
came during the middle sixties to hew out a home 
in this wilderness, the natural beauty of the spot 
and the richness of its soil led him to select the 
point as his claim, so he plunged into the dense 
jungle and a few rods from the shore, erected his 
cabin, into which he and his faithful wife soon 
moved. 

A little later he commenced the gigantic task 
of clearing the land, but immediately found an 
obstacle of some consequence in hiswa}', namely, 
an Indian burial ground. This lay just around 
the point above the house, and with its gruesome 
canoe coffins, suspended high in the trees, was 
anything but pleasant to the settler. To enable 
the red men to remove their dead, he at once 
gave ten days' notice of his intention to clear the 
ground, allowing also three days of grace. Back 
came the reply by special messenger, refusing to 
disturb the sacred dead, and challenging the 
intruding "Boston" to touch so much as a hair in 
that graveyard. Should he raise a hand against 
the mighty braves whose bodies reposed in peace, 
said the Siwashes, the Great Spirit would strike 
him dead. He didn't dare to follow out his 
declared intentions, said the messenger as he 
strode away in haughty anger and shoved his 
canoe into the stream. 

At once Goodridge began work on the burial 
grove. Down came the trees, down came dead 
Indians and canoes! When convenient, splash 
went the honored dead with their rotting finery 
and trappings into the river! More of them were 
unceremoniously stacked up into huge piles and 
together with brush and other debris went sky- 
ward in clouds of smoke and sparks. Goodridge 
wasn't particular. He had offered the Indians 
what he considered a fair chance to preserve the 
remains of their deceased friends, and upon their 
refusal, was pursuing the only course he could and 
remain on the claim. So he redoubled his ener- 
gies in his effort to finish the job as soon as pos- 
sible, for it wasn't pleasant or healthy work, — ■ 
and he needed the land. 

He had been at work two days, cutting, slash- 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



ing, burning, destroying , creating havoc in the 
sacred grove, when suddenly three full war canoes 
waited upon him. Pay was demanded for the 
destruction of the burial ground and the dead, in 
lieu of which blood alone would atone for the 
terrible insult. Goodridge quickly concluded that 
if money would right the wrong claimed to have 
been committed, it could be righted yet easier; 
further, experienced as he was in dealing with 
them, he thoroughly understood them and was 
not afraid of their threats. So he said he would 
pay them what was due and started for the cabin 
to get the necessary supply of lead and steel 
which he purposed to offer, though he remem- 
bered that his ammunition supply was down to 
seventeen shots. 

In the meantime his wife remained on the 
shore, talking with the incensed braves. She 
herself was a native woman, who had been reared 
by the chief of the Stillaguamish tribe, so had 
weight with her audience. Earnestly she pleaded 
and argued, while her husband hastened toward 
the cabin, dwelling upon his prowess as a fighter 
and the large equipment he had of guns and 
knives. 

"' Closhe mika clatatva!" said she, "Hi-tjck 
yaka delea fnesatche Boston/ Yika mi inn loose, citll- 
azvay, pose nika chicka." (Get out just as quick 
as you can as he is a very bad Boston man. He 
will kill the whole of you when he gets back.) 

The Indians believed her and pulled out 
before the terrible "Boston man" appeared with 
his array of weapons. Nor did they ever again 
bring the subject to his attention. Thus did 
courage and a little wit, used intelligenth'', 
through one who herself was convinced and faith- 
ful, cow a whole band of powerful savages. 
Thus, also, was many a hardy pioneer compelled 
to win his way. 

THE INDIANS AND A TOTAL ECLIPSE 

Indians, like other primitive peoples, are 
wont to ascribe unusual phenomena either to the 
pleasure or the wrath of God, being generally 
ignorant of any but the commonest actions of 
natural forces. The whites have many times 
gained a moral control over their red brethren 
by taking advantage of this ignorance and super- 
stition. Charles C. Villeneuve has related to the 
writer an instance where a total eclipse of the sun 
was, sometime in the seventies, used to good 
advantage to increase the respect of the Indians 
for the whites and the moral ascendancy of the 
superior over the inferior race. At the time Mr. 
Villeneuve was residing in the vicinity of the 
spot on which the town of Conway was later 
built. The Indians thereabout were inclined to 
be saucy and Mr. Villeneuve determined to take 
advantage of his foreknowledge of the coming 
eclipse to influence them to mend their ways to 
the mutual benefit of both races. He therefore 



announced to some Indian visitors, several 
months before the expected event, that unless 
the red men should mend their ways, a great 
shadow would obscure the sun's brightness. Of 
course the warning had no effect. As the time 
for the eclipse drew nearer, Mr. Villeneuve 
repeated his warnings and pleaded earnestly with 
them. Still no perceptible etTect. A few days 
before the event, he sent out messages saying 
that his prediction would surely come to pass and 
inviting his red brethren to assemble at his place 
to witness it. 

On that eventful day Indians came in crowds, 
the throng eventually covering fully an acre of 
ground. The whites, who were engaged in 
threshing beans on the place, laid off work as the 
hour drew nigh. At noon the sun shone brightly 
as ever, but directly afterward a haze overspread 
it, growing in density until that part of the 
earth's surface was enshrouded in total darkness. 
As the light faded the Indians became awe- 
stricken, and when the farmyard fowls began 
preparing for retirement, the entire assemblage 
was aghast with terror. The warning of the 
"Boston man" had come true. Excited and 
humbled, the Skagits surrounded the whites, 
imploring Mr. Villeneuve for protection and 
beseeching htm to use the "Boston man's medi- 
cine" at once. With a few words he calmed 
them, promised to intercede and safeguard them, 
then retired to a distant spot to lend greater 
solemnity to the occasion. Shortly afterward 
the dark mantle passed slowly from before the 
face of the sun to the great joy of the frightened 
red men. Some reforms did take place and ever 
afterward the Villeneuve family was '" hy-as- 
tycc" with the natives. 

A siwash's revenge 

"One dreary, cold night, late in the fall of 
1883," says David Batey, of Sedro-Woolley, 
"directly after supper, a loud, peremptory knock 
called me to the back door. I hastened to 
respond, at once throwing open the door to see 
who it was. In those days callers at any time 
were scarce, and when they came at night it 
meant something out of the ordinary, for travel- 
ing could then be done only with great danger 
and difficult}'. Not many cared to be caught 
out in our dark, endless forests after nightfall. 
Loggers, a few scattered claim holders, occa- 
sional landhunters or cruisers, and plenty of 
Siwashes constituted our population on the 
Skagit. 

"Well, my caller this particular night all but 
paralyzed me. An Indian, George Buck byname, 
whom I had often seen and who lived on the old 
Benson place above me several miles, stood 
before me. His eyes blazed with a sort of fire I 
didn't like to see, his cheeks were painted, his 
hair was wildly disordered and his face, clothes 



REMINISCENCES 



477 



and hands were stained with blood. He was a 
terrible sight and very much excited, yet calm 
enough in his talk. Buck was known as an 
intelligent Siwash. above the average, and was 
not credited with being a desperado, so I was at 
a loss and somewhat curious to know what was 
wrong with him. He wanted to borrow a lan- 
tern; said he was on his way home, and I 
promptly loaned it without asking unnecessary 
questions. As I went out to get it, many start- 
ling thoughts passed through my mind, and when 
the dull flicker of the lantern fell upon my com- 
panion's face and form cold chills disturbed me. 
However, I pulled myself together to meet any 
emergency. Yet I trusted Buck and he gave me 
no grounds for suspicion other than his frightful 
looks. When a man's in a new country he soon 
gets accustomed to sights and scenes that ordi- 
narily would shake his nerve. 

"Next morning I went down to the river 
landing, close by the house, and found my lan- 
tern. Still I did not know the mystery of my 
night call; it only deepened. It was days after- 
ward that I learned the facts, which were as 
follows: Buck had, some time previous to his 
call, attended a big potlnlch on the river, at 
which one of his family had been killed. A feud 
resulted. The day of his call, he had killed one 
of his enemies on the Nookachamps, just opposite 
my place. Murder had not satisfied his Indian 
heart, however; he had gone further. With 
a hatchet or an ax, he had cut the dead enemy 
into twenty pieces, which he piled up in the main 
trail, with the ghastly head on top of the heap. 
This was to Buck perfect revenge, the most com- 
plete vindication. From the scene of his bloody 
work, he had come to my place. He gathered his 
family and belongings that night and early in the 
morning left the country. Long afterward he 
was killed on the Samish by a relative of the 
Indian he had so cruelly murdered on the 
Nookachamps. ' ' 

A HOME-SEEKING INCIDENT 

Many of Skagit's pioneer women took claims 
in the unbroken forest which 'they developed 
after years of toil and self-denial into fine farms. 
An interesting story illustrating the trials 
frequently undergone by these aggressive female 
pioneers is related by David Batey and wife of 
Sedro-Woolley. Some time in 1S88, two of the 
young ladies of that upriver settlement decided 
to secure claims on Samish lake, one of the wild- 
est, most isolated parts of the county but imusu- 
ally rich in soil and timber. Fairie Cook, about 
twenty-two years old, the daughter of Mortimer 
Cook, and Miss Louisa Anderson, another young 
lady, who had just arrived from Sweden, were 
the claim hunters. The latter was at that time 
staying with her brother Nels at the Cook home. 
In order to reach the lake the girls were com- 



pelled to make a detour via Warner's prairie, just 
beyond which they arranged to meet Theodore 
Lohr, a well-known land cruiser. 

Fully equipped, the girls set out early one 
morning and without unusual incident reached 
the Thorne ranch on the prairie. There they 
spent the night, taking up the trail again next 
morning. They failed to meet Lohr at the 
appointed rendezvous, through a misunderstand- 
ing, and soon became lost in the forest. All day 
they tramped in a vain endeavor to find either 
the cruiser or some familiar landmark, but with- 
out success. At nightfall a drizzling, cold rain 
set in, which drove them to such shelter as they 
could find beside the trail. Miss Anderson could 
speak no English and understood very little, and 
Miss Cook was ignorant of the Swedish language, 
so their plight was rendered the more pitiable. 
The two girls were beyond doubt facing a critical 
situation, lost, unprotected, shelterless, in a dense 
forest filled with wild beasts and prowling Indi- 
ans, though the latter they did not fear as much 
as the former. Already they felt the pangs of 
hunger, for most of the small lunch had been 
eaten and they dared not finish it in so desperate 
a straight. 

As intimated, they had no firearms with which 
they might possibly have attracted attention. 
But they used what they did have — a tin cup- 
beating it continuously with a key or sticks 
throughout the long, dark night. Miss Cook 
experienced great trouble in keeping her com- 
panion awake, which was highly essential in her 
cold, wet condition. Once the Swedish maiden 
resisted all eiforts to arouse her until Miss Cook 
bit her arm sharply, frightening the poor girl. 
They sat on a fallen log by the trail most of the 
time, huddled closely for warmth and company. 
Thus the terrible night passed, an experience 
never to be forgotten. 

With the dawn of day came new hopes, new 
spirit, renewed energy, and after traveling over 
many miles more of trail, beating the little cup 
as they walked, they were at last foimd by Lohr, 
who was making a desperate search for the lost 
girls. Their experience did not deter the young 
ladies from taking claims in those selfsame, 
gloomy woods. Miss Cook is now Mrs. Litchfield 
and lives in Chicago. 

ANCIENT CHERRY TREES 

Soon after David E. Kimble and his family 
came up the Skagit river in the summer of 1870, 
they planted, just behind their first rude cabin, 
in their first little stump-ridden patch of ground, 
a few cherry trees. These he had procured on 
Whidby island at considerable expense and 
trouble; they were of the Blackheart variety. 
As time passed, they grew into hardy, stalwart 
trees, bringing cheer to the home and yielding 
abundantly of their luscious fruit. The old cabin 



478 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



at last gave up its occupants, who went to live 
in a modern dwelling elsewhere on the farm, and 
the favorite old orchard was relegated to a posi- 
tion of secondary importance. Thirty-five sea- 
sons have come and gone since the cherry shoots 
were set out in that gloomy forest and still they 
bear their annual crop of fruit, an abundant, 
unfaihng crop of excellent quality. Two of the 
number have attained to mammoth size. Meas- 
urements by the writer show that one is now 
three feet and four inches in diameter, the other 
two feet nine inches. They are indeed a won- 
derful tribute to the adaptability of the soil and 
climate of the sound to the growth of such fruit, 
examples referred to frequently by the entire 
community. Then, too, they are of special 
interest as being coeval with the inception of 
settlement and civilization above the delta. 

ONE PIONEER WOMAN 

E. D. Smith, Lowell's well-known pioneer, 
recalls an incident graphic in its portrayal of the 
rugged life which not a few frontier women were 
obliged by necessity to assume. Among these 
frontier women of the county's earliest period 
was Mrs. Lucinda Ferris, who became a settler 
on the Snoqualmie prairie in the early sixties. As 
pork brought high prices at the logging camps, 
the Ferris family gave much attention to the 
raising of hogs, realizing handsome profits from 
the business. One reason especially for their 
success was the fact that their hogs were fattened 
on peas, giving to the meat a superior flavor and 
quality. 

Mrs. Ferris, through the inability of her hus- 
band to get around, was compelled to do the 
marketing, visiting the different camps along 
the water front in a boat. One day about 1867 
or 18(j8, her market boat arrived at the old Port 
Gardner landing. She at once sold an entire hog 
and directed the Indian assisting her to deliver 
or help deliver it. The poor Siwash fumbled 
seriously, however, so enraging Mrs. Ferris that 
she threw him fully ten feet out of the way into 
the mud. Then she calmly shouldered a dressed 
porker weighing close to two hundred pounds 
and proceeded up the bank, to the amazement as 
well as amusement of the few onlookers who 
had been drawn to the spot. For many years 
this husky business woman was a familiar char- 
acter on the river, commanding the respect of 
even the roughest with whom she was compelled 
to deal. 

ORIGINAL METHODS OF A POSTMASTER 

Mortimer Cook, postmaster of Sedro post- 
office during the first years of its existence, was 
as original in certain of his ideas almost as the 
imagination itself. His neighbors never knew 
one moment what fantastic creation of his mind 



would startle them the next, but they gradually 
came to expect something unique at every oppor- 
tunity. The desire to be original in his acts, to 
avoid beaten paths, was inherent in the old 
pioneer and he delighted in it. 

Naturally then, when one day in the late 
eighties the people called for their mail at the 
little store by the river, they were not surprised to 
find that Postmaster Cook had evolved one of his 
ever forthcoming new ideas. The window was 
not opened on schedule time. Curiosity held the 
customary knot gathered for the mail, and not a 
little speculation was indulged in as to the cause 
of the long delay. All sorts of opinions were 
advanced and upheld by argument, for everybody 
was certain that Cook had a new scheme on foot. 
Finally, out from behind the fixtures came Cook 
with several sheets of wrapping paper which he 
posted conspicuously. Then he retired whence 
he came. "The sheets contained the names of 
those for whom there was mail in the office, and 
Postmaster Cook would not pay the slightest 
attention to inquiries unless a man's name was 
listed. "Is your name on the sheets?" he would 
ask, and if a negative answer was returned, that 
settled the whole matter. When asked concern- 
ing the reason for this unheard of departure in 
postofifice procedure, he replied that it took too 
much time to go over the mail in a useless search, 
especially now that so many new settlers were 
coming in. He used the sheets in spite of earn- 
est protests until their compilation became too 
great a task longer to be practicable. 

A CAMPING INCIDENT 

The dangers that beset the camper among 
the forests of Puget sound are by no means con- 
fined to wild beasts or the woeful effects of falling 
rain upon the uninitiated. When David Batey 
and Joseph Hart, Sedro- Woolley's first settlers, 
came up the river in August, 187S, looking for 
locations, they had a camping experience which 
neither has forgotten. They had filed on claims 
earlier, but, on reaching Mount Vernon, found 
the land lay in section 36, so were compelled to 
go cruising again. After proceeding as far up 
stream as Dead Man's Riffle, they turned the 
canoe's prow down stream and that night made 
camp on what became the original site of Sedro. 
The exact spot was at the foot of an immense 
cedar tree near where Cook's shingle mill was later 
built. Their frugal meal over, blankets spread 
on a bed of dry branches and foliage, the fire 
heaped high for the night, and outfits safely 
stored, the men retired. 

Just before daybreak, Mr. Batey awoke with a 
start having heard a crackling sound; his com- 
rade was simultaneously aroused, and on impulse 
the two men jumped away, dragging their 
blankets after them. Down crashed twenty feet 
of tree trunk, followed instantly by an avalanche 



REMINISCENCES 



of burning limbs, moss and other debris, com- 
pletely covering the erstwhile bed of the campers! 
The giant cedar had caught at its base and up its 
rotten heart the fire had insidiously crept, burst- 
ing out eventually through a crevice near the 
top, and burning off that portion of the tree 
which was above it. 

A STIRRING INCIDENT OF 1858 

One Sunday in May, 1858, Thomas P. Hastie 
and James Harvick were coming down the beach 
at Brown's point, Camano island, when they 
descried a war canoe swiftly approaching the 
shore. They were at that time engaged in work 
at a nearby spar camp and had been visiting at a 
logging camp. Quickly the two young men 
sought shelter and if possible concealment, for 
in addition to the canoe they also saw close by 
them a small band of Indians on the beach. 
Within a few minutes the war canoe, bearing 
fourteen braves, armed with Hudson's Bay flint- 
locks, came within hailing distance, whereupon 
there arose a terrific clamor. War cry followed 
war cry, gaining in intensity as the two parties 
came nearer together. The fascination of such 
a sight can easily be imagined. 

Just as the long canoe reached shallow water 
and seemed about to beach itself, the kneeling 
redskin in the stern gave a deft sweep of his 
paddle. Gracefully and with incredible swiftness 
the canoe swung broadside to the shore, paddles 
disappeared and in a twinkling a volley of shot 
crashed out. Six of the surprised band on shore, 
which had been expecting different tactics, went 
to the happy hunting ground without further 
notice, while their more fortunate companions re- 
turned the volley and retired to a protected spot. 
The extent of the harm done those in the boat was 
never learned for the canoe retreated as swiftly 
as it had attacked, not to reappear that day. 

FLOOD STORY 

Mrs. Marvin, widow of Captain Daniel Marvin, 
recalls some interesting experiences of early days 
on the Stillaguamish. Captain -Marvin came to 
the valley in 1864, as one of its earliest settlers, 
and Mrs. Marvin has the distinction of being the 
first white woman settler in the country lying 
between the Shohomish river and the old city of 
Whatcom. For several years she lived without 
seeing any other woman of her own race. 

Once she was left entirely alone in the neigh- 
borhood for two days and nights, except for the 
company of little Frank Slv, four years old. 
Willard Sly, Frank's father, Robert Fulton, and 
her husband went to Utsalady, expecting to make 
a quick trip, but were delayed, thus leaving the 
lonely woman by herself among the dangers of 
the frontier. 

Late in the seventies, the Stillaguamish went 



on a rampage, bringing disaster to all and every- 
thing in its path. As the water rose, the Marvins 
made what preparations they could to save the 
stock and for themselves sought safety in the 
upper story of their cabin. They were compelled 
to leave the pigs and chickens to their fate, for 
the flood came quickly, but were delighted later 
to see them floating on some logs Captain Marvin 
had been burning in the yard and to find that 
they eventually reached places of safety. As 
long as possible, food was cooked on the stove 
downstairs and carried upstairs to eat, but after 
a while the water covered the fire, putting an end 
to all cooking. 

That night Sly's house went out on the flood 
as also both his and Marvin's boats, but the fol- 
lowing day the Cuthberts came by boat to Sly's 
place, and fixed up his barn to accommodate both 
families. Two days elapsed before the waters 
receded sufficiently to permit the imprisoned set- 
tlers to resume life on their damaged ranches 
under normal conditions and the effects of the 
flood were keenly felt for many months. 

A miner's story 

An interesting story, dealing with a thrilling 
incident in mountain life and concerning several 
well-known characters of the upper Skagit valley 
in pioneer days, is related lay W. T. Odlin, 
cashier of the Citizens' Bank at Anacortes. 

"In 1891," says he, "while living at Sedro- 
Woolley, then in the excitement of its great 
boom, I sold a horse to Adam W. Davidson, who 
was running a pack train into the recently opened 
Cascade mining district. That was years before 
the railroad went up the valley much beyond 
Sedro-Woolley, when packing and boating were 
profitable lines of work. We paid in those days 
from a cent to a cent and a half a pound river 
freight alone on goods to Sterling and Sedro, and 
often I've paid Siwashes thirty-five dollars a 
canoe, some carrying as high as thirty-three 
hundred pounds. Packing was still more 
remunerative. 

"Well, in 1891, Tom Carr, whom every Skagit 
pioneer knew, was working for Davidson. One 
day he started from Hamilton for the mines with 
a pack of general supplies, including a lot of 
dynamite. Of the latter article there were sev- 
eral boxes, fifty pounds to the box, packed on the 
leader, my old mare. She also had a bundle of 
personal effects belonging to Jack Rouse, one of 
the district's original miners. Right on the 
slope of Lookout mountain, the bell mare's pack 
slipped. This frightened her so she commenced 
kicking and bucking with the result that dyna- 
mite and Jack's clothes soon began flying every 
way. She kicked or shook every box of the 
dynamite open and scattered the sticks all the 
way to Colby's mountain, a distance of eight 
miles, with never an explosion. 



480 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



"To the further astonishment of Carr, the 
mules following behind pricked up their ears in 
joyful anticipation apparently, stopped, and 
calmly commenced eating the sticks of explosive. 
With apparent relish they continued the strange 
meal in regular mule fashion, the astounded 
packer meanwhile keeping charily in the rear, 
until their greedy appetites for the sweet morsels 
of concentrated hades were satisfied. Carr said 
long afterward in describing the incident in his 
humorous way that he never touched one of those 
mules that whole summer long, even kept his dis- 
tance whenever possible, for fear the explosions 
had been delayed for his benefit. 

"John Rouse, whom I have mentioned, 
starved to death in the forests of Central Bolivia 
in the summer of 1900. But one man out of the 
thirty who entered that plague-stricken forest 
ever returned to tell the tale. Rouse was left in 
his hammock by this one survivor, who had not 
strength to remove him, a prey to the kites and 
buzzards. Rouse attained some prominence as an 
explorer of the upper Amazon, Ecuador and Peru. ' ' 

THEN AND NOW 

"Several years ago," relates Harrison 
Clothier, founder of Mount Vernon, "I visited 
Henry C. Barkhousen on Fidalgo bay, one of the 
island's oldest settlers, having come there in 1865. 
Among the other interesting incidents which he 
related that day was one, simple in itself, but one 
which conveys a remarkably graphic picture of 
conditions existing here half a century ago. 
Mr. Barkhousen said that before he settled on 
Fidalgo island, he lived at Whatcom and for a 
term served as one of the county's commissioners. 
At that time Whatcom county embraced what 
are now Skagit and San Juan counties. At one 
of the commissioners' sessions James Cavanaugh, 
the assessor, presented a bill of sixty dollars in 
full for services rendered in assessing the county. 
The board refused to allow it on the ground that 
it was exorbitant. Think of it! Too high for 
traveling among all the islands and up and down 
the long shore line of the mainland and penetra- 
ting to the river settlements. Of course the pop- 
ulation was hardly sufficient to maintain a county 
government in those days, but it was scattered 
■widely. To-day the latest statistics, compiled by 
the officials at Olympia, show that these three 
counties have a combined population of sixty- 
eight thousand and an aggregate assessed 
valuation of seventeen million seven hundred and 
thirty-one thousand, eight hundred and seventy- 
one dollars. Cavanaugh was also one of Fidalgo 
island's earliest pioneers, settling there in the 
early sixties." 

A sailor's PIONEERING 

A. G. Tillinghast, a Padilla pioneer of 1872, 
junior member of the noted pioneer firm of agri- 



culturists, Whitney, Sisson & Co., now proprietor 
of the Puget Sound Seed Gardens at La Conner, 
tells an amusing incident illustrating the humor- 
ous side of life in those early years. 

It seems that a young German, who had run 
away to sea while a lad and after drifting hither 
and thither for many years, had finally deter- 
mined to settle on Padilla bay, at last found a 
satisfactory location. About 1873 he filed on a 
claim on Bayview ridge. As a pioneer he was a 
failure, for he couldn't handle an ax, detested 
the routine of farm work and had a sailor's repug- 
nance to fighting his way through timber and 
mosquitoes. However, he would not give up his 
notion of becoming a land owner, so proceeded 
as best he could to make a slashing on his claim 
and to build a small cabin. 

The day his scattered, kindly neighbors came 
to the "house-raisin' " bee revealed a further 
incompetence in the young man for the hard, 
crude life he had undertaken. When the win- 
dowless, doorless cabin had been slowly raised 
tier upon tier to a height of several feet prepara- 
tory to roofing, it was no doubt to the uninitiated 
a rather forlorn looking excuse for a home, but 
all were unprepared for the outburst of indigna- 
tion and suffering that came from the cabin's 
owner. As he looked over the logs and inspected 
his future abode, with inexpressible scorn and 
solemnity he vented his feelings by a single 
sentence: "Mein fader's hog pen vas better dan 
dis pen you haf built vor me." 

A few days later the discouraged young man 
deserted his claim for "life on the ocean wave." 

A bear story 

Mrs. Charles Villeneuve, of Sedro- Wool ley, 
who came to Skagit county in 1871 and settled in 
the timber on the east side of the Skagit river just 
across from where the little town of Fir is now 
located, tells of many interesting incidents of 
those early pioneer days. The woods were full 
of bears and cougars then, as well as Indians, 
and Mr. Villeneuve, as were most of the men in 
those days, was absent from home much of the 
time, from Monday morning until Saturday 
night, working in the timber. Among the early 
settlers many hogs were raised and the Villeneuve 
family also kept quite a number. 

One day as Mrs. Villeneuve was at work with 
her sewing machine at one of the windows (and 
by the way this sewing machine was the first 
brought into that section of the county) a fine 
large sow by which they set much store, passed 
in front of the window and shortly disappeared 
in the tall skunk cabbage which grows so pro- 
lificly in the sound country. The hog went in 
the direction of the river. As bears had been 
making great inroads upon the hogs at their 
place for some time past, it occurred to Mrs. 
Villeneuve at that moment how fortunate they 



REMINISCENCES 



481 



had been to have this, the finest of all their 
swine, escape the clutches of Bruin, and what a 
loss it would be if the bears should eventually 
get her. At that moment a terrific squeal, full 
of fright and anguish, rent the air some fifty 
yards distant, and Mrs. Villeneuve, throwing 
aside the sewing, ran as rapidly as she could 
through the tall wild cabbage toward the sound, 
which continued without cessation. Reaching 
the edge of a ditch some yards from the house, 
she saw the sow struggling to free herself from 
a large bear, which had pounced upon her back 
and fastened its claws into her front shoulders. 
Mrs. Villeneuve shouted and threw sticks at the 
bear, in her solicitude for the pet hog, forgetting 
her fear of the bear and the chances of bodily 
harm to herself. The hog continued to struggle 
to free itself, sending forth ear-splitting and hair- 
raising squeals until at last it succeeded in affect- 
ing its escape, but at what a cost! The tough 
hogshide was torn deeply from one shoulder to 
another and in the fierce struggle was peeled 
off in a strip a foot wide back to the tail. On 
escaping, the hog ran to the river, dragging the 
long strip of hide after her, and jumping in, 
swam to the other side, where she was found 
several days later by a hunter. The animal was 
in a dying condition, so he put it out of its misery 
by a shot from his gun. The bear, on losing its 
prey, had disappeared into the woods. 

Such scenes as this were of frequent occur- 
rence in those early daj'S. The pioneer woman 
had to be a woman of nerve if she protected the 
children and her home, and operated the ranch 
in the absence of the husband, who was com- 
pelled to leave home to win bread and clothes for 
the family. 

ADVENTURES WITH BRUIN 

Four hundred Skagit county bears is the game 
record of the Smith brothers, living near 
Burlington! 

It is small wonder that they are regarded with 
something akin to awe by the average Nimrod 
to whom even half a dozen skins seem a mighty 
accomplishment in arms. If ever the race of 
Bruins had a clear case against man it is in this 
instance surely, where whole families of their 
species have been annihilated. 

In the days when the Skagit country was still 
roamed at will by Bruin, one of these Smith 
brothers, Reuben, went bee hunting without a 
gun, not intending to go far or be gone long. 
Suddenly he heard a loud crash in a nearby 
thicket and immediately a huge bear issued. 
The bee hunter thought the bear was alarmed 
and retreating, but soon discovered that his judg- 
ment was erroneous, to his discomfiture. Di- 
rectly toward him came the bear, with a growl 
and a manner that betokened business. Smith 
stood his ground, armed only with a long club. 



in hopes the enemy would retreat. But he 
didn't. On he came, becoming more aggressive 
as he advanced. At last when only a few yards 
lay between the foes. Smith realized that he must 
act or say goodbye to the world, so made a furious 
rush, yelling his loudest. The bear stopped 
at this demonstration, and stood watching Smith 
without apparently twitching so much as a single 
muscle. Seconds seemed to lengthen into hours 
as man and beast fought the battle with their 
eyes. Then, realizing his advantage, the veteran 
hunter lunged forward with his club, striking at 
the bear, actually prodding him with the end of 
the stick. This was too much for the monstrous 
animal, something beyond his understanding. 
Sullenly and slowly the bear gave up the attack, 
backing off guardedly, but never a chance to 
retrieve his lost opportunity did the wily man 
give him, and at last Bruin turned, defeated, into 
a friendly thicket and disappeared in the forest. 
Another adventure that Jlr. Smith had with 
the bear family is worth relating. He and his 
brother were hunting, this time, when they ran 
onto an enormous cedar tree in which an old bear 
and her two cubs were living. The entrance to 
the den was about thirty feet above the ground. 
Reuben Smith determined to investigate, so 
quickly commenced the ascent. When approxi- 
mately fifteen feet high he came across a large 
crack in the trunk at which he stopped to take 
observations of the interior. This indiscretion 
nearly cost him serious injury for the mother 
bear was likewise doing some observing, and 
struck vigorously at him, just missing her mark. 
A shot or two soon disposed of her, however, 
after which Smith climbed, or rather slid, down 
into the tree, capturing the cubs alive. His 
brother was forced to chop a large hole in the 
side of the tree to free the imprisoned man, for 
he had miscalculated the size of the opening. 
But the dangers of the adventure were offset in 
the eyes of these hardy men by the satisfaction 
of getting their game. 

A GOOD COUNTRY TO TIE TO 

Edgar A. Sisson's grandfather was renowned 
as the best farmer in the section of Pennsylvania 
in which he lived. Of course he asked his grand- 
son to write him fully concerning Puget sound 
as soon as he had become settled. This request 
the young pioneer of 1S72 on the Padilla flats 
granted willingly. Particularly did he impress 
his eastern kinsman with a description of the 
luxuriant grasses and foliage of the new home by 
the sea. Replying, the old gentleman wrote: 
"If the grass grows as you say it does, it is a 
good country to tie to. Grass is the foundation 
of a good country ; it is the basis of agriculture. 
By all means stay there." 

Young Sisson stayed and prospered, becoming 
one of Skagit's most successful agriculturists. 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



He never forgot his grandsire's unerring judg- 
ment of the country that produced so lavishly of 
grass, nor have others of his old associates to 
whom the story is familiar. 

PIRACY ON THE HIGH SEAS 

A good story is related by E. C. Ferguson, of 
Snohomish, that -well illustrates the degree of 
justice frequently meeted out to the real or the 
alleged criminal, as the case might be, by 
pioneer justices of the peace, the proficiency of 
the justices in the knowledge of the law, and 
the regard that was had for their verdicts. 
In the pioneer days of this section transportation 
facilities were of course lacking. Some of the 
farmers owned boats in which farm products 
(chiefly potatoes) were taken to Port Gamble, 
then the principal market for this part of the 
sound country. John Harvey, whose farm was 
just across the river from the present city of 
Snohomish, owned a sloop that would transport 
at one load about two hundred bushels of pota- 
toes. In Mr. Harvey's employ was an English 
sailor named John Murphy who had deserted his 
ship, and who, after several months of labor on 
the farm and in the woods, began to long again 
for "a taste o' the briny deep" and for a breath 
of salt sea air. This was in the fall of the year 
1867. Sailor John persuaded Mr. Harvey to 
allow him to take a load of potatoes to Port Gam- 
ble in the sloop. The trip was made in safety, 
the potatoes sold and delivered and the return 
voyage begun. 

At the mouth of the Snohomish river was 
located a hotel and saloon owned and operated 
by Perrin Preston. While steering his home- 
bound bark through the deepening twilight of 
the closing day, Sailor John sighted the lights of 
this hostelry which twinkled much more invit- 
ingly than did the up-river stars that should have 
guided the lone mariner to the farm home of his 
employer. Mr. Murphy cast anchor and went 
ashore, thinking no doubt to find there some 
"boon" companions, to take a few social drinks, 
spin a few sea yarns, and in due time to return 
to his boat and continue the voyage home. But 
the ratio of drinks to yarns being disproportion- 
ate, "Jack" soon became disabled, by no manner 
of means being able to reach his boat. On awak- 
ing in the morning he found to his dismay that 
the sloop had broken from its moorings and dis- 
appeared. Instead of attempting its recovery he 
resumed his carousal, suffering no interruption 
for two whole days, at the end of which time his 
employer appeared on the scene, some one 
having in the meantime conveyed to Mr. Harvey 
information concerning the state of affairs at the 
Preston place. Finding Murphy dead drunk and 
the proceeds of the sale of the cargo of potatoes 
squandered, Mr. Harvey secured assistance and 
went in search of his boat which he found 
beached on the island across bay from Preston's, 



but which he succeeded in floating at high tide. 
After reaching home and figuring his loss on the 
cargo of potatoes, the expense of getting his boat 
back and the considerable loss of time suffered, 
he determined to have Murphy arrested and tried 
on some criminal charge; he therefore repaired 
to the office of Justice of the Peace Peter Voisard, 
made his complaint and demanded a warrant for 
Murphy's arrest. After a careful hearing of Mr. 
Harvey's story, Justice Voisard was somewhat 
puzzled to know with just what crime the com- 
plaint should charge the defendant, John 
Murphy; but it was eventually decided that 
"Piracy on the High Seas" would cover the case, 
the warrant was issued and placed in the hands 
of a constable who was forthwith ordered to 
"apprehend the said Murphy and bring him before 
the justice, dead or alive." 

Murphy was located at Preston's place and 
was in due time brought before Justice Voisard, 
by whom he was informed that he had been 
arrested on a complaint charging him with piracy 
on the high seas. Having entered a plea of "not 
guilty," made by the defendant, the justice 
proceeded to try the case, taking the testimony 
of Mr. Harvey and two or three others concern- 
ing the taking of the sloop and cargo of potatoes 
by the defendant to Port Gamble and the event- 
ual recovery of the sloop by its owner, as well as 
the squandering of the proceeds of the sale of 
potatoes at Preston's place. The defendant had 
no witnesses and when through with the exami- 
nation of the witnesses for the state, the justice 
proceeded to sura up the evidence and announce 
his decision, which was couched in the following 
language: "I find the prisoner guilty as charged 
and the decision of this court is that you hang 
by the neck until you are dead, dead, dead." 

When being taken before the justice. Murphy 
had asked Mr. Ferguson to go with him and see 
that he had a fair trial. When Justice Voisard 
announced this remarkable decision, therefore, 
Mr. Ferguson at once arose and addressed the 
court. "Your Honor," said Mr. Ferguson, "you 
have no jurisdiction over a prisoner charged with 
piracy on the high seas; it is not within your 
province to try such a case; neither is it within 
your province as justice of the peace to pass sen- 
tence of death upon any man. As there has 
been no particular offense proven against this 
man, you have no occasion to pass sentence of 
any kind on him." "Well, what shall I do with 
him?" asked the justice. "Let him go," replied 
Mr. Ferguson. "Well," said Justice Voisard, 
"if I can't hang him, I'll turn him loose." 

Thus ended the proceedings. 

THE "judge" throws THE CASE OUT OF THE 
WINDOW 

The following is related by U. S. Senator 
Samuel H. Piles: 

In the fall of 1SS3, I located in Snohomish 



REMINISCENCES 



county, this state, and began the practice of my 
profession. My office was not as luxuriously fur- 
nished as one might expect. My desk consisted 
of an improvised smooth board, one end of which 
was nailed to the wall, the outer side being sup- 
ported by two pine slips; this, together with a 
stove of three legs, one chair and a drug box, 
constituted the whole of my furniture. 

Snugly ensconced in my office, I anxiously 
awaited a client when, late one afternoon, I was 
surprised by a knock at my door, and in entered 
a lean, long, lank individual who inquired if I 
were a lawyer. Having satisfied him on that 
score, he informed me that some time previous 
he had been employed by a neighbor to construct 
a chimney; that his neighbor had refused to 
pay him, and in consequence, a deadly enmity 
had grown up between them; that a few days 
prior to his visit to my office, his neighbor was 
driving along a lonely road that penetrated the 
magnificent forest in that county, and that 
some one had suddenly leaped up from the forest 
into his wagon and proceeded to give his neigh- 
bor a good choking from the rear, after which 
the unknown mysteriously disappeared into the 
forest from whence he came. His neighbor was 
unable to ascertain with any degree of certainty, 
who the villain was, but suspected the unfortu- 
nate man who stood before me. He had, in con- 
sequence, been arrested for assault and battery 
and would be tried on the following afternoon 
before a Norwegian justice of the peace who 
lived some five or six miles from Snohomish City, 
and desired to know what I would charge him to 
conduct his defense. 

I weighed the subject with great care, as I 
was badly in need of funds to liquidate a few 
unsettled demands, and told him 1 thought ten 
dollars ought to be cheap in view of the serious- 
ness of the charge and the long distance from 
my otlfice, and explained the necessity of closing 
my office, which of course was a great detriment, 
in view of the numerous (?) clients I had. The 
defendant looked at me, and then at my furniture 
in a somewhat dubious manner and remarked 
that three dollars and fifty cents was all the 
money he could afford to pay, and inasmuch as I 
was a new-comer in the county, I ought to be 
willing to take the case at a reasonable figure, as 
it would give me great notoriety, provided I 
cleared him, owing to the fact that the whole 
neighborhood was in arms over the aiTair and 
would attend the trial en inassL. I saw the force 
of his argument and finally consented to go. 

The Hon. Eldridge Morse, the pioneer lawyer 
of Snohomish, I learned, had been engaged to 
prosecute the prisoner and he, as I subsequently 
learned, had taken his departure from home that 
afternoon and remained over night with the jus- 
tice who was to preside at the trial on the follow- 
ing day. After the trial of the case I also learned 
that Brother Morse had told the justice on his visit 



to his house, that I had been engaged to conduct 
the defense; that I was nothing but a bluffer, 
that I would blow a great deal and explain the 
law to the justice, but for him to pay no attention 
to what I said as I knew nothing about the law, 
except what he had told me, and that he had 
given me no advice on the manner in which I 
should conduct the defense, and I would be 
entirely at sea during the trial. 

It seemed that his honor paid a considerable 
attention to what my friend Morse had said, for 
when the defendant was arraigned and I arose to 
make some objection to the information which 1 
discovered the court had drawn, his honor, with 
great dignity said: "Sit down, sir; you can't 
run any blutf on this court." 

I tried to explain that 1 had no intention of 
so doing, and that I was compelled, in justice to 
my client, to show that his honor had no jurisdic- 
tion of the offense, owing to the defective infor- 
mation. This, however was all in vain, and 
the court in peremptory tones commanded me to 
sit down, and down I went, greatly humiliated, 
as, in truth, all the citizens of the county, as it 
looked to me, were there and I was very anxious 
to make a display of my eloquence. I was about 
to appeal to the justice from another standpoint 
when I caught Brother Morse's eye which revealed 
the fact that he had "seen the justice'' before 
the trial, and by chance, I recalled the fact that 
a section of the code provided that any attorney 
admitted to practice in any of the district courts 
of the territory of Washington should be 
admitted to practice in all the courts of the terri- 
tory, and that another section provided that if 
any officer refused to perform any act enjoined 
upon him by law, he should forfeit his office and 
pay a fine. I determined to pay Mr. Morse back 
in his own coin. 

Drawing my chair a little closer to the justice, 
I began to read these sections in a stage whisper. 
My interpretation of the fact was that "Any 
attorney admitted to practice in any of the dis- 
trict courts of the territory should be allowed 
to practice before a justice of the peace who was 
enjoined by law to listen attentively to an attor- 
ney upon all occasions," that of the second 
section was "If any justice of the peace, at any 
time fail or refuse to listen to an attorney, he 
should be removed from office, his property 
confiscated and applied to the support of the 
county's poor." 

I had scarcely finished the latter section when 
the justice exclaimed: "What's that?" Ire-read 
the latter section and he looked somewhat con- 
fused as I arose and proceeded to make my 
objections to the information, and I became so 
eloquent (?) in the course of my remarks that at 
a proper pause, the justice asked me what I 
thought he ought to do under the circumstances. 

I replied that I did not presume to advise his 
honor, but the only way I could see out of the 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



difficulty, was to throw the case out of the court. 
At this point, Mr. Morse tried to interrupt me, 
but the court would not permit it. His honor 
evidently thought I used the term "throw the 
case out of court," in its literal sense, for I had 
not concluded my tirade on the information when 
in a fit of frenzy, he seized the papers and threw 
them out of the window, exclaiming : ' 'This case 
is out of court. I will have nothing to do with 
it. Mr. Constable, adjourn this court to no par- 
ticular day." 

Brother Morse and the audience were stupi- 
fied. My client and I left the court room, with 
his honor and Brother Morse close behind. I 
took my client to one side, received his congratu- 
lations and three dollars and fifty cents and told 
him from the earnest manner in which Brother 
Morse was expounding the law to his honor, that 
I was afraid that the court might reverse itself, 
and the best thing for him to do was to beat a 
hasty retreat. The last I saw of my client, on 
that occasion, he had vaulted into a saddle and 
was imitating with a degree of satisfaction, 
Ichabod Crane, fleeing from the headless 
horseman. 

MOUNT RAINIER 

Silent and stern, thou mighty peak, 

With snowy, frosted crest, 
Along thy canons eagles shriek 

Or soar from crag to nest. 
Through thy lone wilds the panthers roam 

In quest of sleeping prey, 
Or noiseless steal back to their home. 

As morning heralds day. 

Great mount, I see thy towering crest. 

By moonbeams' straggling light, 
Like some great guardian in the west 

Who guards the world by night; 
Thy glist'ning sides like sparkling dew 

My gaze untired holds, 
For beauteous sights, each fair, each new 

Are in thy mantle folds. 

Oh, silent peak, I wondering gaze 

Upon thy summit grand, 
I see thee through the moonlight haze 

As at thy foot I stand. 
I think upon the many tribes 

Who've seen thy towering form, 
Who oft have tempted thee with bribes 

To stay the mountain's storm. 

But now, though clouds below thee spread 

A mantle dark as night. 
Thy snowy, white and glistening head 

Is wreathed with purest light. 
The stars seem nestling in thy breast, 

Or gems in thy bright crown. 
Thou, like some great king, regally dressed, 

Some monarch of renown. 

We're seen the sun in beauty set 

With brightest heavenly glow. 
And on thy side he lingered yet 

As though quite loath to go. 
We've watched the twilight chase his beams 

Far up thy shining side 
From crag to crag o'er frozen streams 

Till each fair ray has died. 



Then, in the quiet hush of day. 

Again thy watch thou'dst keep, 
While twinkhng stars around thee play. 

And earth seems all asleep. 
Oh, silent one, like human grief, 

Thou'rt present every hour, 
Thou watchest on without relief 

Despite time's changing power. 

Watch over earth, thou mighty peak, 

Though lightnings round thee play; 
Or storm gods through thy caverns shriek 

And clouds shut out the day. 
Man sees thy feathery pine trees nod 

By winds thus wildly driven. 
And learns from thee that nature's God, 

Rules earth as well as Heaven. 



THE SWINOMISH FLATS 

Would you know of the sweetest of prairies or plains. 

Away from the crowded ways? 
Then come from the babble and clamor of tongues; 
Away from the strife for the ladder's rungs, 

To the glory of summer days. 

All things are glad! The lark's song sweet 

That peals through the morning's air, 
Is telling the fragrance of new-mown hay. 
The blessing of God and the smile of the day. 

And our bliss in a world so fair. 

The sunshine sifts through the orchard trees 

On the nodding clover below; 
And the bright-eyed quail, from her nest in the grass, 
Watches the flickering shadows that pass 

As the branches sway to and fro. 

Sleek cattle wander the meadows wide; 

Beyond them seas of grain 
Are dimpling to gold 'neath the touch of the sun 
Rustling their joy for the victories won 

Over the winter's rain. 

Ah! beautiful fields of the cloth of gold, 

Laden with wealth you stand — 
The crowning meed of the farmer's toil. 
The fruit of his care and the fruit of his soil, 

Of our sea-wrested Swinomish Land. 

For this is a child of the Puget sea. 

Snatched from the Mother's arms, 
And kept from her home for years and a day. 
In the service of those who stole her away. 

Till grown to a maiden's charms. 

A new-world Holland, but girded by hills — 

By soft blue hills that stand 
Like guardian angels by kind Heaven sent 
To keep you in peace and in quiet content, 

O sun-sweet Swinomish Land. 

Elzan M. Wallace. 



SAILING OF THE WHALEBACK 

God speed thee, gallant ship, God speed thee o'er 
The isle-enchanted sea, from shore to shore; 
Sail on, DeFuca's giant gateway through. 

Into the broad expanse of ocean blue; 
Then outward, onward, ever onward keep. 

Still hold thy course across the pathless deep 
To where the Island Empire proudly lies 

And Cathay's headlands in thy pathway rise. 



REMINISCENCES 



485 



Sail on, 'till o'er thee blows the spicy breeze 

From tropic isles, begirt with thermal seas. 
Along the world's broad belt, on India's tide- 
Four thousand miles of waters waste and wide- 
Still on 'till Africa's hot burning sand 
Before thee stretches limitless on either hand. 



Or, if thy course to northward thou shalt shape. 
Sail on by rocky isle and frowning cape, 

Through channels dark, by many a devious way, 
Nor tide nor calm, nor storm thy course delay. 

Sail on until for all thy ample store 
Safe port is found upon Siberia's shore. 

Make not thy stay too long on that ungenial strand, 

But haste again to greet thy native land. 
Thousands of friends thy safe return await 

From foreign ports, deep lade with richest freight. 
Expectant eyes shall scan the isle-set sea 

The first incoming glimpse to catch of thee, 
And grand Olympus, from his high estate. 

Shall give thee royal welcome to our gate. 

Great pioneer of commerce just begiin, 

A thousand ships shall o'er thy pathway run. 
From each masthead our starry flag shall gleam 

As o'er Pacific's broad highway they steam. 
Proud Venice "wed the sea" in days of old; 

The Great Republic, young and wise and bold. 
Weds now the greater ocean of the West, 

And all the nations by this bond are blest. 

Oh, harbinger of busy days to be — 

In this fair city by the inland sea — 
Destined a wondrous enterprise to lead, 

"City of Everett," sail on, Godspeed! 

R. K. Beecham. 
Everett, Wash., February 23, 1895. 



PORT GARDNER 



Oh! the beautiful bay 

Of the inland sea 
That reaches away 

To the islands' lea; 
Without may the breeze 

And breakers war 
And the billowy seas 

May roll from afar. 
But the ships sail in 

With their stately pride. 
And a harbor win 

That is safe and wide. 



Oh! the peaceful bay 

In the islands' lea. 
For fair is the day 

O'er the landlocked sea; 
And the sun's rays' gleam 

On her waters rest, 
And the green isles seem 

Asleep on her breast; 
Now the ships that ride 

On the peaceful bay 
In their stately pride 

Sail out and away. 

Oh! the glorious bay, 

Of the isle-set sea. 
Beyond and away 

Stand the mountains free. 
And they smile and they frown 

In their bonnets of snow, 



As they look far down 
On the scene below. 
The ships may keep 

On their stately ride. 

For the waters are deep 

And the harbor wide. 

R. K. Beecham. 
Published in the Everett Times, Feb. 6, 1895. 



THE WILD CHERRY TREE 

It stands on the brow of the hillside green. 
And bends like a graceful plume; 
Its pale green foliage in silver sheen, 
Is fringed with a wealth of bloom. 

At sunrise it gleams in the brilliant rays, 
A tree of beauty most fair; 
At noontide it rests in the dazzling haze. 
Aglow with splendor rare. 

The shafts of the sunset lodge in its boughs. 
Now crowned with a halo bright; 
It sends its perfume to soothe restless brows. 
And gracefully waves "Goodnight." 

Era M. Davis, Mount Vernon. 



THE OLD SETTLER 
(Author Unknown) 

I've traveled all over the country. 
Prospecting and digging for gold; 

I've cradled, hydrauliced and tunneled 
And frequently I have been sold. 

For one that got riches by mining. 
Perceiving that hundreds grow poor, 

I made up my mind to try farming. 
The only pursuit that is sure. 



So I rolled up my grub in a blanket 
And left all my tools on the ground 

And started one morning to shank it 

For the country that's called Puget sound. 

Arriving flat broke in mid-winter, 

I found it enveloped in fog 
And covered all over with timber 

Thick as hair on the back of a dog. 

I took up a home in the forest; 

I spent there two years of hard toil. 
I worked and I slaved and I niggered 

But never got down to the soil. 

I tried to get out of the country 

But poverty forced me to stay 
Until I became an old settler, 

Then nothing could drive me away. 



But now I've got used to the climate 
And I think if a man ever found 

A place to live happy and easy. 
That Eden is on Puget sound. 

No longer the slave of ambition, 
I laugh at this world and its shams 

As I think of my pleasant condition, 
Surrounded by acres of clams. 



SUPPLEMENTARY 



ON THE PLAINS 

The sun sinks low, 

The golden glow 
Falls slanting o'er the tawny plain; 

A gentle breeze 

From far-off seas 
Blows gently o'er the wagon train; 
A mellow beauty softly reigns— 
'Tis sunset on the western plains. 

The twinkling stars, 

Through azure bars. 
Look down upon the darkened plain; 

The coyote's cry 

And night wind's sigh 
Are blended in a long refrain; 
A mystic, wild enchantment reigns — 
'Tis midnight on the western plains. 

Long rays of light 

Dispel the night 
As slanting sunbeams span the plain; 

Wild flowers fair 

Perfume the air, 
While westward wends the wagon train, 
The god of day in glory reigns— 
'Tis sunrise on the western plains. 

Loiis P. Callahan in Pittsburg Dispatch. 



THE PIONEERS 

In the heat and the dust of the alkali plains. 

Over desolate stretches of sand. 
They trudged by the side of the slow moving trains. 

The bullwhip and rifle in hand. 
Their eyes they had fixed on the wonderful West, 

Its stories delighted their ears. 
And hope had a nest in each resolute breast 

Of those heroes, our brave pioneers. 

They knew of the dangers that clung to the trail 

That led o'er the desert's bleak waste, 
And, armed with a courage that never could fail. 

Those dangers they fearlessly faced. 
They slept 'neath the stars by the fire's fitful light 

Or watched o'er the grass feeding steers 
When red peril lurked in the shadows of night 

In wait for those brave pioneers. 

The great Land of Promise they fought for was won. 

And the victory flushed their brown cheeks 
When they saw the red rays of the evening sun 

Light up the proud heads of the peaks. 
Their glad lips were reeking with song at the dawn, 

The echoes were dancing with cheers. 
As the mountains in view seemed to beckon them on 

To the home of the brave i 



Long years have rolled by since they halted for rest 

At the end of their wearisome tramp; 
A city of grandeur, the pride of the VVest, 

Now stands on the site of their camp. 
And dimmed is the light of once keen flashing eyes 

As, ripe with the fullness of years. 
They wait for the call to the trail to the skies 

That is blazed for our brave pioneers. 

James Barton Adams. 



THE BRAVE OLD DAYS 

You will see them meet on the busy street, old fellows of 

tottering walk. 
And the eyes grow bright with the old daylight as their 

old hands meet and lock. 



And its "Hello, Jim!" and its "Hello, Tim!" and "How 

do you do to-day?" 
And they draw aside from the human tide for a chat in 

the old time way. 
They talk of the time they were in their prime ere they 

suffered from age's pains. 
Of the songs they sang when the bullwhips rang way out 

on the dusty plains. 
Of the perils faced on the desert waste, of the pioneer 

joke and jest. 
As they trudged through sand to the promised land in the 

brave old days of the West. 

They recall the frays of those brave old days with the 

demons with skins of red, 
Of the wagons "parked" and the guns that barked and 

bit with their teeth of lead, 
Of the fiendish yells and the jingling bells on the ponies 

of painted foes. 
Of the arrows' flight sent with arms of might from the 

spring of the bended bows. 
And again do they hear the words of cheer from the 

women as brave as they, 
The women who shared the perils dared, young wives and 

old mothers gray. 
And as memories swarm how the hearts beat warm as of 

old in each brave old breast, 
As the pictures rise to their brave old eyes of the brave 

old days of the West. 

O! the joy and pain as they live again those scenes of the 

stirring jiast; 

lights their e ' ' 

the West— at ] 
And their tones grow low as they feel a blow from the 

merciless hand of pain. 
As they talk of the braves they laid in graves near the 

camp of the wagon train. 
Thus they often meet on the busy street, those grizzled 

old pioneers. 
And the pictures seen on the memory screen oft start the 

unbidden tears 
As the lips and eyes speak the thoughts that rise from 

tlieir founts in each valiant breast. 
Of the weary tramps and the firelit camps in the brave 

old days of the West. 

James Barton Adams. 

THE EVERGREEN STATE 

(Air, "Illinois.") 

We've a land toward the setting 

Of the far. Western sun, 
Name of soldier, statesman, hero, 

Washington, Washington! 
Land of hill and mountain side. 
Land of plain and valley wide. 
Land of plenty, prospect, pride — 
Washington. 

Zephyrs soft o'er Whitman sighing, 

Washington, Washington! 
Constant requiem supplying, 

Washington, Washington! 
Here Vancouver came and Gray, 
Clark and Lewis led the way. 
To this land of future day^ 
Washington. 

Land of fertile sunlit plains, 

Washington, Washington! 
Mellow fruit and golden grains, 

Washington, Washington! 
Wondrous wealth of stream and mines. 
Cedar, fir, and giant pines. 
All within thy vast confines — 
Washington. 



REMIXISCEXCES 



487 



Here Columbia proudly sweeping, 

Washington, Washington! 
By the graves of heroes sleeping, 

Washington, Washington! 
Forest, field, and snowy hill. 
Waterfall and sparkling rill, 
How these scenes with rapture thrill — 
Washington. 

Cities great and grand and growing, 

Washington, Washington! 
In thy land with wealth o'erflowing, 

Washington, Washington! 
Walla Walla broad and fair, 
Everett, with balmy air, 
Bellingham with vista rare — 
Washington. 

Hear Olympia's olden story, 

Washington. Washington! 
Watch Wenatchee's growing glory, 

Washington, Washington! 
While we "Watch Tacoma grow," 
See Seattle onward go. 
How Spokane's bright prospects glow, 
Washington. 

Bright the morn's first beams advancing, 

Washington, Washington! 
Span Mount Carlton's view entrancing, 

Washington, Washington! 

Part the mists on old Rainier, 

Signal "day" to Adams drear, 

And to Baker's summit clear — 

Washington. 

Where the rays of twilight resting, 

Washington, Washington! 
On the wide Olympic cresting, 

Washington, Washington! 
Shade the blue of Puget sound. 



Gild the wooded hilltops round, 
Oh, what gardens doth abound — 
Washington. 

Where the Cascade's rugged rending, 

Washington, Washington! 
Form Chelan's bright bays extending, 

Washington, Washington! 
Oh, the riches lavished there. 
Skylit blue of waters fair, 
Caverns deep and peaks in air — 
Washington. 

Here the quiet Oriental, 

Washington, Washington! 
Meets again the Occidental, 

Washington, Washington! 
'Neath thy kindly flag unfurled, 
Here by fate and fortune hurled, 
Thou the home of all the world — 
Washington. 

Future's eyes are toward the turning, 

Washington, Washington! 
Keep their altar fires still burning, 

Washington, Washington! 
Show the worth of coming fates, 
Grasp the legacy that waits, 
Thou the queen of all the states — 
Washington. 

When our last long sleep is nearing, 

Washington, Washington! 
Earth and loved ones disappearing, 

Washington, Washington! 
May we know that we shall rest. 
On thy kind and ample breast. 
Thou of all the dearest, best — 
Washington. 

Henry"Herbert Slater. 
Deer Park, Wash., March 15, 1906. 



PART V 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



"Biography is the only true history." 

Euicrson. 



"Biography is infinitely more valuable than the 
dumb statue or monument." 

Carlylc. 



SKAGIT COUNTY 
BIOGRAPHY 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 

SKAGIT COUNTY 



IRA E. SHRAUGER, mayor of :\Iount Ver- 
non, and senior member of the law firm of Shrau- 
ger & Barker, was born in Parkville, Michigan, in 
1858, the son of Francis J. and Anna (Umstead) 
Shrauger. The father was a descendant of the 
Pennsylvania Dutch stock. He was a pioneer in 
the state of Michigan, to which he came with his 
parents in the early thirties. He followed railroad- 
ing for years, as conductor on the Rock Island sys- 
tem, and during the war he carried the wounded 
soldiers into Rock Island on what might be desig- 
nated an ambulance special. He also at one time 
was a hardware merchant, and a prominent member 
of the Grand Army. He died in 1888, at the age 
of fifty-five. The mother, born in Pennsylvania in 
1838, is now living at Exira. Iowa. Having spent 
the first twelve years of his life in his native city, 
Mr. Slwauger came with his parents to Audubon 
county, where after a short time they took up their 
permanent residence at Exira, at which place he re- 
ceived his education, graduating from the Academy, 
and at the early age of fifteen teaching his first term 
of school. In the succeeding fourteen terms which 
he taught he employed all his leisure time in the 
study of law, and in 1888 was admitted to the bar 
in Nebraska, to which state he had moved seven 
years previous. For five years he was editor of 
The Enterprise, the leading paper of Humboldt, 
Nebraska, and city clerk for the entire time of his 
residence there except when serving as city attor- 
ney. In 1890 he came West, first locating in Bell- 
ingham, where he practiced law for eighteen 
months, and later in Hamilton, where he opened a 
bank in connection with his law practice. Elected 
county attorney in 1896, he came to Mount Vernon, 
since which time he has made that place his home 
and has been connected with every public enter- 
prise, believing this to be the best town in the coun- 
try and one whose financial basis is especially wor- 
thy of praise. Nominated a second time for the 
office of attorney, he barely missed being elected 
by sixty-five votes, while other candidates on the 
same ticket, the Fusion, were defeated by several 
hundred votes. At the expiration of his term of 
office he formed a co-partnership with Mr. E. P. 
Barker, and together they have built up a splendid 
business. In 1902 he was appointed mayor, and 
elected to the same office in 1904. 



Mr. Shrauger was married in Skagit county in 
1892, to Mayme Finne, who was born in Chicago, 
but came with her parents to California where she 
grew to womanhood. Mr. and Mrs. Shrauger have 
three children : Donald L., Clyde F. and Maynard 
F. Few members of his party, the Democratic, 
have rendered it more valuable service than has Mr. 
Shrauger, who is chairman of the county central 
committee, and who has represented the party in 
both county and state conventions, in which his per- 
sonal popularity and wide practical knowledge of 
men and affairs rendered him a prominent figure. 
The legal profession, of which he is such an able 
member, has honored him by electing him president 
of the bar association. As treasurer of the county 
fair association, he is in close touch with the farm- 
ing interests of the county and state. The Com- 
mercial club and the Knights of Pythias are pleased 
to claim him as an active member. The character- 
istics so clearly manifested in the boy-teacher, — 
ambition and industry, — joined to the highest in- 
tegrity, growing and developing with the passing 
years, have insured for the man of to-day the ex- 
alted position which he holds in town, county and 
state. 



DAVID H. MOSS, president of the First Na- 
tional Bank of Mount Vernon, and the Bank of 
Burlington, was born in Paris, Missouri, January 
5, 1876, of distinguished parents. His father, Dav- 
id H. Moss, a native of Columbia, Missouri, born 
in 1827, came of Virginia and Kentucky ancestors, 
who were pioneers in Missouri, where they came 
in 1819, and were among the first settlers in Saint 
Joseph, which at the time of their advent was only 
an Indian trading point. The elder Moss was for 
many years a prominent factor in political circles 
in his state, where he filled the offices of circuit 
judge and attorney for many terms, and made his 
influence felt in the councils of his party. A num- 
ber of years since, however, he decided to retire 
from the onerous duties of public life, afid seek the 
more peaceful comforts of his home and fireside, 
holding alone the position of president of the Paris 
(Missouri) National bank, one of the solid finan- 
cial institutions of that state. The mother, Mellville 
(Hollingsworth) Moss, was born near Hannibal, 



494 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



Missouri, and was reared in St. Louis. Her par- 
ents were natives of Virginia, but immigrated to 
Missouri in the early part of the last century, when 
the pioneer instinct would no longer admit of their 
continuing in what to them were the densely popu- 
lated regions of their native state. They here ex- 
perienced fully the strenuous life of the pioneer, 
and reared their family under these conditions into 
stalwart manhood and useful womanhood. How 
happily changed are the conditions under which 
this worthy matron now lives, surrounded with afflu- 
ence and social advantages, and, still better, enjoying 
tlie approving consciousness of a life well spent. The 
youngest in a family of eight, the subject of this 
writing grew to manhood in an atmosphere of cul- 
ture and refinement. Encouraging the fondness for 
study which he early manifested, his parents sent 
him at the early age of fourteen to the Military 
Academy at Booneville, Missouri, which was at 
that time one of the best educational institutions in 
the state. He later spent three years at Westmin- 
ster College, Fulton, Missouri, finishing there at the 
age of twenty, at which time he entered the law 
department of the Northwestern University, and 
was graduated therefrom in 1899. Returning to 
his home in Paris he was admitted to the bar, and 
began the practice of law, at the same time being 
associated with his father in the bank. In the spring 
of 1902 he came West to Billings, Montana, having 
accepted the position of assistant cashier of the 
First National bank, at that place, of which his 
brother, P. B. Moss, is the president. In March, 
1903, he purchased a controlling interest in the 
First National Bank of Mount Vernon, in which 
institution he holds the honored position of presi- 
dent, and is likewise president of the Bank of Bur- 
lington, which he has established more recently. 
Capitalized at twenty-five thousand dollars, with 
loans amounting to one hundred and seventy-five 
thousand dollars, and deposits of three hundred 
thousand dollars, the Mount Vernon bank is recog- 
nized as one of the strongest financial institutions in 
Skagit county. 

On April 5, 1905, the marriage of David H. Moss 
and Miss Annabelle Arnold, daughter of R. R. 
and Ophelia (Morris) Arnold, of Mexico, Missouri, 
was solemnized at Billings. Montana. Mrs. Moss 
comes from one of the distinguished pioneer fami- 
lies of Missouri, her father, who is cashier of the 
First National Bank of jMexico, is a man of prom- 
inence in financial and political circles, and widely 
known throughout the state. Second from the last 
of a family of seven children, Mrs. Moss has been 
reared under the very best home and social in- 
fluences, with ample educational opportunities and 
is qualified to fill with dignity and grace the require- 
ments of home or social life. She is a member of 
the Christian Church, of which her husband is also 
a communicant. In fraternal circles Mr. Moss is 
associated with the Elks and the Masons. With his 
demonstrated business ability, the high position of 



trust which he is holding and the full confidence and 
respect of his acquaintances, few young men at the 
age of Mr. Moss have brighter prospects for a life 
of influence and usefulness. 



PATRICK HALLORAN. Among the men 
who have achieved success in Skagit county and in 
so doing have contributed not a little toward the 
general progress, is certainly to be numbered the 
worthy and influential pioneer whose name forms' 
the title of this article. Born in the province of 
New Brunswick, Canada, in 1846, he grew up there 
under pioneer conditions, and naturally his chief 
preparation for life's battle was the formation of 
habits of industry and self-reliance which comes 
with a sustained eiTort to clear up and win a liveli- 
hood from a heavily timbered farm. He did, how- 
ever, receive such educational discipline as was to 
be had in the schools of the parish in which he was 
born, and in the larger school of life in which he 
has since taken an advanced course, being graduat- 
ed with honors. A degree of success in the indus- 
trial world has been his such as many a man with 
larger opportunities might envy. 

Mr. Halloran's father, John Halloran, was a 
native of county Limerick, Ireland, whence he came 
to New Brunswick in 1825. For a number of years 
he was one of the active and forceful men in the 
early industrial development of that province, but 
in ISfiS he moved to Alpena, Michigan, where he 
passed away some four years later. Before coming 
to America he had served four years in the British 
army. The mother of our subject, Ellen (Dawson) 
Halloran, who was also a native of Ireland, and 
who became a resident of New Brunswick while 
yet in earlv childhood, died in Alpena, Michigan, 
"in 1896. 

At the age of twenty the Mr. Halloran of this 
article left his New Brunswick home to seek the 
favor of Fortune in the American republic, moving 
first to Detroit, Michigan, whence, after a brief 
stay, he went to Alpena. There he became inter- 
ested in the lumber business. Special aptitude and 
ability in handling men, together with industry and 
steadfastness of purpose, soon told in his favor and 
before long he was entrusted with the general man- 
agement of the work and the direction of a large 
crew. About 1876 he determined to secure for him- 
self the larger opportunities offered by the still new- 
er West, so struck out for the coast. He spent 
brief periods of time in Portland and Seattle, and 
about 1877 became identified with the lumber busi- 
ness of Skagit county, his first place of employment 
being the vicinity of the site upon which Edison was 
subsequently built. Taking land three-quarters of a 
mile from the present town he settled there perma- 
nently and gave to that community the benefit of 
his labor and influence in the direction of progres- 
siveness and industrial and social development. For 
twenty years he was engaged energetically in farm- 




PATRICK HALLORAN 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



ing, raising oats, hay and cattle. In the fall of 1885 
he was nominated by the Republican party for the 
office of county commissioner, and was duly elected 
to that position. So acceptably did he perform his 
official duties that he was called to succeed himself 
two years later, serving during the four years as 
chairman of the board. In 1900, he sold his orig- 
inal home, bought a place in Edison and moved into 
town for the benefit of his wife's health. With 
characteristic resourcefulness, he engaged in the 
real estate business when farming was no longer 
practicable for him, and in 190-1 he was summoned 
by the franchises of his fellow-citizens to the re- 
sponsible office of county treasurer. He is discharg- 
ing his duties with an eye single to the public weal, 
retaining as deputy Ex-treasurer Welts that the 
bepefit of a ripe experience may not be lost to the 
tax payer. In all liis business ventures and activi- 
ties, Mr. Halloran has been abundantly successful 
and the reward which Skagit county seldom fails to 
bestow upon the industrious and sound of judgment 
are his in good measure. He has many interests 
throughout the county, but he values his material 
wealth less highly than the esteem and confidence 
of his fellow-citizens which have come as a result 
of long years of square and honorable dealing. He 
is very loyal to all the interests of Skagit county, 
taking a pardonable pride in its past achievements, 
its present greatness and its promise for the future. 
Mr. Halloran was married in Alpena. Michigan, 
in 1877, the lady being Miss Bridget McGinty, a 
native of Ireland, who moved to Canada with her 
brothers when a small girl. The fruit of their union 
is three children : James and George at home in Ed- 
ison, and Mary Donnelly, between them, in age, liv- 
ing at Sedro-Woolley. Fraternally, Mr. Halloran 
is a Chapter Mason, and in politics he is an active 
and loyal Republican, having served his party in 
both the capacity of county central committeeman, 
and member of the state committee. 



HON. JOHN O. RUDENE, the well-known 
representative of Skagit county, residing on his fine 
farm three miles east of La Conner, was born in 
southern Sweden, Ostergotland province, August 
13, 1850. His parents, Samuel and Johanna (Shan- 
strom) Jacobson, natives of Sweden, died there in 
1862. Mr. Rudene spent the first twenty-three 
years of his life on his father's farm, acquiring a 
thorough knowledge of the many details of the 
work, and meanwhile using to the very best ad- 
vantage the educational opportunities afiforded. 
.Two sisters and a brother had found homes in the 
United States, and urged him to visit the country 
and to see for himself the unlimited openings to be 
found. This he decided to do, and upon the return 
of his brother to the United States after a visit to 
his parents in Sweden, he accompanied him, locat- 
ing in Iowa. Mr. Rudene was employed by his 
uncle, John Shanstrom, for one year, following 



which he worked for others in that locality until 
May, 1876, when he came to La Conner, Washing- 
ton. Beaver Flats had no farms at that time, and 
only the prophetic vision could see the resources 
hidden beneath the waste of brush, stones and mud. 
At the end of two years which were spent in dik- 
ing and farming for Mr. Calhoun and others, he 
rented his present farm for five years, at the end of 
which time he purchased the property. Meeting 
with the success he so richly deserved, he was able 
in 1881 to buy the Kennedy farm of two hundred 
acres which was sold at administrator's sale. Leas- 
ing other land until he had four hundred acres un- 
der cultivation, he devoted his entire time to farm- 
ing for four years, his principal products being oats 
and hay, which netted him a sufficient income to 
meet all his payments on the farm. For several 
years his brother, August, was in partnership with 
him, but in 1880 he bought out his interest. Mr. 
Rudene has three sisters: Mrs. Tina Osberg, who 
lives on the Swinomish slough ; Carrie Edmonds on 
the Pleasant ridge, and Mrs. May Turner, residing 
in British Columbia. The brother August, men- 
tioned above, is now in Ballard. 

In 1883 Mr. Rudene was united in marriage to 
Mrs. Bessie J. Cornelius, the daughter of William 
Wallace, of Scotch descent, who was a prominent 
pioneer of Oregon. Coming with her first husband, 
Mr. Cornelius, to Skagit county at an early date, 
she has the honor of being one of the first white 
women to brave the dangers of life in what was 
then almost a wilderness. Still graver dangers 
threatened when, at the death of her husband, she 
was left with a family of three little ones, without 
adequate means of support. In later years she mar- 
ried Mr. Rudene. Mr. Rudene is a trustee in the 
Methodist church, of which both he and his wife 
are prominent members. The Odd Fellows frater- 
nity of La Conner claims him as an honored mem- 
ber, he being at the present time past grand, having 
filled the chair of noble grand for one term. Al- 
ways an active member of the Republican party, he 
was elected representative in the fall of 1901, at- 
tending the winter session of the legislature, in 
which his keen, practical knowledge of afifairs made 
him at once a man of influence. He was chairman 
of the live-stock and dairy committee, before which 
the widely discussed meat inspector bill came up, a 
measure that was defeated largely because of his 
strong opposition. Few men have taken such an ac- 
tive interest in the vast enterprise of diking and' 
draining this section of the Northwest as has Mr. 
Rudene, who is drainage commissioner for his dis- 
trict, and who now, in connection with other leading 
citizens, has on foot a movement for the drainage 
and dredging of the sloughs of that section on a 
most extensive scale, which when completed will be 
one of the largest systems in the county. Mr. Ru- 
dene is an ardent admirer of fine stock, and his 
farm boasts some of the best bred Durham cattle 
and French Norman Percheron horses to be found 



498 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



in the county. A visit to this well-equipped farm 
and the well-appointed, hospitable home is evidence 
sufficient, not only of the thrift and industry, but 
the taste and refinement of its owners. 



J. GUY LOWMAN, one among the progressive 
and popular educators of the state of Washington, 
who in his short life of thirty-three years has won 
a measure of success that would satisfy many a man 
of threescore and ten, was born near the old battle 
field of Tippecanoe in the vicinity of LaFayette, 
Indiana, February 13, 1872. His father, Jacob W. 
Lowman, of German ancestry, born in West Vir- 
ginia in ISoT, came when a boy of fourteen to the 
state of Indiana, and thus secured for himself the 
honor of being one of the pioneers of that state. At 
the opening of the Civil War, he enlisted, but 
stricken with fever, was unable to render any ac- 
tive service. Later, still longing to lift his hand in 
defence of his country's honor, he attempted to re- 
enlist, but was rejected on account of ill health. In 
1893, he settled in Anacortes, where he still resides, 
ably filling the office of police judge and justice of 
the peace. He also served one term as mayor of 
that city. His parents came to the United States 
in 1873, locating in Rock Creek County, Virginia. 
The mother, Nancy A. (Shigley) Lowman, is a 
nktive of the Buckeye state, born in Jamestown, in 
1839, of German parentage, her family being close- 
ly related to the famous Captain Mahan, the naval 
author, whose ancestors settled in the United States 
before the Revolution. Having received a careful 
education, she was for a number of years a teacher. 
She is still living, at Anacortes, the mother of three 
children. Her son, William A. Lowman. owns and 
operates the White Crest creamery at Anacortes ; 
Effie L. is the wife of Adam M. Dilling. a prominent 
contractor in Anacortes. Coming with his parents 
to Iowa when five years old, Mr. Lowman there 
remained six years, when they returned to the 
grandfather's old home near LaFayette, where he 
was born, his parents having been there on a visit 
at that time, though their home was then at Canton, 
Illinois. In this atmosphere of historic associations 
he grew to manhood, working on the farm and at- 
tending the little country school, there laying the 
foundation for a lifetime of usefulness. He began 
his career as a teacher in his home county at the 
age of twenty, removing to Anacortes in 1893, 
where he served as substitute for a few months, and 
later taught in country schools, emplo\ing all his 
leisure moments in diligent study. He has thus se- 
cured a splendid equipment for his life work, dem- 
onstrating the possibility of securing this higher ed- 
ucation outside of college walls, given the requisite 
amount of ambition, energy and perseverance, all 
of which he possesses in abundant measure. For 
three years he was principal of the Avon schools, 
tendering his resignation when, in 1902, he was 
elected county superintendent on the Republican 
ticket. Two years later, he was re-elected by a ma- 



jority of fifteen hundred votes. Believing that 
greater advantages, at a minimum cost, may be se- 
cured through the consolidation of country schools," 
Mr. Lowman has been an earnest advocate of the 
system, which he has secured in one locality, while 
in others, the thorough agitation of the question 
promises to bear fruit in the near future. Former- 
ly the wages of teachers in Skagit county were far 
below that of the surrounding counties; now 
through his influence they have been raised to as 
high a scale as is paid in an\- ci unity of like charac- 
ter in the state, and he is justl\ pnnul of the fact. 
Another progressive idea which he has carried out 
is the establisiiment of district association meetings 
throughout the county, having for their aim the 
more intimate acquaintance of teachers with their 
patrons and with each other. Still another example 
of his untiring zeal may be cited : the extension of 
school district lines to take in taxable land of non- 
residents, not hitherto within the district boundaries, 
to the value of five hundred thousand dollars. He 
has also secured the adoption of free text book sys- 
tem in a majority of the schools of the county. 

Mr. Lowman was married August 29, 1900, to 
Dixie M. Hawkins, daughter of William and Tali- 
tha (Miller) Hawkins. Her father is one of the 
pioneers of Skagit county, coming here in 1882 and 
taking up the homestead on which he now resides. 
A southerner by birth, he was for many years a 
cattle ranger in' Texas. Both parents are still liv- 
ing. Mrs. Lowman is a native of Arkansas. To them 
has been born one child, Vivien G., on October 8, 
1901. Mr. Lowman, as may be inferred, is a 
prominent Republican. Fraternally, he is a member 
of the Odd Fellows; in religious belief, a Presby- 
terian, of which church he is an active member. 
Though devoting so large a proportion of his time 
exclusively to educational matters, he has yet, by 
his wise investments become the owner of a ranch 
near Avon, on which he is making extensive im- 
provements, and of numerous lots in Anacortes. 



THO:\IAS P. HASTIE, president of the Skagit 
County Pioneers' Association, belongs to that type 
of pioneer citizenship to which the Republic owes 
most and which it most honors. With befitting mod- 
esty, yet with persistent aggressiveness and unfal- 
tering courage, these men have grimly led the way 
across plain, mountain and water, vanquished the 
hostile aborigines and erected new states in the sub- 
dued wilderness. To-day bustling cities and thriv- 
ing industrial and agricultural communities, peopled 
bv a happy, prosperous population, dot these erst- 
while frontiers, — glorious monuments to their he- 
roic founders. 

Both the elder Hastie, Thomas, and his son 
Thomas P.. are citizens of the United States by 
choice, but justly may they be classed as true Amer- 
icans, as this record will show. Born in Scotland, 
five years after the dawn of the nineteenth century, 
the father became a resident of England when a 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



boy. There he learned the stone cutter's trade, 
married and lived until 1845. While the family re- 
sided in Liverpool, Thomas P. was born, March 2, 
1835, and was, therefore, ten years old when the 
Hasties crossed the Atlantic to establish a home in 
the new republic beyond the sea. On the maternal 
side, Mr. Hastie carries in his veins the blood of 
Welsh ancestors. His mother was an exceptional 
woman. Educated in England to follow the profes- 
sion of a trained nurse, after she came to America 
she followed it with unusual success and is said to 
have never lost a single case placed under her 
charge. Her work as a pioneer of the profession 
in the Xorthwest won for her an enviable place. 
Upon arrival in this country, the family settled in 
Wisconsin, where the father engaged in farming 
and followed his trade during the next five years. 
Dane county was their home, the farm being situ- 
ated eighteeji miles north of Madison, the state cap- 
ital. However, Wisconsin did not satisfy, and in 
1850 father, mother and two sons joined the small 
band of immigrants going to seek new abodes in 
far off Oregon. With ox teams and the customary 
prairie schooner they took up the trail, bidding 
farewell to the rapidly settling middle West to meet 
whatever fortune might await them in a new land, 
surrounded by savages who did not view with con- 
tent the invasion of their domain, and isolated by 
hundreds of miles of trackless wilderness. The 
long, tedious journey was made in safety, owing not 
a little to the noble McLoughlin's aid. Sauvies is- 
land in the Willamette river near its mouth became 
their home in the spring of 1851, only three years 
after the admission of Oregon as a state. The same 
year that the territory of Washington was created 
out of northern Oregon, 1853, the Hasties became 
residents of Whidby island, being among its earliest 
pioneers. One of the memorable incidents in the 
history of that frontier community was the brutal 
assassination of Col. Isaac N. Eby by the Northern 
Indians in 1857, with the details of which Thomas P. 
Hastie is perfectly familiar. This event was an im- 
portant one in the history of the state, and at the time 
created great excitement all over the West. After the 
mother's death on the island, February 19, 18G3, the 
elder Hastie returned to Wisconsin and there lived 
until he. too, was overtaken by death. As a young 
man Thomas P.. shortly after his arrival in 'Wash- 
ington, employed himself at farming with his father 
and cooking at different saw-mills, but, on the out- 
break of the Yakima Indian War in 1855 he enlisted 
in Company I, First Washington Volunteers. This 
regiment saw service all over the region now em- 
braced by King, Snohomish and Skagit counties, 
extending its operations eastward to the headwaters 
of the Xisqually and Snoqualmie rivers. After 
three months' service in that company and regiment, 
he enlisted in Company G, Second Washington 'Vol- 
unteers, and fought the warring redskins another 
six months. The winter of 1856-7 he stayed at 
home, but when spring arrived he went to Oregon 



and engaged in farming and driving stock for three 
years. The year 1861 he spent as a sailor on the 
sound under command of Captain Barrington. 
When news of the famous gold discoveries in the 
Salmon river country, Idaho, reached Washington 
the following winter, young Hastie joined the thou- 
sands streaming eastward and all through the sum- 
mer and fall of 1863 wooed fortune in the gold 
fields but without especial success. In November 
he was again at home and there assisted his father 
and worked in a saw-mill at Utsalady. However, 
the army fever again caught him and the first of 
the year 186-1 he joined Company E, Ninth United 
States Infantry under whose colors he served a 
full enlistment of three years, being honorably dis- 
charged January 26, 1867, with the rank of duty 
sergeant. This brought to an end his military ser- 
vice, giving him the distinction of being a veteran 
of two wars in both of which he left a most hon- 
orable record. 

From the army he went back to Whidby island 
and engaged in agricultural pursuits at Oak Har- 
bor, which was his home for nearly ten years. His 
connection with Skagit county dates from the year 
1870, when he filed a homestead right upon 160 
acres of the Skagit delta. By using the privilege 
conferred by the government upon soldier appli- 
cants, he was able to prove up on this claim in 1872, 
though he did not bring his family to the Skagit 
until 1877. Since that year he has resided contin- 
uously upon the place. From a quarter section of 
marshy, timbered bottom land, which one could 
hardly penetrate, it has grown by degrees into a 
highly improved estate of 240 acres of as rich land 
as can be found on Puget sound, well stocked and 
easily accessible. Here one may find an oat field so 
dense that only by trail can it be easily traversed 
and with grain so high that the stalks tower high 
above the heads of tall men. Mr. Hastie's place is 
noted for its fertility and the able manner in which 
it is operated. He still exercises general manage- 
ment over his estate, but with increasing age is turn- 
ing over the more active work to younger hands 
and taking the rest he has so well earned. 

Mr. Hastie and Mrs. Clara (Taylor) Scott were 
united in marriage in Island County, Washington, 
December 10, 1867. She is a native of Deadford, 
England, born Christmas Day, 1839, and when a 
girl of ten years was brought by her parents to 
San Francisco. In that state she received her edu- 
cation, finishing at the Sisters' Academy, of Benicia. 
To her union with Mr. Scott, three children were 
born : Georgia, James B. and Henry W., the latter 
of whom is at present serving as first assistant city 
engineer in Seattle. Mrs. Hastie is a woman of ed- 
ucational attainments, a leader among those of her 
sex in Skagit county. Mr. and Mrs. Hastie are the 
parents of four children, all of whom are esteemed 
members of society. Thomas G., the eldest, is living 
at Grand Forks, B. C, in the employ of the Great 
Northern Railway Company; Margaret R. is the 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



wife of E. D. Davis, a prominent hardware mer- 
chant of Mount Vernon ; Laura M. resides at home ; 
and James W. is also Hving at home. All were born 
on Whidby island. In fraternal circles, Mr. Hastie 
is a prominent Mason. For thirty-three years he 
has been a member of the order and was the first 
master of Skagit county's pioneer blue lodge, that 
organized at Skagit City. He is also a member of 
the Grand Army of the Republic, belonging to Lar- 
abee Post at La Conner. 

In public life Mr. Hastie has creditably fulfilled 
every duty with which he has been entrusted, and 
has sacrificed his personal interests whenever nec- 
essary. His first official service was as sheriff of 
Island county. Then, shortly after becoming a resi- 
dent of Whatcom county, he was elected county 
commissioner and was on the board when Skagit 
was created, taking a prominent part in that mo- 
mentous action. Subsequently he served several 
years as chairman of the Skagit board. In fact he 
has for thirty-five years been closely identified with 
the political, commercial, and educational progress 
of the Skagit county and for more than half a cen- 
tury with the growth of the Northwest. His has 
been a life of usefulness and unselfish purpose, 
gaining for him universal esteem and widespread 
popularity in addition to a permanent place in his- 
tory's records. 



HON. THOMAS HAYTON. In this notable 
career, we see exemplified the true type of Ameri- 
can, the type which has led in nation building from 
the rock-bound Atlantic coast across a continent to 
the more hospitable waters of the Pacific. Coming 
of colonial American stock, his inspiration and 
patriotism are a heritage. He has courageously ad- 
vanced settlement as a frontiersman, in development 
of the natural resources he has been among the fore- 
most, and as a public spirited citizen and a gentle- 
man by instinct and training he has done his duty 
by his fellows. The history of Skagit county or of 
Puget sound would be incomplete without mention 
of the part he has taken in making it. 

Born in Pike County, Kentucky, June 23, 1832, 
he is the scion of a pioneer family identified with 
the establishment of that commonwealth. Jacob 
Hayton, the paternal ancestor, was a native of the 
Keystone state and traced his lineage back to old 
England. The mother bore the maiden name of 
Rebecca Wedington ; she was a native of Virginia 
of German descent. Both long ago passed to the 
great beyond, the father's death occurring in 1864 
on the old Pike county homestead. Early in the 
last century these hardy pioneers had crossed the 
Alleghanies and in the blue grass valleys of the 
western slope the better portion of their lives was 
spent. Upon the farm young Thomas grew to man- 
hood, receiving his first lessons from his mother and 
later attending a private school, where his educa- 
tion was completed. During the latter years of his 



youth he began asserting his independence by as- 
sisting various neighboring farmers in gathering the 
crop, thereby gaining valuable experience as part 
of his remuneration and by the time he was twenty 
he was able to command a share in the crop for his 
labor and spent four years working on this plan. 
In September, 1863, he answered his country's call 
for assistance in preserving the Union, and, follow- 
ing Kentucky's flags, he served faithfully until the 
close of the struggle, mainly in Kentucky and West 
Virginia. His enlistment was made in Company D, 
Thirty-ninth Kentucky Volunteers; he was honor- 
ably discharged in October, 18G5, with the rank of 
corporal. Libby prison was among the horrible ex- 
periences he underwent in the army. After the war 
he returned to the pursuits of peace in Pike county, 
but in the spring of 1868 moved to Cass county, 
Missouri, and there tilled the soil during the suc- 
ceeding eight years. But Missouri was only a tar- 
rying point, for in 1876 he and his family crossed 
the plains and mountains to Washington territory, 
making the first stop after reaching the promised 
land, at Walla Walla. There he heard more vividly 
than before of the wonderful region that lay on the 
shores of Puget sound, so determined to continue 
his journey. He was so well pleased with the 
Skagit country that very shortly after his arrival he 
purchased two hundred acres of marsh land at the 
river's delta and immediately began its reclamation. 
Diking and clearing and farming the tract soon 
produced substantial results but it required many 
years of unremitting toil and the expenditure of 
much money to transform it into its present beauti- 
ful, improved condition. Later he added a quarter 
section of adjoining land, and now this immense 
oat and hay farm is one of the finest on the lower 
sound, a high testimonial to the thrift, perseverance 
and skill of its owner, who has, however, retired 
from all work but the management of his rich es- 
tate. It is indeed fitting that he should be allowed 
in his declining years to garner the rewards that 
should come to the successful pioneer farmer, and 
enjoy peace and comfort instead of struggle and 
privation. 

Sarah E. Sanders^ a native of Monroe County, 
Virginia, the daughter of two prominent Virginia 
pioneers, William and Elizabeth Sanders, became 
the bride of Thomas Hayton in August, 1852. Like- 
the women of her type, she was a devoted help- 
meet, mother and companion during the entire span 
of her life, which ended November 21, 1896, in her 
sixty-third year. Besides her husband she left six 
sons and two daughters to mourn their irreparable 
loss and perpetuate her memory: Jacob, engaged 
in agricultural pursuits near Milton, Oregon; 
Thomas R., the well-known hardware merchant of 
Mount Vernon ; Henry, farmer and stockman in 
British Columbia ; George W., farming near Brem- 
erton ; James B., operating his father's place at Fir; 
William, another prosperous Skagit farmer living 
on the Swinomish flats; Louisa, the wife of L. P. 




THOMAS HAYTON, SR. 




;homas r. hayton 




MRS. THOMAS R. HAYTON 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Hemingway, now operating one of the Hayton 
farms; and Cora, the wife of Alfred Poison, also 
engaged in farming near Fir. All are widely and 
favorably known as among the most substantial 
citizens of this section. Mr. Hayton is, of course, a 
member of the Grand Army of the Republic, a dis- 
tinction which is growing less and less common as 
the final roll call is answered. 

As a life-long Republican Mr. Hayton has ever 
been active in political matters and a leader in his 
party. For many years he has attended every coun- 
ty convention in an official capacity and has served 
at various times as a territorial or state delegate. 
His greatest public service, one that has forever re- 
corded him as one of the real founders of the 
state of Washington, was as one of Skagit's three 
representatives in the constitutional convention of 
1889. Comparatively few men secure such a rich 
opportunity to leave their impress upon history and 
be it said to Mr. Hayton's credit, he has made the 
most of it. In years to come his descendants will re- 
member this service when all else is forgotten. Mr. 
Hayton has witnessed with his own eyes the truly 
remarkable development of the great Northwest 
during nearly three decades of time, a portion of it 
from its primitive condition, and best of all, with all 
due modesty, he himself has taken a leading part in 
the wonderful transformation. Universally es- 
teemed and honored, he is among northwest Wash- 
ington's foremost citizens. 



THOMAS R. HAYTON, founder and proprie- 
tor of the extensive hardware house which bears 
his name, is one of Skagit county's eminently suc- 
cessful business men, and also one of its early pio- 
neers. He has been one of the real builders of the 
county, hence is especially deserving of a place in 
these chronicles. 

Both the Hayton and the Sanders families, from 
which the subject of this sketch draws his blood, 
are numbered among the prominent pioneers of 
Kentucky and West Virginia. Their very first rep- 
resentatives came to America in 1643, settling in 
Rhode Island. The earlier Haytons and Sanders 
formed a part of that courageous, hardy vanguard 
of Americans that forged westward across the Al- 
leghanies in the fore part of the nineteenth century, 
and gave their lives to the subduing of the fertile 
valleys of the sunny South and to the establishing 
there of new homes and new states. On this fron- 
tier, in June of 1833, Thomas Hayton, the father of 
Thomas R., was born. ' When he grew to manhood 
he entered actively into the further building of Ken- 
tucky; later he fought for the preservation of the 
Union under the banners of his native state ; later 
still he moved to Missouri and thence across the 
plains to Washington, becoming one of Skagit coun- 
ty's distinguished pioneer citizens. At the sliate con- 
stitutional convention in 1889 he represented Skagit 
count)^, and in fact he has always been identified 



prominently with its public life; at present he is re- 
siding upon the old homestead on the Skagit delta. 
A more detailed sketch of his life appears elsewhere 
in these pages. The devoted mother, only a year 
younger than her husband, laid down life's burdens 
in the fall of 1896. She was the mother of fifteen 
children. 

Thomas R.^ the seventh child was born while 
the family resided in Pike county, Kentucky, the 
date of his birth being January 7, 1863. Soon, 
however, he bade Kentucky farewell, the Haytons 
removing to Missouri, where the lad received the 
rudiments of his education. Then, only when thir- 
teen years old, came the greatest event of his boy- 
hood, the emigration of the family from Missouri to 
Puget sound. The events of that memorable trip 
across the plains with prairie schooner and stock, 
during which they were continuously facing hard- 
ships while passing through numerous regions still 
in their primitive condition and infested by dan- 
gerous Indians, will ever be fresh in his memory. 
Reaching Seattle, September 28, 18T6, the family 
tarried there a few days, then pushed northward 
to the delta of the Skagit river, near Fir, where the 
father settled. In the converting of this tract of 
marsh and brush land into a cultivated, diked farm 
of ample dimensions Thomas R. Hayton manfully 
took his part. For the first eleven years the place 
could not be reached by wagon. From the farm 
and public schools at the age of twenty the young 
pioneer went again to Seattle, this time to attend the 
territorial, now the state university, supporting him- 
self largely during this period by teaching while not 
in school. Eventually having been graduated with 
the class of 1887, he returned to Skagit and engag- 
ed in teaching as a vocation. A year later he was 
called upon by those among whom he had grown 
up, to serve them in the capacity of superintendent 
of the county's schools, which position he filled with 
fidelity and credit for two years. At the close of 
his term in 1891, he formed a partnership with 
Thomas Hurd and opened a hardware store at La 
Conner. Two years later A. I. Dunlap was admit- 
ted to the firm and as the La Conner Hardware 
Company it was continued until Mr. Hurd sold his 
interest to his partners, the firm name then becom- 
ing Hayton & Dunlap. In the spring of 1899 Mr. 
Hayton absorbed the Dunlap interest. The business 
was moved to the county seat in November, 1901, 
and two years afterward Mr. Hayton's brother 
George became a partner, the name of the house 
becoming the Hayton Hardware Company. How- 
ever, the junior partner retired in the spring of 
1905, again leaving the business solely in the hands 
of its founder. Step by step the business has pro- 
gressed until it is recognized as one of the solid in- 
stitutions of the county. 

On New Year's day, 1890, Mr. Hayton was unit- 
ed in marriage to Miss Hattie E. Marshall, at El- 
lensburg, the daughter of Alexander and Christena 
(Shaffer) Marshall. One child, Gladys, born 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



August 11, 1893, has blessed the union. Mr. Mar- 
shall was one of the gold seekers of California in 
the days of '49, going there in 1848. He had been 
a soldier in the Mexican War, serving two years. 
He died in Calitornia a few years after the birth of 
his daughter, leaving her to be reared by her moth- 
er. Mrs. Hayton was born in California, March 4, 
1869. When five years old she was taken to Seattle 
by the mother, and there received her education, fin- 
ishing it with a course at the University of Wash- 
ington. Her mother now resides at Mount Vernon 
with the Haytons. 

Mr. Hayton is among the leaders of the Republi- 
can party in his section of the state, following in the 
footsteps of his father in this particular. While liv- 
ing at La Conner he served five years as city treas- 
urer and was also a member of the council. In 
fraternal circles he is likewise active, being a Royal 
Arch Mason and a Woodman of the World. He is 
a deacon and member of the board of trustees of 
the Baptist church of Mount Vernon. In the course 
of his long, unusually active career, but yet only 
fairly entered upon, he has gathered around him a 
host of warm friends and admirers who have un- 
bounded faith in his sterling qualities and rare busi- 
ness talents. 



PERRY POLSON. The history of Skagit 
county would be incomplete indeed, without mention 
in a more or less lengthy form of the founder of the 
Poison Implement and Hardware Company of La 
Conner ; later founder of the same business in Seat- 
tle, which latter has grown and expanded until to- 
day they are admittedly the largest business firm 
handling implements and hardware in Seattle, a 
city well to the front in big wholesale and retail 
business enterprises of all kinds. To outline briefly 
how all this came about, and give something of the 
sturdy ancestry from whom the man who accom- 
plished this drew the sterling characteristics which 
fitted him for the goal attained, is the purpose of 
this sketch. 

Born in Sweden July 8, 1854, to the union of 
Olaf and Gunhilda (Nelson), Perry Poison was 
reared to the age of thirteen on a farm in the fath- 
erland, and there received the rudimentary educa- 
tion which was later augmented in both the schools 
of text-books and broad and varied experience in 
the land of his adoption. In 1868 his father deter- 
mined to seek a home for his growing family in the 
land of promise across the ocean, which held out 
such flattering inducements to the worthy, indus- 
trious poor man; and hither young Poison came 
at the age of fourteen to assist the doughty sire in 
founding that home. New to the ways of the coun- 
try and unfamiliar with its strange language, there 
were many discouraging and disheartening episodes 
in their experiences. After one winter spent in 
Geneseo, Illinois, the two proceeded to Iowa, and 
here the father rented a farm near Ottumwa and 



sent for the family to join him. Not satisfied with 
the conditions there, the father and son in 1871 once 
more set out to seek their fortune. Deciding to 
cross the continent and enter a new and untried 
field, they traveled to San Francisco via the Union 
Pacific, thence to Portland by steamer and from 
there in company with Paul Poison, C. J. and Jo- 
seph Chilberg, they walked to Olympia. Here they 
again took ship, going to Port Townsend, thence in 
Indian canoes to Whidby island, where they hired 
a sloop to take them to Swinomish (now La Con- 
ner), then a small trading post on the west shore of 
the main land of Whatcom county. After some 
tfme spent in looking for a suitable location, the 
father took up land on the tide flats on Brown's 
slough in the Skagit delta; and here begun the 
heroic struggle in a wild and new country for home 
and competency. How well he wrought, overcom- 
ing seemingly insurmountable obstacles of wilder- 
ness and floods, laboring early and late, may be 
briefly told in the fact that within a few years the 
Poison ranch was known far and wide as the finest 
farm stead in all the country round about. Success 
continued to attend the father until the time of his 
retirement from active duties to a life of ease in La 
Conner, where in recognition of his integrity and 
administrative ability he was thrice elected mayor of 
that municipality, and at last in 1903 he was gather- 
ed to his fathers, an honored and esteemed citizen, 
mourned by a large circle of friends and acquaint- 
ances. The worthy mother still lives in La Conner 
at the ripe old age of seventy-three. 

Ambitious and industrious, young Poison soon 
after arriving on the sound, found a job as chain- 
man for John A. Cornelius, who had the contract 
for surveying the meander, or shore line, from the 
head of Port Susan bay, in Snohomish county, to 
Burrows bay, Fidalgo island. He helped complete 
this entire survey, working for Mr. Cornelius one 
year. Two years followed on the home farm, when 
he engaged in work for W. B. Moore, in his logging 
camp on the Stillaguamish, until the spring of 1875. 
At this time the report was rife of a great trans- 
continental telegraph line to be put in by the British 
government, e-xtending from ocean to ocean, which 
would afford employment for five years for a vast 
number of men. He went with the stampede to 
New Westminster, seeking a job, only to find on his 
arrival that the undertaking had been abandoned. 
He then found employment with Meacham & Na- 
son, who had a government contract for bridge 
building on the Quesneele river in the Cariboo min- 
ing country, and continued ih this firm's employ for 
two and one-half years. During the last year of 
which time, although but twenty years of age, he 
had full charge of one of the company's saw-mills 
at an advanced salary. Having received good wages 
and saved his money, young Poison in the fall of 
1877 returned to La Conner and invested his earn- 
ings in a 190-acre farm, known as the Harvey Wal- 
lace ranch, and engaged in farming. His payment 





^^;^Z^l/t.<z^ /7^<^ 



^%^. 




BIOGRAPHICAL 



511 



oil the land lacked several thousand dollars of meet- 
ing the purchase price, and he was forced to pay 
the exorbitant rate of fifteen per cent, interest on 
four thousand dollars, but with that indomitable 
courage which has won for him the success in later 
life, he set his face to overcome all obstacles and 
gain ownership to the fine ranch he had invested his 
earnings in ; and as dame fortune invariably suc- 
cumbs to the persistent wooing of valor, this case 
was not an exception and at last his years of unre- 
mitting labor and economy were rewarded with un- 
disputable title to the place. But success had been 
bought with broken health, and he was advised by 
his physician that he must take a much-needed rest, 
or seek a less strenuous life. Then it was that good 
fortune brought him in contact with F. S. Poole, 
with whom he formed a partnership in 1885 and be- 
gan handling farm implements, establishing them- 
selves at La Conner. After one year he bought out 
Mr. Poole's interest, and the next year took his 
brother Nels in as partner in the business, and still 
two years later, another brother, John, was added 
to the firm, when the business was changed from 
Perry Poison & Bro., and incorporated as the Pol- 
son Hardware Company. In 1891 the Wilton 
brothers, Albert and Robert, purchased an interest 
in the business, which was incorporated as the Pol- 
son-Wilton Hardware Company, and a branch house 
was opened in Seattle. The branch soon grew to 
such proportions that in 189G Mr. Poison moved to 
Seattle to take charge of the business, and one year 
later bought out his partners, the Wilton brothers, 
incorporating the Poison Implement and Hardware 
Company, of which he is the present head. In ad- 
dition to the Seattle and La Conner business Mr. 
Poison is also interested in the Wenatchee Hard- 
ware Company, in Chelan county. 

In 1881 at Seattle, the union of Mr. Poison and 
Miss Kate H. Hinckley, daughter of Jacob C. and 
Margaret (Dunn) Hinckley, was celebrated. The 
father of Mrs. Poison, a native of Illinois, crossed 
flic plains to California in 1849, at the beginning of 
that great westward tidal wave to the newly discov- 
ered gold-fields. Mr. Hinckley, who was a lawyer 
by profession, has the distinction of having estab- 
lished the pioneer newspaper of Shasta county, Cal- 
ifornia, and was a man of prominence and influence 
up to the time of his death in that state. The 
mother, a native of Ireland, was married to Mr. 
Hinckley in California, to which state her parents 
went with the early influx of gold seekers, and she 
is at present living in Seattle. Mrs. Poison was 
born in Shasta City, California, August 2, 1857. 
Her father dying, she and her mother removed to 
Seattle in 1870, where she was educated in Terri- 
torial University and took up the profession of 
teacher, which she followed for several years. She 
is the mother of four children, all born in La Con- 
ner as follows: Minnie E., 1882; Helen G., 1884; 
Qlaf II.. 1888, and Harold L., 189G, all living at 
home. Religiously Mr. and Mrs. Poison are mem- 



bers of the Methodist Church, while fraternally he 
is a Blue Lodge Mason, and a member of the An- 
cient Order of United Workmen, and politically is 
a staunch and unwavering Republican. He also 
holds membership in the Rainer club and the Seat- 
tle Athletic club. 

As a lad, mastering the intricacies of a strange 
tongue, or chaining the shoreline of the sound ; as a 
young man managing the saw-mill business, or wip- 
ing from his land a large usurious mortgage; as 
business man and manager of a large wholesale 
trade, Mr. Poison has ever displayed that remark- 
able aptitude for details and firm grasp of business 
principles which have brought to him unvarying suc- 
cess in all his ventures. Among his old time friends 
and acquaintances, his successful life is viewed with 
personal pride and they claim him as a strictly 
Skagit county production, accrediting his business 
inspirations to his connection with the fertile soil of 
the famous La Conner flats, and to the invigorating, 
aroma-laden breezes from the wild tangled hillsides. 



HARRISON CLOTHIER is one of the pio- 
neers of Skagit county and one of the early men 
who contributed much toward the development of 
her resources. Whether as merchant, logging oper- 
ator, promoter of a town site or as public ofiicial, 
he has been one of the very foremost men of the 
community ; and now in his retirement from the ac- 
tivities of life occupies a place high in the regard 
and esteem of his fellow citizens. Mr. Clotliier was 
born in Saratoga County, New York, in the sum- 
mer of July 9, 1840, when the famous "Tippecanoe 
and Tyler, too" campaign was on. The father 
Ebenezer K. Clothier, being a strong adherent to 
the principles of the Whig party and an ardent ad- 
mirer of General William Henry Harrison, named 
his son in honor of his campaign hero. Ebenezer 
K. was born on the Saratoga farm, to which his 
father moved from Connecticut shortly after the 
close of the Revolutionary War, becoming one of 
the early settlers in that county. The elder Clothier 
was of English extraction. Pie was a very success- 
ful farmer and business man. Mrs. Lucy (Clothier) 
Clothier, was also born in New York State in 1840. 
On her maternal side she was of English descent, 
tracing back to the Smiths of Plymouth Rock 
fame, while on her paternal side she was connected 
with the family of Kings of New York, prominent 
in Dutch society in the early days of the Empire 
State. To Mr. and Mrs. Clothier were born five 
children: Webster, now on the old homestead in 
the upper Hudson valley ; Harrison ; Mahlon, now 
living in Nebraska ; Lydia J. ; and Heman living on 
the old homestead. Harrison Clothier passed his 
early days on the home farm, attending the com- 
mon schools and later the high school. .'Kt the age 
of twenty-four he taught school for several winters. 
In 1886 he rented his father's estate, operating it 
for several years. He then left home and has never 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



returned to the scenes of his childhood and youth. 
He first located at Trempeleau, on the Mississippi 
river in Wisconsin, where for two years he taught 
school in winter and worked at farming during the 
summer seasons. The next four years Mr. Clothier 
passed at Farmhill, near Rochester, Minnesota, 
where he taught school and did farm work. In 
May of 1875 he crossed the continent to California, 
remaining en route for a short time at Reno, Ne- 
vada. He tarried in San Francisco but a short 
time before determining to come to the Puget sound 
country, making the trip from the California me- 
tropolis in September on the steamer Pacific, which 
two months later sank off Cape Flattery, carrying 
down several hundred souls. Mr. Clothier lingered 
in Seattle but a short time, and on hearing of the 
La Conner flats came here with Samuel Calhoun 
on his schooner. He worked for Mr. Calhoun dur- 
ing the early part of that autumn. Settlements 
were sparse then and the Beaver and Olympia 
marshes presented no form of attraction and gave 
no promise of the richness which was later to flow 
from them. Mr. Clothier did not like the outlook 
for farming those rich flats even after the timber 
was cleared, so in November he went to Oregon 
and taught a term of winter school in the Willamette 
valley. He passed the succeeding summer at Walla 
Walla and returned to the sound late in August of 
1876, working during harvest on the flats. Novem- 
ber of that year found Mr. Clothier opening a 
three-months term of school on the Skagit river in 
the pioneer school-house standing on the old Kim- 
ble place. In February in 1877, deciding that there 
was a good opening for a store on the river, and 
perhaps even a town, he joined with an old Wis- 
consin pupil, E. G. English, and together they pur- 
chased ten acres of land of Jasper Gates for $100 
and erected thereon a small store. They also laid 
out the first plat of the town site of Mount Vernon, 
which included then only four blocks. The post- 
office was secured in September and Mr. Clothier 
appointed the first postmaster. 

From this time on the firm of Clothier & Eng- 
lish were closely identified with the growth of the 
community. Thev continued in the mercantile busi- 
ness untifin 1891 Mr. Clothier withdrew. In 1881 
the firm had commenced to undertake logging 
operations. This venture grew to be the principal 
business of the firm, which for a number of years 
operated two camps with a most extensive business. 
At one time the firm owned between 4,000 and 5,000 
acres of timber land and was widely known because 
of its enterprise. In 1880 Mr. Clothier participated 
in the Ruby Creek gold mining excitement. He 
opened a branch of the Clothier & English store 
at Goodell's Landing and bought half of the gold 
taken out of the diggings, amounting to about 
$3,800 worth. In the^fall of 1880 Mr. Clothier be- 
came auditor of Whatcom county and for two years 
resided at the county seat, leaving Mr. English in 
charge of the firm's varied interests. In 1883 Mr. 



Clothier was defeated by Orrin Kincaid, Repub- 
lican, for representative, the vote being very close. 
Two years later he was named by the bill erecting 
Skagit county as one of the county commissioners, 
and was chosen by the people to the same office at 
the special election, serving one year. Mr. Clothier 
naturally participated in the contest for the selec- 
tion of the county seat which after a memorable 
campaign was won by Mount Vernon, where Mr. 
Clothier's interests were largest, and which he hacf 
founded. In 1886, while on a visit to California. 
Mr. Clothier was nominated and elected probate 
judge of Skagit county, his home precinct accord- 
ing him the handsome vote of 176 out of a total of 
186 ballots cast. In 1889, while the people of 
Washington were preparing for statehood and plan- 
ning for the adoption of the new constitution, Mr. 
Clothier was selected by Skagit county to repre- 
sent it in the historic body of lawmakers. He at- 
tended the sessions at Olympia and was active and 
influential in the formulation of the state's funda- 
mental laws. On the death of County Treasurer 
Davis in May in 1891, Mr. Clothier was appointed 
to succeed him and served until January of 1893. 
Two years later he went to Anacortes and operated 
a saw-mill for a couple of years, during that time 
cutting the lumber for two large canneries on Fi- 
dalgo island. One season he passed in the mines 
in the Kootenai county of British Columbia. Mr. 
Clothier was chosen deputy county assessor in 1898, 
on the election of Assessor Dale in that year, be- 
coming chief deputy. He served four years under 
Mr. Dale and during the first term of Fred F. Wil- 
lard as assessor passed two years as deputy. In 
politics Mr. Clothier had been a consistent Demo- 
crat up to the campaign of 1898, when the fusion 
of his party with the Populists did not receive his 
support. Since that year he has been identified 
with the Republicans. He has always been active 
in the political field and as a man of prominence 
has been influential in political afi^airs in Skagit 
county. He served as mayor of Mt. Vernon in 
1891, resigning at the expiration of one year, and 
was a candidate for state treasurer on the Demo- 
cratic ticket in 1893. He is a Mason, having joined 
that order at Utsalady in 1880. Ill health and other 
unfortunate circumstances have made great inroads 
into Mr. Clothier's financial interests, but he re- 
mains one of the respected men of his community 
and of the whole country, interested in all public 
affairs, though unable to take as active a part as in 
former years. 



FREDERICK LEWIS BLUMBERG. Well to 
the front among the leaders in Skagit county's com- 
mercial, political and social life is the esteemed 
citizen now serving as auditor, whose name forms 
the caption of this sketch. For eighteen years he 
has been closely identified with the growth of the 
community experiencing during that period the full 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



513 



force of its depressions as well as participating in 
its prosperity. 

He was born July 8, 1864, in Ozaukee County, 
Wisconsin, the son of John and Dorothy (O'Neal) 
Blumberg. Upon the paternal side his ancestry is 
German. John Blumberg was born in 1825. After 
acquiring an education, he left the fatherland in 
1839 to establish a home in the new world. In 
Wisconsin he finally cast his lot, married, and en- 
gaged in the saw-mill business. This line of com- 
mercial activity he followed with marked success 
until his death in 1898, while still a resident of the 
Badger state. When the call to arms came in 1861, 
he proffered his services to the country of his adop- 
tion, and as a member of the Seventeenth Wiscon- 
sin Volunteers went to the front and served con- 
tinuously with the exception of a short time in the 
fall of 1863, when severe wounds necessitated a 
furlough. In yet another line did this German- 
American manifest his activity, namely, in public 
life. He represented his district several times in 
the legislature and was always found sincerely en- 
deavoring to discharge his official duties faithfully. 
Dorothy O'Neal Blumberg was born in Galway 
County, Ireland, and was the mother of seven chil- 
dren, of whom five survive her. 

With such an ancestry, it is not surprising to find 
that the subject of this biography sought the broad 
highway of individual responsibility while yet a lad 
of sixteen. Going to Milwaukee, he secured em- 
ployment in a wholesale house with which he re- 
mained a year and a half. From Milwaukee he 
then began his journey westward, little thinking 
perhaps that he would eventually reach and make 
his permanent home on the shores of the Pacific. 
His first stopping point was Iowa, where he farmed 
and attended school in Bremer county. As soon as 
he had completed the work of the public schools, 
the ambitious young man entered the Upper Iowa 
University at Fayette and in that institution com- 
pleted a course which fitted him to take up the 
teaching profession. He was thus engaged in Iowa 
until 1887, in that year coming to Puget sound and 
resuming his profession in Skagit county. How- 
ever, the extraordinary industrial activity which 
swept over the Northwest in 1889 and 1890 proved 
too tempting to permit Mr. Blumberg's continuance 
in his profession, and in the latter named year he 
entered the mercantile business at Avon, on the 
Skagit river just above Mount Vernon. Avon 
throve for a time, but the financial panic of 1893 
destroyed its prosperity for the time being and in 
the crash the Blumberg store went to die wall. 
Again the young school teacher took up the text 
book and the pointer as a means of livelihood, but 
the struggle was hard and bitter. Brave hearts and 
iron wills alone carried honest men through those 
terrible times and no man in Skagit county better 
appreciates this statement than Mr. Blumberg. In 
1895 he accepted the position of agent and ware- 
house manager of the Oregon Improvement Com- 



pany at Anacortes in which he remained until his 
appointment as deputy county auditor under Grant 
Neal in January, 1899. When Auditor Neal be- 
came a member of the board of control under Gov- 
ernor McBride in 1902, the county commissioners 
tendered the appointment of county auditor to Mr. 
Blumberg and it was accepted by iiim. His party, 
the Republican, carried him back to this important 
position at the 1901 election and this term he is 
now serving with credit to himself and friends. An 
important public action taken by Mr. Blumberg in 
recent years was the platting of the Garden Addi- 
tion to Mount Vernon in 1903, all the lots of which 
have been sold. 

The marriage of Mr. Blumberg to Miss Allie 
Bartholomew, the daughter of William and Cyn- 
thia (Adams) Bartholomew, was celebrated at 
Seattle in October, 1890. Her parents, both of 
whom are still living, are natives of Indiana. The 
father enlisted in the army at the beginning of the 
Civil War and served throughout the struggle. 
From private he advanced steadily and, having 
taken up religious work, was mustered out as chap- 
lain of the regiment. Shortly afterward he married 
and in 1870 became one of the earliest settlers upon 
Fidalgo island. Subsequently he returned to Indi- 
ana, where he now resides. Mrs. Bartholomew is 
of Pennsylvania-Dutch descent. Allie Bartholomew 
was born in Indiana also, in 1868, but two years 
later was taken by her parents to Washington, 
where she was reared and educated. Her public 
school education was supplemented by a course in 
the Seattle high school, and after graduation, she 
taught for some time in Skagit, Snohomish and 
King counties. Mr. and Mrs. Blumberg are blessed 
with five sons : Irvine, born at Avon, December 6, 
1891; Frank E., at La Conner, January 23, 1894; 
Judson A., at Anacortes, January 24, 1896 ; George, 
at Anacortes, September 19, 1898; and Edward F., 
at Mount Vernon, July 18, 1901. Mr. Blumberg is 
affiliated with the Masons, Odd Fellows and Elks, 
in the first of which he has attained the Royal Arch 
degree. Both he and his wife are members of the 
Episcopal church, and in fraternal and social work 
have especially endeared themselves to all. Com- 
ment upon Mr. Blumberg's political activity is hard- 
ly necessary in view of what has already been said. 

In bringing this sketch to a close, mention of 
his activity along an entirely different line must 
not be omitted. As a breeder and importer of the 
Shetland pony Mr. Blumberg has brought himself 
into prominence among the fancy stock" owners of 
the Northwest, owning perhaps the finest band of 
this species in this part of the Northwest. In this 
line he is, moreover, a pioneer breeder in Wash- 
ington. Jersey cattle also command his especial 
attention. In the career of this farmer, school 
teacher, business man, public official, fancy stock 
breeder and public-spirited citizen is to be seen one 
illustrative of the true Western type, a life diversi- 
fied, aggressive and tenacious in the face of any 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



obstacle. Upon these qualities in this instance has 
been builded a life of usefulness, honest purpose 
and influence amonji; its fellows. 



tllARLl';.S IL\RMON, the efficient sheriff of 
Skaj^it C()uiil\-, lia.s been actively connected with the 
dcvciojinK'iit of Washinp;ton since his advent into 
its borders in its territorial days in 1877, and is 
numbered among the pioneer lumbermen of the 
Skagit river country. He is a native of Maine, as 
were also his parents, lliram and Mary (Gardner) 
Harmon, and their ancestors. The father and moth- 
er, to whom the home ties were very dear, clung to 
their native state luitil their death, giving their best 
energies to the rearing of their family of fifteen 
children. Charles, the youngest of the family, re- 
mained under the parental roof, assisting his father 
at farming and at tending the schools of the home 
comnnmity, until he had arrived at the age of 
twenty, at which time, 1874, having heard of the 
su])erior advantages offered young and ambitious 
men in the Golden State, he crossed the continent 
and entered the famous redwood forests of Hum- 
boldt County, California, finding here his first open- 
ing in the business that was henceforth to claim 
so much of his attention and energy. Three years 
he spent in the vicinity of Eureka, giving his un- 
divided attention to logging and lumbering, until 
in 1877, he came up the coast to Port Gamble, 
Washington, where he continued to follow logging 
for two years. In April, 1879, he came to the site 
of Mount Vernon and opened a logging camp for 
W. S. Jameson, and has continued to follow log- 
ging and lumbering the principal part of the time 
since. At the time of the Ruby Creek mining ex- 
citement he was among the many who participated 
in the stampede, and like all the other victims, came 
away empty handed. Always an ardent Republican, 
and an energetic worker for the furtherance of the 
party principles, he was called to the position of 
deputy under Sheriff Wells in 1899, and served with 
hun for four years, filling a like position for two 
years with Sheriff Ri.sbell, his successor. His faith- 
ful service as deputy so commended him to the gen- 
eral public, that his party proffered him the nomi- 
nation for sheriff in lOO-i, and the choice was rati- 
fied by the voters at the fall election by a hand- 
some majority in his favor. 

Mr. Harmon was united in marriage in Seattle, 
in 1888, to Ollie M. Carter, a native of Indiana, 
born in 1860, of German extraction. Mrs. Harmon 
was educated in Indiana, qualifying herself as a 
teacher, and on coming to Washington prior to its 
receiving statehood, she took up the profession of 
her choice, teaching for several years in King coun- 
ty, until her marriage to Mr. Harmon at the age 
of twenty-eight. To this union have been born 
three children, Ray, Abby and Don, all natives of 
Skagit county. Mr. Harmon owns a fine farm of 
twenty-five acreSj situated within two miles of 



Mount Vernon, the county seat, and here makes his 
home while attending to the duties of his office. Of 
a sociable disposition and an excellent "mixer" with 
all classes, Mr. Harmon counts his friends by the 
number of his acquaintances, and all, from the 
smallest to the greatest, while recognizing in him 
the typical border sheriff, who usually gets his man 
when he goes after him, approach him without fear 
or formality, knowing that they will get from Char- 
lie Harmon a respectful and friendly hearing. 



CHARLES W. STEVENSON, deputy sherifif 
of Skagit county under Sheriff Harmon, has been 
a resident of the Puget sound country since he was 
but twelve years of age, and has taken an important 
part in the development of the community in whicK 
his lot has been cast. He was born .Se]Heniber 20, 
18G3, in Cass County, Illinois, his parents being 
George W. and Emiline (Hamilton) Stevenson. The 
father, a Kentuckian, removed to Illinois in the 
early fifties and there followed farming until 1874, 
when he immigrated to Washington territory, be- 
coming one of Snohomish county's early settlers. 
His claim lay near Snohomish City and upon it he 
resided twelve years at the end of which period he 
sold out and moved to Fidalgo island. There he 
died in 1894 at the age of sixty-four years. Mrs. 
Stevenson was a native of Illinois and passed away 
in that state. Charles W., the sixth of a family of 
nine children, worked on the farm in Snohomish 
county during his boyhood and attended its pioneer 
schools, obtaining as good an education as was pos- 
sible under the circumstances. When he was nine- 
teen years of age his father commenced paying him 
wages. He remained at home until twenty-seven, 
then rented a place and cultivated it a year, there- 
upon going to Anacortes, where he and Lance Bur- 
don opened a feed store and boat house. A little 
later he withdrew from the business and formed a 
partnership with Charles March in running a con- 
fectionery, a business which was shortly afterward 
removed to Everett. Mr. Stevenson soon sold his 
interest and entered the logging camps of Skagit 
county. In 1893 he returned to .'\nacortes to accept 
an appointment as city marshal, which position he 
filled three years. A year in the fishing industry 
followed. The winter 'of 1898 he spent at Skaga- 
way, Alaska, in the gold fields, but returned to Se- 
attle in the .spring of 1899 and was there employed 
until the spring of 1900, when he again visited Alas- 
ka, going to Cape Nome. In the fall he came back 
to Washington, and he was engaged in the lumber 
industry continuously thereafter until March, 1905, 
when he accepted the deputy marshalship of Ana- 
cortes tendered him by Mayor Odlin. A month later 
he resigned to take the more responsible position 
that he is now so acceptably filling. 

At Victoria, British Columbia, in 1893, Miss 
Nellie Dodds became the wife of Mr. Stevenson. 
Her parents died when she was an infant, after 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



which she was reared by an uncle. She and Mr. 
Stevenson have one son, Lea L., born in Anacortes 
September 19, 1895. Mr. Stevenson is affiliated 
with the Knights of Pythias, and in politics is a 
Republican. His record as an officer is a highly 
creditable one, and in all the affairs of life his bear- 
ing as a man and member of society has been such 
as to win him the esteem of those with whom he has 
been associated. 



WARREN SHEA, of the well known firm of 
Dale and Shea, Abstractors, of Mount Vernon, was 
born in Holton, xMaine, July 2G, 18G8, the son of 
Charles and Maria (Tompkins) Shea, both of Eng- 
lish descent. The father was a native of Wood- 
stock, New Brunswick, to which section his parents 
had moved from Nova Scotia. He came to Seattle, 
Washington, in 1876, here following his life occu- 
pation, that of lumbering. Later he removed to 
Whatcom county, where he died in 1895. His ma- 
ternal ancestors crossed the ocean and settled in 
New York long before the Revolution. Loyalists 
during the war, at its close they bought up large 
land grants from the soldiers, owning at one time 
nearly the entire county of Tompkins. Charles 
Shea, likewise an extensive investor in real estate, 
owned a large part of the town site of Woodstock ; 
while to his father belonged the large "Shea Flat," 
about the only level flat in that locality of New 
Brunswick. The mother came also of an old pio- 
neer family of distinction, residing in Canada at 
the time of her birth. Moving with his parents to 
Canada when five years of age. Warren Shea there 
spent his early years, securing his education, later 
joining his father, who had come after his wife's 
death, in 1885, to the coast. His first venture was 
in the lumbering business at Lynden, and here he 
remained two years. His mill was destroyed by 
fire in 1891. When the wonderful discoveries of 
gold in the Alaskan fields were made in 1897, 
he was one of the first to sail for the land of prom- 
ise, and he assisted in loading the first shipment 
of gold from Dawson which created such wild ex- 
citement when it reached Seattle. Dawson was then 
only a little mining camp numbering fifty people 
who, like himself, had packed their outfits and entire 
stock of provisions on their backs over sixteen 
weary miles. Subsisting entirely on canned goods, 
most of the miners suffered from scurvy. After 
spending six years in Alaska, during which he had 
been quite successful, Mr. Shea returned to his 
native country in 1903, locating in his present home, 
Mount Vernon, where he engaged in the abstract 
and real estate business, forming a co-partnership 
with William Dale, his present partner. 

Mr. Shea was married February 17, 1903, to 
Bella B. Soules, the daughter of Thomas W. and 

Eliza ( ) Soules, both born in Canada. 

Her father was one of the founders of the town 
of Burlington, Washington, and since his residence 



in Skagit county has devoted the greater part of 
his time to milling. He is now the manager and 
secretary of the Cedardale Lumber Company, of 
Mount Vernon, a business man of large influence. 
Her mother is also living. Mr. and Mrs. Shea have 
one child, Ruth B., born February 6, 1903, in 
Mount Vernon. Mr. Shea's brothers and sisters are 
as follows: John G., Smith S., Alice Bolan, Helen 
M. Guiberson, Charles E., Sarah McKee, Frank, 
and Pauline B. Stevens. He is a member of the Ma- 
sonic and Odd Fellows fraternities, and in political 
beliefs, an adherent of the Republican party. In- 
deed there are few in this part of the state who are 
more enthusiastic in political matters than is Mr. 
Shea, always in attendance at the Republican con- 
ventions, in which he takes a prominent place. 
Realizing the advantages to be gained by united 
effort, he lends the strength of his influence to the 
Commercial club, of which he is a member. Of 
Episcopalian parentage, he is an attendant at that 
church, of which his wife is a member. Interested 
in every advance movement in local matters, the 
owner of a fine home, he is justly esteemed as one 
of the most progressive citizens of Mount Vernon. 



WILLIAM DALE. To the chronicler of his- 
torical events, nothing lends more zest to his work, 
nor superinduces a more ready action of mind and 
pen than personal contact with the genuine pioneer, 
who has passed through the real experiences of sub- 
duing nature in all its primitive and unmolested 
forms of wild forests, wild beasts and wild men, and 
who has imbibed the spirit of his surroundings and 
had his mental as well as physical being broadened 
and deepened by the free life, untrammeled by con- 
ventionalities and social restrictions. In the sub- 
ject of this brief review these happy conditions 
meet in an unusual degree. Born in Elk County, 
Pennsylvania, May 20, 1852, of one of the old fami- 
lies of that prominent commonwealth, he was, at 
the early age of six years, transplanted to the then 
almost undeveloped state of Wisconsin, where dur- 
ing his boyhood and youth he became inured to the 
health producing and muscle developing ways of 
farm and lumber camp life, thus establishing in phy- 
sical development and mental training, the founda- 
tion for future success in the great Northwest, 
which later was destined to become his field of pio- 
neer operation. John Dale, the father of our sub- 
ject, a prominent lawyer, was born in Center Coun- 
ty, Pennsylvania, in 181G, of Welsh and Irish par- 
ents, who were pioneers of that state. He became 
a pioneer of Pierce County, Wisconsin, in 1858, and 
there practiced law and also became an extensive 
land owner. In the practice of his profession he 
became acquainted with Senator Spooner, and this 
acquaintance later grew into a warm and lasting 
friendship. In 1873 he moved to Tennessee, and 
in 1877 became a resident of Skagit county, where 
he died in 1878. During the war he held a com- 



516 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



mission as colonel, serving as recruiting officer and 
also as provost marshal in Wisconsin, but was never 
in active army service. The mother, Massie (Jor- 
dan) Dale, also a native of Pennsylvania, was of 
German descent, and belonged to one of the oldest 
families of the Keystone state. She survived her 
husband eleven years, passing away in 1889. In 
July, 187-i, after closing a year in the Wisconsin 
pineries, young Dale, at the age of twenty-two, 
turned his face westward, and soon had his first 
introduction into Skagit, then a part of Whatcom 
county. Without undue delay he took up work in 
the lumbering camps of that region, which he fol- 
lowed continuously for eight years, working at first 
for others, but later engaging in the same business 
for himself. Plere he soon built up a name and 
business known throughout a wide section of the 
coast coiuitry, and won the distinction of being one 
of the first extensive lumber operators on Fidalgo 
island, thus inseparably connecting himself with the 
early development and progress of that section of 
the country. During this period Mr. Dale took up 
a homestead in the Samish country, and in the 
course of time transferred his attention to agricul- 
tural pursuits and the development of his homestead. 
The tract he had taken was what is known as "tide 
lands," and had to be redeemed from the overflow 
of salt water from the sound, by extensive diking, 
entailing great expenditure of time and labor. This 
was accomplished, with the gratifying result that 
he became the possessor of an expanse of land rich 
and productive almost beyond belief. The pleasure 
of pursuit, in Mr. Dale's case, seemed to outweigh 
that of possession, for no sooner had he overcome 
the almost insurmountable obstacles which had at 
first opposed themselves to his mastery of natural 
conditions, and had gratified his desire for conquest, 
than he forsook farm life, leasing his land, and gave 
his attention to the manufacture of shingles, estab- 
lishing a mill at the town of Burlington in l.'^90, and 
later, in 1893, erecting a second mill in J\Iount Ver- 
non. The mill at the latter place was destroyed by 
fire in 1894 and the business at Burlington was sold. 
In 1889 Mr. Dale was nominated by the Repub- 
lican party for county assessor, and the choice of 
his party was ratified by the voters at the polls that 
fall by a handsome majority. He served throughout 
two successive terms of four years with success, at 
the same time keeping a guiding hand on his busi- 
ness interests outside. Again, in 1898, he was called 
by a goodly majority to fill the same position of 
trust, serving to the close of the double term of 
four years with that distinguishing faithfulness 
which has ever marked his course through life, 
whether in public or private aflfairs. At the close 
of his official duties in 1902, he formed a partner- 
ship with Warren Shea in the abstract, real estate 
and insurance business, which they are at present 
successfully conducting, having established it on a 
solid business basis. Ever in close touch with the 
agricultural interests of the county, and an owner 



of farm lands himself, Mr. Dale has for a number of 
years owned and had operated two first-class steam 
threshers, which as an investment have proven any- 
thing but unprofitable. 

In 1877, while following the lumbering industry, 
the union of William Dale and Mary A. Stevens 
was celebrated in Skagit county. Mrs. Dale is from 
one of the earliest pioneer families of that county. 
Her father, Edwin Stevens, a millwright by trade, 
and native of New York, came to Skagit with his 
family in 1873, and after an active life of seven 
years in his newly adopted home, he laid down 
the burdens of life, greatly regretted by all who 
knew him. The mother, Rachel (Herbernson) 
Stevens, still survives her husband. To the union of 
Mr. and Mrs. Dale have been born four children, 
William Edwin and James Arthur, now farming in 
British Columbia ; Annie Adelaide Hunt and Ella R. 
Fredlund. Politically, Mr. Dale is a staunch Re- 
publican and ranks among the foremost in the coun- 
cils of his party and the shaping of its policies ; fra- 
ternally he is a Knight Templar and Past High' 
Priest in the Masonic order, and in the Knights of 
Pythias holds the position of Keeper of the Seals. 
In the Commercial club of his town Mr. Dale is 
recognized as one of the most active factors, and 
is ever at the forefront of every enterprise that 
makes for the public weal, or carries on its banner 
the insignia of progress ; which broad-minded, pub- 
lic-spirited course has won for him the deepest re- 
gard, as well as respect and confidence of the com- 
munity which claims him as a citizen. 



GEORGE W. MARBLE, of Mount Vernon, 
well known as a real estate and insurance agent, was 
born in Auburn, Maine, August 13, 1870. His 
father, a shoemaker by trade, now living in Oak- 
land, California, is an Easterner, his ancestors hav- 
ing lived for generations on the Atlantic coast. The 
maternal ancestor, Emma (Stewart) Marble (now 
Mrs. Cook) was born on the Eastern coast, and is 
at present living in Tacoma. Mr. Marble came with 
his parents to Oakland, California, in 1874, he be- 
ing only four years old when they crossed the con- 
tinent to find a home in that land of flowers, which 
must, indeed, have seemed a wonderland after the 
severe climate of Maine. Here and in San Fran- 
cisco he spent the early years of his life, in the lat- 
ter city being for some time employed in the Resi- 
den iron works, in the department of boiler mak- 
ing. The following three years he was a baker in 
Oakland, at the end of which time he was engaged 
in the hotel and restaurant business, as cook and 
waiter, in that city and later in San Francisco and 
Eureka. In August, 1891, he came to Tacoma there 
entering a department of the business that has since 
claimed his entire time. After five years experi- 
ence in fire insurance, he came in 1896 to Mount 
Vernon, making this his home while he divided his 
time between the four counties of Skagit, Whatcom, 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Island and Snohomish, of which he had the general 
agency. Three years ago he opened up an office in 
Mount Vernon in the insurance and real estate busi- 
ness, continuing in that line to the present time. 

Mr. Marble was married in Mount Vernon in 
1900, his bride being Miss Margaret Golden, who 
came from Ireland, the land of her birth, to the 
United States at the age of nine. Mr. and Mrs. 
Marble have two daughters, Eva Marie and ]\Iar- 
garet L. Mr. Marble is a member of the Yeoman 
order in Mount Vernon. Having served as justice 
of the peace by appointment for a time, he was 
elected to that office, in 1904, by the Republican 
party, of which he is a loyal member ; he resigned 
this office in September, 1905. By industry and wise 
management ]\Ir. Marble has built up a good busi- 
ness, owns an excellent residence in ilount Vernon 
and is one of her earnest, active citizens. 



JAMES S. BOWEN, a respected citizen of 
^Mount Vernon, was born in Tioga county, Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1S41, the son of William and Elizabeth 
(Thorp) Bowen. The father, of Scotch descent, 
was born in Rhode Island, but later moved to Wis- 
consin, where he engaged in farming till the time of 
his death, at the age of thirty-eight. The mother, 
who traced her ancestry back to Revolutionary 
stock, died in Kansas. Coming with his parents to 
Wisconsin at the age of two, Mr. Bowen remained 
there for six years, then returned to Pennsylvania 
where he lived with an uncle, and there received 
his education. Returning to Wisconsin, he served 
an apprenticeship of three years learning the car- 
riage making trade. Thrilled with zeal for his coun- 
try, he answered her call for volunteers when the 
war broke out, enlisting December 12, 18C1, for three 
years, assisting in the defeat of the famous Price 
raid in Missouri. He was discharged February 25, 
18C5, only to re-enlist in Hancock's veteran corps, 
in which he served one year, receiving his final dis- 
charge in Washington, D. C, in 1866, after which 
he returned to Wisconsin and there pursued his 
former occupation until the fall of 1867, when he 
moved to Cloud County, Kansas, and took up a 
homestead. Here he spent the next two years, and 
then located in Concordia, the county seat, that he 
might the better discharge the duties of the offices 
to which he had been elected, that of clerk of the 
court and register of deeds. Here he remained till 
1875, when, after serving his third term as regis- 
ter of deeds, and having also occupied the office 
of under sheriff and United States marshal for a 
number of years, he retired from public life, came 
West and settled in Seattle, Washington, where he 
■engaged in various occupations. In 1879 he started 
on a trip east, made a brief visit in Kansas, and 
then went on to Washington, D. C, to accept a 
position in the Pension Department, which he held 
for fourteen months, at which time he resigned on 
account of his health. After spending some time 



visiting points in the east in search of health, he 
located in Emporia, Kansas, where for two years 
and a half he was employed in the Pacific express 
office, and then moved to Shoshone, Idaho, and was 
there connected with the Oregon Short Line as ex- 
press messenger. Desirous of changing both his 
place of residence and occupation, he went to Pen- 
dleton, Oregon, and there for a time worked at the 
carpenter trade, but later resuming the trade of his 
early manhood, carriage making, which he also fol- 
lowed when he later located in Whatcom, Washing- 
ton. In 1890 he purchased a farm on the Samish 
river and resided there till in 1899 he came to his 
present home. Mount \'ernon. After an extended 
trip to California for his health, he engaged in his 
present business, that of real estate and insurance. 
Mr. Bowen was married, in Wisconsin, in 1860, 
to Clara Russell, to which union five children were 
born, three of whom are now living; James M., 
Benjamin W. and Walter G. In 1887, in Pendle- 
ton, Oregon, he was again married, his second wife 
being Mrs. Rebecca J. Conley, the daughter of 
Joseph Rob, a native of Pennsylvania, who died in 
Tacoma at the age of ninety-five. She was born in 
Ohio, November 21, 1846, but came with her par- 
ents to Iowa when quite young, and there secured 
an excellent education. She taught for several years 
prior to her marriage to Mr. Conley, a prominent 
lawyer of Pendleton. Of their three children, two are 
now living, Cleora F. Smith and Alberta A. Curry. 
Mrs. Bowen is a member of the Presbyterian church. 
Always an active Republican, Mr. Bowen is at pres- 
ent police judge and justice of the peace of Mount 
Vernon. He is a honored member of the Grand 
Army of the Republic, and in business and political 
and social circles is held in the highest esteem. 



RALPH C. HARTSON, the editor and pub- 
lisher of the Skagit News-Herald, is a native of 
Skagit county, born on the old Hartson homestead, 
one of the, oldest places in the valley, across the 
river from Mount Vernon, December 20, 1880, the 
eldest of four children of George E. and Matilda 
(Gates) Hartson. The others are Mrs. Grace Earl, 
of Anacortes, Clifford, clerk in the Mount Vernon 
postoffice, and Earl Stanley, still living with his 
parents. The elder Hartson came to Skagit county 
in 1871 and is one of the oldest pioneers in point 
of residence in the valley. He is the present post- 
master of Mount Vernon. When Ralph was six 
years of age his parents moved from their farm into 
town, his father having purchased the Skagit 
News from William H. Ewing. Young Hartson 
obtained his education in the local schools, being 
graduated from the ninth grade in 1895 ; later upon 
the addition of two other grades he resumed his 
studies until the course was completed. As a lad 
he studied the types in his father's printing office 
and soon advanced himself far enough to stand on 
a box in order to reach the cases. He learned from 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



experience the mechanical end of a country news- 
paper and then entered the editorial department. 
On completing his course in school he took charge 
of the composing and press room, which position 
he left to become assistant postmaster. In 1902 he 
was mail weigher for three months on the Great 
Northern railway, resigning to accept a place as 
substitute clerk in the postoffice at Seattle. In Sep- 
tember of 1903 he took entire charge of the Skagit 
News-Herald, the oldest publication in the Skagit 
valley, which he has since conducted through the 
vicissitudes of newspaperdom. 

In September, 1904, the union of Mr. Hartson 
and Miss Edna Hadfield, of Ridgeway, was cele- 
brated. Her father, George W. Hadfield, was born 
in England and came to the United States when 
a lad. In after years he became proprietor of a 
crockery store on Fulton street, IJrooklyn, New 
York. He subsequently located in Seattle, and pros- 
pering, built a large store for his crockery and fur- 
niture business, but his fortune was wiped out in 
the monetary distress of the early nineties. He 
saved from the wreck his farm of eighty acres near 
Mount Vernon, to which he retired in 1898, since 
which time he has successfully carried on farming 
and dairying. The mother, Isabella (Evans) Had- 
field, a native of Ireland, came to this country when 
a girl, and marrying in Brooklyn, came west with 
her husband. Their union was blessed with seven 
children, five of whom are living: Carrie, Belle, 
Harry, Gilbert and Mrs. Hartson. She was edu- 
cated in the schools of Brooklyn, Seattle and Avon. 
Mrs. Hartson is an accomplished musician. Fra- 
ternally Mr. Hartson is connected with the Knights 
of Pythias, Odd Fellows, Fraternal Order of Eagles, 
Rebekahs and Rathbone Sisters. Politically he is 
an unwavering Republican. 



GEORGE E. HARTSON is one of the pioneers 
of western Washington, having accompanied his 
parents to that territory in 1868, before Skagit coun- 
ty had existence. Mr. Hartson was born in Troy, 
New York, in July, 1 855, the son of .Augustus Hart- 
son, a native of Sharon, just over the New York 
state line into Connecticut. The elder Hartson was 
a machinist by trade. Pie followed his trade in Troy 
and in the early days of the settlement of Wiscon- 
sin was a pioneer blacksmith at Lodi. Pushing on 
to the Puget sound country, Mr. Hartson arrived 
at Coupeville on November 8, 18G8. He came to 
that part of Whatcom county from which in later 
days Skagit county was formed, taking up a pre- 
emption claim one mile and a half southwest of 
Mount Vernon in 1871. Mr. Hartson followed 
farming and died in 1892. Mrs. Rebecca (Me- 
loney) Hartson was born in Poughkeepsie, NeW 
York, and accompanied her husband across the con- 
tinent passing away near Mount Vernon in 1892. 
George E. Hartson was but thirteen years of age 
on his arrival in Washington and at once com- 



menced preparation for teaching. Without all the 
advantages at his hand, he made up in hard study 
what was lacking in facilities in the early pioneer 
days. When but seventeen years old he was granted 
a certificate and taught in Skagit county for six 
years, two terms each year. In 1885 he bought the 
Skagit News, a Democratic paper (changing its 
politics upon purchasing to Republican), published 
at Moimt Vernon, and was its editor and publisher 
until 1900, when he leased his plant and accepted 
the appointment as postmaster at Mount Vernon, 
which position he still fills. Mr. Hartson has 
watched Skagit county and Mount Vernon grow 
from nothing into their present populous and in- 
fluential positions, he himself contributing nuich of 
private energy and public spirit to that end. Mr. 
Hartson has not been without the ups and downs 
always present in pioneer days and knows the ins 
and outs of varying fortunes. 

In 18(9, in Skagit county, Mr. Hartson mar- 
ried Matilda, daughter of Jasper and Clarinda Gates, 
pioneer settlers of Skagit, who still live on a farm 
near Mount Vernon. It was Mr. Gates who took up 
as a homestead the land on which that city now 
stands, later selling it out in lots and buying his 
present place. Mrs. Hartson was born in Missouri 
and came to Skagit county with her parents when 
she was very young. Four children have been born 
to Mr. and Mrs. Hartson : Ralph C, who succeeded 
his father in the newspaper business and still con- 
ducts it; Grade; Clifford, a clerk in the postoffice; 
and Earl Stanley. Mr. Hartson has twice served as 
county superintendent of schools, one term in What- 
com county and the other in Skagit after the divi- 
sion was made. In politics he has always been a 
Republican and active in the councils of his party. 
He is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, as well as 
the social organization of lumbermen, the Concate- 
nated Order of Hoo Hoo. Mr. Hartson owns his 
Mount Vernon home and has invested in real estate 
in Seattle and other towns. His deputy in the post- 
office is Mrs. Hartson. Mr. Hartson was secretary 
of the old pioneers' association which was aban- 
doned several years ago, and is now a member of 
the present organization which held its first meet- 
ing at Sedro-Woolley in the fall of 1904. 



CAPTAIN DAVID F. DECATUR, ex-veteran 
of the Civil War, carries in his veins the blood of 
many generations of military and naval heroes, not 
least in the list of whom is the famous Commodore 
Steven Decatur. But if the deeds of the many other 
notables have been eclipsed by the more brilliant 
exploits of this world-famed commander, they are 
none the less worthy to creditable mention in the 
pages of history, as they all emanate from the same 
fountain head of true manhood and worth, and have 
been dominated by a like spirit of loyalty and 
patriotism. Born in Barrington, New Hampshire, 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



January (5, 1838, David F., the subject of this re- 
view, claims as his immediate progenitor Cyrus De- 
catur, who was ushered into this world amid the 
turmoil of the war of 181r2, on the old family home- 
stead, a portion of the Lafayette land grant, which 
has been in the family since its conferment at the 
close of the Revolutionary war, upon his father, 
John, for his creditable services under General 
Washington. This worthy patriot was at the noted 
battle of Portsmouth, and there received a severe 
wound. The buildings erected upon this estate dur- 
ing the colonial times are still preserved intact, and 
regular reunions of the direct descendants are held 
at stated periods at the old homestead, in which the 
subject of this sketch is a faithful participant. The 
mother of Captain Decatur, Olive (Woodhouse), 
was born in the land of the Scot, in the early part 
of the last century, and came as a small child to 
the United States with her parents, settling at Sa- 
vannah, Georgia, where she was reared to woman- 
hood with the very best advantages. She departed 
this life in 1866, thirty-one years prior to the death 
of her husband, who lived to the ripe old age of 
eighty-five. Captain Decatur was sent at an early 
age from his home in New Hampshire to the Sunny 
South, and was brought up in Savannah, Georgia, 
by his uncle, Charles Woodhouse. Later, however, 
he returned north for the completion of his educa- 
tion. While reared in the very hotbed of disunion 
sentiment, young Decatur had Isred in the very fiber 
of his being distaste for slavery, and this sentiment 
was so fostered and fortified by the prevailing feel- 
ing which surrounded him while attending the 
northern schools, that when he returned south again 
his staunch advocacy of national union and the abo- 
lition of slave chattels, was not acceptable to the ul- 
tra southerners of his community, and in 1859 he 
was forced to seek more congenial surroundings in 
the loyal atmosphere of Toledo. Ohio. Going from 
there to Massachusetts he. on August 2-2, 1862, en- 
listed in the Thirty-fifth Massachusetts Volunteer 
Infantry, serving under General Burnsides. At the 
noted battle of Antietam, his company, which bore 
the colors, was in the thickest of the fight, from 
which it came forth with decimated ranks but a glor- 
ious record, however dearly bought. In this en- 
gagement the Captain received seven wounds, and 
was sent to his home to recover. He then enlisted 
in the veteran reserve of Massachusetts, with com- 
mission of captain, continuing in this position for 
twenty-two years, during which time he engaged for 
a while in the grocery business and also followed 
landscape gardening. December, 1887, he came 
west to the Puget sound country, taking up his 
abode in Mount Vernon. Being forcibly impressed 
with the great possibilities in lumbering, he em- 
barked in the manufacture of lumber, erecting the 
first saw-mill in Mount Vernon and that section of 
the county. This he sold three years later, and hav- 
ing in the meantime taken up a homestead, which" 
he also disposed of, he purchased a tract of land 



south of the town and engaged in agriculture. Not- 
withstanding the Captain is handicapped by the loss 
of one leg, a memento of his war service, he is an 
unusually active man, his happiness and peace of 
mind, as well as health, depending in a great meas- 
ure upon so much outdoor exercise daily, and as a 
result of this and his systematic methods, he accom- 
plishes something in his work. 

On New Year's day, 1860, under the very shadow 
of Harvard College, the marriage of Captain De- 
catur and Miss Kate Morrison was celebrated. Mrs. 
Decatur is the daughter of William and Katherine 
Morrison, of Scotch descent. The father traces his 
ancestry back many generations among the noted 
Highland chiefs, one of his forebears having fought 
under William Wallace, the famous patriot of the 
thirteenth century, and still sacredly preserved in 
the family are the papers received by him in recog- 
nition of his service. The mother, born in Glasgow, 
in 1809, lived to the ripe old age of ninety-five. Mrs. 
Decatur was born in Washington county, Maine, in 
December of 1837, and has been a wortny nelpmeet 
in the long and well spent married life which she 
and husband have passed together, as well as a 
most helpful and considerate mother to the three 
children who have blessed their union. William, the 
oldest son, is a mail clerk on the steamer Seattle, 
plying between the Washington metropolis and 
Alaska ; Alice Elwyn Pollock is the wife of the writ- 
er and newspaper man of that name in Seattle, and 
Edith Mabel is at home. Fraternally Mr. Decatur 
is an Odd Fellow and a member of the Grand Army 
of the Republic, and also has the distinction of hold- 
ing membership in the Legion of Honor. To the 
many other qualities and characteristics which have 
distinguished Mr. Decatur, and given him the 
standing and respect which he holds in his com- 
munity, may be added that of ultra progressive- 
ness; to see things move, and move in the right 
direction, is the delight of his life, and to accom- 
plish this end he is ever ready to step to the front 
and face any and every opposing force. 



CHARLES P. WHITNEY, a well-known citi- 
zen of Mount Vernon, is a native of the Buckeye 
state, born at Akron, in 1837, the son of William 
H. and Mary (Bixey) Whitney. The father, of 
English descent, was himself a descendant of Yan- 
kee stock and claimed Vermont as his birthplace. 
He came to Ohio in early life and in 1839 settled 
in Columbia County, Wisconsin, becoming one of 
the earliest pioneers of that section. His death oc- 
curred in Iowa in 1888. The mother was born in 
New York state and survived only a short time after 
the removal of the family to Wisconsin. Mr. Whit- 
ney, of this article, reached his majority in the 
Badger state, receiving an education such as the 
schools of that sparsely settled frontier afforded 
and time would permit, after which he went to Wap- 
ello County, Iowa. There he followed farming for 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



a number of years. In 1873 he took up his resi- 
dence in Marion, Marion County, Kansas, there" 
devoting his energies and abilities principally to the 
real estate and insurance business with good suc- 
cess. He came to the Northwest in 1891 searching 
for a more satisfactory location, and, becoming im- 
])ressed with the Skagit country, established a per- 
manent home at Mount Vernon. He pursued, un- 
til 1904, the lines he had followed in Kansas. He 
was then elected to the office of justice of the peace 
at the hands of the Republican party of which he 
has ever been a loyal member, and served his fel- 
low citizens in that important capacity with credit 
until the fall of 1905. He then entered upon his 
])rescnt business as traveling salesman for the 
Spaulding lUiggy Company, of Grinnell, Iowa, 
wliifli business carric'd him again across the conti- 

Mr. Whitney was married at Marion, Kansas, 
in 187(1, to Anna J. McLean, the daughter of Major 
J. K. and Elizabeth McLean. Major McLean was 
a veteran of the Civil War and in that struggle won 
prominence because of his courage and military 
skill. Mrs. Whitney was born January 4, 1855. Mr. 
and Mrs. Whitney have a family of five children : 
Edith and Inez, twins, born March 12, 1878; Leo 
C, January 13, 1885; Lois B., July 8, 1888; and 
George K., June 27, 1890. Inez is now the wife of 
R. G. Hanaford, cashier of the First National Bank 
of Mount Vernon, while her twin sister, Edith, is 
married to W. M. King, a dentist of Mount Vernon. 
Leo C. Whitney is engaged in newspaper work on 
the sound and Lois B. is attending high school. 
Mrs. Whitney is a member of the Episcopal church 
and belongs to the Eastern Star and Rathbone 
lodges. 

A man of earnest purpose, alile in his business 
and commanding the respect of his associates, Mr. 
Whitney is one of the substantial factors in the 
progress of his coiumunity. 



JOHN W. ALKIRE, D. O. No one following 
the trend of modern thought in the field of medical 
science can fail to observe the changed valuation 
placed upon medicine as a remedial agent. Belong- 
ing to a school that goes still farther, dispensing al- 
together with its use, is Doctor John W. Alkirc, 
the bright young osteopathic physician of Mount 
Vernon, a native of Greenview, Illinois, born Au- 
gust 5, .1872. His father, David Alkire, a farmer, 
was born in Menard County, Illinois, in 1825, 
though his parents, of German descent, were orig- 
inally from Virginia, coming as pioneers to Menard 
county soon after it was formed. His death occur- 
red December 4, 1902. Mary K. Alkire, the ma- 
ternal ancestor, born in Illinois in 1842, was a resi- 
dent of New York prior to her marriage, and is now 
living in Mis.souri. Coming with his parents to 
Nodawav County, Missouri, at the age of four, John 
W. Alkire there spent his boyhood, assisting his 



father with the farm work and meanwhile attend- 
ing the common schools of the county. Early evinc- 
ing a fondness for learning, he later attended the 
high school at Maryvillc, the county seat of Noda- 
way, removing in 1892 to Des Moines, Iowa, there 
to attend the Drake University, from which he was 
graduated with honor in the scientific course, two 
years later. Returning to Maryville, he made that 
liis headquarters for the following two years which' 
he spent as a commercial traveller. Believing that 
a professional career would afford a larger measure 
of success and satisfaction, he went to Anaheim, Cal- 
ifornia, where an osteopathic college was then locat- 
ed, receiving his diploma from this institution, which 
in the meantime was removed to Los Angeles, where 
he finished his course in the year 1897. Thordughly 
equipped for his life work, he opened an ofiice in 
Portland, and there practiced for two and a half 
years, after which he spent a short time in Mary- 
ville, coming at length to Mount Vernon, his pres- 
ent location. Here he may be considered the pioneer 
in his branch of the profession, for while others have 
made it a location for a few months, he is the first 
one to build up a large practice. Doctor Alkire is 
a member of the Democratic party, but has never 
sought political ])re ferment. He is interested in real 
estate, owning his home and office in Mount Verntin. 
A thorough student and a gentleman of pleasing 
address, who brings to his calling the wealth of 
youth, ambition and enthusiasm. Doctor Alkire is 
rapidly wimiing prominence by his splendid success 
in his chosen iirofession. 



JOHN L. ANABLE, a well-known resident of 
Mount Vernon, was born at Three Rivers, Michi- 
gan, February 18, 18G4, the .son of John and Sarah 
(Poe) Anable. His father, a native of New York, 
born in 1823, of Welsh and Irish parentage, came 
early to the state of Michigan. Fond of travel and 
adventure, he made the trip to California by way 
of Cape Horn. Later he returned to Michigan, fol- 
lowing which he spent a year in Kansas. As a car- 
penter and contractor, he was quick to see and profit 
by the advantages that the West offered, and in 1892 
he came to RIount Vernon where he still resides. 
His wife, of German ancestry, was born in the Buck- 
eye state and died in 1877. Of her seven children 
the subject of this sketch is the oldest. Mr. Anable 
attended the connnon schools of Michigan, complet- 
ing his education by a course at the business college 
in Farmer City, Illinois. That he might have an nll- 
around preparation for a successful life, he had 
learned the trade of brickmaking, prior to the time 
he left home at the age of twenty-two. He has been 
a resident of Mount Vernon since 188G, which has 
honored him by electing him to various offices. He 
has been police justice, city clerk for a number of 
years, and during Cleveland's last admini^ration, 
he was postmaster. 

Mr. Anable was married to Ida.D. Kimble in 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Mount Vernon, August 2, 1891. Her father, David 
E. Kimble, was born in Fayette County, Ohio, in 
1828. As one of the oldest pioneers of Skagit coun- 
ty, a sketch of his life appears elsewhere in this his- 
tory. His mother, Mary (Bozarth) Kimble, a native 
of Indiana, where she was born February 10, 1845, 
now lives in Mount Vernon. Mrs. Anable was born 
in Washington June G, 1875, acquiring her educa- 
tion in the schools of the state. Mr. Anable is an in- 
fluential member of the Democratic party, and has 
held the chairmanship of the Democratic county 
coinmitee ; while fraternally he is a member of the 
Knights of Pythias. He is owner and manager of 
the opera house of the city, and is a prominent and 
highly respected member of the community. 



MICHAEL PICKENS (deceased) was one of 
the successful and highly respected citizens of 
Mount Vernon until his death in 1895. During 
the eleven years of his activity in this county he 
had accumulated a competence by his tireless en- 
ergy and application to work, and he left an ex- 
cellent heritage to his family. Mr. Pickens was 
bom in Sullivan County, Tennessee, in 1852, the 
son of John Pickens, a Tennessee farmer who 
moved to Missouri in 1853 and is still living there, 
retired, at Green City. The mother, Ama Rhada 
(Varney) Pickens, was likewise a native Tennes- 
sean, who died in Missouri in 18G0. Of this union 
six children were born : James, William, Michael, 
Thomas, Jacob and Noah. By the second mar- 
riage of John Pickens there have been born: 
Nancy, Dora, Etta, Ida, Alice, Lottie, Sarah and 
Naomi. Michael Pickens was a farmer in Mis- 
souri until he came to Skagit county in 1884 and 
located with his family north of the Grand Cen- 
tral hotel in Mount Vernon.. He was a carpenter 
and by economy and successful dealings in real 
estate accumulated property aggregating close to 
$20,000. 

In 1872 Mr. Pickens married in Sullivan Coun- 
ty, Missouri, Miss MaryE. Plarland, daughter of 
Elijah M. Harland, a native of Kentucky, who 
went to Illinois in boyhood. When twenty-two 
years of age, with his newly wedded wife, he re- 
moved to Missouri and became a pioneer farmer 
of that state. He died in 1897. Mrs. Pickens' 
mother, Mrs. Jane (Combs) Harland, was a native 
of Missouri and lived with her parents until mar- 
riage. She died in 1897, only five days after her 
husband had passed away. To that union fourteen 
children were born. Those still living are: Sarah 
L., Angie L., Stephen D., James F., Henry Clay, 
Sherman G., Lilian Sheridan, Viola B. and Mrs. 
Pickens. Those who have died bore the names of 
Edward T., Daniel A., Millard F., Johanna M. and 
Cynthia J., the Jast named being murdered in Ok- 
lahoma for money. Mrs. Pickens was born in Mis- 
souri in 1849 and lived with her parents until her 



marriage in 1872. Her education in the early days 
was meager owing to conditions prevailing on ac- 
count of the Civil War. Mrs. Pickens is the 
mother of five children : Mrs. Effie E. Fortin, 
Carlos E., John W., George Washington and Edna 
Myrtle. She is an attendant of the Christian 
church. Mr. Pickens was a member of the Bap- 
tist church, and in politics a Democrat. In 1885 
he bought ten acres south of Mount Vernon, pay- 
ing eighteen dollars per acre. This land was later 
platted into town property, and with two 
acres purchased at another time is known as 
Pickens' Addition, which has sold as high as six 
hundred dollars per acre. Mr. Pickens was highly 
respected in Alount Vernon and recognized 
as a man of business sagacity of a high order. 
Mrs. Pickens now owns the Grand Central lodging 
house and three residence properties in town. She 
also has six hundred and forty acres of very val- 
uable timber land in British Columbia, one hun- 
dred and sixty acres of Skagit river land near 
Lyman, and four hundred and eighty acres in an- 
other part of Skagit county. 



NELSON W. CARPENTER is one of the pio- 
neer settlers of Skagit county, who turned his at- 
tention to the lumber industry and is now the suc- 
cessful manager of the Cedardale Lumber Company 
at Mount Vernon. Mr. Carpenter was born in Clin- 
ton County, Iowa, in 1855. His father, James Car- 
penter, a native of Canada, went to Iowa when a 
young man and later moved to Kansas. In 1860 he 
was a member of the state militia at Fort Scott and 
served in that capacity during the Civil War. He 
came to Washington in 1875 and took up land 
three miles south of Skagit City. After he had 
cleared a part, he sold out and moved to Mount 
Vernon, where he died in 1901. The mother, Mrs. 
Philey (Knight) Carpenter, was a native of New 
York state who lived in Iowa at the time of her 
marriage. She died when 37 years old, the mother 
of nine children. Nelson W. Carpenter was edu- 
cated in the schools of Kansas, whither he had gone 
with his parents when seven years old. Remaining 
on the home farm until he had attained his major- 
ity, young Carpenter engaged in farming on his 
own account. When his father removed to Wash- 
ington the young man took care of the home place 
until 1877, when he followed his father to this state. 
Mr. Carpenter at first located a homestead on the 
south fork of the Skagit river and lived there for 
seven years, clearing the timber and protecting the 
marsh land by dikes. He sold this farm and started 
a saw-mill at Cedardale, the second mill in the coun- 
ty. After operating this mill for seven years, he 
moved it to Mount Vernon, where it has been turn- 
ing out lumber since 1890. Mr. Carpenter is man- 
ager of the mill and under his guidance the business 
has been a successful one. In 1895 he and M. 
Pickens built the Grand Central hotel at Mount 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



Vernon. Mr. Carpenter has at different times dealt 
in real estate. 

In 1875, while yet in Kansas, Mr. Carpenter 
married Miss Maggie E. Springer, daughter of 
Charles Springer, a native of New York, who went 
to Kansas in the pioneer days before the Civil War. 
Mrs. Springer was of German extraction and died 
in Kansas. Mrs. Carpenter was born in Iowa in 
1858 and received her education there, marrying 
when seventeen years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Car- 
penter have been the parents of nine children, all 
born in Skagit county, of whom Charles T., Arthur 
L., engineer in his father's mill ; Nellie P., Laura 
E., Maggie M., Mabel R. and Walter are living. 
Two sons are dead, Albert, who died when he was 
three years old, and George, at the age of twenty 
years. In lodge affiliations Mr. Carpenter is an 
Odd Fellow. He is a member of the Christian 
church at Mount Vernon in which he is serving as 
deacon. In politics he is a Republican. Aside from 
his investment in the milling business, Mr. Carpen- 
ter has timber land and other valuable property. He 
has built up the lumber business of his company 
from the start made at Cedardale in the pioneer 
days, to the present successful plant now operating 
in Mount Vernon. 

CHARLES CLINTON JOHNSON, of the 
Skagit steam laundry, was born in Rock Springs, 
Wyoming, July 23, i875, the son of Charles Isaac 
and Hannah (Hanson) Johnson, natives of Sweden. 
The father, born in 1850, immigrated to the United 
States in 1870, locating in Nebraska where he re- 
mained eleven years, coming thence to Skagit coun- 
ty in 1882. He still resides here, owning a fine one 
hundred and fifteen acre farm valued at twenty 
thousand dollars. The mother was born in 1818, 
and at the death of her father went to live with an 
aunt. She came to the United States in 1870. Slie 
was married in Nebraska at the age of twenty-two. 
Unusual educational advantages were enjoyed by 
Charles Clinton Johnson. Having attended the 
common schools of Washington, he entered the uni- 
versity, and had but one more year before complet- 
ing the course when he decided to enter the Seattle 
Business College in which he took a commercial 
course. He has also a practical and thorougli 
knowledge of agricultural matters, thus being 
splendidly equipped for a successful business career. 
Purchasing the half interest in the laundry owned 
by Adolph Anderson, he is now devoting his entire 
time to that, he and his partner, Oscar Sundstrom, 
having already established a reputation for doing 
excellent work. Mr. Johnson's brothers and sisters 
are as follows: Ellen (deceased), Maggie, Gus, 
Frederick, Selma, Mary, Emily, and Garfield. He 
is a Republican, though not a strict partisan. Of 
the Fraternal Order of Eagles he is a prominent 
member. An energetic, ambitious young man, of 
sound moral principles, he is destined to become 
one of the influential members of the community. 



OSCAR SUNDSTROM, a partner in the Skag- 
it steam laundry, Mount Vernon, was born in west 
Gothland, Sweden, January 17, 1872, the son of 
John and Clara (Olson) Sundstrom, also natives of 
Gothland, the father born in 1833, the mother in 
1823. A stone mason by trade, the elder Sundstrom 
has taken up farming in his later years, still resid- 
ing in the land of his birth. Left an orphan in 
early life, his wife grew to womanhood in the home 
of her guardian, leaving it at the time of her mar- 
riage. Spending the first sixteen years of his life 
at home, Oscar Sundstrom then started for the 
United States, making the entire journey alone. He 
located at Cadillac, Michigan, working at various 
occupations until 1891, at which time he went to 
Seattle. Two years later he visited his parents in 
Sweden, remaining six months. On his return he 
stopped at his former home in Cadillac for some 
time, and there found his bride. Having purchased 
a farm in Snohomish county he made that his place 
of residence for several years, moving at length to 
California, where his wife died after four months' 
sojourn. Coming again to Snohomish county, he 
went on the railroad as foreman for the following 
two years. In 1903, he and a brother-in-law, 
Adolph Anderson, started a laundry in Mount Ver- 
non, Charles Johnson purchasing the half interest 
of Mr. Anderson some time later. By giving care- 
ful attention to the requirements of their customers, 
and adhering strictly to upright principles, they are 
building up a fine business. Mr. Sundstrom has 
brothers and sisters as follows: John, Carl, Albert, 
Ida, Emma, and Henning (deceased). 

Mr. Sundstrom has been twice married, his first 
wife being Anna England, born in Paris, Michigan, 
May 3, 1872. Of Swedish descent, her father is 
Samuel England, a millwright now making his home 
in Cadillac, Michigan. Mrs. Sundstrom was the 
mother of three daughters: Hazel (deceased), 
Myrtle and Ruth. Her death occurred in California 
in 1901. 

In Seattle, September 28, 1901, Mr. Sundstrom 
and Sophia Sparing were united in marriage. Mrs. 
Sundstrom was born in May, 1878. The Republican 
party claims Mr. Sundstrom as a loyal member. He 
is also an honored brother in the ^Masonic frater- 
nity. Active and industrious, the possessor of 
vouth, health and ambition, he is one of the most 
promising young business men of the city. 



IRA T. PATTERSON, founder and proprietor 
of Mount Vernon's pioneer meat business, and also 
one of Skagit county's most successful and popular 
citizens, is a sturdy son of the Pine Tree state. 
Maine has furnished a host of Puget sound's pio- 
neers, especially in the development of its magnifi- 
cent timber interests, and among those who made 
Skagit county the field of their activities the subject 
of this sketch deserves prominent mention. He was 
born August 21, 1861, to the union of Chauncey R. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



523 



and Catherine (McCum) Patterson, both of whom 
are likewise natives of that commonwealth, and of 
English and Irish lineage respectively. By occupa- 
tion the father is a lumberman, though he has also 
been engaged in the hotel business with good suc- 
cess. At present he is one of Stanwood's well- 
known citizens. Mrs. Patterson is also enjoying 
the contentment which comes of a long, useful life, 
being in her sixty-ninth year. Ira T. is the fourth 
in a family of twelve children. His early educa- 
tional training and home rearing were obtained 
while he was yet living in Maine, and like most 
frontier lads he assumed responsibilities in his 
youth. From the age of thirteen until he was eight- 
een, he worked in the neighboring lumber camps. 
Then he bade farewell to the rocky shores of the 
Atlantic and sought fortune on the headwaters of 
the Mississippi in Minnesota. There he w-as engaged 
in logging until July, 1887, when he turned still 
further westward, stopping at Missoula, Montana. 
From the camps of that region he went, in Febru- 
ary, 1888, to Puget sound, where he was employed 
in various logging operations during the next two 
years. Then, with keen insight into commercial 
conditions, recognizing in the growing town of 
Mount Vernon an excellent opening for a market, 
he established his present business, the exact date 
being July, 1890, and this by aggressive, painstak- 
ing methods he has gradually built up until it is one 
of the solid enterprises of the commimity and ex- 
tensive in its scope. 

Mr. Patterson and Miss Martha Schneider w-ere 
united by the bonds of matrimony at Mount Ver- 
non, in November, 1903, she being at that time one 
of the city's popular clerks. Her father, Frederick 
Schneider, was a native of Germany, and in business 
a successful meat dealer; Mrs. Patterson's mother 
is still living at Alma, Wisconsin. The year 1871 
marks the date of Mrs. Patterson's birth and in the 
state of Wisconsin she was reared and educated. 
One child, Ira F., born in 190-4, has blessed the 
marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Patterson. 

Fraternally, Mr. Patterson is affiliated w-ith the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights 
of Pythias in both of which he is an active worker. 
Recognizing his obligations to identify himself with 
the public life of his country, he has ever responded 
to the demands made upon him and in his party, 
the Democratic, he is well known. Success in busi- 
ness and influence among his fellows he has attain- 
ed by long years of strict devotion, square dealing 
and energetic action, the usual rewards of such a 
life. 



FRANK H. STACKPOLE, undertaker and 
building contractor, is one of Mount Vernon's well- 
known citizens. A native of Maine, he was born 
in Albion, Kennebec county, August 21, 1855, to 
the union of William and Caroline (Wiggins) 
Stackpole. The father enlisted in the Union army 



in 1861 and died in the service that fall. His wife 
survived until 1896, her death occurring in Maine. 
Spending his early years at home, Frank H. ac- 
quired his education in the common schools of the 
Pine Tree state, going to Waterville, Maine, to 
learn the cabinet making trade. After remaining 
there two years, at the age of nineteen, he crossed 
the continent, and located in San Francisco where 
he followed his trade. His health having failed he 
went to Butte county, and engaged in lumbering in 
the mountains for three years, after which he re- 
turned to San Francisco to accept a position in an 
express office. Two years later he began farming 
in the Joaquin valley, making that his home until 
he went to Seattle in the fall of 1883. He settled 
at Fir, Skagit county, residing there six years, then 
coming to Mount Vernon where he h-s since lived 
with the exception of three years spent in Alaska. 
Makmg the first trip to that country in 1897, he 
traversed the trail, from Skagway to Bennett Lake 
in forty-five days, thence following the river down 
to Dawson. The summer of 1898 he spent in 
Mount Vernon, again seeking the gold fields of 
Dawson the next year, going later to Nome, in the 
spring of 1900. Longing to revisit the home of his 
boyhood, he made a trip to Albion after leaving 
Nome that fall. He made one more trip to Alaska, 
in the summer of 1901, returning to Mount Vernon 
in November. After being employed at his trade 
for a year, he purchased the undertaking business 
of W. S. Anable, and has since combined the two, 
devoting his entire time to looking after these in- 
terests. In political belief Mr. Stackpole is a Re- 
publican. He is an active member of the city coun- 
cil, lending his assistance to every enterprise that 
will benefit the towm, and is prominent in fraternal 
circles, being a member of the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen, and the Knights of Pythias. In 
addition to his large business, he has a substantial 
home in the residence district of the city. Public 
spirited, zealous of the prosperity and growth of the 
community, Mr. Stackpole is recognized as an influ- 
ential citizen. 

Melissa Branch, of Waterville, Maine, became 
the bride of l\Ir. Stackpole at Seattle, in 1903. She 
is the daughter of William and Emiline (Rowe) 
Branch, both of whom are deceased. The beginning 
of Mr. Stackpole's romance dates back to his boy- 
hood when he and Miss Branch were school friends. 
Upon his return to Maine from Alaska in 1901 this 
friendship was renewed with the happy result above 
referred to. 



NELSE B. JOHNSON, senior member of the 
grocery firm of Johnson & Sons, of Mount Vernon, 
was born in central Sweden, November 16, 1848, 
the son of Johannes Nelson, a farmer born in 1811, 
in Sweden, in which country he also died in 1887. 
The mother, Annie (Peterson) Nelson, was also 
born in Sweden in 1819, and departed this life in 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



1882. She was the mother of six children: Peter, 
Neise, Charlie, Annie, Christina and Johanna. It 
is the custom in Sweden that the oldest son inherits 
the homestead and receives a good education, 
whether any of the others are provided for or not; 
and it thus fell to the lot of Nelse to get out and 
hustle for himself, with but limited school opportu- 
nities. On leaving his father's home he sought em- 
ployment in a lumberyard, and then it was that he 
had his first experience in letter writing, in writing 
home to his parents. After a number of years thus 
employed, he determined upon trying his fortune in 
the United States. He had learned of the great 
advantages here offered the man of limited means 
with a strong desire to better his condition ; and 
hither he came in 1880, settling first in Kansas, af- 
ter a brief trip through Nebraska. For eleven years 
he continued there, laboring under the disadvantages 
of drouth and crop failures, ever hoping for and ex- 
pecting a change for the better ; only to have those 
hopes blasted. His experiences in that state are 
anything but pleasant to look back upon. In 1891 
he came to the Puget sound country, settling near 
Skagit City on a farm of twenty-five acres. He 
had but fairly started the work of clearing this tract 
of timber when he met with a serious accident, in 
which both of his legs were broken. For twenty- 
two weeks he was confined to the house, during 
which time he learned what it is to have the minis- 
trations of kind neighbors and loving home folks, 
and to prize the same at something like their true 
value. At the end of this period he insisted upon 
his sons carrying him out to the clearing on a chair, 
and with that indomitable will and courage which 
knows not the words "give up," he worked for 
hours at a time grubbing roots and brush, seated 
in the chair, from which he was unable to move. 
It was a full year before he could go about on 
crutches, and four years elapsed before he was fully 
recovered ; but during all this period he and sons 
continued to work unceasingly at clearing and pre- 
paring the land. In the winter of 1904 he and sons, 
John, Simon and J^red, embarked in the grocery 
business in Mount \'ernon, to which place they 
moved. 

Mr. Johnson was first married to Christina Nel- 
son who departed this life May 1, 1888. She was 
the motlier of the following children : John, Simon, 
Emanuel (deceased), Fred, Theodore (deceased), 
Annie and Arthur. Her father, Nelse Pearson, still 
lives in Sweden, where he was born in 1827. Her 
mother, Christina (Anderson) Pearson, died in' 
1881. To a second marriage contracted in 1889 in 
Kansas, with Betsy Carlson, daughter of Magnus 
and Sesilia (Nelson) Carlson, of Skagit City', the 
following children were born : Minnie, Edith, 
Lillv and Esther. She departed this life near 
Skagit City, July 19, 1898. In 1899 he was united 
in marriage to Mrs. Mary (Berg) Johnson, widow 
of J. P. Johnson (deceased), of Minneapolis, Min- 
nesota. Her father, Andrew Berg, a prominent 



citizen of Christianstad, Sweden, came to the 
United States in 1891, locating at St. Paul, Minne- 
sota. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have one child, Elsie 
Mary. Mr. Johnson is a loyal Republican, and. he 
and the family are active members of the Swedish 
Baptist church. In addition to his lucrative grocery 
business and building, Mr. Johnson owns his farm 
valued at five thousand dollars, and his town resi- 
dence. He fully realizes to-day the wisdom of his 
choice of Washington as a home. 



JULES FREDLUND, the young, energetic 
secretary and manager of the Mount Vernon 
Creamery Company, was born in Bergen, Norway, 
August 31, 1872, the son of Ingvald and Mary 
(Johnson) Fredlund, both natives of Norway, the 
father born in 1836, and the mother the previous 
year. The elder Fredlund is a carpenter and farm- 
er who came to the United States in 1882, settling 
first in South Dakota, where he lived for eight 
years, after which he came to Skagit county. Here 
he bought land south of Mount Vernon, and since 
then has made it his home except during an extend- 
ed visit to his native land in 1899. Having spent 
the first nine years of his life in Norway, Mr. Fred- 
lund came with his parents to South Dakota where 
he attended the common schools, later, when the 
family moved to Skagit county, assisting his father 
and brothers in the work of the farm. In 1899 the 
two brothers leased the father's farm, and Mr. 
Fredlund. of whom we write, took a course in the 
Agricultural College of Madison, Wisconsin, after 
which, having sold out his interest in the farm to 
his brother, he went to Seattle and bought into a 
grocery and meat market. Convinced at the end of 
a month that he could be more successful in the 
business for which he had received special training, 
he disposed of his property, and returned to Wis- 
consin, there buying an interest in a creamery in 
Polk county which he retained until 1903, though 
he did not remain there the entire time. After com- 
ing to Mount Vernon and thoroughly investigating 
the situation, in the winter of 1904 he aided in the 
organization of the present stock company known 
as the Mount Vernon Creamery Company, with E. 
S. Phipps. president, Robert Fredlund, vice-presi- 
dent, and himself secretary and manager. Having 
bought the interest of Mr. Phipps, the two brothers 
sold it later to W. E. Harbert. Under such wise 
and careful management the enterprise has grown 
rapidly, and promises to be one of the most success- 
ful creameries in this part of the county. Besides 
the brother associated with him in business, Mr. 
Fredlund has brothers and sisters as follows: Al- 
bert, in Alaska, near Dawson; Joseph, in Seattle; 
Anna Henry, Edwin and John, residing in Mount 
Vernon ; Mary Wolf, near Mount Vernon, and 
Charles (deceased). 

Mr. Fredlund is a member of the Eagle frater- 
nity. He is a prominent member of the Baptist 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



church in which he holds the office of trustee ; and 
politically he is an active member of the Republican 
party. In addition to his creamery business he has 
a farm south of town, stock in talcum mines and 
in the Washington Fire Insurance Company, all of 
which testify to his excellent business capabilities. 
Thoroughly fitted for his work, familiar with the 
details that are especially important in this line, as 
time develops this into the ideal dairy country, 
which it is certain to become, his future success is 
assured. 



JOHX L. DOWNS, a prosperous farmer re- 
siding two and a half miles west of Fir, was born 
in Great Falls, New Hampshire, April 17, 1865, the 
only son of Horace P. and Sylvina A. (Guptill) 
Downs, who were among the oldest pioneers in this 
section of the state to which they came in 1878. 
His father is a native of Xew Hampshire, born in 
1840 ; the mother was born three years later in 
Maine, and died February 28, 1904. Just preced- 
ing this will be found the biographies of both par- 
ents who are widely known in the political and so- 
cial life of the county. Having attended the Bun- 
ker Hill grammar school at Boston. ■Nlr. Downs 
came with his parents to Mount "X'ernon when 
thirteen years of age, and here he completed his 
education in the schools of the county. His grand- 
father, Paul Downs, was a shipbuilder in Maine, be- 
queathing, perhaps, to this grandson his talent 
along that line, for Mr. Downs early displayed 
great skill in the construction of boats, launches, 
and works of a similar nature ; and is now building 
a gasoline launch that promises to be very satis- 
factory. During the time his father was in office, 
the complete charge of the farm devolved upon him, 
since which he has followed that work. Twelve 
years ago he took up a preemption near Cedar- 
dale but has never made that his permanent home. 

In 1891. Mr. Downs married Miss Leona 

Moore, daughter of Thomas J. and Mary ( ) 

Moore, who came to this country forty years 
ago, making the trip in a sailing vessel by way of 
Cape Horn. Mrs. Downs was born at Fort Dis- 
covery in 1872. She has one brother, George 
Moore, a farmer living in Skagit City. Both her 
parents are deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Downs have 
three children: Mable, Agnes and Isabella. Like 
his father, Mr. Downs is a Republican, devoted to 
the interests of his party, but has never sought po- 
litical preferment for himself. Financially he is 
nicely situated, owning his farm near Fir, and also 
town property in Mount Vernon, while as a citizen 
and neighbor he stands high in his community. 



DR. HORACE P. DOWNS. Among the many 
prominent pioneer citizens who have materially as- 
sisted in laying firm and secure the foundation 
whereupon a better and broader civilization might 



be erected in Skagit county, few if any have really 
contributed more than has the gentleman whose 
name furnishes the caption for this article, and 
none have left on retirement from public and offi- 
cial duties a cleaner or more creditable record, a 
heritage more to be prized by the oncoming gen- 
erations than the dower of a prince. Qualified by 
education, profession and temperament for leader- 
ship in a new community, his worth was soon recog- 
nized and the voice of the people called him to their 
service. Dr. Downs came among the people as one 
of them, taking up land on the tide flats a number 
of miles to the south of Mount \'ernon, and adding 
to this by purchase, he engaged in the reclamation 
of the same from the sea without and the river 
floods witnin, clearing, diking and cultivating; lab- 
oring in season and out, undergoing the hardships 
of flooded home, when for days at a time the house- 
hold goods were stored for safety in the upper story 
of the house, while the family sought shelter else- 
where ; loss of stock and crops, exercising Yankee 
ingenuity in the construction of floating pens for 
the preservation of his hogs, and in every way tak- 
ing the initiative against new and unknown dangers. 
In the settlement of new countries, as nowhere 
else, is the resident physician's presence appreciat- 
ed, and the Doctor's service was a boon of priceless 
value in those days for many miles around, since 
it was known that his best skill was to be had for 
asking, without price. Born in Freedom, New 
Hampshire, to the union of Paul and Betsey (Rol- 
lins) Downs, the former dying in 1855 and the latter 
many years later in Skagit county. Dr. Downs re- 
ceived the best of educational advantages, attending 
first the Great Falls high school, then Phillips Acad- 
emy at Exeter, and later Bowdoin College, in the 
latter of which he took a medical course, and short- 
ly afterward began the practice of his chosen pro- 
fession at Tamworth. New Hampshire. Fifteen 
years were then spent in the city of Boston as phy- 
sician and druggist. Then in 1878 he came to Skag- 
it county. Mrs. Downs' advent into this country 
ante-dates that of her husband. Having come west 
to California on a visit to her father, she fell in 
love with the sound country, with its salubrious 
climate, matchless water expanse, and tangle of wild 
beauty on hill and in valley, and after writing an 
enthusiastic letter to the husband in the east, filed 
by power of attorney upon a tract of tide land. This, 
however, was lost to them and other land was taken 
in its stead. Sometime after his arrival the Doctor 
was appointed as tide land appraiser by the legis- 
lature, and was also called to serve as county com- 
missioner of Whatcom county before the division 
and organization of Skagit. When the bill for the 
division of Whatcom county passed, the Doctor 
was appointed one of the commissioners by the leg- 
islature, to complete the details of the same and 
settle up in an equitable manner the interests of the 
old and new county. At a special election following 
this he was chosen the first auditor of the new 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



county, and so satisfactorily did he conduct the af- 
fairs of his office that he was elected three terms in 
succession to that position. He also served three 
terms as deputy assessor, and was twice elected 
mayor of the city of Mount Vernon. 

In 1864 Dr. Downs was united in marriage to 
Sylvina A. Guptill, native of Maine, born in 1843. 
Her father, William N. Guptill, practicing physi- 
cian, was one of the argonauts who made the trip 
to California on one of the first sailing vessels to 
round Cape Horn after the discovery of gold in 
that country. Mrs. Downs, who departed this life 
February 28, 1904, was a lady of culture and re- 
fineinent, with unusual executive ability, compe- 
tent to fill any position social or otherwise. She 
was known far and wide for her many excellent 
qualities of heart and mind, and her decease was 
sincerely mourned by the host of friends and ac- 
quaintances as a personal loss to the community. In 
her immediate family she left the husband and 
son, John L., the only child, who is an extensive 
farmer on the tide flats, south of Mount Vernon. 
In fraternal circles Mr. Downs has always been an 
active Odd Fellow, having passed through all the 
chairs of the subordinate lodge, and is a member 
of the Grand lodge. Politically he has ever been a 
stalwart Republican, but never a narrow partisan, 
and by this broad minded view of matters, he has 
won and held as fast friends men of like calibre in 
the ranks of the opposing political forces. Re- 
spected and highly esteemed by a circle of acquaint- 
ances not confined to the limits of his town, or even 
county. Dr. Downs, in the decline of life, and while 
suffering under the affliction of a possibly fatal ill- 
ness, from a stroke of paralysis, can look back on 
the well spent years of his life with gratification 
and pride, feeling that his life has not been lived in 
vain, and with the approval of his earthly course 
by his neighbors and friends, he can face the judg- 
ment of that higher tribunal with reasonable assur- 
ance of the applaudit, "Well done, thou good and 
faithful servant." 



ELMER A. AXELSON is one of four brothers 
who have made an unqualified success of Skagit 
county farming since coming from Sweden. He is 
a successful grain and stock farmer two miles west 
of Fir in the Skagit delta, one of the rich agricul- 
tural sections of the county. Elmer was born in 
Sweden in 1873, the son of Axel W. Magnuson, 
who is still living on the farm in his native land. 
The mother, Sophia Nygin, was born at Atvida- 
barg, Sweden, and is still living with her husband, 
both being well advanced in years. She is the 
mother of eight children, of whom Axel W., Con- 
rad F., Herman and Elmer reside in Skagit coun- 
ty ; the others being Mrs. Sophia Wangberg, Mrs. 
Amanda Johanson, Mrs. Ella Gustafson and Alben 
Axelson. Elmer attended his home school until 
fourteen years of age. He was ambitious for a lib- 



eral education, but circumstances denied him this 
for a time and he left home to work on a farm at 
Norkoping for a year. A short stay at the old home 
followed and at the age of seventeen years he found 
himself at La Conner. He was fortunate on first 
coming to the United States to be employed on the 
excellent farm of R. E. Whitney, who was one of 
the largest and most liberal farmers of that sec- 
tion. He worked here for six years, then went to 
work for E. A. Sisson, putting in seven years off 
and on with him. It was during this period of his 
life that young Axelson realized in part his desire 
for more education, and he utilized his winters in 
attending school. Finally deciding to try what he 
could do for himself, Mr. Axelson rented the 
George D'Arcy place, on the Samish flats, and 
operated it for two years. The next seven years 
were spent in farming on Beaver Marsh at the J. 
S. Wallace place. In the meantime Mr. Axelson 
had bought and sold a small place by the Swinomish 
slough, making some money on the investment and 
sale. In 1903 he purchased the Captain Loveland 
place, of 160 acres, all under cultivation, and has 
since made his home there. 

June 11, 1903, he married Miss Gertrude Mor- 
ris at Tacoma. Mrs. Axelson is the daughter of 
George A. and Sarah (O'Donnell) Morris, natives 
of England, who came to the United States eighteen 
years ago and settled at Avon. Mrs. Morris died 
early in 1905, but Mr. Morris still resides at Avon, 
living in retirement, having sold his real estate, 
which brought him considerable wealth. Mrs. 
Axelson was born at Nottingham, England, in 1883 
and came to this country with her parents when 
only five years old. She attended the Avon schools 
and entered the Salvation Army when fifteen, serv- 
ing for three years in Spokane and Bellingham, 
Washington, Helena, Montana, and Rossland and 
Victoria, British Columbia. Before leaving the 
army she had been commissioned lieutenant. She 
has two children: Evalina, born March 26, 1904, 
and Lucille, born August 10, 1905. Just previous 
to his marriage, Mr. Axelson realized the cherished 
ambition of obtaining a higher education and pur- 
sued successfully in 1901 and 1902 a course in the 
Bellingham business college, getting a training 
which he highly prizes as an adjunct of his busi- 
ness. In fraternal circles Mr. Axelson is a member 
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of the 
Woodmen of the World and the Independent Or- 
der of Good Templars. He is a Republican in poli- 
tics and with his wife belongs to the La Conner 
Baptist church. Mr. Axelson is one of the pros- 
perous and up-to-date farmers of the southwest sec- 
tion of the county. 



HALEY R. HUTCHINSON, prominently 
identified with the business interests of Blount Ver- 
non as the proprietor of the Spring Brook Gar- 
dens, was born in Manchester, Vermont, Novem- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



ber 16, 1S5S, the son of Robert Hutchinson, of 
French descent, who was superintendent of the oil 
refinery at Cleveland, Ohio, at the time of his death 
in 1S8T. His mother was Clara Minerva (Pren- 
tiss) Hutchinson, a native of ^tlassachusetts, whose 
parents were the direct descendants of the Puri- 
tans. Her father, Zachariah Prentiss, of Akron, 
Ohio, a man of influence in that part of the state, 
at one time owned as farm land the present site of 
the city of Akron, in which he still holds large real 
estate interests. She died in 18T3, at the age of thir- 
ty-nine. She was the niece of General Prentiss of 
historic memory. Having moved with his parents 
to Cleveland at the age of four, ^Ir. Hutchinson 
there spent the following six years, and then began 
his career, when only ten years old, working on a 
farm and in a nursery. He was a resident of Ohio 
till 1880, going then to Chicago where he took 
a six-year course in mechanical engineering, and 
later locating in Grand Haven, Michigan. After 
seven years there in which he was engaged in gar- 
dening and fruit farming, he removed to Placer 
county, California, in 1896, there pursuing the same 
line of activity, together with mining. Convinced 
that the country to the northwest held desirable 
agricultural openings, two years later, with three 
teams and camp wagons thoroughly equipped, he 
started overland, travelling leisurely, viewing the 
country with the purpose of locating when a desir- 
able spot was found. The most memorable event 
of the journey was at Warm Springs, Oregon, 
where he witnessed probably the largest gathering 
of Indians ever held. Coming from all over the 
country they were there holding a religious pow- 
wow, a scene which once witnessed can never be 
forgotten. Starting from Sacramento he reached 
Mount Vernon in the fall of 1898, and for two years 
leased land till he had demonstrated that this was 
adapted to gardening, after which he bought his 
first land of Frank Hamilton. He believed that 
this locality was especially suitable for the culture 
of celery, tomatoes and like vegetables, but it re- 
quired time to prove to a skeptical public the 
soundess of his judgment. Conceded now to be the 
largest celery grower in the state, cultivating annu- 
ally two hundred thousand plants, he has establish- 
ed a reputation of which he may well be proud. 

^Ir. Hutchinson was married October 3, 1880, 
to ^liss Cozella Smith, a native of Sandusky, Ohio. 
Mr. and Mrs. Hutchinson have six children: 
Haley S., Karl, Cozella, Pansy, Ruby and Linnet. 
Haley S., the oldest son, his father's partner in the 
business, has completed a two-year course at the 
agricultural college at Pullman, and will remain 
there for two years more, studying veterinary 
science. His specialty is thoroughbred stock, and 
he owns at the present time some fine Jersey cattle 
and Berkshire hogs, in connection with his father's 
dairy interests. Mr. Hutchinson has one of the fin- 
est barns to be found in this section, having accom- 
modations for forty-eight cows. He owns a 



creamery and finds a ready market for his product. 
In political matters Mr. Hutchinson is an inde- 
pendent voter. He is an active member of the 
Knights of Pythias, Woodmen of the World and 
the Banker's Life. He and his family attend the 
Episcopal church. Beginning life for himself at an 
age when most boys are occupied with tops, mar- 
bles and balls, his long years of industry, enter- 
prise and skilful management have been duly re- 
warded and to-day he owns seventy acres of bottom 
land, thirty-five of which are devoted to gardens; 
he also owns fifty acres on the hills, where his home 
is, besides his greenhouses, creamery and dairy, 
and he is considered one of the successful business 
men of the countv. 



DAVID EVERETT KIMBLE, a pioneer 
among pioneers, one of the real forces in the recla- 
mation of the Skagit valley from its primeval wild- 
erness, is the honored citizen whose life we shall 
here seek to concisely portray. Upon the old home- 
stead in the bend of the river just below Mount 
Vernon, surrounded by peace and plenty, amid the 
scenes of his most noteworthy labors, he is passing 
the declining years of a long, useful life. 

Aaron Kimble, the father of David, was a pio- 
neer of the middle West, into which he entered as 
a lad of twelve from his native state. New Jersey. 
In Ohio he learned the plasterer's trade and there 
lived until 1833, when he removed to Park county, 
Indiana. From Indiana he went to INIissouri eight 
years later and resided until his death in 1846. 
Nancy (Snodgrass) Kimble, his wife, was born in 
1813, a native of Virginia, and there lived with her 
parents until they went to Ohio. In that state she 
was married. She survived her husband forty 
years, living in Missouri until 1870, then joining her 
son at IMount Vernon with whom she lived until 
the grim reaper overtook her. Five of their chil- 
dren are dead also : Vina, Joseph, John, Aaron, 
Newton and Mary; the remaining three are Mrs. 
Martha Clifton, Mrs. Clarinda Gates and the sub- 
ject of this sketch. He was born May 5, 1828, on 
the old farm in Fayette county, Ohio, but received 
his education and arrived at man's estate in Mis- 
souri. In 1861 he took up his residence in Illinois, 
but lived there only a year, next going to Indiana, 
where he ran a saw-mill engine for a time. Re- 
turning to Illinois in 1863, he followed teaming in 
Cass county until he came to the Pacific coast. The 
trip across the plains with his family in 1868 was 
filled with the usual dangers and hardships incident 
to such a trip. Arriving at Puget sound, Mr. 
Kimble immediately joined his wife's folk on Whid- 
by island and resided nearby for several months. 
At that time what is now Skagit county had barely 
a score of white settlers and the Skagit valley was 
entirely unoccupied except by a number of white 
men with Indian wives, living on the delta. Into 
this wilderness Mr. Kimble plunged and February 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



3, 1869, staked out the claim which is now his home. 
This place was the furthest inland at that date 
and right at the lower end of the historic log jam 
which blocked higher navigation bv any kind of a 
boat, thus preventing the settlement of the inland 
region. As the most isolated settler in the county 
Mr. Kimble passed through a great many interest- 
ing pioneer experiences. The Gates, Gage and 
Kimble families settled near each other about the 
same time, shortly after the claims were taken in 
l.S(!9, being the first white families on the Skagit. 
However, settlement on the river was extremely 
slow until the removal of the jam in 1878 and the 
founding of Mount Vernon just above the Kimble 
place about that year. 

Mr. Kimble was united in marriage to Minerva 
Jane Bozarth in Indiana, Christmas day, 1862. She 
comes of a well-known pioneer family, her father 
having been Urvan E. Bozarth, who settled on 
Whidby island in 1853. He was born in Kentucky 
in 1827, but left the Blue Grass state at the age of 
seventeen to live in Missouri. His death occurred 
on Whidby island in 1870. Mrs. Elizabeth (Rice) 
Bozarth was a native of Missouri and there reared 
and educated. The Bozarth family is prominent in 
the early history of Whidby island. Mrs. Kimble 
was born February 2, 1845, and reared by her 
grandparents, with whom she lived until her mar- 
riage. A large family has been the fortune of this 
union: Balzora, born August 15, 1863 (deceased) ; 
Edward, March 18, 1864, a well-known resident of 
the lower valley; Charles W., September 22, 
]S(;5 (deceased); Clarinda, November 20, 1866 
(deceased) : Minerva Elizabeth, January 24, 1869; 
Nancv B., October 30, 1870 ; Joseph, December 25, 
1872;' Ida, January 6, 1875; Zenia, April 29, 1876; 
George, March 8, 1879; Harry, July 11, 1881; 
Anna, October 9, 1883 ; and Rufus, January 5, 
1886. The family are members of the Baptist 
faith. Mr. Kimble is a Democrat, but of late has 
not taken as active an interest in politics as when 
he was younger. He has served upon the local 
school board and in many other ways shown his 
public spiritedness and a desire to bear his respon- 
sibilities as a good citizen. The Kimble ranch of 
seventy acres well improved and having upon it 
more than 1,000 bearing fruit trees is a high testi- 
monial to its owner's thrift and taste, and it is ap- 
propriate that he and his wife should now 1); en- 
joying the fruits of their long, weary labors as 
pioneers of that community. 



ABNER B. CORIELL, one of the heroes of 
Shiloh and Vicksburg, is a native of Ohio where 
he was born at Portsmouth, April 7, 1842. the son 
of Isaac and Elizabeth (Beard) Coriell. His fath- 
er, also born in the Buckeye state, in 1803, grew up 
on his father's farm, leaving it when he began life 
for himself in the shoe trade. Moving to Greenup 
county, Kentucky, two years later, he there had a 



tannery and shoe factory, selling out in 1850, to 
remove to Muscatine County, Iowa. Here he spent 
the remainder of his life, dying at the age of fifty- 
two. His wife, born in the state of Ohio, in 1803, 
died four years prior to her husband. Mr. Coriell 
spent his early years working on the farm, first for 
his father and then for others. Among the thousands 
of young men who in the first flush of manhood an- 
swered the call to arms in isci, none bore a braver 
heart than did Mr. Coriell, who enlisted September, 
1861, in Company C, of the Sixteenth Iowa Infan- 
try. Having received a severe wound in the arm 
at the battle of Shiloh, he was home on a furlough 
for six months, joining his company at the end of 
that time, at Vicksburg. Actively engaged in the 
fearful siege of that city, he was there discharged 
on account of his wounds. After his recovery he 
farmed for a year, and then longing, perchance, 
for adventure, he crossed the plains by wagon to 
Nevada, later going to Salt Lake, where he re- 
mained for some time. In 1865, Virginia City, 
Montana, became his home for a year, which he 
spent in mining. A trip from this city to Omaha, 
Nebraska, on horse back was completed in fifty- 
five days, and here he tarried for a short time, go- 
ing thence to Iowa, and later accepting a position 
as pilot on the Missouri river, which he retained 
for nine years. Coming to the state of Washing- 
ton in 1875, his first position was in the mines at 
Newcastle, east of Seattle ; this, however, was soon 
given up, and logging near Green river, substitut- 
ed. In 1876, he came ti) Mount Vernon, and here 
took up a claim six miles northwest of the city, 
spending his time for the next three years on the 
farm. A trip to British Columbia was the follow- 
ing step in the eventful life of Mr. Coriell, and 
when, after three years' residence there, he returned 
to Mount Vernon, he disposed of his property, and 
now resides with Mr. David Kimble of whose farm 
he has the entire charge. His brothers and sisters 
are : Mrs. Jane Coriell. George, now dead, Sanford, 
Sela, Louisa Reed, Mary Ann (deceased), Charlie, 
James, Isabelle Willett, Mrs. Lucretia Pascal (de- 
ceased). With such a record behind him, it is need- 
less to say that Mr. Coriell is a prominent member 
of the Grand Army, and one of whom his com- 
rades are justly proud : while his sterling character 
has won for him the respect of his man\- acquaint- 
ances. 



EDWARD DAVID KIMBLE, identified with 
the logging interests of Mount Vernon for the past 
twenty vears, is a native of Illinois, born in Spring- 
field, March 18. 1863, the son of David Everett and 
Minerva Jane (Bozarth) Kimble, a sketch of whom 
is found elsewhere in this history. His father was 
born in Fayette county, Ohio, May 5, 1838 ; his 
mother, also claiming Ohio as her birthplace, was 
born February 10, 1845. The parents are now liv- 
ing in Mount Vernon. Coming with his parents tO' 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



this city at the age of nine, Edward D. Kimble 
here spent the following nine years, leaving home 
at the age of eighteen to seek his fortune in the 
Frazier river district, British Columbia, where he 
was engaged in farming. In 1884 he took up his 
permanent residence in Mount Vernon, and there 
began the business that has claimed his attention to 
the present time. 

Mr. Kimble was married at Boundary bay, 
British Columbia, March 18, 1884, to Mary 
Martin, who died the following year, at Mount 
\'ernon. To her father, Samuel INIartin, of Indi- 
ana, belongs the distinction of having been one of 
the very first settlers in the Frazier river country 
to which he came in 1864. His home is now in 
Blaine, Washington, but he spends much of his 
time farming in British Columbia. Her brothers 
and sisters are as follows : Charles, Joseph, Wil- 
liam. Lucy, Myrtle, Isabelle and Betsy. On No- 
vember li, 1892, Mr. Kimble Was again married, 
Mary Miller this time being his bride. Her fath- 
er, a farmer of German ancestry, died in Califor- 
nia three years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Kimble have 
three children : Emma, Walter and Erwin. Mr. 
Kimble is a Democrat, but has never sought politi- 
cal prominence. He is a member of the American 
Yeoman fraternity. His wife is connected with the 
Lutheran church. Mr. Kimble, in connection with 
his logging business, owns an excellent wood saw. 
He also rents a farm upon which he resides. He 
is the second child in a family of thirteen, of whom 
the other members are : Belzora, Charles W., Clo- 
rinda, Minerva Elizabeth, Nancy B., Joseph, Ida, 
George, Zenia, Harry, Anna and Rufus. A man 
of good business ability, honorable in all his deal- 
ings with his fellowmen. of strictest integrity, and 
one who is at all times animated by a spirit of fair- 
ness and justice, Mr. Kimble holds the respect and 
confidence of all. 



GEORGE MORAN. Among the many men of 
foreign birth who have made the United States the 
home of their adoption, finding therein success and 
friends, must ever be numbered the subject of this 
sketch. Born in Ireland in 1851, the fourteenth 
child of James and Maria (O'Toole )Moran, both 
hatives of Ireland, where the father followed farm- 
ing, ]\Ir. Moran received his education in the moth- 
er country. When he had reached his majority, he 
sailed for the United States, where he settled first 
in Michigan, following the logging business there 
for three years. In May of 1876, he decided to 
visit the wonderful land that lay beyond the 
Rockies and investigate the rich resources of which 
he had read. Locating in what at that time was 
a part of Whatcom county, Washington, there re- 
maining for five years during which time ha was 
engaged in logging on the Skagit river, he came at 
length to Mount Vernon in June, 1881. Here he 
owned and operated, the Mount Vernon House for 



several years, meanwhile filing on a homestead 
claim on which he commuted at the end of two 
years, and also taking up a timber claim. Having 
disposed of his hotel, he went into the retail liquor 
business in 1890 in Mount Vernon, which line of 
trade still claims his attention. He has made Mount 
Vernon his home since 1876. 

Mr. Moran was married in Mount Vernon April 
7, 1885, to Margaret Knox, the daughter of John 
B. Knox, who came from his native land, Scotland, 
to Washington territory in 1875, where he took up 
a homestead near the site of Mount Vernon, his 
present home. He had successfully followed the 
trade of a carpenter in the land of his birth. Mrs. 
Moran was born in Arkansas in 1867, but having 
removed with her parents to Skagit county when 
quite young, she here received her education, and 
became a bride at the age of eighteen. Mr. and 
Mrs. Moran have one child, John P., born in Mount 
Vernon, March — , 1888. A boy of unusual talents, 
he is now attending the Washington State Univer- 
sity at Seattle, from which he will graduate in the 
class of 1907, at the early age of nineteen. Mr. 
Moran is a prominent member of the Democratic 
party and an enthusiastic advocate of its principles, 
to which he has been a lifelong adherent. He is 
also a member of influence in the following fra- 
ternities : Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, 
and the Concatenated Order of Hoo Hoo. 
He and his wife are members of the Cath- 
olic church. In addition to the homestead and 
timber claims already mentioned, Mr. Moran is also 
the owner of several valuable pieces of property in 
Seattle. Among the pioneers of Skagit county Mr. 
Moran has a wide acquaintance and friendship, and 
as a man of his word, who will redeem a pledge 
made or a promise given, none take precedence over 
him. Still in the prime of life, he has doubtless 
many years before him in which to enjoy the 
fruits of hjs wise management and skilful industry. 



ANDREW A. JOHNSON, a prosperous farm- 
er residing in the Beaver Marsh district, four and a 
half miles southwest of Mount Vernon, was born 
in Sweden in 1849, the son of John and Anna 
(Pear) Johnson, natives of the same country, the 
father having been engaged in farming there until 
his death. The mother now resides with her son 
in Mount Vernon. After securing his education in 
the common schools of Sweden, Mr. Johnson began 
learning the trade of carpenter and wagon maker. 
His father having died when he was a small boy, 
he was entirely dependent upon his own efforts, 
and having heard of the superior advantages of- 
fered to young men in the United States, he came 
thither at the age of twenty-one, after a brief stay 
of four months in Canada, locating first in Chi- 
cago where he arrived three days after the great 
fire. At the end of eighteen months he took up 
track laving on the railroads in Wisconsin and 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



Michigan, and later was employed in the iron mines 
of Lake Superior. In the spring of 187-1, he re- 
moved to California, where he spent a year and a 
half in the Napa valley, first on a ranch and later 
as a carpenter assisting in the construction of the 
asylum of Napa county. In San Francisco he was 
employed by the same contractor for several 
months, after which he went to Peru, South Amer- 
ica, and there fell a victim to disease and misfor- 
tune. Homeless, ill, destitute of money and even 
personal apparel, all of which had been stolen from 
him, the future seemed a blank. However, help 
came in the darkest hour from the fraternal order 
with which he was connected, the Odd Fellows, 
who kindly secured his passage back to San Fran- 
cisco, and rendered him financial assistance until 
his health was restored and he had found a business 
opening. As bridge builder for the Southern Pa- 
cific railroad, he was one of the first to open the 
work at Port Costa, going thence to Arizona as 
foreman wagon maker for the same road, and was 
later employed by them in building the road from 
Sweetwater to within a few miles of San Antonio, 
Texas. Upon its completion he went to the Mo- 
have desert with the company outfit and there fol- 
lowed his trade for six months at the end of which 
time he returned to California to assist his brother 
who was superintendent of the Nevada dock at 
Redding, California. Having visited La Conner, 
Washington, in 1883, he was so favorably impress- 
ed that a year later it became his home, and here 
for the ensuing eight years he worked at his trade 
and on his farm. Many houses and barns in this 
locality bear witness of his skill as a carpenter. Dis- 
posing of his interests in 1894, he bought his pres- 
ent farm near Mount Vernon, and has since made 
this his home. 

Mr. Johnson was married February 2, 1884, to 
Miss Berta Eliza Anderson, a native of Sweden 
who came with her sister to the United States in 
1882. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have five children: 
Anna M., Carl G., Alice (deceased), Oscar F. and 
Arthur J. He is affiliated with the Ancient Order 
of United Workmen at La Conner. Both he and 
Mrs. Johnson are members of the Lutheran church. 
Mr. Johnson is an earnest advocate of the Republi- 
can party, and has several times been elected dele- 
gate to the conventions of his party. Interested in 
educational matters, he has given to it time and at- 
tention, serving as school director in his district. 
His fine farm of eighty acres produces from three 
to four thousand pounds of oats, and from four to 
four and one-half tons of timothy, to the acre. He 
owns a good dairy, and sells the product as cream. 
He has recently built a beautiful new home, thus 
surrounding himself with the evidences of the pros- 
perity he so richly merits. He is known as a pub- 
lic spirited citizen, deserving the respect and esteem 
of his many acquaintances. 



JOHN JUNGQUIST, well known as a farmer 
and stockman, residing three miles southwest of 
Mount Vernon, was born in central Sweden in 1858, 
his father being August Jungquist, a farmer who 
came to this country in 1888 and now resides with 
his son in Mount Vernon. Hannah (Swanson) 
Jungquist, the mother, was a native of Sweden, and 
came with her husband to America, where she died 
in 1901. Attending the common schools of the 
country, and serving two seasons of fifteen days - 
each in the army, as all who pass the examinations 
are required to do, Mr. Jungquist spent the early 
years of his life. To him as to so many of his 
countrymen, the United States was a synonym for 
opportunity and success, and thus having reached 
his majority, he crossed the ocean, locating in 
Osage City, Kansas, where he worked in the coal 
mines for two years. Desiring to investigate the 
Northwest, he came to Seattle by way of San Fran- 
cisco in 1883, found employment at brick making 
under the contractors, Lewis & Ranky, with 
whom he remained till October when he filed on his 
present homestead. So densely timbered was the 
land that only here and there could glimpses of the 
sky be seen. Wagons and roads were alike un- 
known conveniences, only one man in all that sec- 
tion owning anything that might by courtesy be des- 
ignated as a wagon, and he, Frank Buck, had con- 
structed it, using wheels sawed out of logs. The 
woods were full of bears that often came to eat ber- 
ries as Mr. Jungquist toiled on clearing off the tim- 
ber. Frequently he remained in the woods for 
weeks at a time, seeing no white man except an oc- 
casional trapper making his rounds. Everything 
needed for the work was sent up the Skagit river 
and packed to its destination. 

Mr. Jungquist was married January 29, 1891, 
to Amanda Wersen, of Sweden, born February 16, 
1871. She came to this country in 1888, and her 
mother followed September 14, 1891. Mr. and ]\Irs. 
Jungquist have four children: Amile, bom Janu- 
ary 14, 1893 ; Iver, September 14, 1894 ; Gust. Feb- 
ruary 1, 1896; and Eveylene, May 27, 1901. Mr. 
Jungquist is an independent voter. His farm of one 
hundred and sixty acres, eighty of which are under 
cultivation, yielding excellent returns in oats, hay 
and stock, is a substantial proof of years of energy 
and thrift, while the esteem accorded him b\- his 
fellow-citizens bears Vitness of his sterling worth. 



JOHN AXEL LUND, a farmer and stockman 
residing six miles northwest of Mount Vernon, is a 
native of Sweden, born near Lule in 1859, the son 
of John A. and Elsie M. Anderson, both born in 
Sweden, in which country the father also died and 
the mother still makes her home. Like most of the 
boys of his country, Mr. Lund spent his early years 
in gaining a thorough knowledge of farming on his 
father's farm, after which he engaged in salmon 
fishing for several years. Longing for adventure, 




J^~i^/±^ /o^ 



'^cCC 







l^./^aJc^ 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



535 



he in company with three sailors started for Aus- 
tralia, when he had reached his majority, but by 
some strange freak of chance they landed in New 
York. Taking up the work that first presented it- 
self he followed railroading for a few months, and 
later went to Chippewa County, Wisconsin, where 
he began logging, remaining in that locality for 
eight years. In the spring of 1889 he came West; 
and after a brief stay in Seattle, proceeded to La 
Conner to visit a friend. Pleased with the country, 
he soon found a position on a farm, retaining it for 
six years, at which time he invested in his present 
farm near Mount Vernon. His industry and thrift 
are plainly apparent in the many improvements 
which he has made upon it, building new barns and 
fences in addition to a neat and commodious dwell- 
ing place. 

Mr. Lund was married January T, 1897, to Miss 
Hannah E. Carlson, who was born in Sweden in 
1871, and found a home in the United States in 1890. 
Her mother still lives in her native country, where 
her father died several years ago. Two children 
have gladdened the home of ^Ir. and Mrs. Lund, 
Alice AL, born April 31, 1898, and Ruby M., born 
April 30, 1902. Mr. Lund is a loyal supporter of 
the Republican party. He is deeply interested in 
the educational matters of the county, and in his 
position as school director favors every advance 
movement. It is hearty co-operation such as he 
gives that has made possible the vast improvement 
everywhere apparent in our common school system. 
Mr. and IMrs. Lund are members of the Lutheran 
church. Arguing from his own success as well as 
that of others, Mr. Lund believes Skagit county to 
be the very best county in the world, as far as his 
travels have afforded opportunity for him to ob- 
serve. He is giving special attention to short-horn 
cattle, which he is breeding extensively. A man 
of earnest purpose and high principles, he worthily 
holds the esteem of his acquaintances. 



JOHN L. NELSON was born in 1857, near 
Christianstad. in Sweden, a country that has given 
to the United States so many of her thrifty, indus- 
trious citizens. His parents were Nelson and Bet- 
tie (Johnson) Larson, natives of the same country 
in which they spent their entire lives, the father 
dying in 1891 and the mother nine years previous- 
ly. Having substituted for his surname the first 
name of his father. Nelson, he received his educa- 
tion in the common schools of the country, working 
meanwhile on his father's farm. Availing himself 
of the greater opportunities offered by the United 
States to young men of ambition, Mr. Nelson 
crossed the ocean in 1880, arriving in Chicago 
August 15th, when the National Republican con- 
vention which nominated Garfield for President 
was in session. That was his introduction to the 
country of whicli he is now such a loyal citizen. 
After working in a tailor shop for a year, in ]March 



of 1881 he went to Sacramento valley, California, 
where he followed farming for two years, coming 
thence to La Conner. Employed by Olif Poison 
for some time, he later, together with Mr. Alquist, 
leased a large farni on the Skagit delta which they 
operated for a year, turning it over to the owner 
at the end of that time. Having purchased the farm 
on which he now resides, situated on North Fork, 
Beaver Marsh, five and one-half miles from Mount 
Vernon, he took up his abode there in 1885. It was 
a wild, desolate country at that time with no roads 
and no bridges spanning the turbulent waters. The 
few brave pioneers who made that their home were 
dependent upon the Indians to row them over from 
La Conner and Mount Vernon in scows. Severe 
floods often endangered their lives and the property 
they had secured at the price of such arduous, toil. 
At one time while working for Mr. Poison the 
water was unusually high, flooding the house and 
rising to the level of the beds. 

Mr. Nelson was married in December, 1887, to 
Miss Hilda Emanuelson, a native of Sweden, whose 
death occurred January 11, 1900. Three children 
were born to this union, Axel, Emma and Carl A. 
Mr. Nelson is a public spirited man, interested in 
the educational advantages of the community in 
which he has been school director, and now the im- 
portant office of dike inspector. In political mat- 
ters he is a firm believer in Republican principles. 
In the Pleasant Ridge Methodist church no one 
occupies a more prominent position than Mr. Nelson, 
who is trustee, class leader and steward. Own- 
ing forty acres under cultivation, upon which he 
raises oats and hay, a stockholder in the Pleasant 
Ridge Creamery Company, he is justly considered 
one of the successful men of the county, and holds 
the good-will and esteem of all. 



JOHN BALL, pioneer farmer and stock raiser, 
residing on his extensive ranch equidistant from 
Mount \'ernon and La Conner on the famous 
Swinomish Flats, has for years been an active force 
in the progressive development of Skagit county 
and the redemption of its soil from nature's state. 
That he has wrought well since his first advent 
within the county precincts is evidenced on every 
hand. Born in Harrison, Hamilton County. Ohio, 
April 1, 1838, to the union of Samuel and Mary 
(Wyatt) Ball, he was there educated in the schools 
of his community and learned the carpenter trade, 
working at the bench with his father. The elder 
Ball, a native of England, was born in 1788, and 
followed carpentering and was married in his native 
land. Shortly after his marriage he and his wife 
came to Canada, and after a brief stay there settled 
in Hamilton County, Ohio, in 1836, where he later 
departed this life. The mother of our subject was 
bom in England in 1803, where she grew to young 
womanhood and was married, coming with her hus- 
band to America, where she reared a family of nine 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



children, of which John is the eldest living, and at 
the age of forty-three, laid down the burdens of 
a well-spent life, greatly mourned. John Ball, at 
the early age of fifteen severed his connection with 
home and boyhood scenes and started out in the 
world for himself, going first to St. Louis, Mis- 
souri. Here he engaged at his trade for several 
years, working two years on the government cus- 
tom house, then under construction. It was at this 
period, in 1859, that the great Pike's Peak excite- 
bent came up, and hither young Ball determined 
to go and seek a shorter road to fortune than prom- 
ised by means of the hammer and saw. In com- 
pany with forty other equally adventurous spirits, 
he negotiated for passage across the plains with an 
ox outfit, the terms of contract being $40 each for 
the transportation of the luggage and provisions, 
the men to walk; and the company on their part 
contracted to land them at the desired point, and 
not to turn back so long as even one of the party 
insisted on going forward. This contract they car- 
ried out even to the paying of the passage of young 
Ball and another companion to California, from 
Fort Laramie, when it was learned by returning 
prospectors that the mining bubble had" burst. At 
the Little Blue river the feed for their cattle gave 
out, and the grass not being far enough advanced 
for grazing they were compelled to lie over for a 
number of weeks, and here their party was aug- 
mented by outfits delayed for similar reasons, until 
a crowd of over one thousand people was assem- 
bled. Reaching Fort Laramie, they met the dis- 
heartening news of failure at Pike's Peak, and of 
their entire crowd only young Ball and one other 
persisted in pushing on westward, and they changed 
their objective point to California. Enroute to Fort 
Laramie they rescued two men from starvation, 
and found them subsisting on the remains of a for- 
mer companion, whose death had been determined 
upon by lot, when the last hope of rescue had left 
them. Reaching California in the fall, Mr. Ball 
engaged in mining, which he followed for three 
years, for other parties, rising rapidly from fore- 
man to sole owner of a mine. In connection with 
one mine he constructed seven miles of ditching for 
his own use at his hydraulic plant, which proved 
a failure. Prospering, however, in general, at min- 
ing, he tlicn decided to marry and settle down to 
the quiet life of the rancher, purchasing the Butter- 
fly ranch, in Plumas county, where he engaged in 
raising cattle for the mines. In May, 1873, he sold 
his ranch and came to Washington Territory, set- 
tling in Seattle, where he built a residence near 
where the court house now stands, later moving to 
Walla Walla, where they wintered. Discouraged 
with the failure of railroad building, which had 
been expected at that place, he bought a large band 
of cattle, horses and sheep in the spring and re- 
turned to Seattle, where he disposed of the best 
butcher stock, and that summer took the remainder 
to the Swinomish Flats, in Skagit county, where 



he had in the meantime purchased a half interest in 
a ranch owned by his brother-in-law, M. D. Smith 
and a Mr. McClellen. This was the first introduc- 
tion of horses in the Swinomish Flats. Here he 
resided for four years, during which period, 1876, 
he purchased the right of Sam McNutt to a claim 
and filed a preemption on it. This preemption, now 
greatly added to by purchase, constitutes the home 
ranch. Selling out his interest in the M. D. Smith 
ranch, he moved in 1879 to the James Porter ranch 
near Mount Vernon. Here he made his home until 
1885, when he built his present house on his own 
place, transferring his residence as soon as the 
building was completed, to the home ranch, which 
has since continued to be the abiding place of him- 
self and family. During all these years Mr. Ball 
was actively engaged in diking, ditching and clear- 
ing the land on his home place, making the initia- 
tory improvements which have developed the land 
into its present high state of cultivation and pro- 
ductiveness. 

The marriage of John Ball and Eleanor Mary 
Massey was celebrated November 15. 18(;4, in 
Plumas County, California. Mrs. Ball's father, 
ihomas Massey, a merchant by calling, was born 
in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, where he was 
married. Later he came to the United States, 
settled first in Iowa, then in the year 1854 crossed 
the plains to California with ox teams. He died in 
1870. Eleanor Leake Massey, the mother, also a 
native of England, is now residing at Anacortes, 
at a ripe old age, having passed safely through a 
long life filled with many unusual and strange inci- 
dents, to which she recurs with becoming pride. 
Mrs. Ball was born in England, September 30, 
1848, but upon the removal of her parents to the 
United States, crossed the plains with them at the 
age of five years, and at the early age of sixteen 
met and married Mr. Ball. She is the mother of 
four children, William M., deceased ; Thomas A., 
born March 12, 1867, residing in Skagit county ; 
Globe E. Woodburn, born November 24, 18G8, all 
three natives of California. Puget E., the fourth 
and last of the children, was born at La Conner, 
Washington, August 21, 1879, and was united in 
marriage September 20, 1905, to Elizabeth A. 
l\Iackey, daughter of Timothy and Katherine E. 
(Buckley) Mackey, the former deceased and the 
latter now residing at Bayview. Mrs. Elizabeth 
Ball was born in King County, Washington, in 
1886. 

Politically J\fr. John Ball is a staunch Repub- 
lican. That he has been a successful business man, 
is amply attested in his large land holdings of 1,083 
acres, his well kept farm, stocked with high bred 
draft and driving horses, sheep and cattle, in which 
features of farm life he is especially interested; 
while in the line of good citizenship his attainments 
are evidenced in the universal respect and esteem 
in which he is held in his community and through- 
out the county. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



EDGAR P. GORTON, a well known farmer 
and stockman residing five and one-half miles south- 
west of Mount Vernon, is a native of Scituate, 
Rhode Island, born November 24, 1852, the son 
of Nelson Gorton, who was for many years inter- 
ested in the cotton and woolen factories in that 
state, and also followed farming to some extent. 
He was a veteran of the Civil War, serving in the 
Twenty-second regiment, Connecticut Volunteers. 
His death occurred in 1900, at the age of seventy- 
two. Emila M. (Whitman) Gorton was the moth- 
er, born in Rhode Island and now living with her 
son near Mount \'ernon. His parents having 
moved to Connecticut when he was three years of 
age, Mr. Gorton received his education in the 
schools of that state, while also assisting his father 
on the farm. When the family moved later to 
Pocahontas County, Iowa, he came also, and there 
■engaged in farming for himself, having purchased 
a farm with the means he had so carefully laid 
aside year by year. At the end of eleven years, in 
1885, he came west to La Conner, locating on 
Pleasant Ridge for two years, at the end of which 
he took up a homestead near Bay View and began 
lumbering. He and his two brothers, Elmer and 
Walter, built a saw-mill three miles from Bay View, 
and operated it for a year. Selling out his interest 
in the mill to his brothers, Mr. Gorton bought his 
present place in the fall of 1903, and moved on it 
the following January. 

In Connecticut, April 7, 187.3, Mr. Gorton was 
united in marriage to Miss Prudence A. Carpenter, 
born February 12, 1851, in North Coventry, Con- 
necticut. Six children have blessed this union: 
James, the oldest, now dead ; Edith ; Emma ; 
Henry; Hazel, and Ivy. Mr. Gorton served for 
five years as deputy sheriff in Iowa. Realizing 
that much of the future greatness of our country is 
dependent upon the educational advantages afford- 
ed by the common schools, he gives this subject 
careful attention, and is one of the progressive 
members of the school board. In addition to his 
homestead of one hundred and sixty acres in Bay 
View he owns fifty acres where his home is, upon 
which he raises hay, oats and stock, and may well 
be classed as one of the prosperous citizens of this 
countv. 



JASPER GATES, a distinguished veteran of 
the Civil War, and a pioneer of pioneers in the 
Mount Vernon section of Skagit county, now re- 
siding on his farm two miles southwest of Mount 
Vernon, was born in Jefferson City, Missouri. April 
9, 1810. His father, Abel Gates, was a native of 
New Bedford, Massachusetts, born July 4, 1787. 
As lieutenant of the Fifth Rifle Regiment, Com- 
pany C, he served under General Snellen in the 
war of 1812, participating in the battles of New Or- 
leans and White Plains. At the close of the war he 
engaged in farming for four years, then in the 
packing business in Missouri, in which state he later 



returned to agricultural pursuits. His death oc- 
curred November 2, 1870. The mother, Mary 

(Bums) Gates, born in Ireland, was the daughter 
of a well known soldier in the war of 1812. She 
was the mother of four children, James A., Samuel 
U.. Jasper and Acaph. After the completion of 
his education, Jasper Gates was for several years 
associated with his father in the work of the farm, 
owning one-half interest in it. Loyally responding 
to the call of his country in 1862, he enlisted in 
Company C, Twenty-Seventh Alissouri Infantry, 
and like his father before him, he was soon in tlie 
thickest of the fight. He received an honorable 
discharge in Saint Louis, in June, 1865, having been 
promoted from the rank of private to color ser- 
geant. He was actively engaged in the following 
battles : Vicksburg, Grand Gulf, Jackson, Corinth, 
Pea Ridge, Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain, Mis- 
sionary Ridge and Chickamauga, and was also one 
of those who made the famous March to the Sea, 
under Sherman. At Resaca, Georgia, he received 
a severe wound that disabled him for some time. 
Taking up his residence in Adair county at the close 
of the war, he remained there until he came to 
Skagit county, in 1870, where he took up as a home- 
stead the quarter section of land where Mount Ver- 
non is located, and where he lived for twenty-one 
years. He moved on his present property in 1891. 
Mr. and Mrs. Gates have seen frontier life in all 
of its phases, and have undergone many hardships 
which will never be recorded. 

_ Mr. Gates was married in 1860 to Clarinda 
Kimble, the daughter of Aaron and Nancy (Snod- 
grass) Kimble. Her father, a native of New Jer- 
sey, was a stonemason and bricklayer. He died 
in 1846. Her mother, a Virginian, born in 1812, 
died in Mount Vernon in 1886. Mrs. Gates has the 
following brothers and sisters: Vina (deceased), 
Joseph, John Aaron, Newton, Mary Catharine and 
Airs. Martha Clifton. Mr. and Mrs. Gates have 
eight children : Newton J., Mrs. Matilda Hartson, 
Mrs. Mary Beacon and Mrs. Martha Jane Parker, 
of Mount Vernon; Otto and William, at home; 
Mrs. Clarinda Cowell, living two miles south of 
Mount Vernon, and Cleon Emmett. Mr. Gates is a 
prominent Republican; was sheriff from 1876 to 
1880, and United States marshal from 1880 to 1884. 
He is an honored member of the Grand Army of 
the Republic. The family attend the Methodist 
church of which Mrs. Gates is an active member. 
Reaping fair returns from his business undertak- 
ings, Mr. Gates now owns fifty-three acres of im- 
proved land, worth one hundred and fifty dollars, 
together with one hundred and fifteen acres of tim- 
ber land in Missouri. Identified with the interests 
of Mount Vernon for so many years, Mr. Gates has 
a wide circle of friends and acquaintances who ac- 
cord him the highest respect, and among the early 
settlers he is accorded the distinction of being the 
"Father of Mount \''ernon," and a pioneer par ex- 
cellence. 



538 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



CHARLES C. HANSEN. Few agriculturists 
of Skagit county have attained a larger measure 
of success than he whose name initiates this biog- 
raphy. Born in Denmark, November 10, 1852, he 
is the son of Hans and Annie Sophia (Carlsen) 
Larsen, also natives of Denmark. The father was 
born September 12, 1818, and is still living in the 
land of his birth. The mother, born July 2, 1820, 
died in September, 1876. She has two other sons, 
Lors Peter, and Fred V. Hansen. When a child 
of six and one-half years, Charles C. Hansen began 
the active duties of life, herding cattle and sheep 
and tending the geese on a neighbor's farm. He 
was away most of the summers, but spent the win- 
ters at home till he was fourteen years of age, when 
he began farming. In 18T4 he decided to come to 
the United States as so many of his countrymen 
had done. Landing in New York he crossed the 
continent, locating in California on a ranch. At the 
end of a year and a half he purchased a wood ranch, 
working on it for six months, at which time he 
found his health was failing. He went at once to 
San Francisco, and upon his recovery, spent the 
following three years nursing the sick in a hos- 
pital. In 18?9 he came to Mount Vernon, going 
into partnership with his brothers on a farm. Three 
years later he invested in his present property, situ- 
ated three miles south of Mount Vernon, since mak- 
ing it his place of residence. 

Mr. Hansen and Mrs. Mahila (Stage) Wash- 
burn were iinited in marriage March 10, 1882. 
Mrs. Hansen was born in New York state in 1846 
and was first married there. Her husband died in 
Skagit county July 12, 1880. Two children have 
been born to this union, Cora Sophia and Birdie 
H. Mr. Hansen is a loyal Republican, willing to 
advance the interests of his party by every honor- 
able means. Both he and his wife are members of 
the Baptist church, contributing liberally to its sup- 
port, and taking an active part in all its work. Mr. 
Hansen is past grand in the Odd Fellows fraternity, 
which has honored him by selecting him to fill the 
leading offices of the order. He is also a prominent 
Yeoman. Possessed of the thrift and industry so 
characteristic of the Danish people, Mr. Hansen 
has been blessed with a large measure of the pros- 
perity he so richly deserves. He owns eighty acres 
of land, fifty-one of which are in a fine state of cul- 
tivation, worth at least one hundred and fifty dol- 
lars per acre. The beautiful eight-room house, 
erected at a cost of sixteen hundred dollars, bears 
evidence of his taste, and is an ornament to any 
community. He has a fine barn and out buildings. 
He devotes a large share of attention to dairying, 
now milking fourteen cows, realizing from them a 
substantial yearly income. The sterling qualities 
which have insured his business success, have at the 
same time given him the confidence and respect of 
his fellow men, thus rendering him a man of influ- 
ence in the community. 



PETER EGTVET. To the Scandanavian 
Americans Skagit county is especially deeply in- 
debted not only for the pioneer work they have 
done in reclaiming its rich marsh and forest lands 
and converting them into one of the finest, prettiest 
farming regions in the country, but for the pres- 
ent day part they are taking in its progress. So 
it is with pleasure and a fitting sense of justice 
that we accord a biographical sketch of one of their 
foremost leaders a place in this history. 

Wisconsin is the state of his nativity and April 
25, 1851, the date of his birth. From far across 
the seas, in the year 18-40, Peter A. Egtvet, the 
father, emigrated from Norway, where he was born 
in 1798, to the Wisconsin frontier. There with the 
energy and persistence so characteristic of his race, 
he soon leveled a forest into a substantial farm and 
later acquired wealth and influence in agricultural 
and stock pursuits. Ingeri (Selge) Egtvet was also 
a native of Norway, born in 1811, and there lived 
until she accompanied her husband and family to 
America. Her death occurred in 1893. Six chil- 
dren came of this marriage : Amon P. ( deceased ) , 
Sever, Loui, Mrs. Anna Lee, Peter and Charles. 
To Peter came the lot of the usual farmer's son, 
hard work on the place in every department of la- 
bor, an education in the common schools of the dis- 
trict and the opportunities that come to most young 
men in similar positions. From the age of fifteen 
young Egtvet devoted himself most assiduously to 
mastering every detail of farming and stock rais- 
ing, sometliing that he did not regret in later years 
when he came to farm for himself. At the age of 
twenty-three he left the old home to seek his for- 
tune in the far West, going first to California, 
where he was engaged in various pursuits for a 
year and a half. Then, his attention having been 
strongly drawn to Puget sound, the y<)ung man 
came north to the newly opened Skagit river valley 
to the development of which he was to give at least 
the succeeding thirty years of his life. Securing a 
claim near the mouth of the great river, the hardy 
settler began the work of clearing and diking and 
otherwise improving his farm. Those were days of 
hardship and discouragement, when freshets were 
haunting nightmares, and often the labor of months 
if not years was swept away in a single night. In 
1883 he sold this farm and purchased the tract of 
land five miles south of Mount Vernon upon which 
he still resides. In common with most pioneers, 
Mr. Egtvet devoted a portion of his earliest years 
in Skagit to the logging industry, which furnished 
quick cash returns. 

His marriage took place March 15, 1885, Miss 
Anna, a daughter of John P. and Charlotte (Erick- 
son) Shamstrom, becoming the bride. Mr. Sham- 
strom was a native of Sweden, born in 1815, and 
he lived in the old country until 1851. At that time 
he emigrated, settling in Iowa, where he success- 
fully engaged in farming until his death, January 
1, 1900. His place consisted of 180 acres of very 




MR. AND MRS. PETER EGTVET AND THEIR HOME, SOUTH OF MOUNT VERNON 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



541 



valuable land. The mother, who was born in 
Sweden, died in Iowa in 1860. Mrs. Egtvet was 
born in Iowa, January 6, ISd'i. and spent the first 
twenty years of her life in that state. Then she 
came west to Seattle and made her home with a sis- 
ter, Mrs. Nelson Chilberg, at whose house she was 
married. She has two other sisters living, Mrs. 
Carrie G. Smith in Seattle and Mrs. Allie V. Gray 
in Colorado; one, Mary J. Burnell, is dead. The 
brothers are John A. and Perry G. Mr. Sham- 
strom was married a second time, his bride being 
Mrs. Gustava Burke, who was born in Sweden, 
August 8, 1841. To this union Delia M., Etta L. 
and twin boys, Isaac and Jacob, were born. Mr. and 
Mrs. Egtvet have been blessed with three children, 
the eldest being Clifford, aged nineteen ; Ashley W., 
aged sixteen, and Kirby, aged eleven. The Egtvet 
dwelling is one of the finest in the Skagit country 
and is pervaded by an atmosphere of refinement and 
progress that gives it additional charm. The fam- 
ily are attendants of the Lutheran church. Mr. 
Egtvet is affiliated with the A. O. U. W. and in po- 
litical affairs is not only a member of the Repub- 
lican party, but an aggressive and an influential 
one. 

His farm of two hundred and forty acres is 
one of the largest and best improved in the Skagit 
basin, only twenty-five acres not being under culti- 
vation. Cattle and horses in plenty, including a 
picked dairy heard of milch cows, stock the place, 
while an average yield of crops is 100 bushels of 
oats or four tons of timothy hay to the acre. These 
facts alone testify to the skill which the owner of 
the farm possesses and to his business acumen. Fur- 
ther, he is also the owner of a quarter section of 
valuable Illinois bottom land and other interests 
of various kinds. Known throughout the north- 
western portion of the state as a man of unques- 
tioned integrity and strong business ability, one who 
has accumulated wealth and attained position by 
his own unaided efiforts, he represents the type of 
manhood upon which are dependent the stability and 
growth of our country. 



OLE GUNDERSON. one of the most prosper- 
ous and energetic farmers of Skagit county, claims 
Norway as the land of his birth. His father, Gund- 
mun Tostenson, born in Norway, May 14, 1814, 
came to this country in 1800, finding a home in 
Goodhue County, Minnesota. In the spring of 1867 
he moved to South Dakota, being one of the pio- 
neers of that state, in which he spent the remainder 
of his life, dying there in 1883. The mother, Jo- 
hanna (Peterson) Tostenson, was born in 1814, and 
lived in her native country, Norway, till her mar- 
riage. Her death occurred in South Dakota in 
1897. She was the mother of the following sons 
and daughters: Tosten, Peter, Ole, John Martin, 
Mrs. Mali Olson (deceased), and Mrs. Martha 
Rekdahl. Born July 22, 1852, Ole Gunderson spent 



the first thirteen years of his life in the land of his 
nativity, attending the common schools in which he 
received the rudiments of an education. Immigrat- 
ing with his parents to the United States, in 1866, 
he assumed the responsibilities of life early, assist- 
ing his father in the support of the family, and at 
his death providing for his mother during her life- 
time. At the age of twenty-one he took up a home- 
stead, remaining in South Dakota till the death of 
his mother, after which he came to Skagit county 
in 1897, and purchased his present ranch of one 
hundred and fifty acres, paying sixty-five dollars 
per acre. 

Mr. Gunderson and Annie Maria Johnson were 
joined in marriage, May 28, 1880. Mrs. Gunder- 
son's parents are Jens and Helen (Trouseth) Ny- 
troe, both of Norwegian birth, who celebrated their 
golden wedding in 1902. Her father, born in Nor- 
way, came to America on the same vessel that 
brought Mr. Gunderson, locating in Minnesota, and 
later in South Dakota near Sioux Falls, where he 
still lives, owning a two hundred and forty acre 
farm. Mrs. Gunderson was born in Norway in 
1846, and has been a resident of the United States 
since she was six years of age, her parents having 
crossed the ocean at that time. Mrs. Gunderson 
has five brothers and sisters: Jens, Bess, Nelse, 
Sarah and Mary. Twelve children have been born 
to Mr. and Mrs. Gunderson : Josephine, Gertie, 
Belva, James G., Joseph H., Bennie, Nicholi, Oscar, 
Ida, Selma, Loui and Lilian. The son Joseph was 
injured in a runaway November 8, 1905, and died 
the following day. Mr. Gunderson loyally supports 
the Republican party, and during his residence in 
North Dakota held numerous offices. He is deeply 
interested in the educational affairs of the com- 
munity, now serving on the school board. He and 
his family are active members of the Norwegian 
Evangelical Lutheran church. Mr. Gunderson's 
thorough understanding of farming, combined with 
his untiring energy and splendid management, has 
placed him in the front rank of successful farmers 
in the Northwest. He now owns his fine one hun- 
dred and fifty acre farm, worth at the lowest figure 
two hundred dollars per acre, besides eighty acres 
of pasture land. He has large dairy interests, and 
also devotes much attention to stock raising. One 
of the substantial farmer citizens of Mount Vernon 
district, he has contributed his full share to the 
growth and prosperity of the community which is 
pleased to claim him as a resident, and has estab- 
lished a name for integrity and progressiveness 
equaled by few. 



OLE N. LEE, a well known farmer and dairy- 
man residing four and one-half miles south of 
Mount Vernon, was born in Norway, May 8, 1831. 
His father was Nelse Johnson Lee, a thrifty and 
industrious farmer in his native land, Norway, born 
in 1797. His death occurred there in 1878. His 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



mother, Ingeborg (Sonsvold) Lee, born in Norway 
in 1798, died in 1880, after a long life devotion to 
her family. She was the mother of nine children, 
John, Ingebor, Lars, Ole, Christopher, Nelse, EU- 
ing, Mickel and Joseph. Like most young men of 
his country, Ole N. Lee spent his early life on the 
farm, acquiring his education in the common 
schools of Norway. At the age of twenty-five he 
decided to seek an opening in the country to which 
many of his countrymen had immigrated. Locating 
in Wisconsin in 185G, he remained there for three 
years, removing thence to California in 1859 to seek 
his fortune in the mines. Seventeen years later he 
came to Skagit county, purchasing his present farm 
in July, 1876. 

Mr. Lee was married March 23, 187-1, to Anna 
Egtvet, born January 17, 1848, the daughter of 
Peter A. and Ingeri (Selge) Egtvet, both natives 
of Norway. Her father, born in 1798, came to the 
United States in 1846, his death occurring in Wis- 
consin. Her mother was born in 1811 and died in 
1893. Mrs. Lee received her education in the com- 
mon schools of her native state, Wisconsin, where 
she lived with her parents until her marriage. The 
other children in the family are: Amund P. (de- 
ceased). Sever, Lars, Peter and Charlie. Three 
children have blessed the home of Mr. and Mrs. 
Lee: Nellie L P., Peter A. and Oscar E. Mr. Lee 
is an earnest supporter of the Republican party, but 
has never cared to become a politician. He and his 
family are identified with the Lutheran church. 
Mr. Lee's well directed energies and tireless indus- 
try have crowned him with prosperity. He now 
owns two hundred and forty acres of bottom land, 
one hundred and sixty of which are cleared and 
Vi'orth two hundred dollars per acre. His principal 
products are oats and hay. His dairy interests are 
extensive and make large demands upon his time. 
A resident of Skagit county for nearly thirty years, 
Mr. Lee has witnessed its remarkable growth, en- 
joying, meanwhile, the confidence and respect of 
his fellow citizens, who realize that he has contrib- 
uted materially to the general prosperity. 



SWAN CARLSON, a capable and energetic 
young farmer residing four and one-half miles 
south of Mount Vernon, was born in the southern 
part of Sweden, September 2, 1870. His father, 
Magnus Carlson, who now lives with him, was born 
October 23, 1834, and remained in his native coun- 
try, Sweden, until 1891, when he came to the Unit- 
ed States, locating in Kansas; later he settled in 
Washington. Cecilia (Nelson) Carlson, the mother, 
was born November 18, 1836, coming with her hus- 
band to this country in 1891, where she now lives 
with her son. Diligently applying himself to his 
studies. Swan Carlson completed his education at 
the age of fourteen, beginning then the active work 
of life on the neighboring farms. Sailing for the 
United States before his eighteenth birthday, he 



landed in New York, thence going to Nebraska. 
At the end of three years spent in -the employ of 
farmers, he went to Seattle, in 1892, working on a 
steamboat for a year, following which he moved to 
Roy, Washington. In 1893 he came to the Skagit 
delta, making this his home for five years, or until 
the high water forced him to seek a new home. 
He moved onto his present farm in 1900. Mr. 
Carlson's brothers and sisters are: Charlie 
M., Edward, Mrs. Hannah Leaf, Otto and 
Mrs. Lena Moores. Two brothers, Nelse and 
Peter, and a sister, Mrs. Betsy Johnson, are de- 
ceased. Mr. Carlson adheres to the Republican 
party, though he has never taken an active part in 
political matters. He is a worthy member of the 
American Order of United Workmen. The 
Lutheran church claims him as a liberal supporter. 
Mr. Carlson is farming on an extensive scale, rent- 
ing one hundred and sixty acres of bottom land 
which he works in connection with his own farm of 
thirteen acres. A man of tireless industry, he is 
very successful in his undertakings, owning a large 
number of cattle, horses and hogs. His principal 
crop is oats, of which he seldom fails to have an 
unusually heavy yield. A young man of excellent 
habits, ambitious and energetic, of a genial tem- 
perament, he is deservedly popular among his ac- 
quaintances. 



RICHARD GARLAND, a dairy farmer living 
four miles south of Mount Vernon, was born in 
Canada in October, 1847. His father, John Gar- 
land, was born in Ireland, but emigrated to Canada 
with his parents when a lad. He served a term as 
sherifl^ of his home county and about 1850 moved 
to Michigan and farmed until his death in 1862. As 
an earnest of his patriotism for his adopted coun- 
try, Mr. Garland enlisted in the Union army, but 
was never mustered into service. Mrs. Mary 
(Kelly) Garland was also a native of Ireland. She 
lived with her parents until marriage and died in 
Michigan in 1886, the mother of nine children, all 
now dead, except William John, Charles, Samuel, 
Thomas, Robert, Frank and Richard. Until seven- 
teen years of age Richard Garland attended school. 
Then for eight years he helped his father on the 
home farm, coming to the Pacific Northwest in 1875 
and locating on the Skagit river. He followed log- 
ging for twelve years, though in 1879 he bought 
eighty acres of land and added thirty-one more in 
1881. Mr. Garland has lived on the river ever since 
coming to Skagit county. 

In July, 1886, Mr. Garland married Miss Anna 
Knight of Skagit City. Her father was Andrew 
Knight, born in the early days of the development 
of Indiana. His death occurred in Iowa in 1866, 
after a useful life as an agriculturist. Mrs. Gar- 
land's mother, Melinda (Neely) Knight, is a native 
of Ohio. She is still living at Interbay, Washing- 
ton, making her home with her daughter, Mrs. May 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



543 



Getts. Mrs. Garland was born in 1856, attending 
school until seventeen years old and living with her 
parents until married at the age of twenty-nine. Mr. 
and Mrs. Garland have had seven children, James 
Arthur being dead. The living are : Elmer Curtis, 
Warner Samuel, Mary Etta, Laura Ellen, Clarence 
Richard and George Emil. Mr. Garland is in poli- 
tics an independent Democrat ; fraternally he is 
a Mason, being past junior warden, A. F. & A. M. 
Mr. Garland's farming is of general character, ex- 
cept that he makes a specialty of raising roan Dur- 
ham cattle, his herd now numbering forty head. He 
has been uniformly successful and as one of the 
pioneers of his county is recognized as one of the 
solid men of the communitv. 



THOMAS GOOD had some very unusual ex- 
periences while getting settled in Skagit county, but 
he mastered them and is now owner of one of the 
successful stock and dairy farms in the western 
part of the county, his place lying seven miles south 
of Mount Vernon and three miles northwest of Fir. 
Mr. Good is a native of New Brunswick, and was 
born in 1848, the son of William and Rebecca 
(Eddy) Good, both of whom came from Ireland 
when children and passed their mature years in 
New Brunswick. Until twenty-one years of age 
Thomas Good attended school and worked, his chief 
employment during the last few years of this period 
being at loading vessels in the harbor. In 1869 he 
went to Oconto county, Wisconsin, and engaged 
in logging. He later developed a contract business 
in loading lumber. In August, 1891, he came to 
Skagit county and bought his present place, though 
he did not take up his residence there, passing the 
first seven years at farming leased land. The farm 
at that time was in no condition for cultivation, 
there being no road up Dry slough and no dikes. 
In clearing his land, Mr. Good has made use of 
explosives, as well as cables and teams. One of 
his unpleasant experiences came in the spring of 
1894, when he was living on leased land across the 
slough from his present home. For six weeks he 
was compelled to wade in water up to his arm-pits 
to get to the barn to feed his stock, and he had to 
bring hay a mile and a half in a canoe from the 
Olof Poison place. This was a necessity in order 
to preserve his stock. At times his cattle would 
travel out on top of the dike to browse on the tops 
of the partly submerged bushes growing on its 
sides. On his own place Mr. Good has proved to 
be so successful in diking that he was selected as 
a member of the dike commission, and was serv- 
ing in this capacity when the land was secured 
along the Skagit river from Fir to Skagit City for 
the present dike, in the construction of which he 
took an active part. His district lies between 
the Skagit and Dry slough, some twelve miles in 
length. 

In 1868, before leaving New Brunswick, Mr. 



Good married Miss Hannah Good, a native of New 
Brunswick and daughter of Robert and Margaret 
(Simons) Good. Edward and Jonathan Good, 
brothers of the younger Mrs. Good, are pioneers 
of Skagit county and live in the vicinity of Fir. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Good have been born fourteen 
children, seven of whom have died. The living are: 
Adalecia, William T., Ethel May Gates, Arthur Al- 
len, Edward John, Ella Maud and Etta Elizabeth. 
Mr. Good has forty acres of his land under culti- 
vation, and a great change has been made in the 
property since he first commenced operations in dik- 
ing and clearing. In politics he is a Republican, 
participating actively in all conventions and public 
meetings. In fraternal circles he is a member of 
the Ancient Order of United Workmen. While 
nature presented serious obstacles to Mr. Good in 
his efiforts to establish himself on his farm, he has 
persevered until he has successfully reclaimed his 
land from forest and flood, and is now in a fair 
way to reap the benefit of his years of struggle and 
economy by the enjoyment of a substantial home 
and a competency in the declining years of himself 
and worthy wife. 



FRANK BARTL is one of the old time re- 
spected citizens of Skagit county. He was born in 
Bavaria in February of 1843, but came to the Unit- 
ed States with his parents when a lad. His father, 
Francis Bartl, born August 15, 1815, came to this 
country in 1853 and settled in Wisconsin. After 
three years in the Badger state, he removed to Mis- 
souri and passed eighteen years in farming. He 
came to Skagit county in the early seventies, dying 
soon after establishing himself here. Mrs. Mary 
(Weir) Bartl is a native of Austria. She is still 
living near Mount Vernon. Frank Bertl, ten years 
after his arrival in the United States entered the 
federal army as a member of Company B, Thirty- 
ninth Missouri Infantry. He was honorably dis- 
charged and mustered out in July, 1865. He came 
to Skagit county with his parents and worked on 
the farm with his father and mother until 1889, 
when he purchased his present farm a half mile 
south of Mount Vernon, which is chiefly devoted to 
fruit growing. While yet living in Missouri Mr. 
Bartl married Miss Elizabeth Tauvel, a native of that 
state. Mrs. Bartl did not live long after marriage 
and died in 1872, leaving two children, Mrs. Mary 
Gibson and Eliza Bartl, the latter of whom is dead. 
Mr. Bartl has never remarried and is sustained in 
his advancing years by a granddaughter. He is a 
Republican in politics and a member of the Grand 
Army of the Republic. In church affiliation he is 
a Catholic. Mr. Bartl's worldly possessions consist 
of three acres of excellent fruit land which he oper- 
ates himself. He is a genial gentleman, taking a 
delight in his fruit trees and his granddaughter. 
He is highly respected in the community as an up- 
right and conscientious man. 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



LEANDER PALM is one of the prosperous 
and financially successful dairy farmers of the 
Skagit valley, his ranch of forty-five acres, three 
and a half miles south of Mount Vernon, being 
appraised at $200 per acre. It is all cleared and 
constitutes one of the attractive properties of the 
county. Mr. Palm was born in Finland in 18C0, 
the son of Matthew and Sophia (Hill) Palm; the 
former died October 22, 1894, and the latter in 
1883 ; they were likewise natives of Finland, and 
passed their entire lives on the farm in the old coun- 
try. Leander made his home with his parents until 
he was fourteen years old and then hired out to 
neighboring farmers. His nineteenth and twentieth 
years he passed in the city, and when twenty-one 
years of age left Finland for America. In 1881 
he was in Elmira, New York, for several months, 
and then went to work in the woods of Michigan. 
He remained there for two years and a half, when 
he came to Washington and the Skagit valley. The 
first twelve years of his life in this state he passed 
as a farm hand, working for established pioneers 
in the valley. He settled on his present place in 
1894 and has remained there ever since, improving 
the farm land and bringing it to its present state 
of perfection. 

September 29, 1893, in Seattle, Leander Palm 
married Miss Sophia Jacobson. Miss Jacobson was 
born in Finland, July 14, 1866, the daughter of 
Jacob and Brita (Anderson) Jacobson. Jacob 
Jacobson was born October 8, 1831. Brita Ander- 
son was born February 20, 1834, and in 1853, at the 
age of nineteen, was married to Mr. Jacobson. Mr. 
and iMrs. Jacobson never left their native country, 
Finland. Mrs. Jacobson died March 27, 189.5 ; she 
was the mother of twelve children, ten of whom 
are living : their names follow : Johana, John, 
Andrew. Mary, Matts, Sophia (Mrs. Palm), Greta, 
Lucy, Simon and Jacob. Mrs. Palm's father still 
lives in Finland. Mrs. Palm left home when eight- 
een years old and for seven years worked out, in 
Finland. In 1891 she came to the Pacific North- 
west country, having brothers in Seattle, and passed 
two years in that city. She then married ]\Ir. Palm 
and, removing with him to Skagit county, has since 
lived near Mount Vernon. Mr. and Mrs. Palm 
have one child, Roy Axel. Mr. Palm is a Repub- 
lican in political affiliation and a member of the 
Lutheran church. In addition to his splendid or- 
chard, he has considerable live stock, chief in im- 
portance being a herd of twenty-one cattle, mostly 
milch cows. 



nuson, who died in the old country in 1872, the 
mother of seven children, of whom only one, Lena, 
is dead, the others being Christina, Louise, Sophia, 
Hannah, John M. and Charles G. At the early age 
of six years Charles left home to work for rela- 
tives, in whose employ he continued for eight years. 
He then went farther from home and worked for 
various Swedish farmers until 1885, when he came 
to the United States. Going direct to Kansas he 
farmed there four years ; then came to the Pacific 
coast, spending the first two years in Oregon. From 
Oregon he removed to Skagit county, of which he 
is still a resident. The land holdings of Mr. West- 
lund, situated three and a half miles south of Mount 
Vernon, consist of twenty acres of rich bottom land, 
which he operates as a dairy and hay farm, and 
on which he has a fine and profitable herd of dairy 
cows. 

Mrs. Westlund was formerly Miss Adla Eng- 
stron, daughter of Erick and Mary K. Engstron, 
natives of Sweden. The mother is dead ; the father 
still lives in his native country. Mrs. Westlund 
was born in Sweden in 1867 ; after receiving her 
education in the common schools of that country 
she came to America in 1900, going direct to Bal- 
lard, King county, where she made her home. She 
was married to Mr. Westlund in the fall of 1905. 
She has two brothers and one sister in this section 
of Washington : ]\Irs. Laura Anderson, John Eng- 
stron. of the Skagit vallev, and Gust Engstron, of 
Ballard. 

Charles G. Westlund is essentially a self-made 
man, a hard worker and one who has little taste 
for the lighter sides of life. He is a much respected 
citizen and a man of influence in his home com- 
munity. 



CHARLES G. WESTLUND was born in 
Sweden October 1, 1866, and came to the valley 
of the Skagit in 1890 ; he has lived here since that 
date. His father was John M. Westlund, who was 
born in Sweden in 1818. Coming to the United 
States when sixty years of age, he settled in Kansas 
and died there in 1893. His wife was Annie Mag- 



ALFRED JOHNSON was born in the central 
part of Sweden in May of 1862, the son of Johannes 
Anderson, a successful farmer, who retired a few 
years ago to spend the remaining days of a long 
life at Forshaga, Sweden, where he still lives. The 
mother, Mrs. Lisa Eleanora (Anderson) Johnson, 
was likewise of Swedish birth ; she died in her 
native land in 1882, the mother of four children, 
Alfred, Herman, Edwin and Miss Ida Johnson. Al- 
fred attended the Swedish schools until fifteen years 
of age, and for the following six years worked 
on his father's farm. Upon the death of the moth- 
er, the home farm was rented by Alfred, who ran 
it for five years, when he came to the United States, 
leaving his family in Sweden until he should send 
for them. In 1888 he located in Mendocino, Cali- 
fornia, working as a laborer until 1890, when he 
reached Tacoma. A year was passed there, during 
which time he sent for his family. He then came 
to Skagit county and worked at clearing land until 
in 1893 he bought and moved on his present place 
three and a half miles south of Mount Vernon, 
where he has since lived. 




■WILLIAM GAGE 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



While living in Sweden in 1883 Mr. Johnson 
married Miss Augaista Peterson, daughter of Peter 
John Erickson, who remained in the old country 
until he joined his son-in-law on the Skagit in the 
spring of 1905. Mrs. Johnson was born in the old 
country in 1856 and attended school until twelve 
years of age, marrying fifteen years later. Of this 
union are the following issue: Hannah Elizabeth, 
born in April, 1884; Simon Peter, April, 1886; 
Isaac Emmanuel, April, 1888 ; twin boys , Elmer 
Henrv and Albert, February, 1892 ; Clarence, May, 
1894; Carl Oscar, July, 1897, and Ester E., July 
1900. Mr. Johnson lost his first wife in Skagit 
county in July, 1903. He returned to Sweden in 
the fall of 1904. where he met a former schoolmate, 
Elizabeth Olson, daughter of John and Kiza (An- 
derson) Olson, who returned with him to the Uni- 
ted States, where they were united in marriage 
February 21, 1905. Mrs. Johnson was born in 
Sweden in 1862 and on the death of her mother 
was cared for by friends until she was fifteen years 
old. She then supported herself by laundering and 
cared for her father until his death, keeping up the 
old home until her marriage. Mr. Johnson is a 
Republican and with his family attends the Baptist 
church. His farm of seventy acres, forty of which 
are cleared, is devoted to dairying and cattle rais- 
ing, the herd including eighteen milch cows and 
ten head of stock cattle. That Mr. Johnson takes 
an active part in the affairs of his comnnmity is 
evidenced by his having served four terms as road 
supervisor, one term as director of the school dis- 
trict and one as supervisor of ditches. It has been 
only by hard work that he has placed himself in 
the position of honor and esteem in which he is 
held by his neighbors, but that sacrifice has been 
well repaid. 



WILLIAM GAGE. Even in the Pacific North- 
west, where there are hundreds of men who have 
had more than the allotted average of adventure 
and strife before success and quiet came, William 
Gage stands out as a man who has been through 
all the roughness of life in pioneer days and now, 
in the evening of life, looks serenely on his past 
and congratulates himself on his attainments in the 
face of hardship and endeavor. Mr. Gage came of 
stock which has always given sturdiness and forti- 
tude. His life embraces the span which lies between 
the birth of a farm lad near Montreal and the mel- 
low days of realization of things accomplished 
where experience of others counted for little. Born 
near Montreal, Quebec, on September 15. 1842, Mr. 
Gage inherited the traits which made the Irish- 
Canadian immigrants of that day a marked race. 
His father, George Gage, born of Scotch-Irish par- 
ents, was a farmer until he cast his fortunes with 
those of the Western World and settled in the early 
part of the last century in the valley of the St. Law- 
rence. His closing days were spent with his son 



in Skagit county, where he died in 1873. The 
mother of William Gage, Agnes (Eaton) Gage, 
also a native of Ireland, accompanied her husband 
to the coast country. She also died in Skagit coun- 
ty. William, the seventh of her ten children, left 
his Canadian home at the age of seventeen, having 
received whatever of schooling he was destined to 
receive before he left the parental roof. His first 
stop was in British Columbia where he engaged in 
mining ventures. The year 1863 found him in Cali- 
fornia, still hunting fortune in the mining camp, 
but one winter there sufficed, for in 1864 he was 
back in liritish Columbia at the mines of the Cari- 
boo district. Two years of wavering fortune fol- 
lowed, after which he decided to come to the States, 
settling on Whidby island in 1867. Three years 
later he took up as a preemption the land where he 
has since made his home. The establishment of 
that home ,was accompanied by all the labor and 
self denial common to the men who would wring 
from the huge forest a place for cabin and crops. 
The trees were large, the stumps hard to uproot, 
but at last perseverance won the day, converting the 
tract into the fine farmstead now to be seen where 
William Gage first swung an axe thirty-five years 
ago. Instead of the big pines, firs and spruces, 
one sees one hundred and twenty acres of cleared 
land, including fifteen acres of hop yard, two acres 
of orchard and other acres devoted to farming in 
general. William Gage has made his home on that 
land near Mount Vernon. 

Mr. Gage's helpmeet, Emily E. (Whitford), 
whom he married in Skagit county, is a native of 
Alaska territory. They have one adopted son. In 
politics Mr. Gage is a Republican, in church affilia- 
tion a Baptist and in fraternal connection a Mason. 
Mr. Gage's live stock and farm proclaim him to be 
one of the prosperous agriculturists of the county, 
while his deeds entitle him to a lasting place in its 
history. 



CHARLES E. STORRS. Living on his farm 
two miles south of Mount Vernon is Charles E. 
Storrs, one of the progressive young farmers of 
Skagit county. Mr. Storrs was born in Benton 
County, Iowa, in 1872, the son of Dennis Storrs, 
one of the leading citizens now of Skagit county, 
and Mary A. (Dobson) Storrs. Young Storrs has 
spent nearly his whole life in Skagit county, re- 
ceiving his education there. At fourteen years of 
age he commenced independent experience in life 
by working in the woods. However, he made his 
home with his parents until twenty-five years of 
age. In 1895 he purchased his present place, where 
since marriage he has made his home. Aside from 
his pasture land, on which he grazes his flocks of 
sheep, and a sufficient acreage for fodder, he has 
seven and one-half acres of hops and two acres of 
excellent orchard. His home is a six-room modern 
house, one of the most attractive places in the vicin- 



548 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



ity of Mount Vernon. At one time Mr. Storrs 
spent several months in eastern Washington, but 
returned to the famihar scenes of Skagit after one 
season's absence. 

Mr. Storrs was married at Mount Vernon on 
January 2, 1898, to Miss Lottie Morley, one of 
Skagit county's estimable young women. Mrs. 
Storrs is the daughter of Albert J. Morley, one 
of those sturdy pioneers who crossed the plains in 
the early days of the influx to California. 
He still resides in California. Mrs. Storrs' 
mother was Miss Etta Payne. She is a 
resident now of Mount Vernon. Mrs. Storrs was 
born in California in 1877 and received her educa- 
tion in that state and in Washington. She learned 
the dressmaking business and pursued that avoca- 
tion until her marriage at the age of twenty. Of 
this union there are two children, Carl E. and Rollo, 
both born at Mount Vernon. Mr. Storrs is a Demo- 
crat and has been honored by the members of his 
party with nomination for. office, but his Repub- 
lican opponents have outnumbered him at the polls. 
In 1903-4 he served as county game warden. He 
is a member of the Knights of Pythias. Mr. Storrs 
has recently taken up the subject of raising sheep 
for the market and for the wool, and has a well 
selected flock. The Storrs place is a modern farm 
and with its convenient buildings and improved 
farm implements constitutes one of the most invit- 
ing farmsteads of the Puget sound country. 



MARSH MILLER furnishes an illustration of 
what may be accomplished in these United States of 
America by a man of foreign birth, if he have 
energy and application, and the home of Mr. Miller, 
southwest of Mount Vernon indicates in a temporal 
way the sureness with which he directed his energy. 
Air. Miller is a native of Denmark, born on April 
25, 1857. Anders Miller was his father, but Marsh" 
was left without fatherly guidance at the age of six 
months. His widowed mother still lives in Den- 
mark. She was Mattie M. Christenson. Marsh 
Miller received his education in the Danish schools 
until he was fourteen years of age, leaving school 
at that time to come to America in 1873. For 
three years he worked by the month in Pennsyl- 
vania, but the Centennial year found him in Kan- 
sas working as a farm hand. He worked in the 
coal mines at Osage City for three years and then 
spent four years at farming. In 1883 Mr. Miller 
came to the territory of Washington, stopping for 
eight or nine months in Seattle, after which he took 
up a ranch in Kitsap county. Eighteen months of 
life on this preemption had been passed when he 
decided to abandon his rights and go to Skagit 
county. That was in 1885. For three years Mr. 
Miller lived on Pleasant Ridge, leasing his place. 
Early in September, 1888, Mr. Miller decided to 
own a farm. He purchased his present farm of 110 
acres of which at that time but five acres had been 



cleared. He now has 75 acres cleared and he uti- 
lizes the remainder of his place as woodland pastur- 
age for his herd of forty-five cattle. In 1898 Mr. 
Miller, falling a victim to the mining fever which 
raged in Washington at that time, spent a year in 
the Alaska gold fields. On his return in 1899 he 
again took up the work of developing his farm and 
has since lived there. 

During his stay in Kansas Mr. Miller met and 
married Miss Christine Anderson, daughter of Au- 
gust Anderson, a native of Sweden. Mr. Ander- 
son removed to Washington in 1888 and is now a 
resident of Skagit county. Mrs. Miller's mother 
was Hannah Anderson, now deceased, a native of 
Sweden. Mr. and Mrs. Miller were married at 
Osage in 1881. Mrs. Miller was born in Sweden 
and educated in the schools of tier native land. Five 
children have been born to this union: Frank, Es- 
ther, Mary, Herbert and Hazel, all born in Skagit 
county and all living there at the present writing. 
In his political associations Mr. Miller is a Socialist. 
He is a member of the Ancient Order of LTnited 
Workmen and of the Methodist church. The sub- 
ject of this sketch by his thrift, his integrity and his 
earnestness has won for himself a place high in the 
esteem of the community. His life work is an in- 
dex of the possibilities in store for the foreign born 
lad in this country of the Western continent. 



JOHN C. NELSON, born in Sweden, March 
27, 1862, came to America with his parents in 1870, 
and has been a resident of Skagit county for the 
past twenty-one years. Swan J. Nelson, the father 
of the subject of this sketch, settled as a Swedish 
immigrant in Iowa, entering the employ of the rail- 
roads, in which he continued until his death in 
1882. Mrs. Nelson was also a native of Sweden, 
her maiden name having been Christine Norby. She 
was the mother of four children of whom John C. 
is the youngest. He was educated in the schools 
of Iowa and after the death of his father continued 
to live at home until he reached the age of twenty- 
one. Then he took up railroad work, as his father 
before him had done, but after spending two years 
thus went back to the farm, remaining there until 
he left Iowa in 1884 for La Conner. There, with 
his brother Charles, he leased the well known 
Leamer place and operated it four years. The 
brothers then associated themselves in the purchase 
of a quarter section of undeveloped land which they 
improved and worked during the succeeding four- 
teen years. In addition to their former holdings, 
they added by purchase in 1892 the James Dunlap 
place upon which John C. Nelson now resides. The 
long, successful partnership of the brothers came to 
a close in 1902, by the terms of which dissolution 
the younger brother received a tract of 100 acres, 
including the house in which he has made his home 
since 1892, his portion consisting entirely of cleared 
and improved land. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Mr. Nelson was married in 1895 to Mrs. Ida 
Dalquist, the ceremony taking place in Skagit coun- 
ty. Her father was Farth Norby, a Swedish farm- 
er, who followed that occupation in the old coun- 
try, where also the daughter was born in 1864, and 
educated. She married Mr. Dalquist in Seattle, 
and to this union came one daughter. Alma. Mr. 
and Mrs. Nelson have one child, Harold, born in 
Skagit county, July 25, 1900. Mr. Nelson is a 
member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen 
and the Woodmen of the World, is affiliated with 
the Lutheran church, and in politics is an active 
Democrat. He is a member of the school board of 
his district, taking as deep an interest in education- 
al affairs, as he takes in public affairs generally. 
As a farmer, he ranks among the most successful 
in the Swinomish country, which is recognized as 
one of richest spots on the American continent and 
one of the world's leaders in oat production. A 
feature of this farm is a select herd of Durham 
cattle, which, while numbering less than fifty, is 
looked upon as one of the finest herds in the north- 
west by breeders of that stock. Almost needless 
to say it is a source of great pride and delight to 
its owner. 

The Skagit Valley recognizes in Mr. Nelson 
one of its foremost Swedish-Americans — successful 
farmer, public-spirited citizen, a man who has won 
his position of influence strictly upon his merits. 



WILLIAM HAYTON, though less than thirty 
years of age, is one of the pioneers of Skagit coun- 
ty and one of the successful farmers of the south- 
western part of the county. He was born near Fir 
in 1878, the son of Thomas and Sarah (Sanders) 
Hayton, who settled in Skagit county in 1876. The 
elder Hayton is a Kentuckian by birth, who in early 
life went to Missouri. In the Centennial year he 
crossed the plains to Washington, consuming seven 
months on the trip, and bought a farm near Fir 
on which he has made his home ever since, spending 
the winter of 1904-5 in California. Mrs. Hayton 
was a Virginian. She died in Skagit county in 
1896. William Hayton received his education at 
Fir and remained at home and in the employment 
of various farmers until when twenty years of age 
he went to California for a year. The year 1900 
found him in Seattle, employed by the Spokane 
Grain Company, where he learned the feed busi- 
ness. Six months were spent at Fir and the old 
home, when he returned to Seattle and engaged 
in the feed business on his own account. On dis- 
posing of this venture he returned to Skagit county 
and in the fall of 1902 leased his present farm and 
has made his home on it ever since, meeting with 
excellent success in the vicinity of his birthplace. 

In 1901 at Fir Mr. Hayton married Miss Emma 
Pryor, the ceremony taking place on Christmas day. 
Mrs. Hayton's father was a native of Vermont, a 
stone mason by trade, who went to Dakota and 



died there in 1898. Mrs. Pryor was Hannah Heis- 
ler. a native of St. Paul, Minnesota, who came to 
Washington with her daughter when the latter was 
but seven years old. Mrs. Hayton has been edu- 
cated in the schools of Skagit county. She has one 
child, Dortha, born near Fir, in August, 1904. Mr. 
Hayton is a Republican in politics, a member of 
the Baptist church and a Yeoman. On his present 
place he has sixty head of cattle and fourteen 
horses, doing quite an extensive business in live 
stock. In addition to his interests in Skagit county, 
he owns a timber claim in Oregon. Mr. Hayton 
is a young man who enjoys the respect of the com- 
mvmity centering about Fir and has already estab- 
lished himself as a successful agriculturist and stock 
raiser. 



JOHN W. KAMB is one of the self-made men 
of Skagit county. Born in Finland in the closing 
days of our American Civil War, he is to-day one 
of the type of adopted American citizens whom the 
native born citizen is proud to greet as brother. 
John W. Kamb first say the light in April, 1865, 
and fourteen years later, his father, John E. Kamb, 
died in the old home across the Atlantic, leaving 
eight children, of which the subject of this sketch 
was second. The mother, Lena Kamb, died in her 
native Finland. John W. Kamb, after receiving his 
education in the Finnish schools, came to the United 
States at the age of twenty-one years and settled 
in the state of Michigan, where he lived for two- 
years, engaging in various lines of work. The 
spring of 1888 found him in Seattle, wide awake 
for opportunities in the country of the Puget sound. 
For a time Mr. Kamb worked at railroading in 
Snohomish county, later doing similar work at 
Olympia. Eight months in a saw-mill at Utsalada 
followed, with subsequent work as a member of a 
pile driving crew. In 1889 he was building dikes 
on La Conner flats at some seasons of the year and 
at others turning farm hand. It was during this 
period of his life that he learned the first principles 
of operating a farm, which he has so successfully 
put into practice during recent years. In the fall 
of 1894 Mr. Kamb rented a small farm and com- 
menced operations on his own account. That was 
the small beginning of his present farm of over 100 
acres of meadow, grain land and orchard, much 
of which he cleared with his own hands. Mr. Kamb 
has augmented his original purchase of eighty acres 
and now has seventy acres in timothy, thirty in oats 
and a small orchard. The oat land is marvellously 
rich in the elements which make for large crops, the 
yield on this section of the Kamb farm sometimes 
being 100 bushels to the acre. Mr. Kamb has a fine 
eight-room house. He takes pride in his farm 
buildings, the main barn being a structure 66x114 
feet in dimensions. 

In February, 1900, Mr. Kamb married Miss 
Sadie Rutter, a native of Pennsylvania, born in 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



1870. Her father, Robert Rutter, was born near 
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1847, of Welsh-English 
parentage. The early years of his life were spent 
in his native state and in 1878 he removed to Kan- 
sas, taking up a homestead on the plains. Eleven 
years were passed in Kansas and in 1889 Mr. Rut- 
ter came to Washington and settled at Bay View, 
Skagit county, where he has lived ever since. Mrs. 
Rutter was also a native of the Keystone state, her 
parents being of German and English descent. She 
was the mother of seven children, two of whom are 
still living. She died in Kansas in 1889. Mrs. 
John W. Kamb was educated in Kansas and came 
to this state with her father in 1889, marrying when 
thirty years of age. Of the union there are two 
children, both born in Skagit county, Oscar F., born 
in April, 1902, and Leona, born in March, 1905. 
Mr. Kamb is a Lutheran in religious faith. As a 
farmer, he is a firm believer in the advantages of 
stock raising on a small farm, and is an enthusiast 
on the subject of fine cattle and horses. He is at 
present making a specialty of Durham cattle and 
heavy draft horses. Essentially a self-made man, 
Mr. Kamb, who had little of the world's goods to 
start with, has become one of the prosperous and 
respected citizens of Skagit county, of which 
achievement he may justly feel proud. 



BENJAMIN F. SNOWDEN came to the 
Skagit valley in 1890 and is now one of the well- 
to-do small farmers of the county. His farm of 
twenty acres of good land is two and a half miles 
west of Mount Vernon. Mr. Snowden is a native 
of Missouri, born in Andrew county in 1863. His 
father, John Snowden, was the son of an Indiana 
farmer who moved to Missouri in 1840, where he 
is still living. Mary (Carson) Snowden, the 
mother of Benjamin F., was a native of Missouri 
also, a cousin of the famous scout of the plains. 
Kit Carson. Benjamin Snowden spent his youth 
on the farm, alternately gaining an education in 
the Missouri public schools and helping his father. 
On attaining his majority, he rented a neighbor's 
farm and operated it for' five years, at the end of 
which time, having married, he removed to Colo- 
rado and engaged in farming for two years. In 
1889, his attention having been called to the rapid- 
ly growing commonwealth of Washington, he came 
to this state, and after spending a year in Seattle, 
decided to settle in the county of Skagit. There 
he rented the farm of Mr. Brewster, the post- 
master at La Conner, and operated it successfully 
four seasons. Mr. Snowden purchased ten acres 
of land in 1893 and cleared it. Later he bought 
ten more acres, and these holdings, well stocked 
with horses, cattle and hogs, now constitute the 
Snowden farmstead in the Skagit valley. 

Mr. Snowden was married in Andrew County, 
Missouri, to Miss Mary Stout, daughter of Wil- 
liam Stout, son of one of the early settlers of the 



state. Mr. Stout owns the farm on which he was 
born. Mary (Stout) Snowden was born in Mis- 
souri on New Year's day, 1870, and received her 
education in the schools of her native state. Her 
marriage took place when she was eighteen years of 
age. She is the mother of five children, Charles, 
Daisy, Edith, James and Theodore R., ail of whom 
were born in the Skagit valley, except Charles, who 
was born while his parents were residents of the 
Centennial state. In politics Mr. Snowden is a 
Republican. The Snowden farm is one of the 
thriftiest places in the Skagit valley and affords an 
excellent illustration of what energy and economy 
will accomplish in the course of a comparatively 
few years. 



NELS POLSON. Few families have been as 
prominent in developing the northwestern part of 
the state or are as well known in the current life 
of this section to-day as the family which bears the 
name standing at the beginning of this chronicle. 
As pioneers upon the famed tide lands at the mouth 
of the Skagit river, the Poisons were among the 
very first ; as farmers they have operated upon an 
extensive scale with marked success, and in the 
mercantile world they have attained a high posi- 
tion, especially as hardware dealers. 

The founder of this family, Olof Poison, emi- 
grated to the United States from his native land, 
Sweden, in 1869, taking up his residence first in 
Illinois. His wife, Gunhild (Nelson) Poison, also 
a native of Sweden, where they were married, ac- 
companied him across the ocean. Illinois did not 
satisfy them, however, so they shortly pushed across 
the Mississippi into Iowa and there spent two years. 
Still they were not contented with the opportuni- 
ties presented, but, with that aptitude which is so 
characteristic of the race, sought the rugged fron- 
tier and found it upon the banks of the Skagit 
river. Land was taken along what is known as 
Brown's slough and here, out of the salt marsh and 
tangled thickets which covered the flats was ulti- 
mately reared one of the finest farms in the state. 
What this remarkable farm has cost in labor, money, 
hardship, and heartaches cannot be set down in cold 
type, but it has cost much. The old folk retired 
to a less active life in La Conner in 1900, and there 
the father passed away three years later, honored 
by all who knew him. Mrs. Poison is still residing 
at La Conner. Of the eleven children, Nels is the 
third eldest; he was born July 39, 1857, in Sweden. 
In that country and in Iowa and Washington he re- 
ceived his education, coming to Skagit county when 
a lad of fourteen. Upon reaching his majority, he 
assumed the full responsibility of making his own 
living, engaging in farming. One year, that of 
1885, he spent in British Columbia, but the inter- 
vening time between 1878 and 1887 he remained in 
Skagit county. That year he entered the employ 
of his brother, who had established a hardware bus- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



iness at La Conner. A year afterwards, Nels join- 
ed his brother as a partner, the firm becoming Perry 
Poison & Brother. Again in 1889 the title was 
changed, this time to the Poison Hardware Com- 
pany, Inc., another brother, John, having entered 
the business. Albert and Robert Wilton purchased 
a block of stock in the spring of 1892, which re- 
sulted in the name again changing, this to the Pol- 
son-Wilton Hardware Company. Late the same 
year, Nels Poison sold his interest, withdrawing 
from what is now one of the leading hardware and 
implement firms on the coast, and purchased his 
present place, justly noted as among the leading 
farms in the county, though not a large one. Of 
his original quarter section he has sold forty acres, 
but the remainder he has placed in a fine state of 
cultivation. A modern dwelling was built by him 
in 1901, which has greatly added to the value and 
comfort of the farm. 

Mr. Poison's marriage to Miss Anna Luth, 
daughter of Albert and Alice (Campbell) Luth, of 
Columbus. Nebraska, was celebrated at La Conner 
Alarch 10, 1891. On her paternal side, she is of 
German descent and on the maternal of Irish lin- 
eage. The father was born in Germany October 
14, 1839, and came to this coimtry when a boy eleven 
years old, his parents first residing in New York 
state. There he was reared, subsequently married 
in Rockland county and when the outbreak of the 
Civil War came, enlisted in the army. At present 
he is engaged in agricultural pursuits in Nebraska. 
Mrs. Luth was born January 12, 1838. She was 
seventeen years old when she came to the United 
States and five years later was married. In Rock- 
land County, New York, September 14, 1868, Mrs. 
Poison was born. Her education was obtained in 
the common and high schools of Nebraska, to 
which she came when only a year and a half old. 
At sixteen she began teaching, pursuing that pro- 
fession in Nebraska for five years. In 1890 she ac- 
cepted a position in the schools of La Conner, but 
taught only until her marriage the spring following. 
The Poison home has been blessed by the advent of 
three children; all born in Skagit countv : Albert 
W., .\pril l(i, 1893: Nellie I., December 8, 1895; 
and Robert N., March 11, 1902. The family church 
is the Lutheran. Mr. Poison is one of the most 
active men in his party, the Republican, and is a 
public spirited man in every sense of the word. He 
has creditably performed the duties of director in 
his school district and has contributed not a little 
toward placing that school on the high plane it now 
occupies. Success has crowned his efforts in every 
line of activity he has engaged in, private or public, 
which, together with his sterling character and gen- 
ial traits, has justly elevated him to the position of 
influence and affluence he occupies among his fel- 
lows. 

DENNIS STORRS. Among the men whose 
names are destined to retain a permanent place in the 



history of this locality, stands Dennis Storrs, born 
in Yorkshire, England, September 8, 1845, the son 
of Charles E. Storrs, a carpenter. His father hav- 
ing died when Mr. Storrs was very young, he made 
his home with an uncle after his mother's re-mar- 
riage. At the early age of fourteen, having secur- 
ed his education in the schools of England, he en- 
tered the shops of the Great Northern railroad at 
Doncaster, where he acquired the trade of car mak- 
ing. His skill soon secured him a position in a 
private car shop, which he held until he determined 
to find an opening in America, which he did May 
4, 18T0. Locating first in Mount Vernon, Iowa, he 
removed a year later to Benton count}-, and there 
spent two years. In the fall of 18T4, he came to 
Washington, then a territory, stopping a month in 
Seattle, and later taking up his residence on Whid- 
by island, where he followed farming. The ensu- 
ing fall, he took out his citizenship papers and in 
that same year, 1875, filed on his present home near 
Mount Vernon, then a dense forest, and moved 
there in the spring of 1876. He also took up a tim- 
ber claim which he has since sold. It was here that 
he was identified with the undertaking that insured 
the memory, for generations to come, of all those 
who participated in it. Originating far back of the 
memory of the oldest Indian, perhaps as a tiny ob- 
struction that a child's hand might then have re- 
moved, there had formed in the bend of the Skagit 
river an immense log jam. Increasing year by year, 
it caused the river to overflow its west bank, and 
was thus a constant menace to the lives and prop- 
erty of those residing on that side of the river, and 
so gigantic seemed the task of removing the jam, 
upon whose surface tall trees had grown, that it had 
never been attempted. At last in 1876, a band of 
men among whom Mr. Storrs was prominently 
numbered, decided that it must be done, and began 
work at once, regardless of the discouraging proph- 
ecies heard on all sides. After three years of ardu- 
ous toil in the face of grave danger, their task was 
consummated and the river rushed unimpeded on 
its way, mutely witnessing to man's power of 
achievement. 

Mr. Storrs was married in England, November 
10, 186G, to Mary Dobson, the daughter of Joseph 
and Naoma (Hewitt) Dobson, both natives of 
England where the father was a seafaring man to 
the time of his death, and where the mother still 
resides. Mrs. Storrs, who has five brothers and 
sisters, also claims England as her birthplace, and 
there she was educated. Mr. and Mrs. Storrs have 
seven children: Arthur and Florence, born in Eng- 
land; the latter now Mrs. Fred Siegel, wife of the 
present master of the government snag boat, Skag- 
it ; Charles E., born in Iowa ; Albert E., now de- 
ceased ; George and Grace, born in Mount Vernon. 
In politics, Mr. Storrs adheres to Democratic prin- 
ciples, while fraternally he affiliates with the Odd 
Fellows, of which order he has been past grand for 
a number of years. During his residence in Mount 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



Vernon of almost thirty years, he has witnessed 
wonderful transformations. Other homesteads be- 
sides his own have responded to the magic influ- 
ence of cultivation, orchards and grain fields re- 
placing the forests. Not one, however, surpasses 
his own farm of one hundred and twenty-five acres, 
with its fine four-acre orchard, and its thorough- 
bred cattle and horses. Surrounded by all these ma- 
terial evidences of his industry and skill, he is one 
of the substantial citizens of Mount Vernon, and is 
held in highest esteem. 



J. MADISON SHIELD is one of Skagit 
county's leading citizens, whether as educator or as 
agriculturist. Turning in recent years from the 
profession of teaching, in which he was eminently 
successful, he has proved himself a man of equal 
ability as husbandman. Mr. Shield was born in 
Butler County, Pennsylvania, June 7, 1857, of 
Scotch-Irish ancestry. His father, James Shield! 
was a native of Pennsylvania and is still living in 
the Keystone state. Mr. Shield's mother, whose 
maiden name was Amanda Smith, is also a Penn- 
sylvanian by birth. Of her nine children Professor 
Shield, of this article, is the third. He early de- 
veloped the characteristics of a student and after 
preparatory courses -. in the graded and higher 
schools entered Grove City College in his native 
state, graduating with the degree of bachelor of 
science in 1883. One year of teaching in Pennsyl- 
vania followed, when he came to the Pacific coast, 
taking up his profession of teaching in eastern Ore- 
gon. At the close of his first }'ear he decided to re- 
turn to his Pennsylvania home and to resume teach- 
ing there. He remained, however, but a single 
year. In 1888 he came to the Puget sound coun- 
try, obtaining a position as principal of the La Con^ 
ner schools. Three years later the people of Skagit 
county chose him as superintendent of their school 
system, though he continued to devote a part of his 
time to teaching in La Conner. He was reelected 
county superintendent and at the close of his term 
of ofiice, being ineligible by law for a third term, 
he moved to Mount Vernon and became principal 
of the schools of that city, which position he filled 
with eminent satisfaction for five years. In the fall 
of 1899 Professor Shield was elected to the prin- 
cipalship of one of the public schools of Seattle and 
removed to that city. After a successful career of 
three years in Seattle, though reelected for another 
year, Professor Shield decided to return to Mount 
Vernon and take up agriculture. Following this de- 
termination he tendered his resignation in 1902, 
and moved to his present farm of eighty acres 
three miles west of Mount Vernon, which he had 
purchased in 1899. At that time the land was cov- 
ered with a heavy forest. It was not until 1908 
that sixty acres had been cleared and the old house 
reconstructed into a modern residence. In 1892, 
while serving as county superintendent of schools. 



Professor Shield married Miss Maggie D. Calhoun, 
daughter of Dr. George V. Calhoun of Seattle. 
Dr. Calhoun is a native of New Brunswick. He se- 
lected the profession of medicine and obtained his 
degree at the University of Glasgow, Scotland. 
For a time he practiced his profession in New 
Brunswick and then entered the service of the Unit- 
ed States during the Civil War as army surgeon. 
In 1865 Dr. Calhoun was placed in charge of the 
marine hospital at Port Angeles, a year later rec- 
ommending the removal of the institution to Port 
Townsend. Dr. Calhoun practiced his profession 
for three years in Seattle and in 1875 came to La 
Conner where he remained, a successful practition- 
er until 1896 when he returned to Seattle, where 
he still lives. Mrs. Calhoun was Miss Ellen Mein, 
born in England. She was married in Halifax, 
Nova Scotia, became a resident of the United States 
after 1863 and of Washington when her husband 
located in this state. Her death came in 1898. Mrs. 
Shields was born during the residence of her par- 
ents in Port Townsend. She attended the schools 
of Seattle and finished her education at the Annie 
Wright Seminary in Tacoma. Following her grad- 
uation from that institution of learning, she became 
a school teacher. Her marriage took place in 1892. 
Of this marriage there is one son, George Calhoun 
Shield, born at Mount Vernon on March 13, 1895. 
Professor Shield is a Republican in politics. The 
retirement of Professor Shield to his farm by no 
means completed his interest in matters educational 
or placed him out of touch with all that pertains to 
the highest culture. He has carried to his farm 
all that was best in his scholastic attainments and 
his varied experiences, whether on the Atlantic or 
the Pacific coast. With his cultured wife he is pur- 
suing the avocation of a farmer because he finds it 
congenial as well as remunerative, the days of out- 
door life mingling in excellent proportion with the 
hours devoted to study and the betterment of the 
intellectual man. The home is one of the best cul- 
ture and refinement. 



AHLERT H. EGBERS. From German lad, 
through the successive stages of man-o'-warsman 
and able seaman to a dairy farmer in the Skagit 
valley, is the life story of Ahlert H. Egbers. He 
was born in Germany early in the year 1853. His 
father, Henry Egbers, a farmer, died in 1869 when 
the subject of this sketch was but sixteen years of 
age. The mother, Gretchen (Hargen) Egbers, had 
eight children of whom Ahlert is third. Mrs. 
Egbers died in her German home twelve years ago. 
Ahlert Egbers pursued the course of studies pre- 
scribed by the German schools and remained with 
his mother after his father's death. At twenty years 
of age he enlisted in the German navy and served 
two years, eight months and five days, following 
that experience as sailor on a merchantman. Find- 
ing himself in San Francisco in 1877 he left his 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



553 



ship and made his way to Washington Territory, 
settling in Island county. For seven years he 
worked for wages and then rented a farm. In 1885 
he came to Skagit county and leased a farm for 
three years. Leases followed, of Mr. Ball's place 
on La Conner flats and of Thomas Barrett's farm, 
until in 1899, he bought his present farmstead of 
thirty acres three miles west of Mount Vernon. 
Then it was virgin forest land, now it is a well kept 
farm. 

Mr. Egbers married Miss Annie Mahler, daugh- 
ter of Gustave Mahler, who emigrated from Ger- 
many when a young man and settled in New York. 
It was in New York that Mrs. Egbers was born. 
Her mother, Annie (Snakenberg) Mahler, was a 
native of Germany, but spent her last days in 
Skagit county, dying at the home of her daughter 
in 1903. Mrs. Egbers received her education in 
the schools of New York. She came to Washing- 
ton and was married when thirty years of age. Mr. 
and Mrs. Egbers have three children, all of whorri 
were born in Skagit county: Henry P., Milton L. 
and Alice M. Mr. Egbers is a Republican in poli- 
tics and a member of the German Lutheran com- 
munion. The Egbers farm is well stocked, especial 
attention being paid to dairying. 



JERE^IIAH THOMPSON is a native of the 
north of England. He was born in the latter part 
of the year 1859, his father being Jeremiah Thomp- 
son, a farmer, and his mother Anna (Mason) 
Thompson, also of English birth. There were eight 
children, of whom the subject of this sketch was 
fifth. The elder Thompson died in England in 1887. 
Jeremiah Thompson received his education in the 
common schools of England and at the age of eight- 
een years left home for the life of a farm hand, con- 
tinuing at that occupation for three years. At the 
end of that period Mr. Thompson left England for 
Canada, reaching there in 1881. Two and a half 
years were passed in Canada then Mr. Thompson 
returned to England for one winter. Returning in 
the early spring to America he started for the Pa- 
cific coast, Tacoma being his destination. On his 
arrival he obtained employment in the Puyallup hop 
fields. Later he went to Sumner, Washington, and 
passed four months as a saw-mill hand. Captain 
R. J. Yates, who owned a farm on the White river, 
offered him employment and Mr. Thompson passed 
two years on the Yates farm, leaving there for 
Skagit county, where he bought his present farm of 
eighty acres three and a half miles west of Mount 
Vernon. At the time of purchase the place was 
covered with the heaviest of timber. Now all but 
twenty acres has been converted into a modern farm 
with thirty acres in oats and forty-two in grass, as 
well as more than an acre in orchard. 

On October 13, 1886, Mr. Thompson was mar- 
ried to Miss Lillie Leigh, daughter of William 
Leigh, a native of England, whose parents brought 



him while a boy to the state of Iowa. Later Mr. 
Leigh went to Kansas, where he passed fourteen 
years, and in 1877 the Leighs came to Washington 
and settled on the White river near Seattle. Mrs. 
Leigh, an lowan by birth, still lives in Mount Ver- 
non ; her husband died near that city in 1897. Mrs. 
Thompson was born in Washington County, Kan- 
sas, during the residence of her parents in that 
state, and was only twelve years of age when she 
came to Washington. She was married at eighteen. 
Of the six children born to Mr. and Mrs. Thomp- 
son, the eldest, Harvey J., was born in Tacoma, 
December 21, 1887 ; Mabel was born in Skagit 
county April 10, 1889 ; Ida M., born in Skagit 
county July 16, 1891 ; Violet L., born in Skagit 
county May 7, 1893 ; Philip, born in Skagit county 
April 17, 1897; and Agnes T., who died in 
infancy. Mr. Thompson is an active Republican. 
He has served his school district as director for five 
years. In addition to doing a general farming bus- 
iness Mr. Thompson gives especial attention to his 
herd of Durham cattle. The farm is well improved, 
the buildings ample and the whole composes a mon- 
ument to the thrift and hard headed conservatism 
of Mr. Thompson and his wife. 



FRED SLOSSON is an example of what will 
and pluck, supplemented by an application to work 
in hand, can do. Out of the woody wilderness of 
Puget sound he has literally carved a handsome 
competence within comparatively few years. Born 
in Pocahontas County, Iowa, in 1872, the son of a 
veteran of the Civil War, young Slosson has made 
his way since thirteen years of age. Oscar Slosson, 
his father, was a native of New York, but went to 
Ohio when eighteen years old. In 1854 he removed 
to Iowa and followed farming. In 1863 he went 
to Pennsylvania and there responding to the call of 
President Lincoln for volunteers, enlisted in the 
Eleventh Pennsylvania Cavalry and served 
throughout the war with that command. After the 
grand review and muster out, he turned his face 
once more to the plains of Iowa, where he remained 
until 1878, when he went to California. Hearing 
of the Puget sound country Mr. Slosson left Cali- 
fornia after a year's residence, came to Skagit 
county and settled on a farm near La Conner, where 
he continued until his death in 190-4. Julia (Tous- 
lee) Slosson was the mother of nine children of 
whom Fred is the seventh. Mrs. Slosson was a 
native of Ohio and died at La Conner in 1904. 
Fred Slosson received his education in the schools 
of Skagit county, but did not have the opportunity 
of pushing his studies to the extent he desired. His 
father being of infirm health, the young man was 
early called from school to the sterner duties of 
life. For the greater part of his life young Slosson 
has made a business of clearing land of the big for- 
ests, doing a contract business, in which he has 
gained an enviable reputation. When he first com- 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



menced his operations that section of Skagit county 
where he resides was a huge forest. It was during 
these years that Mr. Slosson cleared his present 
farm of sixty acres. Among the contracting enter- 
prises which he successfully carried to completion 
was the construction of four miles of the Gray's 
Harbor branch of the Northern Pacific railroad, 
which work was finished in seven months. With 
the exception of one business trip to Chicago Mr. 
Slosson has remained on the sound since he first 
reached there. 

In 1895 Mr. Slosson married Miss Ethel Tous- 
lee, daughter of Horace Touslee, a veterinary sur- 
geon of New York, who came to Tacoma in 1889 
and one year later moved to Skagit county. He 
is now making his home with Mr. and Mrs. Slos- 
son. Mrs. Slosson's mother, Sarah (Cable) Tous- 
lee, a native of Iowa, is living in Chicago, where 
she is in the millinery and dressmaking busi- 
ness. Mrs. Slosson was born in Iowa in 1877 and 
received her education at St. Paul, Minnesota. She 
was married when eighteen years of age. Mr. and 
Mrs. Slosson have an adopted daughter, Gladys, a 
native of Skagit county. In politics Mr. Slosson 
is a Republican. His farm is all in a high state of 
cultivation and includes five acres of fine orchard. 
Mr. Slosson is a lover of cattle and has seventy 
head on his place. He is contemplating raising 
cattle on a larger scale. His home is modern in 
every way, with ample buildings and every conven- 
ience, showing taste and enterprise. Few men of 
Mr. Slosson's age. starting under similar circum- 
stances, can give better evidence of their success 
from a material standpoint than is displayed on his 
well kept place, and his value as a neighbor and citi- 
zen is as fully evidenced by the respect and esteem 
in which he is held bv his fellow-citizens. 



DARLEY C. HAYWARD was born in Dires- 
ville, Iowa, in May, 1866, the son of Henry and 
Ellen Hayward. The elder Hayward was born in 
England and learned the trade of a butcher. Com- 
ing to the United States when a young man, he en- 
listed in the Union army and served until the cur- 
tain was drawn over the Lost Cause at Appomat- 
tox court house. Mr. Hayward is still living in 
Iowa. Mrs. Ellen (Tilley) Hayward was also Eng- 
lish by birth, but came to this country with her 
parents and when but sixteen years of age became 
the wife of Mr. Hayward in Iowa. She is the 
mother of seven children, of whom Darley C. is 
the second. After finishing a course in the schools 
of Iowa young Hayward for a time cast in his for- 
tunes in the meat business with his father, but in 
1886, when twenty years old, he left home and 
went to Kansas. After one year on the plains he 
came to Washington and obtained employment on 
the farm of Hyman Scheurkogle in Skagit county, 
with whom he remained but a few months. A year 
was then passed in working in various places, when 



Mr. Hayward returned to his first employer. This 
time he remained with Mr. Scheurkogle for three 
years and married his employer's daughter. 

In August, 1893, the ceremony uniting Darley 
C. Hayward and Miss Mary E. Scheurkogle was 
performed. In a short time Mr. Hayward purchas- 
ed twenty acres of the land of Mr. Scheurkogle and 
went to work to clear it for cultivation. The big 
trees have disappeared and in their place is a mod- 
est farm in excellent cultivation, with orchard and 
dwelling house. Hyman Scheurkogle was born in 
Holland, but at an early age crossed the Atlantic 
and settled on a farm in Iowa. In the early sev- 
enties he came to Washington and purchased the 
land on which he has ever since lived. His wife 
was Sarah Slosson, a native of Iowa. Their 
daughter, Mary (Scheurkogle) Hayward, was born 
in Iowa August 9, 1879, but came to Washington 
with her parents when three years old. Her educa- 
tion was gained in this state. Mr. and Mrs. Hay- 
ward are the parents of three children, all of whom 
were born in their present home: Minnie M., Fred 
H. and Bertha E. Mr. Hayward is a Republican 
in politics and is affiliated with the Methodist 
church, though not an active communicant. The 
Haywards are very pleasantly situated, with an at- 
tractive home, a farm well stocked and every proba- 
bility for still greater success than that already 
gained by them. 



JOHN EDWARD CARLSON'S career in 
Skagit county marks him as a typical young Swed- 
ish-American citizen. Born in Sweden in 186-i, he 
remained on his father's farm in the old country 
until, at the age of twenty-five, he decided that 
America beckoned him to fortune. Carl Carlson, 
his father, followed the son to the United States in 
1890 and is now spending the evening of his life 
with the son. Johanna (Johnson) Carlson, the 
mother, died in Skagit county in 1903. John E. 
obtained his education in the Swedish schools and 
remained on the farm of his parents until he came 
to this country in 1888. For seven years after he 
arrived in Skagit county he was in the employ of 
J. O. Rudene as a farm hand, but in 1895 bought 
his present farm of eighty acres, a little over three 
miles west of Alount Vernon. At that time the 
land was not all cleared, but it is now entirely un- 
der cultivation, half in grass and a number of acres 
in garden produce. A fine seven-room house and a 
good barn constitute the chief building improve- 
ments. 

In 1896 Mr. Carlson married Miss Ella Larson, 
daughter of Ever Larson, a Swedish farmer who 
emigrated to the United States when a young man 
and settled in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he work- 
ed as a machinist in the railroad shops. Mr. Larson 
came to Washington in 1888 and now resides on 
Pleasant Ridge in Skagit county. Mrs. Larson was 
also a native of Sweden. She died at the Pleasant 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Ridge home in 1903. Mrs. Carlson was born in 
Sweden in 1863, but came to this country when very 
young, receiving her education in the schools ot 
Minnesota. She married at the age of thirty-three 
and is the mother of Lloyd A. and Louis E. Carl- 
son, both of whom were born in Skagit county. Mr. 
Carlson is a Republican in politics, a member of the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen and a commun- 
icant of the Methodist church. His eighty-acre 
farm is in good state of cultivation and is yielding 
excellent returns in both crops and livestock. 



NELS ELDE is one of the young Swedish- 
American citizens of Skagit county who are fast 
making a reputation for thrift and shrewdness in 
handling a farm. Born in Sweden in 18G5, he left 
the old home at the age of twenty-one years to seek 
his fortune in America. His father, who likewise 
bore the name of Nels Elde, was a farmer in Swed- 
en. His mother, Eliza (Magnussen) Elde, passed 
her whole life in Sweden and her remains are bur- 
ied there. She was the mother of eight children, of 
whom Nels is the youngest. On his arrival in the 
United States Nels Elde came at once to Washing- 
ton, and in Skagit county entered the employ of 
his brother Charles, continuing with him for the 
period of six years. In 1S93 he made a trip to his 
native land and remained there one year. Four 
years later he bought his farm of thirty-eight acres, 
about four miles west of Mount \'ernon and resides 
there now. When he first placed foot on this land 
there were only seven acres cleared, the remainder 
of his purchase consisting of brush and timber. 
These have all been removed and in their place are 
acres of good plow land of more than ordinary fer- 
tility, potatoes yielding as high as thirty-five sacks 
to the acre. It was not until a year after his pur- 
chase that Mr. Elde moved on his place, the inter- 
vening time being given over to removing brush 
and getting the land in shape for cultivation. 

In 1896 Mr. Elde married Christina Jensen, 
daughter of Mrs. Boel (Pearson) Jensen, now liv- 
ing in Skagit county. ]\Irs. Elde was born Septem- 
ber 27, 1873. She was educated in the old country 
and. crossed the Atlantic when nineteen years of 
age. Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Elde, Ruth, Lizzie. Hildur. Ruby and Mildred. Mr. 
Elde attends the Mission church. He is a member 
of the Woodmen of the World and in politics a 
Democrat. With fertile and well tilled soil, 
abundance of livestock, commodious buildings and 
pleasant and convenient home conditions, the Elde 
family may well be counted among the highly fav- 
ored of an unusually prosperous community. 



HON. JAMES POWER, of La Conner, Wash- 
ington, is a pioneer of this section of the state, hav- 
ing come to Puget sound in 1873. He located at 
Whatcom and established the Bellingham Bay Mail, 



the only paper then published north of Seattle. In 
1879 he removed to La Conner and continued the 
publication of the paper under the title of the Puget 
Sound Mail, by which name it is still known, the 
present publishers being Messrs. Carter & Carlson. 
Mr. Power is a native of Ireland, but grew to man- 
hood in Columbus, Ohio, where he served an ap- 
prenticeship at the printing business. Just previous 
to coming West he worked three years in the gov- 
ernment printing office at Washington, D. C. Mr. 
Power had two brothers, Edward and Frank, in the 
Third Ohio Union Infantry, while his father served 
in the Confederate army, in the Tenth Tennessee, 
one of the instances where father and son contended 
with each other in the Civil War. 

Mr. Power has always been Republican in poli- 
tics, and has always taken an active interest in pub- 
lic affairs, having served the public with credit and 
distinction in various positions, such as inspector of 
customs. United States commissioner, member of 
the territorial board of regents, member of the leg- 
islature, his last public service being as one of the 
framers of the state constitution. In the legislature 
of 1883, with the able assistance of his colleague, 
Hon. Orrin Kincaid, now deceased, he procured the 
division of Whatcom county and the division of 
the county of Skagit. These counties are now two 
of the most prosperous in the state although at that 
time the division met with considerable opposition 
from citizens of the old county. 

Mr. Power refers with satisfaction to his spe- 
cial work in the constitutional convention of 1889, — 
the passage of the provision confirming patent title 
to tide, swamp and overflowed lands, previously 
taken up by bona fide settlers. Owing to a mooted 
constitutional question as to whether or not the 
general government should have reserved such 
lands from settlement, as a heritage for the future 
state, as such lands had previously been granted to 
other states, it was deemed important to enter a 
formal disclaimer in the constitution. This most 
reasonable proposition to quiet the settler's title 
was met by strenuous opposition from the delegates 
from eastern Washington, led by Judge Turner, 
who very speciously argued throughout the pro- 
tracted debates that if the state had any interest in 
these lands it should not be relinquished, while if it 
had no such interest, a disclaimer was unnecessary ; 
in any event ne argued that the matter should go 
over for future legislative action. But Mr. Power 
and other advocates of the provision insisted on 
settling the question then and there, for all time, 
and in this contention thev were eventually success- 
ful. 

"Judge" Power, as he is popularly known, is 
now living in retirement on his hop ranch near La 
Conner, Washington. 



SAMUEL DUNLAP, though in point of age 
one of the younger leading men of the Skagit val- 



556 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



ley, is nevertheless a pioneer of that section of the 
Puget sound country. He was born November 22, 
1870, in the state of California, the son of Isaac 
Dunlap, a Pennsylvania farmer who later moved to 
Iowa. In the latter state he noted the tide of mi- 
gration to California and joined it, traveling there 
by mule team. In 1877 he came to Skagit county 
and purchased a place on Pleasant Ridge ; he still 
lives in the county. Mrs. Susan (Maxwell) Dun- 
lap, mother of our subject, was born in Iowa and 
married to Mr. Dunlap during his residence in that 
state. She is still living, the mother of seven chil- 
dren, of whom Samuel Dunlap is the sixth. The 
son, though born in California, is in reality a prod- 
uct of Skagit county, obtaining his education here 
and growing to manhood in the Skagit valley. Two 
years were passed by him in educational pursuits in 
the academy at Coupeville when, at the age of 
twenty years, he went to work for a brother. Two 
years as employe were followed by four years of 
farming on land rented of his brother. At the close 
of this period our subject bought forty acres of 
heavily timbered land which he cleared, and a little 
later added the forty-acre tract known as the Wells 
place, upon which he moved in 1899. This holding 
of eighty acres of as good farm land as lies in Ska- 
git county produces principally oats of which the 
yield is invariably large. 

Mr. Dunlap married Mrs. Hattie Williams at La 
Conner in 1894. Her father, Richard Ball, a pio- 
neer of Skagit county whose biography appears in 
this history, came to Washington and settled on the 
La Conner flats in the Centennial year. Mrs. Dun- 
lap's father has served as mayor of La Conner for 
four years. Amanda (Horney) Ball, mother of 
Mrs. Dunlap, is a native of Nashville, Tennessee, 
born in 1847. She still lives in La Conner. Mrs. 
Samuel Dunlap was born near Cincinnati, Ohio, on 
New Year's day, 1867, in the same house which saw 
the birth of her father. She received her educa- 
tion in the Skagit county schools and after pursu- 
ing a course of study in the Portland high school, 
began teaching in Skagit county when seven- 
teen years of age ; continuing to teach in the schools 
here for a total of nine years. When twenty years 
of age she became the wife of Dr. A. C. Williams, 
whose death occurred two years later, after which 
she resumed teaching. The Dunlap home is one of 
the pleasant places in the Skagit valley and its host 
and hostess are respected by all. The farm is well 
kept and with a goodly number of horses and cattle 
constitutes one of the solid properties in the county. 
Mr. Dunlap is a member of the Woodmen of the 
World. In politics he is an ardent Republican. 



AXEL W. AXELSON. Prominent among the 
hardy Norsemen who have won enviable success in 
the industrial development of Skagit county is the 
worthy citizen and successful farmer whose name 
initiates this article. Born in Sweden in the year 



1861, he passed there the first twenty-six years of 
his life, and his father, Axel W. Magnusson, and 
mother, whose maiden name was Sophia Nygren, 
are still residents of that far-away northern land. 
In 1887 he arrived in the state of Iowa, where he 
lived three years, coming at the end of that time to 
Mount Vernon, Washington. His first employment 
in Skagit county was clearing land, then for three 
years he worked for R. E. Whitney, building dikes, 
but in the fall of 1893 he went to Seattle, where for 
some time he was employed in different brick yards 
and by the railroad company. Returning at length 
to Whitney island, near La Conner, he spent a half 
decade there in the business of raising cabbage on 
a five-acre garden tract. The ensuing three years 
were spent in general farming first on Samish flats 
and then on the Beaver Marsh, then three years more 
were spent in farming on Whitney island. In 1901 
he purchased his present place in the vicinity of 
Mount Vernon, known formerly as the Lindsay 
farm, and to its cultivation and improvement he has 
ever since devoted himself zealously, making a fine 
farm and a comfortable home. Every acre is in 
condition to yield a crop. A convenient, moderate- 
ly large house adds materially to the value of the 
farm and the comfort of living on it, while a nice 
little orchard supplies fruit of all varieties for fam- 
ily use. Realizing the value of stock on a farm, 
Mr. Axelson keeps a goodly number of both cattle 
and horses. 

In Skagit county in March, 1895, our subject 
married Sarah, daughter of James and Eliza (Brad- 
ley) Williamson. Her father is a native of Scot- 
land, but at the early age of eight years came with 
his mother to the LTnited States, settling ultimately 
in Dungeness, Washington. Though deprived of 
educational advantages in his youth, he has, by his 
native shrewdness and application, accomplished 
more than many more favored men, and to-day he 
is one of the most highly respected citizens of La 
Conner, of which he is a pioneer, having helped to 
dike in the land upon which the town or a portion 
of it stands. Mrs. Axelson's mother was a native 
of Missouri, but was brought by parents to this 
state when only three years old, and passed here al- 
most her entire life. She died in December. 1903. 
Mrs. Axelson was born on La Conner flats May 17, 
1877, but was educated in the public schools of Port 
Townsend, where her family lived for ten years, 
during which time her father was a custom house 
official under Bradshaw. The children of Mr. and 
Mrs. Axelson are Anna, Helen, Herman and Kath- 
erine, all born in Skagit county. Our subject is a 
member of the Methodist church, and in fraternal 
affiliation an Odd Fellow, but he acknowledges no 
allegiance to any political party, preferring to de- 
termine for himself without bias to whom his sup- 
port should be given. He is one of the most sub- 
stantial men in the county, and in the past few 
years especially has been one of the most success- 
ful in his line of business. He belongs to that class 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



of Europeans who are always welcome to the land 
of the free because they employ both brain and 
brawn in pushing forward the industrial and social 
progress of whatever community they may choose 
as a place of abode. 



HARRIS B. PECK, one of the most popular 
and successful men of the Skagit valley, was born in 
New Brunswick in 1846, the son of a farmer, Elias 
Peck, who in his early years had followed the sea 
for a livelihood. He was a native of New Bruns- 
wick and died there in 1875. The elder Mrs. Peck, 
whose maiden name was Rachel Calhoun, came of a 
well known New Brunswick family. Her death 
occurred in 1865, when Harris was nineteen years 
old. Receiving his education in the schools of New 
Brunswick, Harris B. remained at home until he 
was twent\--one years of age ; then he began his in- 
dependent career. He first went to Massachusetts 
in 1867, remaining there a year and a half, after 
which he returned home to care for his father in the 
declining days of his eventful life. In 1877 Mr. 
Peck left the rugged shores of the Bay of Fundy 
for the balmier climate and superior advantages of 
Puget sound. Soon after his arrival he took up 
forty acres of railroad land to which he soon added 
a homestead. Then followed a period of buying 
and selling land, during which he materially in- 
creased his holdings. In 1890 he disposed of a 
part of his land and invested in a furniture store in 
La Conner, which he directed for two years, after- 
ward returning to his farm, then reduced to one 
hundred and twenty acres, sixty-five of which were 
cleared. He later acquired forty acres adjoining, 
of which thirty-five were cleared, and in 1903 he 
added yet another forty acre tract. While Mr. 
Peck's land is adapted to general farming, he is 
partial to growing grass for hay, and only seven- 
eighths of his land is now under the plow. 

Before leaving New Brunswick Mr. Peck mar- 
ried Miss Susan West. After ten years of wedded 
life Mrs. Peck died in Washington leaving five 
children. Mr. Peck remained a widower seven 
years, in 1892 marrying Miss Hattie Crandall at 
La Conner. She is a daughter of John Crandall, 
who was at one time numbered among the pros- 
perous farmers of New Brunswick, but is now de- 
ceased as is also his worthy helpmeet. Mrs. Peck 
herself is a native of New Brunswick, and in that 
province was reared and educated, receiving an un- 
usually broad literary training. She taught there 
for a number of years, then removed to Boston, and 
in 1892 came to this state. Mr. and Mrs. Peck have 
no children, but four of the progeny of the first 
union are living, namely, Mrs. Edna Reay, resid- 
ing near Mount Vernon ; George, of Bellingham ; 
Floyd, who' operates the home farm, and Mrs. 
Susan Cole, also of Bellingham. Mr. Peck is recog- 
nized as one of the grand old men of the Skagit 
country and one of its most prosperous and sub- 



stantial citizens, an exemplar of the sturdy quali- 
ties which make for the best in any American com- 
munity. He is a member of the Grange and of the 
Baptist church, and in politics is a Republican, but 
not specially active. 



CHARLES ELDE is one of the oldest and best 
known of the Swedish-American settlers of the 
Skagit valley. He was born in Sweden in 1857 on 
the farm which had been kept in the family since 
the year 1640. His father was Nels Carlson, who 
died many years ago on the famous old Swedish 
family homestead. Mr. Elde's. mother was Lisa 
Magnusson. She also died in her native land, the 
mother of eight children, of whom Charles is the 
fifth. After passing through the Swedish schools, 
Charles Elde remained on the historic farm of his 
forefathers until twenty-three years of age. In 
1881 he left Sweden and soon after rea.ching this 
country went to Colorado and followed mining for 
a year and a half. On Christmas day in 1882 he 
reached Seattle, traveling by boat from San Fran- 
cisco, reaching there by overland train. Mr. Elde 
remained in Seattle but a short time, going thence 
to La Conner where he was engaged at farm work 
with Dr. Calhoun, a year later renting from that 
gentleman 240 acres on the Sullivan slough. For 
ten years he conducted farming operations on this 
place and at the close of the term purchased from 
Dr. Calhoun the 160 acres five miles southwest of 
Mount Vernon on which he has ever since made his 
residence. The land at that time was all under 
cultivation, but it was without house or farm build- 
ings. This is as rich land as Skagit county boasts 
and of it Mr. Elde has made one of the best pro- 
ducing farms in the Pacific Northwest. 

Mr. Elde was married in 1898 to Miss Nora 
Anderson of Seattle, the ceremony taking place in 
Victoria, British Columbia. Mrs. Elde's father was 
Andrew Carlson and her mother Sophia Bengt- 
son, both of whom passed their lives in Sweden, 
where Mrs. Elde was born in 1868 and where she 
received her education. Four children have been 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Elde, all of them on the farm 
in Skagit countv : Thyra, born in 1898 Dagny M., 
born in 1900 ; C. Tage'. born in 1901, and Signe E., 
born in 1903. Mr. Elde is an active Democrat in 
his political alliance. He attends the Mission 
church, which is a branch of the Lutheran denomi- 
nation. He is a Mason, a past grand in the Odd 
Fellows' fraternity and a member of the Woodmen 
of the World, the Elde place is one of the most 
attractive farmsteads in the county, as well as one 
of the very best in point of cultivation and pro- 
ductiveness. 



FRED P. CHELLMAN is one of the colony 
of Swedish born American citizens who have turned 
the Skagit forest into smiling farms and out of the 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



change have created fortunes for themselves and 
their famihes. Mr. CheUman was born in Sweden 
October S, 1852, the son of Peter and Marie Peter- 
son, being fifth in the circle of ten children. Mr. 
and Mrs. Peterson remained in their native land 
until death some )-ears ago. Mr. Chellman re- 
mained on the home farm until he was past thirty 
years of age, coming to America in 1881. He re- 
mained one summer in Colorado and then came to 
Washington, his first employment being in a saw- 
mill at Port Blakeley. The following winter he 
passed at a logging camp on the Skagit, and it was 
during this engagement that he selected a part of 
the heavily timbered forest for his future home. In 
the summer of 1883 he made a filing on the land, 
which included some marsh land as well as timber. 
With his own hands he has cleared the land of its 
trees and has diked and drained the low places. Of 
that original 160 acres eighty are now in grass and 
a second eighty in oats, the yield of both crops be- 
ing heavy. At a later time l\Ir. Chellman added by 
purchase eighty acres of cleared land to the west of 
his original place, three miles south and one mile 
west of Mount Vernon. He has made his home 
here since 1883. 

In 1887 Mr. Chellman married Miss Annie L. 
Benson, who had come to Washington that year 
from her home in Sweden. She was nineteen years 
of age and had received her education in the old 
country. Two children have been born to this 
imion, Alma C, and Anna V. Aside from grow- 
ing grasses and grains, Mr. Chellman has turned 
his attention with success to the raising of Dur- 
ham cattle and has developed a well selected herd. 
In politics he places little faith in party platforms 
and party pledges, but considers the candidate and 
casts his ballot for the individual whom he believes 
to be the best qualified for a given office. The fam- 
ily attends the Methodist church. As pioneer, citi- 
zen and successful farmer and stock raiser, Mr. 
Chellman ranks well to the front ; while as a busi- 
ness man his present holdings in rich farm lands, 
stock, etc., with his substantial home, fully attest 
his executive ability. 



AXEL ANDERSON, well known as a pros- 
perous farmer, living three and one-half miles 
southwest of Mount Vernon, is a native of central 
Sweden, born July 29, 1869. His father, Anders 
Carlson, a farmer born in Sweden in 1828, was a 
man of influence, whose excellent education fitted 
him to fill with honor the various offices he held 
to the time of his death in 1875. Sophia (Bangt- 
son) Carlson, also of Swedish birth, was the mother. 
She died in her native land in 1897. Making the 
best use of the educational opportunities afforded 
by the common schools of the country and in the 
meantime doing his share of the farm work, Mr. 
Anderson grew to manhood. Having brothers and 
sisters residing in the United States who wrote 



home in glowing terms of the country and its open- 
ings, he decided to find a home there also. He 
reached Osage City, Kansas, in 1889, and began 
work in a coal mine, continuing there for a year, 
at the end of which he came to La Conner to accept 
a position on the farm of his cousin, Charles Elde. 
He and his brother, Nels Anderson, bought a forty 
acre farm and also rented land which they tilled for 
three years until he was offered the management 
of Judge Powers' hop ranch. He purchased his 
present place in 1899, and has since greatly im- 
proved it, building his cosy, comfortable house, and 
surrounding it with tasteful, well-kept grounds. 

Mr. Anderson was married April 26, 1898, to 
Miss Anna Sward, who was born in the northern 
part of Sweden, laut came to the United States 
when a young girl. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson 
have had three children, only one of whom, Carl 
Axel, is living. Mr. Anderson has one brother, 
Nels. and three sisters, Christina Charlstron, Anna 
Lendblom and Nora Elde. In political matters he 
is an independent voter. He is a worthy member 
of the Woodmen of the World. Being a careful 
manager he secures large returns from his ranch, 
the products of which are hay and stock. Thrifty 
and industrious, and withal a man of integrity, he 
commands the respect of the entire community. 



GUST LENDBLOM, a well-to-do farmer resid- 
ing three and one-half miles southwest of Mount 
Vernon, was born in east Sweden September 23, 
1856, the son of Jonas and Anna Lendblom. both 
natives of Sweden. Having served thirty-six years 
in the army of his native country, the father came 
to the United States in 1877, and died here the fol- 
lowing year at the age of sixty-one. His mother 
was born in 1815, and died in Kansas in 1903. 
The youngest of a family of seven, Mr. Lendblom 
has the following brothers and sisters : Anton, liv- 
ing in Minnesota; Carl T., Charlotte, Lena and 
Leonard, all residents of Kansas. The first twenty 
years of his life were spent on his father's farm in 
Sweden, acquiring a practical knowledge of affairs 
that would bring him success in later years. When 
the family emigrated to the United States in 1877, 
he first found employment in Osage City, Kansas, 
where he worked in the mines in the winters, and 
at stone masonry, summers. Thirteen years later 
he went to Michigan, securing a position as a stone 
mason which he held for two years, at which time 
he decided to locate in the Northwest. Coming to 
Skagit county July 20, 1893, he rented a farm which 
he \vorked until 1899, when he purchased his pres- 
ent home. 

Mr. Lendblom was married August 25, 1883, in 
Osage City, Kansas, to Miss Anna Anderson, born 
in Sweden in 1860, the sister of Axel and Nels An- 
derson. Mr. and Mrs. Lendblom have the follow- 
ing children: Judith. Martin (deceased), Carl, 
Edith (deceased), Lillie, Edith, Hugo, Gunuar, 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Hector and Rhoda. The family attend the Baptist 
church of which both parents are active members. 
Mr. Lendblom is an independent voter, beheving 
that to be the surest means of securing wise and 
just legislation. He owns thirty acres of land 
which he is fast bringing under cultivation. He is 
interested in dairy matters, and sells his product 
as cream. A hard working honest man of good 
moral standard, he enjoys the respect and confidence 
of his neighbors and friends. 



NILS ERICKSON, farmer and dairyman, re- 
sides on his ranch four miles southwest of Mount 
Vernon. For generations his ancestors have been 
natives of Sweden, in which country he was born, 
near Ostersund, December 6, 1857, the son of Eric 
and Elizabeth (Nelson) Erickson. His father, 
born in 1840, is a farmer in his native country. His 
mother died in 1896. Mr. Erickson has one sister, 
Anna Westin, and two brothers, Peter and Lewis, 
all residents of Seattle, Washington. Northern 
Sweden, his home for the first twenty-one years, is 
a poor farming country, yielding only a bare living 
even with diligent labor. The many advantages to 
be enjoyed in the United States influenced him to 
make his home there in 18TS. Locating in Oberlin, 
Kansas, he rented land for a time, but the severe 
drought that brought dismay to so many caused his 
efforts to be almost a complete failure. Discour- 
aging it certainly was, but not disheartening to a 
man of his fine courage. Securing from his labor 
just enough money to purchase a ticket to the great 
Northwest, where man's success is not so dependent 
upon the ofttinies fickle rainfall, he came to Stan- 
wood, Snohomish county, and at once began 
clearing land. The following spring, in 1891, 
he sent for his family, who had remained 
in Kansas, meeting them at Skagit City, near which 
he bought a piece of school land which became 
their home until in 1900 when they removed to 
their present farm. It was densely covered with 
heavy timber and the task of clearing and bringing 
it to its present state of cultivation has indeed been 
laborious, and has been accomplished entirely by 
his own untiring efforts. He has ten acres in fine 
condition, and all the rest in pasture land. 

Mr. Erickson was married in Kansas, January 
10, 1890, to Miss Carrie Wineburg. an acquaint- 
ance who was born in his native parish in Sweden, 
and came to the United States in 1878. Her par- 
ents were likewise natives of Sweden, her father fol- 
lowing farming. Mr. and Mrs. Erickson have 
seven children : Sophia, William. Ellen. Jennie, 
Alice, Allrick and Harris, who attend the Swedish 
Baptist church, of which the parents are members. 
Mr. Erickson is a member of the Republican party. 
He has filled the office of road supervisor, and for a 
number of years was clerk and school director in 
his district, known as the Harmony district, which 
is recognized as one of the very best in this part 



of the county. He is a patron of the Mount Ver- 
non creamery, to which he sends the milk from 
eight cows. By industry and wise management he 
has won for himself and family, under adverse con- 
ditions, a home and a place in his community, and 
to-day is recognized as a worthy citizen, holding 
the esteem of all who know him. 



O. J. JOHNSON, for many years engaged in 
ministerial work in his native land, Sweden, and 
also in the United States, and now a prominent 
farmer residing four miles southwest of Mount Ver- 
non, was born near Ostersund, February 17, 1856. 
His father, John Johnson, a farmer in Sweden, was 
born in 1835, and died in 1888. The mother, Agnes 
(Olson) Johnson, was also a native of the same 
country, dying there in 1885. Having worked with 
his father on the farm, and attended the public 
schools, Mr. Johnson entered college at the age of 
nineteen, taking a two years' course. He then de- 
cided to enter the ministry of the Lutheran church, 
and studied privately with a professor of the col- 
lege, after which he went as traveling missionary 
for that church for six years, resigning at that 
time on account of his health. He married soon 
after, and purchased his father-in-law's farm which 
he owned until 1888. Dissatisfied with the political 
conditions of his country, in which the right to vote 
is purely a property qualification, no one being 
allowed a ballot who has not either four thousand 
dollars worth of property or an income amounting 
to eight hundred dollars, and believing that Russia 
would eventually conquer the Scandinavian people, 
thus making the situation one of far more peril, he 
determined for his children's sake to leave the land 
of his fathers. He had once made a trip to Minne- 
sota, and had been impressed with the superior ad- 
vantages that the United States offered, so at this 
time he migrated to Rawlins County, Kansas, and 
rented a farm. A year and a half later, in 1890, 
he came west, first to Stanwood, Snohomish coun- 
ty, and soon after to Skagit county, where he bought 
land on the Skagit delta.. In 1899 he invested in 
his present property near Mount Vernon, which hi 
has greatly improved, there being then only an or- 
chard on the place. For two years, from 1896 to 
1898, he traveled for the Baptist Publishing Com- 
pany, selling their publications throughout the coun- 
try, and also frequently preaching. Previous to 
this time he had been pastor of the Swedish Bap- 
tist church for four years, 1892 and 1896, which 
pulpit he again filled for two years after giving 
up the field work, tendering his resignation as pas- 
tor in 1903. He believes that his ministry is ended, 
and is now devoting his entire time to agricultural 
interests. He is an enthusiastic advocate of a farm- 
ers' co-operative union, with its own commission 
merchants and its home store, and has succeeded 
in arousing a great deal of interest in his plans. 
Several meetings have been held, and the organ- 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



ization elected the following officers : Mr. Johnson, 
president; Andrew Anderson, vice-president; Wil- 
liam Wells, secretary, and Robert Gunther, treas- 
urer. He was sent as a delegate to the meeting 
held in Seattle in March, 1905, in which all the co- 
operative organizations in the western part of this 
state were represented, and brought back cheering 
reports of the work done in other places. He thinks 
it will not be long before the organization here 
and elsewhere will be perfected, and this will mean 
much greater returns to the farmers when their own 
commission merchants handle their products in the 
Seattle market. 

Mr. Johnson was married in Sweden in 1881, 
to Miss Carrie Nelson, born in that country. They 
have two children, Jonas, born in Sweden, August 
12, 1883, and Annie E., also born there, in 1887. 
Both children have decided musical ability, playing 
several instruments with proficiency. Mr. Johnson 
has been school director for some time, and dike 
commissioner for one term. In general appearance 
he thinks Skagit county resembles Sweden, but is 
vastly superior in every way, particularly in the ad- 
vantages offered to the ambitious poor man. An 
earnest, progressive citizen, broadened by the 
varied experiences that have entered his life, Mr. 
Johnson is a valuable addition to the community 
which now claims him as a resident. 



FRANK JUNGQUIST, a well known farmer 
and dairyman who resides qu his farm four miles 
southwest of Mount Vernon, came to the United 
States when he was nineteen years of age. His 
father, August Jungquist, was born in Sweden in 
December, 1835, and farmed there until he came 
to the United States in 1888, where he now lives 
with his son, John Jungquist. Hannah (Johnson); 
the mother, was born in Tyrunga, Sweden, in 1831, 
and died in Alay, 1901. Mr. Jungquist, born in 
Sweden, west of Jutland, May 10, 1867, received 
his education in the common schools of his coun- 
try, while he also acquired a practical knowledge 
of farming. A brother, John, and a sister, Chris- 
tina, the wife of Marsh Miller, being residents of 
the United States, he was familiar with the oppor- 
tunities to be foTind here, and decided to make this 
his home. Arriving in La Conner August 24, 1886, 
he at once found employment with a thrashing ma- 
chine, the first he had ever seen. Two and a half 
years later he bought his first real estate in this 
country, and in 1899 purchased his present ranch, 
situated by the river dike. He has remodeled the 
house, and also greatly improved the farm. 

In Seattle, January 29, 1891, Mr. Jungquist was 
married to Miss Ellen Warsen, born November 21, 
1872, near Linkoping, Ostergatlands, Sweden. Her 
father, Anders Anderson, a farmer, died Novem- 
ber 26, 1878. Her mother, Johanna (Johnson), 
was born April 15, 1839, and came to the United 
States September 21, 1892. Mrs. Jungquist has 



been a resident of this country since 1890. Four 
children have been born to this union, Alice, Elmer. 
Fredolph and Emma. Mr. Jungquist is a loyal 
member of the Republican party. A firm believer 
in the common school system, he advocates the em- 
ployment of the best talent that can be secured 
and is ever found laboring to carry to successful 
issue these progressive ideas. He lias a fine dairy 
of twenty cows and in company with his brother, 
Klos, owns a farm of fifty-six acres, on which is 
located their creamery, bearing the name of the 
Skagit City Creamery, the product of which is eas- 
ily sold at the highest price. That this portion of 
the United States is the best possible location for an 
active, enterprising man, is a firm conviction in the 
mind of Mr. Jungquist, and his success certainly 
demonstrates the soundness of his judgment. 



OLUF INMAN NELSON (deceased). When 
after a weary illness of eighteen months this promi- 
nent pioneer died at his home four and one-half 
miles southwest of Mount Vernon, on November 

10, 1904, the cause of truth and right lost a brave 
champion, and the community an honored citizen 
and friend. He was born in Sweden, January 15, 
1844, the son of Inman and Kristine Nelson, both 
natives of that country, in which the father died 
many years ago, and the mother in 1846. Mr. Nel- 
son spent the first twenty-four years of his life in 
the home-land, immigrating to the United States 
in 1868, but returning in 1873 for his bride. His 
first home was in Illinois, thence he moved to 
Omaha, Nebraska, where he remained till 1876, at 
which time he decided to go west. After a year in 
Seattle, his wife who had remained in Nebraska, 
joined him and they came to Skagit county, near 
La Conner, where he at first rented land and 
farmed. Later he bought a farm in the Beaver 
Marsh district, which unfortunately he was obliged 
to give up when the panic of 1893 palsied the 
finances of the nation. Previous to this he had been 
very successful, owning both the farm above men- 
tioned and also the one on which his family now 
resides. 

Mr. Nelson was married in Omaha, Nebraska, 
June 22, 1872, to Miss Celia Bainston, born 
in Sweden, April 8, 1847. Her father. Baint Nel- 
son, was a well known shoemaker of Sweden, and 
died in that country in 1900, at the age of eighty- 
three. Bertha .Swanson, her mother, also of Swed- 
ish nativity, was born in 1806, and died September 

11, 1891. To Mr. and Mrs. Nelson were bom the 
following children: Alfred, born March 15, 1878, 
now attendmg the university at Seattle, from which 
he will be graduated in the class of 1906 ; Minnie 
and Otto, twins; Victor and Benjamin, the latter 
also attending school; and three others now de- 
ceased. Bravely taking up the burdens laid down 
by her husband, Mrs. Nelson has charge of the 
farm in the absence of her eldest son, attends to 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



561 



the dairying, and also devotes time and attention 
to poultry raising. During Air. Nelson's life he 
was an earnest member of the Socialists, actively 
engaged in promulgating the doctrines in which he 
so firmly believed. Always a man of pronounced 
views, he had the courage to adhere to his convic- 
tions, regardless of the cost. For many years a 
member of the Swedish ^Methodist church, though 
at the time of his death not connected with any so- 
ciety, he has been a life-long student of the 
Bible, and was an earnest Christian, following the 
light as he saw it. 



GEORGE J. WOLF, a successful and energetic 
farmer residing three and one-half miles south- 
west of Mount Vernon, was born near Richland, 
in Richland County, Wisconsin, November 29, 1860. 
Michael Wolf, his father, a native of Germany, in 
which country he followed the baker's trade for 
many years, immigrated to the United States, lo- 
cating first in Michigan, and later, in 1850, in Madi- 
son, Wisconsin, at that time only a small town. 
Opening a bakery, he remained there for some time, 
when he moved to Richland county, having re- 
married after the death of his first wife. He was 
living there on his own farm at the time of his 
death in 1870. Anna Rosa (Lassa) was the moth- 
er. Rorn and raised in Germany, she was first 
married to William Klousie, after whose death she 
met and some years later married Mr. Wolf. She 
died in South Dakota in 1901, at the age of sev- 
enty-four. The early life of George J. Wolf did 
not differ from that of the average American boy, 
as it was spent on his father's farm learning many 
lessons of industry and economy, and attending the 
common schools of the state. The first year after 
he became of age he assumed the care of his moth- 
er's farm, going later to South Dakota, where he 
spent seven years in farming and dairying. In 1891 
he came to Skagit county and bought his present 
place, at that time simply a part of the woods, 
wholly destitute of improvements. For the next 
two years he rented land which he farmed until 
his own could be diked, and the task of clearing 
it begun. Having been appointed dike commis- 
sioner by the county, he levied a tax and con- 
structed what is known as the "high dike" which 
extends a mile. Then began the work of clearing 
his own land and building houses and barns. Two 
years later he returned to South Dakota and took 
up a homestead in Buffalo county, residing there 
six years. This property he still owns. To his 
former home in Skagit county which he held while 
in Dakota, he returned in December, 1902, and has 
since given it his entire attention. 

Mr. Wolf was married in South Dakota, De- 
cember 4, 1889, to Miss Mary E. Fredlund, daugh- 
ter of I. J. and Maria (Johnson) Fredlund. Her 
father has been a resident of Skagit county for 
fourteen years. Mrs. Wolf was born in Bergen, 



Norway, in 18(58. and came to the United States 
in 1881. Her brothers are Jules, Edward, Robert 
and Joseph Fredlund, all living in Skagit county, 
and Albert Fredlund, now in Alaska. Mr. Wolf's 
own brothers and sisters are as follows : John H. 
and David M., general merchants in South Da- 
kota, Ado'.ph G., a banker, Anna Rosa Smith and 
Dorothy, all likewise residents of South Dakota. 
He has three half-brothers and one half-sister. 
Abraham, William, Caroline and Charles. Mr. and 
Mrs. Wolf have six children living and one, David 
F., deceased. They are as follows : Charles Wes- 
ley, Jesse Benjamin, Ira J., Marie, Leonard G. and 
Edwin R. All the family attend the ]\Iethodist 
church, of which the father and mother are active 
members. Mr. Wolf is a member of the Repub- 
lican party, and was in office while in South Da- 
kota. He is now school director and clerk in his 
district. Intensely interested in the educational mat- 
ters of the county, he agitated the building of an 
addition to the school house in his district and the 
employment of another teacher, and has had the 
pleasure of seeing both his plans carried out. It 
is now a graded school, and one reflecting credit 
upon its officers and patrons. His farm of twenty 
acres is in a very desirable location, situated on the 
corner opposite the school ground. He secured his 
land by clearing off another tract of equal size. He 
is devoting his time principally to raising vege- 
tables and to his dairy interests. Thrift and in- 
dustry are everywhere apparent, and are securing 
for him a large measure of success and influence. 



JOHN H. CARLSON, a prosperous farmer 
living four miles southwest of Mount Vernon, has 
had a more varied career than have most young 
men of his age. Born in south Norway, near Chris- 
tiana, November 1, 1867, he is the son of Carl 
Jacobson, a native of Sweden who came to Norway 
when a young boy. and is now, though nearly 
eighty years of age, an engineer on one of the 
coast steamers. Wilhelmina (Hanson) Jacobson, 
the mother, was born in Norway about the same 
time that her husband was, and is still living. Hav- 
ing attended the schools and passed the examina- 
tion, which is required by law in Norway, he also 
afterward spent some time in night schools. He 
learned engineering with his father and at eight- 
een began life on the ocean, making eleven trips 
to Montreal on a steamer, and later sailing to Eng- 
land, the' United States and other countries. This 
practical experience on the ocean is a preparation 
required of all who would enter the marine service 
of Norway, to enter which at that time was his am- 
bition, one, however that he entirely abandoned 
when he grew to manhood. In his early teens he 
had worked in a bottle factory, where he became 
quite proficient in the art of glass blowing. He 
had observed the resources and superior advan- 
tages of the United States when on his ocean 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



voyages he had touched her shores, and decided to 
make this his future home, which he did in 1888. 
He intended to enter the machine shops when he 
arrived in this country, but changed his plans and 
was employed in a paint, sash and door factory in 
Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the largest manufactory of 
its kind in the world at that time. Three years 
later he came west to Bellingham, then known as 
Seahom, taking up carpenter work with contractors 
for several years. He purchased his first real es- 
tate in Ferndale, which, after improving, he sold 
some two years later, at that time locating in 
Whatcom, where he operated a planer in a plan- 
ing-mill until he came in 1898 to Skagit county. 
That winter he and three others — O. J. Johnson, 
Frank Jungquist and brother, bought of Henry 
Wright a 100-acre ranch, which was divided up, 
the place on which he now resides falling to his 
lot. There was only an orchard on it then, and 
everything else in the way of improvements has 
been added since. He built his own house, barns 
means to make the improvements on his property, 
and fences, and cleared off nearly the entire place. 
In the meantime he ran a donkey have sufficient 
hauling off logs, that he might engine, used in 
Much of the carpenter work in this locality has 
been done by him. He and Nils Erickson had the 
contract for the building of the school-house in 
Harmony district. 

Mr. Carlson was married in Wisconsin, July 
28, 1889, to Miss Anna Edd, born in Sweden, a 
friend whom he had known in Norway, and who 
came to the United States in 1888. Mr. and Mrs. 
Carlson have four children, Esther, Ruth, Elmer 
and Edna. In the Swedish Baptist church Mr. 
Carlson is a prominent member, having served as 
treasurer for many years. The educational mat- 
ters of his community receive his attention and 
his hearty financial support. He has a brother, 
Charles, who is chief engineer on an ocean steam- 
er plying between the Philippine Islands and the 
West Indies. The other members of his family 
are Emil, Hildorine and Elise. Mr. Carlson has 
twenty-two acres, and devotes much time to his 
dairy, now milking nine cows, and selling the sepa- 
rated cream to the Mount Vernon creamery. Ear- 
nest, ambitious, and withal a manly man, he is 
highly esteemed by his many acquaintances. 



SAMUEL SCHIDLEMAN, whose career is a 
fine illustration of what a young man with health, 
energy and ambition as his only capital can ac- 
complish in this splendid country of ours, was born 
in Fulton County, Pennsylvania, near McConnells- 
burg, March if, 1867, the son of Peter Schidle- 
man, a farmer who was born in Germany and 
died in Pennsylvania thirty years ago. The moth- 
er, Kate (Lutz) Schidleman, also of German de- 
scent, now resides with her son Samuel, at the 
age of seventy-five. Her other children are as fol- 



lows: Henry (deceased), Katie (deceased), Peter, 
David (deceased), Daniel, John, Mary, Lizzie and 
Philbena. His father having died when he was 
only eight years old, Samuel Schidleman and the 
other children in the family early took up the bur- 
den of life, acquiring an education in the common 
schools in the meantime. The farm was small and 
yielded only a meager living for the large family. 
It was therefore decided to move to Knox County, 
Illinois, and thence the mother and children went 
when Samuel was sixteen. He and a brother did 
the work on the farm which they secured for the 
mother, and he also worked for a man who owned 
a farm of one thousand acres. Two years later he, 
in company with his brother, David, started west, 
driving the entire distance to Utah in a top buggy, 
locating at Askley valley, just across the Colorado 
line, where they took up farming. His brother 
having gone on to Pocatello, Idaho, and later to 
Whidby island, Mr. Schidleman joined him there 
in 1888, and after working out for a time, began 
farming for himself. Seven years later he shipped 
his stock and other goods to Skagit county, rent- 
ing a farm on Beaver Marsh, and in 1899 pur- 
chased his present place, farming both ranches. He 
moved on his own farm in the fall of 1903. 

Mr. Schidleman was married October 24, 1900, 
to Jennie Willis Adams, a native of Oregon, born 
near Roseburg, the daughter of an old pioneer 
family who came to that locality in the early fifties. 
For a number of years Mrs. Schidleman was a 
professional nurse. Mr. Schidleman is an enthusi- 
astic member of the Independent Democratic 
party. He is a progressive citizen, thoroughly con- 
vinced of the wisdom of maintaining excellent 
schools and churches. He owns a fine farm of 
eighty acres, nearly all under cultivation, upon 
which he has a good home, modern in all its appoint- 
ments, and surrounded by neat grounds that evi- 
dence both the owner's taste and thrift. A nice 
home which he has built next to his own for his 
mother's use, is a proof of his thoughtful kind- 
ness. Largely interested in dairying, he has a fine 
barn and thirty head of cattle of the Guernsey 
breed, the milk product from which after separa- 
tion is disposed of to the creamery. He also is a 
breeder of fine Berkshire hogs. He came to the 
sound with but five dollars as the sum of his pos- 
sessions, and had only his cattle and team when he 
settled in Skagit county. But with that indomi- 
table courage and perseverance which accept no 
defeat, Mr. Schidleman has multiplied those meager 
possessions until he now stands as one of the well- 
to-do farmers of the county, easily worth twelve 
thousand dollars. It is small wonder that he is 
a most loynl and enthusiastic resident of his coun- 
ty, believing it to be the best on the face of the 



GEORGE H. LAWSON, one of Skagit coun- 
ty's most successful farmers and dairymen, residing 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



six miles southwest of Mount Vernon, was born 
near Cambridge, in Henry County, Illinois, Janu- 
ary 15, 1858. His father, Charles M. Lawson, a 
native of Sweden, was born in 1828, and came to 
the United States in 1853, locating in Henry coun- 
ty, Illinois, where he engaged in farming until he 
came to Washington in 1897. He has now retired 
from active business, and makes Seattle his home. 
His two brothers, August and John, served in the 
Civil War. Anna Charlotte Lawson, the mother, 
was also born in Sweden, and now hale and hearty 
at the age of eighty years, is living in Seattle. 
Spending the first years of his life on his father's 
farm, and acquiring his education in the common 
schools of the state, Mr. Lawson reached his ma- 
jority in his native state. Employed for a time 
by a brother-in-law, he later bought a farm and 
began life for himself. Six years later he sold 
this property and invested in another farm. In 
1897 he came west to visit a brother, Alfred J. Law- 
son, living near Edison, and found the country so 
desirable that after careful deliberation he decided 
to sell his property in the East and make this his 
permanent home. He reached Seattle March 15, 
1901, came thence to the Skagit country and to- 
gether they bought the farm where he now lives, 
the consideration being seventeen thousand dollars 
for the one hundred and ninety-one acres. 

Mr. Lawson was married October 9, 1888, to 
Tilda Anderson, born in Henry County, Illinois, 
the daughter of Swedish parents who settled in that 
state in 1853. Her father was Anders Anderson, 
a farmer, who died many years ago. Mr. and Mrs. 
Lawson have two children, Charles, aged 15, and 
Grace, aged 13, both attending school. Mr. Law- 
son is a trustee in the Pleasant Ridge Swedish 
Methodist church, of which his wife is also a mem- 
ber. The fifth of a family of nine children, two of 
whom died in infancy, and one, Emily, in later 
life. Islr. Lawson has the following living broth- 
ers and sisters : Minnie Gustafson ; Ellen Peter- 
son, of Seattle ; Alfred J., of Edison, Washington ; 
Phebe and Augusta, at home in Seattle. Mr. Law- 
son is a member of the Republican party. Since 
his father's retirement from active duties, Mr. Law- 
son has had the entire charge of the large farm, 
and the fine condition in which it is kept is a con- 
vincing proof of his skillful management and ex- 
cellent judgment. One hundred bushels of oats 
and four tons of timothy hay per acre is the rec- 
ord of production that he has sometimes made on 
his farm. Situated as it is right on the bank of the 
Skagit river, he has the advantage of being able 
to ship his products from the granery without the 
trouble of hauling them to the market. He has 
large stock interests to which he devotes much at- 
tention. He is now breeding short horn cattle and 
English shire horses, while also raising Berkshire 
hogs. He believes this to be a much better farm- 
ing country than Illinois, or any country with 
which he is familiar, having made more monev 



in his four years residence here than he did in the 
previous ten spent in Illinois. Lending the strength 
of his influence to educational matters, he was for 
six years school treasurer of his township in Illi- 
nois, and has just retired from service on the board 
of directors in his district. Thoroughly familiar 
with all the details of farming, industrious and en- 
ergetic, he is reaping the success and honor that he 
so justly merits. 



NELS CHRISTENSOxN, a pioneer farmer of 
Skagit county, and a prominent member of the 
Pioneers' Association, living five and one-half 
miles southwest of Mount Vernon, was born in 
Lolland, Denmark, September 15, 1835. His par- 
ents were Peter and Mary Christenson, both na- 
tives of Denmark, in which country they also died. 
Coming to this country in 1865, Mr. Christenson 
settled at Oshkosh, Wisconsin, but soon removed to 
Salina, Kansas. He later took up a homestead in 
Riley county, near Clay Center, upon which he 
resided until he came to La Conner, Washington, 
in 1875. He purchased two hundred and four acres 
in Skagit county, paying one thousand dollars for 
the farm which to-day would be worth twenty-five 
times that amount were it still in his possession. 
It was then, with the exception of twenty-five acres, 
covered with water, logs and brush, a typical 
"Beaver Marsh," as this section came to be called 
in later years, entirely worthless until diked, after 
which it is the finest land to be found in the 
world. To him belongs the distinction of being 
the first man to build dikes on the river front. Some 
few had been constructed in the marsh to keep 
out the salt and fresh water, but he was the first 
man of sufficient courage to attempt to "fence out 
the river," as his undertaking was tauntingly re- 
ferred to by some of the less enterprising men 
of that day. Succeeding as he knew he would, it 
was not long before others followed the same 
course, and that tract of wonderful fertility was 
year by year reclaimed. It was an arduous task 
to construct the dikes, and even then the work was 
often destroyed by the floods that would sometimes 
sweep everything before them. The dikes had 
then to be repaired, by planking them and throw- 
ing in sacks of dirt to keep them from washing 
away. Such a flood came while Mr. Christenson 
v/as building his first dike, endangering his wife 
and little ones, whom he rescued by rowing them 
in a boat to the other side of the river, landing 
them at the Charles Tolber place. The pioneer 
women, as well as the men, had need of brave 
hearts that would not be daunted by experiences 
of this kind. It was a wild, rough, desolate coun- 
try then, no wagons or roads, and a horse was a 
rare sight, the work being almost entirely done by 
oxen. Trips were made to La Conner and Ska- 
git City either by boat or trail, and in this way the 
few products the settlers had to sell were carried 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



to market, and exchanged for the necessities of life. 
Mr. Christenson was married in Kansas in 
1871, to Miss Matilda Swanson, a native of Swed- 
en, born in 1849. Having shared with her hus- 
band the joys and sorrows of twenty-two years, 
she died April 12, 1893. Seven children were born 
to them as follows: Robert, living near Everett; 
Laura Armstrong, near La Conner; Amanda 
Sharfenberg; Anna, at home; Albert and Clifford, 
near Everett, and Edith, at home. Mr. Christenson 
is an honored member of the Swedish Methodist 
church, in which he holds the office of steward 
and class leader. For many years he was promi- 
nently identified with the educational affairs of this 
locality, serving as director at the time the pres- 
ent school-house was built, and also many times 
before and since that time. Of late years he has 
suffered many reverses. In 1895-6, his crops were 
an utter failure, having been drowned out by seep- 
age. Prices were low, and he was forced to lose 
his fine farm, only saving the small remnant upon 
which he resides. As the result of unselfish care 
bestowed upon another, he has also suffered much 
from ill health. Mrs. Christenson had barely re- 
turned from a trip to Kansas whither she had gone 
to recover from a severe attack of typhoid fever, 
when a man in whom they were interested fell ill, 
and together they nursed him, Mr. Christenson 
bearing as much of the responsibility as possible 
that his wife might not be overtaxed. The strain, 
however, proved fatal to her, and her death to- 
gether with the long weeks of nervous strain 
proved too much for even his fine constitution. Un- 
able even to walk to the carriage, he made a trip 
to Napa, California, for his health, but has never 
entirely recovered. A man of sterling virtues, his 
long residence has endeared him to the citizens of 
the county that proudly claims him as a pioneer. 



BEN TJERSL.\ND, a well known farmer and 
stockman living eight miles southwest of jXIount 
Vernon and five miles southeast of La Conner, is 
a native of Norway, born in Lyngdal on the place 
that had been in the family for generations, known 
as Tjersland, August 31, 185G. His father, Hans 
Berenson, was a farmer in Norway till his death 
in 1890. Gunnel (Olson), the mother, was also 
born in Norway, and died there on the old home 
place in 1901. Here Mr. Tjersland grew to man- 
hood, enjoying rather unusual educational advan- 
tages as, in addition to those afforded by the com- 
mon schools, he had two terms of private instruc- 
tion. Having reached the age of twenty-two he 
decided to seek his fortune in the United States 
where earnest efforts such as he was prepared to 
put forth secured such abundant rewards. Cal- 
mar, Iowa, was his first location, where he spent 
two years, after which he went to the pine forests 
of Wisconsin and followed logging and milling for 
some time. On May 27, 1884, he came to La Con- 



ner, and was here employed by Mr. Currier for 
one year, when he purchased a wild claim on the 
Olympia marsh, paying twelve hundred dollars for 
it. The following three years were occupied in 
ditching and improving his property which he sold 
at the end of that time, leasing one hundred and 
sixty acres on Beaver Marsh at that time almost a 
wilderness, there being not more than two hundred 
acres of it cleared. Three years later he bought 
his present farm of eighty acres on the installment 
plan, he agreeing to pay seven hundred dollars each 
year for seven years. He had just made the last 
payment when the hard times of the early nineties 
set in. On account of the financial depression, he was 
enabled to build his present commodious house and 
barns at a nominal sum. Moving on his place in 
1896, the succeeding years have been full of unre- 
mitting toil in clearing, draining and diking his 
land, but the marvelous transformation wrought 
in its appearance has well repaid the cost. Prosper- 
ing as the years slipped by, he has added two hun- 
dred and forty acres to his original farm, thus 
owning at the present time three hundred and 
thirty acres. 

Mr. Tjersland was married January 6, 1892, tc^ 
Miss Lena Olson, born in Norway December 2, 
1869. She came, in 1890, to the 'United States, 
where her brother, Tom Roseland, resides in La 
Conner, following the blacksmithing trade. Mr. 
and Mrs. Tjersland have the following children: 
Oscar, born October 26, 1894; Hilda, born Au- 
gust 16, 1897; Elmer, born March 30, 1899. and 
Henry, born March 11, 1902. Mr. Tjersland is a 
member of the Woodmen of the World at La Con- 
ner. Though not an adherent of either church, he 
contributes very liberally to the support of the 
Lutheran and Methodist churches. He has a 
brother. Mat Hanson, living in Milwaukee, Wis- 
consin. When the two brothers came to this coun- 
try they changed their names, the one taking the 
name of the old homestead, the other the father's 
first name, with the accustomed addition of "son," 
which fact accounts for the apparent disagreement. 
In political belief Mr. Tjersland is an adherent of 
the Republican party. He is at all times an advo- 
cate of the best educational opportunities, believ- 
ing education to be a matter of vital importance. 
He is giving especial attention to thoroughbred 
Durham cattle, and is one of the men who assisted 
in introducing the first good draft horse into this 
section of the country, for which the stock com- 
pany formed paid twenty-five hundred dollars. A 
progressive citizen who has won his success wholly 
by means of his untiring energy, he is held in the 
highest esteem. 



HENRY SUMMERS, whose career is a con- 
vincing proof of the Shakespearian philosophy that 
men are masters of their fate, is a farmer, resid- 
ing eight miles southwest of Mount Vernon, and' 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



five miles southeast of La Conner. His father, 
Samuel Summers, was a weaver in England, where 
he died in 185-i. The mother, Jane (Hussey) Sum- 
mers, was born in Bradley, England, and died in 
1853. Born in England in North Bradley Parish, 
a suburb of Trowbridge, April 9, 1848, J\Ir. Sum- 
mers was left an orphan at the age of six years. 
There were five other children in the family, Ellen, 
Sarah, Samuel, Joseph and his twin brother Ed- 
ward, who, with himself, found a home with an 
uncle. Child labor was not then prohibited by law 
in that country, hence at the age of eight, he en- 
tered a cloth factory where he changed shuttles 
in the hand looms. Two years later he entered 
Brown and Palmer's factory, employed as a roller 
joiner. The long hours, from six in the morning 
till six at night, must often have been very weari- 
some to the boy of ten, but the small hands wrought 
faithfully at their tasks, and when the day was over 
the night school found in him a diligent student, 
whose education thus acquired surpassed that of 
many a one enjoying far greater opportunities. 
Later, having spent seven years in the sizing de- 
partment of the factory, he went to London at the 
age of seventeen, entering a warehouse in which, 
after the first year, he was a packer for the foreign 
trade, handling many an invoice of goods destined 
to be carried on camels across the Isthmus of Suez 
before the canal was built. He was manager for a 
time of the T. J. Redate firm, located in Lawrence, 
Poultney Lane, N N street, London, export- 
ers of provisions. He also worked on George 
street, close to Mansion House, and later in Tower 
street. Two brothers, Edward and Samuel, hav- 
ing come to the United States in 1871, locating in 
La Conner, Mr. Summers followed them three 
years later, sailing from Liverpool, England, in 
the fall of 1874. Having landed at Philadelphia; 
he crossed the continent to San Francisco, thence 
to La Conner where his brothers had taken up land 
and were farming. In February, 1875, he took up 
a quarter section one mile south of Fir, bringing 
his family there two years later. To him belongs 
the distinction of having been the first bona fide 
settler in that locality. Here in this lonely wilder- 
ness with only Siwash Indians for neighbors, he 
remained for six years, improving the land, con- 
structing dikes, planting and harvesting his crops, 
only at the end of this time to see all these fruits 
of his toil swept away by flood. When the log. jam 
above Mount Vernon was cut out the logs were 
borne down the river and formed another jam 
two miles in length, where his land lay, thus caus- 
ing the river to overflow and completely devastate 
his entire farm. A man of less resolute will 
would have been overpowered by this disaster, 
which but spurred him to renewed effort. The fol- 
lowing three years he worked out to get means 
sufficient to construct buildings on his present farm 
on Pleasant Ridge, for which he had traded eighty 
acres of his former claim. 



Mr. Summers was married in Melkshaw, Wilt- 
shire, England, June 3, 1873, to Sarah Cleverly, 
the daughter of John and Johannah Cleverly, of 
Melkshaw. She was born in March, 1849,' and 
died at her home in Pleasant Ridge, December 9, 
1889. Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Summers, all of whom are natives of Skagit coun- 
ty except the oldest one who was born in London. 
Their names are as follows: William Joseph, 
Henry, Annie Bessner, John, Emma Graham, Ed- 
ward and Alice (deceased). Mr. Summers was- 
identified with the school board for twenty years, 
and hired the first teacher in school district num- 
ber sixteen, when Skagit county was still a part 
of Whatcom county, and has always been deeply 
interested in educational matters, just nicely set- 
tled in his new home, prepared, after all the years 
of trial and hardship to thoroughly enjoy these 
more prosperous days, his brave companion fell by 
his side, leaving to liis care the family of little ones. 
Always a devout believer in the Bible and in Jesus 
as a personal Savior, his faith stood even this su- 
preme test. His unfaltering courage and brave, 
earnest life have won the admiration of his fellow 
men, who recognize his sterling character. 



ALBERT SHARFENBERG, a successful 
young farmer of Skagit county, residing five miles 
east of La Conner and seven miles southwest of 
Mount Vernon, was born in Hastings, Minnesota, 
January 13, 1874. His father is Joseph Sharfen- 
berg, a native of Germany, who sought the advan- 
tages of the United States, settling first in Michi- 
gan, then in Minnesota, and later in Washington, 
where after a short residence in Nooksack, he 
located permanently in Skagit county in 1887, 
which is still his home. Sophia Sharfenberg, his 
mother, also born in Germany, is living. Mr. 
Sharfenberg's residence in this state dates from 
the time he was three years old, when he came to 
La Conner with his parents. Here he attended 
school as he grew older, completmg his education 
by a two years' course at Coupeville, after which he 
returned to the farm where he worked till he was 
twenty-two years of age, acquiring a thorough and 
comprehensive knowledge of all the details of the 
work, thus fitting himself for his present position 
of manager of his father's extensive ranch. 

Mr. Sharfenberg was married February 22, 
189G, to Miss Amanda Christenson, born in Skagit 
county, July 3, 1877. She i,= the daughter of Nels 
Christenson, a well known pioneer of this county, 
whose biography appears elsewhere in this history. 
Mr. and Sirs. Sharfenberg have two children. Joe 
and Gladys. ]\Ir. Sharfenberg is an enthusiastic 
advocate of good schools, and was for six years 
director in district number eleven. On the fine one 
hundred and sixty acre ranch of which he has entire 
charge, he has thirty head of cattle; he is milking 
eight cows, and selling the separated cream to the 



666 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



Pleasant Ridge Creamery Company. Possessed of 
ambition, industry and thrift, lie is meeting with ex- 
cellent success. 



JOSEPPI SHARFENBERG, a prominent citi- 
zen of Skagit county for tlie last thirty years, now 
resides on his ranch situated four and one-half miles 
southeast of La Conner and eight miles southwest 
of Mount Vernon. Born in tliQ state of Mecklen- 
berg, Germany, July 9, 1833, he is the son of John 
and Mary (Foss) Sharfenberg, both deceased, his 
father's death having occurred in 1854, the moth- 
er's, three years later. Mr. Sharfenberg, the young- 
est of a family of four, attended the common 
schools when he could be spared from home, mak- 
ing the best possible use of the advantages afforded. 
His father being in somewhat straitened circum- 
stances, he began life for himself at the early age of 
fifteen. In 18C1 he decided to immigrate to the 
United States where he had a brother, John, re- 
siding in Michigan. His first employment in the 
new country was railroading in Michigan, and later 
farming in the same state. In 1865 he removed to 
Dakota County, Minnesota, where he rented land 
and engaged in farming for the following ten years, 
barely making a living. Convinced that the North- 
west offered larger returns for earnest labor, he 
came with his wife and four children to La Conner 
in 1875, arriving with just seven dollars in money. 
Undaunted, however, by the low state of his 
finances, he at once found work with the Port Gam- 
ble Company, diking the Swinomish flats, and was 
cniploycd here for two years. At that time there 
were only five or six farms with dikes, on all this 
vast area, Mike Sullivan having been the first man to 
raise a dike and harvest the first bushel of oats. Bea- 
ver Marsh was a waste of water, impassable save in 
a few places. Later Mr. Sharfenberg rented a farm 
in Dodge valley, there remaining for fourteen 
years, and in the meantime investing in land on the 
IBeaver Marsh which was covered with logs, stumps 
and willows that were twenty feet high. He em- 
ployed a force of twenty Chinamen for two years 
to clear the land and get it into condition, while he 
was prospering on the rented property, selling oats 
for thirty-two dollars, and hay for eighteen dollars 
per ton. He purchased his present ranch in Pleas- 
ant Ridge in 1894, and has since made it his home. 
Owning now two hundred and forty acres, one hun- 
dred and sixty acres in Beaver Marsh and the re- 
mainder on the ridge, the wisdom of his judgment 
in selecting the Northwest for a home has certainly 
been demonstrated. 

Mr. Sharfenberg was married in Michigan, Sep- 
tember 23, 1861, to Mrs. Sophia Gross, of German 
nativity, whose former husband had been an ac- 
quaintance of his in Germany, where they had work- 
ed together for four years. Five children have 
been born to Mr. and Mrs. Sharfenberg, as follows : 
Rachel Eddy, living near Avcin; Mary Stacey, of 



Bellingham; George and Albert, living on Beaver 
Marsh, and one other (deceased). Mr. Sharfenberg 
is an active and faithful member of the Odd Fel- 
lows, which fraternity has honored him by electing 
him to the various offices and as delegate to the 
Grand Lodge. In political belief he adheres to the 
principles of the Democratic party, is always in at- 
tendance at the caucuses and conventions where his 
earnestness and loyalty make him a prominent fig- 
ure. The cause of education has always been a 
matter of great interest to him, and he has ever 
lent the strength of his influence to every advance- 
ment in this direction. Four years ago he was par- 
tially paralyzed on the right side, being unable to 
speak for two days. That he has so nearly recover- 
ed from it is a matter of great joy to his wide circle 
of acquaintances, who recognize in him a man of 
rare strength of character, worthy of the highest 
respect and honor. 



EDWIN JOHNSON is one of the Skagit coun- 
ty Swedish colony who has wrested an excellent 
farm from the wilderness of forest with which na- 
ture endowed the western slopes of the Cascade 
mountain range. He was born in Wermeland,' 
Sweden, in 1871, February 2, and came to Skagit 
county as a permanent resident in 1895. He is the 
son of Johannes and Liza Leonora (Anderson) 
Johnson, who remained in their native land until 
death. Mr. Johnson was one of four children of 
whom one brother is dead. The living are: Al- 
fred Johnson, a successful farmer of Skagit county, 
and Miss Ida Johnson. Mr. Johnson attended 
school until he was fifteen years of age and remain- 
ed with his parents on the home farm until eight- 
een, occasionally putting in time for his brother. 
After leaving Sweden he went to Mendocino Coun- 
ty, California, working there in saw-mill and log- 
ging camp for a year. Pie then came to Tacoma 
and was employed in a sash and door factory for a 
year and a half, leaving for the Skagit valley. 
Reaching here he put in a short time working, then 
went back to Tacoma and worked in the railroad 
shops there. One year of that labor sufficed and he 
came back to Skagit and in 1895 purchased his pres- 
ent place of twenty-five acres, three miles south of 
Mount Vernon. He moved on this place in 1895 
and has remained there ever since, acquiring also 
twenty acres one-eighth of a mile west of his home 
farm. 

On Christmas eve. 1896, Mr. Johnson married 
Miss Ida Johnson, daughter of John and Mary 
(Gustafson) Swanson. Mr. and Mrs. Swanson have 
passed their entire lives in Sweden, the former dy- 
ing there in 1905 and the latter still living with a 
daughter there. Mrs. Johnson is one of seven chil- 
dren, the other six being Swan, Gust, Peter, Otto, 
Mrs. Tilla Carlson and Selma. After attending 
school until fifteen years of age, Mrs. Johnson came 
to the United States, accompanying her brother^ 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Gust, to Fergus Falls, Minnesota, and later to Far- 
go. North Dakota, making a livelihood at house- 
work. She came to Tacoma in 1891, supporting 
herself until marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have 
three children : Abel, born in January, 1898 ; Hat- 
tie, born in June, 1899, and Harry, born in April, 
1901. The Johnsons are Swedish Baptists. Mr. 
Johnson in political affiliation is a Republican. He 
is essentially a dairy farmer, though his place is well 
stocked with horses and hogs, as well as cows and 
other stock. The home farm is a matter of pride to 
Mr. Johnson, for he alone understands the labor ex- 
pended in clearing trees, underbrush and roots, all 
of which he has removed from so much of the land 
as is cleared with his own hands. Part of the land 
has at times been overflowed, and much damage 
followed in the wake of the waters ; but persever- 
ance has conquered nature and the Johnsons are on 
the high road to that prosperity which comes in- 
variably to those who labor and wait. 



ANDREW ANDERSON, a prosperous dairy 
farmer four miles south of Mount Vernon, was 
born in Sweden in the year 186"3. His father was 
Andrew Anderson, a native of Sweden, who dur- 
ing his life worked at farming and as a druggist. 
He died in 1865, when but twenty-eight years of 
age, leaving a widow and three children. The moth- 
er, Mrs. Johanna (Yanerson) Anderson, has mar- 
ried again and still lives in the old country. The 
Anderson children are Carl, Lena and Andrew. The 
subject of this sketch remained in Sweden until 
twenty-one years of age, going to school, working 
in a mill and acting as stable boss for a number of 
years. On attaining his majority he immigrated to 
the L^nited States, going to Michigan, where he 
drove team for four years, a part of which time he 
was also inside man in a mill. He arrived in Seat- 
tle in 1889, just after the big fire, and was employed 
as teamster for two years, going thence to Ballard, 
Washington, where for seven years he followed the 
life of a bolter in a single mill. On leaving Ballard 
in 1898, Mr. Anderson decided to locate in Skagit 
county. He bought his present place of forty acres, 
seven acres being then cleared. In the interim he 
has cleared the remainder and added ten acres more 
to his holdings. 

While living in Seattle in 1890 Mr. Anderson 
married Miss Lena Olson, daughter of Peter Olson, 
a saw filer, who has passed his entire life in Nor- 
way. Mrs. Anderson has two brothers, August 
and Victor. She was born in 1873 and lived at 
home iintil eighteen years old, when she came to the 
United States and remained in Michigan for a cou- 
ple of years. She then came to Seattle where she 
was united in marriage to Mr. Anderson. The An- 
dersons have five children: Charles, Ellen, Wal- 
lace, Teddy and Howard. Mr. Anderson and his 
family attend the Swedish Baptist church. He is a 
Republican in politics. His forty acres of land is 



all cleared and under cultivation. He milks nine 
cows and has several head of young stock, as well 
as horses. By perseverance, energy and economy 
he has built for himself and family a pleasant home, 
establishing himself well financially, and he enjoys 
the respect and confidence of all his acquaintances. 



GUSTAVE C. HOFF, though a man but little 
over thirty years of age, has already made his mark 
in Skagit county as one of shrewdness and acumen 
in private matters and also as one who has devoted 
time and spirit to the public weal. Mr. Hoff was 
born in Dane County, Wisconsin, in the summer of 
1874, the son of Christian HofT, native of Norway, 
born June 16, 1846, who came to this country in 
infancy. It was an easy matter for Gustavo Hoff 
to develop into an active American citizen, having 
the example of his father before him as a guide 
to the best citizenship. Christopher Hofif, his 
grandfather, laid the foundation o'' his American 
patriotism in the shock of battles of the Civil War. 
He enlisted in the Fifteenth Wisconsin, a command 
which saw the severest fighting of any of 
the subordinate commands in the Army of the Cum- 
berland in the Civil War. Whenever Rosecranz, 
hood. Grant or Sherman hammered at the Confed- 
erate lines in Tennessee, the Fifteenth Wisconsin 
and Christopher Hoff were there. The private sol- 
dier and his regiment wrote their names in history 
at Stone River, Chickamauga, Chattanooga and 
Murfreesboro and went up Lookout Mountain with 
General Joe Flooker. Returning from the war, 
Christopher HoiT became a farmer in Wisconsin 
and was successful in his management of his re- 
sources. In 1891 Christian Hoff decided to come 
to the Pacific Northwest, locating at Lawrence, in 
Whatcom county. He continued at farming for six 
years and then entered mercantile life, making a 
success in that line. Christian Hoff's wife, Caro- 
line Lunde, was born in Norway, in 1836, and came 
to the United States in 1854. She became the 
mother of three children: Herman C. Hoft' and 
Mrs. Maggie Sorenson, besides the subject of this 
sketch. Gustave received his education in the pub- 
lic schools at Lawrence and Tacoma, with a business 
course in the Pacific Lutheran Academy. At the 
age of twenty-one years, he went to work in shingle 
mills of Whatcom county for three years. Two 
years at farming followed, when he came to Skagit 
county and bought his present place of eighty acres 
five miles south of Mount Vernon. 

In June, 1894, at Lawrence, Mr. Hoff married 
Miss Emma Tollum, daughter of Christian Tollum, 
a native of Norway, who came to the United States 
in 1871, and was farmer and carpenter in Minne- 
sota and Dakota for twelve years. Later coming to 
Whatcom county he now operates a farm of two 
hundred and forty acres of bottom land near Law- 
rence. Mrs. Hoff's mother was born in Norway, 
coming to this country at eleven years of age. She 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



is the mother of Mrs. Josephine Hoff, Anton, Clara, 
Nelse, Christian, Annie and Mary Tollum. Mrs. 
Hoff was born in November, 1873, Hved at home 
and received her education until she was twenty- 
one years of age, when she married. Three of her 
children are living: Cora, born in April, 1895; 
Chester, liurn in Xovcmber, LSi.lT, and Christian, 
born in September, 1904. Another child, Alice, died 
in infancy. Mr. Hoff is one of the most successful 
dairy, poultry and grain raisers on the sound. On 
his eighty rcres of rich bottom land he has twenty- 
six milch cows, fourteen head of stock cattle, sixty 
head of hogs and five hundred White Leghorn 
chickens raised from imported fowl. Mr. Hoff is 
thoroughly modern and up to date in his methods, 
using incubators in his poultry department and per- 
mitting nothing on his place except pedigreed stock, 
of finest selection, for which he is becoming noted. 
He fancies Jeriey cattle. In politics Mr. Hoff is a 
Republican. He was a member of the dike commis- 
sion which expended $3,100 in building the concrete 
flumes which drain land near Conway, the subject 
of much opposition during the period of construc- 
tion, but now pronounced the best possible solution 
of a much vexed question. In church alliance, 
Mr. and Mrs. Hoff attend the Lutheran church. 
Energetic, aggressive, and possessed of the right 
ideas of progress, both in private and public mat- 
ters, Mr. Hoft"s business judgment and public spir- 
itedness are recognized and his worth appreciated 
in the communitv which claims him as a citizen. 



EMERY SPAHR is one of the extensive oat 
producers of Skagit county. He was born near 
York, Pennsylvania, in March, 1868, but has 
been a resident of Skagit county since 1893. He 
is the senior member of the firm of Spahr Brothers, 
which in the space of five years has developed a 
large and successful business in the vicinity of 
]\Iount Vernon. The father, Emmanuel Spahr, was 
born in Pennsylvania and has lived in York County, 
Pennsylvania, all his life, still working at his trade 
of carpenter. The mother is Amanda (Beck) 
Spahr, also a native of York county, and still a 
resident there. She is the mother of eleven children, 
three of whom are deceased. The living are : Mrs. 
Amanda Nieman, Mrs. Mamie Stremmel, Jesse, 
Emery, David, George, Noah and Reuben. Emery 
Spahr attended the schools of his native place and 
lived at home until twenty-two years of age, at 
which time he went to Hazleton, Pennsylvania, and 
worked in the coal mines for two and a half years. 
For a time after reaching Skagit county he worked 
in various places and at various things, and then in 
company with his brothers, Noah, David and 
George, purchased the present place of one hundred 
and fifty-three acres, six miles south of Mount Ver- 
non, and commenced farming. Starting in this ven- 
ture, with Emery as the senior partner, the assets 
of the entire partnership five years ago were $25 



in cash and lots of hustle. They bought a second 
hand threshing outfit and made money enough 
to secure the purchase of the farm. They 
added a hay baler to their belongings and success- 
fully operated that. The old machines have been 
replaced with new, and the brothers are doing a 
good business with their machinery. In addition to 
operating the original land purchase, one hundred 
and twenty acres of leased oat land is farmed by 
the partners. A few sheep have been secured as a 
nucleus of an extensive venture in sheep raising. 
Mr. Spahr in politics is an independent. He has 
no lodge connections and is not a member of any 
denominational church. As the head of the firm of 
Spahr Brothers, Emery has made an enviable suc- 
cess out of what was a very small beginning. 



ANDREW ANDERSON, whose dairy farm is 
about four miles northwest of Mount Vernon, is not 
one of the early pioneers of Skagit county, but he 
is a man who in a little more than a decade of resi- 
dence here has established himself firmly in the 
business circles of the community and has earned 
for himself the best regards of all who come in con- 
tact with him. Mr. Anderson was born at Broden 
in Sweden in 1857, the son of Bent Anderson, who' 
came to the United States in middle life and settled 
in Minnesota, where during twenty years of farm- 
ing, he accumulated a competency and is now re- 
tired from active pursuits. The elder Anderson was 
married twice, the first wife being Hannah (Ben- 
son) Anderson, who died in the old country in 1864, 
leaving two children, Bina and Andrew. The sec- 
ond wife, Mrs. Nellie (Peterson) Anderson, a 
native of Sweden, is still living in Minnesota, the 
mother of seven children : Christina, John, Nels, 
August, Joseph, Otto and Peter. Andrew Ander- 
son lived at home until he was twenty-one years of 
age, but left school six years earlier to learn the 
trade of blacksmith, which he followed until he 
came to this country and commenced farm life in 
Illinois in 1878. Eleven years were then passed at 
farming near Litchfield, iMinnesota, Mr. Anderson 
coming to Tacoma in 1889 and working in a groc- 
ery. Three years later, in 1893, he came to Skagit 
county and bought a place of ten acres, to which 
have been added twenty-three more, constituting his 
present farm holdings. 

In 1887 while residing in Minnesota Mr. Ander- 
son married Miss Agnes Hanson, daughter of Alex- 
ander Hanson, a Swedish carpenter who came to 
the United estates many years asro and died in Idaho 
in 1901. Mrs. Hanson is still living near Moscow, 
Idaho. Mrs. Anderson was born in 1851 and died 
in 1899, leaving two children, George and Oscar. 
In 1890 at Tacoma, Mr. Anderson married again, 
the second wife being Miss Olea Tofte, daughter 
of Hanse Tofte, a Norwegian farmer who died in 
1880. Mrs. Mary (Hanson) Tofte is still living, 
at the age of seventy-eight years with Mr. and Mrs. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Anderson. Mrs. Anderson was born in 1857 and 
lived with her mother until her marriage. One 
child, Albert, has been the issue of this union, but 
he died in infancy. In politics Mr. Anderson is a 
Democrat and is active in the councils of his party. 
In lodge circles he is a Modern Woodmen of Amer- 
ica. The Andersons attend the Methodist church. 
The thirty-three acres of the Anderson farm are all 
cleared and under cultivation, and a fine eight-room 
house has been erected. Mr. Anderson's dairy herd 
numbers twenty head of selected stock. His horses 
are draft animals and sufficient in number for the 
work about the farm. Mr. Anderson is one of the 
successful business men of the community and in 
character stands very high in the esteem of his fel- 
low-citizens. 



PETER PETERSON, engaged in farming in 
the Skagit valley four miles southwest of Mount 
\'ernon, is of Swedish birth and descent, born May 
1, 1846. His father, Peter Engmunson, also follow- 
ed agriculture in the old country. Carrie Engmun- 
son, the mother, died in Sweden some years ago, 
leaving five children of whom the subject of this 
sketch is third in age. Peter attended school until 
he was fifteen years old, then struck out for himself. 
He obtained employment on neighboring farms and 
for three years was thus engaged, then took up the 
life of a sailor. Seven years he followed the sea or 
until he had attained the age of twenty-five, relin- 
quishing that occupation in 18T1 to return to the 
farm. During the next nine years he resided in 
Sweden, but in 1880, came to the United States, 
setthng first in Saline County, Kansas, where he 
farmed seven years. From there he went to Min- 
nesota, and he spent two years in that state, then 
came to Washington. Skagit county attracted him, 
so he rented a place on the north fork of the river, 
but two years later he removed to Skagit City, 
where he purchased sixty-six acres of school land 
and commenced improving it with all the energy 
and skill at his command. Desiring to engage in 
intensive farming, he did not wish so large a farm, 
so he sold all but sixteen acres. This tract he has 
improved to an unusual degree, setting out 300 
fruit trees, erecting a small, comfortable dwelling 
and other buildings, etc. To this he has since 
added an adjoining ten-acre tract, secured by pur- 
chase. 

While a resident of Sweden, in 18T1, Mr. Peter- 
son married Miss Hanna Peterson, who is also a 
native of Sweden. Carl, the older of their children, 
born in 1872, is now living at Skagit City, but 
Pearl, born in 1875, died in the land of her nativity. 
Mr. and Mrs. Peterson are members of the Luther- 
an church, and politically, he is a Republican. A 
successful farmer, a public spirited citizen and pro- 
gressive man, Mr. Peterson may justly be classed 
as one of the builders of Skagit county. 



NELSE H. LEE is one of the enterprising citi- 
zens of the section a few miles southwest of Mount 
Vernon, where he operates a dairy farm and in the 
course of a very few years has established himself 
firmly as one of the leading business spirits of the 
neighborhood. Mr. Lee was born in Norway, July 19, 
1867, the son of Hans N. and Bertha (Nelsen) Lee, 
born respectively in 1837 and 1840, and who are 
still living on the farm across the sea. He is one 
of nine children, the others being Corina, Andrew, 
Nellie, Jacob, Alete, Mary, Inga and Oli. Until he 
was fourteen years of age young Lee attended the 
schools of Norway and passed the four subsequent 
years at the carpenter's bench. He came to this 
country and settled on a farm in Kansas in 1885 for 
a short time, later coming to Seattle and ultimately 
to Snohomish county. For six years he worked in 
the woods, subsequently embarking in the hotel and 
restaurant business in Everett. This venture was 
fairly successful, but after two years Mr. Lee de- 
cided to become a farmer. He then came to Skagit 
county and after locating on twenty acres, bought 
the land and has lived there ever since. 

In the same year Mr. Lee married Miss Mary 
Hanson, daughter of Hans Helda, a farmer and 
school teacher of Norway who died in that country 
in 1885. Mrs. Olga Helda is still living in the old 
country. Mrs. Lee was born in Norway, in April, 
1864, one of seven children, the others being Bert, 
Hans, Ole, Mary, Segrid and Rande. She came to 
the United States in 1888, and was working in a 
hotel when married. Seven children have been 
born to this union, of whom Olga, Hattie, Harold, 
Beatrice and Noble are living. In politics IMr. Lee 
is a staunch Democrat, while religiously the family 
attend the Swedish Methodist church. The Lee 
home consists of a fine nine-room house, well locat- 
ed on their forty-acre tract, fifteen acres of which 
are cleared, supporting twenty-one head of milch 
cows, and young cattle and horses for carrying on 
the farm work. Mr. Lee has been successful in all 
his undertakings and is rated as one of the solid and 
energetic men of his neighborhood. 



ANDREW A. BERGSETH GELD was born 
in Norwav June 11, 1857, the son of Aslak A. Berg- 
seth Geld,' a man who passed all his life as a farmer 
of Norway, where he was born in 1824. The mother, 
Gura Bergseth Geld, still lives in the old country. 
She is the mother of two children. Andrew passed 
his life in Norway, going to school and working on 
the farm, until twenty-nine years of age. In 1888 
he came to the United States, stopping at Fir, 
Skagit County, Washington, first, where he remain- 
ed for one year at farm work. In 1890 he bought 
fifteen acres of land which constitutes a part of his 
holdings at present, four miles southwest of Mount 
Vernon. It was then covered with stumps, but Mr. 
Bergseth Geld has completely removed them, estab- 
lishing in their place a dairy farm. Recently he has 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



added by purchase twenty acres and is enlarging his 
dairy operations. The land is very fertile, and what 
is not necessary to the maintenance of the thirteen 
cows Mr. Bergseth Geld is now milking, is well 
adapted for general purposes, and is being utilized in 
the raising of hogs and the establishment of an ex- 
tensive poultry ranch. 

In 1886, while yet in Norway, Mr. Bergseth 
Geld married Miss Gura Bergseth, daughter of Ole 
and Ingabor (Udagar) Bergseth, both of whom 
died in their native land in 1888 and 1855, at the 
age of eighty-two, and forty-nine, respectively. 
Mrs. Bergseth was born in Norway and lived at 
home until her marriage. Mr. Bergseth Geld is a 
Republican and a member of the Swedish Meth- 
odist Episcopal church. He has erected on his home 
place a fine house and takes much pride in keeping 
his buildings in hne repair. His place shows thrift 
as well as energy and his farm is well cared for in 
every particular. 



HIRAM E. WELLS is one of the numerous 
settlers of the Puget sound country who came from 
New Brunswick and brought with them the ideas 
of thrift and application to work which is a domi- 
nating trait of the people of their native province. 
Mr. Wells was born June 21, 1854, the son of Judas 
Wells. The latter's father was originally one of the 
American colonists, but during the Revolutionary 
War cast in his lot with the royalists and moved to 
New Brunswick. Judah Wells returned to the 
States in 1883, and coming to Washington he took 
up as a homestead the land which is now occupied 
by Samuel Dunlap. He died at La Conner in 1899. 
Mrs. Hannah (Starratt) Wells was also born in 
Nova Scotia. She is still living, making her home 
at La Conner, the subject of this sketch being the 
eldest of her five children. Hiram E. Wells was 
educated in the schools of New Brunswick and con- 
tinued on the old home farm until eighteen years of 
age, at which time he apprenticed himself to the 
blacksmith's trade for a term of three years. Mas- 
tering the knowledge of the industry, he continued 
at the anvil and forge for two years, migrating to 
Washington in 1877. Mr. Wells located in what is 
now Skagit county, being the first settler in the 
Ridgeway section of that county. His first place 
was acquired by squatter's rights on railroad grant- 
ed land, where, as soon as it was opened for settle- 
ment, he filed his homestead. Mr. Wells built the 
first road to the old Isaac Jennings place, and it was 
he who opened the first trail from Ridgeway to the 
Skagit river country, four and a half miles in 
length. During this period Mrs. Wells was the only 
white woman in the Ridgeway country. In 1893 
Mr. Wells sold off 100 acres of his homestead, all 
of which he had cleared, and moved to British Co- 
lumbia, locating at Mission City. He remained 
there for seven years, directing his attention to 
various enterprises and in 1900 returned to his old 



place in Skagit county. He has now sixty acres of 
cleared land and is building up a dairy ranch. 

Mr. Wells married in New Brunswick in 1877, 
Alfreda L. Marsters, the daughter of Thomas 
Marsters, a seafaring man who was lost at sea about 
the time his daughter was born. Mrs. Wells' moth- 
er was Martha (Canning) Marsters, who is buried 
in New Brunswick. Mrs. Wells was born in Sum- 
merville, Nova Scotia, and received her education 
in the schools of that province and of New Bruns- 
wick. At the close of her high school course she 
received a first grade certificate and taught school 
for four years, leaving the teacher's desk to become 
a bride and at once start on a honeymoon trip across 
the continent to La Conner and Ridgeway. Nine 
children have been born to this union, all but the 
youngest being born in Skagit county. Thev are 
Hulet M., Carl A., Effie C, Mrs. Lorna D. Aber- 
crombie of British Columbia ; Lincoln, Starratt, 
Bruce, Marsters and Lawrence, the last named born 
during the residence of his parents in the province 
of British Columbia. Mr. Wells is a member of the 
Woodmen of the World, of the Grange and of the 
Baptist church. He is a Republican in politics. His 
sixty acres of land are all under cultivation, half of 
them being in pasture. The nucleus of his dairy 
herd is twenty head of the best milkers obtainable. 



THOMAS G. LOCKHART, one of the Skagit 
valley's prosperous farmers, is an lowan by birth, 
born in the year 1870. His father Samuel, an 
Ohioan by nativity, went to Iowa when a child and 
there made his home until 1886, when he bought his 
present farm in Skagit county, upon which he re- 
sides. The ancestry of this branch of the family is 
Scotch-Irish. Mrs. Mary (West) Lockhart, also a 
native of Iowa, is the mother of six children of 
whom Thomas G. is the oldest. Coming to Skagit 
county when sixteen years of age, having received 
in Iowa a thorough education in the public schools 
supplemented by a high school course at Sumner, 
young Lockhart at once went on his father's farm. 
An unfortunate accident shortly resulted in a bro- 
ken leg and upon his recovery he was sent back to 
Iowa where he continued his studies a year and a 
half. Returning to Skagit county in 1891, he first 
became clerk in the Brunswick hotel at La Conner. 
Five months later he went to Stevens County, 
Washington, and took up a homestead, which he 
sold four years afterward. Again returning to the 
sound he rented the Bartlet place near Bay View, 
operating it two years, then in succession of one 
year leases worked the Leonard place on the Sam- 
ish and the McCormick farm on the Swinomish 
flats, always meeting with success. In -1900 he was 
thus enabled to purchase his present substantial 
home five miles northwest of Mount Vernon, the 
tract once having been school land. 

Mr. Lockhart was united in marriage to Miss 
Rossie Martin at La Conner in 1896, and to this 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



union two sons have been born : Martin, February 
15, 1897, and Purcell, September 21, 1899. Mrs. 
Lockhart was born in 1876, her parents being Wil- 
Ham and Bettie (Garner) Martin, both natives of 
Tennessee. Mr. Martin was of German extraction 
and hved for a time in lUinois. Both parents are 
laid at rest in the Southern hills they loved so well, 
the mother when her daughter Rossie was only six 
years of age. Mr. Lockhart is a member of the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Wood- 
men of the World; the family attends the Meth- 
odist church. An unusually attractive home is that 
of the Lockhart family, the residence being modern 
in construction and furnishing, and a spirit of prog- 
ress and culture pervading the atmosphere. Espe- 
cially does its founder take a just pride in the thor- 
ough equipment of his place and in the success he 
has attained in dairying. It seems little short of 
incredible that such a transformation can be made 
in a place as that which has been wrought by Mr. 
Lockhart. When he came, the woods were so dense 
that he had to clear a space upon which to set his 
cabin and it was impossible to reach the place by 
road. Now he has one of the prettiest, best im- 
proved places in the community. 



_ FRANK G. OLSON is another of Skagit coun- 
ty's citizens who has helped to convert her wild 
lands and forest wildernesses into fruitful farms 
and prosperous homesteads. Born in Henry Coun- 
ty, Illinois, the son of Olof T. Olson, he comes of 
Swedish-American parentage. The elder Olson left 
Sweden when twenty years of age and settled on a 
farm in Illinois, from which he removed to Kansas 
in 1872. In Kansas he spent the most of his life, 
coming to La Conner in 1904 to make his home for 
the rest of his days. Airs. Bertha Olson, the moth- 
er of the subject of this sketch, also a native of 
Sweden, is likewise passing her declining years in 
Skagit county. She is the mother of seven children 
of whom Frank G. is the second. As a lad young 
Olson passed through the usual routine of a farm- 
er boy's life, attending the common schools and as- 
sisting about the farm until he reached his majority. 
Then with characteristic faith in his own sturdy 
ability to make a home for himself, he left the fields 
of Kansas in 1883 and came to Washington, spend- 
ing the first few days in Seattle. That summer he 
spent in the harvest fields of eastern Washington, 
returning thence in the fall to Puget sound, and vis- 
iting La Conner. During the subsequent winter he 
returned to Kansas, spent a year farming there, and 
by 1886 he was back to Skagit county. Only a sea- 
son did he spend on the coast this time, returning to 
Kansas, where he was married. Taking up his res- 
idence on the sound once again, Mr. Olson worked 
a year at various occupations then pre-empted 120 
acres on the Sauk river near Sauk City, proving 
up seven months later. From Sauk City he went 
to La Conner and erected a substantiaf residence. 



In 1893 he traded this town property for forty acres 
of farming land and on this tract he now makes 
his home. He has cleared it of the forest, placed 
it all under cultivation and erected a handsome 
residence and substantial barns and other outbuild- 
ings. 

Mr. Olson was united to Miss Salma Lindfors in 
1887, the marriage taking place in Kansas. She 
is a native of Sweden, born in 1862. Of her par- 
ents only one, her father, is living, his home being 
in the old country. Mrs. Olson was reared and 
educated across the water, coming to this continent 
in 1883. Six children have blessed her home, all 
of whom, with one exception (Clara V.), were born 
in Kansas : Carl B., born in 1888 ; Clara V., in 
Kansas, in 1890; Lillie, 1892; Edna, 1896; Jose- 
phine, 1900, and Earl, 1902. Mr. Olson attends the 
Lutheran church, though not affiliated with its 
membership, is a member of the Grange, and at the 
polls votes independently. His thrifty farm is well 
stocked with cattle and horses, modern machinery, 
etc., in keeping with the position of their owner as 
a progressive agriculturist. 



RICHARD H. PETH, one of the successful 
and substantial farmers of the country north of La 
Conner, is a native of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, 
born April 23, 1861. Like many another of the 
solid citizens of the American states, he is of Swiss 
extraction, his father, Jacob, and his mother, Bar- 
bara (Burg) Peth, being both natives of Switzer- 
land. They immigrated to this country quite early 
in life, settling first in the Badger state and later in 
Nebraska. In the former commonwealth Richard 
H. grew to man's estate. Being one of six children 
he necessarily had to assist his father on the farm as 
soon as he was able, but he nevertheless acquired 
a good common school education. At the age of 
twenty-two he left the parental roof, came to Ska- 
git county, whither his brother John had preceded 
him, and began there an earnest struggle for a com- 
petency. He worked a short time on the farm of 
D. L. McCormick, then was associated with his 
brother for a year and a half at the end of which 
time, having secured the necessary start and the 
necessary knowledge of marshland farming, he 
rented a place from Mr. McCormick and began 
operations on his own account. Three years were 
thus spent, then, in the fall of 1888, he bought a 
quarter section on Samish flats, which he retained 
a year. His subsequent operations consisted of 
farming a ranch rented from his brother for eight 
years, then one he bought on Whitney island for 
three years, then one rented from Peter Downey 
for two years, then the sale of all his interests in 
Skagit county and a return to his old home in Wis- 
consin for a four-months' visit, and finally the rent- 
ing and subsequent purchase of the splendid place 
upon which he now lives. 

With the thrift and industry which are charac- 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



teristics of his race, he has devoted himself untir- 
ingly to the improvement of this property and the 
installation upon it of' everything in the way of 
buildings and facilities which could make it more 
homelike or its operation more convenient and 
profitable. He has a fine home and his efforts and 
labors in Skagit county have been so well reward- 
ed that he is not likely to suffer in the near future 
for want of worldly wealth. His land holdings ag- 
gregate 117 acres all in a high state of cultivation. 
Mr. Peth was married in 1891, the lady being Miss 
Carrie E., daughter of Martin and Wilhelmina 
(Myer) Koenig. Her father was a wagon maker 
of Germany, <who came as a 3'oung man to Wis- 
consin where he died November 25, 1903, and 
where her mother still lives. Mrs. Peth was born 
there in 18G7, May 18, was educated in the local 
schools, and lived there continuously until the time 
of her marriage. She was the seventh of eleven 
children, five of whom are still living. She and 
Mr. Peth are parents of three children : Hazel, born 
in 1892; Fremont R., in 1896, and Milburn M., in 
1898. The last mentioned died at the age of six 
months. In fraternal affiliation, Mr. Peth is a mem- 
ber of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and 
in politics an active Republican, while his church 
membership is in the local Methodist Episcopal 
body. 



ROBERT GUNTHER is one of the self-made 
men of Skagit county. Coming as a young man 
into that district his industry and foresight have 
won him an enviable position. He has gained a 
competence within a few years and holds the re- 
spect of the entire community in which he lives. 

Mr. Gunther is the son of a German millwright, 
Charles Gunther, who came to the United States in 
1871. He settled in New Jersey, living there for 
thirteen years, and it was in that state that the sub- 
ject of this sketch was born, the third of eight chil- 
dren. After their stay in New Jersey the family 
spent a number of years in Minnesota and there 
Mr. Gunther's mother, who, like her husband, was 
of German birth, died. From Minnesota the fam- 
ily moved to Washington in 1891. Charles Gun- 
ther died six years later in California. 

Robert Gunther was educated in the schools of 
New Jersey and Minnesota. When seventeen 
years old he took up the trade of carpenter follow- 
ing it for four years in Minnesota and Washington. 
In 1893 he went to the La Conner flats and worked 
on a farm the three following years for Isaac Jen- 
nings. Then the young man leased the Caches farm 
and worked it for six years. In 1900 he bought 
his present eighty-acre farm four and a half miles 
northwest of Mount Vernon. At that time only 
ten acres had been cleared. Now the entire farm 
is under cultivation, and, with its modern home and 
two large barns, constitutes a valuable holding. 

On New Year's day, 1897, Mr. Gunther mar- 



ried Miss Martha Singer, daughter of William 
Singer, a native- of Iowa. The Singer family 
moved to Oregon in 1882, and after living there 
seven years, went to La Conner in 1889. Mr. Sing- 
er at present lives at Avon, Skagit county. Mrs. 
Singer, who is also living at Avon, was Miss Rose 
Paul, a native of Minnesota. Mrs. Gunther was 
born in the same state in June, 1881. As she was 
still young when her family moved to Skagit coun- 
ty, she obtained her education there, and there, too, 
was married at the age of sixteen. Three children 
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Gunther, Ernest, 
1897; Ralph, 1899, and Paul, 1901. 

Mr. Gunther is a Yeoman and a Granger. He 
is active in the Methodist church, being steward, 
class leader and superintendent of the Sunday 
scliool. In politics he is a Republican. He is one 
of the trustees of the newly organized co-operative 
store at IMount Vernon, in fact, is recognized as a 
man of varied activities, having the confidence of 
all who know him. liis home is one of refinement 
and culture. 



NELS ANDERSON is one of the most popular 
of the Swedish-American citizens of the western 
part of Skagit county. He has developed a mod- 
ern farm from heavily timbered lowland and is one 
of the well-to-do agriculturists of his section. Mr. 
Anderson was born in Sweden in 186G, the son of 
Anders and Sophia (Dangtson) Carlson, both na- 
tives of Sweden, who never left their native land. 
]\Irs. Carlson was the mother of twelve children, of 
which Nels is ninth in order of birth. Mr. Ander- 
son received his education in the Swedish schools 
and remained at home until he was twenty-one years 
of age. On attaining his majority he came to the 
United States and chose Kansas as the place and 
farming as the means of making a livelihood. Two 
years on the plains followed, Mr. Anderson work- 
ing on farms. In 1889 he came to Washington and 
passed about three years working on farms in the 
vicinity of La Conner, deciding in 1893 to pur- 
chase a place of his own. He bought forty acres 
of timber four and a half miles west of Mount Ver- 
non, which he has converted into his present farm- 
stead. In addition to removing the timber, Mr. 
Anderson has had to dike and drain his land in 
order to bring it into its present high state of cul- 
tivation. Ten acres are in grass and the remainder 
for the most part in oats. 

In 1898, at Tacoma, Mr. Anderson married Mrs. 
Anna L. (Johnson) Anderson, daughter of John 
and Hannah (Carlsted) Johnson, natives of 
Sweden, who passed their entire lives in the old 
country. Mrs. Anderson was born in Sweden in 
1862 and received her education there, coming to 
Tacoma, Wash., when si.xteen years old. On the 
death of her first husband, a brother of Nels An- 
derson, she and her children were cared for by the 
subject of this sketch, to whom she was later mar- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



ried. Of the first union tliere are four children, 
Rudolph A., Nora, Robert and Herman. In poH- 
tics Mr. Anderson is affiliated with the Democrats, 
but is not very active. The Andersons attend the 
■Mission church. In fraternal circles Mr. Anderson 
is a Yeoman. In addition to raising hay and oats 
^Ir. Anderson has a herd of twenty-two cattle. He 
has been uniformly successful in business and is 
recognized as one of the sterling citizens of his com- 
munity. 



WILLIAM R. WELLS has had a career 
marked with success, whether as merchant or as 
farmer, and is looked upon as one of the best citi- 
zens of Skagit county. He was born in New 
lirunswick in ls:,S. His father was Judah Wells, 
a farmer who left New Brunswick for Skagit coun- 
ty m jss:;, and died here in 1899. The Wells are 
(if Xorman-b'rench extraction and trace back to 
William the Conqueror and the feudal barons, who 
turned the tide of English history at the battle of 
Hastings. Mrs. Wells was Miss Hannah Starratt, 
a native of Nova Scotia of Scotch-Irish ancestry. 
She is still living at La Conner, the mother of six 
children. William R. Wells obtained the education 
aflforded by the New Brunswick schools, remaining 
at home until twenty-five years of age. He, in com- 
pany with his parents then came to Skagit county 
in 1883. For one year young Wells helped his 
father clear his farm and then accepted employment 
in the general store of B. L. Martin, in La Conner. 
Here he continued for four years when he formed 
a partnership with his brother and bought a gro- 
cery in La Conner, which was operated under the 
name of Wells Brothers. After successfully con- 
ducting this business for four years the firm sold 
out and William R. Wells accepted a deputyship in 
the office of the county treasurer, which necessi- 
tated his removal to Mount Vernon. At the close 
of his term he returned to La Conner and resumed 
the grocery business. After three years he removed 
to Sedro-Woolley and entered the dry goods busi- 
ness of Coddington & McGowan, where he re- 
mained for two years. In the spring of 1902, leav- 
ing the mercantile, he took up agriculture, remov- 
ing to the farm which he had acquired in 1891, the 
present home of the Wells family, four and a half 
miles west of Mount Vernon. 

Mr. Wells has been twice married. The first 
wife was Miss Ella J. Calhoun, a native of New 
Brunswick and a cousin of Dr. Calhoun, well known 
in Skagit county, Seattle and Port Townsend. Of 
this union there were two children, both of whom 
died and are buried with their mother in Mount 
Vernon. In 1899 Mr. Wells married Miss Ruth 
Guenther, daughter of Henry Guenther, a native 
of Germany, who on coming to this country lived 
in Buffalo, New York and St. Paul, Minnesota, 
where he was employed by the Great Northern rail- 
road until his death in 1899. The mother, Eliza- 
si 



beth (Batsle) Guenther, was a native of Germany. 
Mrs. Wells was born in Buffalo, New York, in 
1866. Her early education was obtained in St. Paul, 
but after coming to Washington she took a three 
year course at the Ellensburg State Normal School. 
Obtaining a life diploma for teaching, she taught 
school for five years, abandoning an educational 
career for married life. Two children are the issue 
of this union, Dorothy B., born in Sedro-Woolley 
in 1902, and W^illiam R., born on the farm in 1903. 
Mr. W'ells is a Republican in politics and in addi- 
tion to his term as deputy county treasurer has 
served several terms as city clerk of La Conner, be- 
ing a popular and efficient public servant. In 
church circles he is a Baptist and in fraternal rela- 
tions a member of the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, the Ancient Order of United Workmen 
and of the Woodmen of the World. While many 
friends have regretted the retirement of Mr. Wells 
from public life, he is well satisfied to operate his 
farm, which consists of twenty-two acres, all under 
careful cultivation. He makes a specialty of his 
dairy and stock, having fifteen cattle at the present 
time. Mr. W'ells is deservedly popular and is a 
man of ability along any line which he chooses to 
pursue. 



JOSEPH E. EWING has by sheer force of 
character and self-training advanced himself from 
a farmer boy of Ohio to one of the successful and 
respected citizens of Skagit county. With only the 
rudiments of an education possibly while a boy, Mr. 
Ewing has supplemented the slight foundation thus 
gained by hard private study and has been a suc- 
cessful school teacher as well as a successful farmer 
and capable public servant. Mr. Ewing was born 
in Preble County, Ohio, in 1864. His father, Wil- 
liam A. Ewing, was born in Paisley, Scotland, in 
1829, and came to East Hampton, Massachusetts, 
when a )-oung man. He settled on a farm in Ohio 
later in life and is still a resident there. Mrs. Ew- 
ing, who was ]\Iiss Margrett T. Thompson, a native 
of Greenock, Scotland, came with her parents to 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when but two years 
old. Her parents died in Philadelphia, victims of 
cholera. Joseph E. Ewing attended the common 
school in Ohio when a lad and for several years, 
while working on his father's farm, found time to 
pursue his studies further. He was eventually suc- 
cessful in passing a teacher's examination, and 
taught school there for some years, living at the 
old home. In 1889 he came to Washington, and 
worked on a Skagit county ranch for two years. 
In 1891 he purchased his present place of forty 
acres, four miles west of Mount Vernon. The three 
subsequent years were devoted to clearing his land 
of timber and ditching the low places. He also 
worked out for money with which to improve his 
holding. In 1895 he had cleared enough of his 
original purchase to commence farming it. In 1897 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



he added twenty acres, and in the following year 
forty acres more. Mr. Ewing now has two hun- 
dred acres of land, 175 of which is cleared and 
under cultivation, constituting one of the fine farm 
properties of the county. 

In Seattle in 1895 Mr. Ewing married Miss 
Mary A. Osborn, daughter of Henry H. and Eliza- 
beth (Burnett) Osborn. Mr. Osborn was born in 
Ohio of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and before his death 
in this state in 1899 was a pioneer farmer of Indi- 
ana and Illinois, later living for eight years on a 
Kansas farm before coming to Washington. Mrs. 
Osborn was likewise an Ohioan, dying in 1872, the 
mother of five children. Mrs. Ewing was born in 
Cumberland County, Illinois, in 186-1, and received 
her education in the schools of her home vicinity. 
Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Ewing : William, in 189G ; Frank, in 1898 ; Helen, 
in 1901, and Riley on Christmas day, 1902. Mr. 
Ewing's public service in Skagit county consists of 
seven years as dike commissioner and as member of 
the school board. In fraternal circles he is a Mod- 
ern Woodman of America. The Ewings are Pres- 
byterians. Mr. Ewing is extensively engaged in 
raising stock on his ranch, as well as carrying on 
general farming. Mr. Ewing has been successful in 
whatever he has undertaken and is popular with 
his fellows and respected by all. 



MARTIN L. BEST. Left an orphan at the age 
of four years, the subject of this narrative was 
thrown upon the sea of life at an early age with 
no guiding hand but his own, but that he has suc- 
cessfully stemmed the adverse currents no one who 
knows him now and sees his well kept and pros- 
perous farm can deny. Mr. Best was born in 
Blount County, Tennessee, in the early part of 1865, 
the son of Jacob and Nancy (Taylor), Best. The 
elder Best was a North Carolinian by birth and lived 
in that state until he went to Tennessee, where he 
followed farming for many years and later passed 
away in peace. He came of Pennsylvania Dutch 
stock. Mrs. Best, likewise a native of the hills of 
North Carolina, the mother of thirteen children, of 
whom Martin was the youngest. His father dying 
when the lad was' but two years old, and the mother 
only two years later, Martin was reared by an elder 
sister, attending school until he was sixteen years 
of age. He then cut loose from relatives and native 
state, going first to Alabama, where he passed a 
year. He spent the following year in Indiana. At 
this time he heard of the new Northwest and the 
wonderful opportunities oflfered to energy and 
push and facing westward, in the early part of 
1884 found himself on Fidalgo island. He was here 
employed for a number of months at farming, and 
then went to California for a year ; but the view he 
had obtained of Skagit county still lingered in his 
memory, and wooed by the irresistible charm of its 
sweeping rivers, forest covered hills and rich, ex- 



pansive flats, he once more returned to its precincts, 
resolved to cast his fortune with its future, weal or 
woe. He experienced some difficulty in getting an 
independent start in life, and continued to do farm 
work for a number of years, making the vicinity of 
La Conner and the Beaver Marsh the field of his 
labors. However, in 1895, he leased eighty acres 
of school land and, bent upon winning a deserved 
competency from reluctant Dame Fortune, he be- 
gan clearing and ditching the same. It was a 
tedious process, but with that pertinacity of purpose 
which is the dominating factor in the life of every 
successful man, he persevered in his fixed purpose 
until the reward came. 

At La Conner, early in 1895, Mr. Best and Ro- 
wena Dunlap, daughter of the pioneer. Isaac Dun- 
lap, were United in marriage. Air. Dunlap was born 
in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he learned the 
iron moulder's trade. This occupation, however, 
he later abandoned and sought emplo\ment in agri- 
cultural pursuits in Iowa and Kansas, in which lat- 
ter state he was eminently a pioneer. Not satisfied 
with conditions there, in 1863 he started across the 
plains and mountains by the ox team route to Cali- 
fornia, the golden Eldorado. After a residence 
there of fourteen years, he came to La Conner in 
1877, where he has since resided. Mrs. Susan 
(Maxwell) Dunlap, the mother, a native of Iowa, 
of good old Scotch-Irish stock, is still living in peace 
and contentment at her comfortable home near La 
Conner. Mrs. Best, who is a native of California, 
came to Skagit county with her parents in 1877, in 
her sixth year. Here she received her early edu- 
cation, which was later supplemented by a course in 
the Seattle Female College, and at the age of twen- 
ty-two she was united in marriage to Mr. Best. To 
this union have been born three children, of whom 
only Myrtle, the eldest, born in 1896, is living. Mr. 
Best is a zealous Odd Fellow, and has been honored 
by every official position within the gift of his local 
lodge, Delta lodge No. 33, of La Conner. He is 
also an active member of the Woodmen of the World 
and Ancient Order of United Workmen. Mrs. Best 
is a prominent member of the Rebekahs. Politic- 
ally Mr. Best is an earnest* exponent of Republican 
principles, ever active ' in furthering the interests 
of his party. The Best home consists of eighty 
acres of well tilled rich bottom land, improved by 
a substantial residence and commodious farm build- 
ings surrounding, which stand as a monument to 
the enterprise and thrift of their worthy owner. 
His Jersey cattle are Mr. Best's special pride. 



PETER E. JOHNSON is one of the successful 
farmers of the rich lands to the west of Mount 
Vernon. He began life on his own account when 
but fourteen years of age and by sheer hard work 
and the steadiest application to business has forced 
himself to his present position of success. Mr. 
Johnson, a native of Sweden, was born in 1861, the 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



son of John and Christine (Pearson) Johnson. The 
elder Johnson was a farmer and passed his Hfe in 
the old country. The mother is still living across 
the Atlantic, the moth'jr of three children, of whom 
Peter is the oldest. Peter Johnson's boyhood days 
were those common to all Swedish farmer lads, at- 
tending school and doing chores about his father's 
place. At the age of twenty-six, he came to the 
United States. He crossed the continent to La Con- 
ner and remained there for a few months, working 
as a farm hand. The following winter he went to 
California and engaged in railroad work. Return- 
ing to Skagit county in 1889 he did farm work un- 
til he took up a homestead in Chehalis county in 
1892. I\Ir. Johnson lived in Chehalis county for 
two winters and before he had proved up on his 
land had a chance to trade it for ten acres near Bay 
View in Skagit county. He made the exchange 
and has made Skagit county his home ever since. 
In 1893 in Seattle J\Ir. Johnson married Miss 
Selma Martin, daughter of Morris Johnson, a na- 
tive of Sweden. Mrs. Johnson was born in the old 
country and received her education there. She 
come to the United States when she was twenty- 
five years of age. Of this union are three children, 
all born in Skagit county, Emma, Herbert and Wil- 
liam. In politics J\lr. Johnson is a Republican. He 
is a member of the Ancient Order of United Work- 
men and of the Lutheran church. The home place 
of ten acres is all in a wild state. He raises cattle 
and horses, having sixteen head of the former and 
nine of the latter, all good stock. He has lived on 
a leased farm of Peter Donev's since 1894. 



WILLIA:\I J. CORNELIUS, a \vell-known 
farmer, stockraiser and dairyman, residing in the 
Pleasant Ridge district between Mount Vernon and 
La Conner, is one of the oldej.t and worthiest pio- 
neers of Skagit county, though comparatively a 
young man. He was born on Whidby island, Sep' 
tember 10, 18GT, when the region now constituting 
Skagit county did not boast a single postoffice, his 
parents being John A. and Bessie J. (Wallace) Cor- 
nelius, two of the Northwest's early pioneers. John 
A. Cornelius, surveyor by profession, was born in 
the Green Mountain state in 1839, and when only 
twelve years of age crossed the plains to Oregon 
City. Three years later, or in 1855. he came north 
to Washington and on Puget sound established his 
home. Mining and surveying occupied his attention 
during the next few years, but he ultimately devoted 
himself almost entirely to his profession and farm- 
ing. Late in the sixties he commenced the survey 
of the sound's northern shore line and before this 
task was finished had surveyed nearly all of the 
islands, the Samish, Swinomish, Skagit and Stilla- 
guamish regions and other detached sections, thus 
enabling the pioneer settlers to obtain title to their 
claims. It is in connection with this extensive work 
that Mr. Cornelius is best known in Skagit county 



history, though he is also credited with becoming 
one of the first half-dozen settlers in the Swino- 
mish flat region, his claim at Pleasant Ridge hav- 
ing been taken late in ISGS. After an unusually 
active and useful life, this pioneer surveyor and 
hardy frontiersman, in 1884, passed away at his 
Pleasant Ridge farm. Mrs. Cornelius was born 
in Oregon in 1849, only a year after that isolated 
outpost of the American union was admitted as a 
territory. She was reared on Whidby island and 
there married Mr. Cornelius. After his death she 
became the wife of J. O. Rudene, and is at present 
residing at Pleasant Ridge. To her is due the 
honor of being the first white woman to make per- 
manent settlement on the Skagit mainland or out- 
lying islands, she having come with her husband in 
1868. 

^Villiam ].. therefore, was brought to the Ska- 
git country when a mere infant and was reared and 
educated there, participating personally in the rec- 
lamation of the wild wastes of tide marsh and dense 
forest jungle. The life of the frontier appealed to 
him naturally. Hard, unremitting toil in subjugat- 
ing the land had no terrors for him, and hardships 
were but commonplace incidents to the young pio- 
neer. .After finishing the common school course, 
he attended the university at Seattle, taking a busi- 
ness course, then returned to his mother, with whom 
he lived until he reached the age of twenty-two. 
That year he began farming on his own account, 
renting a place from his step-father, which he has 
since continued to occupy, gradually transforming it 
into one of the excellent farms in the locality. Mr. 
Rudene and he are also the owners of a threshing 
outfit, which is operated under the management oi 
Mr. Cornelius. 

Miss Jennie R. Williams, the daughter of 
Charles H. and Ellen (Crandall) Williams, became 
the wife of Mr. Cornelius at Seattle in 1888. Her 
father, formerly a mechanic, but now engaged in 
farming, is a native of Massachusetts. He came 
to Skagit county in 1885, where he still resides, 
but Mrs. Williams died in Massachusetts. Born in 
the Bay state in 1872, Airs. Cornelius was early 
taken to Pocahontas county, Iowa, where she lived 
until the removal to Washington in 1885. Three 
years later, at the age of sixteen, she was married. 
Five children are the fruit of this marriage: John 
A., born in May, 1889 ; Charles H., in 1890 ; Philip 
R., in 1892 ; Vera, in 1895, and May, in 1903. Fra- 
ternally, Mr. Cornelius is affiliated with the I. O. 
O. F., in which order he is a past grand ; and with 
the A. O. U. W., and politically, he is an ardent Re- 
publican. The family are attendants of the Metho- 
dist church. Of his sixty acres of land, forty are 
in cultivation, while the stock consists of seventy- 
five head of cattle. Jerseys predominating, and four- 
teen fine horses. Mr. Cornelius is 'a man of force 
in the community, successful in his business enter- 
prises, and held in high esteem by his fellow citizens. 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



MATTHEW BESSNER, one of Skagit coun- 
ty's pioneer citizens, now engaged in agricultural 
pursuits at his fine farm on the Skagit delta, is the 
son of another well known pioneer of this region, 
John Bessner. Born in Luxemberg, Germany, De- 
cember 5, 1829, the elder man came to the United 
States early in the fifties, settling ultimately in 
Minnesota. There he followed farming until 1875, 
that year coming west to Puget sound in the hope 
of bettering his condition. At Whatcom he en- 
tered the coal mines, in which he spent two years, 
in the meantime sending for his family in 1876. A 
year later he removed to the town of La Conner, 
worked out a year, then rented a farm two 
years, at the end of which period he bought a tract, 
diked and sold it. In 1880 he removed to the Ska- 
git delta, renting a half section of school land, then 
in its wild condition. After many years of toil and 
hardship, he reclaimed the entire tract, sold half 
of it (he having purchased the 320 acres), and on 
the remainder successfully farmed and raised stock 
until his death, February 12, 1905. Mrs. Mary 
(Beninger) Bessner, his wife, also a native of Lux- 
emberg, was married in Ohio, and with her hus- 
band underwent all the privations common to pio- 
neer life on the American frontier. Her death oc- 
curred in April, 1904. 

Matthew Bessner, fifth in a family of twelve 
children, was born October 16, 1867, in Dakota 
County, Minnesota. When only a lad of nine years 
he accompanied his mother and the family west to 
the new home founded on the shores of Puget sound 
by the father, and in Whatcom and Skagit counties 
received his rearing and education. He remained 
at home on the farm until twenty-two, working the 
last year for wages, then rented one of Edward Mc- 
Taggart's farms near Edison. A year and a half 
later he removed south to the Skagit delta, where 
he rented a place owned by a brother. Subsequent- 
ly he rented land three years from his father and 
following that the old Rollins place for five years. 
In 1902 he purchased his present farm, embracing 
120 acres of as fine land as there is in that section, 
upon which he has erected an excellent seven-room 
dwelling and substantial outbuildings, thus giving 
him a most convenient as well as a valuable piece 
of property. It lies ten miles southwest of the coun- 
ty seat. The stock includes sixty neat cattle and 
nine head of horses. 

Miss Annie Summers, a daughter of Henry and 
Sarah (Cleverly) Summers, well known residents 
of Skagit county, was united in marriage to Mr. 
Bessner, at Mount Vernon, June 18, 1902. The 
Summers family is of English descent, both par- 
ents of Mrs. Bessner being natives of England, 
born in 1848 and 1849 respectively. They became 
early settlers in the Swinomish country and were 
prominently identified with the subjugation of the 
tide lands. A comprehensive sketch of their lives 
appears elsewhere among these biographies. Mrs. 
Summers passed away at Pleasant Ridge, Skagit 



county. December 9, 1889. Mrs. Bessner was born 
near Fir, December 17, 1878, and is, therefore, one 
of Skagit's own daughters. Her education was ob- 
tained in the schools of her native county. Two 
children have blessed the union : Herbert D., born 
April 14, 1903, and Mildred C, August 27, 1905. 
Mrs. Bessner is a member of the Baptist church, 
her husband, a communicant of the Catholic. Po- 
litically, he is a Republican, liberal in his views, 
and in matters of public interest is ever active. Suc- 
cessful in his business, a citizen shirking no obli- 
gation placed upon him, and esteemed by his asso- 
ciates, Mr. Bessner is identified with that type 
which is steadily pushing Skagit county to the front. 



LARS DANIELSON, one of Skagit county's 
substantial Noi-wegian citizens, successful farmer, 
and prominent in the development of the Skagit 
river's delta from a tide-swept waste into its pres- 
ent stretch of grain fields, gardens and meadows, 
resides just west of Fir in the very heart of that 
rich district. His birthplace is the northern part 
of Xorway. He was born May 17, 1856, to the 
union of Daniel and Guro (Johnson) Johnson, both 
natives of the same country. Both father and moth- 
er have attained to ripe old age, the former now 
being eighty-five and the latter eighty-three, and 
still hale and hearty. They long ago crossed the 
ocean and at the present time are living in Skagit 
county with their children, Mr. Danielson and Mrs. 
George Hansen. The youth of Mr. Danielson was 
spent upon the farm and attending the common 
schools of the district, thereby laying firm the foun- 
dation for manhood. When he reached the age of 
seventeen, like so many lads of that sea-faring peo- 
ple, young Danielson left the farm for the fishing 
trade, spending the succeeding four years in that 
industry. Then he joined a vessel and for six 
years sailed before the mast over many seas. At 
last, however, this part of his nature apparently be- 
came satisfied, he left the sea and returned home. 
After two years with his parents, the attractions 
of America grew irresistible to him and in 1882 he 
again bade his native Norway farewell, reaching 
Alichigan soon afterward. There he lived two years, 
engaged in logging, then came direct to the Skagit 
country and located near Fir, arriving almost simul- 
taneously with the creation of Skagit county. The 
rich possibilities of the delta region appealed 
strongly to him, so strongly that he bought eighty 
acre." of wild land on an island near Fir. Apply- 
ing himself with vigor and perseverance to the work 
of transforming this tract of swamp land into a 
farm, he soon had the satisfaction of watching the 
cultivated acreage grow little by little into oat ancf 
hay fields until finally the whole tract was produc- 
ing bountifully. In all he built 575 rods of dike, 
which is a high testimonial to his industry and skill, 
representing the toil of years and the denial of many 
a comfort. However, feeling that he could better 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



his condition, Mr. Danielson sold the old place in 
1903 and with a portion of the proceeds again in- 
vested in land in a more desirable location. This 
tract is now his home. When he moved on it only 
fifteen acres out of forty were cleared, but with 
characteristic energy and perhaps with the pioneer's 
longing to be constantly conquering wild land, he 
fell to work and now has thirty acres in cultivation, 
a new twelve-room, modern house, excellent barn, 
sheds and other outbuildings, all substantially 
fenced. 

The marriage of Mr. Danielson took place in 
Skagit county in 1885, Miss Carrie Engen, a 
daughter of Lars and Lizzie Engen, becoming his 
bride. Both parents lived and died in Norway, 
where also Mrs. Danielson was born in 1858. She 
received her education in the schools of her native 
country, remaining there until 1881, at that time 
coming to California. Thence she came north to 
Washington Territory in 1884. To this union five 
children have been born, the oldest of whom, Jennie, 
born in 1886, died in the fall of 1904. The others 
are Donald, Eddie, Lucy and Carl. Both Mr. and 
Mrs. Danielson are members of the Lutheran 
church. Politically, he is identified with the Re- 
publican party. The responsibilities of American 
citizenship Mr. Danielson has shouldered willingly, 
filling the offices of school director and other pre- 
cinct positions at different times, and at present serv- 
ing his district as dike commissioner. Dairying has 
claimed Mr. Daniel son's special attention of late 
years, his efforts in this, as in other branches of 
agriculture, meeting with excellent success. There 
are in his career many object lessons of value to the 
younger generation of Skagit's citizenship, not the 
least of which is the supreme worth of industry, 
perseverance and foresight. 



EDW.\RD CALLAHAN, the energetic young 
farmer residing five and one-half miles northwest 
of Mount Vernon, is a native son of Washington, 
born near La Conner, Skagit county, November 15, 
1878, the son of James and Harriett (Ball) Calla- 
han. The father is one of the early settlers in Ska- 
git county, where he came in 1876, and where he 
still resides. He was born in Ireland, August 28, 
1841, and came with his parents, James and Mar- 
garet (Hartigan) Callahan to Canada when but six 
years of age, and one year later crossed the line 
into the L'nited States, settling in Indiana, where 
he grew up to young manhood, learning the cooper's 
trade under his father's directions. He later en- 
listed in the war of the rebellion, in Company G, 
181st Ohio Volunteers. At the close of the service 
he returned to Aurora, Indiana, and engaged at his 
trade and also served two years as marshal and 
was agent for a sewing machine company. In 1876 
he set his face westward, going first to San Fran- 
cisco, thence to Port Townsend, where he took boat 
for Whatcom county, of which county his brother- 



in-law, M. D. Smith, was at the time auditor. He 
went from there to the farm of Mr. Smith on the 
Samish Fiats, where he engaged in farming, and 
in a short time pre-empted a tract of land near Pa- 
dilla, and later purchased the land where he still 
resides, one of the solid farmers and respected pio- 
neers of the county. The mother was born in Ham- 
ilton County, Ohio, in 1842, the daughter of Sam- 
uel and Mary (Wyatt) Ball, of English birth, who 
settled there in 18.36, where they passed away many 
)ears ago. Edward is seventh in the family of 
eleven children, and was the first child born after 
his parents came to the Puget sound country. He 
grew up on the Samish Flats, receiving his educa- 
tion in the schools of that community, and remained 
at home until twenty-one, when he engaged in farm- 
ing for himself, renting forty acres of his father's 
place. This he still farms, but has rented addi- 
tional land, where he resides and farms the two to- 
gether. 

Edward Callahan and Annie Jenne, were united 
in marriage at Padilla, November 27, 1901. Mrs. 
Callahan was born on Whidby island May 5, 1882, 
the daughter of George and Mary (Half rick) 
Jenne, who settled on that island in 1876, coming 
eight years later to the Swinomish Flats. The 
father was born in Germany, May 19, 1854, and 
came to the United States at the age of fourteen. 
He departed this life in Skagit county, January 3, 
1902. The mother was born in Illinois September 
14, 1854, and was married at the age of nineteen ; 
seven children were born to this union, of which 
Mrs. Callahan is the fifth. Politically Mr. Calla- 
han is a Democrat. He is a diversified farmer, and 
in stock raising is breeding the Guernsey cattle. Mr. 
and Mrs. Callahan come of pioneer stock and are 
themselves native productions of the state of Wash- 
ington. 



JOHN CALLAHAN, residing on the old Calla- 
han homestead, immediately nortli of Padilla, was 
born in' Ohio, near the Indiana line, on Christmas 
day, 1875, but has no memory of his native state, 
having been brought by his parents to the Puget 
sound country when but one year of age. His 
father, James Callahan, a native of the Emerald 
Isle, came to the Western continent with his par- 
ents in 1847, at the age of six years, and he was 
reared in the state of Indiana, where his parents 
settled in 1848. He was working at his trade of 
cooper, when, in 1861, the call for troops was made 
by President Lincoln to suppress the rebellion, to 
which call of his adopted country he promptly re- 
sponded, enlisting in Company G of the 181st Ohio 
Volunteers, and served with faithfulness and dis- 
tinction until honorably discharged. At the end of 
his service he went to Indiana, where he lived until 
1876, when he came to the Puget sound country, 
and settled on the Swinomish Flats in what is now 
Skagit county, renting the farm belonging to his 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



brother-in-law, M. D. Smith, who was at that 
time auditor of Whatcom county. Later he took 
up land for himself and also purchased a tract, on 
which he now resides. He has been one of the ac- 
tive and progressive pioneers of the county. The 
mother, Harriett (Ball) Callahan, was born in Ohio, 
May 11, 1842, the daughter of Samuel and Mary 
(Wyatt) Ball. Her parents were natives of Eng- 
land, who came to the United States in 1836, set- 
tling in Hamilton County, Ohio, where they con- 
tinued to reside until their death. The senior Mr. 
and Mrs. Callahan were married in Cincinnati, 
Ohio, in 18G2, their vmion being blessed with eleven 
children, of which John is the sixth in order of 
birth. His schooling in Skagit county was supple- 
mented by a course in the Wilson Business college 
of Seattle, and at the age of twenty-one he went to 
work for his brother James on the farm, continu- 
ing with him for some three years. He then en- 
gaged in farming for himself, renting the old home- 
stead of his brother James, which he has farmed 
for the past five years. 

Mr. Callahan and Miss Matilda Jenne were 
united in marriage August 7, 1901. Her father, 
George F. Jenne, was born in Germany, May 19, 
1854, came to the United States when but fourteen 
years of age, and in 1876 to the Northwest, settling 
on Whidby island, where he farmed for eight years, 
and thence to Swinomish Flats on the mainland. 
He was a man of studious turn, well read and up- 
to-date in current events. He passed away Janu- 
ary 3, 1903, respected by a large community of 
friends and acquaintances. Mary (Halfrick) 
Jenne, the mother, was a native of' Illinois, born 
September 14, 1854, to the union of Leonard and 
Catherine (Mowery) Halfrick. Mrs. Callahan was 
born on Whidby island, August 37, 1879, and re- 
ceived a liberal common school education in Ska- 
git county. She was married at the age of twenty- 
two. She is the mother of one child, Harriett M., 
born in Skagit county, March 33, 1903. Religious- 
ly Mr. and Mrs. Callahan are members of the Catho- 
lic church, while in politics Mr. Callahan is a Demo- 
crat. Not only pioneers themselves, Mr. and Mrs. 
Callahan come of pioneer stock, on both sides of 
the family, doubly entitling them to a place in the 
history of Skagit county. 



JOHN KILL, the well known owner of Deer- 
foot Farm, noted throughout the Skagit country 
for its fine stock, is one of Puget sound's substan- 
tial and successful citizens, justly deserving of a 
place among these records. Of German descent, 
he himself was born in the fatherland, March 14, 
1861, the son of Matthew and Katrina (Elges) 
Kill. The father was a butcher by trade and fol- 
lowed it successfully until his death in 1898, while 
still residing in Germany. Mrs. Kill was the moth- 
er of three children, of whom the subject of this 



sketch is the youngest; she, too, passed away in 
the old country. 

After obtaining a common school education, 
John learned the butcher's trade in his fathet's 
shop and while still in his teens left home to seek his 
fortune. He traveled throughout Germany, Hol- 
land and France four years, working at his trade, 
returning when nineteen to the old home. Two 
years he remained there, then decided to cast his 
lot with the inhabitants of the United States to 
which so many of his countrymen had come and 
established prosperous homes. With this idea in 
view, in 1883 he crossed the Atlantic and proceeded 
to Dakota County, Minnesota. Si.x months of hard 
work in the wheat fields at fifteen dollars per month 
were followed by two years in the mines at Lake 
Linden, Michigan, after which he spent three years 
working at his trade in St. Paul, Minnesota. In 
1887 he made his advent into the Pacific Northwest, 
his first employment here being with the Rice & 
Gardiner market, Seattle. Fire destroyed this busi- 
ness in August, 1889, forcing young Kill to seek 
employment elsewhere. This he obtained as a ware- 
house man in a hide and fur establishment of Seat- 
tle, later going on the road for that house. The year 
1895 witnessed this ambitious young man undertake 
an enterprise that called for unusual grit and con- 
fidence, namely, the establishment of a meat mar- 
ket at Juneau, Alaska. Success crowned his ef- 
forts and a year later he sold out for a tidy sum 
and returned to Seattle, becoming a partner in the 
firm of Hibbard & Norton. This house operated 
extensively during the Klondyke excitement, Mr. 
Kill at one time personally taking a drove of cattle 
in to Dawson City. That was in 1897. A year 
later the firm was dissolved, but Mr. Kill continued 
operations in the far Northwest. For a time he 
was engaged in taking provisions and stock into 
Northwest Territory, Canada. In 1899 he opened 
markets at Dawson City and Nome, being the pio- 
neer of that business in the latter city. When one 
considers that Dawson City is within the Arctic 
circle and that Nome is far up the Alaskan coast 
toward the land of icebergs, these business projects 
become noteworthy as unusual pioneer enterprises. 
While carrying to success his Alaskan ventures, 
Mr. Kill at one time cleared $43,C00 in seven 
months, a most astonishing record. Finally, in 
April, 1900, he decided to enjoy his fortune in a 
milder climate and under less strenuous conditions, 
so he returned to Puget sound and purchased the 
farm which is now his home. The tract embraced' 
IGO acres of highly improved Swinomish flat land, 
the equal of any land in the United States, and this 
Mr. Kill has further improved until it is now consid- 
ered one of the very best places in the county. Nat- 
urally fond of stock, he is now engaged in breeding 
Shorthorn cattle and Percheron horses with the idea 
of becoming a leader in raising fine stock. His 
Shorthorn herd now consists of eighty head, while 
in his stables are twelve selected horses. Mr. Kill 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



also intends to spare no money or pains in raising 
high grade driving and trotting stock. 

The marriage of JMiss Louisa Heilser to Mr. 
Kill took place at St. Paul in 188T. Her parents, 
Tobius and Veronicka (Rettenbacher) Heilser, both 
of whom are now dead, were natives of Switzer- 
land, the mother coming from the canton of Tyrol. 
Tobius Heilser came to St. Paul when a young man 
and there conducted a tailoring establishment for a 
number of years. Louisa Kill was born in St. Paul, 
December i, 1862, and in that metropolis was rear- 
ed and educated. Two children have blessed the 
marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Kill: j\Irs. Katie M. 
Tingler. born in St. Paul, March 12, 1888, now re- 
siding in British Columbia; and Frederick, born in 
Seattle. July 2, 1897. The family church is the 
Roman Catholic. 

In fraternal circles, Mr. Kill is prominent as a 
member of the Knights of Pythias, and is one of the 
charter members of the Arctic Brotherhood, an 
Alaskan fraternity. He is an active supporter of 
the Republican party, always aggressive in dissem- 
inating its doctrines. Few men are better fitted than 
he to succeed in his stock and general farming 
projects, especially in the former, and already Deer- 
foot Farm is becoming recognized for its select cat- 
tle and horses. It is of such men as he, aggressive, 
staple, capable and progressive men, that tfie back- 
bone of any community is made and this instance is 
no exception to the rule. 



ARTHUR W. FLAGG is one of the bright 
young business men and farmers of the Swinomish 
flats and is fast making a name for himself among 
the members of the community as a success at what- 
ever he undertakes. He was born in New Bruns- 
wick and came to Skagit county with his parents 
when eighteen years of age. His father, Benjamin 
Flagg. also a native of New Brunswick, was in his 
earlier days a carpenter by trade, but took up farm- 
ing after coming to Washington. He is still living 
at Avon. Mary (Daggett) Flagg, the mother, was 
born in Xew Brunswick ; she died on the homestead 
near La Conner in 1890, the mother of four chil- 
dren, of whom Arthur is the oldest. Arthur W. 
Flagg received his education in New Brunswick 
before coming to Washington. His first years here 
were spent as a farm hand. On becoming of legal 
age he filed on a preemption of eighty acres near 
Avon, selling out several years after proving up. 
In 189] he opened a drug store at Avon and con- 
ducted it for five years, selling out to go into the 
employ of the Hayton-Dunlap hardware store in La 
Conner. After a year and a half in the hardware 
business. ]\Ir. Flagg bought a farm on the Samish 
and operated it for three years. He sold out there 
and bought his present place of eighty acres six 
miles west of Mount Vernon in 1901. 

In 1893 at Seattle Mr. Flagg married Miss Rose 
Dunlap, daughter of Isaac Dunlap, retired farmer 



and stock raiser near La Conner, a sketch of whom 
appears elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Susan 
(Maxwell) Dunlap was born in Iowa, and is still 
living near La Conner, the mother of seven chil- 
dren. Mrs. Flagg was born during the residence of 
her parents in California, in the last days of 1867, 
and came to Ska.git county when ten years old. She 
received her education in the schools of this county. 
Mr. and Mrs. Flagg have three children: Philip, 
Frank and Robin, all born in this county. In poli- 
tics Mr. Flagg is an ardent Republican. He is 
much interested in the efficiency of the schools and 
is serving a term as clerk of the school board of 
District No. 15. The farm consists of sixty-five 
acres under cultivation, the balance in pasture. Mr. 
Flagg is interested in stock raising and has thirty 
head of cattle as his chief venture in that direction. 
By his energy, application to business and his ad- 
ministrative qualities, he is building up a handsome 
fortune. At the same time he does not confine all 
his energies to his private matters, but takes a lively 
interest in all afifairs which pertain to the betterment 
of his community. 



PATRICK H. MALOY, one of the substantial 
farmers of the region west of Mount Vernon, has, 
like many other successful men and good citizens 
of Uncle Sam's domain the blood of the warm- 
hearted Celt in his veins, both his parents being 
natives of Ireland. The family, however, has long 
been identified with developments in the new world, 
having settled in southwestern Illinois in its pioneer 
days, when neighbors were few and far scattered. 
They contributed their full share toward the win- 
ning of Madison county, earning the honor that is 
always due to those who convert the wilderness in- 
to an abode for civilization and "cause the desert to 
blossom as the rose." 

Born in Madison county, in 1862, our subject 
passed there the first twenty-one years of his life, 
assisting his parents in the struggle with pioneer 
conditions and receiving such educational advan- 
tages as the primitive schools afforded, also work- 
ing a couple of years as a farm hand in the neigh- 
borhood. LIpon attaining his majority he struck 
out for the West, and in due time was a resident of 
Skagit County, Washington, where he spent a half 
decade, or nearly so, as an employe on different 
farms of the flats country. His ambitions during 
all this time were for land ownership and independ- 
ence, however, and even before he was ready to bid 
farewell to farm work for others he had taken a 
pre-emption near Fredonia, on which he proved up 
and sold in 1889. Three years before that he had 
engaged in farming on his own account on lands 
held by leasehold, achieving a very satisfactory 
success, and with his profits and the savings of his 
years of toil and the proceeds of the sale of his pre- 
emption claim, he purchased in 1889 the fine one 
hundred and twenty acre farm, six miles west of 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



Mount Vernon, on which he now resides. The 
same cnergf\- and good judgment which enabled 
him to secure the purchase price of the land have 
been employed in its improvement and cultivation, 
with the result that the heavy timber which origi- 
nally grew upon it has been removed, the marshy 
portions have been drained, and the whole has been 
converted into a valuable, profit-yielding farm. At 
this writing sixty acres of it are seeded to timothy 
and fifty-five to oats, while upon the remaining five 
acres are the farm buildings and yards, and a splen- 
did little orchard of prolific and well chosen fruit 
trees. Realizing the profit of stock on the farm 
and the benefit accruing therefrom to the land it- 
self, he keeps considerable herds of both cattle and 
horses, all high grade animals. 

Mr. Maloy was married in Seattle in I887 to 
Miss Katie Dwelley, whose father, Joseph F., was 
a native of Boston, in which city he worked as a 
mechanic for a number of years, eventually moving 
to Wisconsin. He farmed in the Badger state for 
a time, then moved to the Skagit valley, becoming 
one of its first settlers. The mother of Mrs. Maloy, 
Mrs. Angeline (Wells) Dwelley, a native of New 
York, is at present a resident of La Conner. Mrs. 
Maloy has the distinction of being one of the first 
white children born in the Skagit valley, the date of 
her birth being 1871, and inasmuch as she 
has received her education there and has re- 
sided there all her life, she is in the fullest sense of 
the word a daughter of Skagit county. She and 
Mr. Maloy are parents of teyi children, all like their 
mother natives of the county, namely: George, Jo- 
seph, Clinton, Aileene, Lucille, Edna, Patrick H. Jr., 
Eva, Vesta and Isabel. The family are communi- 
cants in the Catholic church, and Mr. Maloy is a 
member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen 
and in politics a Republican, though of an inde- 
pendent turn, voting for the candidate always whom 
he considers the best. The ability to do hard work, 
coupled with administrative capabilities of a high 
order, is responsible for his success in his business, 
while uprightness and integrity have gained him the 
confidence of his neighbors and acquaintances. 



GUSTAF W. JOHNSON (deceased), one of 
the thrifty and industrious sons of Sweden whose 
brain and brawn have contributed so materially to 
the subjugation of Skagit county and the develop- 
ment of its resources, was, until 1900, when he died 
from wounds received from the horns of an angry 
bull, numbered among the leading farmers of the 
region west of Mount Vernon. He received his 
educational training in the schools of his native 
land, which, however, he left at the age of seventeen 
to engage in a seafaring life. But he soon found 
that the sailor's lot was not what his fancy had pic- 
tured and after six months' experience before the 
mast he returned to his native land where he re- 
mained contentedly for ten rears. He was, how- 



ever, ambitious for larger opportunities than were 
to be found in any of the old communities of Eu- 
rope so while still in the twenties he came to the 
United States, determined to conquer the difficul- 
ties which might lie in his way and win the largest 
possible measure of success. His first employment 
on this side of the ocean was in one of the marble 
quarries of Vermont, but after a short residence in 
that state he crossed the continent to California, 
where, for nine years, he worked continuously in 
the logging camps of the red wood forests. He 
then came north and spent some time in Portland 
and Seattle, neither of which cities appealed very 
powerfully to him or ofifered the opening he was 
seeking. Very early in the eighties he wisely de- 
termined to try his hand at farming in the Skagit 
valley, so bought a farm of one hundred and sixty 
acres five and a half miles west of Mount Vernon, 
to the clearing and cultivation of which he devoted 
himself energetically and continuously until the day 
of his untimely taking off. At the time of the pur- 
chase the land had been diked, but the timber was 
still on it and there was the prospect of a long hard 
battle with stumps, but Mr. Johnson was undis- 
mayed. He went to work with vigor and in due 
time had converted an uninviting place into one of 
the fine farms of western Skagit county. He in- 
creased his realty holdings from time to time as he 
was able until he became the owner of four hundred 
acres; and no higher tribute to his untiring indus- 
try can be paid than to state the simple fact that all 
this land was in cultivation when he died. He de- 
voted considerable attention to the raising of cattle, 
keeping always a goodly herd, and it was one of his 
own animals which, suddenly developing an ugly 
temper, inflicted the injury which resulted in his 
death. 

In the city of Seattle, in 1882, ]\ir. Johnson mar- 
ried Miss Rosna C. Erickson, whose father, a native 
of Sweden, is still living in the La Conner country. 
Her mother, Carrie M., was also born in Sweden, 
but she died in that land when Mrs. Johnson was a 
child of four years. Upon completing her educa- 
tion in the Swedish schools, Mrs. Johnson accom- 
panied an older sister to Iowa, where she grew to 
womanhood, coming thence to the Pacific coast a 
short time before her marriage. She has three 
children, Morris, born in 1882 and educated in the 
La Conner school ; Francis, born in 1884, also edu- 
cated there, and Alice E., born in 1891. The fam- 
ily is one of culture and public spirit, well and fav- 
orably known in the western part of Skagit county, 
where they reside. It should be mentioned that, 
during his lifetime, Mr. Johnson was a member of 
the Lutheran church and in fraternal connection a 
United Workman, while in political faith he was a 
Republican. 



HENRY A. DANNENMILLER, a prosperous 
hop grower residing three and one-half miles north- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



west of Mount Vernon, was born in Summit Coun- 
ty, Ohio, July 31, 1859, the son of Henry and Mary 
(Gross) Dannenmiller. The father, a farmer, was 
born in Germany, and died in Seneca County, Ohio. 
Also a native of Germany, the mother grew to wom- 
anhood in Canton, Ohio, which state is still her 
home. She is the mother of nine children, six of 
whom are now living, and are as follows : Joseph 
and William, living near Mount Vernon, Andrew, 
near Seattle ; Elizabeth and Frank, in Ohio, and 
Henry A., whose name initiates this biography. 
Having spent the early years of his life on the farm 
and in the schools of his native state, Mr. Dannen- 
miller learned the carpenter and cabinet making 
trade, beginning at the early age of fifteen to assist 
his father in the support of the family. In April, 
1883, he decided to seek his fortune in the great 
Northwest of which he had read so much, locating 
in Seattle where he followed his trade until 1887, 
at which time he removed to Mount Vernon. Here 
he purchased his present place, together with the 
adjoining one, the latter purchase being made for a 
brother. The country was very wild at that time, 
bears being frequently seen on his farm, and occa- 
sioning much annoyance by carrying off pigs and 
chickens. Those were years full of hardships and 
dangers that would have brought dismay to one 
less courageous than Mr. Dannenmiller. The flood 
of 1894, so well remembered by those who were at 
that time living near the Skagit river, carried off 
much of his property, destroyed part of his orchard, 
and rendered it necessary to move his house to an- 
other part of the place in order to save it, the for- 
mer site being now some seventy-five feet out in 
the river. He and his brother Andrew worked the 
two places together for two years, at the end of 
which time they made a division, eacn farming sep- 
arately since that time. The culture of hops claimed 
his attention very soon after coming to this locality, 
and having built a hop house for his neighbor, Mr. 
Wilds, he used that for drying his product until he 
was in position to build one for himself. Increasing 
his hop area from year to year he has now seven- 
teen acres devoted to that business, and will add five 
acres this fall. With an annual yield of about one 
ton to the acre, he has been successfull, though he 
was at one time forced to sell his product at three 
and one-half cents a pound when the actual cost of 
production was eight cents a pound. Selling his 
sheep and cows that year to make good the loss he 
resolutely continued growing hops, reaping the re- 
ward in later years when the price advanced to 
twenty-six cents a pound. 

Mr. Dannenmiller was married June 2, 1891, to 
Clara Riplinger, born near St. Paul, Minnesota, 
March 22, 1871, the daughter of Nicholas and Kate 
(Einswiler) Riplinger. The father was born in 
France, July 12, 1832, and died at La Conner, June 
7, 189.5. The mother, a native of Germany, died in 
1877. Seven children have been born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Dannenmiller as follows : Alphoncius, who 



was accidentally killed in August, 1892, by a fall- 
ing stump that had burned off at the root; Paul, 
attending school at home; Hilda E., Leo, Howard, 
Herbert and Francis, all still at home. Mr. Dan- 
nenmiller is a prominent member of the Catholic 
church at Mount Vernon. An enthusiastic member 
of the Democratic party, he was a candidate for 
county commissioner in 189G, but owing to the Re- 
publican landslide that occurred that year, the entire 
ticket was defeated. Realizing the vast importance 
of maintaining good schools, he has advocated 
every measure that promised better advantages, 
serving for some time on the school board. Mr. 
Dannenmiller has recently built a fine new house, 
equipped with all the modern conveniences, a con- 
vincing proof both of his prosperity and excellent 
taste. Thrifty, industrious, and a man of sterling 
character, he enjoys the confidence and esteem of 
his wide circle of acquaintances. 



CHARLES TOLLBER, a pioneer of 1869, and 
one of the large grain and stock farmers of the 
Skagit valley, illustrates in his career what may be 
accomplished by an energetic and thrifty citizen in 
the Puget sound country. He was born in Finland 
December 8, 1842, the son of August and Anna 
Tollber. Educational advantages were not of the 
best in Finland in those days, a matter which worked 
to his detriment, and which is a source of deep re- 
gret to Mr. Tollber in his later days. When eight- 
een years of age he went to London, England, and 
on obtaining a berth as sailor, followed the sea 
until 1868. when he crossed the main to the United 
States and secured employment as carpenter in the 
Port Blakely shipyard. A year later he came to 
Skagit county and filed on a homestead. While 
proving up, Air. Tollber put in considerable time at 
seasons of the year at his trade of ship carpenter at 
various points on the sound. Disposing of his orig- 
inal homestead he purchased in 1872 one of the 
farms he now owns on the Skagit delta, and 
cleared it of timber and stumps, a herculean task. 
In the early nineties he bought the tract on which 
he now resides, which with the lower farm, consti- 
tutes his chief land holdings at the present time. 
This land is bottom soil protected by dikes, and 
constitutes very rich oat land. 

Mr. Tollber married Miss Hannah Anderson in 
1872 and five children have been born of this union : 
Carl, Albert, Ernest, Amanda and Mrs. Annie Han- 
son. Little is known of Mrs. Tollber's people, she 
having separated from them years ago. The Toll- 
ber home is a fine modern structure, containing nine 
rooms, furnished in keeping with the success and 
position of the progressive owner ; with evidences on 
every hand, not only in the household affairs, but 
in the large, commodious and convenient barns, of 
the up-to-date ideas that prevail ; all of which is 
greatly in contrast with the conditions which Mr. 
ToKber met on his first introduction into the sound 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



country in 1869. Among the very first settlers in 
what is now Skagit county, when its vast forests 
and wild waste of overflow lands had not been 
marked by the hand of civilization, he faced a com- 
bination of conditions seemingly sufficient to ter- 
rorize the bravest heart. But the thing that rises 
greater than all obstacles and that will not be stilled, 
is that inborn longing in the heart of man for "a 
home," and in this instance, as in thousands of 
others, that longing conquered all obstacles and 
wrested from that wild and tangled waste of almost 
impenetrable forest the home, the heart desire, and 
to-day, I\Ir. Tollber is enjoying as a reward of that 
perseverance and indomitable courage which never 
accepts defeat, an unfailing competency in his rich, 
well tilled bottom lands, with well appointed home, 
devoted family and wide circle of friends, whose re- 
spect and esteem he holds. Politically Mr. Tollber is 
a staunch Republican and interested in the faithful 
administration of the laws, and a progressive policy 
in public affairs ; while religiously he is a communi- 
cant of the Lutheran church. 



NATHAN OSTRANDER is one of the large 
grain, dairy and stock farmers of the southwestern 
section of Skagit county, and though his early days 
in the Puget sound country were those of hardship 
and difficulties in carrying out plans, he is to-day in 
an enviable position as regards present accumula- 
tions and future prospects. Mr. Ostrander springs 
from the Canadian branch of the Ostranders, 
and was born near Toronto, Ontario, Oc- 
tober 5, 1870. His father, Urr Ostrander, a 
native Canadian, has retired from active 
farming, and is now living near Toronto. Mrs. 
Sarah (Graham) Ostrander was born in Ireland 
and shares her husband's retirement from the ac- 
tivities of life. She is the mother of six children: 
Margaret Jane, James. Elizabeth, Nathan, Nelson 
and Agnes. Young Ostrander remained with his 
parents until eighteen years of age, when having 
completed the school course prescribed by the On- 
tario system, started out for himself, coming to 
Skagit county in 1889. He remained here, how- 
ever, but three months, when he went to California 
and put in five years as railroad fireman and grip 
man. He left San Francisco and took up his per- 
manent residence in the Skagit valley in 1894. In 
that year Mr. Ostrander started a butcher shop at 
McMurray and continued to sell meat and deal in 
live stock up to about six years ago. This was the 
period of Air. Ostrander's difficulties and disap- 
pointments. The country had not been built up with 
roads and he encountered many obstacles in moving 
his stock, suffering many losses owing to lack oi 
good transportation facilities ; all of which obstacles 
he overcame and won success. 

On January 18, 1899, Mr. Ostrander married 
Miss Minnie M. Stackpole, a native of Boston, 
where she was born February 4, 1871. Mrs. Os- 



trander's father was Greenleaf William Stackpole, 
born in the famous old town of Berwick, Maine, 
March 5, 1834. He was a jeweler by occupation 
and came to Skagit county in 1874, dying here 
twenty years later, respected and esteemed as a pio- 
neer and worthy citizen. Mrs. Mary J. (Abbott) 
Stackpole was born in Albion, Maine, in 1834, and 
preceded her husband several years in the pioneer 
work of the Skagit country. Her early experi- 
ences here were full of excitement and danger, in 
contact with floods and freshets and the meeting of 
deprivations and hardships alone and unaided. She 
is still living, at her old home with the Ostranders, 
owning part of the magnificent property in the del- 
ta of the Skagit, a mile and a half west of Fir. Dur- 
ing her many years' residence here she has endear- 
ed herself to all by her many acts of kindness and 
hospitality. Mrs. Ostrander commenced her edu- 
cation in the common schools of Skagit county, 
where she completed her preparation for entry to 
the University of Washington, where she completed 
her education in 1893, continuing to live at home 
with her mother until marriage. Five children have 
been born to this union : Merwin Stackpole, Mary 
Ruth, Theodore, Elvian, Nathan and Minnie A. 
The Ostrander home is a fine, commodious house 
of twelve rooms, furnished with care and richness 
and equipped with modern utilities and comforts. 
It is situated on a farm of three hundred and 
si.xty-seven acres, of fertile bottom land, be- 
tween the sound and the Skagit river. Mrs. 
Stackpole is part owner of the land, but Mr. Os- 
trander operates all of it under a life lease. His 
chief crop is oats, of which he plans to produce at 
least three thousand sacks per year. A selected 
part of the farm, consisting of seven acres, has 
yielded as high as five hundred sacks of oats. On 
the glace are seventy head of sheep, si.xty-five of 
swine and fifty of young cattle, while twenty milch 
cows furnish their product to the dairy. In man- 
aging this large property Mr. Ostrander has shown 
a high degree of executive ability and business acu- 
men. In politics he is a Republican. The family 
attend the Baptist church. A model home and a 
happy family is that of the Ostranders. 



OLE LONKE is one of the pioneer settlers of 
Skagit county, having preempted in 1877 what is 
now a part of the Stackpole farm near Fir. In 
1879 he homesteaded his present place near Fir and 
has remained on it ever since, operating it success- 
fully as a dairy and oat farm. Mr. Lonke was born 
in Norway in 1851, the son of Andre and Ingeberg 
Lonke, both of whom passed away in the old coun- 
try, the former in 1863, at the age of sixty, and the 
latter in 1858, aged forty-eight. Mr. Lonke has 
one sister, Mrs. Manguild Rockenes. Young 
Lonke attended school and assisted on his parents' 
farm until twenty years of age, coming to the Unit- 
ed States in 1871. He first settled in Wisconsin and 




RESIDENCE OF MRS. MARY J. STACKPOLE, NEAR FIR, WASHINGTON 




SWAN PETER OLSON 




MRS. SWAN PETER OLSON 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



followed lumbering there until he came to Wash- 
ington and Skagit county in 1ST7. The Lonke 
farm, near Fir, consists of forty-three acres of well 
tilled land, devoted to dairying, growing oats and 
ha}-, and to the poultry industry. The dairy is sup- 
ported by seventeen head of cows, while forty-five 
head of young cattle form the live stocK division of 
the farm. j\Ir. Lonke also owns one hundred and 
twenty acres of tide lands near the mouth of the 
Skagit. 

In 1881 -\Ir. Lonke married Miss Rosy Johnson 
at Seattle. She is the daughter of John and Eliza- 
beth Skromdal, natives of Norway who never left 
their native land. Born in 1859, Airs. Lonke came 
to this country in 1875, traveling alone to San Fran- 
cisco. Later she came to Seattle and was support- 
ing herself when she was married. Of the union 
have been born seven children : Ella, Edward, Olga, 
Lillian. Gertrude, Ralph and Elizabeth, the last 
named having died in recent years. In politics Mr. 
Lonke is a Republican. He is especially interested 
in the development of the schools and the highways 
of his community and is one of the first to take hold 
in matters pertaining to them. He has served as 
director of schools and also as road commissioner, 
and in both has given the most capable service. He 
is a member of the Lutheran church. As a pioneer 
and active citizen, Mr. Lonke has made his impress 
in an indelible form upon the community where he 
has lived so long and wrought so well, and is rec- 
ognized as one of the substantial and upright men, 
dependable in all respects, and highly esteemed as a 
good neighbor. 



SWAX PETER OLSON has, during the thir- 
ty years of his residence in Skagit county, built up 
an independent fortune out of the rich soil of the 
Skagit valley. A native of Sweden, he lived there 
until twenty-one, and with no experience in his 
adopted country except what could be gained in a 
residence of two years in the state of Iowa, Mr. Ol- 
son came to .Skagit county in 1875 with no wealth 
but his hands and a determination to win, and has 
builded himself a fortune out of ceaseless labor and 
the bounties of nature. He was born in Sweden 
on New Year's day of 1849, the son of Olaf Pol- 
son and Johanna Pearson, neither of whom ever left 
their native land, and where they have since passed 
away. On attaining to his majority young Olson, 
unaccompanied by relative or friend, crossed the 
Atlantic and in 1871 was working for a railroad at 
Ottumwa, Iowa. He remained there for two years 
and came to Skagit county, where for three years 
he worked for others, all the time planning for a 
home of his own. The opportunity came in 1875, 
and he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of 
land covered with stumps and timber, eight miles 
southwest of Mount Vernon. Much of the land 
was subject to overflow at seasons; but he built 
dikes and reclaimed it. He pulled stumps and 



felled timber, and to-day has every acre of his old 
time purchase under cultivation, the land proving 
to be unusually fertile and productive. He has 
watched opportunities and has added first sixty, 
then one hundred and twenty, and more lately 
ninety acres. Oii'ered a good price, he disposed of 
a forty-acre tract some years ago. j\Ir. Olson's real 
estate holdings now consist of three hundred acres, 
all cultivated and all of excellent producing quality. 
In 1880 at Seattle Mr. Olson was married to 
Miss Lena Johnson, a native of Sweden, who had 
come to this country with a nephew and was work- 
ing at dressmaking. Mrs. Olson's parents, John S. 
and Hannah (Carlson) Johnson, are deceased, dy- 
ing in the old country. They were the parents of 
five children. There have been born to ]\Ir. and 
Mrs. Olson eleven children. Their names and dates 
of birth are: George A., September 29, 1880; Swan 
L., April 22, 1882; x\dolph W., October 3, 1884; 
Charles E. T., October 11, 1886; Jennie W., Oc- 
tober 6, 1S8S; Caroline E., September 15, 1889; 
Almeda C, August 27, 1891 ; Edith A., January 8, 
1894.; Lillie E., July 8, 1897; Mable F., July 27, 
1899 ; Austin E., June 11, 1901. All were born in 
Skagit Co. In politics Mr. Olson is an independent 
voter, selecting those for whom he casts his ballot 
from the various parties. He has no lodge affilia- 
tions and attends the Lutheran church. The Ol- 
son home is commodious and modern in all of its 
appointments, and is furnished with the conveni- 
ences, expressive of the ideas of an up-to-date man 
of means. Mr. Olson divides his attention between 
dairying, stock raising and grain growing, having 
sixteen head of horses for working the place. He 
has sixty head of cattle, eighteen of which are milch 
cows, supplying their product to the dairy, and also 
turns off a number of nogs each year. A hard work- 
er, using business acumen in all his transactions, 
lioeral in thought and quick to comprehend a situa- 
tion, Mr. Olson is a man who has been eminently 
successful in all his undertakings in life and is to- 
day recognized as one of the solid citizens of Skagit 
county, as well as one of the earliest pioneers. 



ISAAC DUNLAP, during the years of his life 
when he was more actively engaged than at present 
in the management of his large farm, was recognized 
as a man of great energy and of wide accomplishr 
ment, and since retiring has lost none of the respect 
he had gained by his industry and business sagacity. 
He is a native of Philadelphia, born in November of 
1832, the son of James Dunlap, who came from 
Ireland and embarked in a transfer business in the 
Quaker city soon after his arrival in this country. 
In 1852 he removed to Iowa where he died about a 
year later. Isaac's mother, Mrs. Mary (Moore) 
Dunlap, was also a native of Ireland. She survived 
her husband but a few years and now rests beside 
him in Iowa. Isaac Dunlap received his early edu- 
cation in the schools of Pennsvlvania and at the age 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



of fifteen years was apprenticed to the trade of 
brass finishing and chandelier making. He continu- 
ed at this work for six years, then, on the removal 
of his parents to an Iowa farm, commenced his ca- 
reer as an agriculturist. He continued to manage 
the old Iowa farm for a number of years after the 
demise of his father, but in 18G3 went to California 
by mule team, consuming three and a half months 
on the trip, he continued at the work of a farmer 
in California until 1877, then came to Washington 
and located on Pleasant Ridge, where he purchased 
one hundred and sixty acres of farm land. He con- 
ducted this farm with much success for five years, 
then bought the old Calhoun place, two and a half 
miles north of La Conner. This farm, which con- 
sists of three hundred and sixteen acres, was in 
good shape when he acquired it, but he has made 
many improvements, among them being the dikes. 
The soil is very fertile, a crop of one hundred bush- 
els of oats to the acre being by no means un- 
usual. A portion of this land has been pro- 
ducing oats for thirty years, yet it shows no 
signs of deteriorating in soil values. The rea- 
son for this is revealed by two wells which 
have been bored for Mr. Dunlap, each of them be- 
ing sunk to a depth of ninety-three feet, of which 
ninety were shown to be of exactly the same char- 
acter as the surface soil. The farm is now under 
the management of William Dunlap, one of his 
sons. In addition to his vested interest in the home 
farm Mr. Dunlap owns stock in the Poison Hard- 
ware Company, which operates successful stores at 
La Conner, Seattle and Wenatchee. In politics Mr. 
Dunlap is a Republican. He is especially interested 
in local aft'airs, having been a delegate frequently 
to the county and state conventions of his party. 
He served as county commissioner of Whatcom 
county before the division, and was one of the first 
board for Skagit county, later serving another term. 
He has also been road supervisor of his district and 
has done much to improve the county roads. 

On Christmas eve, 1859, Mr. Dunlap married 
Miss Susan Maxwell, daughter of Thomas Max- 
well, an Iowa farmer of Scotch descent. Seven 
children are the result of this union : James, farmer, 
near La Conner ; Alexander I., manager and stock- 
holder in the Poison Hardware Company ; William, 
Samuel, Mrs. Mary Mc Farland ; Mrs. Rosanne 
Flagg and Mrs. Rowena Best. Mr. and Mrs. Dun- 
lap have twenty grandchildren. In fraternal circles 
Mr. Dunlap is an Odd Fellow. ( )ne of the foremost 
citizens of Skagit county in public spirit, and one 
whose services to the county have extended over a 
large period of years and been at all times of the 
most worthy character, he has achieved a highly 
enviable standing in the section which knows hini 
best. He enjoys in abundant measure the esteem 
and regard of all. Though nearly seventy-three 
years old, he is still hale, active and keenly interest- 
ed in all the afifairs of life. 



WILLIAM^ DUNLAP is one of the successful 
young farmers of Skagit county and during the sev- 
enteen years he has operated the large farm of his 
father has gained a reputation for energetic man- 
agement and executive ability. He was born in San 
Joaquin County, California, in August of 1866, one 
of the seven children of Isaac and Susan (Maxwell) 
Dunlap, both of whom are well known and esteemed 
in Skagit county. The elder Dunlap is a native of 
Pennsylvania, who moved to California in 1863 but 
was for many years one of the prominent stock- 
men and farmers of western Skagit county. He is 
living as a retired farmer, his place being under the 
operation and management of his son, the subject 
of this sketch. William Dunlap received his edu- 
cation in the schools of California and completed 
his courses of study on coming to Washington when 
eleven years old. He received a careful training in 
farm matters under the broad instruction of his 
father, and when he attained the age of twenty-two 
years assumed the management of the property, 
consisting of three hundred and sixteen acres of 
fertile land and considerable live stock. 

On the last day of the year 1893 Mr. Dunlap 
married Miss Winifred Lockhart, daughter of Sam- 
uel Lockhart, long a prosperous farmer in Iowa, 
who removed to Washington and is still living near 
La Conner. Mrs. Mary (West) Lockhart is still 
living at La Conner. Mrs. Dunlap was born in 
Iowa and received her early educational training 
there, completing her studies after her arrival in 
this state. Four children have been born of this 
union : Stella, Percy, Loree and Leland. In poli- 
tics Mr. Dunlap is a Republican but devotes little 
attention to the activities of politics, finding himself 
pretty closely demanded in running the farm. In 
the seventeen years that he has managed the well- 
known farm of his father, Mr. Dunlap has gained 
an enviable reputation as a young business man of 
integrity and force of character. Lender his hand 
the farm has not deteriorated and is keeping in ad- 
vance with all improvements under modern farming 
system. 



THOMAS GATES is one of the men who after 
participating in the War of the Rebellion found 
peace and prosperity in the rich farming land of 
the Skagit valley. He was born in Cole County, 
Missouri, on November 7, 1841, the son of Abel 
and Mary (Burns) Gates. The father was born in 
the old Bay state, July -l, 1787, and had reached the 
stature of manhood when the impressment of 
American seamen precipitated the War of 1812. 
Into this cause young Gates threw himself with a 
will joining Company A, Fifth Rifle Regiment, in 
which he was chosen lieutenant, and saw some of 
the hardest fighting engaged in against the British 
at New Orleans, White Plains and elsewhere; his 
record on being mustered out showing many deeds 
of individual gallantry. The elder Gates was one 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



of the early settlers in Missouri, where he engaged 
in the packing business and farmed. He passed 
through the stirring times when that state was the 
battle ground of the slavery question, when the 
alignment of sentiment between the North and the 
South was first becoming drawn, and closed his life 
there November :;, 1S70. Mrs. Gates died in Mis- 
souri, in 18SS, leaving five sons: James, Thomas, 
Samuel, Jasper and Asaph. Her father also fought 
in the war of 181"^. With the exception of the time 
he was in the army, Thomas Gates lived with his 
parents on the farm, attending school and working 
until he came to Skagit county, in 1873, following 
his brother Jasper, who had come on to the Puget 
sound country. Young Gates enlisted in the Thirty- 
ninth Missouri infantry as a private. This regi- 
ment was in the massacre at Centralia, Missouri, in 
which four entire companies were wiped out by the 
attacking force, with the exception of four men and 
one officer. The command did not participate in 
any of the great campaigns of the war, but was 
kept in reserve in its home state, except once they 
were taken down into Tennessee and back to home. 
Mr. Gates was mustered out in July, 1865. On his 
arrival in Skagit county, Mr. Gates went to work 
for a short time on Whidby island, but returned 
and worked in the only logging camp which at that 
time existed in the Skagit valley. In 1883 he pre- 
empted a place and homesteaded it later. With the 
assistance of his children, he cleared forty acres 
and sold the remainder of the one hundred and 
sixty contained in his original filing. When Mf. 
Gates commenced operations on this land he had the 
only wagon in that section of the country, and no 
roads to use that on. Those were the days of hard 
struggles on the part of the settlers. 

In 1869, in Adair county, Missouri, Mr. Gates 
married Miss Martha J. Walters, daughter of Mr. 
and Mrs. Lewis and Betsey (Day) Walters, natives 
of Tennessee, who passed the greater part of their 
lives in Missouri. Four children have been born 
to Mr. and Mrs. Gates, Mary Elizabeth, Nellie May, 
Ira Braxton and Thomas J. Gates. The Gates farm 
contains forty acres of land, all under cultivation 
and devoted to a general farming proposition, 
amply stocked with horses and cattle. Mr. Gates 
is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic 
and says that he is not ashamed to be called a Jef- 
ferson Democrat. His life has been one of earnest- 
ness and endeavor, and as he recalls the vicissitudes 
through which he has passed, it is with a feeling 
of deep satisfaction and gratitude that he has been 
permitted to accomplish as much as he has amid 
such varied conditions. 



FRANK A. JEWETT comes of the stock of 
which pioneers are made, and of the stock which 
makes the best pioneers. In fact, for generations 
the Jewetts have been men who opened up new 
sections of their country and withstood the hard- 



ships incident to the work of subduing the wilder- 
ness. Mr. Jewett was born in Sullivan County, 
Missouri, in the stirring days of the summer of 
1861. His father, Johnson W. Jewett, left the green 
hills of his native Vermont when fifteen years of 
age, and with his parents went into the Illinois 
country not so many years after General George 
Rogers Clark and later hardy sons of the Ohio val- 
ley had saved the country from the British for the 
young republic. Married at the age of twenty- 
three, the elder Jewett followed the trail of the early 
settlers into the Northwest, then but recently 
reclaimed from Indian and foreign trappers, 
and located in Minnesota. He spent two years 
in that state, then he went to Missouri, be- 
ing one of the pioneer farmers, and resided 
there until his death in 1888. Frank Jewett's 
mother, a native of New York, transplanted 
to Illinois until marriage and, accompanving her 
husband to Mmnesota and Missouri, is still living 
in Missouri, the mother of ten children, as fol- 
lows : Charles, Joseph, William, Cynthia, Lon, Ada, 
Alden, Minnie, Alvin and Frank. Until eighteen 
years of age, young Jewett remained at home, at- 
tending school and working on the farm. Until 
1883 he worked among the farmers of his native 
state and spent some time in Kansas. Before com- 
ing to Skagit county, in 1887, he made a brief visit 
to his relatives and the old home. His first work in 
the Puget sound country was clearing up land. He 
continued at this for two years and bought twenty 
acres five miles northwest of Mount Vernon, to 
which he has added ten. About half of the thirty 
is cleared, the remainder being in slashing. 

In 1881 Mr. Jewett married Miss Angle McAl- 
lister, daughter of James R. McAllister, a Missouri 
farmer in those days, but now a resident of Okla- 
homa. Mrs. Jewett was born in Indiana and re- 
mained with her parents until marriage. Of this 
union have been born eight children, of whom the 
living are : Claud, Edith, Ray, Ira, William, Jesse 
and Gladys. Mr. Jewett is a Republican in pol- 
itics. Having a large family of children, he has 
naturally been deeply interested in the welfare 
and betterment of the public schools of his com- 
munity, and to this end has served for nine years 
as a member of the school board. The thirty acres 
of his home place are excellent land. Dairying is 
the chief element of work, fourteen cows furnish- 
ing the milk and seven head of young stock grow- 
ing up. The Jewett home is an eight-room modern 
house, well furnished. The barns and outbuildings 
are well built and ample for the purposes of a 
dairv ranch. 



CHARLES E. BECRAFT is one of the suc- 
cessful farmers of the Mount Vernon district of 
Skagit county and one of the type of men who ex- 
changed mining for agriculture. He was born in 
Plumas county, California, in October of 1855, the 



592 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



son of James Bccraft, a native of Kentucky, born 
in tlie days soon after Daniel Boone had opened up 
the Ohio valley and called the attention of the Vir- 
ginians to its fertility and attractiveness. The elder 
Becraft was born near the old Boone place, and as 
a boy knew the famous old pioneer and hunter. In 
1853 he crossed the plains to California and en- 
gaged in mining. In 1890 he came north to Ore- 
gon and commenced to raise cattle. He is still 
living there. Mrs. Rebecca (Holmes) Becraft, the 
mother, was a native of Indiana and was living in 
Missouri when married. She was the mother of 
nine children. Charles E. Becraft received his edu- 
cation in the schools of Plumas county, though 
when nine years of age he commenced to alternate 
school with work in the underground mines. Hear- 
ing of good mining prospects along the Skagit river, 
he came here to prospect. Mining did not repay 
him for his efforts and he worked at logging and 
farming. In 1889 Mr. Becraft took up a pre-emp- 
tion at McMurray lake and resided there for three 
years, when he came to Mount Vernon and bought 
forty acres of land. After clearing seven acres of 
it and putting out three in orchard, Mr. Becraft 
sold out and purchased his present farm of ten acres 
about a mile northwest of town, where he has made 
his home since 1899. 

In Seattle in 1883 Mr. Becraft married Miss 
Annie B. Snyder, daughter of John W. Snyder, a 
Pennsylvania farmer, who went to California in 
1849. Pie later returned to the East, but in 1862 
was back in California, coming to Skagit county in 
1890. In 1903 he returned to California and passed 
away there a year later. Mrs. Narcissa (Murphy) 
Snyder was also a native of Pennsylvania, now 
living in California. Mrs. Becraft was born in 
Plumas County, California, in 1803, and there at- 
tended the schools. She came to Washington witH 
a brother-in-law in 1883, met and married Mr. Be- 
craft. Mr. Becraft is the father of eight children, 
all born in Skagit county. They are John E., Re- 
becca, Rachel, Ruth, Archibald, Leo, Irene and 
Ethel. In politics Mr. Becraft is a Democrat. His 
small farm is all under cultivation and in excellent 
condition. He has a small herd of good cattle. 
Though not one of the Skagit farmers who are 
enjoying large estates, he is recognized as one of 
the good citizens of the community and of unim- 
peachable integrity. 



JAMES PI. MOORES, one of the 187G pio- 
neers of Skagit county, at the time of whose advent 
there was no Mount Vernon and only a few primi- 
tive homes marked the invasion of civilization upon 
the vast forest wilderness, has seen the community 
of his choice developed from those wild and inhos- 
pitable conditions to its present prosperity and 
wealth, and has himself kept pace with its rapid 
strides. Mr. Moores is a native of Quebec, born in 
1850 to the union of Nathaniel and Margaret A. 



(Sutherland) Moores, the former a native of MJra- 
michi, New Brunswick, and a pioneer of Que- 
bec; the latter a native of Nashwack, New Bruns- 
wick. In the home family were thirteen chil- 
dren to provide for, and James, who was third 
in number, joined iiis efforts with those of his 
parents to supply the needed clothes and pro- 
visions, and so diligently did he apply himself that 
he had little time to devote to matters of educa- 
tion, to his sore regret in after life. Not until his 
majority was reached did young Moores start for 
himself in life, seeking first employment in a local 
logging camp and later spending four years in Min- 
nesota. In the year 1876 he was taken with the 
northwestern fever and came to the Puget sound 
country, via San Francisco, traveling from the latter 
place to Port Townsend by boat, thence to Whidby 
island, and then to Utsalady, where he landed with- 
out a friend or acquaintance, a stranger in a strange 
land. Pie here negotiated for passage to the main 
land in a row boat and was landed within Skagit 
county's borders for the sum of fifty cents. The 
only highway at that date was the water, and the 
common means of transportation the Indian canoe 
and the dugout. Pie took passage with a mail car- 
rier up the Skagit river to the logging can;p of his 
uncle, Thomas Moores, and secured employment 
with him, continuing to work with the uncle and in 
other logging camps for four years. In the in- 
terim he selected his present place adjoining the 
town site of Mount Vernon, which at the time was 
railroad land. It having reverted to the govern- 
ment later, he took it under a homestead filing, ancf 
he has continued to make it his home since that 
day. Years of unceasing labor in clearing the 
dense forest and diking against the floods of the 
erratic Skagit eventually won their merited reward 
in a good home, pleasant surroundings and a com- 
petency for the years to come when old age shall 
step in and forbid the continued struggle. 

In 1878 Mr. Moores was united in marriage to 
Sarah E. Thompson, a native of Marysville, Cali- 
fornia, born June 13, 1858. She was educated in 
California and Port Townsend, Washington, to 
which latter place she removed with her mother at 
the age of fourteen. Her parents were William 
and Martha (Smith) Thompson, natives of Iowa, 
who crossed the plains by ox teams to California in 
1849 on what might be termed their bridal tour. 
Plere the former died, but the latter passed away in 
SKagit County. Mrs. Moores departed this life 
February 13, 'l893. In 1894 Mr. Moores and Mary 
Wilson were joined in marriage. Mrs. Moores, a 
lady of exceptional educational attainments, has 
followed teaching for many years and holds a 
life diploma. She is at present one of the in- 
structors in the government school at Harlan, 
Montana. Mr. Moores' children are: Mrs. 
Alma LaFond, living near Mount Vernon ; Mrs. 
Pearl Good, near Fir; and Cora, Innes, Leona, 
Claire and Gladys, living at home. In fra- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



ternal circles, Mr. Moores is a Yeoman, in pol- 
itics a Republican, and in church connections a Bap- 
tist. On his well-kept farm of eighty-five acres he 
has a nice herd of cattle, and horses sufficient for 
his farm requirements. Here he lives in comfort, 
respected as an honorable citizen and esteemed as 
a kind and considerate neisrhbor. 



PETER ]\IcKINNON is one of the farmers on 
the outskirts of Mount Vernon, who in a quiet way 
is an examplar of what may be accomplished in a 
few years by energy and hard work in a new coun- 
try. Mr. McKinnon was born in Nova Scotia in 
1847, of Scotch ancestry. His father, Henry Mc- 
Kinnon, a Nova Scotian farmer, died in 1885. Mrs. 
Lexie (McDonald) McKinnon was a native of Scot- 
land, and is now hale and hearty at the advanced 
age of ninety years. Of her eight children Peter 
is third in order of birth. Peter AlcKinnon attended 
the schools of Nova Scotia until he was twelve years 
of age, when he left home apprenticed to learn the 
trade of blacksmith. On becoming master, he went 
to work at blacksmithing for a railroad and gradu- 
ally made his way to IMontreal, where he remamed 
for three years. At Tarribone he put in another 
three years at his trade, and in 1885 he came to 
Washington and settled at Mount Vernon, in a 
short time purchasing of James H. Moores a tract 
of twenty acres of land. He has cleared it and put 
it all under cultivation, making his home there. 
\Vhen not needed on the farm, he employs himself 
at his trade in different parts of the nearby coun- 
try. 

In 1877 Mr. McKinnon, while at Montreal, mar- 
ried Miss Satira J. Moores, daughter of Nathaniel 
Moores and sister of James H. and Nathaniel 
Moores. Jr., who is now living near Mount Vernon. 
The elder Moores was a native of Miramichi, New 
Brunswick, but early in life settled in Quebec. His 
wife, Margaret A. Sutherland, a native of Nash- 
wack. New Brunswick, was the mother of thirteen 
children. Mrs. McKinnon was born in New Bruns- 
wick in ISfiO and educated in the schools of that 
province. She was married at the age of twenty- 
seven and is the mother of four children. Henry, 
Margaret, Harvey and Daniel. In church circles. 
Mr. McKinnon is a Baptist and in politics a Re- 
publican. On his twenty-acre farm he has twenty 
head of cattle and a team of horses for farm work. 
He has the proverbial thrift of the Scotch, from 
whom he is descended, and though his place is not 
large, he is in good circumstances and enjoys the 
confidence and respect of all who know him. 



LAWRENCE HERRLE is one of the produce 
farmers who is accumulating a fortune out of sup- 
plying the needs of the residents of Mount Vernon 
and other centers of population in Skagit county. 
He was born in 1852 in Elses, that territory which 



was so long held in dispute by Germany and 
France, and which has since been awarded by the 
fortunes of war to the German emperor. His 
father, Anton Herrle, was born and died in France, 
having been born in the year of the battle of Water- 
loo. Mrs. Margaret (Dannunciller) Herrle was 
born in Germany, and was the mother of nine chil- 
dren. Lawrence Herrle was educated in the schools 
of Elses and came to the United States in 1872. 
Soon after landing in New York he went to Cin- 
cinnati and was employed in a butcher shop for 
nearly a year, when he went to Stark County, Ohio, 
and worked there for a farmer for five consecutive 
years. Ten years on a farm at Tiffin, Ohio, fol- 
lowed, and in 1887 Mr. Herrle came to Mourtt Ver- 
non. He farmed for six months and then worked 
a year in a logging camp. In 1889 he purchased 
his present place of forty acres, two and a half 
miles northwest of Mount Vernon, and at once com- 
menced the task of clearing it of its big growth of 
forest. In 1900 he bought forty acres more adjoin- 
ing his original purchase on the northwest, and 
now has fifty acres of excellent soil under close 
cultivation, the eighteen years of his life on the 
place working wonders in the appearance of the 
land. 

While a resident of Ohio in 1877, Mr. Herrle 
married Miss Sarah Masser, whose father died 
when she was an infant. The mother, Mrs. Mary 
(Lauderberg) Masser, reared her daughter care- 
fully, giving her the very best training, thus early 
in life equipping her for the useful career of worthy 
helpmate and considerate mother, which she has led. 
She was eighteen years of age when married. Of 
this union there are thirteen children, William A., 
Louie, Frank, Emile, John, Mary, Celia, Armenia, 
Agnes, Martin, Clarence and Martha. Mary is at 
present attending college in Coventry. Kentucky. 
The lierrles are communicants of the Catholic 
church. In politics Mr. Herrle is a Democrat, but 
does not overlook a good candidate on an opposing 
ticket. In his livestock department Mr. Herrle has 
twenty head of Durham cattle and five horses. In 
addition to the usual crops of a Skagit county 
farmer, ^Mr. Herrle raises produce for the markets, 
especially potatoes. He is a man who has always 
been a hard worker and thrifty, and to-day Mr. 
Herrle is one of the highly respected citizens of 
Skagit county. 



GEORGE A. MORRIS. Few residents of 
Skagit county have had a more varied and inter- 
esting career than he whose name initiates this bi- 
ography, a retired farmer residing two miles west 
and one-half mile north of Mount Vernon. He was 
born in Huntingdonshire, England, February 6, 
1844, and his parents were Daniel and Frances 
(Holdrich) Morris. His father was a native of 
Peterboro, Huntingdonshire. England, born Febru- 
ary 7, 1805. After attending the common schools 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



he learned his trade of journeyman miller, follow- 
ing it till his death, in August, 186G. The mother, 
born in Dog's Thorp, near Peterboro, received her 
education in the schools of her native town, where 
she spent her entire life, her death occurring in 
1895. She was married in 1831 and was the 
mother of twelve children. Like many of our great 
men, George A. Morris early assumed the practical 
duties of life, working with his father on the farm, 
and in the meantime, by diligent study, acquiring 
an education. At the age of twenty-one he was 
married and followed various occupations for the 
next ten years, until he became organizer for int 
National Association of Farm Laborers, at that time 
presided over by the late Joseph Arch. A personal 
friend and conferee of John Burns, he at one time, 
together with the Right Honorable W. E. Gladstone, 
Charles Bradlaugh and others, addressed a meet- 
ing at the memorial hall in Farringdon street, Lon- 
don. In 1877 he was brought to Mobile, Alabama 
by Mr. Murdock, at that time president of the Mo- 
bile and Ohio railroad, as a special delegate to the 
National Association of Farm Workers, that he 
might investigate that locality and determine its 
suitability as a location for immigrants. This trip 
of about a month was a very delightful one. Ac- 
cepting a position in the warehouse of S. E. Hack- 
ett, wholesale paper dealer in Nottingham, England, 
he remained there for six and a half years, estab- 
lishing for himself a reputation for faithfulness and 
ability that was the envy of his associates in the 
business. He has still in his possession recommenda- 
tions yellow with age, signed by Mr. Hackett, that 
would bring a thrill of pride to any man. Favor- 
ably impressed with this country on his previ-^us 
visit, in 1887 he came to the United States, landing 
at Avon, Washington. The following August he 
took up a homestead at Mount Vernon, comprising 
eighty acres, all of which were densely timbered. 
After clearing off thirty acres of it he sold the prop- 
erty, and is now living on a rented farm. 

Mr. Morris was married in 1865, to Sarah 
O'Donnell, a native of Boston, England, born April 
11, 1844. Her parents were Roger and Sarah 
(Chandler) O'Donnell, the father born in Donegal, 
Ireland, and the mother in Huntingdonshire, Eng- 
land. The date of her mother's birth was 1819. 
Both are long since deceased. Eleven children were 
born in Nottingham, England, to Mr. and Mrs. 
Morris, as follows : Elizabeth Spink, Amos, Harry 
and Hugh, all of whom died in vouth ; John Charles, 
born July 23, 1871 ; Mrs. Sarah Esther Mondham, 
Lorn April 13, 1873, and George O'Donnell, born 
March 13, 1876, now residing in Avon, Washing- 
ton ; Mrs. Emma M. K. Allen, of Arlington, Wash- 
ington, born May 10, 1878; Mrs. Gertrude Axelson, 
of Fir, born August 14, 1883 ; Nellie Frances, born 
August 5, 1885, at home, and William. 

Mr. Morris is a member of the Order of Yeo- 
men, and a staunch Prohibitionist. The Salvation 
Army claims him as a loyal member. Earnest, 



thoughtful, always true to his convictions, Mr. Mor- 
ris enjoys the unbounded confidence of his associ- 
ates. 



LAFAYETTE EPLIN, a thrifty and industri- 
ous farmer residing two miles west of Mount Ver- 
non, was born February 20, 1856, the son of Wil- 
liam and Luana (DeFoe) Eplin, both born in Cabell 
County, West Virginia, the father, January 25, 
1819, the mother, April 16, 1833. Removing to 
Meeker County, Minnesota, in May, 1864, the fa- 
ther there engaged in farming, continuing in the 
business until 1889, when he located in Colfax, 
Washington, where he still lives. He was married 
in 1852, and he and Mrs. Eplin became parents of 
eight children. After having attended the schools 
of West Virginia, as his parents had done, LaFay- 
ette Eplin completed his education in Minnesota 
upon the removal of the family to that state when 
he was a mere lad. He remained at home assisting 
his father on the farm until he reached his majority, 
going then to Dassel, Meeker County, Minnesota, 
to accept a position offered him by the Great North- 
ern railroad. He followed railroading for eight 
years, then returned to Meeker county and devoted 
his entire time to farming. Three years later, hav- 
ing decided to find a home in the great Northwest, 
of which he had read so much, he sold his farm, 
and started for Washington, arriving in Mount Ver- 
non September 23, 1887. After farming near Avon 
for a year and a half, he went to Yakima, where 
he was employed by the Northern Pacific railroad 
for three years. Returning to Mount Vernon he 
purchased a ten-acre tract, all heavily timbered, and 
he began at once the arduous task of clearing it. 
He brought three acres into an excellent state of 
cultivation, and at the time of his demise, November 
16, 1905, was making a specialty of raising garden 
products, at the same time giving attention to stock 
and poultry. He had three brothers, John, Charles 
and one other, also a sister, Mrs. Ella Massey, living 
at Missoula, Montana; likewise a sister, Mrs. Jane 
Clay, at Duncan, Oregon, and another, Mrs. Way- 
zetta Ernsberger, in Colfax, Washington. 

Mr. Eplin married at Litchfield, Minnesota, Sep- 
tember 6, 1882, Mary King, a native of Columbia 
County, Wisconsin, born March 25, 1861. Her 
father^ David Wilson King, born in Illinois, mi- 
grated to Wisconsin in the early days, and thence to 
Meeker County, Minnesota, where he took a home- 
stead. He was born May 19, 1824, and died August 
1, 1895. The mother is' Frances A. (Frost) King, 
a native of the Buckeye state, born June 13, 1833, 
and now living in Meeker county. Both parents 
trace their ancestry back to England. Mr. and Mrs. 
Eplin have one child, Mrs. Edith Lindamood, born 
in Meeker County, Minnesota, July 21, 1883, now 
living at Avon, Washington. Mr. Eplin was a mem- 
ber of the Masonic lodge, number one hundred and 
thirty-four, at Cokato, Minnesota, in politics a loyal 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Republican, in church membership an Episcopalian. 
A man of strict integrity, he was respected by all 
who made his acquaintance. 



JOHN SCANLAN, a prosperous and well- 
known farmer of Mount Vernon, was born October 
16. 1851, in Bayham, Ontario. His father was 
James Scanlan. a native of Langford, Boon County, 
Ireland, born March 17, 1805. Having, received a 
tliorough education in his native country, he came 
to the United States in 1830, locating in Cleveland, 
( )hio, of which he was the pioneer drayman. At 
the time of the Empire Loyalist movement he went 
to Ontario, being employed as lighthouse keeper at 
Port Burwal, on Lake Erie. Thence he moved to 
Bayham, where he spent the remainder of his life, 
dying June G, 1876. The mother, Susan (Start- 
weather) Scanlan, was born in New York state in 
1814, there receiving her education. Her death oc- 
curred in March, 1853. The youngest of a family of 
six children, John Scanlan spent the early years of 
his life on the farm, acc^uiring his education in the 
schools of Ontario, and laying the foundation for 
the sturdy manhood that was to follow. Thrifty 
and industrious, he was able at the age of twenty- 
six to purchase a fifty-acre farm, which he cultivated 
for eleven years, meeting with the success that his 
untiring eti'orts merited. Being persuaded that the 
rich resources of Washington offered a much larger 
reward for earnest toil, he sold his property and 
moved to Palouse, where he farmed for three years. 
Later he disposed of this farm, and homesteaded 
one hundred and sixty acres in Cowlitz County, 
Washington, remaining there for five years, after 
which he came to Mount \'ernon. He purchased 
there a forty-acre tract, upon which he made his 
home, cultivating fifteen acres and rearing fancy 
Durham cattle, Berkshire hogs and other thorough- 
bred livestock on the place, until the fall of 1905, 
when he sold out to purchase thirty acres near Bur- 
lington. 

Mr. Scanlan was married at Mt. Vernon, Octo- 
ber 14, 1900. to Mrs. Stella (Moffit) Abel, born in 
Indiana, the daughter of Eli and Margaret (Knight) 
jNIoffit. Her father, a farmer now living in Mis- 
souri, was born in North Carolina, July 14, 1834, 
and in early boyhood was brought by his parents to 
Indiana, where he was educated. Her mother, a 
Kentuckian, born near Lexington, January 3, 1842, 
is still living. Mrs. Scanlan has two brothers, one 
living in Mount Vernon and the other in Fir, and 
she and Mr. Scanlan have one child, Leo James, 
horn in ]\Iount Vernon June 10, 1902. Mr. Scanlan 
is a prominent member of the Odd Fellows frater- 
nity at Genesee, Idaho, and a liberal supporter of the 
Episcopal church. The business capabilities so early 
manifested have developed as the years passed, and 
to-day he is known as one of the progressive and 
successful farmers of Skagit county. He owns, be- 

32 



sides his farm, some valuable realty in Mount Ver- 
non. 



ROBERT C. COLVIN, a man rich in the varied 
experiences incident to pioneer life in the far West, 
was born in Texas County, Missouri, April 27, 1859. 
His father. Young Colvin, of Irish descent, was born 
in northern Missouri in 1814, there spending his en- 
tire life. His death occurred in June, 1878. Grace 
Jane (Belsford) Colvin, the mother, was a Ken- 
tuckian, who, after receiving her education in the 
common schools of her native state, prepared her- 
self for teaching by a course in the Normal school. 
She was for several years a most successful teacher 
in Missouri. She died in October, 1889, after hav- 
ing been the devoted mother of ten children. In ac- 
quiring a practical knowledge of farming, and also 
an education in the common schools, Robert C. Col- 
vin spent the first twenty-six years of his life, leav- 
ing home at that time to be employed as a farm 
hand. By practicing strict economy he was able 
ten years later to purchase a claim which he held for 
a year, disposing of it when he came to Mount Ver- 
non. He worked out for the first year after his ar- 
rival here, then went up the Skagit river, thence 
up the Sauk river fourteen miles from its mouth, 
where he took up land. He made the journey to 
Sauk City by wagon, packing his goods on his back 
from there to his destination, a distance of some 
fourteen miles. Ably assisted by his faithful wife, 
who cheerfully braved all discomforts and dangers, 
he constructed a tent oiit of blankets to serve as a 
dwelling place till he could build a cabin. There 
were only four white women in all that vast region, 
and the nearest were a mile and a half away, Indian 
ranchers being their neighbors on both sides. After 
a residence of a year and a half, he moved to West 
Mount Vernon, where he built a house and occu- 
pied it for a year. Later he bought three and one- 
half acres half a mile from Mount Vernon, cleared 
it in two years, and traded it at the end of that time 
for city property in the town. He was employed in 
logging camps most of the time for the next eleven 
years, but in 1903 he purchased his present property, 
three acres, all now in excellent condition. He is 
devoting especial attention to fruit and vegetables, 
which command a ready sale on account of their su- 
perior quality. He is also a breeder of fancy BufT 
Leghorns and Barred Plymouth Rocks, and already 
has established quite a reputation in this line. Mr. 
Colvin's brothers and sisters are as follows : Charles 
L., engaged in logging in Mount Vernon ; Mrs. 
Laura A. Hughes, living near Mount Vernon; Mrs. 
Virginia Anderson, of Ballard ; Joseph Y. and 
Henry E., residents of the Indian Territory. 

Mr. Colvin was united in marriage to Margaret 
Murr in July, 1885. She was born in Tennessee, 
February 13, 1858, of German descent, and received 
her education in her native state, after which she 
went to Missouri. Her father, John Murr, a farmer. 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



spent his entire life in Tennessee, the state of his 
birth. Mr. and Mrs. Colvin have two children, 
Luke, born May 23, 1886, now at home; Dorothy 
Eldora, August 31, 1903. Mr. Colvin is a member 
of the Democrat party, but has never desired polit- 
ical preferment. Believing that a large proportion 
of the inhabitants of our cities can be reached and 
saved by no other agency, he is an earnest worker in 
the Salvation Army. 



JOHN C. MORRIS, a popular and successful 
farmer residing four miles north of jNIount \^ernon, 
near the Avon line, is a native of Peterboro, Eng- 
land, born July 23, 1871. His father, George A. 
Morris, is a man of prominence, associated for many 
years with the well-known labor leader, John Burns, 
who is a personal friend of his. In the work of the 
National Association of Farm Laborers, with which 
he was for many years identified, he came in touch 
with many of the distinguished men of England, 
Gladstone, Bradlaugh and others, addressing meet- 
ings where they were also on the program. He was 
born in Huntingdonshire, England, February 6, 
1844, but is now living in retirement in Mount Ver- 
non. Sarah G. (O'Donnell) Morris, mother of our 
subject, was also a native of England, the date of 
her birth bemg April 11, 1844. After a long life of 
devotion to husband and children, she died March 
30, 1905. Having availed himself of the educational 
advantages afforded by the schools of Avon, to 
which point the family had moved, John C. Morris 
remained at home until he reached the age of twen- 
ty-one, when he began work in the logging camps 
and mills of the state. He was employed at this 
for ten years, then accepted a position in the United 
States engineering service, in which he spent the 
following four years, receiving at the end of that 
time an honorable discharge and recommendations 
of the highest order. He was a member of the party 
that succeeded in removing the immense log jam 
that had formed in the Skagit river in 1897, also 
assisting in the removal of obstructions from the 
Stilaguamish, Nooksack and Snohomish rivers, and 
in the construction of channels in these rivers. In 
1904 he moved onto his present place of twenty 
acres, which he had owned for some time, and he 
intends now to make that his permanent home. He 
has fifteen aci-es of it in fine condition, the remain- 
ing five being still uncleared. He gives especial at- 
tention to fine cattle and horses, owning two head 
of Percheron horses, and eleven head of Durham 
and some Jersey cattle. He raises the finest pota- 
toes to be found in the locality. At present he is 
employed as mate on the United States snagboat, 
Skagit. He has one brother, George O., also a resi- 
dent of Avon, and his sisters, all natives of Notting- 
ham, England, are as follows : Elizabeth Spink, 
born February 6, 1866 ; Mrs. Sarah Mondhan, born 
April 13, 1873, now of Avon ; Mrs. Gertrude Axel- 
son, born August 14, 1882, a resident of Fir ; Mrs. 



Emma M. Allen, of Arlington, born May 10, 1878 ; 
Nellie Frances, born Augiist 5, 1885, now at home 
in Mount Vernon. 

Mr. Morris was married October 11, 1895, to 
Daisy McCain, the daughter of James and Helen 
(Beggs) McCain. Her father, born in Pennsylvania 
in 1844, was a prominent soldier in the Civil war, 
enlisting with the Ninth Illinois infantry. At the 
close of four years' service, during which time he 
had participated in some of the most severe engage- 
ments of the war, he received an honorable dis- 
charge. Starting for the Pacific coast with an ox 
team, he moved first to Iowa, thence to Nebraska, at 
length reaching Woodland, California, where he 
spent several years. Coming to jMount Vernon in 
1883, he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres, 
the farm of his son-in-law being part of the orig- 
inal claim. The old cabin is still standing on it. 
The death of this well-known pioneer occurred in 
Avon, in March, 1891. The mother of Mrs. Mor- 
ris was born in Illinois in 1843, and died at Avon 
in December, 1880. Mrs. Morris, the youngest of a 
family of si.x children, has three sisters, Theodora 
H., Mrs. Elizabeth Wilds, and Mrs. Laura Murray, 
the latter two residing in Seattle. A brother, Wil- 
liam, lives at Clear Lake, Washington. Mr. and 
Mrs. Morris have two children. Amy, born Novem- 
ber 12, 1895, and Helen, October 8, 1897. Mr. 
Morris is a member of the Odd Fellows, in which 
order he is past grand, also is actively identified with 
the Knights of Pythias and the Woodmen of the 
World, while Mrs. Morris is a member of the Re- 
bekahs, and takes an active part in the social af- 
fairs of the lodge. Mr. Morris is a loyal member of 
the Democratic party, but aside from discharging 
the duties of the office of deputy assessor in 1896, 
has never accepted political preferment. He and 
his family are regular attendants of the Methodist 
church. Earnest, industrious, a strict adherent of 
sound business principles, he is destined to be one of 
the influential members of the county. 



ELLSWORTH M. STEWART, an energetic 
young farmer residing one mile west and two north 
of Mount Vernon, was born in Osage City, Kansas, 
April 30, 1878, the son of William W. and Alice B. 
(Frost) Stewart, now residents of Washington. 
His father, a native of Wheeling, West Virginia, 
born in 1852, removed with his parents to Ohio, 
when he was a boy. He came to Washington July 
28, 1903. The mother was born in Ogle County, 
Illinois, and acquired her education in the common 
scliools of that state. She is the mother of the fol- 
lowing children: Luella (deceased); Mrs. Ada 
Singer, living at Blarney Lake, Washington; 
Charles, of Avon; Fred and Peter, at home; Wil- 
liam (deceased), and Ellsworth M., whose name 
forms the heading of this biography. Brought by 
his parents to Trinidad, Colorado, when but a year 
old, he later moved to Gallup, New Mexico, remain- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



ing at home till he reached the age of twenty-one. 
Desiring, like so many other young men, to begin 
life for himself in the West, where the opportunities 
for success are manifold, he came to Mount Vernon 
in 1889, where he worked on a farm for two and a 
half years, going thence to Hamilton, to accept a 
position on the railroad. Three months later he lo- 
cated in Yakima, spending four months, during 
which he was ill most of the time. Upon his recov- 
ery he returned to Mount Vernon and took a con- 
tract for wood, the work lasting four months. He 
then worked on a farm until his father came to 
Mount Vernon in 1902, when together they pur- 
chased forty-seven acres of land, all heavily tim- 
bered. The work of clearing the property has oc- 
cupied the entire time of the younger Stewart, he 
having at the present time twenty-five acres in cul- 
tivation. He owns some excellent stock, twenty-five 
head of Durham cattle, hogs and horses. He also 
devotes some attention to poultry. Mr. Stewart is 
a Democrat, loyally upholding his party in every 
way. He attends the Congregational church, con- 
tributing liberally to its support. Possessed of 
youth, health, ambition and industry, he is one of 
the promising young men of the community, destined 
to achieve a large measure of success. 



WILLIAM C. SINGER, a man who has made a 
success of life in spite of adverse circumstances that 
would have utterly discouraged a less resolute na- 
ture, was born in Iowa, March 16, 1851. His father, 
Herman H., a native of Illinois, was one of the 
pioneers of Clayton County, Iowa. IMartha A. 
(Gould) Singer, his mother, was born in Vermont 
and died March 2, 1881. After the death of her 
husband she became the wife of Jesse B. Shellham- 
mer. She was the mother of thirteen children. His 
father having died when he was but four years of 
age, William C. Singer, when a mere child of nine, 
began workmg for a family who desired to adopt 
him. After three years of unappreciated toil he ran 
away, only to be bound to another family for three 
years. At tne end of that time he began life for 
himself, devoting his entire time to farming, the 
work that has claimed his energies ever since. Re- 
maining in Iowa till he was twenty years old, he 
then went to Todd County, Minnesota, spending fif- 
teen years in the state. Benton County, c3regon, was 
his following location, where he took up land, which 
he later signed back to the government, not having 
been able to make it a profitable yield. He came to 
La Conner in 1889, was employed by a brother for 
a year and a half, after which he bought a team and 
rented a farm on Beaver Marsh. By thrifty econ- 
omy he was able four years later to purchase his 
present farm of fifteen acres, located 3 miles and a 
half northwest of Mount Vernon. All heavily tim- 
bered at the time he bought it. he has now four acres 
of it nicely cleared, and makes a specialty of dairy- 



ing and poultry. He has a sister, Mrs. Sarah 
Horsey, residing in Anacortes. 

Mr. Singer was married in 1875, to Rosetta Paul, 
the daughter of Alexander and Maiy (Gould) Paul, 
the latter a native of Vermont. The eleventh child 
of a family of thirteen, Mrs. Singer has one sister, 
Mrs. Jessie Loomis, living at Avon. Mr. and Mrs. 
Singer have seven children as follows: Paul and 
Charles S., married and living in Avon ; Airs. Mary 
O. Rose, of Anacortes ; Airs. Alartha A. Gunther, of 
Ridgeway ; Mrs. Leila Walker ; William H., at home, 
and Rosetta B. Mr. Singer is a well-known mem- 
ber of the Odd Fellows. He has always been a loyal 
member of the Republican party, and was road su- 
pervisor in 1895. He and his family attend the 
Methodist church. An earnest and industrious citi- 
zen, a kind and accommodating neighbor, he holds 
the respect and confidence of all who know him. 



WILLIAM A. HAWKINS, residing on the 
eastern border of the famous Swinomish flats, is 
ranked among the thoroughly substantial citizen- 
farmers of the Skagit country. He has been a resi- 
dent of that region for nearly a quarter of a cen- 
tury, his advent antedating the organization of 
Skagit county, and in that period he has not only 
witnessed but has also actively participated in the 
wonderful progress made by this section. The in- 
stinct of pioneership is one of his birthrights, for his 
parents, William and Mary (Blanton) Hawkins, 
were reared on the frontiers of Tennessee and spent 
most of their lives along the Texas border. The 
elder Hawkins was born in 1817, the son of pioneer 
Tennesseans ; the mother was born in the same state 
eight years later. They became residents of Texas 
early in life, and there Mr. Hawkins followed farm- 
ing and stockraising until his retirement from active 
pursuits. His death occurred January 13, 1905, in 
liis eighty-ninth year, five years after that of hi.s de- 
voted wife. 

William A. was born in Cass County, Texas, 
February 23, 1852, the seventh child in a family of 
twelve. At the age of fifteen, in order that he 
might contribute something to the care of this large 
family, he left the paternal roof and sought the 
western portion of the state. There he spent eight 
years riding the range, during which he often drove 
cattle to Dodge City, Kansas, when it bore the repu- 
tation of being the toughest town in the West. By 
mere chance he finally drifted to Sevier County, Ar- 
kansas, which became his home for three years. 
There he married and entered the cattle business as 
an owner instead of an employe. From .Arkansas 
he went to Coffeyville, Kansas, lived there a year, 
and then returned to the first named commonwealth. 
His next removal was destined to be of more than 
ordinary importance to him, for it brought him to a 
new land, to a new industry and to a permanent 
home. After encountering the usual difficulties of a 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



journey hundreds of miles in length, Mr. Hawkins 
landed at the little village of Mount Vernon, What- 
com county, February 27, 1882. Immediately after- 
ward he filed on a quarter section of timber land six 
miles west and a mile and a half north of that town, 
and began the erection of a home, meeting in the 
years which followed hardship and discouragement 
enough to have daunted a weaker heart . There were 
then no roads and only the poorest trails to the place. 
All that he and his family ate and wore for the first 
seven years he packed upon his back to the little 
forest home, and during all that time the house was 
never left alone, lest some harm might befall it. 
The life was a lonely one in many ways, the nearest 
neighbor for years being three miles away, but happy 
hearts made light of the difficulties and dangers, 
finding in the long, quiet hours an opportunity for 
that sweet companionship so lacking in the modern 
life full of complex and pressing duties and engage- 
ments. The woods abounded in all kinds of game, 
a veritable hunter's paradise. Steadily working year 
by year, Mr. Hawkins has cleared and put under 
cnlti\ ation seventy-five acres, replacing the first rude 
dweniug with an elegant home, modern in all its 
appointments and refiecting the owner's tastes. Al- 
ways planning for the happiness and comfort of his 
family, he intends to soon install a private light and 
water plant, which will add greatly to the conven- 
iences of his place. Like most pioneers, he has suf- 
fered reverses, but in the main has been hi,^-hly suc- 
cessful and has accumulated a valuable property. 
Last year he made a trip to his old Texas home and 
St. Louis, Missouri, after which he is more settled 
than ever in the conviction that Washington suits 
him best of all. One sister, Mrs. Susan Plumlee, re- 
sides in Oklahoma, also two brothers, David and 
Peter ; John and Ketchum. the two remaining broth- 
ers, live in Texas. 

Mr. Hawkins was married December 2(), 1880, 
to Miss T. C. Miller, a native of Arkansas, the 
daughter of Marshall and Louisa L. (Glover) Mil- 
ler. The father was a native of the far South, who 
was killed in battle while serving in a Georgia regi- 
ment during the Civil war. Mrs. Miller, also de- 
ceased, was born in Georgia and was the mother of 
two children, of whom Mrs. Hawkins is the younger, 
her birth occurring in October, 1802. To the union 
of Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins five children have been 
born: Mrs. Dixie Lowman, wife of the county 
superintendent of schools : and -Mice, Donnie, Lucy 
and William Lewis, residing at home. In public 
afifairs, Mr. Hawkins takes a deep interest. For a 
number of years he was identified with the educa- 
tional aflFairs of his district as a member of the 
board, but, while still retaining his interest, has re- 
tired from official activity. He is an ardent Demo- 
crat, loyally and actively upholding the principles of 
his party. The family attends the Methodist church, 
in which Mrs. Hawkins is a zealous worker. The 
Hawkins farm is devoted principally to oat raising. 



but not exclusively so, as its owner gives especial 
attention to dairying and poultry raising also. 

A devoted husband and father, interested and 
active in the progress of the community, thoughtful 
and honest in his dealings, and withal successful, 
Mr. Hawkins is indeed a representative citizen. 



SILAS W. MARIHUGH, for many years a res- 
ident of Washington, and now engaged in diversi- 
fied farming four miles west of Mount Vernon, was 
born in Lawrence County, New York, in 1845. His 
father, Russell Marihugh, born iii Vermont, was 
residing in Ohio at the time of his death in 1880. 
Elizabeth (Lennox) Marihugh, his mother, was 
born in New York City, and died in 1803. Remain- 
ing at home till he reached the age of twenty-one, 
Silas Marihugh then answered the call of his coun- 
try for volunteers, enlisting in the One Hundred 
and Eighty-second Ohio infantry, under Captain 
Roemer. Camping at Toledo for a time, the regi- 
ment was then ordered to Columbus ; thence to Lou- 
isville, Lexington and Nashville. Having hel])ed to 
build Fort Butler, it was about to be pressed into 
active warfare at that point when relieved by a col- 
ored regiment comprising fifteen hundred men, of 
whom only five hundred remained after the engage- 
ment. Having- received an honorable discharge in 
September, 18C5, he returned to Ohio, and located 
at Defiance, working on a farm until 18G9. He then 
went to Michigan, rented a farm and remained there 
for three years. The following fourteen years he 
did teaming in L^nion City, Michigan, after which 
he again rented land for six years. Deciding then 
to find a home in Washington, he sold his posses- 
sions, and came to Bayview, here purchasing two 
lots. Thirteen months later he went to Cypress 
Island, still later making Bayview his home again. 
In 1891 he bought twenty acres of unbroken forest, 
beginning at once the task of clearing it prepara- 
tory to building a home. During his residence of 
twelve years in Bayview he purchased forty acres 
more of timber land, holding at the present time 
sixty acres, of which about twelve are cleared. He 
rented his present home in January, 1901, and is 
now giving especial attention to dairying and grain 
raising. His farm is well stocked, having on it six 
horses of excellent blood, and fifty-one head of cat- 
tle, mostly Durham. 

Mr. Marihugh was married June G, 1868, to Em- 
ily Merchant, born February 19, 1817, in Defiance, 
Ohio. Her parents were Sampson and Emily 
(Temple) Merchant, both natives of Massachusetts; 
the father was born in 1811, the mother in 1815. A 
farmer and hotel keeper, Mr. Merchant made his 
home in New York for a while, later locating in 
Ohio, where he died in 1870. Mrs. Marihugh en- 
joyed unusual educational advantages, and begin- 
ning at sixteen taught for many years in Ohio and 
New York state. ^She died iii Ohio in 1890, the 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



mother of twelve cliildreiij Mrs. Marihugh being 
the seventh child. Tiie others are as follows: Mrs. 
Susan Lovell, of Ba\view; Mrs. Jennie Verrick, 
William, Charlotte and Joseph C, all residents of 
Ohio ; Mrs. Eva Frank, of Avon ; Aletta, living 
with Mrs. Marihngh. Mr. and Mrs. Marihugh's 
children are as follows : Clarence A. and Hugh, at 
Mount Vernon; Fred, at home; Mrs. Blanche Elli- 
ott, of Bayview ; Daisy, at home, and two who are 
deceased. Mr. Marihugh is a member of the Lara- 
bee post of the Grand Army at La Conner, and is a 
loyal supporter of the Republican party. He has 
served as road supervisor, and is interested in edu- 
cational matters, always lending his hearty support 
to any movement for the betterment of the schools 
of the community. He and his family attend the 
I'"piscopal church. A practical farmer, thoroughly 
familiar with all departments of the work, he is 
winning a large measure of success. 



M. McLEAN, one of the farmers residing one- 
half mile west and three miles north of Mount Ver- 
non, was born in Digby County, Nova Scotia, No- 
vember 30, 1850. His father, Daniel McLean, was 
born in the United States, where he was a ship car- 
])enter. and also followed the trade in Nova Scotia, 
in which country he died in 1880. Abby (Floyd) 
McLean, his mother, was also a native of the United 
States, born in 1820. Her death occurred April 26, 
]!)05. Spending the first twenty-one years of his 
life in Nova Scotia, M. McLean acquired his educa- 
tion in the common schools of that country. He then 
came to the United States, working in a logging 
camp until 1877, when he went to New Brunswick 
to engage in farming. Three years later he removed 
to Alaine, again working in the woods. Hearmg 
of the vast opportunities offered in the great North- 
west, he crossed the continent, landing in King coun- 
ty in May, 1883. At the end of a year spent in the 
lumber camps, he located in La Conner, then the 
county seat, two hotels and stores comprising tl-.e 
entire business district. After farming for two 
years he once more abandoned that employment for 
logging, spending nearly seven years in the woods, 
in King and Snohomish counties. In 188.5 he took 
up a homestead on 01ymi)ia Marsh, which he gave 
U]) later, going thence to Lowell, where he purchased 
forty acres of land and at once began the task of 
clearing off the heavy timber. Disposing of this 
property two years later, he made a trip east, bring- 
ing his bride with him upon his return to the West 
in 1890. He bought his present property in 1891, 
twenty-five acres, all timbered. He has now seven- 
teen acres in a fine state of cultivation, and devotes 
his energies to diversified farming, believing it to 
be the most profitable. He is raising draft horses, 
and has a nice herd of Jersey cattle, and breeds fine 
Berkshire and Poland China hogs. His brothers 
and sisters are as follows: Mrs. Clara Weir, of 



Annapolis, Nova Scotia ; Mrs. Abby Berry and Mrs. 
Samira Peck, of Bear River, Nova Scotia ; Norman, 
of Grand Manan, New Brunswick ; Wallace, of Sed- 
ro Woolley, but now in Blue Canyon, Whatcom 
county. 

Mr. McLean was married at Grand Manan, Sep- 
tember G, 1890, to Mrs. Nellie Harvey, born in No- 
vember, 185(5, the daughter of William and Rebecca 
(Daggett) Benson, both natives of Grand Manan, 
the father born in 1831, and the mother in 1830. 
The latter is still living, and the former died Sep- 
tember (), 1905. The oldest of four children, Mrs. 
McLean has a brother Frank and a sister, Mrs. Alice 
Fraser, living at Grand Manan. .Another brother, 
Leonard, died in 1879. By her former husband Mrs. 
McLean has two children, Harry ilarvey, of Grand 
Manan, and Mrs. Helen Parker, of Mount Vernon. 
Mr. McLean is a past grand of the Odd Fellows fra- 
ternity, which has honored him by sending him to 
the assembly of the grand lodge, of which he is also 
a member. His wife is a popular member of the 
Rebekahs. He has been an active worker in the 
Democratic party for many years. The past three 
years he has been dike commissioner for this dis- 
trict. He and his family attend the Episcopal 
church, and both he and his wife are members of the 
Pioneer association. In addition to his farm. Mi'. 
McLean owns two city lots in Seattle. He has had 
his full share of toil, which was cheerfully per- 
formed, and to-day is crowning him with the success 
and prosperity he so richly deserves. 



THOMAS J. McCORMICK, an industrious 
farmer living one mile west and three miles north of 
Mount Vernon, was born near Saginaw, Michigan, 
in Midland county, February 23, 1807. His father, 
John McCormick, a native of Dublin, Ireland, was 
for thirty-five years a sailor, and is now residing 
with his son in Avon. Mary (Manson) McCor- 
mick. his mother, was th(i first white child born in 
Saginaw, Michigan, the date of her birth being No- 
vember 17, 1832. She .still lives in the city of her 
birth. Like most young men, Thomas McCormick 
spent the early years of his life at home acquiring 
an education, starting out for himself at the age of 
twenty-three. Deciding to begin his business ca- 
reer in the Northwest, where wonderful possibili- 
ties were waiting for earnest, ambitious men, he 
came to Hamilton, Skagit county, and worked in 
the woods for the first six month.s, after which he 
took up a pre-emption claim on Grandby creek, and 
a timber claim near Hamilton. Three years later, 
having suffered an injury that necessitated the use 
of crutches for a year, he became proprietor of the 
stage route from North Avon to Mount Vernon. 
Prospering in this business he then bought a livery 
barn in Mount Vernon, owning and operating it 
for two years. Disposing of his timber claim, he 
purchased his present property, five acres, which he 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



has greatly improved, erecting a neat and commodi- 
ous house upon it. Later he became the owner of ten 
acres of timber land adjoining his farm, and though 
still conducting a livery and dray business in Avon, 
he has lived on his farm since December, 1903, in- 
tending to make it a permanent home. He has about 
ai^ acre of fruit trees, raising oats on much of the 
remainder of the land. He owns a number of driv- 
ing horses, several head of Jersey cattle and Poland 
China hogs. His half brother, F. E. Wymen, is in 
business in Hamilton. All the other surviving 
brothers and sisters live in Michigan. 

Mr. McCormick and Elnora Noble were united 
in marriage June 19, 1900. Fremont Noble, the 
father of Mrs. McCormick, was born in Iowa in 
1860, and for many years was captain on a govern- 
ment steamboat running from Siou.x City, Iowa. His 
home is now in Rampart, Alaska. Her mother, Jane 
A. (Langlcy) Noble, born in England in 1860, came 
to the United States in childhood, and now resides in 
Marysville, Washington. The oldest of four chil- 
dren, Mrs. McCormick was born in Iowa, July 24, 
1884. Her three sisters are as follows: Mrs. 
Amelia McDougall, of Avon ; Elva, attending the 
business college at Everett, taking a course in short- 
hand, typewriting and German ; Charlotta, at Avon. 
Mr. and Mrs. McCormick have two children, George 
I'remont, born October 15, 1901, and Arthur Wil- 
liam, born May 30, 1904. Mr. McCormick is a Yeo- 
man. Though loyally adhering to Republican prin- 
ciples, he has never desired any political office. He 
and his family attend the Baptist church, contribut- 
ing to all its benevolences. An active, industrious 
citizen, of strict integrity, Mr. McCormick is mak- 
ing a success of his various undertakings, while en- 
joying the confidence and esteem of those with whom 
he comes in contact. 



BERNT J. FINSTAD is one of the energetic 
and prosperous .sons of Norway who have been 
markedly successful since coming to the land of their 
adoption. Of a family which had been established 
for generations in central Norway, Bernt was born 
September 25, 1860, and was the seventh of his 
father's children to take up their abode in the United 
States. His parents, Jens Anderson and Bertha 
Hanson (Verlin) Finstad, passed their entire lives 
on the home farm, dying, respectively in 1887 and 
1870. They had eleven children, of whom Bernt was 
next to the youngest. Until fifteen years of age 
Bernt Finstad went to school. At that time he was 
apprenticed to the tailoring trade and served for five 
years. When he was about to establish himself in 
liis native land, he learned of the offerings of the 
United States, where he had five brothers and a sis- 
ter. At their solicitation he came here in the spring 
of 1880, being but twenty years old. He located at 
Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and remained at the 
tailoring trade there for seven years. Three years 



in a general merchandise venture at Washburn, Wis- 
consin, followed. On December 16, 1889, Mr. Fin- 
stad arrived in the city of Tacoma, and the following 
spring started to work at tailoring, working one 
year for F. Wollun and nine years for Dean & Cur- 
tiss, leaving then for Skagit county. At Mount Ver- 
non he decided to join farming with his trade work, 
and purchased forty acres of land two and a halt 
miles northwest of the city. He at once took up his 
home in the country and has greatly improved the 
farm. He supplemented his farm income by work- 
ing at his trade in the shops of Rings & Kendall in 
town. 

In 1887 Mr. Finstad married Kathinka, daugh- 
ter of Bernt and Julia (Johansen) Arneson, natives 
of Norway. Mrs. Finstad was born in the old 
country in 1868 and has two sisters in Washngton, 
Mrs. Louise Carlson, of North Yakima, and Mrs. 
Otto Johnson, of Tacoma. One son has been born 
to Mr. and Mrs. Finstad, Barnold Martinius, in Ta- 
coma, May 5, 1896. Mr. Finstad is an independent 
in politics, but is a man who considers it his duty to 
take an active interest in the public affairs of his 
community, regardless of party affiliations. Recog- 
nizing the advantages of education, he is a firm be- 
liever and an earnest advocate of the betterment of 
the schools. Mr. Finstad takes an especial pride in 
his farm, in which neatness and attractiveness are 
always apparent. His especial delight is in his small 
dairy establishment, the cream from his private se|)a- 
rator having a reputation second to none in the val- 
ley. At the present time he milks but ten cows, but 
is developing his farm into meadow and pasture 
land, with a view to enlarging his dairy. Mr. Fin- 
stad has been essentially successful in life, whether 
viewed as an artisan in his tailor shop, a business 
man competing in the markets, or as a dairy farmer. 
He is a good neighbor, a patriotic citizen and a man 
of integrity. 



GEORGE M. KNISLEY. Energy and th" 
ability to readily and successfully adapt himself to 
whatever is at hand, and at the same time to exei • 
cise his powers of observation, are the chief char- 
acteristics of this young man. In the space of a 
very few years Mr. Knisley has been printer, sol- 
dier, street car man, museum proprietor and rail- 
road bridge carpenter. Mr. Knisley was born in 
Mitchell County, Kansas, in August, 1878, the son 
of Reuben Knisley, hotel proprietor, and Myra 
(Veatch) Knisley, both of whom are still living in 
the middle West. As a young man Mr. Knisley 
learned the trade of printer and pressman between 
his terms at school. When seventeen years of age 
he enlisted in Coinpany E of the Twentieth United 
States infantry at Fort Leavenworth in his native 
state. After two years of garrison duty the regi- 
ment was ordered to Cuba at the outbreak of the 
Spanish-American war, young Knisley having trans- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



601 



ferred to Troop E of the Seventh cavalry, under 
Captain Dent, a relative of Mrs. Julia Dent Granl, 
wife of the famous hero of Appomattox. Mr. Knl.s- 
ley saw active service at El Caney and Santiago. 
His first enlistment having expired when his com- 
mand returned to the States, young Knisley re-en- 
tered the Twentieth infantry and went with it to the 
Philippines for two years and a half, often being ou 
the line with the late General Henry W. Lawton, 
v.hose untimely death is universally lamented. As 
fighter and as a member of the hospital corps, young 
Knisley was in the skirmish near Paco, at the a.*- 
sault and capture of JMalabon, Polo and Jolo, as well 
as a participant in some of the expeditions of lesser 
note in the Philippines, later being detailed to trans- 
port hospital duty between Manila and San Fran- 
cisco. He received his discharge at the Presidio late 
in the year 1901. For a time he operated a street 
car in 'Frisco, and was in the big strike then going 
on. Having collected while in the Philippines a 
large, assortment of native curios, he started a muse- 
um, continuing the exhibitions for a number of 
months. His first work in Skagit county was at 
shingle bolts, but he left that employment after a 
short time to join a bridge crew on the Great North- 
ern railway in July, 1903. In the following Septem- 
ber he was offered the place of bridge watclnnan en 
the same road, and having previously purchas-^d a 
tract of land near Anacortes, settled down to a 
quieter life. 

IMr. Knisley, in October of 1903, married Miss 
Lou J. Gilman, daughter of George B. and Florence 
J. (Brooks) Gilman, who had settled in Skagit 
county after coming from Mazomanie, Wisconsin, 
where ^Irs. Knisley was born. ]Mr. Gilman conducts 
a merchandise and farming business in Skagit coun- 
ty. In politics ^Ir. Knisley is a Republican. 



SAMUEL E. KERR, manager of the Fairview 
Dairy Farm, two and a half miles north of Mount 
Vernon, was born in Ross County, Ohio, in 1852, 
but has been a resident of Skagit county for fifteen 
years. Mr. Kerr's father, Robert Kerr, came from 
a long line of Scotch-Irish people who were suc- 
cessful as bankers, professional men or agricultur- 
ists. The elder Kerr was born in Pennsylvania, and 
was early trained to the business of stock raising 
and farming. When nineteen years of age he went 
to Ohio and later to Illinois, where, in Montgomery 
county, he acquired large landed interests and was 
prominent in politics and in financial circles until 
his death in 1889. The mother of Samuel Kerr, 
Jane Hughes, was of Scotch descent. She died 
twenty years before her husband. As a lad young 
Kerr was not physically strong, and while at Asbury 
college was compelled to forego completion of his 
course because of ill health. On leaving college he 
took up the open air life on the farm and among 
the stock. In 1875 he went to California and passed 



two years in various occupations, returning to Illi- 
nois and joining with his father until the death of 
the latter. Settling up the estate of his father as 
executor, Mr. Kerr came to Skagit county and set- 
tled at Anacortes for the four years following 1891. 
He then came to the vicinity of Mount Vernon and 
took charge of the estate of B. L. Davis, as man- 
ager. Joining with W. R. Williams, W. J. Henry, 
Thomas Smith and County Clerk W. B. Davis, Mr. 
Kerr bought the farm belonging to the Davis estate 
and commenced the operation of the dairy farm busi- 
ness, which he still conducts with marked success. 
In addition to the dairying business, the company 
conducts a department given to stock raising and 
another to fruit shipping and evaporating, in some 
years handling many tons of dried prunes. 

In 1884, while yet a resident of Illinois, Mr. 
Kerr married a daughter of that state. Miss Alice 
Todd, born near Hillsborough in 1862. Mrs. Kerr's 
father was Willard Todd, now deceased, the father 
of ten children: Alice (Mrs. Kerr), Sarah, James 
P., Mary J., Isabella, Caroline, Anna, Mattie and 
Eliza (twins), and Alexander Harvey. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Kerr have been born three children. The old- 
est, Edna, is in the State Normal school at Belling- 
ham, fitting herself for the profession of teacher; 
George is in the High school at Mount Vernon, and 
Hollis E. is at home. Mr. Kerr is a member of the 
fraternal order of Yeomen and of the Presbyterian 
church. He is an independent in politics and an ac- 
tive worker in the interests of the school system, 
giving his time and energy and, whenever neces- 
sary, of his means, for the betterment of the schools 
and in behalf of higher education. The Fairview 
dairy property comprises over fourteen hundred 
acres of excellent land, and under the shrewd and 
experienced management of Mr. Kerr is fast devel- 
oping into one of the best stock, dairy and fruit ven- 
tures in the entire state. 



. JOHN FREDERICK AMSKOLD is a native of 
Sweden, but he has been in this country for over 
twenty years. His birth occurred in 1865, and he 
was the son of Nels and Sarah (Helgra) Amskold, 
both of whom lived and died in their native land. 
Mrs. Amskold was the mother of four children : 
Mary, Christine, Nels and John. The last named 
lived at home and attended school until he was fif- 
teen years old, when he left home to work on farms 
in the vicinity of his birthplace. On coming to this 
country in 1884, he located in Kansas and there 
took up a homestead. He resided there and oper- 
ated it as a farm for ten years, but did not prosper. 
Selling out, he came to Skagit county in 1892 and 
bought twenty acres a mile west of Avon and five 
miles northwest of Mount Vernon, paying $35 per 
acre therefor. It was covered with timber, a part 
of which was valuable for lumber purposes. He at 
once set about clearing his land, at first getting 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



about five acres into condition for cultivation; he 
has since been gradually clearing the remainder. 

Before leaving Sweden he was married to Miss 
Ingebor Edholm, daughter of Daniel and Lisa Ed- 
holm, who have never left Sweden. The father 
died four years ago, but the mother still is living. 
Mrs. Amskold is one of three children and is the 
mother of six : Daniel, Nels, Betty, Gust, Hetty and 
Emmus. Mr. Amskold is a Republican in politics 
and a Lutheran in religious faith. The family home 
is a well-built five-room house. While doing a gen- 
eral farming business, Mr. Amskold devotes some 
attention to dairying. He is developing his place 
rapidly and will soon have his entire farm under 
cultivation and be able to increase his products 
along all lines. 



SOLOMON OLSON, a dairy farmer living five 
miles northwest of Mount Vernon, is a man who has 
great capacity for hard work and the faculty of mak- 
ing his labor increase his possessions. In his life 
he has farmed in the dry belt of Kansas and in the 
moist region of Puget sound. His father, Ole An- 
derson, lived in Sweden all his life, dying there 
forty years ago, before the subject of this sketch 
had grown to manhood. The mother, Annie (Olson) 
Anderson, likewise lived and died in the old coun- 
try. She was the mother of five children. After 
the death of his parents, Solomon resided with his 
brothers and worked in timber until he came to the 
United States in 1880. He spent one year in Ne- 
braska, employed along various lines, and then 
moved to Kansas, where he conducted a farm for 
ten years. Drouth interfered with his prosperity, his 
crops not arriving at fruition, and the consequent 
losses offsetting what gains had been made in years 
of plenty. Mr. Olson came to Skagit county in 1892 
and leased a farm for one year, at the close of that 
period purchasing twenty acres oi land which he 
still owns. This land was all stumps and trees, but 
Mr. Olson cleared and prepared it for cultivation. 
At a later time he added twenty adjoining acres, and 
now has under cultivation and producing crops one- 
half of his holding. 

Before leaving Sweden Mr. Olson married Miss 
Engla Gustina, daughter of Daniel and Lisa Gus- 
tina, farmers. Mrs. Gustina still lives in the old 
country, the mother of eleven children. Mrs. Olson 
lived at home until her marriage. The Olson home 
is a pleasant one, the house containing ten rooms 
and the barns being large and ample. The chief in- 
dustry of the Olsons is dairying, twelve cows sup- 
plying the milk, with an equal number of head of 
young cattle growing up. Mr. Olson is a Repub- 
lican and a member of the Swedish Baptist church. 
He ;s well thought of by his neighbors and has 
earned the reputation of being a hard worker, in- 
dustrious, frugal and strictly honest and honorable 
in all his dealings. 



FRED W. BENEDICT springs from the fam- 
ily of that name, well known in Niagara county and 
other sections of western New York. His father, 
Alfred M. Benedict, was born near Lockport, New 
York, in 1834, and was one of the saw-mill men who 
successfully followed that occupation in that state 
before the forests were cut off. He moved to Can- 
ada in 1859, the year of the birth of the subject of 
this sketch, and followed saw-milling for eight years, 
when he was attracted to Michigan by the gradual 
turning of the lumber world to that state. After a 
time he took up farming in the Peninsula state, and 
has been very successful ever since. Mrs. Mary 
(Lewis) Benedict was also a native of the state of 
New York, the mother of eight children : Hiram A., 
Sarah A., Fred W., Libby, Frank H., Willis G., 
Grace M. and Bertha L., the last named having died. 
Fred Benedict received a common school education 
and worked at home until, at ninteen years of age, 
he drove a team in the woods of northern Michigan. 
Then for a number of years he followed various 
avocations, until in 1891 he went to Missouri, where 
he remained until he came to McMurray and Skagit 
county. Here he worked for several months in a 
shingle mill and, in company with his brother, bought 
the establishment. They operated it for a few 
months and then moved the outfit to Rockport, but 
before getting the mill set up for business sold it 
out, with a profit of $2,500 on the deal. Mr. Bene- 
dict then went to the Clear Lake timber district and 
sawed shingles until, in the spring of 1904, he bought 
his farm of forty acres four and a half miles north- 
west of Mount Vernon. Here he has lived ever 
since, clearing his land and establishing a dairy farm 
which promises to grow to large proportions. 

In 1882, while in Michigan, Mr. Benedict mar- 
ried Miss Elma E. Allor, daughter of Martin V. and 
Lucinda (p-istler) Allor, who still live in the state 
of peninsulas. Mr. Allor is a veteran of the Civil 
war, having served four years as a member of Com- 
pany E of the Twenty-second Michigan Volun- 
teers. Mrs. Benedict is one of eight children, three 
of which are living, and was born in Michigan, Sep- 
tember 20, 1864. She received her education in the 
Michigan schools and remained at home until her 
marriage. She has three children : Earl M., Harry 
A. and Mildred E. The Benedict home is one of the 
pleasant places of the Skagit valley, with commodi- 
ous farmhouse and convenient outbuildings ample 
for the rapidly increasing stock. Mr. Benedict at 
the present time does general farming on the eight- 
een acres of land he has under cultivation and has 
embarked in the dairy business, having a bunch of 
young stock which will soon be added to the dairy 
iierd. In fraternal circles Mr. Benedict is a mem- 
ber of the Knights of the Maccabees and of the 
Modern Woodmen of America. He is a man of 
energy, a respected citizen and the exemplary head 
of a representative country home. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



603 



BENJAMIN FLAGG, after a life of hard work 
and the best endeavor in behalf of his family, is 
living as a retired farmer on his holdings four miles 
northwest of Mount Vernon. In Air. Flagg's case, 
retirement from the activities of farm life does not 
mean loss of activity in the interests of the com- 
munity in which he makes his home. He is one of 
the public-spirited citizens, modest and taking little 
credit to himself for good deeds done and good 
works accomplished. He was born in New Bruns- 
wick in 1835, the son of Winslow Flagg, who died 
while his son was quite young, and Haddasa 
(Woodbury) Flagg, a native of Maine, near the 
New Brunswick border. Mrs. Flagg passed away 
in 1898. having brought three children into the 
world, Benjamin being the only one now living. Mr. 
Flagg lived with his mother until twenty years of 
age. His life in Skagit county commenced in 1882, 
when he came there with his family, settling in the 
solitudes of the forest, a part of which he has con- 
verted into cultivated farm land. 

In New Brunswick in 1SG2 Mr. Flagg married 
Miss Mary Daggett, daughter of Mark Daggett, a 
native of Maine, who lived until a few years ago. 
Mrs. Flagg was born in New Brunswick and lived 
with her parents until her marriage. She died in 
1900, the mother of four children, one of whom is 
dead. The surviving are Arthur W. and Annie, the 
latter living with her father in his Skagit county 
home. Mr. Flagg has retained but five acres for the 
home of his declining days, but still holds title to 
ten acres elsewhere. He has in recent years sold 
an eighty-acre tract of fertile land for $70 per acre. 
One of the chief characteristics of Mr. Flagg's later 
years is the interest he manifests in the development 
of his community and the activity along directions 
of uplift to all with whom he comes in contact. He 
is recognized in the community as a man of the best 
public spirit and of the most honorable private life. 
As such he is a power in the neighborhood. In 
politics he is a Republican and in church circles a 
Methodist. 



NAPOLEON FORTIX. The thrift, industry 
and other sterling virtues which seem to be the 
legitimate result of work at the anvil and forge have 
been developed in a very high degree in the worthy 
gentleman whose life history is the theme of this 
article, although now no longer one may hear his 
bellows blow or listen to the measured beating of 
his heavy sledge, for he has deserted the craft of 
his father, the craft he learned in his boyhood, for 
the equally honorably and ofttimes more remuner- 
ative and independent occupation of agriculture. In 
this latter pursuit he is achieving a high degree of 
success, the habits of industry and carefulness which 
made him a success in the shop also bearing much 
fruit when applied to the tilling of the soil and the 
rearing of livestock. 



The father of our subject, Napoleon Fortin, Sr., 
was born in Canada and spent there his entire life 
following the blacksmith's trade. Through his 
mother he could claim relationship — blood relation- 
ship — to the sturdy Swiss race, whose passionate 
love of freedom impelled them to bear such a noble 
part in European affairs, and to evolve and estab- 
lish the most nearly perfect system of government on 
earth. The mother of the subject hereof, Angel 
(Seymour) Fortin, is likewise a native of Canada. 
Her other children are: Thomas, Daniel, 
Patrick, Morse, Xavier and Joseph. Young Napole- 
on Fortin lived with his parents and attended schoot 
until he was nineteen years old, then, in 1884, went 
to Marinette, Wisconsin, where he became the pro- 
prietor of a blacksmith shop. Four years later he 
decided to try his fortune in the far West, so came 
to Seattle, where he spent six months canvassing the 
situation and looking for a suitable opening. Even- 
tually deciding on the then hustling town of Mount 
Vernon, he opened a shop there, which he continued 
to operate until about seven years ago, when, at- 
tracted by the possibilities of agriculture as l:c saw 
them in Skagit county, he decided to turn farmer, 
so purchased a timbered tract of fifteen acres two 
and a half miles north of Mount Vernon, and began 
clearing the same. He now has most all of it in 
shape for cultivation and the whole converted into 
an attractive place, with evidences of the thrift and 
taste of its owner visible on every hand. The house 
is a commodious eight-room structure, and all the 
outbuildings are convenient and well suited to their 
various purposes. Six cows and a number of young 
cattle constitute the livestock maintained on the little 
farm at present, but J\Ir. Fortin overlooks no source 
of profit, and numerous stands of bees are to be seen 
about his premises, the product from which con- 
tributes not a little to his gross income. His fine 
orchard furnishes cherries, pears, apples and many 
other varieties of fruit in their season for the local 
market, of the requirements of which he is so well 
aware that he is able to increase his profits very 
considerably by purchasing eggs and butter from 
his neighbors and selling them again to residents 
of the town. As might be expected, his worldly pos- 
sessions are increasing, and he now owns, besides 
his home farm, a five-acre tract on Guamish Island, 
a lot in Anacortes, three houses in Mount Vernon, 
etc., wliile the good will and respect always accorded 
to those wIk) win success by their own thrift and 
well directed effort are also his in abundant measure. 

Early in the year 1893 Mr. Fortin married Miss 
Effie Pickens, whose father, Michael Pickens, a 
native of Tennessee, came to Seattle in 1884 and 
died there eleven years later. Her mother, who was 
born in Illinois in 1849, is still living, residing at 
present in Seattle. Mrs. Fortin was born in 1874. 
She and Mr. Fortin have three children, namely, 
Clement, Vernon and Joseph G., the last mentioned 
born July 4, 1905. 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



JOHN J. PETH. The career of the gentleman 
whose life history it is now our task to outline, fur- 
nishes a striking illustration of what energy, contin- 
uity of purpose and intelligence can accomplish 
under the favorable conditions presented by Skagit 
county's abundant resources. Coming to Washing- 
ton with very little in the way of worldly goods, 
he applied himself with great assiduity to the task 
of winning his way to independence and fortune, 
with the result that he now has both, and he has 
with them the respect always commanded by thc^se 
with force enough to conquer every obstacle which 
may lie in their pathways and to press forward im- 
ctasingly until a worthy goal is reached. 

Mr. Peth was born in Fond du Lac County, Wi^.- 
consin, the oldest of the ten children of Jacob J. 
and Barbara (Burg) Peth. His father, a native of 
German Switzerland, was born May 13, 1833, in 
Canton Basel, became a settler of Wisconsin du; mg 
its pioneer days, was married there August 19, 1851, 
and had a part in its early development. In later 
years he went to Nebraska, where his wife, who was 
born September 28, 1833, still lives, but he passed 
away May 8, 1896. Our subject received his educa- 
tion in the public schools of the Badger state, and 
when nineteen years old struck out for himself, go- 
ing first to Michigan, where he was employed a^ an 
engineer for over a year. He then returned to Wm- 
consin, living for a time under the parental roof, ' it 
eventually, in 1877, he turned his face resolutely 
westward, nor paused in his journey until he reached 
the Nooksack valley, near the northwestern corner 
of the most northwesterly state. For a number of 
years after coming to the La Conner country he 
worked in various parts of the county for John Chil- 
berg, Samuel Calhoun, Thomas Lindsey and others, 
making a heroic efifort to get a start. In 1881, after 
having learned the method of farming which gave 
the best results under the local conditions, and hav- 
ing saved some means, he began operations for him- 
self on leased land, and by 1883 was able to pur- 
chase the hundred and twenty acre tract upon which 
he now resides. At this time only thirty acres of 
the land were in cultivation, but Mr. Peth went to 
work on the balance with characteristic energy and 
in due time had it cleared and ready for the plow. 
By the exercise of industry and good judgment he 
has been enabled to add to his original holdings from 
time to time, until his home place now consists of 
four hundred and fifty acres, of which all but twenty 
are under cultivation. It is supplied with every- 
thing which goes to make farm life convenient and 
comfortable, a large, commodious mansion house, 
fine barns, warehouses, etc., and its owner never 
overlooks an opportunity to make its operation more 
profitable. In this he is influenced not so much by 
the desire of gain as a wish to achieve the best and 
highest success in his business. He realizes the 
value of livestock on a farm, so keeps large numbers 
of cattle, horses and sheep. His entire realty hold- 



ings in Skagit county comprise thirteen hundred 
acres, about half of which is in cultivation. Those 
who know the value of this land can appreciate more 
fully than they can who live where land is cheaper 
what it means to have acquired all this, with the 
valuable improvements upon it, by one's own efforts 
and with no start except such as was gained by 
working for wages. The fact that he accomplished 
so niuch proves Mr. Peth to be a man of unusuat 
energy, combined with rare executive ability. 

In Seattle, Washington, on December 14, 1899, 
Mr. Peth married Miss Mary J., daughter of Isaac 
and Mary J. (Dove) Black, both natives of Ala- 
bama. The family went to Texas at an early date, 
and Mrs. Black died there, but Mr. Black is now a 
resident of the Samish flats, having come to Wash- 
ington some years ago. Mrs. Peth was born in 
Texas, February 23, 1870, and she received her edu- 
cational training there and in Seattle. She and Mr. 
Peth are parents of three children, namely, Florence 
M., born September 17, 1900; John J., Jr., October 
30, 1902, and George E., January 16, 1904. While 
working out his splendid industrial success in Skagit 
county, Mr. Peth has not neglected his duties as a 
man and a citizen, but has taken a reasonable in- 
terest always in the afllairs of his community and 
county. He has not, however, been in politics for 
personal preferment, though he is a loyal Republican 
and interested in its caucuses and conventions and 
success. The two ofiices he has consented to fill are 
such as a man usually accepts from a sense of duty, 
for the sake of honor or emolument. He belongs 
to one fraternity, the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen. 



DAVID L. McCOR:\IICK is one of the pioneer 
farmers of the La Conner section of Skagit county, 
having first located there in the early seventies. He 
comes of a family which was well known in the 
early days of Hocking Valley, Ohio. His father, 
William McCormick, a Pennsylvania farmer, went 
to Ohio before railroads had opened up that coun- 
try, took up government land there and farmed it 
until his death shortly before the Civil war. Mrs. 
Elizabeth (Johnson) McCormick, mother of our sub- 
ject, was born in West Virginia, but her parents 
moved to Ohio by ox team when, she was a small 
child, and she lived there to the ripe old age of 
ninety-four years. David McCormick was born in 
Perry County, Ohio, in 1850, and received his school 
training in that state. He remained on the home 
place until he reached the age of nineteen, when he 
went to live with an uncle in Iowa, and four years 
later he started for Washington. The trip by rail to 
San Francisco occupied two weeks. After five days 
at the Golden Gate he took passage for Victoria, 
Vancouver Island, and from there went to Seattle. 
In company with five others he purchased a row boat 
and rowed it to La Conner, where he met Nelson 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Chilberg, an old friend from Iowa. With him he 
went up the Nooksack river and located a claim, 
which, however, he never carried to patent. During 
the following fall, having returned to La Conner, 
he took a pre-emption claim four miles north of the 
city, and upon this he lived at intervals until 1877, 
when he bought his present place of one hundred 
and twenty acres northeast of La Conner, paying $10 
an acre for the cleared land. Later he sold his pre- 
emption land. 

In 1889 Mr. McCormick returned to Ohio, and 
there, in June, married Miss Margaret Case, daugh- 
ter of Honorable Oakley Case, one of the well- 
known citizens of Hocking county. Mr. Case was 
at one time editor of the Hocking Sentinel. He was 
elected probate judge of Hocking county in 1860, 
and served two terms in that capacity, afterwards 
becoming mayor of the town of Logan. For a 
term of years he was an influential member of the 
Ohio legislature ; he also served as chief clerk under 
Secretary of State William Bell, Jr., in 1876 and 
ISTT. 3.1rs. Margaret (James) Case, mother of 
Mrs. AlcCormick, was a Virginian by birth, but was 
taken by her parents when a child to the famous 
Buckeye state. Mrs. McCormick was born in 
Logan, Ohio, in 1857, and received her education 
in the schools of that city, graduating from its High 
school. For six years she served as toll collector on 
the Hocking Valley canal. Six children have been 
born to ]\Ir. and Mrs. McCormick, all during their 
residence in Skagit county, namely, William F., in 
1892; David O., in 1891; Margaret E., in 1895; 
George D. and Charles A. (twins), in 1898, and 
Helen E., in 1900. Mr. McCormick is a member of 
the Methodist church and in politics is a Republican, 
while in fraternal connection he is an Odd Fellow. 
Mrs. ^McCormick is a Rebekah' and a member of 
the Order of Eastern Star. Inheriting the qualities 
which made his forefathers forceful in the pioneer 
days of Pennsylvania, Mr. McCormick has proven 
himself one of the sturdy and substantial men of 
Skagit county. Though thoroughly public spirited, 
he has manifested no special ambition for leadership 
or political preferment, but has been content with 
membership in the producing class, the men who, 
without ostentation, go to work with energy and ac- 
complish something, the men who form the reat 
strength of any community. That he has been an 
active, earnest worker is evinced by the fact that 
two hundred acres of his tine farm land have been 
well cleared and brought to a high state of cultiva- 
tion. He has also gathered around his home the 
comforts and conveniences which add so greatly to 
the pleasures of rural life. It is no longer neces- 
sary to bring water for house use in a wheel-bar- 
row, as it was when he began the struggle with pio- 
neer conditions, any more than it is now necessary 
to navigate the sound in a row boat. With plenty 
of cattle, horses and other livestock, sufficient farm 
machinery and an abundance of fertile land, he is 



now in a position to carry on his agricultural oper- 
ations with satisfaction and profit. 



WILLIAM ARMSTRONG. Among the sturdy 
sons of the Emerald Isle who have won success be- 
cause they had the spirit and force to emigrate to 
the newest part of the new world and to take ad- 
vantage of the opportunities there offered, the man 
whose life record is here to be outlined in brief is 
deserving of an especially honored place. Neither 
should be denied to his worthy helpmeet, a daughter 
of the sunny South, her meed of praise for faithful- 
ness in toiling by the side of her husband until they 
had conquered poverty and won for themselves the 
priceless boon of independence. Affluent and re- 
spected, they doubtless enjoy their wealth the more 
from the consciousness that they secured it by their 
own unaided efforts, conquering in life's struggle 
with weapons of which none need be ashamed. 

Mr. Armstrong was born in County Armagh, 
Ireland, in 1840, the youngest of the nineteen chil- 
dren of Matthew and Elizabeth (Norton) Arm- 
strong. When William was ten years of age the 
family came to the United States, settling fiist in 
Wisconsin, though they later moved to Iowa, be- 
coming one of the pioneer families of Fayette coun- 
ty, that state. Both parents lived to a ripe old age, 
the father being ninety years old when he died and 
the mother seventy-two. William Armstrong ob- 
tained the rudiments of an education in his native 
land, but finished his schooling in Iowa. Evidently 
desiring to do the right thing by his parents, he re- 
mained at home until twenty-three, when he de- 
cided to embark in farming on his own account, so 
purchased eighty acres of land. The ensuing half 
decade was devoted to the improvement and cultiva- 
tion of this, his first home. Coming to the La Con- 
ner country in 1872, Mr. Armstrong and his wife 
began there a determined struggle to win a foot- 
hold in the richest part of the rich state of Wash- 
ington, and finding that the best way open to them 
was to avail themselves of the excellent wages that 
were being paid, they entered the service of John J. 
Miller on the Samish flats, by whom they were em- 
ployed for the ensuing nine years. Then they 
worked three years for R. E. Whitney, on the Swin- 
omish flats. The thrifty hire of this long period of 
labor was invested in land, or at least a large part 
of it. At one time Mr. Armstrong took a claim on 
the Samish flats, which, however, he subsequently 
abandoned. In 1882, he purchased one hundred 
and twenty acres near La Conner, which he has 
brought to a high state of cultivation, and which is 
now a very valuable property. In 1888 he increased 
his holdings in this vicinity by the purchase of two 
hundred acres more. This tract, which adjoined the 
original home on the south, had been taken up by 
James Harrison in 1868, so is one of the oldest 
farms in the county. It is the land upon which, in 



GOG 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



1900, Mr. Armstrong built his magnificent mansion, 
one of the finest in a section noted for its fine homes, 
with its large, roomy halls, its commodious and 
numerous rooms and its bath and other modern con- 
veniences. In 1890 Mr. Armstrong bought another 
piece of land, the Pearson place, containing one 
hundred and sixty acres, at a cost of $20,000. At 
the present time he is farming two hundred ard 
forty acres in all, and every foot of this land is in 
an excellent state of cultivation, while fine stock 
barns (one of which, built from plans elaborated by 
himself, has no superior for convenience in thi 
Northwest), warehouses and other buildings permit 
of its operation in a highly satisfactory way, at the 
same time furnishing Mr. Armstrong excellent 
means for indulging his fancy for high-grade Dur- 
ham cattle and draft horses. The latter are his 
special delight, and his interest in them has made 
him one of the best judges of horseflesh in Skagit 
county. 

In 18G4, in the state of Iowa, Mr. Armstrong 
married Miss Mary I. Douglass, daughter of Wil- 
liam Douglass, a native of Scotland, and Sophia 
(King) Douglass, a native of Virginia. Her father 
was at one time a large landowner in Old Dominion, 
but in 1864 he went to Jefiferson County, Iowa, 
where he died in 1881. Her mother, who now lives 
in Iowa, has the distinction of being one of the few 
ladies in the United States who still draw a pension 
on account of Revolutionary war service. Mr. and 
Mrs. Armstrong have had five children, namely, 
Annie, the oldest, who died when fourteen years of 
age ; Thomas, drowned at the age of thirteen 
months; William J., born in Iowa in 1870, and Guy 
and Scott (twins), born in Skagit county in 1883. 



GEORGE F. JENNE (deceased). Of the pio- 
neers of Skagit county none has manifested a 
keener desire for the highest and best things in 
life than has George F. Jenne, and perhaps none 
has better merited the esteem and respect of the 
community in which he lived. Born in Germany, 
he passed there the initial fourteen years of his 
life, enjoying the benefits of the public school sys- 
tem which has made his fatherland famous the 
world over. He received ^11 the education in his 
native land that it is customary to give to German 
youths who are not to be prepared for professional 
life, but was not satisfied, and after coming to the 
United States took a course in the schools of Illinois. 
Being of a studious turn he continued his battle with 
books long after his school days were over and the 
battle of life was begun, and as a natural conse- 
quence he in time became an unusually well educated 
and well informed man. The date of Mr. Jenne's 
birth was May 19, 1854. In 1868, he landed in Cal- 
houn County, Illinois, and he resided there and in 
Green county until 1876, when he decided to heed 
Horace Greeley's advice and try his fortune in the 



West. His first home in Washington territory was 
on Whidby Island, where he farmed on land held by 
leasehold for eight years, at the end of which time 
he had accumulated sufficient means to justify pur- 
chasing a place of his own. Accordingly, in 1884, 
he came to the Swinomish flats and bought one hun- 
dred and eighty acres of land, situated six miles 
west and a little 'north of Mount Vernon, to the im- 
provement and cultivation of which he devoted him- 
self assiduously until his death, which occurred June 
3, 1902. He was a very active man in his business, 
public spirited, broad minded, liberal, just and un- 
selfish, hence one who was naturally respected and 
looked upon with favor by his fellow citizens. 

In 1873, in the state of Illinois, Mr. Jenne mar- 
ried Mary, daughter of Leonard and Catherine 
(Mowery) Halfrick, both natives of Ohio. The 
father was a tailor by trade, but in early life de- 
serted his needle and goose for farming, which oc- 
cupation he followed for a number of years in Illi- 
nois. He was a pioneer of that state, and his widow, 
now seventy-seven years old. still lives there, and 
lias since she was a child of four. Mrs. Jenne was 
born in Illinois, September 14, 1854, and received 
her educational discipline there, then married at the 
age of nineteen. Her children are : Jane, at home ; 
Lizzie, wife of Fred Kalso; John at home; Mrs. 
Tillie Callahan, in Fredonia ; Ida and Hazel, at home. 
Of these John, who, with his mother, manages the 
place, is a graduate not only of the public schools 
of La Conner, but also of Wilson's Modern Busmess 
college, of Seattle. He cultivates the entire one 
hundred and eighty acres in such a way as to make 
it yield an excellent profit, giving the major portion 
of his attention to cereal crops, though he keeps a 
few head of cattle and abundance of horses for all 
the purposes of the farm. The family are Presby- 
terians, and during his life time Mr. Jenne was an 
Odd Fellow. 



HARVEY SMITH, a well-known pioneer of La 
Conner, is a native of New Brunswick, born in Al- 
bert county, January 9, 1862, the son of Calvin 
Smith, a farmer, who spent his entire life in New 
Brunswick, the place of his nativity. His mother is 
Sarah (Sterrett) Smith, born in New Brunswick 
in 1825, and is residing near Puyellup, Pearce coun- 
ty. Harvey Smith spent his early life at home, se- 
curing his education in the schools of that country, 
and meanwhile assisting his father in the work of 
the farm, thus becoming familiar with the bi;siness 
that has claimed his entire attention for many years. 
Leaving home at the age of twenty-one to seek his 
fortune in the West, he came direct to La Conner, 
where he took up one hundred and sixty acres on the 
Olympia Marsh, remaining nine years. He then lo- 
cated in British Columbia, working on a ranch for 
some eighteen months, after which he came to Mount 
Vernon and was employed in the same way for the 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



following eight years. He now owns a fine farm of 
twenty-two acres, giving evidence of his skilful man- 
agement. Dairying and fruit raising are the two 
features of farming to which he gives special atten- 
tion, having eleven head of cattle and about an acre 
in apples, cherries, prunes and pears. He also de- 
votes some time to poultry raising. Thrifty and 
energetic, he is making a success of farming, add- 
ing year by year to his possessions. 

Mr. Smith was married in December, 1902, to 
]\Iargaret Eubanks, born in California. In early 
childhood she became a resident of Skagit county, 
here receiving her education. Her parents are Win- 
ton and Sarah E. (Pritchard) Hobson. Mr. and 
Mrs. Smith have one child, Mildred, born October 
12, 1903. Mr. Smith votes an independent ticket, 
believing that to be the surest way of securing 
capable men for the offices of the government. He 
has never had any political aspirations. Witnessing 
vast changes in this country since he came to it in 
1883, when he experienced the trials and hardships 
incident to pioneer life, he is prepared to enjoy the 
comforts and advantages of to-day. 



S. FRED JOHNSON is a native of Sweden, a 
country that has given to the United States so many 
citizens distinguished in every walk of life because 
of their thrift and industry. Born in Dalsland, Jan- 
uary 29, 18(>0, his father was John Anderson, a 
farmer, born in 1814. Annie (Person) Anderson, 
his mother, was'bcrn December 25, 1S2T. in Sweden, 
and is still living. His father having died in 1860, 
S. Fred Johnson early took up the responsibilities of 
life, assisting in the work of the farm until he was 
fifteen years of age, when he left for America, the 
land of his dreams. He spent four years in Water- 
ville, Quebec, learning the cabinet-making trade, re- 
ceiving fifty dollars for his work the first year, and 
seventy-five dollars the second year. One summer 
he was employed on a farm, nine dollars a month 
being the price then paid for farm labor. Locating 
in Contra Costa, California, he began working at 
his trade, but soon fell ill with typhoid fever. Upon 
his recovery he accepted a position as carpenter on 
the Southern Pacific railroad, his work giving such 
excellent satisfaction that he was retained for four 
years, at the end of which time he went to San 
Francisco and opened a furniture store. A year 
later he sold it. coming to La Conner and here fol- 
lowing his trade for five years. In ISSGhe took up 
eighty acres where he now lives, all swamp and 
timber land at that date. In the succeeding five 
years he spent- fifteen hundred dollars in improve- 
ments, making it his home after he gave up car- 
penter work. He now has forty acres in cultiva- 
tion ; the balance of the farm, some of it leased to 
the North Avon Lumber Company, is in pasture. 
He has a fine dairy of Jersey and Holstein cattle; 
and is also raising Berkshire and Poland-China hogs. 



An elegant home, lighted with acetylene gas, and 
equipped with all the modern conveniences and lux- 
uries, gives evidence of his care for the welfare and 
happiness of his family. He has a brother, A. J. 
Johnson, living on Beaver Marsh. 

INIr. Johnson was married in 1895 to Mary Hol- 
ingberg, a native of Sweden, who came to Skagit 
county to visit a brother and here met her husband. 
Three children have made happy the home of Mr. 
and Mrs. Johnson, as follows: Harold, born Feb- 
ruary 17, i896 ; Abbie Maria, born October 26, 
1898 ; Ruby, born June 1, 1904. The family are ad- 
herents to the Lutheran church. Mr. Johnson is an 
honored member of the Modern Woodmen. He' is 
a loyal Republican, who has never sought or de- 
sired political prominence, choosing rather to serve 
the country of his adoption in the quiet walks of 
life. Mr. Johnson has not always enjoyed the suc- 
cess and prosperity that are his to-day, having suf- 
fered reverses of fortune like the majority of men. 
Unlike many, however, these have but spurred him 
to greater diligence and activity, have but developed 
the sturdy manhood which was his birthright. In- 
telligent and upright, a man whose word is as good 
as his bond, he is one of North Avon's most re- 
spected citizens. 



JAMES CALLAHAN is a man whose excellent 
business judgment and active energy have placed 
him in the class of esteemed citizens of Skagit coun- 
ty, and he now enjoys the confidence of a large 
community. Mr. Callahan is a native of Ireland, 
but accompanied his parents to this country and to 
Indiana when but a small lad. His father, James 
Callahan, was a cooper by trade and a first class ar- 
tisan. His mother, Margaret (Hartigan) Callahan, 
was also a native of the Emerald Isle and died in 
Ohio, being the mother of eleven children of whom 
James is the youngest. After attending school and 
learning the cooper's trade under the instruction of 
his father, Mr. Callahan went to Louisville, Ken- 
tucky, wdien nineteen, years of age and engaged in 
coopering; later going to work at his trade at Harri- 
son, Ohio. He was here at the outbreak of the Civil 
War and responded to Lincoln's first call for troops 
by enlisting for a short term in the Seventh Indiana 
Infantry. On the expiration of his enlistment, Mr. 
Callahan immediately reentered the army, this time 
choosing Company G of the One Hundred and 
Eighty-First Ohio Volunteers. On being mustered 
out he returned to his occupation of cooper at Au- 
rora, Indiana, and other points in the state. Mr. 
Callahan served also as city marshal of Aurora and 
at one time engaged as traveling agent in the sewing 
machine business. In 1876 he came to Washington, 
via San Francisco, taking the steamer to Port 
Townsend and thence by small boat to Whatcom,' 
where he found his brother-in-law, M. D. Smith, 
who owned a farm in conjunction with a Mr. Mc- 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



Clellen on the Swinomish flats. ]\Ir. Callahan ar- 
ranged to operate that place, and did so for a num- 
ber of years, during which he filed on a preemption 
of seventy-six acres near Padilla. By degrees he 
prepared this place for cultivation, erected build- 
ings and in 1878 commenced to live on and cultivate 
it. He continued thus in prosperous condition for 
nine years, when he sold out to his son, James. In 
1887 Mr. Callahan purchased his present place of 
one hundred acres, five miles northwest of Mount 
Vernon, and has resided here ever since. 

In 1862, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Mr. Callahan mar- 
•ried Miss Harriet Ball, daughter of Samuel Ball, 
an English mechanic, who came to the United 
States in 1833 and settled in Hamilton County, 
Ohio, following his trade there and in Indiana. The 
mother, Mrs. Mary (Wyatt) Ball, was also a native 
of England, and died in Ohio in 1846, the mother 
of nine children. Mrs. Callahan was born in Ham- 
ilton County, Ohio, in 1842, there receiving her edu- 
cation and residing there to the time of her marriage. 
Mr. and Mrs. Callahan have nine children : Mrs. 
Hannah Eyre, living near Mount Vernon ; Mrs. 
Henrietta Ovenell, on the Olympia marsh; Richard, 
also on the Olympia marsh ; John, living on his fath- 
er's first farm in Skagit county ; Edward, in the vi- 
cinity of the home farm; James, residing near his 
parents ; and Albert, Anna and Margaret, at home. 
Mr. Callahan is a member of the Grand Army of the 
Republic, and is a communicant of the Catholic 
church. In politics he is a Democrat, though not 
always tied to party lines. Mr. Callahan's land 
holdings comprise some three hundred acres, by far 
the greater part of which is under cultivation. The 
house is a commodious one, with large barns and 
outbuildings, to say nothing of warehouses. He has 
thirty head of cattle and eight horses. Mr. Callahan 
is justice of the peace, and one of the honored citi- 
zens of his home community as well as of the 
county. 



SAMUEL L. BELL, for many years a promi- 
nent contractor in the Northwest, now resides on 
his fine farm located three miles north of Burlmg- 
ton. He was_ born in Louisville, Kentucky, De- 
cember 29, 1838, his parents being Archibald and 
Harriet L. (Baker) Bell. His father, a druggist, 
born April 29, 1814, was a native of Lexington, 
Kentucky. He moved to Oregon in 1852, later be- 
coming a well-known pioneer of Skagit County, 
Washington. He died near Oregon City, April 30, 
1890. The mother was born in Tennessee, January 
11, 1814, grew to womanhood in Virginia, and was 
married November 4, 1834. Her death occurred in 
Louisville, Kentucky, June 27, 1851. 

Leaving home with a brother in the spring of 
1853, Samuel L. Bell crossed the plains with an ox 
team from Saint Joseph, Missouri, to Fort Steila- 
coom, spending the winter in the Natchez pass. 



Near Astoria, they saw the cabins built by Lewis 
and Clark when they made their famous trip, the 
mess room being then used as a stable. After 
spending a summer there, they moved to Klamath 
County, Oregon. Samuel completed his education 
by a two years' course at the Portland Academy, 
then prospected for some time east of the moun- 
tains. He then went to California, where he resid- 
ed for the ensuing sixteen years, during which time 
he worked in a sash and door factory, as foreman. 
Moving north he lived in Portland a year, going 
thence to Seattle, still following the manufacture of 
sash and doors as a business. In 1883 he came to 
Burlington, locating the claim where he now re- 
si'des, and he moved onto it in 1885. He contracted 
for the erection of the Odd Fellows' Hall in Edison, 
and numerous other buildings. Returning to Seat- 
tle in 1887, he made the sash and doors used in the 
construction of the First Methodist church. Two 
3'ears later he again made his home in Skagit coun- 
ty, devoting a large amount of time to contract 
work. In 1890 he was unanimously nominated by 
the Democratic party for the office of state senator 
from Skagit county, but was defeated, though he 
polled 225 votes more than the congressman on the 
same ticket. 

Mr. Bell has been twice married. His first wife, 
Mary O'Brien, was born in 1840, and died in Seat- 
tle December 22, 1888. In April, 1891, he and J\Irs. 
Mary E. Natwick were united in marriage. Born 
in Chicago, Illinois, Mrs. Bell came to Washington 
in 1888. Her mother is now living in Seattle, but 
her father died in 1900. To this second union two 
children have been born: Emma May and Bessie 
L., both now at Ijome. Mr. Bell is a prominent 
member of the Masonic order. He owns eighty- 
three acres, twenty-two of which are in a fine state 
of cultivation. His specialty is dairying, and by 
wise and careful attention to its varied details, he is 
winning success. He is a practical, energetic farm- 
er, and a public spirited, progressive citizen. Dur- 
ing his long residence in this county he has been 
identified with its various enterprises, and he is re- 
garded as one^ of the substantial progressive mem- 
bers of the communitv. 



ANTON LEHNHOFF, one of Burlington's 
most progressive farmers, was born in Lipstadt, 
Germany, October 2.7, 1857. His parents, William 
and Eliza (Kleinschitzer) Lehnhofif, both born in 
Hanover, Germany, in 1834, are now residing in 
New York City. Anton Lehnhoff received his edu- 
cation in the schools of his native country, entering 
the army at the age of twenty-one. His parents 
having immigrated to New York, he went thither in 
1881, at the expiration of his required three years' 
service. Working in a hotel for a year, and later in 
a store, he then owned a fuel yard which proved to 
be a sfood investment. He sold out, started for 




A^IOS BOWMAN 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



the west, and after spending some time in Kansas 
and Texas, located in Pasco, Washington, where he 
found employment on the railroad and in a hotel. 
He became owner of a livery barn and dairy, and 
having decided to go farther west, shipped a car 
load of horses and cattle to Olympia marsh in 1888. 
He purchased forty acres, which he now cultivates, 
together with one hundred and sixty acres of rented 
land. Prior to taking up his permanent residence on 
his own ranch, he leased the Day ranch at Lyman, 
and lost his entire crop one fall by reason of the 
floods. Returning to the marsh he rented two hun- 
dred and eighty acres for a year, moving to his 
farm at the end of that time. 

Mr. Lehnhoff was married in 1891 to Augusta 
Wagner, born in Germany, February 27, 1858. She 
made the entire journey from her native country to 
the state of Washington alone, to wed the man of 
her choice who was here waiting for her, and who 
on account of lack of funds was not able to go for 
her. One seeing them surrounded by the prosperity 
that is theirs today, would find difficulty in believing 
that the money to purchase the marriage license was 
borrowed from a friend. Her father, David E. 
Wagner, born in Saxony, Germany, in 1830, was a 
manufacturer of steel tools till his death in 1876. 
Anestaine C. (Mader) Wagner, her mother, born in 
1834, in Saxony, is still living in her native town, 
Schmalkalden. Mr. and Mrs. Lehnhoff have six 
children: William, Ernest, Elsa, George, Ruth and 
May. Elsa, a little girl of nine, won the first prize 
at the county fair in 1904, for the best loaf of bread 
and cake, a fact which speaks volumes for the little 
maiden's culinary skill, and also for the mother's 
wise instruction. Mr. Lehnhoff adheres to no polit- 
ical party, voting each time for the man. A great 
admirer of thoroughbred stock, he owns the Clyde 
stallion, "Bobby Burns," the winner of the first prize 
at the Oregon state fair in 1904; the Jersey bull, 
"Melia Ann's Maple," registered 66,124, with the 
American Jersey Cattle Club, also a prize winner; 
twelve head of registered Jersey stock, and sixty- 
three head of graded stock. He has established an 
enviable reputation as a breeder and judge of fine 
stock. Keenly alive to the ever increasing demands 
for thought and study along agricultural lines, he 
is one of the most intelligent and practical farmers 
of the county. Both he and Mrs. Lehnhoff are well 
known in social circles, and the latter is a prominent 
member of the Baptist church. She enjoys the dis- 
tinction of having at one time entertained the pres- 
ent Emperor of Germany and Prince Henry. 



AMOS BOWMAN (deceased), founder of the 
town of Anacortes. was one of the observing and 
far-seeing men who came early to Skagit county, 
saw its possibilities and planned for an agricultural 
and commercial empire on the shores of Puget 
sound. Of these men of action, who were also 



prophets, Mr. Bowman ranked as one of the fore- 
most. Ripe in experience, by profession a mining 
and civil engineer, skilled in geology and a jour- 
nalist, Mr. Bowman possessed qualifications for 
exploiting the new country among the people of 
his acquaintance on the Atlantic coast and bring- 
ing to the development of this part of Skagit 
county the aid of Eastern capital. Mr. Bowman 
was born in Blair, Ontario, in 1840 and after 
obtaining the rudiments of an education attended 
Oberlin University, one of Ohio's many collegiate 
institutions, and later the University of the City 
of New York. He was graduated with a degree 
of mining and civil engineer at the famous 
College of Mines at Freiburg, Germany. He 
also took courses in the arts at Munich. While 
in Europe Mr. Bowman acted as special cor- 
respondent of the New York Tribune when Horace 
Greeley was editor, and in this capacity saw service 
in the Crimean War. He also made a tour of Con- 
tinental Europe before returning to the United 
States. In 1868 Mr. Bowman was in charge of the 
state geological survey of California under Profes- 
sor W hitney, remaining in that service for a period 
of six years. Mr. Bowman visited Puget sound, en- 
gaged in a private capacity to survey coal lands. 
Later he became connected with the British Colum- 
bia division of the Canadian geological survey, re- 
maining in that service for some time. It was ow- 
ing to his visit to Skagit county that he first be- 
came impressed with the great possibilities here. 
He had been intimately connected with mapping the 
country tributary to Puget sound and had traveled 
extensively over it, minutely observing conditions of 
soil, climate and other natural endowments of the 
section. Especially did he feel that Ship harbor on 
Fidalgo island was destined to become a point of 
commercial activity and possibly a terminus for a 
transcontinental railway. So deeply impressed was 
he with this idea that in 1877 he purchased the land 
whereon is now the town of Anacortes and moved 
his family here, bringing house and equipment by 
steamer to this shore when it was a wilderness be- 
tween the water and the forest. Over the lintel of 
this pioneer home and above the door of this lonely 
cottage he placed this inscription : 

"Ultima Thule, utmost isle. 

Here in thy harbor for a while 

Our sail we furl, to rest 

From the unending ceaseless quest." 
But Mr. Bowman was not merely sighing for "a 
lodge in some vast wilderness ;" his prophetic mind 
saw that with the powerful touch of publicity back- 
ed by the magic of capital, commerce would spread 
its wings about Puget sound and call at Ship 
Harbor. He erected a dock, established a print- 
ing office, opened a store and changed the name 
of his place to Anacortes, the name being but a 
modification of the name of his wife, Anne Curtis. 
Steamboats touched at the dock, the Anacortes 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



Enterprise dropped periodically from the press, 
the store was patronized and settlers were at- 
tracted to the place. It was not until 1887, how- 
ever, that Mr. Bowman felt that the time was 
ripe for exploiting the settlement among his cap- 
italistic friends in the east. At that time there 
was talk of the Union Pacific railway piercing the 
Puget sound country, and in response to a sum- 
mons Mr. Bowman journeyed to New York to 
negotiate with the controlling men of that rail- 
road with a view to the selection of Anacortes 
as a terminus. Two years later the result of Mr. 
Bowman's negotiations appeared in an arrange- 
ment by which in consideration of one half of 
Mr. Bowman's land as a subsidy the Oregon 
Railway & Navigation Company agreed to make 
Anacortes a terminus. The story of the subse- 
quent boom days is history, and with the enact- 
ment of the progress of that history went the 
picture which Mr. Bowman had held before his 
vision for so many years. The picture is reality 
at the present day, but Mr. Bowman did not live 
to see the figures leap into life. Of Mr. Bowman 
one writer has penned these words : "But the 
pioneer of great movements was destined not to 
live to see the complete realization of his efforts. 
So keen a foresight and so optimistic a character 
must always live in advance of his time. Inter- 
ested in many projects of land development, 
among which was the reclamation of the Sumas 
valley from the Frazer river, in which district he 
owned heavily, Mr. Bowman died at his Anacortes 
home in 1894, while Time, too slow for such a 
mortal, was hearing year by year the proof of 
his unerring prophecy." 



HON. WILLIAM T. ODLIN, mayor of Ana- 
cortes and the city's well known banker, has been 
more or less actively identified with the public 
life of Skagit county for nearly two decades. 
Coming up the valley of the Skagit river at a 
time when it could only be reached by canoe, when 
it was traversed only by winding and sometimes 
almost impassable trails, and peopled only by scat- 
tered camps of loggers, isolated homesteaders and 
a few Indians, he cheerfully accepted the pioneer's 
life, throwing into it the faith and energy which 
have enabled him to make the most of opportun- 
ities that have since come in his way. The Od- 
lins were of the earliest colonial stock, the family 
having emigrated from England to the newly dis- 
covered continent in the early part of the Seven- 
teenth century, the first American-born ancestors 
of William T. having been born in Boston in 
1640. William T. Odlin is himself a native of 
Ohio; Dayton is his birthplace and November 2, 
1866, his birthday. He is the son of Woodbridge, 
and Elizabeth (Thompson) Odlin. In 1855, at 
the age of twenty-two, the senior Odlin, also a 



native of Dayton, Ohio, took up his residence in 
Kansas and engaged in farming. Six years later, 
in the beginning of the great conflict between 
North and South, he enlisted as a private in the 
Kansas "Jay Hawk" regiment, which subsequently 
became part of another regular command, and 
served continuously until the close of the war. 
During the progress of the war he was promoted 
to the rank of captain in recognition of his 
bravery. During a portion of the reconstruction 
period following the cessation of hostilities. Cap- 
tain Odlin served as provost marshal of Cairo, 
Illinois. His present home is near Sedro-Woolley, 
where he located in 1890. Elsewhere in this 
work his biography is written at greater length 
and more in detail. Elizabeth (Thompson) Od- 
lin was born in Eaton, Ohio, in 1831, and died 
in Sedro-Woolley December 18, 1904, greatly be- 
loved by all who knew her. After acquiring a 
practical education in the schools of his birth- 
place William T. Odlin began the performance 
of the active duties of life, finding employment 
after the age of thirteen in different manufactur- 
ing establishments. In 1887 he went to California 
and engaged for a year in the lumber industry of 
that state, coming then to the northwest in further 
search of permanent home and fortune. After a 
brief sojourn in Seattle, where he arrived in 1888, 
he accepted a position in the store of the Skagit 
Railway & Lumber Company at Sterling, a log- 
ging camp center on the Skagit river, assuming 
his duties in January, 1889. When the store was 
sold a year later he became bookkeeper for 
Davison & Millett in their mill at Woolley. Hav- 
ing established for himself a reputation as a man 
of exceptional business ability and of strictest in- 
tegrity, in March, 1893, he was offered the posi- 
tion of cashier and bookkeeper in the bank of C. 
E. Bingham & Company; the offer was accepted 
and he continued to serve the bank in this capacity 
until November 1, 1899. At this time he located 
in Anacortes and established the Citizens' bank, 
of which he is the cashier and also a heavy stock- 
holder. 

Mr. Odlin was married in Sedro-Woolley in 
189G, to Miss Jessie Reno, daughter of Lewis 
Q. Reno, a native of West Virginia, who died a 
number of years ago. Her mother, Amelia 
(Nicholas) Reno, was born in New Jersey and is 
still living, her present home being in this state. 
Mrs. Odlin's native place is Marengo, Iowa, and 
the year of her birth, 1869. At Marengo she 
attended the common schools and was subse- 
quently graduated from the high school ; after 
academic work in a private school in Chicago her 
education was completed in the Colonel Parker 
school. For several years prior to her marriage 
she was a very successful teacher in the schools 
of Morgan Park, Illinois, one of the larger sub- 
urbs of Chicago ; she was especially interested in 




WILLIAM T. ODLIN 




D( )UGLASS all:mond 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



617 



kindergarten work. She is a gifted writer, her 
short stories appearing frequently in current mag- 
azines ; and she has won a modest though none the 
less enviable reputation as a writer of children's 
fiction. J\Ir. and Mrs. Odlin have two children, 
who were born in Sedro-Woolley : Reno, June 26, 
1897, and Richard, September 30, 1901. Mr. 
Odlin is a member of the Masonic order, and in 
politics is identified with the Republican party. 
He has filled with distinguishing honor many 
offices and positions of public trust in his com- 
munity. For five years he was city treasurer of 
Sedro-Woolley; in 1901-2 he served as a member 
of the city council of Anacortes ; in December, 
1904, he was called to the mayor's chair by his 
fellow citizens, and he is now president of the 
Chamber of Commerce. In the discharge of his 
varying duties and obligations, Mr. Odlin has 
displayed characteristic ability and abiding inter- 
est in the welfare of town, county and state. Be- 
sides his banking interests, his attention is en- 
gaged with real estate holdings throughout the 
county: these include a forty-acre ranch near 
Sedro-Woolley. Mr. and Mrs. Odlin are promi- 
nent in the social circles of Anacortes and enjoy 
the good will and esteem of the entire commun- 
ity. 

DOUGLASS ALLMOND, an influential cit- 
izen of Anacortes, has been for fifteen years an 
active factor in the city's progress. He has al- 
ways had faith in the city's future, believing her 
destined to become an important commercial cen- 
ter, and he has had the satisfaction of seeing her 
enter upon her present era of prosperity, with 
even larger possibilities than had been foreshad- 
owed by her founder. Mr. Allmond was born in 
Sacramento County, California, in 1863. He is 
the son of John G. and Lydia Dyer (Douglass) 
Allmond. John G. Allmond was a native of Ger- 
many who came to the United States in his youth 
and settled in western New York. He made the 
long voyage around Cape Horn in 1849, settled 
in California and engaged first in mining and 
afterwards in fruit culture, being one of the 
pioneers in that important branch of the industry 
now so prominent in California's commercial life. 
The elder Allmond passed away in 1868. Lydia 
Dyer Allmond was born in western New York in 
1822; she is a descendant of William and Anne 
Mattie Douglass, who settled at Cape Anne, Mass- 
achusetts, in 1640. Mrs. Allmond went to Cali- 
fornia via the Isthmus of Panama in 1851, and 
for a number of years resided near Sacramento. 
She came to Seattle in 1882 and afterwards to 
Anacortes, which is now her home. 

As a lad Douglass Allmond learned to operate 
a wood turning lathe. When thirteen years old 
he began to learn the printer's art, commencing as 
a "printer's devil." He came to Puget sound in 



1882 and was one of the old guard of finished 
printers on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. At a 
later period he was engaged in the printing busi- 
ness in Seattle with Wm. H. Hughes, but the 
memorable fire of 1889 destroyed their establish- 
ment. In 1887, with F. H. Whitworth and A. H. 
Shroufe, he was delegated by the naval commis- 
sion, then visiting the Northwest for the 
first time with a view to establishing a naval sta- 
tion, to appraise the lands now occupied 
by the Port Orchard navy yard. It was in 1890 
that Mr. Allmond located at Anacortes and, in 
company with F. H. Boynton, began the publica- 
tion of the Anacortes American. He continued 
at the head of that journal until 1902 when he 
became interested in the Anacortes Water Com- 
pany, of which he is now president and active 
manager. This company owns the water and 
lighting systems of the city, which under Mr. 
Allmond's management have been made modern 
and effective in all their appointments. Although 
necessarily much of his time has been devoted 
with characteristic energy to the management of 
his personal interests and those of his company, 
Mr. Allmond has found time for attention to public 
functions and th'e faithful discharge of public trusts. 
During Col. F. D. Huestis' term as collector of cus- 
toms for the District of Puget sound, Mr. Allmond 
was appointed deputy collector by that gentleman, 
and was re-appointed under the administration of 
C. W. Ide. It is largely due to the efforts of a very 
few energetic and progressive citizens, of whom 
Mr. Allmond is one of the leading spirits, that 
Anacortes has recovered from its disastrous boom- 
day experiences and now ranks as one of the 
most thrifty cities in the Puget sound basin. 



MELVILLE CURTIS, a prominent business 
man of Anacortes, was born in New Jersey in 
1849, the son of Melville and Louise (Allsopp) 
Curtis. His father, a native of Massachusetts, 
was a paper maker by trade, who came to New 
Jersey in 1838, there remaining till his death in 
1860. The mother was born in Quebec, of Eng- 
lish descent and was also married there. Her 
ancestors moved to Canada soon after it became 
an English possession. Educated in Canada, Mel- 
ville Curtis lived at home till his father died, then, 
at the age of eleven, went to his mother's rela- 
tives in the same country. Five years later he took 
a four years' course in mining and civil engineer- 
ing at Troy, New York. Going to Nevada in 
1871, he entered the employ of the Manhat Min- 
ing Company as assayer. After demonstrating 
remarkable ability and faithfulness, he was ap- 
pointed general superintendent of the mines, re- 
taining the positon until, on account of the depre- 
ciation in silver, the mines were obliged to close 
in 1887. He removed to Mendocino county, Cali- 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



fornia, spent one year in the lumber business, and 
moved thence to Irondale, Washington, where 
he had charge of the Puget sound iron furnace. 
Having invested in property in Anacortes in 1885, 
he made this his home in the spring of 1890. He 
was elected county commissioner in 1898, serving 
four years. He had previously served the city as 
mayor for three years. Discovering an excellent 
opening in the wharfage business, he constructed, 
in 1903, the wharf which he now owns, and by 
strict adherence to sound principles has built up 
a splendid trade in coal and building supplies. He 
was married in California in October, 1883. Mr. 
Curtis' bride was Fannie B. Wright, a talented 
musician who received her training in New York 
City. Her father, James A. Wright, a native of 
New York, moved to California in 1848, via the 
Isthmus of Panama. He was one of the pioneers 
of California and Nevada. Her mother, Susan 
(Backus) Wright, was a descendant of an old 
Dutch family of New York, the state of her 
birth and marriage. Mrs. Curtis was educated 
in her native state, California. Mr. and Mrs. 
Curtis have four children: Morri, the wife of 
H. P. Schmidt, the well-known druggist of Ana- 
cortes ; Louise and AUeen, born in Nevada ; Helen, 
born in Port Townsend. Mr. Curtis is a promi- 
nent member of the Masonic and Knights of Py- 
thias fraternities. He and his family are iden- 
tified with the Episcopal church. A loyal mem- 
ber of the Republican party, he has advanced its 
interests by every means within his power. Few 
residents of Anacortes have given so large a 
measure of time and attention to the growth and 
prosperity of the town as has Mr. Curtis, who 
has been a member of the city council for twelve 
years since its organization. He has manifested 
a deep interest in educational matters, especially 
during the four years of his service on the school 
board. Mr. Curtis' neighbors and friends recog- 
nize his sterling qualities of mind and heart, and 
both admire and respect him. 



ALBERT L. GRAHAM, one of the most 
popular citizens of Anacortes, was born in Dodge 
County, Wisconsin, August 2, 1854. His father, 
Orlando Graham, born near Rochester, New York, 
in December, 1826, was a farmer till the call of 
his country for volunteers in the Civil War fired 
him with patriotic zeal. Enlisting in Company B, 
Fourth Minnesota Regiment, he was an active 
participant in the battle of Lookout Mountain, 
and in all the engagements in which General 
Sherman was the leader. During his service he 
was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant solely 
on account of merit, and made that famous 
"March to the Sea" under his beloved general. 
Taking up his former occupation at the close of 
the war, he came to Washington in 1873, locating 



on Fidalgo island. In 1874 Mr. Graham, asso- 
ciated with Amasa Everett and Lafayette Stevens, 
made the discovery of the well-known Hamilton 
coal mines on the Skagit, and during all the rail- 
road activities of the 'seventies and 'eighties, he 
was prominently identified with the promoters. As 
a public spirited citizen he ranked high among 
his fellow men contributing an unusual share to 
the development of Fidalgo island and the county 
in general. His death occurred in December, 
1901. Harriet (Hatch) Graham, the mother, was 
also a native of New York, born near Rochester 
in 1825. After a long, useful life, she died in 
1903. Albert L. Graham spent the first twenty- 
one years of his life acquiring an education, and 
at the same time, a practical knowledge of agri- 
culture. Coming with his parents to Washington, 
he took up land near Burrows bay, a part of which 
he still owns. During the lifetime of his parents, 
he shared with them the fruits of his toil, cheering 
their declining years with a filial devotion very 
rare in these modern days. He still makes his 
home on forty acres of the old homestead, and he 
also owns other property on the island. Mr. Graham 
has a brother, Frank A., living near Lake Camp- 
bell, and a sister, Carrie A., who makes her home 
with him. Though loyally adhering to Republican 
principles, he has never desired political prefer- 
ment at the hands of his party. He devotes espe- 
cial attention to fruit raising, having on his farm 
a fine twelve-acre orchard. The son of an honored 
pioneer, Mr. Graham is very familiar with the 
early history of this locality, possessing a fund of 
information that can be relied upon for accuracy. 
An earnest, thoughtful man, a kind neighbor and 
friend, he is accorded the respect and confidence 
of all who are associated with him, and may justly 
be classed as one of Fidalgo island's most public 
spirited citizens as was his father before him. 



JUDGE GEORGE A. JOINER is one of the 
many men of energy and force who, stirred in 
their early youth with a consuming ambition, have 
chosen the strenuous and exacting profession of 
law as a fit field of labor, well knowing that while 
it soon relegates to obscurity the incompetent it 
has many prizes for men of ability and determina- 
tion sufficient to climb toward the top, where, it is 
said, there is always room. Judge Joiner has the 
satisfaction of knowing that whatever measure of 
success he has thus far attained has been fairly 
won by his own eltorts, circumstances in his case, 
especially in early life, being an opposing and not 
an assisting force. Judge Joiner is a son of the 
Empire state, born in Wolcott, Wayne county, 
August 20, 1861. He began life with one asset of 
great value, namely, a good heredity. His father, 
Dorous B. Joiner, was of pure Vermont stock, 
though born in New York, and had in his veins 




MELVILLE CURTIS 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



621 



the best blood of the Green Mountain boys. His 
mother. Mrs. Rebecca (Wilde) Joiner, was a nat- 
ive of New York, but her family line extended 
back to the sturdy Scotch and Irish races. 

Born on the farm Judge Joiner spent there the 
years of his early youth, attending the local school 
in term time, doing general farm work and withal 
building up the constitutional vigor and sturdy 
character which have enabled so many men from 
the farm to lead their seemingly more favored 
city brethren in the race. When he left the par- 
ental roof he did so for the purpose of acquiring 
a better education. He attended the high school 
until fitted to enter the teaching profession; then 
obtained a certificate and began spending his win- 
ters as master of the school room. By the time 
he reached his majority he had fully decided that 
the law was the profession for him, so commenced 
reading in the office of William Roe. Later he 
studied under the direction of J. W. Hoag in his 
native town, where he received most of his pre- 
liminary training for admission to the bar. Upon 
gaining the right to practice, he formed a partner- 
ship with A. C. Brink, at Wolcott, which partner- 
ship he afterward caused to be dissolved that he 
might join forces with Col. Anson S. Wood, one 
of the foremost lawyers of central New York, a 
man of extended experience and noted for his mas- 
tery of the principles of law. That Judge Joiner 
was thought worthy of becoming the partner of 
such a man is evidence of the success he was 
achieving in the profession of his choice. 

Our subject's career in Skagit county began in 
1890, when he located in Anacortes. He formed a 
partnership with W. V. Wells there which lasted 
for the ensuing five years, during a part of which 
time Judge Joiner served as prosecuting attorney, 
having been elected to that office on the Republi- 
can ticket. His public duties compelled him to 
spend much of his time at the county seat, so at 
length, in 1895, he determined to establish his 
residence there. In 1897 he became the partner 
of Hon. Henry McBride, who later became gover- 
nor of the state, and he continued his business con- 
nections with him until 1900, when he returned to 
Anacortes. In the fall of that year he was elected 
on the Republican ticket to the office of superior 
judge of Skagit and San Juan counties, a fact 
which proves conclusively that his career in private 
practice and as a public official had been such as 
to win him the confidence of the people in his own 
and adjoining communities. His majority at the 
polls was a handsome one. In 1904 the electors 
of Skagit and San Juan counties gave a further 
token of their confidence in Judge Joiner and their 
appreciation of his worth by re-electing him to the 
superior judgeship, and he is discharging the du- 
ties of that office at present, administering the law 
in such a way as to conserve, just as far as possi- 
ble, substantial justice, whose seat is in the bosom 



of God and whdse voice is the law of the universe. 

While realizing the truth of the maxim that 
"the law is a jealous mistress" and devotmg him- 
self to its mastery to the exclusion of most other 
things, Judge Joiner has always taken time to per- 
form well his duties as a citizen and to help along 
whatever seems likely to promote the general weal. 
An active Republican he has in the past been one 
of the leaders in the councils of that party, and 
twice he has represented it with credit as a mem- 
ber of the state central committee. Active also in 
the work of the one fraternity to which he be- 
longs, he is now a past grand in the home lodge 
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 

In April, 1893, Judge Joiner married Miss 
Josie M. Curtis, of Anacortes, daughter of the 
late Dr. A. B. and Mrs. Elmina (Carpenter) Cur- 
tis, and they are parents of one child, Anna E., 
born February 17, 1895. The family are members 
of the Presbyterian church. 



RIENZI EUGENE WHITNEY was among 
the small group of men who first tried the experi- 
ment of diking Skagit county land against the 
encroachment of salt water, thus teaching the 
world the value for agricultural purposes of the 
rich lowlands along the shores of Puget sound. 
These leaders demonstrated the accuracy of their 
idea on the Swinomish fiats, and the demonstra- 
tion has resulted in the reclamation of thousands 
of acres of the richest soil in the world. Skagit 
county, and the Puget sound country in general, 
owes much to R. E. Whitney for teaching the val- 
ue of tide land fiats for the purpose of agriculture. 
Mr. Whitney was born in Abington, Luzerne 
County, Pennsylvania, June 5, 1840. At an early 
age he was left an orphan and went to live with 
an uncle, Alvinza Gardner, a rugged and extra- 
ordinary character, an active abolitionist, a tem- 
perance and moral reformer and a man of pro- 
nounced convictions. Contact with such a charac- 
ter undoubtedly did much to mold the bent of the 
mind of the youth ; at any rate, Mr. Whitney in 
after years exhibited many of the traits of charac- 
ter possessed by his uncle and foster father. The 
boy obtained his education when not doing chores 
at home; working on Saturdays and observing the 
Sabbath. He managed to pass a few terms at an 
academy, but a college education was denied him. 
A characteristic of his early youth was an earnest 
and absorbing desire for knowledge, and to that 
end young Whitney employed toward an educa- 
tion many moments which remain 'barren in the 
lives of most American youths of the present day. 
While in attendance upon school young Whitney 
was an ardent scholar and was invariably at the 
head of his classes. During his school days he 
was converted and embraced the Baptist faith, re- 
maining to the end of his long and active career 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



a staunch adherent and exponent of the principles 
of that denominational belief. Endurance, activity 
and courage Mr. Whitney inherited from his par- 
ents, but at one time in his childhood he was phy- 
sically frail and delicate. Once he was given up 
to die and even a shroud for his interment was 
provided. Upon his recovery he commenced a 
systematic course of physical training, muscular 
development and lung exercise which counteract- 
ed the effect of disease. Dieting, work on the 
farm and outdoor occupation gave him the 
strength and endurance which were so valuable in 
later years. During the Civil War Mr. Whitney 
twice enlisted in the service of the Union, once in 
the emergency service to repel the rebel invasion 
of his native state, and again in the signal service. 
Much of his duty in the latter corps was per- 
formed at Newbern, North Carolina, where he 
held a position of great trust and danger during 
the closing days of the struggle. 

While the nephew was away from home dur- 
ing the war, his uncle died, and the young man 
took up the management of the farm, marrying 
Miss R. Augusta Wall. He continued to farm 
the property for some years, but, tiring of the 
climate and the poor quality of the soil as com- 
pared with other sections of the country, he went 
to Barton County, Missouri, and engaged success- 
fully in farming for several years. During this 
period he became acquainted with a lawyer named 
Avery, who was to change the entire course of 
Mr. Whitney's life and direct him to his later 
operations in the development of Skagit county. 
With Mr. Avery he formed a plan to enter into 
partnership in the banking business at Olympia, 
Washington. Mr. Avery preceded Mr. Whitney. 
The latter journeyed via San Francisco and on the 
way up from that city by boat was bereaved by 
the loss of his only daughter, who died of small- 
pox. Another blow fell upon Mr. Whitney on his 
arrival at Olympia. This was news that owing to 
the failure of the Northern Pacific railway to com- 
plete its line to the capital city it was not deemed 
wise to embark in the banking venture at that 
point. Just at this juncture Mr. Whitney heard 
of the tide lands of the Swinomish and visited this 
country. In May of 1872 he took up a claim on 
Indian slough near the site of the present village 
of Padilla, and with his wife commenced life in 
a shack erected on the undiked marsh land. Two 
cousins, E. A. Sisson and A. G. Tillinghast joined 
them in December of that year. A few small 
bits of tide land had been diked at this time, but 
it remained for Mr. Whitney and his cousins to in- 
augurate diking on a large scale. They proposed 
to enclose five hundred acres of tide lands in dike 
at a time when the project was but experiment and 
practical experience was unobtainable. The Puget 
sound country knows the result of that experiment 
on five hundred acres of Swinomish flat tide lands. It 



has been said that those three men were "the mud- 
sills of the foundation for the builders of this won- 
derful country," for their failures pointed out mis- 
takes to those who came after, and their successes 
were patterns for the later reclamation work. 

In 1874 Mr. Whitney was elected to the terri- _ 
torial legislature and served in that body most ac- 
ceptably to his constituents, earning a reputation 
for hard work, fearlessness and incorruptibility in 
support of, or antagonism to, proposed measures. 
Two years later, Mrs. Whitney's health becoming 
undermined by consumption, Mr. Whitney took 
her and their two children to the Atlantic coast 
and consulted medical aid in the chief centers of 
the East, also visiting the Centennial Exposition 
at Philadelphia. On the advice of physicians Mr. 
Whitney removed his family to California and 
settled in Colton, building the first house in that 
town. Here Mrs. Whitney and her youngest child 
died and were buried. He very soon returned to 
Puget sound and bought out his partner-cousins, a 
little later diking two hundred and fifty acres 
in addition to the original holdings of the partner- 
ship on Indian slough and connecting the two prop- 
erties by private roadway and drawbridge three 
hundred feet in length. In 1888 Mr. 
Whitney purchased and placed under dike what is 
known as Whitney's island, a tract of land about 
seven hundred acres in extent. The large 
sloughs required expensive dams and the 
operation was one of great risk, but the 
work was accomplished by Mr. Whitney, and 
in 1889 he had one thousand acres in 
grass and grain. When the railroad was 
built Mr. Whitney sold his old ranch, but retained 
the new. About this time he removed his family to 
their present Fidalgo island place anl turned mucH 
of his attention to his heavy investments in Ana- 
cortes real estate. In 1879 Mr. Whitney married 
Miss Kate Bradley, who still survives. Her father 
was V. L. Bradley. The family was the second white 
family at Stanwood, Snohomish flats, going there 
in 1870. Mr. Bradley died there in 1871. Mrs. 
Whitney was born in Missouri in 1855 and was 
seven years old when her father came to Wash- 
ington territory, setding on Whidby island, and 
living there eight years. Mr. Whitney met death in 
an accident in August of 1891. Of Mr. Whitney, 
his character and services to the public, the La 
Conner Mail of August G, 1891, speaks as follows: 

"One of the saddest events the Mail has been 
called upon to record is the accident by which R. 
E. Whitney, one of the oldest settlers on the Swin- 
omish flats, was called to his eternal reward. On 
Wednesday he was in town. He returned to his 
home in Anacortes after attending to some busi- 
ness in La Conner, planning new enterprises, etc. 
Friday morning, some of his family desiring to 
visit Bayview, he started with them. When but a 
short distance from the house, he was thrown 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



violently from the vehicle to the ground, receiving 
fatal injuries, which before midnight carried him 
to that bourne whence no traveler returns. The 
remains were interred Sunday in the Anacortes 
cemetery, an immense concourse being present. 
]\Iembers of the Anacortes city council attended in 
a body, he being an honored member. He leaves 
a wife and seven children, three being dead. He 
was a kind and indulgent husband and father, and 
always anxious for all around him to enjoy with 
him every musical, social and literary treat that 
could be provided. He was never idle or at rest 
unless asleep, and spent few hours in sleep ; was 
always fearless to speak or do what he thought 
right, and was positive in his convictions. Every- 
thing he undertook was on so large a scale that it 
commanded public notice and was of public bene- 
fit. His payroll was always large and many hun- 
dreds of men have worked for him, some of whom, 
now wealthy, got their first start in this county 
from wages earned of him. ***** j^g j^j^^j re- 
cently been giving his energy, mind and heart to 
the upbuilding of a great city at Anacortes, in 
whose future he had unbounded faith. He will be 
sorely missed iii business circles, public life, the 
home, the Sunday school and social life generally." 



JACOB W. LOWMAN, the popular police 
justice and justice of the peace of Anacortes, is a 
native of West Virginia, born in Franklin, May 
14, 1837, the son of David Lowman. The father, 
a blacksmith by trade, and German by descent, was 
born in Rockingham County, Virginia, in 1808. 
He died in Indiana in 1888. Catherine (Gum) 
Lowman, the maternal ancestor, was born in the 
same state the same year, and died August 16, 
1888. After completing his education in the schools 
of Virginia and Indiana, Jacob W. Lowman en- 
tered his father's shop in the latter state, became 
thoroughly familiar with all the details of the bus- 
iness, and with his father operated a farm for a 
number of years. He enlisted in the Twentieth 
Indiana Infantry when the war broke out, but was 
taken ill the following day, and was unable to 
go with his company. When he recovered from 
this sickness, he again engaged in farming, this 
time operating a place for himself. He opened a 
mercantile house in Buckcreek, Indiana, in 18(U, 
and remained in this business till ISTl, when he 
went on the road as a commercial traveller. 

He moved to Chicago where he witnessed the 
terrible fire which destroyed that city. After- 
wards he went to Canton, Illinois, where he re- 
mained five years, then to Boone, Iowa, his home 
until 1882, when he returned to Indiana and pur- 
chased his father-in-law's old home farm. In 1885 
he retired from the road and for seven years de- 
voted his entire attention to farming. He sold his 
place in 1892, came to Anacortes, started a hoop 



factory and sold out in six months. During the 
financial depression of the 'nineties he engaged in 
various pursuits, dealing in real estate to ^ome 
extent. He was elected by the Republican party 
to the office of justice of the peace in 1894 and 
has succeeded himself at each election since. He 
has held this positon of trust, during his lifetime, 
for twenty-seven years, a most unusual record. 
Other honors, unsought, have come to him. He 
has been a member of the city council three years, 
was chosen mayor of Anacortes in 1897, was made 
city treasurer in 1898, and three times has been 
chosen his own successor to that office. He always 
has discharged his manifold duties with fidelity, 
and has contributed in many ways to the pros- 
perity of the community. 

Mr. Lowman was married in Indiana in 1862, 
to Miss Nancy A. Shigley, daughter of Joseph 
and Mary (Mahin) Shigley. Her father was a 
Virginian, born near Harper's Ferry in 1799, 
who came to Ohio at an early date, settling in 
1855 in Indiana, where he died, having spent his 
entire life in agricultural pursuits. He was a Ger- 
man. Her mother was born in Kentucky in 1803, 
was married in Ohio, and died in Nebraska at the 
advanced age of ninety-one. Mrs. Lowman was 
born in Green County, Ohio, October 8, 1839. She 
received her education in the schools of her native 
state and in those of Indiana, fitted herself for 
teaching and entered that profession at the age of 
seventeen. For five years she was one of the most 
successful teachers of Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Low- 
man have had three children as follows: William 
A., born in Indiana, the well-known proprietor of 
the White Cress Cannery at Anacortes ; Effie L., 
born in Indiana, the wife of A. M. Dilling, a car- 
penter and contractor in Anacortes ; James G., 
born in Indiana, now the popular superintendent 
of schools of Skagit county, residing at Fredonia. 
Mr. Lowman is a member of the Odd Fellows. 
His property holdings include one hundred and 
twenty acres of timber land, his house and two 
lots in town, and some real estate which he rents. 
He is an active, intelligent, elderly gentleman, 
whose long years of public life have given him a 
wide circle of admiring friends. 



WILLIAM V. WELLS. In the professional 
circles of Anacortes no one occupies a more en- 
viable position than William V. Wells, Attorney 
at Law. For sixteen years he has been identified 
with the practice of the law in the courts of Skag- 
it county and elsewhere and during this period has 
been exceptionally successful in the various depart- 
ments of his profession. Mr. Wells is a native of 
the state of New York, the year of his birth being 
186G, and Mannsville, Jefferson county, the place 
of his nativity. He is the son of John and Lozina 
(Lowry) Wells, natives also of the Empire state. 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



The elder Wells was of English, Irish and Scotch 
extraction and was a successful contractor and 
builder in his native state till the time of his death 
in 1892. The mother, Lozina Wells, was born in 
1824 and is now living in the old New York home. 
William V. Wells spent the first twenty years of 
his life in New York state. There he received his 
early education in the common schools and in later 
years had the benefits of a higher course of study 
in the seminary at Lima. After finishing his stud- 
ies in the New York schools he decided to seek 
a field of endeavor in the West and in 1886 found 
his way to Helena, Montana, where for a year or 
more he was employed in the mines of that sec- 
tion. His natural inclination, however, was to- 
wards a professional career, and he soon tired of 
the life of the miner. From Helena he went to 
Jamestown, North Dakota, for the purpose of re- 
suming his studies and it was there he began prep- 
aration for the practice of the law. After three 
years of study in the Jamestown schools and in 
the law office of Jesse A. Frye, who was at that 
time a practitioner of Jamestown, North Dakota, 
and is at present United States district attorney 
for the state of Washington, he was admitted to 
the bar in 1889. In February, 1890, he came to 
Anacortes and formed a law partnership with 
Judge George A. Joiner, the arrangement contin- 
uing in efifect until Mr. Joiner moved to Mount 
Vernon in 1895. In 1897 Mr. Wells temporarily 
abandoned the practice of his profession and went 
to Alaska where he again donned the garb of the 
miner, took up again the pick and pan and delved 
for riches in the hidden storehouses of nature. At 
the end of four years which were spent in the 
Bonanza creek mining region, and during which 
he was very successful in his operations, he again 
became a citizen of Anacortes. While on a visit 
to Anacortes from Dawson, Alaska, in 1899, a 
second partnership was formed with Judge Joiner, 
but was eventually dissolved when Mr. Joiner was 
elected to the bench. After disposing of his Alas- 
kan property in 1901, Mr. Wells again turned his 
attention exclusively to his profession, becoming a 
member of the law firm of Quinby & Wells, whose 
practice is each year becoming more extensive and 
lucrative. Although diligently occupied with the 
manifold cares and responsibilities attaching to his 
law practice, he finds time for active participation 
in the affairs of church and state, and to devote to 
public measures and outside private concerns. He 
has faith in the future of the city and invested ex- 
tensively in her real property. He is the owner of 
several brick blocks in Anacortes. 

Mr. Wells was married in Anacortes January 
3. 1894, his bride being Miss Daisy McLean, 
daughter of William and Anna B. (Linn) Mc- 
Lean, well-known residents of Anacortes. Mr. 
and Mrs. McLean are natives of Mercer County, 
Pennsylvania. After leaving Pennsylvania the 



McLeans lived in turn in Kansas City, Missouri, 
and in Leadville, Colorado, coming to Anacortes 
in 1890. Mrs. Wells was born in Kansas City, 
Missouri, August 30, 1873. She was educated at 
Greenville, Pennsylvania, thereafter living with 
her parents until her marriage. For a time she 
was one of the most successful teachers in the 
Anacortes schools. She was possessed of rare 
strength and sweetness of character and her death 
with that of her twin boys on the tenth of May, 
1897, was the cause of profound sorrow through- 
out the entire city. 

Mr. Wells is a communicant of the Methodist 
church and to him belongs the honor of having 
been one of its founders in Anacortes, the organi- 
zation having been efifected in 1890; he has al- 
ways taken an active part in the work of the 
church, and is at present serving as trustee and as 
superintendent of the Sunday school. Of the Odd 
Fellows he is a past grand. Mr. Wells is a man 
who "stands four-square to every wind that 
blows" and all who come in contact with him in 
business, the church or social life, are impressed 
with the genuine strength of his character, with 
the superior qualities of mind and heart that show 
forth in all his relations with others. His is the 
success that brings with it the confidence, respect 
and admiration of all classes. 



CHARLES W. BEALE, the first white settler 
on Fidalgo island, a man whose life has been fulf 
of interesting events, was born in Mason County, 
Virginia, March 27, 1831. His father, John W. 
Beale, a veteran of the War of 1812, was a native 
of Shenandoah County, Virginia, but eventually 
moved to Missouri and spent the later years of 
his life there in the home of his son, dying at the 
age of ninety-seven. Anna M. (Hereford) Beale, 
the mother, also a Virginian, was born in 1800, 
and died during the terrible cholera scourge of 
1854. Unusual educational advantages were en- 
joyed by Charles W. Beale, who after studying at 
Point Pleasant, Virginia, took a commercial course 
at Covingtotj, Kentucky. Having completed his 
college course, he accepted the position of book- 
keeper with the Covington, Kentucky, JMill Com- 
pany, remaining one year. The following two 
years he held a clerkship on an Ohio and Missis- 
sippi river steamboat, and he was employed later 
by the B. T. Coleman Company of Louisville, Ken- 
tucky, as bookkeeper. He returned for a brief 
visit to Covington in December, 1851, whence, on 
the 3d of April, 1852, he started for Sacramento, 
California, in company with a party from Cincin- 
nati. The trip was made by wagon, on horesback 
and on foot. Mr. Beale was stricken with moun- 
tain fever just as the party reached the head of 
the Humbolt river, but though unable to sit up, 
proceeded on the journey, enduring tortures that 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



625 



only those who have had a similar experience can 
understand. When the destination was reached, 
his hip bones were almost exposed, from the con- 
stant jolting of the wagon, while his Hmbs were 
paralyzed and his hearing temporarily destroyed 
by the large quantity of quinine he had taken to 
break up the fever. It was not till the following 
spring that he recovered sufficiently to walk alone, 
but with the indomitable courage so characteristic 
of the man, he began driving a freight team from 
Green Valley to Petaluma before he was able to 
stand to harness his team. Upon recovering fully 
from his illness, he went to the placer mines of 
Sierra county, where he remained five years. He 
became poisoned by the foul, damp air of the 
mines, and was again taken sick, so eventually de- 
cided to go to Yreka, where he engaged in busi- 
ness. A few months later he sold out, and started 
on horseback for Salem, Oregon. There he met 
a friend with whom he had crossed the plains, 
and was induced by him to go to the Fraser river 
mining district in British Columbia, a region then 
believed to contain inexhaustible riches. Having 
journeyed by boat from Portland to Victoria, Brit- 
ish Columbia, they crossed to the mouth of the 
Fraser river, and ascended the river to Hope, in 
a small vessel and a canoe. There Mr. Beale took 
up a claim that did not measure up to his expecta- 
tions, so he bought a boat and ran the same be- 
tween Hope and Yale until the close of the sea- 
son. A few days before Christmas that year, he 
made a trip to the mouth of the Harrison river to 
obtain supplies from a vessel that was supposed 
to be in winter quarters there. He found that the 
vessel had gone, and after camping with Indians 
over night, he started down the river to Port 
Langley. The remainder of the winter he spent 
on the sound. While making the trip from Port 
Townsend to Whatcom in a flat boat, he was 
wrecked in a storm, and was obliged to walk to 
Colonel Eby's home, opposite Port Townsend. Af- 
ter cooking in a logging camp a few weeks, he 
started on a hunting trip with several others, ul- 
timately reaching Guemes island. Owing to dis- 
sension in the party, he and another man started 
homeward, but were caught in a storm and barely 
escaped with their lives. It was a never to be for- 
gotten experience. While his companion spent 
the night in prayer, Mr. Beale forced the fright- 
ened Indians at the point of his water soaked gun 
to paddle the canoe. 

It was at the conclusion of this memorable 
hunting expedition that Mr. Beale joined the party 
which will go down in history as forming the first 
permanent white settlement in what is now Skagit 
county. There were five of these hardy, courag- 
eous frontiersmen, a'l hunteis and prospectors, 
roving in search of fortune. Of their experiences 
a full account will be found elsewhere. They 
landed on Fidalgo island in March, 18.59, and im- 



mediately made camp on the fern covered prairie 
skirting the shores of Fidalgo bay. There Charles 
W. Beale and Lieutenant Davis, a nephew of the 
famed president of the Southern Confederacy, took 
squatters' claims, and erected a crude dwelling. 
J\lr. Beale remained on his claim until late in 1862, 
then, leaving it in charge of his cousin Robert 
Beale, went north to the Cariboo mines on what 
he supposed would be a short trip. However, it 
lengthened out into a five years' absence, and upon 
his return to the island in 1867 he found that his 
cousin had sold the old claim. Undismayed, Mr. 
Beale at once crossed the bay and took another 
quarter section, which has since been his home. Of 
the five pioneer settlers of Fidalgo island^ Mr. 
Beale is the only survivor, so far as is known, and 
is therefore entitled to the distinction of being 
Skagit county's oldest pioneer. In 1890 he had 
his property platted as Beale's Maple Grove Addi- 
tion to Anacortes, and he still retains two hundred 
lots. Mr. Beale had two brothers in the Civil 
War, one a Confederate general, the other a sur- 
geon in the Union army. 

Married in 1865, Mr. Beale has raised a family 
of which any man might well be proud. The liv- 
ing children of Mr. Beale are : Charles W. and 
John R. of Anacortes; Mrs. F. L. Clem, of the 
Hotel Detroit, Seattle; Mrs. R. E. BuUick, whose 
husband, a detective in the employ of the Canadian 
Pacific railroad, had the honor of returning the 
securities stolen from the company in the famous 
robbery at Mission Junction ; George C of Ana- 
cortes ; Francisco D., a graduate of Carlisle, now 
in the East : Lucretia, living in Anacortes. A 
daughter, Edith, died in Anacortes in 190.3. Mr. 
F'.eale has been justice of the peace in Anacortes 
for years. In politics he is an enthusiastic Demo- 
crat. His name is a prominent one in the history 
of Skagit county, of which he has the honor to 
be the oldest living pioneer. He is a man of im- 
usual native intelligence, good education and broad 
experience ; is well preserved and active for a 
man of his years, and is in all respects a worthy 
citizen of the county whose settlement he gave 
inception. 



PETER E. NELSON, of Anacortes, Wash- 
ington, is a man who has been endowed by naturft 
with those intellectual qualities and personal trait..- 
of character which inevitably lead to success 
through whatever avenue the individual may 
choose to pursue the laborious research. As a 
youth in the common schools of Illinois he dem- 
onstrated his ability to apply his mental energies 
to a given task, thus equipping himself, in a com- 
paratively brief period, with a practical education, 
— the foundation upon which he has ever since 
been building, and building well. In the after 
vears of his life, whether on the farm or in the 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



mine, whether in commercial or other business 
pursuits, the faculty of concentrating his mental 
and physical powers for a definite purpose has lost 
none of its vigor, and for this cause success has 
come oftener than failure, the realization of hopes 
oftener than disappointment. 

Mr. Nelson was born in Sweden May 23, 1861. 
The first twelve years of his life were passed in 
the country of his birth where his experiences 
were not unlike those of other boys who were his 
mates and peers. He came to the United States 
in 1873 and for fifteen years made his home in Il- 
linois, finishing his education in her common 
schools and finding employment on her prairie 
farms. At the close of this period Mr. Nelson 
decided to seek a new location, desiring better op- 
portunities than those by which he was surround- 
ed, and a field for endeavor whose industrial and 
commercial channels were not overcrowded with 
restless seekers for the treasure which brings con- 
tent or crowns the years with success. He started 
for the Northwest in 1888; stopped for a brief 
period in Denver, Colorado, and also in Seattle; 
but before the close of the year had reached Ana- 
cortes. Here he was given a position with the 
United States coast and geodetic survey, then chart- 
ing the lower sound region, with which he served 
three years. After this he attended business college 
at Portland, Oregon. Returning to Anacortes he 
became assistant postmaster, and during the mem- 
orable boom of '90 engaged in the real estate busi- 
ness. Later he was a prospector in the tortuous 
canons and on the slopes of the Cascades, being 
one of the pioneers of the Slate creek region. A 
radical change in occupation was when he ex- 
changed pick and pan to assist in the publishing 
of the Anacortes American. The next step was 
from printing ofiice to storeroom, when he asso- 
ciated with J. G. Hurd in the grocery business. 
When the Klondike excitement broke out in 1897, 
Mr. Nelson joined in the stampede. He was one 
of the first to reach the now historic White Pass 
trail, which was crossed after weeks of hardship 
and danger, and in company with other venture- 
some spirits built a flat boat and made the exciting 
voyage down the lakes and Yukon river to Daw- 
son, arriving in midwinter. For five years he 
struggled with fortune in the northern v.'ilds— 
driving dog team, mining, and participating in 
many of the stampedes that made the Klondike 
famous. He returned to Anacortes in 1902, short- 
ly afterward becoming interested in the Anacortes 
Water Company and being elected its vice presi- 
dent, and he now devotes his energies principally 
to the water and lighting business. Although his 
time is well occupied with business cares, Mr. Nel- 
son has an enduring interest in public affairs, alt 
movements for the betterment of general condi- 
tions having his hearty support. Although not es- 
pecially active in political matters, the Republican 



party candidates receive the benefit of his influ- 
ence and his vote. Besides his interest in the local 
water and lighting systems, Mr. Nelson is interest- 
ed largely in city real estate, and in the Slate 
creek mines. 

The successful business man, — the man who 
has unwavering faith in the future of the com- 
munity; who builds his home and invests his capi- 
tal in the various enterprises that surround it; 
who lends material aid to progressive policies, — 
such a man is an essential portion of the bone and 
sinew that build the cities of any section and makes 
of them commercial and industrial centers. It is 
to the successful business men, with whom Mr. 
Nelson is justly classed, that Anacortes is largely 
indebted for the progress of the last decade and 
for the commercial and industrial actiyity of to- 
day. He is a man of sound principles, of untiring 
energy, capable in the mastery of business details 
and possessing ability as an executive. He holds 
the confidence and esteem of his immediate asso- 
ciates as well as of the general public and is well 
worthy of prominent mention in the history of his 
home city, with which his worldly interests are so 
closely identified. 



GUS HENSLER. The thriving commercial 
center of Anacortes holds no citizen who is more 
representative of that class of practical business 
men who have brought about the present-day pros- 
perity of the city, than he whose name is introduc- 
tory to this brief biography. Mr. Hensler was 
born in Audrain County, Missouri, October 22, 
1861:, the son of August and Catherine Dorothy 
(Lange) Hensler, natives of Germany. Augusf 
Hensler left the Fatherland for the United States 
in the fifties, settled in Missouri, married there 
and made that state his home until 1892, when he 
immigrated to Washington where. he passed away 
eleven years later, aged sixty-seven. He was of 
German and French ancestry. His wife, is the 
mother of four children of whom Gus is the old- 
est. One son is deceased and two daughters are 
living. Gus Hensler acquired his education in 
Fayette, Missouri, supplementing the common 
school studies with a course in a denominational 
academy under the supervision of the Methodist 
church. South. When eighteen years old, he left 
the parental roof and assumed for himself the re- 
sponsibilities of life, finding occupation for a time 
as a cattle buyer for shippers. He bade farewell 
to the environments of his youth and earlv man- 
hood in 1884, and in June, 1889, landed at Seattle. 
During the intervening period he was variously 
employed as a cattle ranger and deputy sheriff in 
Harper County, Kansas, and again as a cattle 
ranger in New Mexico. He remained but a few 
weeks in Seattle, finding his way in July, 1889. to 
Fidalgo island, where he purchased a relinquish- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



ment and also filed a preemption on land near 
Anacortes. Soon after his arrival on the island 
he became the local agent of the McNanght Land 
and Investment Company and is still their repre- 
sentative at this point. He was also engaged as 
land agent for the Seattle and Northern railroad, 
being retained in the same capacity by the Great 
Northern when this company acquired the rights 
of the former corporation. 

At Springfield, Illinois, August 20, 1890, Mr. 
Hensler married Miss Annie Baker, daughter of 
James Baker, a locomotive engineer who lost his 
life in a railroad accident about the time of her 
birth. Her mother, Mrs. Sarah (Hargraves) 
Baker, a native of England, is still living in the 
Illinois home. Mrs. Hensler was born in Indiana 
in 1867, but the family removed to Illinois when 
she was young, and in the latter state she was edu- 
cated, following the common school course with 
several terms in an Episcopal school. 

In fraternal circles Mr. Hensler is known li a 
Blue Lodge Mason ; and has served as master of 
his lodge for four years— 1893-4 and 1903-4. As 
a Democrat, he was elected to the office of citv 
clerk for the period from 1893 to 1897. He was 
chairman of the board of county commissioners 
during the years 1897-8. Of the city council he 
is now an active member, with a total service of 
six years in that capacity. During fifteen years 
of residence in the city he has built up one of the 
largest real estate and insurance clienteles in the 
county, — an evidence of managing ability and 
mental energy. He is one of the strong men of 
Anacortes; successful in his private business, and 
earnest and enthusiastic in his support of laudable 
public enterprises. Firmly established in the con- 
fidence of his immediate associates and of the gen- 
eral public, he stands for the best type of citizen- 
ship and is an advocate of all measures having in 
view the material progress of Anacortes and con- 
tiguous country, and the betterment of the condi- 
tion of his fellow-citizens. 



RICHARD P. MINTER is one of the best 
known real estate men and townsite promoters in 
the entire state, having carried several ventures of 
that character to a successful termination in vari- 
ous parts of Washington. He is also the pioneer 
real estate man in Anacortes, though his work 
has not permitted him to remain continuously a 
resident of the city. Mr. Minter was born in 
Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, August 12, 
1860. His father, Benjamin A. Minter, was a 
native of Virginia, a farmer, and the son was 
born during the journey to settle in Missouri. Mrs. 
Annie K. (Tisdal) Minter was also a native of 
the Old Dominion, the mother of eight children, 
of whom the subject of this sketch is next to the 
youngest. Richard Minter's formal education was 



limited to three months in the public schools, but 
in native gifts augmented by a mind, active and 
retentive to what is passing, he is richly endowed 
and has acquired in the years since childhood what 
he was unable to gain as a lad. When he was 
nine years old he was at work helping his father 
pay for the home and he continued with his father 
until twenty-five years of age. In 1885 Mr. Min- 
ter went to Los Angeles, California, and engaged 
in contract plastering, at the end of a year en- 
gaging in the real estate business with Schaffer, 
Lauerman & Town. While with them he assisted 
in subdividing several tracts of land at Los An- 
geles, and selling them off. He then went to the 
Santa Ana valley, nine miles from the city of that 
name, and started the town of Fairview, building 
a narrow guage railroad for communication and 
traffic with other places. He returned to Missouri 
and passed the year 1888 in the state of his nativ- 
ity. On his return to the coast in 1889, Mr. Min- 
ter passed some time in Tacoma and in Spokane 
but decided to settle in Ellensburg, Washington, 
and go into the real estate business. He remained 
there only a short time and came to Fairhaven, 
Whatcom county, entering the employ of Gover- 
nor Black, Rettie Bon Brothers and J. Warder in 
the real estate business. In 1890 he came to Ana- 
cortes, Washington, opened the first real estate of- 
fice in town and sold the first town lot. In 190(3 
he went to Snohomish county and in the interests 
of the Snohomish Land Company in which he was 
a partner, bonded nine hundred acres of the town- 
site of Everett. The company through Mr. Min- 
ter handled this property, the site which ultimate- 
ly became the town of Lowell and outside prop- 
erty at Everett. In 1893 Mr. Minter handled the 
townsite of Sultan City for Mrs. Stevens, clearing 
a good profit for the owner. In the fall of that 
year he returned to Anacortes and continued in 
business there until 1897 when he accepted a prop- 
osition from Dan Wilson to go east of the moun- 
tains and float the townsites of Davenport and 
Harrington in Lincoln county and Ritzville in 
Adams county. Of this work he made another big 
success and by 1901 had returned to Anacortes 
where he has lived ever since. In company with 
Ben Badge, J. L. Romer and Soles & Molten he 
purchased and named the townsite of Burlin.gton 
but sold out to advantage in six weeks. Mr. Min- 
ter has considerable property interests in Anacortes 
and in addition to his realty business does a good 
business for several insurance companies. He is 
one of the Democratic leaders in that part of the 
county. Mr. Minter is a man of great popularity 
which is partly responsible for his success in busi- 
ness and his influence in politics. 



ALFRED J. STAGEY, jintil recently a popu- 
lar resident of Anacortes, was born near Daven- 



'630 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



port, Iowa, July 20, 186G, the son of Alfred J. 
and Mary (Learner) Stacey. The father, also a 
native of Davenport, died at the age of twenty- 
seven, just prior to the birth of his son, and at a 
later date, the mother, who at present is in Seat- 
tle, became the wife of Harvey K. Wallace, now 
deceased. She was born in Iowa in 1845. Brought 
■by his mother to Seattle when four years old, Al- 
fred J. Stacey lived with the family there, and 
later moved with them to La Conner, where his 
stepfather took a homestead. While in Seattle 
Mr. Wallace was offered his choice of a number 
■of lots if he would erect a house upon it, also 
forty acres in the heart of the city of to-day for 
the trifling sum of three hundred dollars, but 
unable to see the wisdom of accepting these offers, 
he brought his family to La Conner, whence, seven 
years later, he went to California. Though a boy 
of only ten years at the time of his stepfather's 
dejjarture from the country, Mr. Stacey decided 
to begin life for himself instead of accompanying 
the family to California, and hired out as a farm 
hand. In two years he was able to do a man's 
work, receiving, however, but a mere pittance, two 
dollars and a half, for an entire year spent in dik- 
ing. After a year on Fidalgo island, he went to the 
woods of Snohomish county, and worked one win- 
ter, attending school the following summer. Going 
to Pleasant Ridge he continued to attend school, 
working for his board, and in this way acquired 
a practical education, in the face of obstacles that 
would have seemed insurmountable to a less de- 
termined nature. At the age of seventeen he and 
a brother rented farms for three years, after which 
Mr. Stacey attended the territorial university two 
years. Returning to La Conner he soon purchased 
forty acres of timber land. In the spring of 1888 
he was employed by R. E. Whitney in the reclama- 
tion of Whitney's island, but at the end of the 
second month he was taken very ill with inflamma- 
tory rheumatism, and forced to sell his land to 
meet the expense of his illness. Upon his recov- 
ery he made a brief vist to Iowa, going thence in 
turn to Nebraska, Utah, and California, and finally 
locating in Coupeville, Washington, where he ac- 
cepted employment as clerk. After working for 
two years at Bayview, on the ranch owned by E. 
A. Sisson, he moved to La Conner, and invested in 
four acres of land, upon which he built a house 
and barn. He devoted his entire attention to rais- 
ing cabbage seed, there being an excellent demand 
for that product. The unusually severe winter of 
1893, worked great hardships upon him, and when 
his next crop was ready for market he found him- 
self in debt to the amount of $3,350, but practicing 
strict economy, he toiled on with characteristic en- 
ergy, until he sold his property in 1901. He then 
leased a farm for four years, and at the end of 
the third year found he had cleared $1,100, and 
had a bank account of $1,800. Coming to Ana- 



cortes in February, 1904, he invested in real es- 
tate, a house and two lots in one part of the town, 
twelve lots in another locality, and a one-half in- 
terest in eleven other lots. He accepted a clerk- 
ship there, and remained at work until the spring 
of 1906, when, having on January 27th traded his 
realty to George N. Shumway for a farm in the 
Samish valley, he moved onto that place and began 
farming. 

Mr. Stacey was married July 30, 1893, to 
Susan B. Horsev, born in Adair County, Iowa, 
December 19, 1870. Her father^ P. W.' Horsey, 
now residing in Anacortes, is a Kentuckian, born 
in 18-17'. Sarah A. (Singer) Horsey, her mother, 
was born in 1849 in Clayton County, Iowa, and 
is now a resident of Anacortes. She is the mother 
of eight children, Mrs. Stacey being the second. 
Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Stacev as follows: Sidney, April 26, 1893; Jesse, 
July 'l6, 1894; William, July 16, 1896; Carrie, 
October 18, 1898; Melvin, August 5, 1900; Theo- 
dore C, April 35, 1903. Mr. Stacey is a member 
of the Woodmen of the World, while his wife is 
a prominent worker in the Women's Christian 
Temperance Union, and in Martha Washington 
Circle of the Grand Army of the Republic. Al- 
though for many years a loyal Republican, Mr. 
Stacey has never accepted any political office. 
He and his family attend the Baptist church. A 
man of upright character, broad minded, and pub- 
lic spirited, he enjoys the confidence and esteem 
of the entire community. 



CAPTAIN JOHN A. MATHESON. The re- 
spect and honor always due and generally accorded 
with cheerfulness to the man who has the fore- 
sight to introduce a new industry and carry it on 
successfully where its possibilities were not before 
recognized certainly belongs in abundant measure 
to Captain John A. Matheson, the pioneer of the 
cod fishing and packing industry of Anacortes. 
The captain came naturally by his love for the 
sea and for the taking and curing of the products 
thereof, having been connected with both since he 
was a lad of a few summers. He was born in a 
maritime country, the province of Nova Scotia, 
Canada, and has in his veins the blood of a people 
world-famed for industry, thrift and forcefulness 
of character, the sturdy Scotch race, for his par- 
ents, Donald and Flora Matheson, were both na- 
tives of the land of Burns and Watt. In 1860, 
when but eleven years old, he forsook the school 
room, and engaged in shore fishing along the 
coast of Nova Scotia, which line of industry en- 
gaged his energies continuously until 1873. In 
that year, however, he removed to Provincetown, 
Massachusetts, and engaged in fishing on the 
Grand Banks, in the vicinity of which he contin- 
ued to reside and to pursue his chosen vocation 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



until 1890. He then determined to try his for- 
tunes on the Pacific coast, so sent his fishing ves- 
sel from New York around the Horn to San 
Francisco, while he himself journeyed westward 
overland. The vessel reached its destination very 
early in the year 1891, and was at once fitted out 
for a trip to Behring sea and sent to try its for- 
tunes in the cod fisheries of the far north. That 
fall it returned to Anacortes, where Captain 
Matheson had decided to locate, with a goodl\- 
catch, the first ship load of cod to enter a Puget 
sound port. Thus was inception given to the cod 
fishing and cod curing industry of Anacortes, an 
industry which has ever since been contributing 
its share to the commercial prosperity and devel- 
opment of the town and which promises in future 
far to surpass in importance the achievements of 
the past. Captain Matheson has devoted himself 
almost without interruption to the industry of 
catching and curing the Behring Sea cod since 
his arrival in Anacortes in July, 1891, though 
during the season of 1898 he sent his vessel to 
Kotzebue sound and St. Michaels on a trading 
expedition, while he himself remained in Ana- 
cortes. 

In Boston, Massachusetts, in the year 1885, 
Captain Matheson married Miss Kate, daughter 
of Hugh and Catherine (McDonald) Campbell, 
of Marble Mountain, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, 
and of this union two children were born, namely. 
Flora M. and Catherine VV., both of whom are 
still at home. Mrs. Matheson died in 1895, and 
the Captain has since married Miss Josephine, 
•daughter of Charles H. Merry. She was born 
in Galena. Illinois, in 1860. In politics Captain 
Matheson is a Democrat, in fraternal affiliation a 
member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows. He has contributed very materially to the 
progress of his home town and Skagit county by 
inaugurating and carrying forward a valuable in- 
dustry, and the people of Anacortes, who are al- 
ways watchful to encourage everything which has 
■a tendency to promote the local business inter- 
•ests, do not fail to acord him a prominent place 
among those who have been progressive forces 
in the past history of their town, and who will 
■continue to confer industrial blessings in the fu- 
ture. At the same time they honor his sterling 
integrity as a man and his disposition to dis- 
charge always the duties which devolve upon him 
as a citizen and a member of society. 



WILLIAM F. ROBINSON. The truth of 
■the statement that concentration is the secret of 
success is confirmed in the experience of the en- 
terprising gentleman whose life record is the 
theme of this review. Having prepared himself 
l\v early training and experience for a business 
••career, he then devoted his entire mind and ener- 



gies to the mastery of the fish industry and the 
utilization of fish products, securing results of 
which any man might well be proud. At the 
same time he has been achieving an industrial 
success for himself. He has made discoveries 
which have added to the sum of the world's 
knowledge, thereby in a measure making- all man- 
kind his debtor and earning a share of that fair 
fame which should be accorded to all who push 
out into the realm of the unknown and conquer 
from it useful secrets. 

Mr. Robinson was born in Peabody, Massa- 
chusetts, September 8, 1859, the son of Benjamin 
and Catherine (Murray) Robinson, the former oi 
whom, himself a native of Massachusetts, born in 
Gloucester, in 1829, was not a little proud of the 
fact that he came of the worthy and justly famed 
stock, which had its origin in America in the 
Pilgrim Fathers. Some member of the family 
has been a resident of Gloucester, in the old Bay 
State, since 1830, and some of the Robinsons have 
been history makers in a true sense, one of the 
most widely celebrated of them being the Rever- 
end John Robinson, whose family in the year 
1630 came to America after having become famous 
in history as one of the prominent organizers in 
the movement that prompted the Pilgrims to throw 
off an orthodoxical bondage and brave the dan- 
gers of a new and almost unknown world. And 
still later, 1713, Captain Andrew Robinson of 
Gloucester, Mass., having constructed a vessel 
which he masted and rigged in the same manner 
as schooners are at this day, on her going of? 
the stocks and passing into the water, a bystander 
cried out, "Oh, how she scoons." When Robinson 
immediately replied "A schooner let her be," from 
which time vessels thus masted and rigged have 
gone by the name schooners. 

For many years the father of our subject was 
actively engaged in the handling of fish and fish 
products but he is now spending his declining 
years in retirement in the state of his nativity. 
The mother, who was born in Halifax, Nova 
Scotia, in 1834, was of Scotch-English extraction. 
Orphaned at the age of twelve by the death of 
her mother, she was brought to Massachusetts, 
where her education was acquired and the re- 
mainder of her life was spent. 

Upon completing a common school course, 
William F. Robinson of this article, finished his 
educational training in the French Business Col- 
lege, of Boston. A restless ambition impelled 
him to go on the road as a commercial traveller 
at the age of sixteen and for the ensuing sixteen 
years he was thus employed. Grit, energy and 
native ability failed not to tell for success in this 
line of endeavor, but ever watchful for oppor- 
tunities for advancement Mr. Robinson determined 
to seek a larger field for the exercise of his 
commercial abilities, and the fish industry, the life 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



work of his father, with its world wide possi- 
bihties, very naturally attracted him. His resi- 
dence on the Pacific Coast dates from 1893, when 
he came to San Francisco and established a plant 
for the manufacture of liquid fish glue, a branch 
of the fish industry which has appealed to him 
most powerfully, in which he is a pioneer and to 
which he has contributed very materially by his 
own researches and discoveries. This plant he 
operated very successfully three years, but he was 
too vigilant to overlook the superior advantages 
of the Sound country, with its excellent harbors 
and its pro.ximity to the cod of the northern seas, 
so in 1896 he moved to Seattle, where he and N. 
B. Colt, whom he had interested in his enterprise, 
formed a firm known as the Robinson & Colt Com- 
pany, Inc., and began the manufacture of fish 
fertilizer and oil. In 1897 the business was 
removed to Anacortes, that location offering su- 
perior advantages over any other point on the 
Sound. Two years later Mr. Robinson purchased 
his partner's interest, but as soon after sold it 
again to men in Seattle, and in January, 1904, 
the old company was entirely superseded by a new 
corporation then formed known as the Robinson 
Fisheries Company, which assumed all the rights 
and privileges of its predecessor and elected the 
following officers: William F. Robinson, presi- 
dent and manager; Andrew Chilberg, vice presi- 
dent; A. H. Soelberg, secretary. The paid up 
capital stock of the concern is $100,000. The 
scope of the business has been materially widened 
by these progressive men, the most important 
advance being the taking up of the codfish trade, 
no limits to the possibilities of which can be fore- 
seen at this time. Two vessels of 450 tons capac- 
ity each have been fitted up by this enterprising 
firm to catch fish in the waters of Behring Sea 
and transport them to Anacortes, where an im- 
mense plant has been built and equipped for the 
purpose of curing the fish and preparing then] 
for market. A really superior product is the 
result, one which is in demand not alone in this 
country but in foreign lands as well and one 
which is rapidly finding new markets for itself 
as its excellence becomes better known. Mr. Rob- 
inson is still deeply interested in the manufacture 
of liquid fish glue, the industry in which he has 
achieved his greatest triumphs, triumphs which 
first made him famous in the annals of the fish 
industry, though he has now come to be recog- 
nized throughout the entire Northwest as authority 
on all matters pertaining to the subject. 

In the year 1880 Mr. Robinson married Nellie 
E. Orne, who was born in Gloucester, Massachu- 
setts, September 13, 1861, the daughter of Free- 
man and Mary (Jeffries) Orne, natives of Maine 
and Nova Scotia respectively. Mr. and Mrs. 
Robinson have one daughter, Mrs. Mary M. Traf- 



ton, born in Massachusetts, December 19, 1883, 
whose husband John E. Trafton, is associated 
with his father-in-law in the fish industry. They 
also have one son, Guy W., born in Alassachu- 
setts July 24, 1884; also a grandson, Ellsworth 
Trafton, born in Anacortes in June, 190-2. Though 
a very busy man, as a man must be, whose field 
of business operations includes so large a part of 
the earth's surface and who attempts the mastery 
of an intricate and exacting industry, Mr. Robin- 
son finds time to discharge his duties as a good 
citizen and public spirited member of the com- 
munity, even consenting to accept and attend to 
the sometimes vexatious requirements of such 
offices as school director and president of the 
board of school trustees. He is active also in 
fraternal matters, though in this direction he con- 
fines his energies to the mastery of the teachings 
of the Masonic order, that most ancient of all 
brotherhoods and the parent of all. His mammoth 
establishment is the most important in the city 
of Anacortes both in its present accomplishment 
and its prospects for future development. The 
citizens of the progressive little seaport city recog- 
nize this as a fact and are firm in the belief that 
great benefit will accrue to them in particular and 
to the entire Sound country in general from the 
operations of Mr. Robinson and his worthy asso- 
ciates. 



MRS. CATHERINE NELSON, wife of the 
late Noah Nelson, was born in Indiana. March 
16, 1842, the daughter of Henry and Margaret 
Greenwood, the father a native of North Carolina, 
the mother, of Virginia. Both parents are de- 
ceased. Growing to womanhood in the home of 
her parents, Mrs. Nelson acquired her education 
in the schools of her native state, while at the 
same time becoming practically familiar with the 
work incident to farm life. 

In 1863 she was united in marriage to Noah 
Nelson, a prosperous young farmer of Indiana, 
born June 9, 1839. After spending the first three 
and a half years of their wedded life in Indiana, 
they decided to locate in IMinnesota and in the 
full flush of youth, health and happiness, they soon 
took up an eighty acre homestead in Wright 
county, all heavily timbered. They resided upon 
it for the ensuing eighteen years. Sharing her 
husband's toil in the woods and fields, Mrs. Nelson 
ably assisted in clearing the ranch, of which only 
six acres remained in timber when they sold it, to 
move to Washington. Upon arriving here they 
purchased one hundred acres of the present town- 
site of Anacortes, and the task of clearing was at 
once begun. In 1890, during the phenomenal 
activity in real estate Mr. Nelson platted the forty 
acres he has cleared into town lots, selling the re- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



633 



mainder of the homestead. He later built a shingle 
mill, which he operated for some time but during 
the panic of the early 'nineties he lost this prop- 
erty, and other holdings amounting to a large 
sum. That he could not have foreseen future 
events and thus availed himself of the opportunity 
of making a fortune, was a matter of ceaseless 
regret to him. He died in Anacortes, May 29, 
1903. Eleven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Nelson as follows : Columbus, of Anacortes ; Mrs. 
Ellen Burg, of Nooksack; Marion, who was 
drowned two days after the family came to Ana- 
cortes ; Charles, at home ; Harvey, on Fidalgo 
island ; ^Irs. Elva Welte, of Enumclaw ; John, at 
Anacortes; ]\Iark and Helen (deceased); Mrs. 
Bertha Gadbois, of Anacortes ; Hugh, also of 
Anacortes. Posessed of rare strength and sweet- 
ness of character, Mrs. Nelson has endeared her- 
self to the entire community. Her holdings in- 
•clude the block whereon is her neat and com- 
modious nine room house, and much other Ana- 
cortes property in the form of houses and lots. 



COLU^IBUS NELSON, a well known resi- 
dent of Anacortes, until recently in the employ of 
the Fidalgo Lumber Company, was born in Grant 
County, Indiana, January 25, 1863. His father, 
Noah Nelson, who was a native of Indiana, born 
June 9, 1839, in early manhood moved to Minne- 
sota. After farming there for several years, he 
decided to seek the superior advantages afforded 
by the Northwest to young men of industry ; so 
"came to Washington, locating in Anacortes, where 
he invested in one hundred acres of timber land, 
the present site of the town, and at once began 
improving it. During the boom of 1890, he plat- 
ted the forty acres he had cleared, into town lots, 
, selling the remainder of the farm. About this 
time also, he was offered a fortune for his hold- 
ings, and his refusal to sell was a matter of life- 
long regret to him. In the financial depression 
flnat soon overwhelmed the country, he lost heav- 
ily. His death occurred in Anacortes, May 29, 
1902. Catherine (Greenwood) Nelson, the 
mother, was born in Indiana, March 16, 1842, 
remaining at home till her rriarriage in 1863. 
Coming with her husband to Anacortes in 1883, 
she experienced the trials and dangers incident 
to pioneer life, nobly assisting her husband in 
every possible way. She is now an honored resi- 
dent of Anacortes. 

The oldest child of a family of eleven, Colum- 
bus Nelson was brought by his parents to Minne- 
sota in infancy, there growing to manhood, and 
acquiring his education in the common schools. 
At the age of nineteen he began learning the 
carpenter's trade, and he worked two years for 
wages, at the end of which time he was able to 
take contracts for residences in Anacortes, whither 



he had come at the beginning of his business 
career. Forming a partnership with his father and 
brothers, he assisted in building the shingle mill, 
which was lost during the panic of the 'nineties. 
Moving to Bellingham, he worked a year for the 
Morris Hardware Company, later accepting the 
position of saw filer in the shingle mill of R. P. 
Thomas, at Anacortes. Returning two years after- 
ward to Bellingham, he was employed by the 
Northwood Cedar Company for three years. 
Again making Anacortes his home, he worked for 
a time in various mills in the town. Two years 
ago he became associated with the Fidalgo Lum- 
ber Company, taking charge of filing the saws 
used in their extensive works, a position which 
he has filled with entire satisfaction to the com- 
pany until very recently. 

Mr. Nelson and Clara M. Kale were united in 
marriage June 12, 1890. A native of Iowa, Mrs. 
Nelson moved with her parents to Bellingham in 
1882. Her father, C. Stewart Kale, was born 
near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, February 7, 1848. 
He located in Iowa in boyhood, remaining there 
until 1882 ; when he became a resident of Bell- 
ingham. Her mother, Charlotte E. (McNeal)' 
Kale, a native of Andover, Massachusetts, born 
May 18, 1850, is now residing at Everson, Wash- 
ington. Mr. Nelson is a loyal Republican, but 
has never sought political prominence. He is 
interested in real estate, owning six city lots and 
a neat, commodious home, equipped with modem 
conveniences and luxuries. He also owns a fine 
yacht, and he and his wife enjoy many a sail on 
the river. He is a man of industry, energy, and 
sterling worth, held in the highest esteem by his 
many acquaintances. 



JOHN NELSON, a prosperous shingle weaver 
of Anacortes, residing on Twent}'-third street, was 
born in Wright County, Minnesota, March 3, 
1877. His father, Noah Nelson, a native of In- 
diana, moved in early life to Minnesota, and 
farmed there until 1883, when he decided to find 
a home in the Northwest. Stopping in Seattle 
for a short time, he then came on to Anacortes, 
purchasing a farm of one hundred and sixty 
acres, all heavily timbered with the exception of 
a four-acre orchard. The town at that time con- 
sisted of one store, a hotel and several rude 
dwelling houses. During the boom of 1889, he 
was offered the sum of $151,000 for his prop- 
erty, but refused the sale. The following year he 
built a shingle mill on his part of the townsite, 
selling shingles at one dollar and a half to two 
dollars a thousand for the first few months. The 
price having dropped to ninety cents per thousand, 
he lost heavily; he died May 28, 1902, never 
ceasing to regret that he had lost his opportunity 
of making a fortune. Catherine (Greenwood) 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



Nelson, the mother, was born March 16, 1842, 
in Indiana, growing to womanhood and receiving 
her education in that state. 

Brought by his parents to Anacortes when a 
boy of six, John Nelson attended school for ten 
years, then entered his father's shingle mill, where 
he worked until, on account of the low price of 
the product, his father went out of the business. 
After working a short time for B. D. Minkler at 
Lyman, he returned to Anacortes, and was em- 
ployed in mills for several months, after which he 
visited various towns in British Columbia and 
Washington. While in the employ of the Co- 
operative Shingle Mill he had the misfortune to 
lose all the fingers of the left hand. 
• Mr. Nelson was married November 15, 1899, 
and he and Mrs. Nelson have two children : Leah 
E., born August 7, 1900, and Louie C. B., Aug- 
ust 24, 1903. Mr. Nelson is prominent in frater- 
nal circles, being a member of the Odd Fellows 
and the IModern Brotherhood of America; his 
wife is also identified with this latter organization, 
and with the Royal Circle of Foresters. Mr. 
Nelson is a Republican, loyally supporting his 
party in every way. Upon his return to Anacor- 
tes, he invested in ten city lots and the neat 
house where he now lives. For the past eighteen 
months he has been with R. P. Thomas, establish- 
ing for himself an enviable reputation for industry 
and faithfulness. A young man of correct busi- 
ness habits, his future success is assured. 



ROBERT P. THOMAS, saw-mill man and 
merchant of Anacortes, is one of the prominent 
citizens of that city, as well as a man of recog- 
nized ability throughout the Northwest country. 
He has been mayor of his town, is a public spirit- 
ed gentleman and one who has received honors 
from his fellows and peers. Mr. Thomas was 
born in Philadelphia in 1861, the son of Robert 
P. Thomas, also a native of the Quaker city, 
whose forebears came to this country with the 
illustrious William Penn. The elder Thomas was 
born in 1820 on the land received under grant by 
his ancestors from the founder of Philadelphia 
in 1G82, which has since been condemned by the 
city for park purposes, and forms a portion of 
Fairmount park. The elder Mr. Thomas enlisted 
in the Civil War in 1861, and received successive 
promotions until he was killed, February 7, 1864, 
in a skirmish in Virginia, while ranking as col- 
onel. Mrs. Sarah (Bacon) Thomas, his wife, 
was also a Philadelphian, born in 1822, and was 
the mother of six children, of whom the subject 
of this sketch is the youngest. Robert P. Thomas, 
of this sketch, received his education in the 
Pordicey school of Philadelphia, graduating when 
sixteen years of age and at once entering upon 



the wholesale drug business as clerk. After four 
years' experience in that line he went (1881) to 
St. Paul, Minnesota, and entered the employ of 
the Northern Pacific railroad, serving two years 
as clerk and timber inspector and in 1883 be- 
coming general fuel and timber agent at St. Paul. 
He served in that capacity for nine years, resign- 
ing in 1892 and coming to Tacoma. He followed 
various pursuits for two years and then leased 
a couple of small shingle mills near Tacoma and 
operated them successfully for two years. At the 
end of this period, hearing of the financial con- 
dition of the mill at Anacortes, he came here and 
looked the proposition o\-er. It was a shingle mill, 
built in 1891 by the Anacortes Co-operative 
Shingle Company, but had changed hands sev- 
eral times and was then for sale by the mort- 
gagees. It was the first mill on Fidalgo bay. Mr. 
Thomas decided to purchase the mill. He oper- 
ated it as a shingle mill until the summer of 1900 
when he remodeled it into a saw-mill and has con- 
tinued to operate it ever since. 

In 1891 Mr. Thomas married Miss Efiie Lahr, 
to whom one child was born, Sarah. In 1902 he 
was again married and to Miss Mary E. Colt. 
In fraternal circles Mr. Thomas is a Mason, of 
the Royal Arch degree, a Mystic Shriner and a 
grand regent. In politics he is a Republican and 
active in all party matters and councils. He was 
mayor of Anacortes from 1900 to 1903 and has 
served in the city council for two years. He was 
also a member of the Washington commission to 
the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Mr. Thomas 
has engaged in a wide field of activities, and in 
each of them he has been a leader. He has fine 
qualities of mind and heart and is a whole-souled, 
public spirited man. 



JAMES H. CAVANAUGH is a successful 
mill man of Anacortes who has followed the shin- 
gle business almost continuously since attainiiMf 
the years of manhood and who knows it thoroug" 
ly in all its branches. He was born in Albany, 
New York, October 3, 1852. the son of Charles 
Cavanaugh, who emigrated from Ireland in 1851 
and settled at Albany, a few years later going to 
Lewis County, New York, where he is still living. 
Mrs. Margaret (Kenney) Cavanaugh was also a 
native of the Emerald Isle and was married 
there. She was the mother of ten children, of 
whom James is the second in order. James re- 
ceived ins education in the schools of Albany and 
Lewis county, remaining at home until he was 
twenty years of age. In 1872 he went to Penn- 
sylvania and began life in the logging camps of 
that state, remaining there for two years, when 
he went to Michigan and took his first steps in 
the shingle mill business. Six years of work in 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



the Peninsula state were followed by a year in the 
woods and with shingle mills in Arkansas. In 
1881 he returned to New York and for six years 
sawed timber for T. B. Baslieu in the Black river 
section of New York's wooded belt. He then re- 
turned to Arkansas and to the shingle business 
until 1894, when he came to Washington and lo- 
cated at Francis, where he built a shingle mill of 
liis own and operated it, and a tributary logging- 
camp for eight years. He sold out in 1903 to the 
Globe Lumber Company, then came to Anacortes 
and built his present mill on Fidalgo bay. The 
output of this mill is 200,000 a day. 

In 1877, at Greenville, Michigan, Mr. Cava- 
naugh married Miss Addie Butterfield, daughter 
of Myron Butterfield, then a carpenter and now 
a farmer in Arkansas. The mother of Airs. Cava- 
naugh, Mrs. Mary (Mason) Cavanaugh, was a 
native of Michigan and died in Arkansas. Mrs. 
Cavanaugh was born in the Peninsula state in 1860 
and was educated in the schools of that state. 
She and Mr. Cavanaugh have seven children: Mrs. 
Alary Aloore, of Tacoma ; AJrs. Maggie McNutt, 
of Tarbo Bay ; Addie ; Charles ; James ; Hattie, and 
Sadie. The two sons work in the mill and are 
their father's assistants in the management of the 
business. In politics Mr. Cavanaugh is a Repub- 
lican, in religion a Catholic. His previous mill- 
ing experience has been used to the best advan- 
tage since he came to Anacortes and his aiTairs 
are in a very prosperous condition. He is a man 
of forceful character, and one of the progressive 
citizens of Anacortes. During the twelve years of 
his residence in Skagit county he has been a promi- 
nent figure in commercial and industrial circles, 
at all times lending the weight of his influence for 
the promotion of the public's best interests. 



HON. R. LEE BRADLEY, representative 
from Skagit county in the state legislature and 
one of the leading business men of .Vnacortes. is 
also a native son of Washington, his parents be- 
ing among the early pioneers of Puget sound. The 
fertile tide and valley lands, the magnificent, end- 
less forests of fir and cedar, and the beautiful, 
bold shored inland waters of the sound, which dis- 
tinguish this region from all others and render 
it so enchanting to all strangers have formed his 
lifelong environments and have been his continual 
inspiration from childhood. Unlike many, he has 
recognized his opportunities and grasped them 
without going to a strange country, and almost 
within sight of his birthplace has won what suc- 
cess he has attained thus far. 

The little village of Oak Harbor, Whidby 
island, was the familv's home when R. Lee Brad- 
ley was born January 3, 1869. Valentine B. 
Bradley, the father, a Virginian by birth, was, as 



he has been informed, a cousin of W. O. Bradley, 
the well known governor of Kentucky. Sailing 
from New York in 1863, the elder Bradley came 
direct to Washington Territory, by way of the 
Isthmus of Panama, and located in 1863 on Whid- 
by island, taking a homestead in the little settle- 
ment being gradually formed on the peaceful 
shores of Penn's Cove. At that date Skagit coun- 
ty's only settlement was a very small one at the 
head of Fidalgo bay, while the only settlements 
on the entire mainland between Seattle and What- 
com were trading posts at Mukilteo and Snoho- 
mish City. The great tide flats for the most part 
were still reigned over by Neptune and the sound 
of the woodman's ax had as yet scarcelv been 
heard in the virgin forests. Even nine year's later, 
when the Bradleys took up their abode on the flats 
at the mouth of the Stillaguamish liver, the rec- 
lamation of those rich lands had been barely be- 
gun and the town of Stanwood was years from its 
inception. Upon that pioneer claim, the elder 
Bradley passed away the same year in which he 
settled. Mrs. Josephine (May) Bradley, the moth- 
er of R. Lee, was born in Missouri. She came 
with her husband to Washington In 1863, shared 
with him the privations and dangers of pioneer 
life on Puget sound, and, hale and hearty, still 
survives him, living in Anacortes at present. 

After attending the public schools of Snolio- 
mish county until he was thirteen years of age, the 
subject of this review accompanied his mother 
to La Conner. There he received instruction from 
a teacher who was later to reach the foremost offi- 
cial position in his state, Henry McBride, now e.x- 
Governor McBride. After supplementing his pub- 
lic school work by a course in the normal school, 
Mr. Bradley, at that time only fifteen years old, 
took up the serious duties of life on the farm of 
his brother-in-law, Rienzi E. Whitney, one of the 
leaders of his time in this section of the state. 
Five years later, in 1890, the young man went to 
Seattle and entered a store as clerk, but a few 
months afterward purchased from Mr. Whitney 
the farm on which he had previously worked. He 
farmed this place in the Swinomish flats twelve 
years with marked success, selling it in 1903 to 
enter the mercantile business at Anacortes. as the 
successor of Lewis Foss. As in other lines of 
activity, Mr. Bradley has attanied success in this 
venture, his business keeping step with the advance 
of that prosperous little seaport. For many years 
a loyal, active Republican, he was honored by his 
party in 1904 by being elected a representative 
to the legislature, an office which he is filling with 
credit to himself and those who placed their trust 
in him. 

Miss Jessie Stearns, a daughter of Mr. ^nd 
Mrs. Earl H. Stearns, of Edison, a full biograph- 
ical sketch of whom appears elsewhere in these 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



chronicles, was united in marriage to Mr. Brad- 
ley at Bay View, in 1895, and thus two pioneer 
families were united. Mr. Stearns, a Pennsyl- 
vanian by birth and descent, is a pioneer of Kan- 
sas. He came to Skagit county in 1883 and is at 
present a well known Samish farmer. Mrs. Mar- 
garet (Closson) Stearns, whose death occurred in 
June, 1905, was a native of Kansas, and before 
her marriage taught school several years. Com- 
ing with her parents to Washington from Kan- 
sas, where she was born December 1, 1875, Mrs. 
Bradley attended the public schools here, complet- 
ing her education by a course in the normal at 
Whatcom. She then took up the teaching profes- 
sion and at the time of her marriage was known 
as one of the most successful teachers in Skagit 
county. She is a prominent member of the Metho- 
dist church. Mr. Bradley is affiliated with but 
one fraternity, the Odd Fellows, being a past 
grand of Bay View Lodge No. 128. Both Mr. 
and Mrs. Bradley are highly esteemed in social 
circles for their genial, sterling qualities, and in 
his sphere Mr. Bradley is recognized as a leader 
of ability and substantial virtues. 



JOHN P. MILLET, the proprietor of the Yen- 
dome Hotel in Anacortes, is one of the best known 
pioneers of Skagit county, a man who more than 
once has been compelled by the demands of the 
people to lay aside his own affairs to accept pub- 
lic office. He was born in Milo, Maine, April 26, 
1853, the son of Christopher C. and Olive (Sar- 
gent) Millet, both natives of the Pine Tree state. 
The mother died five years ago at the age of 
eighty-four; the father passed away when John 
P. Aiillet was a boy. The young man remained 
at home faithfully assisting his mother and attend- 
ing school until 1871, when he went to Saginaw, 
Michigan, and engaged in lumbering, two years 
later going to Mexico and Arizona, where he 
found employment in the mines. He came by the 
southern route to San Diego, California, thence 
up the coast to Seattle, where he landed in 1875. 
Fifteen years he spent in logging camps on Hoods 
canal, and on the Snohomish, Snoqualmie and 
Skagit rivers. In 1881 he went into business at 
the site of the present town of Burlington, under 
the firm name of Millet & McKay. A census 
taken in 1875 would have shown just ten white 
women in the entire Skagit valley. Mr. Millet re- 
tired from the lumber business in 1894 and in 
1896 was elected sheriff. It was in the discharge 
of his duties as such officer that he won not a 
little local fame for his capture of "Jack King," 
a notorious burglar. Sheriff Millet had arrested 
King in Mount Vernon for robbing a store in that 
town, but the miscreant succeeded in breaking jail 
and escaping. Sheriff Millet started on his trail, 



and for five months traced him from place to place, 
finally capturing him in Portland, Oregon. The 
splendid detective work of this long pursuit and 
the dogged persistency with which Sheriff Mil- 
let hung on the trail of the burglar after other 
officers had given up the chase, won for him the 
admiration of all who knew the facts. King is 
now in the Walla Walla penitentiary under life 
sentence, sent there from King county, the first in 
the state to receive such sentence under the law 
permitting and directing that this severe penalty 
be imposed on persons convicted of a felony for 
the third time. 

Upon retiring from the sheriff's office, Mr. 
Millet took up his residence on a farm one mile 
west of Mount Vernon which he had purchased 
while in the lumber business. He lived there until 
March, 1905, when he sold the place, moved to 
Anacortes, and purchased the Hotel Vendome, of 
which he is still the host. 

Mr. Millet was married in 1882 to Miss Kate 
Ward, born in Wisconsin, the daughter of Daniel 
Ward. Her father, a native of Vermont, born in 
1814, moved to Illinois in early life. He frequent- 
ly has walked over the site of the city of Chicago, 
then a wild, desolate marsh, giving no promise of 
the wonderful metropolis which was to spring up 
as if by magic. He lived in others of the central 
states, came to Washington in 1874, and was re- 
siding in Tenino at the time of his death in 1884. 
The mother, Mrs. Jane (Christian) Ward, was 
born in New York in 1829 and died in 1880 at 
Tenino. Three children have been born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Millet: Maude, in March, 1884, the 
first white child born in what is now Burlington, 
then only a logging camp; Winfield S., in Mount 
Vernon, in November, 1887; Robert, in Seattle, 
in October, 1896. Mr. Millet is prominent in fra- 
ternal circles, being a Mason, an Odd Fellow and 
a Hoo Hoo. He loyally supports the Democratic 
party. He is a thorough and practical business 
man, a progressive, public spirited citizen, a genial, 
open hearted neighbor and friend. The respect 
and good will of the commvmity are his in abun- 
dant measure. 



ROWLAND E. DAVIS, formerly a representa- 
tive from San Juan county, now superintendent 
and vice-president of the Porter Fish Company, 
of Seattle, is a resident of Anacortes. Born Sep- 
tember 21, 1861, in Ontario, Canada, his parents 
are James L. and Amelia C. (Barnum) Davis, 
both also natives of Ontario, the father, born in 
1832, the mother in 1840. They are now living 
in Victoria, British Columbia. The oldest child 
of a family of eleven, Rowland E. Davis enjoyed 
the rare privilege of acquiring a large share of 
his education under the instruction of his mother. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



a very gifted woman, a graduate of the Toronto 
Normal School, in which institution she was a suc- 
cessful teacher prior to her marriage. Leaving 
home at the age of nineteen, he went on board a 
steamboat that he might master the art of navi- 
gation. The following sixteen years were spent 
on the water, during which he became engineer, 
still holding an engineer's and a master's license. 
Coming to Washington, February 17, 1868, via the 
Isthmus of Panama, he resided in Clallum county 
two years, moving to San Juan county in the fall 
of 1870. He, with his father, made a trip up the 
Swinomish slough in March, 1868. Only one set- 
tler had made a home on the flats at that time, and 
seeing nothing promising in the vast desolate 
region, the father returned to San Juan island, 
on which he had taken up land, living there until 
1903. In 1896, recognizing a splendid opening 
in the fishing industry of Puget sound, Rowland 
Davis abandoned agricultural pursuits, and two 
}-ears later became associated with George T. 
Wires and Company, of Portland, Oregon, remain- 
ing with the company till the fall of 1901. The 
North American Fishery of Anacortes having pur- 
chased this company's holdings, Mr. Davis became 
a partner in the new firm, superintending the traps 
and floating equipments of the company. When 
the firm failed in 1903, Mr. Davis and T. J. Gor- 
man leased the fishing plant of the Rosaria Straits 
Packing Company for the season of 1904, purchas- 
ing it the winter of 1901-5, and operating it under 
the firm name of the Porter Fish Company of 
Seattle. Some idea of the magnitude of the busi- 
ness may be formed from knowing the annual out- 
put, which will amount this season to 7,500 cases 
of fish, with an approximate value of $335,000. 
Displaying his characteristic energy and ability, 
Mr. Davis attends to the manifold responsibilities 
devolving upon him as superintendent of the busi- 
ness. To his accurate knowledge and untiring zeal, 
the success of the firm is in a large measure due. 
I\Ir. Davis was married in La Conner in 1884, 
to Amelia D. Haroldson, born in Lansing, Iowa, 
in 1865. Moving with her parents, Ole and Par- 
nella Haroldson, to Fidalgo island in 1878, Mrs. 
Davis received her education in the schools of the 
island. Being very deft with her needle, she went 
to The Dalles, Oregon, and learned dressmaking. 
Her father, a native of Sweden, engaged in farm- 
ing till his death on Fidalgo island. The mother, 
born in Norway, is still living on the old home- 
stead on the island. Mr. and Mrs. Davis have 
the following children: Linwood, born on Lopez 
island, January 28, 1886 ; Vivian, born in Fidalgo 
harbor, in October, 1889 ; Carlisle, born in De- 
catur, in 1890; Naverign and Harold, twins, born 
in Decatur, in 1892; Don S., born in Richardson, 
in 1803 ; Ruth E., born in Decatur, in 1899. Mr. 
Davis is a prominent Blue Lodge Mason, and a 



member of the Elks lodge, No. 93, of Seattle. 
His family attend the Methodist church, to which 
he is a liberal contributor. For many years a 
loyal Republican, he was persuaded, in 1901, to 
represent San Juan county in the legislative halls 
of the state, and filled the office with honor. He 
is now chairman of the central committee of Ska- 
git county. He is a public spirited citizen, one 
who can always be relied upon to heartily endorse 
every advance movement. Possessed of rare ex- 
ecutive ability and acumen, combined with strict 
integrity, ]\Ir. Davis is one of the most popular 
and influential men of Anacortes. 



JAMES T. MARCH, a prominent lumberman 
residing just across the channel from Anacortes, 
on Guemes island, was born in Knox County, 
Missouri, December 26, 1868. His father, David 
L. March, the descendent of a well known pioneer 
family of Missouri, was born in that state, and is 
now residing with his son on the island. Martha 
(Edens) March, the mother, is a Kentuckian, and 
also still living. His father having moved to 
Colorado in 1877, James T. March received his 
education in the schools of that state. Coming 
with his father to Washington when nineteen 
years of age, he worked in the logging camps for 
several years, then went to Alaska when the news 
of the wonderful gold deposits thrilled the hearts 
of men in 1898. Two and a half years later he 
returned to Anacortes, pursuing the same business 
that had previously engaged his attention, that of 
logging. 

Mr. March was married at Femdale, Wash- 
ington, September 3, 1903, to Laura M. Smith, 
born January 1, 1875, in Whatcom county. Her 
parents are Henry and Alice (McComb) Smith, 
pioneers of Washington, now living on Nooksack 
river. Mrs. March received a liberal education, 
supplementing the elementary education acquired 
in the Whatcom common schools by a course in 
the normal at Lynden, and. later, at Bellingham. 
Completing her training, at the age of nineteen 
she began her career as teacher, winning a large 
measure of success in the following ten years, 
which she devoted to the profession. Though not 
actively engaged in politics, Mr. March is an ear- 
nest and loyal member of the Republican party. 
He owns a fine forty acre farm on Guemes island, 
well stocked and equipped with the modern ma- 
chinery necessary for successful farming. Mr. 
March is well informed on all matters relating to 
the lumber business, having given it his almost 
constant attention for many years, and this accu- 
rate knowledge, combined with his natural energ}% 
will enable him in the future to secure still larger 
returns. He is known throughout the community 
as a man of thrift, industry and correct principles. 



638 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



BETHUEL C. RANOUS, millwright and car- 
penter, one of the prominent and highly respected 
citizens of Anacortes, was born in Prince Edward 
County, Ontario, March 30, 1834, the son of 
James Ranous, a native of the same place, born 
in 1805. The elder Ranous resided for some time 
in Wisconsin and California, eventually returning 
to Canada in 1859, however, via Cape Horn, but 
he again took up his residence in the Golden West, 
and was in Santa Ana, California, at the time of 
his death in 1888. Mrs. Rachel (Courter) Ranous, 
the mother, born in New York state in 1810, 
made her home with a daughter in Prophetstown, 
Illinois, after the death of her husband until she 
passed away at the age of ninety. Bethuel Ranous 
remained at home for the first fourteen years of 
his life, then went to New York and served a 
three year apprenticeship to the trade of mill- 
wright, then located in Rochester, New York, 
whence, in 1854, he returned to Canada on a visit. 
He accompanied his father to Beloit, Wisconsin, 
and five years later started with a band of cattle 
across the plains to Sacramento, California, the 
trip occupying six months. He wintered there 
and in the spring returned to Virginia City, Ne- 
vada, where he had located a claim on his way 
west. His property had been jumped in his ab- 
sence and he purchased another property which he 
soon disposed of rather than use force to retain 
possession. While employed at Virginia City, he 
learned that his wife, whom he had left in Wis- 
consin, had started west and was in Oregon. She 
had written him on her departure, but the letter 
never reached him. He immediately joined her 
in Oregon and on returning in the spring to Ne- 
vada found his property again had been jumped. 
He spent a few months in Dayton, Washoe and 
Reno. Nevada, and worked a while at his trade 
in the latter place, then for a time carried freight 
from Sacramento to the mines, then took charge of 
the mill and floom owned by Yarrington, Bliss & 
Trytle, in Carson City. In this work he established 
a reputation for ability and industry, which secured 
him the superintendency of the mills of Fair, Flood, 
McKay & O'Brien at Reno. He next went to Vir- 
ginia City, later to Walker river, working three 
years at his trade. Later he bought a livery busi- 
ness in Los Angeles, California, which he sold 
after running it six months. He crossed Yuma 
desert with a mule team, to Phoenix, Arizona, then 
the most notorious city of the West, where he 
was given an important position of foreman in the 
construction of mills. His next move was to Guy- 
mas, Mexico, where for two years he built cars 
for a railroad ; then he went to Magdalena and 
built a stamp mill, returning to California three 
years later. He is next found on board a vessel 
bound from San Francisco to Victoria, then in 
company with the late John Ball he took up his 



residence at Sterling, Washington. In the fall of 
1883 he sailed up the Skagit river and took a 
homestead of 160 acres near Sauk. The next 
year he helped build the first Odd Fellows hall at 
Mount Vernon, then he located at Avon and in- 
vested in eighty acres of land whrch he was en- 
gaged in improving during his six years' residence 
in that locality. Having eventually disposed of his 
ranch, he purchased the Bay View Hotel, and ran 
it two years, then rented it and moved to Burling- 
ton, thence to California by team, making the trip 
for the benefit of his wife's health. Three years 
later he traded his hotel for real estate in Ana- 
cortes. On his return to Washington, which was 
effected also by team, he again became a citizen 
of Mount Vernon and bought a ranch upon which 
he resided until coming to Anacortes two years 
ago. 

Mr. Ranous has been twice married, his first 
wife being Mary (Allen) Ranous. Three chil- 
dren were born to this union, two of whom. Leona 
and Leota, are now residing in San Francisco. In 
Avon, in 1880, he married Mrs. Ellen J. Walker, 
whose first husband was drowned in the river. 
She is the mother of the following children by her 
former husband : Mrs. Winona Whaley ; Mrs. 
Maggie Anderson, deceased; Mrs. Nettie Ange- 
vine ; Mrs. Jennie Dawson ; Albert Walker ; Mrs. 
Carrie Castello, and Edith, deceased in infancy. 
Mr. Ranous is a prominent member of the Odd 
Fellows and Mrs. Ranous is identified with the 
Rebekahs. Mr. Ranous has been a life long Re- 
publican but never has had political aspirations. 
He is a man broadened by the varied experiences 
incident to his life and by his extensive travels 
over the western states, though Nevada was his 
place of residence for twenty-one years, and he 
has now been in Washington for twenty-two. In 
the forty-seven years of his life on the Pacific 
coast he has naturally seen his share of Indian 
warfare, but, though he has had many narrow es- 
capes, he received no wounds at the hands of the 
red men. 



HENRY C. BARKHOUSEN, one of the ear- 
liest settlers on Fidalgo island, was born in Rush- 
ville, Schuyler County, Illinois, January 15, 1835, 
the son of Conrad and Louise (Pilgrim) Bark- 
housen, Prussians who came to the United States 
in 1833. Henry was the youngest of three chil- 
dren, and his father having died when he was an 
infant, he early began life for himself, securing, 
however, a fair common school education. On the 
death of his mother, he started for California via 
the Isthmian route in 1856. After putting in a 
short time at mining he worked in a blacksmith 
shop at Stockton for a time with his brother-in- 
law, but in May, 1858, he came to Bellingham bay, 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



where very shorth' he joined in the Fraser river 
rush occasioned by gold finds. Returning in a 
short time to Bellingham, he lived there for seven 
years. In 1860 he was elected county auditor and 
he served two terms of one year each, also was 
in the legislature in the session of 1SG3-4. In ISGo 
he came to Fidalgo island and took up the land 
on which he now resides. Mr. Beale, William 
Monks, Enoch Compton and George Cagey being 
his only neighbors when he arrived, though Hiram 
A. March came shortly after. He immediately 
commenced to clear his land and, as did the others, 
to raise cattle and hogs. He has seen all the im- 
provements made on the island, and has watched 
Anacortes grow from a wilderness of nature to 
the present bustling town. The first postofifice 
on the island was established at Fidalgo, about 
one mile from Mr. Barkhousen's place, the first 
postmaster being William Monks, and Mr. Bark- 
housen assistant, though the latter later became 
postmaster himself. In 1890 he established a store 
at Fidalgo. but lost it in the financial stress of 
the early nineties. 

Like many others of the early settlers of the 
Northwest Mr. Barkhousen took a wife from the 
native tribes, marrying her according to Indian 
ceremony at Whatcom in 1860, but unlike many 
other white men in similar relation he declined to 
hold that that marriage was not binding in the 
eyes of the law. He held the relation sacred and 
argued that an admission of its lack of force would 
brand his children as illegitimate. As a result he 
would not be remarried according to civilized 
usages and was indicted by a grand jury for the 
ofifense against statute, but was acquitted by Judge 
Greene. To this union have been born these chil- 
dren: George, Maria, Henry, Fred, Isabella, 
Louise and Daniel, all but three of whom are mar- 
ried and have homes of their own. Mr. Barkhou.s- 
en is a Republican and has been ever since attain- 
ing his majority, casting his first vote for Millard 
Fillmore. The home farm consists of twenty-four 
acres of excellent land, situated five miles south- 
east of Anacortes, and is devoted to the raising of 
sheep and cattle. Mr. Barkhousen is one of the 
respected citizens of the community, honored as 
one of the foundation builders of the country, a 
man of principle and high integrity. 



WILLIAM R. MASSEY, a well known farm- 
er of Anacortes, was born in Plumas County, Cali- 
fornia, February 13, 1863, the son of Thomas anc{ 
Eleanor (Leake) Massey, both natives of Eng- 
land. Immigrating to America in 18.52, the father 
settled in Illinois first, and in 1857 crossed the 
plains with an ox team to California. He spent 
the remainder of his life mining in Plumas county, 
his death occurring in 1871. The mother is liv- 



ing, at the age of eighty-four, with her son Will- 
iam. Acquiring his education in the schools of 
California, William R. Massey went into the mines 
at the age of sixteen, being thus employed until 
he came to Washington in 1892, and rented the 
farm near Whitney, owned by John Ball, his 
brother-in-law. He purchased the farm on which 
he now resides in 1899-^one hundred and forty 
acres situated on Fidalgo Bay. He has forty acres 
of it in excellent shape, and has a fine orchard of 
two hundred and fifty trees. He devotes his time 
to diversified farming, believing that this method 
yields larger returns. A thoroughly practical farm- 
er, well informed on all matters relating to agri- 
culture, he is rapidly winning the success which his 
untiring energy so richly merits. 

^Ir. Massey was married in Skagit county in 
1897, to Mrs. Jennie Tuper, the daughter of Vidd 
and Birdie (Johns) Todd. Born in Minnesota, 
in 1872, i\Irs. Massey received her education in 
that state, and was there married to her first hus- 
band, Mr. Tuper. Two children were born to this 
first union. Mable and Ruben. Mr. Massey is a 
member of the Odd Fellows fraternity; his wife 
is a Rebecca. In political belief Mr. Massey is a 
Republican. As school director he has taken an 
active part in the educational affairs of the island. 
A man of sterling character, he enjoys the confi- 
dence and respect of all who are in any way asso- 
ciated with him. 



FRED H. MARCH. Among the prosperous 
young farmers of Anacortes stands the one whose 
name gives caption to this biography. He was 
born on Fidalgo island, April 20, 1877, the young- 
est child of Hiram A. and Katie (Hilton) March. 
His father, a native of Vermont, born in 1826; 
learned the stone mason's trade in New York and 
Boston. After working for some time in the for- 
mer city he went to California in 1853 via the 
Isthmus of Panama, remaining there until he came 
to Washington in 1858, at the time of the gold 
excitement in the Frazer river district. He stopped 
in Whatcom for a year, then took up a claim of 
one hundred and sixty acres on Fidalgo island, 
moving his family to the island four years later. 
He devoted his time first to fishing then to rais- 
ing cabbage and cauliflower seed. In the early 
sixties he was sheriff of Whatcom county for two 
years. At the time of his death, February 5. 1905, 
he was fruit inspector, a position he had 
held three years. The mother of Fred March was 
born in Troy, New York, in 1841, and died April 
2, 1894. Fred H. March received his education in 
the common schools of Anacortes, and at the age 
of eighteen went to sea on a sailing vessel, the trip 
lasting a \ear. He engaged in mining in the Cas- 
cades for a time, and then returned to manage his 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



father's ranch, which he now owns, having pur- 
chased it from the heirs when the estate was di- 
vided after the death of the father. He has fifty 
acres under cultivation, giving especial attention to 
sheep raising. He has seventy head of a superior 
breed. He also has a fine orchard comprising 
three acres. His specialty is raising cabbage, caul- 
iflower and pea seeds. 

Air. March was married on Fidalgo island, 
September 26, 1904, to Miss Bessie Cook, born in 
Kansas in 1883. Coming with her parents to Ana- 
cortes in 1890, she acquired her education in the 
schools of this town, supplementing the training 
received by a course in the business college at 
Mount Vernon. Her parents, Frank and Nellie 
(Dodson) Cook, both natives of Iowa, are now 
residing on Fidalgo island. Mr. March is promi- 
nent in fraternal circles, being a past grand mem- 
ber of the Odd Fellows. Both he and his wife are 
Rebeccas. Mr. March is a well-known Republi- 
can, taking an active part in all political matters, 
He is a public spirited citizen, deeply interested in 
the growth and development of the town, county 
and state. Possessed of youth, health and ambi- 
tion, combined with strict integrity, his future suc- 
cess is assured. 



JOHN G. THOxMAS, a well-to-do farmer re- 
siding five miles southeast of Anacortes, was born 
in England, January 7, 1852. His father, George 
H. Thomas, born in England in 1829, immigrated 
to the United States in 1868, settling in turn in 
Pennsylvania, Illinois, Kansas and Washington. He 
took up land on Fidalgo island in 1875, and con- 
tinued to reside on the island thereafter until his 
death. Ann (Davis) Thomas, the mother, was 
also a native of England. Leaving his fatherland 
at the age of seventeen, John G. Thomas grew to 
manhood in the United States, and after reaching 
his majority located in Whatcom, Washington, in 
1873. He mined three years in the meantime, 
purchasing the farm that he now owns. In 1876 
lie went to Nanaimo, British Columbia, and he spent 
the next three years in the coal mines there, re- 
turning then to his ranch for a short stay. He 
followed mining also in King county for a few 
months, then in 1882, moved his family, which 
had been on the farm during his absence in the 
mines, to Snohomish county, near Everett. They 
made their home there for the following eighteen 
years while he was engaged in mining in the vari- 
ous camps. In 1900, he located permanently on 
the island. He has forty acres of farm land, ten 
of which are in an excellent state of cultivation, 
and his place is well stocked with cattle, horses 
and sheep, giving abundant evidence of thrift and 
good management. 

Mr. Thomas married, at Seahome, Washington, 



in 1896, Miss Mary A. Thomas, who was born in 
England in 1859, but who had acquired her edu- 
cation in the schools of Iowa and Washington. 
Her parents, David P. and Catherine (Holmes) 
Thomas, both natives of England, are now living 
in Edison, Washington, well-known pioneers of 
this state, having come in 1871. Mr. and Mrs. 
Thomas have the following children: David B., 
born in Edison; William J., in Nanaimo, British 
Columbia; Samuel, in King county; Katherine, in 
Skagit county ; Edna, Sarah R. and Annie. Mr. 
Thomas is a prominent member of the Odd Fel- 
lows, and in politics an active Republican. He has 
been road supervisor and member of the 
school board, in both of which positions he gave 
the community valuable service. He is an active 
and industrious man, of upright character, pos- 
sessed of the respect and esteem of his many ac- 
quaintances. 



JAMES M. DEAN, one of the most popular 
agriculturists of Anacortes, residing one mile east 
and six miles south of town, was born in Mans- 
field, Ohio, September 21, 1855. His father, Ben- 
jamin W. Dean, born in Ohio in 1820, was one of 
the well-known pioneers of that state. Mary J. 
(Harford) Dean, the mother, was a native of 
Pennsylvania. Her parents were of Holland Dutch 
descent. Receiving his elementary education in the 
common schools of Ohio, James M. Dean was later 
graduated from the high school at Mansfield, then 
being desirous of preparing himself for a business 
career, he went to Poughkeepsie, New York, and 
he completed his course at the National Business 
College there at the age of twenty-five. Enter- 
ing a mercantile house in his native town in 1881, 
he remained four years, then accepted a position 
as traveling salesman. He went to Kansas in 
1885, and taught for the ensuing three years, then 
moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, but soon after this 
he located in Washington, spending the first sum- 
mer near Walla Walla, and coming in the fall to 
Puget sound, where he purchased property oq Fi- 
dalgo island. He handled lumber for a time, then 
was employed as a clerk in Anacortes, but he has 
made his home on the ranch for the past seven 
years. He is a practical and progressive farmer 
who rapidly is winning success. He owns one- 
eighth of a two hundred acre farm which is well 
stocked with thoroughbred Jersey cattle, to which 
he gives his especial attention. 

]\Ir. Dean and Miss Rosalie Miller were united 
in marriage on Fidalgo island in 1898. Mrs. 
Dean was born at Howard Lake, Minnesota, No- 
vember 2, 1877. Her parents moved to the island 
when she was five years old and she acquired her 
education in Skagit county. Her father, George 
W. Miller, born in Indiana in 1845, went with his 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



641 



parents to ]\Iinnesota when he was eight years old. 
As he grew to manhood he learned the millwright 
and carpenter trade and in 1882 came to Fidalgo 
island. He and L. R. Freeman have the honor of 
founding the town of Gibraltar, this county, in 
1889. He bought the farm that his son-in-law, 
James M. Dean, now owns, and took up a pre- 
emption claim. He is now living at Anacortes. 
:\Irs. Dean's mother, Mrs. Mary (Goodsell) Miller, 
was the daughter of Charles and Chloe J. Good- 
sell. Three children have been born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Dean; !\Iorris H., in Skagit county, March 
17, 1901; Charles M., also in Skagit countv, ISlay 
25, 1903, and Mary E.. September 9, 1905. Mr. 
Dean is a past grand of the Odd Fellows and has 
taken all the degrees. He and his family attend 
the jNIethodist Episcopal church. He is a loyal 
Republican but never has desired to enter the po- 
h'tical arena. A man of unusual intelligence, pos- 
sessed of sterling virtues and a genial disposition 
that attract men to him, he is naturally one of the 
most influential citizens of the communitv. 



MARSTON G. BEARD, a thrifty agricul- 
turist residing five miles southeast of Anacortes, 
was born in Illinois, July 8, 1844, the son of Wil- 
son and Nancy (Douglas) Beard, both natives of 
Kentucky. Having moved to Illinois in early life, 
the father made that his home till 1849, then went 
to California, and no word has been received from 
him for thirty years. The mother's death occurred 
in 1865. ]\Iarston Beard spent his early years in 
the home of an uncle, beginning the active duties 
of life at the age of seventeen. Starting across the 
plains to California, he reached Missouri, where 
he remained a year, then he drove an ox team to 
Salt Lake City. He entered the employ of the 
Overland Mail Company there and drove a stage 
from that city to Virginia City for the three fol- 
lowing years, .going then to California, where for 
the ensuing two and a half years he was engaged 
in teaming in San Mateo county. After a trip to 
New York made via Panama, he returned to Illi- 
nois, residing there four years. In 1874 he 
brought his bride to the West, and settled hear 
Snohomish on a one hundred and sixty acre home- 
stead, a wild timber-covered wilderness at that 
early date. The succeeding nine years were full 
of arduous toil, amid difficulties and privations 
known only to pioneers, who yet had their share 
of quiet happiness. Disposing of his property iii 
1883, Mr. Beard moved to Santa Barbara, Califor- 
nia, and invested in land upon which he set out a 
fine orchard. He engaged in fruit raising fifteen 
years, then again located in Washington, purchas- 
ing five acres near Anacortes, upon which he still 
resides. 

Mr. Beard was married in Illinois, in 1871, to 



Sarah Stevenson, a native of Illinois, as were also 
her parents, George W. and Amelia (Byerley) 
Stevenson, now deceased. Bequeathing "to her 
family and friends the memory of a useful, happy 
life. Mr. Beard died in 1892. Four children were 
born to this union as follows : Mrs. Carrie Jacob- 
son of Lompoc, California; Nellie, at home; Mrs. 
Mary E. Canfield, of Vacaville, California; Edwin 
S., at home. Mr. Beard votes an independent 
ticket, and has never had any desire to hold office. 
He is a prominent member of the Methodist 
church, contributing liberally to its various benevo- 
lences. As his farm is especially adapted to rais- 
ing small fruit, he intends in the future to devote 
his time to that branch of horticulture, also to en- 
gage in poultry raising. He is known to be an 
earnest, industrious man, and a loyal citizen, who 
holds the respect and good will of his many ac- 
quaintances. 



FR.\NK N. WHITE, a prosperous farmer re- 
siding five miles southeast of Anacortes, was born 
in Buchanan County, Iowa, February 25, 1864. His 
parents, Henry J. and Elizabeth (Richmond) 
White, were born in Ontario, the father January 
24, 1826, the mother May 28, 1834. After work- 
ing for a number of years at millwrighting in 
Iowa, the elder White moved in 1873 to Washing- 
ton, and he is now a resident of Anacortes. He is 
in very feeble health at present. The mother's 
death occurred December 21, 1894. Having come 
with his parents to Washington when eight years 
old, Frank N. White received his education in the 
common schools of this state. After residing for a 
time in Seattle, his father took a preemption claim 
on Guemes island, and spent the summer of 1873 
there, but that fall he purchased one hundred and 
sixty-three acres on Fidalgo island bordering the 
bay, part of which is in timber and sixty acres tide 
lands. That fall the family, which had been in 
Seattle, rejoined him, casting their lot with the 
earliest white families to settle on the island. The 
father until very recently owned this property, save 
a twenty-acre tract which he sold to his son, 
twenty acres of hill land donated to the railroad 
and seven and a half acres given as a bonus to the 
electric car line in the early nineties. Mr. White 
served as probate judge of his county in the early 
days and thus acquired the title "Judge" by which 
he is best known among his old associates. During 
the father's residence in Anacortes, Frank White 
and a brother had charge of the farm for a year, 
after which Frank became a member of a coast 
surveying party. A few months later he located 
in Seattle, where he was employed continuously 
until 1890, when he returned to Anacortes to re- 
sume work on his father's farm. In March, 1902, 
he moved onto a twenty-acre tract of the home 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



ranch which he had purchased in 1885, and he has 
since devoted his entire time to diversified farm- 
ing. He has twelve acres in a fine state of culti- 
vation, and intends in the future to make a spe- 
cialty of fruit raising. 

]\Ir. White was married September 3, 1890, to 
Blanche Clark, the daughter of Thomas M. and El- 
len (Learner) Clark, both residents of Nebraska. 
Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
White : Marguerite, October 27, 1901 ; and Theodore, 
March 5, 1903. Mr. White is a Republican, but 
votes independently whenever he thinks he can 
better subserve the welfare of state or nation by so 
doing. He attends the Methodist church, of which 
his wife is a prominent member. His property 
holdings include forty-seven acres of farm land 
and a number of lots in Anacortes. He is an ac- 
tive, industrious agriculturist, a loyal and progres- 
sive citizen, a kind neighbor and friend and enjoys 
in abundant measure the confidence and respect of 
the community in which he lives. 



THOMAS SHARPE, a popular and prosper- 
ous farmer residing at Rosaria, was born in Ty- 
rone County, Ireland, November 12, 1850. His 
father, James Sharpe, emigrated from his native 
country, Ireland, to the United States in 1853, 
making his home in turn in New York, Ohio, 
Iowa and Minnesota. He located in the last men- 
tioned state in 1861, and died there, March 23, 
1879. Margaret (Nelson) Sharpe, his mother, also 
born on the Emerald isle, was living with a daugh- 
ter in British Columbia at the time of her death 
in 1887. Thomas Sharpe left home at the age of 
fifteen, and found work on steamboats and rafts 
on the Mississippi river for six years. He then 
returned to his home, where the ensuing three or 
four years of his time were spent. Starting for 
Puget sound, July 12, 1875, he landed in due time 
at Port Townsend, whence he proceeded to Whidby 
island. Undismayed by the fact that he found 
himself in debt to the amount of twenty-five dol- 
lars, with his usual energy he at once sought and 
found employment, and later purchased a relin- 
quishment to a tract of land on Fidalgo island, 
which he still owns. In 1882 he filed on the home- 
stead which he now farms. He has eighty acres 
cleared, and in an excellent state of cultivation, 
devoted to diversified farming. He owns a mod- 
ern and well equipped threshing outfit which is 
operated with profit; and it may be well to add 
that each consecutive fall for thirty-three years 
Mr. Sharpe has conducted a threshing business. 
He has the usual quantity of stock found on a well 
managed farm. The location of his elegant home, 
modern in all its appointments, upon one of the 
most picturesque spots to be found in the state, at 
the head of Deception pass, speaks eloquently of 



his love for beautiful surroundings. The lights of 
Port Townsend and Victoria, are plainly visible 
from this elevation, and the view is one of cease- 
less charm. 

Mr. Sharpe and Mary J. Carr were united in 
marriage in 1882. Mrs. Sharpe was born in 
Guelph, Ontario, the daughter of Robert and Janet 
(Henderson) Carr, now residing at Hamilton, 
Iowa. Her father was born in Ireland eighty 
years ago, and came to Ontario in early life. Her 
mother, born in the highlands of Scotland, has 
reached the age of seventy-five. Four children 
have blessed the home of Mr. and Mrs. Sharpe: 
Margaret Janette, John Clififord, William Wallace, 
and Arlie Matilda, all living at home. Mr. Sharpe 
is a firm believer in Republican doctrines, but is in 
no sense a politician. For twenty years he has 
served on the school board, a fact which clearly 
indicates his deep interest in educational matters. 
In religious faith he is an Episcopalian. Possessed 
of a genial disposition and many sterling virtues, 
he enjoys the largest measure of public esteem, 
and is recognized as one of the substantial and 
leading citizens of the Fidalgo island country, 
as well as one of the most active and enthusiastic 
pioneers. 



WILLIAM H. BURDON, one of the popular 
residents of Fidalgo island, was born in the north- 
eastern part of England, March 31, 1844, the son 
of Thomas B. and Eleanor (Miller) Burdon, both 
of English nativity. The father was a well-known 
merchant of that country who died in 18G7. Wil- 
liam H. Burdon was the sixth oi fifteen children. 
He acquired his education in the schools of Eng- 
land, and at the age of eighteen was apprenticed to 
a butcher, becoming thoroughly familiar with all 
the details of that business during the three years 
of his service. Having reached his majority he 
opened a butcher shop in Hartlepool, England, of 
which he continued to be owner till 1871 when he 
moved to Canada and purchased a hotel at Saint 
Thomas. Coming to Washington territory in 1873, 
he stopped three months at Port Madison, proceed- 
ing thence to what was then Whatcom, where he 
was employed by the Bellingham Bay Coal Com- 
pany to handle meat. He retained this position 
till the mines closed in 1876, then moved to Fidal- 
go island, purchasing thirty acres of land and tak- 
ing the adjoining forty acres as a homestead. Near- 
ly all was heavily timbered at that time, but now 
lie has thirty acres in a fine state of cultivation. 
He makes a specialty of hops, the yield averaging 
one ton to the acre. There still is some fine tim- 
ber on his farm. During his long residence Mr. 
Burdon has witnessed some wonderful changes in 
this locality. Fidalgo was the only trading post 
on the island at the time he came, the now thriving 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



town of Anacortes did not exist, and La Conner 
was but a collection of a few rude buildings with 
a store or two. There were no roads, the travel 
all being by boat. Having been appointed road 
supervisor, he was instrumental in building the 
first macadamized road on the island. 

In England in August, 18G6, Mr. Burdon mar- 
ried Jane Barker, a native of Yorkshire, England, 
born October 16, 1844. Her parents, Lancelot 
and Elizabeth Barker, were both natives of the 
same shire and spent their entire lives there. Mr. 
Barker was a successful veterinary surgeon. Mr. 
and Mrs. Burdon have the following children : 
Thomas L., born in England ; Mrs. Elifie Gillispi, 
also born in England, now the wife of an engineer 
and living in Vancouver, British Columbia ; Alice, 
born at Whatcom, living at home; Minnie, on Fi- 
dalgo island, for five years a prominent teacher of 
Skagit county, now taking a four-year course in 
Portland, preparatory to entering the medical pro- 
fession ; and Harry, born on the island, now man- 
ager of his father's farm. Mr. Burdon is a prom- 
inent member of the Odd Fellows, being past 
grand of Anacortes lodge which he organized in 
1891, and also having been a member of the grand 
lodge in that year. He and Mrs. Burdon are both 
identified with the Rebekahs and their son Thomas 
is also a past grand of the Odd Fellows. The en- 
tire family attends the Episcopal church. Mr. 
Burdon is an enthusiastic Republican. Intelligent, 
broad minded, of a genial disposition, he is a man 
whom it is a pleasure to know, and few possess a 
wider circle of friends and acquaintances than does 
this honored pioneer of Fidalgo island. 



ALB ANUS D. QUINT, the genial postmaster 
and merchant at Dewey, Washington, was born in 
Stark, Somerset County, Maine, October 4, 1849. 
His father, Joab Quint, born in Maine in 1807, 
was a farmer and carpenter. He was captain of 
a militia company in his native state in the early 
forties. His death occurred in 1851. Elizabeth 
(Thing) Quint, the mother, was born in 1813, in 
Maine. She was the mother of five children, all 
of whom are dead but the one whose name heads 
this biography. Acquiring his education in the 
schools of his native state, Albanus D. Quint then 
learned the carpenter's trade. Before he was fifteen 
years old he enlisted in Company F, Fourteenth 
Maine Infantry, serving eighteen months in the 
Civil War, most of the time with General Sheridan 
in the Shenandoah valley. Returning home, he 
went to Wisconsin in 1868, where he worked in 
the woods and at his trade for nineteen years. 
During his residence in Wisconsin he held numer- 
ous official positions, was town clerk for three 
years, justice of the peace three terms, chairman of 
the township board, and ex-officio county super- 



visor. Coming to Washington in 1887, he took up 
forty acres of land at Deception, a pre-emption 
claim, and made it his home until 1896. He was 
offered ten thousand dollars for this property dur- 
ing the boom at Anacortes, but not having proved 
upon it, could not make the sale. He was appointed 
postmaster at Fidalgo City, formerly known as De- 
ception, now named Dewey, in 1897, a position 
which he still holds. He owns and operates a 
store in connection with the post-office. For near- 
ly ten years he has been justice of the peace, aiid 
he has also been a member of the school board. 

Mr. Quint was married in Wisconsin, Septem- 
ber 19, 1878, to Mrs. Jane Hart, born in Scotland, 
April 11, 1847, the daughter of John Cameron. 
Mrs. Quint spent her childhood with her father in 
the West Indies, he being overseer of a large plan- 
tation. She was first married in Scotland, and 
there her husband died. Four children were born 
to this union : Mrs. Frank Lampman, of Ana- 
cortes ; Mrs. John Marshall, of San Francisco; 
John Hart, a well-known business man of Ana- 
cortes ; Mrs. Cora Iverson, of Fidalgo. Mr. and 
Mrs. Quint have two children: Mrs. Maud Grant, 
of Astoria, Oregon, and Jesse Quint, of Seattle, 
recently married. Mr. Quint has always taken an 
active part in the affairs of the Democratic party. 
During his long residence here he has endeared 
himself to the community by reason of his mani- 
fold virtues and his unfailing kindness and cour- 
tesy. He has in his possession a relic of priceless 
value, of which the entire state is justly proud, a 
homespun flag. 

"Perhaps not another flag in the United States 
possesses a more unique history than does the starry 
emblem owned by A. D. Quint, postmaster at 
Dewey. This flag dates back beyond 1790, in so 
far as the fabrics which compose it are concerned 
and how much usage the cloth it contains will 
stand is yet to be told by future generations. The 
blue part of the flag was made from hemp which 
was combed, spun, woven and worn by Mr. 
Quint's grandmother at her wedding in 1790. The 
red in the flag is wool which was dyed, carded, 
spun, woven and worn as an underskirt by Mr. 
Quint's mother at her wedding in 1833, and the 
white in the flag is cotton woven by Mr. Quint's 
sister in the first cotton mill established in the 
state of Massachusetts in 1851, and was worn by 
her before her death in 1853. 

"These relics were made into an American flag 
by Mr. Quint's mother and younger sister and was 
used to celebrate the 4th of July at West Mills, 
Maine, in 1861, and from under it six brothers 
and stepbrothers enlisted in 1861 and fought until 
1865 in the Ninth and Fourteenth Maine Infantry 
regiments. This flag flew at half-mast for the immor- 
tal Abraham Lincoln in the state of Maine. It 
flew at half-mast for the gallant Garfield in the 



G44 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



state of Wisconsin, and was draped in its position 
over the postoffice for the beloved McKinley In 
the state of Washington. 

"At Dewey, Washington, Mr. Quint's home, 
and at which place he is the efficient postmaster, 
this flag is incased and stands above the office tix- 
tures fronting the door. In a maple burl frame 
on one side of the flag is a picture of Dewey, de- 
noting the name of the office, in the center is a 
maple burl frame with a map of Skagit county, de- 
noting the county in which Dewey is located, and 
at the other end in a burl frame is the picture of 
Washington, making the display read, 'Dewey, 
Skagit County, Washington.' Mr. Quint had in- 
tended to send this unique display to the Louisiana 
Purchase Exposition at St. Louis, but owing to the 
failure of the county display he will not offer it to 
any other county. 

"The lumber which constructs the frame work 
which supports this display was sawed by the De- 
ception saw-mill, the first in Skagit county, and 
the maple burls which serve as frames for the map 
and the pictures of Washington and Dewey, are 
native of Fidalgo island. The flag and the man- 
ner in which it is mounted would be an excellent 
exhibit and it is to be regretted that such a 
unique affair could not be taken to the exposition.'^ 



CHRISTOPHER C. BEST, one of the hon- 
ored pioneers of Skagit county, living a mile and 
a half north of Dewey, was born in east Tennes- 
see, May 11, 1S34, the son of Emanuel and Susan 
(Tyler) Best. His father, born in Germany, was 
a descendant of Tennessee pioneers. Moving to 
Missouri in 1840 he died there a few years later, 
where the mother, who was born in North Caro- 
lina, also passed away. Left an orphan at the early 
age of ten years, Christopher C. was forced to 
begin the active duties of life when other boys 
of his age were occupied with balls and marbles. 
Employed by the various farmers who had need of 
a bright, capable boy, he grew to manhood, secur- 
ing his education in the meantime by diligently 
improving every opportunity. In 1857 he crossed 
the plains to California with an ox team, the jour- 
ney lasting five months. He remained in Califor- 
nia but a short time, going thence to Yamhill 
County, Oregon, where he farmed for two years. 
He then spent a year in the mines of southern 
Oregon, then, in 1860, went to Walla Walla, 
Washington, where he remained a twelvemonth, 
thereupon moving to Idaho, in which state he 
mined for the following fourteen years. After a 
brief visit to Oregon he came to Fidalgo island 
in 1875, and filed on the homestead on which' he 
still resides. He has seventy-five acres, twelve of 
which are in cultivation, four in orchard, and his 
farm is well stocked with cattle and sheep. 



On Fidalgo island, August 5, 1890, Mr. Best 
and Mrs. Lizzie Pickins were united in marriage. 
Mrs. Best, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Costner, 
was born in Tennessee in 1851, and received her 
education there. She had two children by her first 
husband : Charles E. and Cowan R. Pickins, and 
to her and Mr. Best was born one child, Walter C, 
a native of Skagit county, horn July IG, 1891. 
Mrs. Best died on Fidalgo island, June 7, 1894. 
Mr. Best is a firm believer in the doctrines of the 
Republican party, but has never cared to hold po- 
litical office. In religion he and his family adhere 
to the Lutheran faith. A resident of this county 
for the past thirty years save for a short time spent 
in Missouri, he has witnessed the wonderful 
changes that have taken place in that time, and 
enjoys the consciousness that but for the indomita- 
ble courage of brave pioneers like himself, these 
transformations would never have been possible. 
To the pioneers the younger generation owes a 
debt of gratitude that can only be paid by accord- 
ing them the highest reverence and respect. 



JOHN S. CONNER. Among the pioneer 
families of Skagit county who have been promi- 
nent in its reclamation and development from its 
wilderness condition to one of civilization, pros- 
perity and wealth, none has been more active and 
forceful, none more potent for progress, and none 
worthier of respect and esteem than that of the 
man whose name initiates this article. From the 
time of their advent the Conners have been leaders 
in the industrial conquest and social regeneration 
of community and county, while their influence has 
been more than state wide. With great thorough- 
ness they have studied the problems presented by 
local conditions, theoretically and practically, and 
so successful have they been that first, John S. 
Conner and in turn his son, came to be recognized 
as an authority on matters pertaining to tide land 
reclamation and to farming. The country has re- 
warded them for their abiding faith and interest 
by pouring into their garners an abundance of its 
choicest treasures, and they are also rich in the 
consciousness of having done a good work and 
done it well, leaving an indelible impress of the 
best kind upon one of the grandest counties of the 
Northwest. 

John S. Conner, was born in Ireland, but his 
residence in the United States began when he was 
a young boy. He grew to manhood in Schuylkill 
County, Pennsylvania, attending the public schools 
there, but the conditions surrounding him were 
such that, quite early in life, he was forced into 
the industrial whirl. As a boy he spent much 
time driving a team on the Schuylkill canal, and 
for a time ran a boat of his own; but nature had 
framed him for a nobler destiny and, spurred by 





^>^t6JS 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



647 



the promptings of ambition, he devoted all his 
spare moments to study, with the result that at the 
age of eighteen he obtained a teacher's certiiicate 
and was admitted to the profession. 

During the year 1862 Mr. Conner started West 
going as far as Missouri, where he took up land 
and engaged in farming. In 1863, John S. Con- 
ner was married to Miss Louisa A. Siegfried, the 
daughter of James and Mary (Willet) Siegfried, 
who became residents of Liberty, Maryland, when 
the daughter was four years old. James Siegfried 
was a manufacturer of wagons, buggies and farm 
implements. Miss Siegfried was born in Pennsyl- 
vania, April 6, 1843 ; she was educated in a private 
school in Maryland, and at the age of sixteen, 
went with her parents to Missouri where four years 
later she met and married Mr. Conner. 

In 1865 he again took up the westward march, 
coming by ox team to Colorado in which state, at 
a place ever since known as Conner's Springs, he 
engaged in the general merchandise and supply 
business. He also, for a time, conducted a hotel at 
Central City, Colorado. But realizing the ad- 
vantages of life near the seaboard and knowing 
something of the undeveloped resources of Wash- 
ington territory, he came to the sound country in 
1869. The first stop was made at Olympia, where 
Mrs. Conner opened a millinery store, exposing 
for sale goods which she herself selected in San 
Francisco. A year later they sold their interests 
at the capita! city and came to the site of the pres- 
ent town of La Conner of which Mrs. Conner was 
the first white woman settler, and IVIr. Conner the 
first permanent merchant, he having established a 
general merchandise store there immediately upon 
his arrival. It was in this pioneer mercantile es- 
tablishment that the first postoffice was installed, 
through the efforts of Mr. Conner, who had it 
named after his wife, combining her initials and 
surname to form "La Conner." By a continuance 
of the same studiousness which had made him a 
successful and accomplished teacher, this pioneer 
merchant had become also a lawyer, and he soon 
began to be recognized as the leading man in the 
community and one to whom it was advisable to 
go for counsel when in perplexity or doubt. He 
was always willing to help incoming settlers not 
only with his valuable advice but when necessary 
in a more substantial way, and his open-handed 
generosity still is remembered with gratitude by 
its recipients and others. In 1873 Mr. Conner sold 
his store to the Gashes Brothers. Long before this 
he had become interested in Skagit county realty ; 
in fact he had taken a pre-emption very soon after 
his arrival. His cousin, J. J. Conner, had taken 
the land which forms the townsite of La Conner 
and in 1872 had laid out a town. This land was 
purchased by John S. Conner who thereby became 
interested financially in the upbuilding of the town 



of which he had been after all the real founder, 
having started its first store. From this time until 
the day of his death he devoted his great energies 
to the development of La Conner and his real es- 
tate in the vicinity, which last had to be redeemed 
from the sea by dikes, for at one time it was pos- 
sible to pass over it in a row boat. He served one 
term as county commissioner when La Conner was 
in Whatcom county; but his bent was for indus- 
trial rather than for political leadership. His de- 
mise in 1885 was felt to be a decided misfortune 
to the entire community while not a few mourned 
him as a lost friend and benefactor. He was sur- 
vived by a widow and nine children: Herbert S., 
Frank J. S., Louis A., Guy W., Martin A., Wil- 
liam W., Ida R., now Mrs. Wilson H. Talbott, of 
Ellensburg; Lillian J., now Mrs. Sylvester P. 
Kendall, of La Conner, and Mary Viola. Since 
the father's death, Louis and Martin have passed 
away. 

That Herbert S. Conner is a worthy son of his 
honored father has been abundantly proven by the 
efiicient way in which he has managed the parental 
estate and carried on the work since 1885, when, 
fresh from school, he was summoned by sickness 
and death in his household, to the larger school 
of life. His elementary education was obtained 
from teachers provided by his father in the days 
when there w'ere no public schools in Skagit coun- 
ty; later training was had in the territorial uni- 
versity, his father moving to Seattle temporarily 
that the benefits of that institution might be en- 
joyed. After leaving the Seattle institution he went 
to Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania, and entered the 
high school from which he was graduated. This 
was followed by a course in the Eastman Bvisiness 
College at Poughkeepsie, New York, where he fin- 
ished his studies in 1884. He was spending a few 
months near the old parental home in Pennsyl- 
vania when the summons came, calling him to 
California whither his father had gone in search 
of health. While the elder Conner lingered, the 
son was employed as assistant cashier in a large 
bakery; but when the father had passed away, the 
family returned to the North and Herbert became 
manager of the property interests. A year after- 
ward they took up their residence at Clover Lawn, 
one of the most beautiful and well known of Skag- 
it county homes. Possessed of exceptional execu- 
tive ability Mr. Conner has achieved an industrial 
success of which any man might be proud. Nor 
has his whole time been given to the acquisition 
and improvement of real estate. On the contrary 
he is unusually public spirited, accepting cheerfully, 
for the good of the cause, such unremunerative 
offices as school director and city councilman, and 
always discharging the duties attaching to these 
places with exceptional ability and faithfulness. 
In 1894 he was called upon to represent his district 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



in the state legislature, which he was able to do 
most efficiently because of his intimate knowledge 
of the needs of his constituency. In 1900 he was 
a delegate to the national Republican convention 
which placed in nomination jMcKinley and Roose- 
velt. 

In August, 1S98, ]\Ir. Conner married Miss 
Alma I. Grunkranz, whose father, John Grunkranz, 
lived for a time in Nebraska and later was well 
known over the state of Washington as a Seattle 
banker; his widow, nee Zingre, still resides in Seat- 
tle. Mrs. Conner was born in Fremont, Nebraska ; 
she was educated in the schools of that state and 
in the Academy of the Holy Name, at Seattle, be- 
ing graduated from the latter institution. Mr. and 
Mrs. Connor have two children. 



RICHARD H. BALL is one of the men who 
thoroughly believes in Skagit county, and the suc- 
cess which he has achieved since he settled in that 
county in 1876, certainly justifies that opinion. 
Mr. Ball was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, of 
English ancestry. His father, Samuel Ball, who 
came to the United States in 1820, first located in 
Cincinnati, but later moved to Harrison, Hamilton 
county. His wife, Mary (Wyatt) Ball, was also 
of English birth. She became the mother of nine 
children of which Richard is the youngest. In the 
stirring days before the Civil War, young Ball had 
few opportunities to go to school. However, he 
had thoroughly mastered the trade of carpenter 
under his father's directions, when, at the age of 
eighteen he responded to the call of his country, 
enlisting in Company D of the Eighty-third Ohio 
Volunteer Infantry, then rendezvoused at Camp 
Dennison. During General Grant's operations in 
penning up Pemberton in Vicksburg, young Ball 
was severely wounded on May 23, 1863, and was 
taken to the Washington hospital in Memphis, 
Tennessee, where he was confined for a number 
of weeks. When in condition for duty, he prompt- 
ly rejoined his command in the field and contmued 
in active service until mustered out at Galveston, 
Texas, with the chevrons of a sergeant. Fully re- 
alizing his educational deficiencies, this war vet- 
eran, upon his return home, entered the high school 
at Manchester, Indiana, diligently applying himself 
to his studies while he remained there. He later 
went to Harrison, Ohio, where he resumed his 
trade of carpenter which he followed until 187G. 
At this time, he was taken with the Western fever, 
and turned his face toward the territory of Wash- 
ington. He came direct to the town of La Conner, 
where he landed in August with three dollars, three 
children and a wife. The following spring he filed 
on a pre-emption claim to forty acres and a home- 
stead of one hundred and twenty acres on the tide 
lands. This had to be diked, and he begun work 



on it as soon as he was able, working little by 
little until in 1880 he had fifty acres protected 
from the water. For nine years he had to use a 
boat to get to and from his land, but perseverance 
and hard labor at last met their reward and he was 
able to devote his time and attention entirely to his 
place, with the satisfying feeling that his labor had 
been well spent. With the exception of the winter of 
1897-8, which he spent in Alaska, Mr. Ball, since his 
first arrival in Skagit county, has resided upon his 
ranch or in the town of La Conner. 

In 1866 at Harrison, Ohio, Mr. Ball married 
Miss Amanda Horney, daughter of Perry Horney, 
a native of Tennessee, who for a portion of his life 
was a painter and farmer in the state of Indiana. 
Mrs. Ball was born in Nashville, Tennessee, receiv- 
ing her education there and in Indiana. She and 
Mr. Ball are the parents of six children, of whom 
only two survive : Mrs. Hattie A. Dunlap of Mount 
Vernon, and Samuel Ball. Mr. Ball is a member 
of the Grand Army of the Republic and of the In- 
dependent Order of Odd Fellows, in the latter of 
which he is especially prominent, being past grand 
and the oldest member of his home lodge. Mrs. 
Ball is a member of the Methodist church, in which 
she has held the office of president of the ladies' 
aid society for many years. Always an active Re- 
publican, Mr. Ball has for years served his party 
with faithfulness and zeal either as chairman or 
member of the county central committee, which lat- 
ter position he now holds. Mr. Ball has added to 
that original three dollars with which he landed in 
Skagit county, until he now has three hundred and 
twenty acres of the rich lands of Swinomish flats 
under cultivation and growing good crops, a tim- 
ber claim in Oregon, a herd of Durham cattle, a 
band of good horses and other personal property. 
His record is certainly one of which he may well 
be proud. Like all the pioneers of the flats, he has 
had difficulties to contend with which would have 
overwhelmed less resolute men, but Skagit, county 
has its rewards for the vigilant and the brave, and 
Mr. Ball is now enjoying those rewards. The same 
qualities which made him a worthy wearer of the 
blue, has enabled him to win in the stern battles of 
later life. He has the respect and confidence of his 
fellow-citizens, who have attested their faith by 
electing him mavor of La Conner. 



HON. WILLIAAI E. SCHRICKER. If dUi- 
gence and ability in private business, a deep, public- 
spirited interest in the welfare of the community 
and faithfulness in the discharge of the duties of 
responsible offices of trust entitle a man to be ranked 
as a leader in his section of the state, then certainly 
William E. Schricker is entitled to such a rank. In 
the state legislature, in the courts of the county, in 
banking and business circles generally and even in 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



the administration of the -local municipal govern- 
ment and the local schools his influence has been 
felt and everywhere it has-been on the side of pro- 
gressiveness and efficiency. His town, county and 
state are certainly all indebted to him and there is 
evidence that, in part at least, they realize and ac- 
knowledge the obligation. 

Like thousands of others who have been forceful 
in the life of American communities, Air. Schricker 
comes of sturdy German stock, his parents. Lorenzo 
and Mary ( Ilansen ) Schricker. being both natives 
of Germany. They came to America early in life 
and from 1841 to 1851 the elder Mr. Schricker was 
engaged in the mercantile business in Iowa, but at 
the end of that extended period he turned his atten- 
tion to the lumber business, organizing the Missis- 
sippi Logging and Lumber Company in 1871. 

William E. Schricker, of this article, was born 
at Davenport, Iowa, in 1863. He received his early 
education in the public schools of his native town, 
spent three years at the Iowa Agricultural College, 
and then entered the Iowa State University, from 
which he was graduated in 1883. Being ambitious 
for a still higher education he then took a post- 
graduate course in the celebrated Columbia College 
of New York, also studying law. As soon as he had 
gained admission to the bar he determined to seek 
his fortune in the West, and the year 188.3 found 
him in Seattle, where he and I. W. Adams together 
opened an office. Next year he removed to La Con- 
ner and established himself in the practice of his 
profession there, also as a negotiator of loans. Ky 
fall he had become interested in a general banking 
business and two years later, he took in L. L. An- 
drews as a partner in the Skagit County bank 
(which he had previously organized and named), 
an institution which has continued in active opera- 
tion ever since, holding rank among the solid mone- 
tary concerns of the state. But Mr. Schricker never 
abandoned the practice of his profession. On the 
contrary he has pursued it with great diligence and 
success, building up a very large business, especially 
in probate matters, of which lie makes a specialty. 
As heretofore intimated, he has taken much time 
from his dual occupation to devote to public inter- 
ests. He was elected on the Democratic ticket to 
membership in the second state legislature, and so 
satisfactory was his service that he was ofifered the 
nomination for a second term, but pressure of pri- 
vate business forced him to decline. For fifteen years 
he has been a member of the La Conner city coun- 
cil, but perhaps his most valuable services to the 
community are those which he has rendered to the 
cause of public education. A firm believer in the 
necessity of thorough training for the young, he has 
devoted himself with assiduity and zeal to the im- 
provement of the local schools, and the efficiency of 
the La Conner educational system is due to his ef- 
forts more perhaps than to those of any other one 



man. He has been a member of the school board 
for fifteen years and is now chairman of that body, 
also president of the high school governing board, 
and until very recently he was president of the 
board of regents of the State University, hence was 
connected with the educational system of Washing- 
ton from bottom to top. 

In 1884 Mr. Schricker married at Waverly, 
Iowa, Miss Josephine, daughter of Nathan and 
Sarah Beals. She was a native of Iowa, a graduate 
of Cornell College, located in that state, and by pro- 
fession a teacher. She died in 1897, leaving two 
children, Florence H., now attending school in 
Massachusetts, and Ottilie lona, a student in the La 
Conner high school. In 1900 Mr. Schricker was 
again married, the lady being Miss Adah Theresa, 
daughter of Edgar A. Wright, of San Diego, Cali- 
fornia. Born in Missouri, she was reared and edu- 
cated there and she belonged to the teaching force 
of that state until a short time before her marriage. 
In fraternal affiliation Mr. Schricker is a Mason and 
in politics an active Republican. Being a diligent 
and successful man, he has naturally accumulated a 
goodly share of worldly wealth, his holdings includ- 
ing not a little realty in Skagit county and valuable 
interest in Pennsvlvania coal land. 



HONORABLE LAURIN L. ANDREWS, 
banker of La Conner and one of the oldest residents 
of Skagit county, has spent nearly all of his life in 
the basin of the sound and has won recognition as 
one of the eminent citizens of the northwestern sec- 
tion of the state. He was born in the famous old 
town of Bucksport, Maine, on the fifth day of Janu- 
ary, 1849. His father, Peter Andrews, was a native 
of Quebec, but when a young man crossed the line 
into Maine, where he remained for a few years fol- 
lowing lumbering and farming. In the year of 1858 
he came to Washington via the Panama route, stop- 
ping first at Seattle, then a mere trading post. He 
shortly afterward took up a claim on Cedar river, 
opposite the present site of Renton, on which he 
proved up and later sold, moving to the mouth of 
Black river where he continued to live for several 
years. Returning to Seattle in 1880 he continued to 
make that place his home until his death in 1885. 
Mrs. Mary (Carr) Andrews, mother of our subject, 
was a native of Maine. She was the mother of five 
children, of whom only Laurin L. is now living. It 
was in Seattle that young Andrews gained his edu- 
cation, first in the public school and later in the Ter- 
ritorial university. At the age of nineteen he se- 
cured the position of clerk in a general merchandise 
store in Seattle. Having secured an insight into 
the mercantile business, he severed his connection 
with this firm at the end of a year and a half and 
established a store on the Tulalip Indian reservation 
in Snohomish county. Selling out this business at 



650 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



the end of the first year, he opened a general mer- 
chandise store on the Swinomish reservation at a 
point immediately opposite La Conner, which busi- 
ness he successfully conducted for five years, at the 
end of which time, 1876, he crossed over to La Con- 
ner. Here he built up a lucrative business which he 
continued for ten years. In 1888 he became inter- 
ested in the Skagit County bank with W. E. 
Schricker. This was the first and only bank estab- 
lished in the town of La Conner, and it still bears 
the original name with which it was christened, 
having, under the guiding hand of its capable head, 
passed safely through the many vicissitudes common 
to such institutions in pioneer communities, together 
with the great financial crisis of the early nineties, 
and to-day stands recognized as one of the solidest 
banking institutions in the upper sound country, a 
veritable monument to the sagacity, wisdom and 
business ability of its founders and managers. 

In the latter part of 1875, in Whatcom county, 
Mr. Andrews and Miss Sarah E. Allen were united 
in marriage. Mrs. Andrews' father, George W. L. 
Allen, was a farmer in Virginia in early life, but 
desiring to seek a new home in the undeveloped sec- 
tion, he, with other bold and fearless pioneers, 
crossed the plains in 1852 and took up his home 
among the very first on Whidby island. He later 
came to the mainland and took up a pre-emption ten 
miles north of La Conner. Airs. Hattie (Packwood) 
Allen, mother of Mrs. Andrews, was born in Mis- 
souri and is still living, at present making her home 
in Tacoma. Mrs. Andrews was born at Oak Har- 
bor, Whidby island, in 1856. She received her edu- 
cation in the schools of Coupeville and in the high 
school at Seattle. Three children of Mr. and Mrs. 
Andrews are living, namely: George L., born in 
1876, now a grain buyer at La Conner, represent- 
ing Seattle and San Francisco mills ; Mary L., born 
in 1878, living at home, and Mrs. Ada B. Nicholas 
at La Conner, where her husband is principal of the 
public schools. Religiously Mr. and Mrs. Andrews 
are Episcopalians, while fraternally he is connected 
with the Masons, Odd Fellows and Ancient Order 
of United Workmen, and has the distinction of hav- 
ing occupied high official positions in each of those 
orders. Mr. Andrews has been a lifelong and ac- 
tive Republican, and participates with zeal in the 
conventions and coimcils of his party. In 1877 he 
was called to serve for two years in the territorial 
legislature, during which time he was instrumental 
in passing the measure which established the first 
court in Whatcom county. He has also served one 
term, 1887-8, as sheriff of the county and four years 
as member of the board of county commissioners. 
Honest and upright in business, faithful and effi- 
cient in his services as legislator and county official, 
a leader in organizations of a benevolent and fra- 
ternal character, ever public spirited, and withal a 
man of affable and social qualities, Mr. Andrews de- 



servedly ranks among the foremost of Skagit coun- 
ty's distinguished citizens. 



CHARLES E. CACHES is connected with one 
of the pioneer mercantile establishments of the 
county and by his successful management of the 
business has earned for himself the reputation of 
being one of the brightest young business men of 
Skagit county. He was born at La Conner in No- 
vember, 1882. His father, James Caches, the 
founder of the business, is a native of England, who, 
when fourteen years of age, left home and went to 
Australia. He obtained employment on a cattle 
ranch and during the last nine years of his stay in 
that country was manager of the largest cattle 
ranch in Australia. In 1869 the elder Caches came 
to San Francisco and two years later located at La 
Conner, where in 1873 he opened a general store 
and soon built up a large business, which is now 
partly under the management of his son. Just at 
present Mr. Caches is visiting his old home in Eng- 
land. Mrs. Rhoda (Francis) Caches, mother of 
Charles, came from England when a young 
woman and was married at La Conner in 1877. 
Charles E. Caches received his early education in 
the common schools of La Conner and later grad- 
uated from the State University at Seattle, continu- 
ing for a year after graduation as instructor in civil 
engineering. In the summer of 1902 he went to 
Korea and China to examine a mining property and 
make report to the owners. On his return he con- 
nected himself with his father in business and is now 
in the management of the same. The Caches fam- 
ily is one of the best known and most highly cul- 
tured families in Skagit county. Samuel F. Caches, 
brother of Charles, is a graduate of Leland Stan- 
ford, Jr., University and from 1900 to 1904 was in 
the government postal service. Another brother, 
George H. Caches, is manager of the Seattle-What- 
com Transportation Company, with offices at La 
Conner. He is a graduate of the State LTniversity 
and served with the First Washington Volunteers 
in the Philippine war. The sister, Mrs. Eva Rich- 
ardson, lives in Oakland. California, where her hus- 
band is connected with the Japanese consulate. Mrs. 
Richardson is a graduate of the Boston Conserva- 
tory of Music. The Caches family is Republican in 
politics and Baptist in church affiliation. Aside from 
their interests in the store and the transportation 
company they own a fine tract of one hundred and 
sixty acres of land, all under cultivation. The en- 
tire family is one which enjoys and merits the es- 
teem and confidence of the business community of 
Skagit county. 



EDWARD BRISTOW, the efficient sub-agent 
in charge of the Swinomish Indian reservation, is a 





a^ 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



man of varied career and experiences and of many 
accomplishments. A veteran of the Civil War, he 
is also a veteran of the Indian service. He was 
born in Polk County, Missouri, in 18-i4, the son of 
Edward Bristow, a Pennsylvania farmer who moved 
to Missouri in 1833, and served in a regiment 
which drove the Indians from that territory for the 
settlers. His wife, Mrs. Sarah (Ashenhurst) Bris- 
tow, was a native of Kentucky, of Irish descent. She 
died in Missouri, the mother of eleven children, of 
whom Edward is the youngest. Facilities for edu- 
cation were not common in the days when Edward 
Bristow was young and much of his education was 
acquired in the stern school of experience and by 
observation and reading. At the age of eighteen he 
enlisted in a short-term regiment, but at the close of 
the period of enlistment went into Company M of 
the Eighth Missouri Cavalry and served through 
the war, being mustered out with the chevrons of a 
sergeant. Young Bristow was in the battle of Prai- 
rie Grove and numerous cavalry engagements about 
Little Rock, Arkansas. At the battle of Miller's 
Lane. White river, Arkansas, his brother was fatally 
wounded by his side ; and here, as at Ashley Station, 
where his own horse was killed under him, he es- 
caped unwounded, like fortune attending him to the 
close of the war. Returning home from the serv- 
ice, ^Ir. Bristow taught school for one year and 
for the following two years acted as constable. Still 
later he served as deputy sheriff. In 1872 Mr. Bris- 
tow went to California and entered the government 
Indian service as assistant blacksmith at the Tule 
River reservation. Nine months later he was pro- 
moted to be head farmer on the same reservation. 
In 1880 he resigned and moved to Umatilla County, 
Oregon, where for a decade he engaged in farm- 
ing. On selling out in Oregon, he came to Snoho- 
mish county and took charge of a lumber yard. In 
1891 Mr. Bristow again entered the Indian service, 
taking charge of the Swinomish reservation. Pie 
left the service again in 1899, but a year later re- 
turned and was sent to the Lummi reservation 
for two years and then transferred to his 
original post in the Indian service, which he 
still holds. 

In 1867 in Cedar County, Missouri, Mr. Bris- 
tow married Miss Martha Samsel, daughter of Jo- 
seph and Ellen (Wilson) Samsel, natives of Ten- 
nessee, who went to Missouri, soon after their 
daughter was born. Four children have been born 
to Mr. and I\Irs. Bristow of whom but one is living, 
Mrs. Stella Osberg of La Conner. In politics Mr. 
Bristow is a Republican. He is a member of the 
Grand Army of the Republic and of the Good 
Templars. The family are Methodists. Mr. Bris- 
tow is the owner of a two-acre plat in La Conner 
and also of a house and lot. He makes his home 
on the reservation and is one of the efficient em- 
ployees of the government's Indian service. 



W. AXEL CARLSON of La Conner is a stock- 
holder in the Mail Publishing Company, owner of 
the Puget Sound I\Iail, La Conner's representative 
in the newspaper world of the Northwest, and is in 
charge of the mechanical department. He is a news- 
paper man of experience, having known all the 
changeful incidents of a country newspaper man's 
life from printer's devil to editor. 

Air. Carlson was born in 1875, on a farm near 
the town of Olsburg, Kansas, the fourth of six chil- 
dren, his parents being John A. and Charlotte 
(Daniels) Carlson. The father is a native of Swe- 
den, who came to America thirty years ago, settling 
ultimately upon the farm where the subject of this 
sketch was born. Mrs. Carlson was born and mar- 
ried in Sweden, accompanying her husband to this 
country. Of their six children, but one, Hilda, the 
youngest, is dead. The children living, aside from 
W. Axel, are: John, living in Alberta, Canada; 
Augustus, Fred and Anna, all of whom make their 
home in Marysville, Snohomish county. 

W. Axel Carlson after spending his early years 
upon his father's farm, and attending the common 
schools, entered the office of the Olsburg News-Let- 
ter as printer's apprentice. He remained there for 
several years, steadily advancing as he gained ex- 
perience in the business until he became editor and 
owner. After making the paper one of the best in 
Pottowatomie county, he sold out, moving to Skagit 
county and farming near La Conner for two years. 
But Mr. Carlson has not lost interest in newspaper 
work. He returned to Kansas and became a part- 
ner in the firm which published the Enterprise at 
Randolph. In 1898 he came once more to Skagit 
county and worked with the News-Herald at Mount 
Vernon for three years. During the last year of 
that period, with a partner, A. L. Sebring, he pub- 
lished the paper under a lease. 

In May, 1901, Mr. Carlson moved to La Con- 
ner and bought the interest of A. J. Morrow in the 
Puget Sound Mail, which he holds at the present 
time, F. L. Carter being his partner. A sketch of 
the Mail appears elsewhere in this volume. 

Mr. Carlson is popular and highly respected in 
his community, a man of probity of character and 
of intellectual attainments. He is a member of the 
Woodmen of the World, the Modern Woodmen of 
America and the Good Templars, and is affiliated 
with the Methodist church. He is a believer in the 
principles of Republicanism and is active in the local 
councils of his party. 



FRED LEROY CARTER has been for eight- 
een years editor and proprietor of the Puget Sound 
Mail of La Conner, and during that time he has 
built up the circulation and established the paper on 
a substantial footing. Mr. Carter was born in Dav- 
enport, Iowa, in 1864, the son of Dr. George W. 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



Carter, who came to this country from England 
when a lad of nine years and settled in Genesee 
County, New York. Dr. Carter was graduated at 
the head of the class of 1853 in the University of 
Michigan at Ann Arbor. He went to Iowa to prac- 
tice and followed his profession at Davenport until 
1868, when he removed to Marshalltown. After 
twenty-five years of practice there he retired and is 
now living at Geneva, Ohio. Mrs. Cordelia (Parks) 
Carter, mother of Fred L., was a native of 
Genesee County, New York. She died in Iowa in 
March of 1886, leaving one child, the subject of this 
sketch. Editor Carter was educated in Marshall- 
town, Iowa, graduating from the high school. He 
was a member of the baseball and football teams of 
that institution, both of which were strong in those 
days. In 1881 Mr. Carter took up newspaper work, 
serving a year and a half on the Times-Republican. 
He came West at the end of that period on account 
of his failing health and passed several months at 
La Conner. Returning eventually to his old home, 
he worked on various papers at Marshalltown for 
two years. He then came again to La Conner and 
in 1887 in conjunction with June Henderson 
bought the Puget Sound Mail, which was at that 
time being run by Henry McBride and R. O. Welts, 
the former of whom later became governor of 
Washington. Mr. Carter has been editor of the 
paper continuously since. 

In Marshalltown, in August, 1888, Mr. Carter 
married Miss Georgia E. Hughes, daughter of 
Charles Hughes, who was a native of Maryland and 
a prominent mathematical authority in his day. He 
lived until 1903. Mrs. Carter's mother, Mrs. Lydia 
(Nichols) Hughes, was born in Virginia in 1828 
and passed away in La Conner in 1889. Mrs. Car- 
ter was born in West Liberty, Iowa, in 1870, re- 
ceived her education in the schools of Marshall- 
town, Iowa, and taught until her marriage. Mr. 
and Mrs. Carter have had two children: Leona M., 
who died of diphtheria in 1899, at the age of ten 
years, and Nellie C, born in La Conner on October 
1, 1892. Mr. Carter is a member of Camp 449, 
Woodmen of the World, one of the strongest 
lodges in La Conner, also belongs to the Baptist 
church, of which he is clerk at present. During his 
long career as a newspaper man in Skagit county 
Mr. Carter has always held a position in the fore- 
front of the profession. Possessed of the public 
spirit so characteristic of the journalist, he has ever 
watched with a vigilant eye the interests of his com- 
munity and state, and his influence has always been 
for progressiveness along every line. 



JOHN MELKILD, general merchant and post- 
master of Conway, came to Skagit county direct 
from his native Norway in the year 1889, and has 
since made his home in the valley. Mr. Melkild 



was born July 3, 1869, the son of Lars Melkild, whO' 
still lives on the old family farm in Norway. The 
mother is Ildre (Apdal) Melkild, who is also yet 
living in her native land. She is the mother of four 
children, of whom John is the only one in the United 
States. Until he was fifteen years of age young 
Melkild took advantage of the offerings of school 
and was in regular attendance. After that age he 
was able to pursue his education only for two or 
three months in the winter season, working on the 
home farm during the intervals. In 1889 he de- 
cided to come to the United States and suiting his- 
action to his decision in that year settled in Skagit 
county. One year followed of work on farms. Then 
he entered upon a general contracting business, and 
during the decade in which he bent his efforts in 
that direction built dikes, dug ditches and engaged 
in matters of public improvement. In 1900 he re- 
linquished the contracting work and entered a store- 
at Fir as clerk, relinquishing this position after two- 
years of experience and purchasing the store and 
stock of F. C. Anderson at Conway. He has refitted 
and enlarged the place, and is now conducting one 
of the best and largest country store enterprises in- 
the countv. 

In May of 1902 Mr. Melkild married Miss Alice 
Anderson, daughter of Magnus Anderson, one of 
the original pioneers of the Skagit valley, who is 
still living. She has one brother and three sisters: 
Frank C. Anderson, Mrs. Mamie Hammock, Mrs. 
Martha Abrams and Miss Mabel Anderson. ln> 
politics, Mr. Melkild is an independent Democrat, 
bound by no party lines. His property interests are 
for the most part included in his store property at 
Conway and some real estate in that town. It is- 
worthy of note that Mr. Melkild, after reaching the 
age of manhood and after getting well into the re- 
sponsibilties of business life, in 1897 entered the 
Lutheran University at Tacoma, appreciating the 
superior advantages that would accrue from a bet- 
ter education than he had been able to acquire in- 
youth. This incident of itself is indicative of the 
thoroughness, the progressiveness and the ideals of 
the man. 



GUST PEARSON is one of the younger mer- 
chants of La Conner who is earning deservedly a 
reputation for business abilty and fair dealing to- 
which is added not only enterprise but also thor- 
ough knowledge of conditions. Mr. Pearson was- 
born in Sweden late in the year 1869, the son of a- 
farmer of that country. The mother, Elna (Ander- 
son) Anderson, is still living in the old country, the- 
mother of six children, of whom Gust is fifth in- 
order of birth. Mr. Pearson obtained his education- 
in his native land and remained at home with his 
parents until he was twenty years of age. In 1883' 
he came to the United States seeking better oppor- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



tunities than were offered in the old home and 
crossed the continent at once to La Conner. The 
first nine years of his Hfe in this country were spent 
as a laborer, during which time he was industrious 
and frugal. In 1898 m company with N. A. Nelson 
he decided to embark in the grocery business in La 
Conner, buying the store property. Patronage was 
attracted to the new store and the young men stead- 
ily continued to prosper until 1904 when they were 
in a position to enter their new building and the 
firm is now enjoying one of the best trades in gro- 
ceries in the town of La Conner. 

In 1900 at La Conner Mr. Pearson married Miss 
Ida Martin, daughter of Martin Martin, a Swedish 
farmer, who is still a resident of the old country. 
She came to this country to visit a sister, Mrs. P. 
E. Johnson, met Mr. Pearson and eventually mar- 
ried him. Mrs. Pearson was born in Sweden in 
1873 and received her education in the schools of 
that country. In politics Mr. Pearson is a Republi- 
can. In fraternal circles, he is a member of the In- 
dependent Order of Odd Fellows, being a past 
grand, and his wife a member of the Rebekahs. The 
Pearsons are members of the Lutheran church. In 
the business community of La Conner Mr. Pearson 
is recognized as a pleasant, accommodating mer- 
chant and a young man of ability and sterling in- 
tegrity. 



NELS A. NELSON, a member of one of the 
active grocery firms of La Conner, and a man of 
energy and push, was born in the land of Sweden in 
1864, to the union of Nels and Mary (Johnson) 
Nelson, who passed their lives in the old country. 
They were the parents of nine children, of which 
the subject of this writing is the youngest. Young 
Nelson, in an educational way enjoyed advantages 
not always forthcoming to every boy brought up in 
a large family in the old country. After attending 
the common schools in his district he was privileged 
to take a course in college, thus equipping him the 
better to fight the battle of life. Upon completing 
his schooling he returned home for a time, later 
seeking and securing a position as clerk in a general 
merchandise store in Felipstad, which he continued 
to fill for five years. Ambitious to better his con- 
dition, and understanding the circumscribed con- 
ditions of the man who attempts to rise in the busi- 
ness circles of the old world, he determined to 
break loose from the old moorings, and try con- 
clusions with fortune under the less restricted con- 
ditions of the United States. He bought tickets for 
this country and came direct to La Conner, of which 
he had learned through friends. Life in the land 
of the free he found was not to be one continued 
round of pleasures, and good lucrative positions 
were not to be found every day, so he took up the 
most available job that came to his hand, which 



proved to be farming, and followed this life in- 
dustriously for six years. Of a frugal disposition 
he saved some money, and in 1898 he formed a 
partnership with Gust Pearson and engaged in the 
grocery business in the little city of La Conner, 
buying the building in which they put their stock. 
The effects of the five years' training in Sweden 
were not lost on Mr. Nelson, as is attested by the 
manner in which the business of the new firm has 
prospered. They are now doing a thriving busi- 
ness which is growing with each year, and they are 
domiciled in their own neat business house. 

In 1899, in La Conner, Mr. Nelson was joined 
in marriage with Miss Paulina Poison, daughter of 
Olaf Poison, who was a native of Sweden. He 
came to Skagit county in an early day, took up land 
adjoining Brown's slough, southeast of La Conner, 
and prospered from the very beginning. His large 
farm was put in a high state of cultivation and 
structural improvement, and was for years recog- 
nized as one of the finest places in Skagit county. 
Mr. Poison died in 1903. Gunhild Poison, mother 
of Mrs. Nelson, resides in La Conner. Mrs. Nel- 
son was born in the old country in 1865 and came 
to the United States with her parents when but 
two years of age. She received a good education, 
was granted a certificate and followed teaching for 
a time before her marriage. To Mr. and Mrs. Nel- 
son have been born two daughters, Esther in 1901, 
and Winifred in 1903. Politically Mr. Nelson is 
Republican. At the present time he is a member 
of the La Conner city council. In fraternal circles 
he is a member of the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen, while in church connections he is a 
Lutheran. While deeply interested in public mat- 
ters, Mr. Nelson finds little time to devote to affairs 
outside of his business and town interests and the 
demands of his home life. He is recognized as 
honorable and upright and ever ready to forward 
any enterprise for the general betterment of condi- 
tions in his community. 



OLOF J. WINGREN, a successful photogra- 
pher of La Conner, with a large and lucrative busi- 
ness, is a native of Sweden, born in 1871, the fourth 
of the six children of John and Petronella (Pear- 
son) Wingren, who lived on a farm in the old home 
land. Mr. Wingren remained with them until fif- 
teen, attending the local public schools, then started 
to learn the trade of a blacksmith, but he seemingly 
did not care for the handicraft, for two years later 
he left the man to whom he was apprenticed and 
set sail for the new world, the promised land of 
Europeans. During the ten months after his ar- 
rival in Uncle Sam's domain he worked in a tan- 
nery in Pennsylvania, then he came west, arriving 
at La Conner the year that Washington was admit- 
ted to statehood. The ensuing year was spent in 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



farm work, then two a half years were given to 
blacksmithing, then he opened a repair shop for 
guns, bicycles, etc., but though he remained in this 
line of work for seven years his heart was not fully 
in it, and not a little of his time and attention was 
given to the study of the art of photography in all 
its branches. Eventually he decided to give his 
whole time and attention to it, so he opened a gallery 
in La Conner and began building up the splendid, 
lucrative business he now enjoys. A great fond- 
ness for his art and untiring patience in mastering 
its details are the secrets of his success, good work 
and fair treatment bringing their reward in plenty 
of patronage. His property interests include, be- 
sides his gallery and business, a fine ten-room house 
and other La Conner real estate, and he is rich in 
the esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens, 
which is attested by the fact that he has been called 
to serve as councilman for the past two and a half 
years in the administration of the city's affairs. 

In La Conner in the year 1897, Mr. Wingren 
married Miss Lena Swanson, whose father, Bengt 
Swanson, is still living in Sweden, the land of his 
birth, but whose mother passed away when she was 
but two years old. Mrs. Wingren received her edu- 
cation in the Swedish schools, but early in life came 
to the United States. She died in La Conner in 
March, 1905, leaving one daughter, Linnea, born in 
April, 1898. In fraternal affiliation, Mr. Wingren 
is a Woodman of the World, in politics a Democrat, 
while his church membership is in the Lutheran de- 
nomination. 



HYMAN SCHEURKOGEL, one of the pio- 
neers who have seen the country changed from a 
tangled and almost impenetrable forest wilderness 
to a place of happy homes and well tilled, pro- 
ductive farms, and one who has contributed his full 
share toward this development, is a native of Hol- 
land, that land which has done so much to demon- 
strate the practicability of winning an empire from 
the sea, that land whose sons have many times 
proven their grit and courage and splendid mettle 
at home and abroad. He was born December 14, 
1846, the son of Abraham and Mary (Vancouver) 
Scheurkogel, who were farmers by occupation. Be- 
ing the oldest of six children he had to help, as soon 
as he was able, with the work on the home place, 
but his parents gave him opportunity to attend the 
local schools and he obtained a fair education. At 
the age of twenty-one he embarked for the Euro- 
pean's land of promise, and in due time settled in 
Pocahontas County, Iowa, where he farmed for the 
ensuing nine years. In 1877 he went to California, 
whence, a year later, he removed to Washington, 
landing at La Conner, August 30, 1878. Pursuing 
the same plan which many other Skagit county pio- 
neers have followed, he worked out among the 



farmers for a couple of years, learning the pecu- 
liarities of the country and how best to take advan- 
tage of them at the same time he was earning his 
wages. He then took up a pre-emption near Avon. 
For the next fifteen years he devoted himself assidu- 
ously to the cultivation and improvement of this 
farm, removing the timber from sixty acres of it. 
Only those who have a realizing sense of the den- 
sity of timber in western Washington can realize 
the magnitude of this task. In 1895 he sold all but 
twenty acres of his original claim and moved to 
La Conner, where he has since been living in par- 
tial retirement, at least from active participation in 
the farming industry. In addition to the twenty 
acres before mentioned he has some valuable realty 
holdings in the city of La Conner. 

In 1876, just before starting for California, Mr. 
Scheurkogel married ]\Iiss Sarah Slosson, a daugh- 
ter of Oscar and Julia (Tousley) Slosson, natives 
of Ohio, who in the later years of their lives moved 
to this count}', and who passed awav here May 6, 
1903, and O'ctober 10, 1904, respectively. Mrs. 
Scheurkogel was born in Iowa, February 16, 1859, 
and received a good education in the schools of that 
state, where also she taught one term, but her 
pedagogical career was cut short by an early mar- 
riage. She and Mr. Scheurkogel are the parents 
of one child, Mary E., born in Iowa in July, 1877, 
now Mrs. D. C. Hayward. The family adhere to 
the Baptist church, and in political faith Mr. Scheur- 
kogel is a Republican. He is one of the respected 
citizens of the county, held in high repute in each of 
the communities in which he has lived and wherever 
he is known. 



PETER WINGREN, machinist and proprietor 
of the electric light and power plant of La Conner, 
is one of the young men who are bringing things 
to pass for ihe betterment of their community and 
at the same time establishing themselves in lucra- 
tive business. Born December 27, 1866, in Sweden, 
the son of John Wingren, a farmer, Peter Wingren 
attended the schools of his native land until he was 
thirteen years of age. At that time he was appren- 
ticed to the trade of machinist and had mastered it 
at the end of five years. Aside from a natural 
adaptability for the construction of machinery, he 
has always been a student of all lines relating to his 
trade, whether directly or indirectly, and to those 
characteristics Mr. Wingren is indebted for the suc- 
cess he is making. He came to the United States 
in 1885 and first worked at Wilcox, Pennsylvania, 
as engineer in a factory. He remained there for 
four years and in 1889 came to Seattle, becoming 
assistant engineer on a steamboat. Early in the year 
1890 he came to La Conner and established a ma- 
chine shop. He noted that the town did not have 
electric lights and after canvassing the situation 





CL.ay^T~ 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



661 



believed that there was an opening for a plant. In 
1893 he was so situated as to embark upon the 
venture, starting in a very small way, running the 
plant in connection with his machine shop. Since 
that time the venture has grown to its present pro- 
portions of thirty-five arc and eight hundred incan- 
descent lights. The service is excellent and Mr. 
Wingren has incorporated into his plant all the new 
■devices and equipments which go with a complete 
electric lighting establishment. Since 1893 he has 
devoted the most of his attention to the electric 
light establishment, but he has not suffered his 
machine plant to lie idle and has steadily kept 
adding improved machinery until he is capable of 
handling any work demanded in the vicinity. In 
politics Mr. Wingren is a democrat. He is a mem- 
ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and 
is a past grand of La Conner lodge. The only 
relative Mr. Wingren has in this country is a 
brother, who is a photographer at La Conner. In 
Mr. Wingren the citizens of La Conner have one of 
the most enterprising of men, a thorough workman, 
a successful business man and one of whom the 
community has reason to be proud. 



ALVINZA G. TILLINGHAST. The pioneer 
in any industry, the experimenter along any useful 
line, the trail-blazer in any direction, the prover of 
a new adaptability in the local soil, the man who 
makes two blades of grass grow where one grew 
liefore, is certainly to be considered a benefactor 
and certainly deserves honorable mention in any 
work which concerns itself with local history. Such 
a man is A. G. Tillinghast. To him belongs the 
splendid distinction of having introduced into Ska- 
git county the valuable and growing seed-producing 
industry, of having proven to the world that the soil 
of the tide marsh flats is as superior in that as it is 
in the production of oats and of having won for 
liis locality a national reputation. All this was not 
accomplished without a long-continued' effort and 
the exercise of much skill, not alone in experiment- 
ing with the soil, but in introducing its products in 
the marts of the countr>'. That Mr. Tillinghast has 
succeeded is evidence irrefutable of his business 
ability and versatility. 

Our subject is a scion of an honorable and 
somewhat noted family, whose beginnings in Amer- 
ica were concomitant with the beginmngs of the 
Rhode Island settlement, the Tillinghasts coming 
over in 1643, and whose branches have established 
themselves not aJone in Little Rhody, but in New 
York and Pennsylvania, and now on the shores of 
the mighty Pacific. Mr. Tillinghast, of this article, 
sprung from the Pennsylvania branch, and his 
father, Stephen, is still resident of the Kevstone 
state. His mother, Tryphena (Capwell) Tilling- 
hast, who was a native of Rhode Island, but of 

35 



French extraction, passed away in 1901. It was in 
the public schools of Pennsylvania that Alvinza G. 
took his initial steps on the roa^ to learning, and 
being an ambitious youth, he did, not pause in the 
educational journey until he had taken a course in 
the old University of Lewisburg, later changed in 
name to Bucknell University, one of the leading in- 
stitutions of the Baptist denomination. For a year 
and a half after leaving school, he worked as clerk 
in a general store, which employment he finally for- 
sook to enlist in a LInited States militia regiment 
which had been mustered into service to repel an 
expected invasion of the state by the Confederates. 
This was in 1863. As soon as discharged he re- 
turned to the parental home and' for the eight years 
ensuing he worked on the farm. In 1872, however, 
he came to Padilla, Washington, took a pre-emp- 
tion claim, and, in company with E. A. Sisson and 
R. E. Whitney, secured five hundred acres of land, 
which the three together diked, drained and brought 
into a state of cultivation. After a half decade had 
been spent in raising oats on this extensive tract, Mr. 
Tillinghast decided to revisit his Pennsylvania home, 
and before he again set foot in the state of Wash- 
ington five years had rolled around. On his return 
to Padilla he engaged in good earnest in the seed 
business, with which he had experimented in a 
small way as early as 1873, raising some cabbage, 
carot, onion, radish and rutabaga seeds and dis- 
covering that they were of extra large size and 
great vitality. In 1883, he grew several acres of 
cabbage seed, establishing what are now widely 
known as the "Puget Sound Seed Gardens," and 
some three years later he issued his first retail cata- 
logue. He has since been engaged in developing 
and enlarging his industry and pushing his experi- 
ments in many directions and as already intimated 
the success which has attended his efforts has been 
most gratifying. In 1890 he moved his seed store 
to La Conner, where it has ever since been. The 
seasons of 1904 and 1905 each required two hun- 
dred acres of land for Mr. Tillinghast's seed grow- 
ing industry and twenty thousand catalogues are 
sent out annually to advertise the product, about a 
quarter of which bring back orders for shipments 
by mail. From one to three carloads are sent east 
each year and the writer has been informed that 
practically the entire supply of one variety of cab- 
bage seed for the whole United States comes from 
his gardens. 

In 1877, in the state of Pennsylvania, Mr. Til- 
linghast married Miss Emma, daughter of William 
and Alma (Potter) Bailey, both of whom died when 
Mrs. Tillinghast was quite young. She obtained a 
good education, then engaged in teaching, in which 
for five years she won marked success, being the 
holder of a splendid position in the Scranton high 
school at the time she decided to abandon her pro- 
fession. She and Mr. Tillinghast have one child. 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



Francis P., who graduated from, the La Conner 
high school in the class of 1905. The family are 
adherents of the Baptist faith, and Mr. Tillinghast 
is quite active in the local church, of which he is a 
deacon and trustee. In politics he is a Republican, 
taking a public spirited interest in affairs of local, 
state and national concern, but not ambitious for 
personal preferment. 



NEWTON G. TURNER, one of the men who 
as boys learned their trade at the carpenter's bench 
and have reached success in the kindred lines of 
contracting and milling, is one of the leading mem- 
bers of the La Conner Lumber Company, which 
does an extensive business every year. He came by 
his interest in the lumber business very naturally, 
for his father, John W. Turner, who is still living 
at the old home in New Brunswick, is a saw-mill 
man. His mother, Margaret (Glasgow) Turner, 
was a native of St. John, New Brunswick. She 
was the mother of five children, of whom George, 
born in 18G4, was the second youngest. Until he 
was sixteen years of age our subject remained at 
home, attending the local schools, but at that age, 
having learned much of the carpenter's trade, he set 
out for the United States to seek his fortune. When 
twenty, he was in Minnesota, working at the bench 
or in logging camps. Five years were passed in 
this way, then, in 1889, he came to Gray's Harbor, 
Washington, where for the ensuing four years he 
was engaged in carpenter work, real estate transac- 
tions and contracting. He then turned his atten- 
tion in the direction of the La Conner country, of 
which he had heard, and soon commenced opera- 
tions as a contractor there. Opportunity eventually 
presenting itself to go into a saw-mill venture, Mr. 
Turner allied himself with J. C. Foster and erected 
the mill which he now operates. It has a daily ca- 
pacity of 25.000 feet. In the three years of its 
operation it has been a success, yielding a profit to 
its owners and furnishing employment to a large 
number of men. 

In Victoria, British Columbia, in 1899, Mr. Tur- 
ner married Miss Cora Tingley, daughter of James 
and Mary (Peck) Tingley, who have been residents 
of Victoria for many years. Mrs. Turner is a na- 
tive of New Brunswick, but she received her edu- 
cation in the common and high schools of Victoria. 
She taught for several years before her marriage. 
Mr. and Mrs. Turner have three children, all born 
in La Conner: Victor in 1900, Gains in 1903 and 
Harold in 1904. In fraternal circles Mr. Turner is 
a Mason, in politics a Republican. A thorough 
mastery of the details of his business, gained by a 
lifetime of strict attention thereto, has enabled him 
to win an enviable success, especially since coming 
to La Conner, while integrity and fair dealing have 
gained him esteem as a citizen and member of the 
community. 



HON. JOHN P. McGLINN. Among the 
many sons of the Emerald Isle who have been force- 
ful factors in the development of Skagit county and 
the Northwest, or who have in some way rendered 
efficient service to some part of this new state, one 
of the most noted is John P. McGlinn, who has 
several times filled high positions of public trust 
with 'unusual fidelity and ability and who, as legis- 
lator, has the splendid distinction of having his name 
connected with some of the most statesmanlike 
measures that have ever found a place on the stat- 
utes of Washington. His parents, Patrick and 
Catherine (Guckien) McGlinn, immigrated to the 
United States in 1852, bringing with them a family 
of eight children, of whom our subj(.-ct was the sev- 
enth child. They settled first in Butler County, 
Ohio, and later in Indiana. Being but six years 
old when he landed in the United States, Mr. Mc- 
Glinn, of this article, received his educational train- 
ing here and became in all respects a r.ipresentative 
American. He graduated from the academy at 
Logansport, Indiana, at the age of nineteen, and 
thereafter for some years spent his winters in 
teaching and his summers at work on the farm. His 
residence in Washing-ton dates back to 1S;2, when 
he took up his abode in Olympia ; and when, a little 
l.;ter, he left that city, he did so to assume the 
duties of sub-Indian agent on the Lummi reserva- 
tion. He continued in that position, which also in- 
cluded charge of the Swinomish agency, for a num- 
ber of years, indeed until the beginning of the first 
Cleveland administration. In 1877 he established a 
hotel in La Conner, the second there, and the first 
in Washington which had no bar in connection. 
The McGlinn House, as it was called, was a popukir 
and widely famous hotel during all the twelve years 
of Mr. McGlinn's management of it. 

Appointed Indian agent in 1889, upon the elec- 
tion of Harrison to the presidency, he sold his hotel 
to Silas Galagher and went to Neah bay to assume 
charge of the Makaha reservation, taking his fam- 
ily with hin-.. He remained there until the re-elec- 
tion of Cleveland once more put him out of the 
public service. In 1893 he moved his family to 
Olympia. thinking to take advantage of the public 
schools there established, which were said to be the 
best in the st.-ile at that time, but the financial de- 
pression compelled him to move a year later, and 
he took up his abode on McGlinn island, near La 
Conner, where he remained continuously until 1897. 
He then purchased the two hotels of La Conner 
and, consolidated them under his own personal man- 
agement, and he has continued in charge of them 
to this day. 

Most noteworthy of Mr. McGlinn's public serv- 
ices were those which he rendered subsequent to 
his election to the Territorial Council in 1878. Dur- 
ing his term he drew up, introduced and defended 
with marked ability in a hot debate the celebrated 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Jabor lien bill, which finally commended itself 
to the good judgment of the law makers and found 
a place on the statute books of the state. He also 
introduced and carried through a measure provid- 
ing for the removal of the federal court from Pierce 
to Skagit county, thereby rendering an incalculable 
service to northwestern Washington, which service 
was so thoroughly appreciated by his constituents 
that they presented to him a handsome gold watch. 
In 1S88, he was again nominated for membership 
in the Territorial Council, but, popular though he 
was, he could not stem the Democratic tide which 
swept the territory that year, and James Hamilton 
Lewis, his opponent, was elected. He had, however, 
the very great satisfaction of having carried Ska- 
git and Snohomish counties, something that no other 
Republican on the ticket was able to do. 

On Christmas day, 1874, Mr. McGlinn married 
Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas and Barbara (Fox) 
Benn, natives of Ireland and Canada respectively. 
Her mother was, however, of Pennsylvania Dutch 
extraction. Her father forsook his fatherland for 
America when eleven years old and was a farmer 
and contractor in Canada and Missouri until 1874, 
when he came to Washington. Mrs. McGlinn was 
educated in the state of Missouri. She and Mr. 
McGlinn are parents of six children : Thaddeur., 
born in 187C, now living in Bellingham ; Leo Eu- 
gene, born in 18'i'!l, now living at La Conner; John 
G., born in 1881, clerk in the state penitentiary at 
Walla Walla; Robert E., in 1884, a graduate of the 
State University at Seattle, now professor of his- 
tory and mathematics in the Washington Academy 
in Spokane; Mary E., in 1886, and Winifred, in 
1889. In religious belief the family is Catholic, 
while in fraternal affiliations Mr. ]\lc(;iinn is a 
member of the United Workmen ; in politics he is 
a Republican. He is greatly interested in the pub- 
lic schools, to which he has given efficient service 
as a member of the local school board. He has prop- 
erty interests in Olympia, Anacortes, Whidby island, 
and he owns the whole of McGlinn island, near La 
Conner. So long has he been active in public life, 
coming in contact with men from all parts of the 
country, that he is unusually well posted on the his- 
tory, resources and prospects of the county of Ska- 
git in particular and the Northwest in general and 
it is always pleasant and profitable to converse with 
him about the interesting events and conditions of 
the days gone by. 

Before closing this sketch, a quotation from an 
article by Edmund S. Meany, Professor of Consti- 
tutional History in the University of Washington, 
published in the Post Intelligencer, October 8. 1905, 
in relation to the Swinomish Indians, their history, 
traditions, etc., is pertinent to our subject. In re- 
ferring to Mr. McGlinn, Professor Meany writes: 
"Mr. McGlinn is thoroughly acquainted with In- 
dian traits. He was in charge of the Swinomish 



reservation years ago, and at one time he was in 
charge of the Lummi reservation. During the ad- 
ministration of Benjamin Harrison he was Indian 
agent at Neah bay. While there he was required 
to visit the villages of Hoh, Quilayute and Ozette 
and to lay out small reservations for them. When 
Cleveland was elected to succeed Harrison, effort 
was promptly made to oust McGlinn that the office 
might be had for another. Daniel Dorchester, 
superintendent of the Indian schools, was sent to 
investigate the case. He made an extensive report, 
dated May 16, 1893, which concluded with the fol- 
lowing words: 'Finally, I believe I may say, after 
having visited forty-two Indian agents during the 
past four years, that Agent McGlinn impresses me 
as one of the best I have found. He is progressive, 
a firm administrator, a good economist, a thorough- 
ly honest man. This is the universal testimony in 
this region. He is a liberal Catholic religiously, 
unobtrusive officially and very exemplary in life. 
Individuals who have sometimes been restive under 
his authority, on frankly talking over differences,, 
have found him reasonable and conciliatory.' 

"Because of this splendid indorsement and be- 
cause of my own regard for the pioneer proprietor 
of Hotel McGlinn, at La Conner, I made it a special 
point to inquire about his work on those reserva- 
tions during my visits a dozen years later. In every 
instance I found his name and his work held in 
high esteem." 



SAMUEL CHAMBERS is one of the pioneer 
dairy !iien of Skagit county, having established him- 
self in 1SS9 near La Conner. By skilful manage- 
ment (if his work and careful attention to details of 
business Mr. Chambers was able to purchase a few 
years ago the farm on which he had made his repu- 
tation as a successful dairy man. He is a native of 
New York, born in 1843. His parents, Chester L. 
and Rhoda A. (Waterman) Chambers, lived in 
Broome county in that state until their deaths. Mr. 
Chambers is the next to the youngest of eight chil- 
dren. He received his schooling in the New York 
schools, and at twenty-one years of age was farm- 
ing on his own account. He came to Washington 
in 1888, reaching Seattle in April of that year. Re- 
maining there but a short time, he came to La Con- 
ner and worked at the trade of carpenter until ne 
leased a piece of ground and commenced his dairy 
business. By industry and fair dealing he built up 
a good business and in 1893 purchased the land he 
had been leasing for thirteen years. The place 
comprises seventy acres of excellent land, of which 
seven acres are in grass and six devoted to the busi- 
ness of raising cabbage seed. 

In 1867, while still a resident of the Empire state, 
Mr. Chambers married Miss Eliza J. Dwight. 
daughter of Roswell and Olive (Johnson) Dwight, 



«r64 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



both of whom were native New Yorkers. Mrs. 
Chambers was born in Tioga County, New York, 
and there educated. Eight children have been born 
of this union: WilHam Chambers; Mrs. Cora 
Summers, of Marvsville ; CHnton Chambers; Mrs. 
OUie McGhnn ; Rlioda ; Clarence ; Harley, and Mil- 
dred Chambers. Mrs. Chambers during her life 
was a member of the Methodist church. She died 
in 1903. Mr. Chambers has always been a Repub- 
lican in politics. The home place consists of 
seventy acres of carefully tilled land, a general 
farming business being pursued in addition to 
dairyirig and raising cabbage seed. The dairy at 
present comprises seventeen head of selected cows 
and is the chief department of the farm. Mr. 
Chambers is recognized as one of the sterling men 
of the community, a man of the best character and 
respected by all who know him. 



JOSEPH F. DWELLEY is one of the re- 
spected pioneers of Skagit county, having lived 
here since 1870, holding public office and enjoy- 
ing the respect of the people who came in to 
settle up and develop the coimtrv. Mr. Dwelley 
was born in Kittery, Maine, and so has crossed the 
continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. 
His father, George W. Dwelley, a descendant of 
the Dwelleys who came over in the Mayflower, 
was a ship carpenter of Marshfield, Massachusetts, 
who later settled in Wisconsin and died there. The 
mother was Narcissa Spinney, a native of Maine 
and the daughter of a privateer in the Revolution- 
ary War who lost his life at sea. He was from 
the north of Ireland, of Scotch descent. Mr. 
Dwelley received his education in the schools of 
Boston until the death of his mother, when, at 
twelve years of age, he was bound out to a shoe- 
maker. Two years later the lad ran away and 
commenced work in an iron foundry, remaining 
there until 1859, when he went to Calumet Coun- 
ty, Wisconsin, and followed farming and car- 
pentering. At the outbreak of the Civil War, Mr. 
Dwelley enlisted in the Fifth Wisconsin, being the 
first man to enroll from Calumet county. He 
served with the command until 1864, when, hav- 
ing been promoted to a lieutenancy, he resigned, 
returning to his home state with the object of ra.is- 
ing a company for the remainder of the war. Not 
meeting with success. Lieutenant Dwelley went to 
work on a farm and ultimately leased farms for 
operation. In February, 1870, he came to Wash- 
ington and Whidby island and worked at the trade 
of carpenter in the vicinity of Coupeville. Cross- 
ing to the mainland and the Skagit river valley, 
Mr. Dwelley filedi on a pre-emption claim, on a 
part of which the city of Mount Vernon now 
stands. By the year 1875 he had cleared much of 
his land and on selling it took up his residence 



in La Conner. At first he worked at his trade as 
carpenter, and then embarked in the furniture 
business, which he conducted until 1886 when he 
was appointed postmaster, holding that office for 
eight years. In 1876 he was appointed justice of 
the peace to fill an unexpired term and has filled 
that office ever since. Mr. Dwelley continued in 
active mercantile operations until several years ago, 
when he retired and began the work of building 
and operating boats. 

Mr. Dwelley, at Stockbridge, Calumet County, 
Wisconsin, in 1865, married Miss Angeline E. 
Wells, daughter of Alonzo and Martha (Bing- 
ham) Wells, natives of New York who had 
moved to the Badger state. Mr. Wells came to 
the Skagit country in 1871 and has been living 
at Coupeville for a number of years. Mrs. Wells 
is still living. Mrs. Dwelley was a native of New 
York, but received her education in Wisconsin. 
She is a pioneer school teacher in Skagit county, 
having taught the first school at La Conner in 1876, 
which was established by subscription. Three chil- 
dren of Mr. and Mrs. Dwelley are living in Wash- 
ington : Mrs. Kate Maloy, born on the Skagit 
river in 1872, the second, white child native of that 
section of the country ; Charles L. Dwelley, a clerk 
in the hardware store of Mr. Hayton, at Mount 
Vernon, and Mrs. Edna M. Taggert, living in Bel- 
lingham, where her husband is city ticket agent for 
the Great Northern railway. Mr. Dwelley is one 
of the prominent members of the Grand Army of 
the Republic, a member of the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen and an Odd Fellow. In church 
affiliations he is a Presbyterian. In politics he has 
been a lifelong Republican. He has been a con- 
stant friend of every movement which had as its 
object the upbuilding and betterment of the schools, 
and to his efforts is due much of the development of 
the La Conner schools from the day when Mrs. 
Dwelley inaugurated the first, school down to the 
present time. Mr. Dwelley is held in the highest 
esteem of his fellow townsmen, an honorable man, 
full of good deeds and interested in every good 
work. 



GEORGE N. SHUMWAY, until recently a 
prosperous farmer of Belfast, Washington, was 
born in Belchertown, Massachusetts, October 13, 
1841, where his forefathers had lived for about a 
hundred years, the son of John R. and Mary (Hol- 
land) Shumway. The father, of French Huguenot 
descent, was born in Massachusetts in 1833. and 
died at the age of fifty-eight. The mother, also a 
native of Massachusetts, was of English extraction, 
and was proud to recall the fact that her parents 
were pioneers in the state of her birth. The oldest 
of nine children, Mr. Shismway grew to the age of 
twenty on his father's farm, there laying the fou!i- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



665 



dation for a sturdy manhood, and receiving his edu- 
cation in the common schools of the state. In re- 
sponse to the call for volunteers at the outbreak of 
the Civil War, he enlisted in Company H, Forty- 
Sixth Massachusetts Infantrj-, in which he served 
one year. After a year spent at home, he went to 
Illinois and thence to Michigan, where he worked 
three years in a saw-mill. The longing to revisit 
his native state caused him to return, and the next 
twelve years were spent there operating a pitchfork 
and garden tool factory of his own. But the West 
promised greater advantages, so in 1881 he came, 
first to Oregon, then to Washington, working at 
various occupations for the first year, at the end 
of which time he took up his present property as a 
homestead claim. 

At Belchertown, Massachusetts, in 1881, Mr. 
Shumway and Mary M. Barrett were married. Mrs. 
Shumway was born in Massachusetts, October 5, 
1844, the daughter of Silas and Hannah (Pomeroy) 
Barrett, both natives of that state, in which the 
mother also died. Mr. Barrett, a blacksmith by 
trade, came west with his daughter in 1882, and 
continued to reside here until his death in 1890. His 
ancestors were pioneers of Hinsdale, Massachusetts, 
coming during the era of Indian wars. Mr. Shum- 
way is a Mason and a member of the Grand .\rmy. 
He belongs to the Congregational church, while his 
wife adheres to the Methodist faith. By dint of 
hard work he converted his fann, which was orig- 
inally timbered heavily, into a comfortable, home- 
like place, with forty-five acres in hay and much of 
the rest in shape to furnish pasture for his fine herd 
of Jersey cattle. But advancing age has made it 
impossible to give the place the attention it should 
have so he has recently sold out to good advantage 
and purchased a pleasant little place in Anacortes, 
where he expects to live in future. 



JOHN H. ROCK, of La Conner, is the pioneer 
harness maker of Skagit county and since 1889 he 
has established a most successful business and 
gained an enviable reputation for the quality of 
work turned out.. Mr. Rock was born in Pennsvl- 
vania in 1829, of Scotch parentage. His father was 
also a native of Pennsylvania and a potter by trade. 
Mrs. Rachel (Bard) Rock was the mother of twelve 
children of whom John was sixth in order of birth. 
Young Rock attended school up to the time he was 
eighteen years of age and had picked up a knowl- 
edge of the printer's art outside of school hours. 
But when it came to choosing his trade he selected 
that of harness maker. In 1856 he moved to Illi- 
nois and worked at his trade for sixteen years, going 
to Iowa in 1872 for a couple of years. He then 
returned to Illinois and ran a shop for six years. 
In 1882 he went to Dakota, took up a homestead 
and followed farming until in 1888 he came to 



Washington and settled in La Conner. He opened 
a small shop, enlarging as the growth of business 
warranted. This was the first harness shop in Ska- 
git county, and the present shop was erected in 
1902. 

In 1857, while a resident of Illinois, Mr. Rock 
married Miss Annie Miller, daughter of Jacob and 
Mary (Hoover) Miller, Pennsylvanians who had 
moved to Illinois. Mrs. Rock was born in the Key- 
stone state and received her education there. Of 
this union five children have been born. Mrs. Mary 
F. Irvin is living in Seattle, the wife of a success- 
ful painter; Harry W. Rock is a first-class harness 
maker, having learned the trade of his father ; Wil- 
liam L. Rock is also a finished harness maker, hav- 
ing been schooled in the trade at his father's bench; 
Mrs. Emma McDonald is living in Seattle, the wife 
of a fish market proprietor; Edwin M. died in early 
youth while his parents were in Illinois. In fra- 
ternal circles Mr. Rock is an Odd Fellow and in 
politics a Republican. During this time he has made 
investments in real estate and owns both residence 
and business property. He is well established in his 
own building with a growing business and a repu- 
tation in the community for honesty and upright- 
ness. 



CHARLES VALENTINE, painter and paper 
hanger of La Conner, is one of the successful young 
business men of western Skagit county, and is rec- 
ognized as one of the best artisans in his line. He 
is in reality a product of Skagit county, though 
born in Peru, Indiana. He w^as only twelve years 
of age when his father came to the sound country, 
and he has received his education and business train- 
ing here. His father, Samuel F. Valentine, living 
on a farm near La Conner, is a Virginian by birth. 
He followed the trade of tinsmith until he ventured 
into the hardware business here, which he con- 
tinued for some time. Selling out later, he has since 
followed his trade of tinsmith with the Poison 
Hardware Company of La Conner. Mrs. Emma 
(Holman) Valentine was a native of Indiana, the 
mother of two children of whom Charles is the 
younger. Our subject received the rudiments of 
his education before leaving Indiana and for six 
years after coming to Skagit county continued his 
studies. When eighteen years old he became ap- 
prenticed to the trade of painter and paper hanger 
and upon becoming master of the same, three years 
later, at -once took up his calling. He passed one 
year in the Port Blakely shipyards, but has since 
lived at La Conner. 

In 1899 Mr. Valentine married Miss Clara 
O'Loughlin, daughter of James O'Loughlin, who 
came to this country from Ireland when a lad, lived 
for a time in Michigan and came to Washington in 
1872. Mr. O'Loughlin has served as assessor of 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



this county and three terms as sheriff, being the 
first official in that capacity the county had. He is 
still living on Beaver marsh, near La Conner. Mrs. 
Adell (Huff) O'Loughlin is a native of Michigan, 
and is living in Skagit county. Mrs. Valentine was 
born near La Conner in 1879 and received her edu- 
cation in the home schools. To this union have been 
born four children, Charles T., Richmond E., Ivan 
J. and an infant, Lewis P. In politics Mr. Valen- 
tine is a Republican. He is a man of good educa- 
tion, upright and honest and respected in this com- 
munity. Mr. Valentine has a house and two lots in 
town. 



SAMUEL M. LOCKHART lives on a small 
ranch about three miles northeast of La Conner, 
having made his home there since coming to Wash- 
ington in 1887. He is the son of Thomas G. Lock 
hart, a native of Ohio, born in 1814, who settled in 
Cedar County, Iowa, in 1843. His claim there was 
jumped and he moved to Linn county, becoming 
the first settler in that section of the state. On this 
new place he lived until his death in 1891 at the 
advanced age of 78 years. He was of Scotch-Irish 
descent. Lettie (Osborn) Lockhart, his wife, was 
a native of Indiana. She was the mother of eleven 
children, of which Samuel was the fifth in order. 
Samuel M. Lockhart attended school in Iowa and 
when twenty years of age leased a farm for a term 
of five years. At the close of this period he went 
to California and passed six months, thereupon go- 
ing to Iowa and purchasing a small farm, where 
he resided until 1887. In that year he decided to 
come to Washington and having sold out in Iowa, 
moved to and settled on the La Conner flats, where 
he still owns five and one-third acres of land, in- 
cluding an orchard. Here he has made his home 
since becoming a citizen of Washington. 

Mr. Lockhart was married in Iowa in 1868 to 
Miss Mary M. West, daughter of John West and 
Sarah E. (Howe) West, natives of Ohio who 
moved to Iowa and closed their lives in that state. 
Mrs. Samuel M. Lockhart was born in Ohio but at 
the age of six years accompanied her parents to 
Iowa, where she received her education and was 
married at the age of seventeen years. Six children 
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lockhart — Thomas 
G., residing with his family in Skagit county ; Mrs. 
Winifred Dunlap, Roland and Alice, living, and 
Effie and Eugene who died when quite young. Mr. 
Lockhart is an active Democrat, taking a keen in- 
terest in the campaigns of his party and contribut- 
mg his share toward their success. 



PETER REGENVETTER, one of the men who 
have been forceful and efficient in the agricultural 
development of the La Conner country, is of the 



great multitude of the sons of Germany who, by 
the exercise of their characteristic industry, patience 
and sound judgment, have won success in the new 
world with its abundant opportunities for those with 
eyes to see them and courage to grasp and utilize 
them. A pioneer of Skagit county, he has wit- 
nessed its development from a time when civilization 
had made but slight inroads upon primeval condi- 
tions to the present day and he has the satisfaction 
of knowing that the transformations which have been 
wrought since then are in some measure the result 
of his own labor and planning. 

Mr. Regenvetter was born in Luxemburg, March 
28, 1847, the son of Peter and Alargaret^ (Wolf) 
Regenvetter, both of whom were likewise natives of 
the Fatherland. The former was a tailor by trade, 
but he gave much of his time and attention to agri- 
culture. Coming to America in 1872, he settled 
first in Minnesota, but after a half decade had been 
spent in that state he removed to Washington, where 
he spent the remainder of his days. He died in 
188.3. Our subject's mother passed away in Gilroy, 
California, in the year 1892. 

During the first thirteen years of his life, Mr. 
Regenvetter of this review remained at home with 
liis parents, attendin,;- Uie excellent public schools 
and acquiring a better cducaliun than could be had 
in the same length of time a'most anywhere else in 
the world. He then determined to add to his knowl- 
edge by travel, and the ensuing eight years were 
spent in journeying over the different countries of 
Europe, all of which were visited by him, though he 
passed more time in France than in any other one 
country, remaining in Paris for several months. On 
liis return to Germany he spent two years in the 
army. At the age of twenty-five he came to the 
United States, settling first in Nautria, Dakota 
county, Minnesota, where he farmed for three years, 
then, in 1875, he came to Whatcom, Washington. 
He moved to La Conner flats a little later, worked 
there for two years then spent two years farming 
on Whidby Island near Coupeville, after which he 
came again to the Swinomish country. This time 
he purchased forty acres of uncleared and undiked 
marsh land and began in great earnest the batde 
for a comfortable home, independence and a com- 
petency. He worked in season and out, diking, 
ditching, clearing and cultivating until he had this 
tract fully redeemed and yielding crops, then, am- 
bitious for new fields to conquer, he bought forty 
acres more adjoining which he treated in the same 
manner until it too had been brought to a high state 
of cultivation. He has added to his holdings from 
time to time since until he is now the owner of 
nearly two hundred acres of land, all in cultivation 
and all eqiial to the best in the county. The past 
season he raised fifty-five acres of oats which yielded 
in the neighborhood of one hundred bushels to the 
acre, and twenty-five acres of hay which gave a 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



proportionately large yield. He has a good, seven 
room house, good barn and other outbuildings and 
keeps a fine little herd of cattle as well as plenty of 
horses for the convenient operation of the farm. A 
two-acre orchard furnishes abundant fruit of all 
kinds for home use. Mr. Regenvetter is certainly 
to be congratulated on the splendid success he has 
achieved in the years of his residence in Skagit 
county. 

In St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1875, our subject 
married Miss Christina, daughter of Peter and 
Christina (Slater) Reiter. Her parents were born 
and died in Germany, and she too was a native of 
that country, but came to America at the age of 
twenty-two. She passed away at her home near La 
Conner March 3, 1904, after having borne to Mr. 
Regenvetter eight children, namely, Frank and 
Peter, twins, born in La Conner December 15, 1876 ; 
Annie, in Coupeville in 1881, now at home ; Mary, 
deceased ; Jack, born in La Conner April 20, 1883, 
now justice of the peace of La Conner precinct; 
John, Katie and Emma, deceased. The last three 
died of diphtheria about three years ago, the dread 
disease taking them all inside of two weeks. In 
politics, Mr. Regenvetter is a Republican and in 
reIi2;ious faith a Catholic. 



ISAAC JENNINGS, one of the best known and 
most successful farmers on the rich Swinomish 
Hats, has the distinction of being numbered among 
the very earliest pioneers of his part of the country, 
his family being the seventh to settle in what is now 
widely celebrated as the La Conner oat belt. When 
he arrived the general aspect of the country was un- 
inviting enough, but the practicability of reclaim- 
ing it had been proven, and Air. Jennings was not 
the kind of man to overlook an opportunity even 
though it might wear a forbidding mein. His was 
the mettle of the true pioneer. Homesteading a 
piece of the soil, he gave himself to its reclamation 
from the sea with a whole heart, laboring in season 
and out of season, diking, ditching, clearing, culti- 
vating, and investing his surplus earnings in new 
fields for the exercise of his enormous and teeming 
energy, until he is now numbered among the wealth- 
iest residents of a section of country far famed for 
its abundant wealth. His industrial success has 
been fairly and honestly earned and none will be- 
grudge to him any whit of it, even though it has 
been much greater in degree than he could antici- 
pate or expect when he began the struggle. On the 
contrary all readily accord him the admiration and 
respect which of right belong to those who do some- 
thing worthy and do it well. 

New Jersey is the state of Mr. Jennings' nativity 
and the date of his birth is 1834. His parents, 
Joseph and Elizabeth (Carter) Jennings, were like- 
wise natives of that commonwealth and lived there 



all their lives. Both were of English extraction. Air. 
Jennings, of this article, spent his first sixteen years 
on the parental farm, attending school betimes and 
acquiring the habits of thrift and industry which 
have stood him in such good stead in later life. He 
then worked in a flouring mill in New Jersey for 
fourteen consecutive years, removing to Illinois at 
the end of that long period, where another year was 
devoted to the pursuit of the same industry. After 
returning to and remaining a short time in his native 
state, he determined to try his fortunes in the west, 
and in due time he and his family had established 
a home on Whidby island, Washington. In 1871 he 
pre-empted a quarter section of land about a mile 
and a half from 'La Conner, and though it was 
marsh land and had to be cleared, diked and drained 
before anything could be raised on it, he lived 
on it for two summers and one winter, when he re- 
turned to Coupeville, Whidby island, remaining 
there until final proof had been made. In 1873 he 
homesteaded the eighty acres on which he now lives, 
and on which are most of the farm buildings. Dur- 
ing these early days the pioneer farmers were com- 
pelled not only to labor earnestly to fight back the 
sea, as did the Holland Dutch, iDut to forego most 
of the conveniences and pleasures of life. There 
were few trails and no roads and all the comforts 
and luxuries which are now enjoyed in the Swin- 
omish country as in few other places were unknown 
and scarcely dreamed of. All these have come as a 
result of the labor and public spirit of the doughty 
pioneers of whom Mr. Jennings is one. The prop- 
erty accumulations of all the years of patient en- 
deavor spent by J\Ir. Jennings in the La Conner 
country include five hundred and sixty acres of the 
finest oat and meadow land in all that section, very 
favorably located and worth no one knows how 
much. It will certainly pay interest on an enormous 
sum. He raises about three hundred acres of oats 
annually and keeps large numbers of live stock of 
different kinds, but principally neat cattle, of which 
he now has about one hundred and thirty-five head. 
A fine fifteen room house, tastefully furnished and 
supplied with all modern improvements and conven- 
iences, adds immeasurably to the comfort of the 
home life, while excellent out-buildings of every 
variety, plenty of facilities for the expeditious per- 
formance of all necessary work, abundance of ma- 
chinerv. etc., unite to make the operation of the farm 
convenient and profitable. 

In the state of New Jersey in 1866, Mr. Jen- 
nings married Miss Margaret, daughter of James 
and Martha (King) James, natives of Pennsylvania 
and New Jersey respectively. Mr. James was en- 
gaged in the hotel business in the latter state for a 
number of years, but eventually took up his abode 
in West Virginia. His wife died in New Jersey in 
1867. Mrs. Jennings, a native of the last mentioned 
state, was educated in the local public schools, re- 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



ceiving a generous intellectual culture. She is pos- 
sessed of an inherent refinement which all the rug- 
ged experiences of pioneer life have been insuffi- 
cient to efiface in the least degree, and her love of 
the highest and best things in life has found ex- 
pression in an earnest support of her husband in 
his efiforts to educate his children to the extent of 
his ability. These are Martha, Linda, Mrs. Eliza- 
beth O'Leary of Seattle, wife of the master me- 
chanic of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company, 
Helen Francis, William E., Margaret and Lewis E. 
One of them is a graduate of the state University, 
others have completed the course in Puget Sound 
Academy and the youngest is now passing through 
the cuirriculum of the La Conner high school. 



MICHEL J. SULLIVAN is one of the pioneers 
of Skagit county in the sense that he was the 
earliest settler there and also in the sense of being 
the first to develop the La Conner flats from value- 
less marsh land sometimes covered with tide water 
into rich and fertile fields. In 1868 Michel Sulli- 
van came to the country of the Skagit and as he 
learned of the nature of things on the flats carried 
into execution his idea that with proper drainage 
and with control of the tides, La Conner flats would 
prove to be valuable farm land. It was he who first 
stuck a shovel into the ground in reclamation of 
the land from the waters of the sound and it was 
he who first put up dikes and who raised the first 
crop of grain on this land wrested from the tides of 
old Ocean. In fact it was this pioneer work of Mr. 
Sullivan which demonstrated that La Conner flats 
were worth reclaiming. 

;Mr. Sullivan is a native of Massachusetts, the 
son of an Irish immigrant who settled in the old 
Bay state and died when the subject of this sketch 
was a child. The mother was born in Ireland also, 
her maiden name being Eleanor Shay. She was the 
mother of six children of whom Michel J. is the 
only surviving one. It was the mere rudiments of 
an education that young Sullivan was able to get as 
a young man, but he was of the stamp of men who 
pick up bits of information and apply them as they 
go through life. Left an orphan in tender years, 
he obtained a berth as cabin boy on a ship which 
rounded Cape Horn and reached San Francisco 
one hundred and twelve days out from Boston, and 
at twelve years of age stood on the docks at San 
Francisco, wondering what was going to happen 
next. He obtained such employment as was open 
to lads of that age, keeping his eyes open and his 
faculties alert. In 1SG6 he was on Puget sound and 
working in a mill at Utsalady, on Camano Island. 
Two years later he had visited the Swinomish flats, 
as they were called in those days, and had conceived 
his idea that they were good lands if once cleared 
and protected from salt water. He first took a 



squatter's right and as soon as he saw surveyors at 
work filed a preemption claim and later proved up. 
His course was so successful that many followed 
him and in 1880 all the flats had been taken up. He 
now has three hundred and fifteen acres of fine land, 
with a modem house, excellent out-buildings and 
warehouses on the water front. He has never torn 
down the cabin he built during his early stay on 
the flats. 

In 1903 in Seattle Mr. Sullivan married Miss. 
Josephine Smith, daughter of Thomas and Kather- 
ine (O'Hare) Smith, natives of Ireland. Mrs. Sul- 
livan was herself bom in Ireland. After securing 
an education in a convent she came to La Conner 
to Patrick O'Hare, an uncle, who has since died. 
In politics Mr. Sullivan is a Republican, but with a 
tendency not to support nominees who are not 
worthy. The Sullivans are communicants of the 
Catholic church. This farm, the first established out 
of what was understood to be the worthless tide 
flats of La Conner, consists of three hundred and fif- 
teen acres of the richest land in the country. Seventy 
two of its acres are in hay, one hundred and sixty 
in oats and the balance in pasture land. Mr. Sulli- 
van raised some live stock, at present having ten head 
of cattle and nine horses. Aside from the interest 
manifested in Mr. Sullivan as the discoverer of 
the value of the La Conner flats for purposes of 
agriculture, he is also regarded as a man of sterling 
integrity and of more than the usual amount of 
grasp of opportunities in a business way. The 
homeless cabin boy on the quays of 'Frisco has be- 
come a leading and wealthy citizen of one of the 
best counties in Northwestern Washington, success- 
ful in business and respected by all. 



ISAAC CHILBERG has spent twenty-five years 
at farming in Skagit county, though he has been a 
resident of the sound country since 1871, a part 
of which time he passed in mercantile business. Mr. 
Chilberg enjoys the respect of his home community 
and is regarded as one of the staunch people of 
the county. Mr. Chilberg was born in Sweden in 
1842, the son of Charles J. Chilberg who settled as 
a pioneer famier in Iowa in 1S46 and remained there 
until 18G3. The subsequent three years were spent 
in Colorado, Nevada and Oregon. The first five 
years on the sound were passed without his family 
and in 1871 he returned to Iowa and brought them 
to live on a preemption he had taken up near La 
Conner. Here he continued to reside until called to 
his last reward in 1905 in his ninety-second year. 
Mrs. Hannah (Johnson) Chilberg was also a native 
of Sweden. She passed away in 1905 in her ninetieth 
year the mother of ten children of whom Isaac was 
fourth. In Iowa Isaac Chilberg received his educa- 
tion and when twenty years of age went to Colorado. 
In 1862 he enlisted in the First Colorado 'battery. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



and served with that for nearly three years, being 
mustered out at Fort Leavenworth in 18G5. Re- 
turning to Iowa, he remained there farming until 
shortly before coming to Washington in 1871. He 
first settled in Skagit county, then a part of What- 
com county, on land taken up near La Conner. Two 
years later he went to Seattle and engaged in the 
broom business, after six months removing his 
venture to Olympia, where he remained for two 
years. The year 1879 he passed in Walla Walla 
and in the following year rented his father's farm 
near La Conner and operated it for over twenty 
years. In 186G, just after the close of the Civil War 
Mr. Chilberg married Miss M. E. Ockerman, who 
lived but a few years. Two children were the re- 
sult of the union, who later in life became Mrs. 
Hannah F. Dunlap and Mrs. Marv Callow, both of 
whom are now dead. In 1883 Mr. Chilberg mar- 
ried Christine Nelson, a native of Chillcothe. Iowa, 
who had one child which lived only eighteen months, 
and in 1888 the second wife passed away. Mr. 
Chilberg is a member of the Methodist church in 
which he has held the office of steward for a num- 
ber of years. In politics he is a Republican. His 
life has been an exceedingly busy one filled with its 
joys as well as its sorrows, and now in the evening 
of life he has the satisfaction of knowing that he is 
the recipient of the confidence of all who know 
him and is the subject of the well wishes of the 
entire community. 



FREDERICK AXDERSON, a prominent far- 
mer and stockman residing nine miles southwest of 
Mount Vernon, was bom in Dalsland, Sweden, No- 
vember 19, 1848, the son of Anders Tohan and 
Anna (Erickson) Swanson, both natives of Sweden, 
in which country the father died in May, 1904, and 
the mother some three years previous to that time. 
Acquiring his education in the common schools of 
his native country, and meanwhile assisting his 
father on the farm, Mr. Anderson spent the first 
twenty-two years of his life. Influenced by a friend 
\vho was then visiting his former home in .Sweden, 
he decided to accompany him to America upon his 
return, to seek for himself the wonderful oppor- 
tunities there afforded. Landing in Quebec in 1871, 
he remained there for one year, going thence to 
Michigan where he was employed in the iron mines 
of Lake Superior. Two years later he located in 
Napa county, California, mining quicksilver for 
three years, and losing but three days in the entire 
time. Thrifty and industrious by nature, he had 
accumulated a neat little sum of money when in 1877 
he moved to Nanaimo, British Columbia, there en- 
tering the Wellington coal mines. In the terrible ex- 
plosion that occurred in these mines. April 30, 1879, 
he was seriously injured, his life being despaired of 
for some time. That he might have the best medi- 



cal skill to be found, he was sent to San Francisco. 
After eleven wean' months he was able to take up 
active work again, though carn-ing with him for the 
remainder of his life the marks of his fearful ex- 
perience. Coming to La Conner in 1880, he rented 
a farm of Watkins and Walker, engaging in farm- 
ing, the work of his early manhood. Having pur- 
chased a home in Sweden for his parents, from his 
early savings, and spent all the money he had saved 
in British Columbia in meeting the expenses^ in- 
curred by his accident, save the sum of one hun- 
dred dollars, he had practically to begin at the foot 
of the ladder again. Possessed of rare courage and 
determination, he bent every energy to the task be- 
fore him, that of securing means to purchase a home, 
and six years later had the satisfaction of making 
a payment of fifteen hundred dollars on his present 
place. Year by year he was able to make the pay- 
ments as they came due, and now owns free of debt 
his fine farm of one hundred and. thirty-six acres 
well improved and well stocked with thoroughbred 
cattle and sheep. 

In Tacoma in 1888. Mr. Anderson and Christina 
Swanson were united in marriage. Mrs. Anderson, 
a native of Sweden, born in is.")."), to the union of 
Sven and Maria K. Larson, both deceased, came to 
the United States in 1883. Three children have 
been born to this union, Arthur F. and Alice, both 
at home, and one deceased. Mr. Anderson has a 
brother, E. M. Anderson, living on Beaver Marsh, 
and two sisters. Mrs. A. J. Johnson, of Beaver 
Marsh, and Matilda Anderson, still living in 
Sweden. ' Fraternally Mr. Anderson is affiliated 
with the American Order of United Workmen. In 
political belief he is a strong advocate of Republi- 
can principles, lending the strength of his influence 
to every honorable means of ad.vancing the inter- 
ests of his party. The cause of education has al- 
ways appealed very strongly to him, and during his 
long years of service on the school board he has 
advocated progress and improvement. He is a 
prominent member of the Lutheran church. With 
the evidences on every side of the prosperity that has 
crowned his untiring energy, it would be strange in- 
deed were he not enthusiastic over the opportunities 
afforded in this country to the industrious poor man. 
He has just completed the erection of a fine and' 
commodious residence, which is modem in every 
respect, an ornament to the tasteful grounds sur- 
rounding it. His earnest, upright life, commands 
the respect and admiration of the entire community. 



OLIVER C. CURRIER, deceased, was num- 
bered among the respected pioneers and energetic 
men of Skagit county until March, 1900. when he 
passed ovit of this life. During all the years of his 
residence in the La Conner country he maintained' 
a highly enviable reputation for integrity and up- 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



rightness of character, and the family of which he 
was the head has ever been and still is counted 
among the elite of Skagit covmty's population. A 
farmer for many years prior to his demise, his last 
field of endeavor was the well known Currier home, 
where his widow and one son still live, but for an 
extended period of time in early manhood he fol- 
lowed the sea, and he had the splendid distinction of 
having served as an officer in the United States 
Navy during the Civil War. Mr. Currier's birth- 
place was York county, Maine, and the date of his 
birth was November 23, 1841. His parents, 'Na- 
thaniel and Sophia (Clark) Currier, were likewise 
natives of Maine, and they passed their lives in that' 
state, following agriculture as an occupation. He 
lived on the parental homestead, assisting with th'i 
work as he was able and in term-time attending the 
local school until eighteen, when he went to sea. 
His love of adventure was to be fully gratified be- 
fore he should return to the life of a land man for 
in due time he enlisted m the navy as master's mate 
and he had part in some of the stirring events on 
sea and river which occurred during the great 
American fratricidal war. At the close of the strug- 
gle he left the navy, came around the Horn to Cal- 
ifornia and there engaged in the lumber business, 
but after he had spent a couple of years at that he 
returned to Maine. He was married there in 1870 
and soon after went to Cloud county, Kansas, where 
the ensuing half decade of his life was passed. In 
1876 he removed to Skagit county and resumed liis 
farming operations, cultivating for the first five 
years the Alverson place, then purchasing the \me 
farm of one hundred and twenty acres which is the 
present home of the family. 

Mrs. Currier, whose maiden name was Augusta 
M. Kimball, was born in York ' county, Maine, 
January 9, 1844, the daugther of Daniel and 
Rachel (Barnard) Kimball, both natives of that 
county and state. Her father, a cabinet maker by 
trade, was an ardent temperance worker, and in 
politics a very strong Republican. She received a 
good education in the common schools of her native, 
state and in a private institution of learning. Her 
children are Mrs. Susan Ornes, born in Kansas, 
July 25, 1871, now a resident of Mount Vernon; 
Mrs. Clara S. Hubbard, born in Kansas August 24, 
1873, now living in Cedardale ; and Oliver D., born 
in Washington, August 25, 1877, at home with his 
mother and operating the parental farm. The 
family belong to the Methodist church and Mrs. 
Currier is an active worker in the Relief Corps. 
Mr. Currier, during his life time was an active 
Mason. 



GEORGE ADIN, whose farm lies two and a 
half miles southeast of La Conner, is one of the 
highly respected and popular residents of that vi- 



cinity, and is typical to a great extent of the school 
of fine old English gentlemen. Much of his life on 
the western continent has been spent in mining, but 
he has lived in Skagit since 1870 with the exception 
of one year. Mr. Adin was born in England, No- 
vember 16, 1831, the son of John and Annie 
(Fletcher) Adin. His parents were farmers in the 
old country and had ten children, of whom George 
was fifth. Mr. Adin received his education in the 
English schools and remained at home until he was 
twenty-two years of age. At that time he deter- 
mined to come to America, California and her mines 
being his goal. He reached there in 1854 and passed 
several years in mining ventures. He then obtained 
employment as clerk in a general merchandise store 
and continued there for a year and a half. At the 
close of this employment he bought a mining claim 
and worked it for several years. He then heard of 
Washington and its many advantages and came here 
taking up cne hundred and sixty acres of land and 
remained for one year, returning to California on a 
visit. The interests he had acquired and the high 
opinion he had formed of the Skagit country were 
sufficient to recall him after a stay of a few months. 
On his return he proved up on this land and has 
lived on the place ever since. He owns one hundred 
and sixty acres of good land, one hundred and thirty- 
three acres of it being under cultivation and very 
carefully attended. Of Mr. Adin's sisters three are 
living, Eliza, Mary and Esther; a number of the 
family have never left England. Mr. Adin is pros- 
perous in his farming operations and devotes some 
attention to livestock, having nine head of horses 
and two cows. But his chief interest is in the cul- 
tivation of the soil, in which he takes deep enjoy- 
ment. Mr. Adin is a true lover of nature, quiet in 
manner and studious and thoughtful in habit. Ever 
unselfish and guardedly considerate of others feel- 
ings, he holds the respect and esteem in a marked 
degree of his neighbors and acquaintances. 



CHARLES OLSON is one of the successful 
stock farmers of western Skagit county and one of 
the respected citizens of the community. Mr. Olson 
IS a native of Sweden, born in January of 1865. 
His father. Swan Olson, is still living in the old 
country, a farmer by occupation. Mrs. Hannah 
(Erikson) Olson, likewise a native of Sweden, 
passed her entire life there, dying in 1905 at a ripe 
old age. Charles Olson received his education in 
the schools of Sweden and remained at home with 
his parents until he was twenty years of age, when 
he came to the United States and settled at Salina, 
Kansas, where he remained for nearly two years. 
He then went to California and worked in a saw- 
mill for one season. He came to Washington in 
1889 and for the subsequent eight years worked as 
employe on various farms. Making up his mind to 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



rent a farm and engage on his own responsibility, he 
leased a place near Marysville for two years, at the 
end of which time he sold his interest there to go to 
Alaska. In that territory he followed mining for 
half a year and returned to La Conner. For one 
year after his return Ire worked for IMrs. Conner and 
then leased the Alverson farm, which he operated 
for three years. In 1003 he leased the farm he now 
occupies, two and a half miles southeast of town. 
Two of Mr. Olson's sisters, .A.nnie and Mary, are 
with him, keeping house. Erick, a brother, is in 
Idaho, engaged in farming. The remaining mem- 
bers of the family are still living in Sweden. They 
are: Mrs. Ida Halmer, Hendrick, John and twin 
brothers, August and Axel. In politics Mr. Olson is 
a Republican, and is acting as supervisor of his road 
district. Mr. Olson and his sisters attend the 
Lutheran church. In dmnection with his agricul- 
tural work, Air. Olson is raising livestock, having 
now tifty head of cattle and fifteen of horses. The 
farm is well kept and in his management of it he 
displays industry and business qualities of a high 
order. 



FREDERIC GAGE is one of the prosperous 
farmers and stock raisers of the country a short 
distance southeast of La Conner, where he has a 
modern place of one hundred and sixty acres. IMr. 
Gage came direct to Skagit county from England. 
He was born in 1850. Charles Gage, his father, was 
an English farmer of sterling qualities who stood 
very high in the minds and hearts of his home people 
and served as guardian of the poor. His remains lie 
buried beside those of his ancestors for many gen- 
erations back. Mrs. Gage whose maiden name was 
Marion Johnson, is the daughter of the captain of a 
sea vessel. She is still living at the age of eighty-three 
years, the mother of nine children, of whom Fred- 
eric is next to the oldest. Frederic Cigc rocrivod 
a careful education in an Englisli h, .ardinL; scIim, .1 
and was trained to the life of an lui-lish I'.ii miir.; 
gentleman. He remained at home until t\\i'iit\ I'lur 
years of age, assisting his father in the ni.in imiiunt 
of a farm of between six and seven hundred acn-s. at 
which time he left home to engage in farming on his 
own account and for eight years operated a place of 
four hundred acres under a leasehold. In 1881 he 
came to Washington territory, forwarding his house- 
hold effects by vessel around Cape Horn. His first 
venture in the new country was to lease and operate 
a four hundred acre tract near La Conner, which 
he did with marked success and profit. In 188.') Mr. 
Gage purchased his present place and has cleared 
and diked sixty acres of it. 

In 1875 while still a resident of England, Mr. 
Gage married Miss Eleanor Louisa Wiggin, daugh- 
ter of John Wiggin, a leading member of the Phar- 
maceutical Society of Great Britain, also Fellow of 



the Royal Society of London. Mrs. Gage's mother 
died when her daughter was quite young. She was 
educated in a boarding school, and is a very ac- 
complished and cultured woman being conversant 
with German and French and the literature of those 
languages. She was teaching school when married 
at the age of twenty-five years. Mr. and Mrs. Gage 
have two daughters, both born in England. One is 
Mrs. Louise R. \'alentine, a resident of Seattle, the 
other Mrs. Edith McNeil, whose home is on the 
Skagit river. Mr. Gage is a member of the Episco- 
pal church and at present is church warden. In pol- 
itics he is a Republican, though not deeply inter- 
ested in political or party affairs. On his farm he 
has thirty head of cattle and a number of horses. 
The Gage home is one of the cultured places of the 
county, .savoring much of the tastes and training of 
the old country life. Mr. and Mrs. Gage are popular 
in the community and enjoy the highest respect of 
those who know them. 



JOHN H. CHILBERG, one of the public 
spirited citizens of Skagit county, has made his 
mark in official life and left his impress on the busi- 
ness comninnilN- in wliirli In- \va< inii\-ed for thirty- 
four \c:irs, Mr. ( Inll.rri^'s liiV !ia^ l/.-on one of ac- 
tivity in ililTerml liiirs, in cuii <.\ which he has been 
conspicuous as a man of accomplishments. He was 
born in Ottumwa, Iowa, in 1857, and came to Wash- 
ington when a young man. His father, Charles 
Chilberg, was a native of Sweden, who settled dur- 
ing Iowa's pioneers days in that state, but in 1871 
removed to Washington territory. He took up the 
land where his son now resides, and died there in 
1905 at the advanced age of ninety-two years. John 
Chilberg commenced his education before leaving 
Iowa and later attended school at Olympia. He 
passed much of his time on the farm and in the em- 
ploMiicnt of others until he wa^ twenty-one years of 
: -»■ wlun ho went to Seattle determined to gain 
nil. re edr.eaticn. While pursuing a course in the 
Slate L'niversity he supported himself by clerking 
in stores mornings, evenings and Saturdays. Re- 
turning to Skagit county, Mr. Chilberg turned his 
attention to farming, but was unfortunate in losing 
crops by floods, so in 1886, he went to Tacoma. 
where for some time he was in charge of a crockery 
and glassware store. Again coming to Skagit 
county, he engaged in farming until 1888 when he 
went to La Conner and started the first saw-mill in 
that place. He operated this until he received an 
appointment as postmaster under the Cleveland ad- 
ministration, then sold out. He was postmaster for 
seven years. In 1897 he went to Alaska and fol- 
lowed mining ventures for two years, returning then 
to La Conner, where he opened a confectionery 
store. This he continued until the fall of 1904. At 
that time, on account of the advanced age of his 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



father, he determined to take up again the life of an 
agriculturist, so in March, 1905, he moved on the 
parental farm. The same energy and ambition 
which enabled him to work out his own way at the 
territorial university and have cliaracterized all his 
activities since, whether as farmer, miner, grain 
buyer and shipper or postmaster, are winning suc- 
cess for him in the cultivation and improvement of 
his splendid hundred-acre farm. 

In January, 1878, Mr. Chilberg married at What- 
com Miss Maggie Jenkins, whose father, John R. 
Jenkins, a native of Wales, moved to Washington in 
1871, after living in Pennsylvania for a time, finally 
settling in Whatcom county and engaging in min- 
ing. Mrs. Jenkins' maiden name was Margaret 
Evans and she also was a native of Wales. Mrs. 
Chilberg was born during the residence of her par- 
ents in Pennsylvania, but the major part of her 
education was received in the public schools of 
Whatcom and in the territorial university at Seat- 
tle. After her course in the latter institution, she 
engaged in teaching in Whatcom, but her career as 
a teacher was cut short by an early marriage. Mr. 
and Mrs. Chilberg have had three children, Mrs. 
Alice Morrow, living near La Conner ; Charles, who 
died in infancy, and Lawrence J., born in 1893. Mr. 
Chilberg is prominent in Odd Fellowship, being a 
past grand of Delta Lodge, No. 33, and past chief 
patriarch of Hope encampment, No. 10. 



CHARLES CONRAD is one of the Swedish 
born American citizens who have easily adapted 
themselves to life in this country, succeeding by 
thrift and hard work. He was bom in the old 
country early in the year 1861, the oldest of the 
three children of Conrad and Ulrika (Hector) Con- 
rad, who passed their entire lives in their native 
land. Mr. Conrad received his early education in 
the schools of Sweden. When twelve years of age 
he accompanied an aunt to La Conner and for a 
time worked on a dairy farm. When fourteen years 
of age he determined to complete his education and 
went to Seattle for a course in the schools ther^. 
He returned to Skagit county and worked for dif- 
ferent farmers until in the spring of 188.5 he first 
leased the land where he has lived for twenty years. 
In 1881 Mr. Conrad took up a preemption and on 
proving up sold out. Out of the proceeds of his 
farming of leased land, Mr. Conrad in 1896 bought 
a farm near Fir, which he still owns, and operates. 
Being an energetic, ambitious man he has not rested 
from his labors until every acre of his farm has beea 
cleared of timber and put in the best condition. 

In 1885 at Pleasant Ridge Mr. Conrad married 
Miss Sophia M. Nelson, who died three years later 
leaving two children of whom one, Arthur, born 
June 28, 1888, is living. In 1890 at Seattle Mr. 
Conrad married again, his bride being Miss Ann'e 



B. Olsen, a native of Norway, born in 1866. Mrs. 
Conrad's father is still living in the old country. 
Of this union seven children have been born, all in 
Skagit county, namely, Sophia, Nellie, John, Sadie, 
Dewey, Rachel and Edna. In fraternal affiliations 
Mr. Conrad is a member of the Ancient Order of 
LTnited Workmen, while in politics he is a Repub- 
lican, though not very active. The Conrads attend 
the Lutheran church. Mr. Conrad has lived in Ska- 
git county since 1874 and whether as farmhand or 
as fanner has earned a reputation for earnestness, 
uprightness and energy of which he may well be 
proud. He enjoys in a high degree the confidence- 
and respect of his neighbors and those with whom 
he comes in contact. 



JACOB MAJERUS. who operates a farm seven 
and a half miles southeast of La Conner, between 
Brown's and Hall's sloughs, is one of the typical far- 
mers of that section of the county, having his place- 
in an excellent state of cultivation, doing a general 
farming business, but also raising fine horses. Mr. 
Majerus was born in Luxemburg late in the year 
1856, the son of Nicholas and Mary (May) Majerus 
who passed their entire lives in their native country. 
Farm work and schooling occupied young Majerus' 
attention until he was eighteen years of age, when 
he determined to join his older brother in Illinois. 
Letters from the brother had done much in the way 
of holding out promises of. success for the young 
man and he came to the LInited States in 1875, 
settling in Cook county, Illinois. After a few months- 
he passed on to Minnestoa and spent the harvest 
season there. In the closing days he came to What- 
com county with his brother, and in Taiuiary of the 
Centennial year to the La Conner flats. For two 
years the brothers worked at dikint;-, ilitcliing and 
farm work on the Conner and other farms in the vi- 
cinity of La Conner. In those da>'s the country was 
wild, and on Beaver marsh no diking or farming was 
being done except one small place. Mount Vernon 
had not then spnmg into existence. In company 
with his brother and two other Germans, young 
Majerus leased four hundred acres of land near La 
Conner and began farming, the venture being suc- 
cessful. After two years of partnership Mr. 
Majerus lived for two years on the Mike Sullivan 
place and three on the Conner farm, operating in 
each instance under a lease. In 1884 he bought his 
present place and in the following year moved on it, 
commencing to erect buildings and extend the diking 
already done. Farming in earnest on his own ac- 
count, Mr. Majerus went to raisins: oats, developing 
hay land and drifting into stock raising. 

' In the summer of 1887 Mr. Majerus married 
Miss Louise Gruben, a native of the Province of 
Rhine. Prussia, bom in 1867. the daughter of 
Nichola and Catherine Gruben, the latter of whom 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



came to the United States with her son and daugh- 
ter and still lives at Mankato, Minnesota. As to 
Mr. Majerus' family, there were ten children of his 
parents, only three except himself attaining adult- 
ship: Michael, now near Burlington on the Olympic 
marsh : Mrs. Annie Schmitz, of Olympic marsh, and 
Annie Mary. Mr. and Mrs. Majerus have seven 
children, all'at home : Michael, Annie, Frank, Louise, 
Lillian, Willie, and Eva. The members of the family 
attend the Catholic church at La Conner. In poli- 
tics Mr. Majerus is a Democrat. He owns eighty 
acres of his own land and operates eighty of school^ 
land. He raises some of the best Clydesdales in the' 
county, having recently disposed of one team for 
$550. Mr. Majerus is a shrewd, thrifty fanner, 
well liked and one of the men who are highly es- 
teemed in the community for rigidity of purpose and 
action. 



MORTIMER COOK (deceased), founder of 
the old town of Sedro, out of which has grown the 
present city of Sedro-Woolley, has been credited 
with having been the first manufacturer on the Pa- 
cific Coast to introduce the Washington cedar shin- 
gle into the Eastern market. Probably no pioneer of 
Skagit county contributed more to its advancement 
than this remarkable man, while his relation to the 
great shingle industry of the Pacific Northwest will 
forever identify him prominently with the history of 
this section of the country. 

Mr. Cook's career in Skagit county, beginning 
with his advent in June, 1884, is but one chapter in 
his busy life. Born September 15, 1826, at Mans- 
field, Ohio, a descendant of Francis Cook, who came 
to America in one of the first ships that followed 
the Mayflower, he was the youngest in a family 
of thirteen children. His father was a farmer of 
the Ohio valley. In 1846, at the age of nineteen, 
the young Ohioan left farm and school to enlist in 
the First United States infantry. While in this 
regiment he served throughout the Mexican War 
and afterward along the border until 1850, then re- 
enlisted, this time for service in the quartermaster's 
department. In 1853 he went up the Pacific coast 
to California by water and horse. One of the places 
at which the schooner put in for water was Santa 
Barbara, the attractiveness of which lingered so 
graphically in his memorv that years later he re- 
turned there to live. After several years in the 
mines of northern California, Mr. Cook joined the 
rush to Eraser river in 1858, and at a point on 
Thompson river, still known as Cook's ferry, he 
built a ferry and opened a general store, the latter at 
Lytton. Six years later with his fortune he re- 
turned to Mansfield and farmed on the old home- 
stead three years, going thence to Topeka and Kan- 
sas Citv. At the former place he built the first' iron 
toll bridge across the Kaw river, selling it in 1871 to 



the city of Topeka for $100,000 in bonds. With 
this fortune he went direct to Santa Barbara and es- 
tablished the First National bank, building also the 
well-known Cook block of that city. He became 
president of the bank, ser\'ing it as such five years. 
He was twice elected mayor of the town. During 
his thirteen years' residence his public spirit and 
whole-souled way of entering upon anything he un- 
dertook identified him with every improvement in 
the growth of the community. Financial reverses 
finally overtook him in southern California, how- 
ever, resulting in the loss of all his property, even to 
his household goods. He soon accumulated a few 
thousand dollars and once again commenced the 
building of a fortune. 

With this money he came north to Puget sound, 
selected the undeveloped Skagit valley as the field 
of his operations and immediately began his career 
in this section. To afford an outlet to the Skagit 
river for two thousand two hundred acres of fine 
timber land which he had purchased he bought a 
thirty-four-acre tract on the river at a point south 
of his timber land, where the river was unusually 
straight. Here he erected a residence and estab- 
lished a store in 1885. A post-office was secured 
right away and, thus inception was given to the town 
of Sedro. This musical, appropriate name was 
formed from the Spanish word for cedar. Much 
humor came out of the naming of the place, Mr. 
Cook at first being detemiined that it should be 
known as Bug. His wife, who was ever a power 
for good in the community, joined him the follow- 
ing year, June, 1885. with their two daughters. In 
the spring of 1886 Mr. Cook built what was then 
the largest shingle mill on the coast and at the same 
time erected a drier. He was the originator of the 
idea of reducing the weight of shingles by drying 
them in order to lower the freight sufficiently to 
warrant establishing an Eastern market. The idea 
was scoffed at by most men who heard of it, all sorts 
of objections being raised against its success, but 
Mr. Cook persevered as he always did, and success 
came to him. The plan of drying shingles was sug- 
gested to him by observing how much lighter a few 
hand-made shingles became after lying by the fire- 
place. Then he experimented with a bunch, weigh- 
ing them before and after dn,'ing. The first East- 
ern buyers were skeptical of the cedar's enduring 
qualities, of its red streaks, and other features, biit 
once they had been given a trial, the battle was won. 
The first car load went to Mansfield, Ohio, and 
brought about $4 a thousand. The drawbacks at 
the mill were also serious — unskilled labor, isola- 
tion and expensive transportation — but all were 
eventually overcome. Early in 1889 Mr. Cook sold 
his timber land for five times what he paid for it 
and at the same time the mill, McEwen & iMc- 
Donald being the purchasers. About the same time 
the Fairhaven & Southern railway was built and 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



the town of Sedro platted, Mr. Cook's thirty-four 
acres being embraced in the original town site. In 
the establishing of the new town he took an active 
part, though almost wholly in a business way. He 
never was a politician in the ordinary sense of the 
word, but was a lover of good government and 
never shirked his responsibilities as a citizen. 

Shortly after selling his timber and milling in- 
terests, Mr. Cook invested in six hundred acres of 
Olympia marsh land, to the draining and making a 
model ranch of which he now devoted his exhaust- 
less energies, still retaining his store at Sedro. Hard 
times overtook him, however ; the ranch was lost to 
him and he again entered with vim into the mer- 
cantile business in the town of Woolley, operating 
this store successfully until 1898, and living to see 
the two rival towns merged into one prosperous 
beautiful little city with a unity of action and aims. 

The last page in his history is consistent with 
his eiKrL;\-t'c life, for at the age of seventy-two he 
sailed for tin mwly acquired Philippines, to develop 
the hard wood tiinliei industry in the Orient. With 
broken fortunes and delicate health, but with the 
fire of youth, he was steadily forging ahead, when 
the deadly malaria of the wooded regions attacked 
his wonderful constitution. He died in the United 
States Brigade hospital at Iloilo, November 21, 
1899, and, though thousands of miles from his na- 
tive land, he yet was laid at rest beneath the Stars 
and Stripes he loved so well. Though he left no 
riches in the material sense, he left to his family 
and friends the memory of an honest, square, blunt 
man, a devoted husband and father and a friend 
loyal to the last. He was peculia,r in many ways.. 
and stories of his eccentricity are familiar to every 
pioneer, bat his peculiarities were but the mark of 
an exceptionally strong personality. Of sanguine 
temperament and ceaseless activity, he embraced 
his opportunities with such vigor and enthusiasin 
that he was ever a leader. It is said that he made 
and lost four large fortunes. His fraternal affilia- 
tions were confined to Masonry and Odd Fellow- 
ship. The name of Mortimer Cook is still a house- 
hold word in Skagit county ; it has been indelibly 
written upon the pages of local history, and de- 
servedly so. 

Mr. Cook was united in marriage January 14, 
18(i5, to Miss Nancy P. Pollock, the daughter of a 
well-known Mansfield family, after a long romantic 
courtship. She survives him and is at present re- 
siding with her daughter at Rockford, Illinois. Of 
her three children, all daughters, Fairie, Fanny and 
Nina, the first and last named are also living: Mrs. 
Fairie Litchfield, at Chicago ; Mrs. Nina Budlong, 
at Rockford. 



HON. CH.^RLES E. BINGH.-VM, banker, and 
mayor of Sedro-WooKey, is a Pennsylvanian l)y 



birth, born in New Columbus, Luzerne county, No- 
vember 6, 1862. Flis father was R. S. Bingham, 
an educator and a native of the Empire state who 
located in Pennsylvania about the middle of the 
nineteenth century. The earlier years of his pro- 
fessional life were spent as an instructor in the 
common and high schools of New York and P'enn- 
sylvania. In 18T5 he removed to Iowa, where he 
was successively superintendent of the schools of 
Marengo, Cedar Falls, and of Clinton county. 
Later in life he became prominently connected with 
the educational institutions of the Pacific coast; he 
came to Tacoma in 1SS8 and for a number of years 
was superintendent of her schools. From Tacoma 
he went to California, where he died in 1903. He 
was of English descent. The mother of Charles E. 
Bingham, Sophia (Brooks) Bingham, was born in 
Oneida County, New York, and is of English and 
Scotch parentage. 

Charles E. F.ingham received his early education 
in the common schools of New York and Iowa and 
was eventually graduated from the Marengo (Iowa) 
High School. At the age of sixteen, he accepted a 
position with the First National Bank of Marengo, 
remaining vvith the institution till 1890. In Julv. 
1890, he came to Sedro, Washington, and opened 
a private banking house which was known as the 
Bingham & Holbrook bank. This partnership was 
dissolved in 1S!)(;, Mr. Bingham purchasing the Hol- 
brook interc-ts. and .-iiice that date the establishment 
has been conducted under the firm name of C. E. 
Bingham & Co. It is one of the most successful 
and reliable banking institutions of this section of 
the state. Mr. Bingham's banking interests are not 
fully represented by the local house ; he is president 
and a heavy stockholder of the Arlington State 
Bank, of Arlington, Washington. Although his life 
has been devoted to the advancement of his per- 
sonal business interests, in which pursuit he has 
manifested a very high degree of business ability, 
yet he is widely known as a public spirited citizen, 
and has always been deeply interested in all that 
is best in American civil life, having a long and 
honorable iccord of service to his community and of 
devotion to the public welfare. Fie has been four 
times elected mayor of Sedro-Woolley. Since locat- 
ing in Sedro in 1890 he has served almost continu- 
ously as member of the city council and as mayor, 
first in Sedro and later in the united corporation 
of Sedro- Woolley, no movement for the betterment 
of public conditions ever having failed to enlist his 
liberal and hearty support. 

In 1883, while a resident of Marengo, Iowa, Mr. 
Bingham was united in marriage to Miss Julia T. 
Reno, daughter of Louis Q. and Amelia (Nicholas) 
Reno. Louis Reno, of French descent, was a mer- 
chant citizen of the Old Dominion state, who mi- 
grated to Iowa in the fifties and there followed 
mercantile pursuits until his death in 1883. Amelia 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



675 



Reno, now residing in Sedro-Woolley, is a native 
of New York. Mrs. Bingham was born February 
15, 1864, in Marengo, Iowa, and, like her husband, 
finished her education in the Marengo Higli School. 
Following her graduation she taught school for a 
number of terms, giving up the work at the age of 
twenty to become the wife of Charles Bingham. 
Mr. and Mrs. Bingham have three sons, all born 
in Sedro: Ouinbv, in Ti'lv, 1892; Charles S., in 
April, 1891:, aiid Albert H., November 7, 1895. Mr. 
Bingham is a prominent Mason. He is influential 
in the councils of the Republican party ; was a 
Washington delegate to the National Republican 
Convention in Chicago in 1904. Besides his prop- 
erty holdings in Sedro-Woolley, he has large in- 
vestments in the farm lands of Skagit county, these 
evidencing his faith in the future of his home com- 
munity. He is recognized as a man of exceptional 
executive ability, whose untiring eiYorts have been 
largely responsible for the rapid growth and de- 
velopment of the town and surrounding country. 
In all the walks of life and with all classes he is 
held in the highest esteem because of his spirit of 
devotion to the public weal and for his sterling 
qualities of mind and heart, both as friend and citi- 
zen. 



U. E. FOSTER, postmaster of Sedro-Woolley 
and editor of the Skagit County Courier, has for 
a number of years been connected with the printing 
and publishing business, and since he established his 
present paper has made of it an unqualified success 
and is giving his constituents an able publication 
Mr. Foster was born in Racine, Wisconsin, Febru- 
ary 26, 1866, the son of Isaac L. Foster, a native 
of Oswego, New York. The elder Foster early in 
life went Id \\'isconsin and engaged in farming. In 
the earl\- days of the Civil War he enlisted in the 
Twenty-Second Wisconsin Volunteers, and he 
served through the entire war, much of the time 
under Rosecrans, participating in Sherman's march 
to the sea, sufifering incarceration in Libby prison, 
and otherwise experiencing the hardships of war. 
After the close of hostilities he moved to Iowa and 
later to Ca'ifornia, and he died at Long Beach, in 
the latter state, in 1902, at the age of seventy years. 
Mrs. Betsy M. (Titus) Foster was a native of 
Kokomo, Indiana, of English extraction. 

The subject of this sketch is the only child of his 
parents and he remained with them on the farm 
and attending school until, at the age of seventeen 
years, he commenced to fearn the printer's art at 
Spencer, Iowa, in the composing room of the Clay 
County News. After a year as printer at Parker, 
South Dakota, Mr. Foster tried railroading, but 
while at Sioux City once more turned his attention 
to printing. Pie went into the newspaper publish- 
ing business at Norfolk, Nebraska, first with the 



Herald and then with the Norfolk Journal. Leav- 
ing there for Plainview, Nebraska, he passed seven 
years as editor and publisher of the News. In 1901 
he sold out and came to Everett, and later to Sedro- 
Woolley, establishing the Skagit County Courier 
at the latter point in the month of May, in com- 
pany with W. H. Totten. Mr. Foster has always 
taken an interest in matters political and while liv- 
ing in Nebraska served during one session of the 
legislature as journal clerk. In April, 1904, he was 
appointed postmaster of Sedro-Woolley, the duties 
of which office he still continues faithfully and effi- 
ciently to discharge. 

In 1886, at Spencer, Iowa, Mr. Foster married 
Miss Ida Crozier, a native of that state, born No- 
vember 22, 1866. Her father, Samuel Crozier, was 
in early years captain of a Hudson river steamboat, 
and later was in the transportation business on 
Lakes Erie and Ontario. He is now living at Spen- 
cer, Iowa, in retirement. Mrs. Foster is the young- 
er of two daughters. In fraternal circles Mr. Fos- 
ter is a member of the Knights of Pythias, of the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Concate- 
nated Order of Hoo Hoo, and the Dramatic Order 
of Knights of Khorassan. He has the honor of 
having established the first Republican paper in the 
Sedro-Woolley section of Skagit county, and de- 
veloped it into a journal of influence and large cir- 
culation, successful alike in its editorial and job 
printing departments. 



■ HOWARD SEABURY. An ardent love for 
that profession which has to do with that which has 
its seat in the bosom of God and whose voice is the 
law of the universe was developed very early in life 
in the breast of the rising young man whose career 
is the theme of this article, and his life story is 
largely made up of chapters dealing with his strug- 
gles under difficulties to obtain a deep and compre- 
hensive grasp of the principles of jurisprudence. 
Success in good measure has attended his efforts, 
and it is but reasonable to assume that the achieve- 
ments of the past, though really noteworthy, are 
but trifling compared with those that are yet to be. 

Mr. Seabury is a native of Dennison, Iowa, born 
September 4, 1874, the son of I. C. and Eliza 
(Wakeham) Seabury, natives respectively of New 
York state and Southampton, England. His father, 
who was born near Albany, March 20, 1838, is now 
residing in the vicinity of Sedro-Woolley. He takes 
not a litt'e pride in the fact that he belongs to one 
of the most ancient families on the American con- 
tinent, his lineage being traceable through his moth- 
er's people, the Brewsters, to the Pilgrims who came 
from Europe in the Mayflower. Our subject's moth- 
er, the date of whose birth is August 3, 1848, came 
to the new world with her parents in 1855. 

When four years old Ploward Seabury, of this 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



article, was taken by his parents to Nebraska, and 
in Crawford valley, Antelope county, that state, he 
obtained his preliminary educational training. Be- 
fore reaching his majority he had qualified himself 
for school teaching, a line that he followed for sev- 
eral years. But his ambitions took a dififerent trend. 
When twelve years old he had, from the Youth's 
Companion, as a premium for taking subscriptions, 
secured a copy of "Law Without Lawyers." The 
perusal of this book stimulated in him a desire for 
the further study and practice of law, so all through 
his years of teaching he had devoted his spare time 
to the reading of legal works. In 1897 he came to 
San Francisco where for a time he was employed 
as claim agent for a fire insurance company, and 
during his stay in that city he worked industriously 
in spare moments at his law books, keeping pace 
with the students of the Hastings Law School, four 
of whom were accustomed to meet him and another 
young man regularly in the office of J. N. Young 
for mutual assistance in the common study. Later 
Mr. Seabury was placed in charge of the fire in- 
surance company's interests in Missouri, but for 
some reason the climate of that state disagreed with 
his health, and in 1898 he returned to his home in 
the middle West. For the next year he was a part- 
ner of M. H. Leamy, a lawyer of Plainview, Ne- 
braska, but upon being admitted to the bar in June, 

1900, he severed his connection with Mr. Leamy and 
began practice on his own sole account. May 3, 

1901, he opened a law office in Sedro-WooUey, 
where he hais ever since practiced. He took in 
as a partner C. P. Gable, and the two practiced to- 
gether until May 36, 1905, when, on account of ill 
health, Mr. Gable was obliged to retire. In the five 
years of his residence in Sedro-Woolley, Mr. Sea- 
bury has achieved an enviable success in his profes- 
sion, building up a very good business, one that 
takes him into all the courts of the state. For the 
past four years he has been city attorney of his hom.e 
town and he is also an active worker in its commer- 
cial club. His present standing in his profession 
has not been thrust upon him by Fortune, but has 
come as a legitimate result of hard, unceasing work ; 
and this genius for prolonged effort, together with 
good, native talent for the law, is still his to rely 
upon for the accomplishment of yet greater things 
in time to come. 

In November, 1901, Mr. Seabury married Miss 
Margaret Morrow, a native of Iowa and a daugh- 
ter of T. J. Morrow, who recently located in Sedro- 
Woolley. Mrs. Seabury is a graduate of Norfolk 
High School, Nebraska, and for several years pre- 
vious to her marriage was in the teaching profes- 
sion. She takes an active interest in the work of 
the Sedro-Woolley Congregational church. Mr. and 
Mrs. Seabury have one child, Esther, born Decem- 
ber 18. 1903. In politics Mr. Seabury is a Repub- 
lican, but of somewhat liberal views ; in fraternal 



affiliations he is an Odd Fellow, a Royal Highlander, 
and a member of the Modern Woodmen of America 
and the L^niformed Rank of the Knights of Pythias. 



PHILIP A. WOOLLEY, founder of the town 
of Woolley and contractor of large experience in 
varied lines, has been one of the leading forces in 
Skagit county and was the first to put ax to a tree 
cm the site of the town which bears his name. He 
has made his home in Washington since 1889, but 
his operations have been widely extensive and not 
confined to his home county or state. Mr. Woolley 
was born at Malone, in the St. Lawrence valley of 
New York, on the 17th of February, 1831. He is 
descended on the paternal side from English an- 
cestry and on the maternal side from the German 
and French, but in each case his forebears had for 
generations been residents of the United States, 
many of them occupying honored and useful posi- 
tions in life. The Woolleys were represented in the 
Revolutionary War, espousing the cause of the col- 
onies and independence. Mr. Woolley 's father. Dr. 
Emerson Woolley, was for many years a practicing 
physician and representative citizen of Ogdensburg, 
the chief city of northern New York and a promi- 
nent shipping point on the St. Lawrence waterway 
from the Great Lakes to the Gulf. Mrs. Magdaline 
(Ulman) Woolley was a native of Morrisburg, 
across the St. Lawrence in the province of Ontario. 
The elder Woolley died in 1880 and his wife two 
years later. Their two daughters, sisters of the 
subject of this biography, Miss Margaret Woolley 
and Mrs. Alice Chrisler. are residents of Sioux 
Falls, South Dakota. Philip A. Woolley attended 
the schools of the Empire state until he was eigh- 
teen, when he commenced life on his own recogni- 
zance. His first undertaking was a lumber contract, 
but shortly after the completion of this work he en- 
tered the mercantile business at Russell, Canada, 
where he continued for a number of years. While 
in Russell, Mr. Woolley commenced to engage in 
contracting work, so that in 1864 he was prepared 
to accept a contract for railroad work at Escanaba, 
Michigan, in the construction of tlie road between 
that point and Green Bay, Wisconsin. Three years 
were consumed in completing this work and then 
A'Ir. Woolley went to Grand Haven, Michigan, 
where he had a government contract which occu- 
pied his attention and energy for ten years. Dur- 
ing this period he also carried on railroad work. For 
the next subsequent thirteen years Mr. Woolley 
made his headquarters at Elgin, Illinois, from which 
place he directed a great amount of contract work 
for the Chicago & Alton railway. It was in 1889 
that Mr. Woolley came to Washington and Skagit 
county. Here he purchased a large tract of land 
and so great was his foresight and his faith in the 
future development of the country that amid tress 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



677 



which had never known the ax he laid out the site 
of the town which was to bear his name, himself 
felling the first tree on the town site. For a time 
j\Ir. \V'oolley engaged somewhat in mining and one 
of his enterprises was the construction of a large 
lumber and shingle mill, which he afterward sold. 
He has made Woolley his headquarters ever since, 
■continuing an extensive contracting business with 
operations in various parts of the country. In 1901 
]\Ir. Woolley secured the contract for furnishing all 
the materials for the Sea Board Air Line, which 
contract will not terminate until ISIOS. 

In January of 1857, while a resident of Russell, 
Canada. Mr. Woolley married Miss Catherine 
Loucks. daughter of Hon. W. G. Loucks, a mer- 
chant of Ottawa, the capital of the dominion. Mr. 
Loucks was descended from immigrants from Lux- 
emburg, Germany, who on settling in Canada be- 
came adherents to the loyalist cause. In his later 
years he was in the civil service department of the 
Canadian government. He passed aw-ay in March, 
1!)00, a prominent and highly respected citizen of 
the community in which he had passed his life. Mr. 
and i\Irs. \\'oolley have two sons and two daughters. 
The sons, William and Philip, are associated with 
their father in his contracting enterprises in 
Georgia, Florida and other Southern states. One 
of the daughters, Zaida, is the wife of Horace Pin- 
hey, a government official of Ottawa; the other, 
Kate, is the wife of Dr. C. C. Harbaugh, a promi- 
nent physician of Woolley. In fraternal circles Mr. 
A\'oolley is a member of the Masonic order and also 
of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. In re- 
ligious affiliations he has been a lifelong Presbyte- 
rian. In politics he is a Republican and has always 
taken a commendable interest in political matters, 
though in no sense is he an active politician. His 
time and attention are too deeply engrossed in the 
management of his business to permit him being ac- 
tive in the usually accepted sense of politics. The 
political work for the family is done by Philip 
"V\'oolley, who has .several times served as secretarv 
of the Republican county central committee. In- 
•ch'.stry, enterprise and public spirit have character- 
ized ]\Ir. \\'oolley's life here in the Pacific North- 
west, as they also marked his career in other parts 
of the country. He served as mayor of his home 
town two terms of two years each. 



CALVIN L. FARRAR, son of Rev. Robert 
Buchanan Farrar and Martha E. (Thompson) Far- 
rar, was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, 
on April a,S, 1875. His parents came west in 1881, 
the familv stopping in Iowa while the father was 
sent to the Pacific coast as a Sunday school mis- 
sionary of the Presbyterian church. He spent con- 
siderable time in Portland, going up the Columbia 
and staging across to Spokane and Walla Walla, 



afterwards visiting Seattle, which was then, in his 
own words, "a thriving village," and coming north 
across Skagit county to Whatcom (Bellingham). 
•Afterwards he returned east and settled in Dakota. 
There, in the country of cattle and wheat, the sub- 
ject of this sketch lived most of the time until 1898 
(except a few winters spent in school at Parsons 
College, Fairfield, Iowa), when he came to Skagit 
county, settling at Mt. Vernon. In the fall of the 
same year he went to Ballard and obtained a posi- 
tion as tallyman in Stimson's mill, which he held for 
some time, finally leaving that to engage in car- 
penter work in Seattle. 

In 1900 he purchased the Robert Kerr ranch at 
Marblemount, where he lived for about five years. 
He served as deputy county assessor for the upper 
Skagit district for the seasons of 1901, 1902 and 
1905, giving general satisfaction to the county offi- 
cials and to the taxpayers. He has spent a great 
deal of time in the mountains prospecting and is 
now interested in some very promising mining 
daims. He was appointed a United States forest 
ranger and served during the season of 1903 in the 
Ruby Creek district of the Washington Forest Re- 
serve. The next year, as his farming interests had 
increased, he resigned this position and remained 
on the farm, but as he sold the farm the next win- 
ter he afterwards took the civil service examination 
and was again appointed forest ranger, and in the 
past season (1905) was on special duty in the new 
additions to the reserve. 

Mr. Farrar's father died in 1888, while pastor 
of the Beaver Creek Presbyterian church. Rock 
county, Minnesota, leaving a widow, who now lives 
at Ballard, and eight children, whose names and 
residences are as follows : Frank A., Ballard, prin- 
cipal of the East Side school, formerly of Mt. Ver- 
non, where he was for many jears editor of the 
Skagit Valley Herald and was well known, through- 
out the countv ; Nellie F. Kinnear, Spokane ; Myrta 
A., Ballard ; Robert W., Washington, D. C. ; Luella 
M. Haroldson, Brookings, South Dakota ; Calvin L., 
Sedro-Woollev ; Marv P., Ballard; Grace H.. Bal- 
lard. 

The Farrar family are direct descendants of 
James Farrai', born in England in 173'/, who came 
over to America when a boy and settled in New 
Jersey. Several of the colonial Farrars served in 
the French and Indian War and Andrew Farrar, 
grandfather of our subject, when but fourteen years 
old, went into the Revolutionary army as a team- 
ster, while all his other brothers served as soldiers, 
two of them dying on the infamous prison ship. 
Jersey. Mr. Farrar's father was in the theological 
seminary at the time of our Civil War, and, although 
he was never an able bodied man, yet he volun- 
teered as a nurse and served at the battle of Shiloh 
and in the campaign of "The Wilderness" and at 
several other times. 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



In fraternal circles Mr. Farrar is a member of 
Patrons of Husbandry, Ridg\vay Grange 14?, and 
the Modern Woodmen of America. In politics he is 
a Republican, but always votes for an honest man 
when one is put up against a rogue. He will always 
oppose any man or any policy that he thinks will 
become an obstacle to the progress of the neigh- 
borhood and for that reason has often been called 
"The Marhlemount Agitator." 



HIRAM HAMMER, one of the leading citizens 
of Sedro-Woolley and a prominent educator of Ska- 
git county, has been called upon to perform many 
public duties, which in every instance he has done 
with great credit to himself. He was born in Black- 
ford County, Indiana, July 11, 1849, the son of 
Peter Hammer, who was a native of Ohio. He was 
a mechanic in that state, but later became a mer- 
chant in Indiana, where he passed away in 1862, a 
victim of smallpox. The mother, in maiden life 
Miss Mary Cliandler, was of a pioneer Ohio family, 
her father being an English born Quaker. She died 
in Indiana when Hiram was eleven years old, leav- 
ing six children. Hiram Hammer obtained his early 
education m the common schools of Indiana, gradu- 
ating from a high school and later attending the 
state normal at Bloomington, Illinois, but his studies 
were interrupted by the demand of the government 
for more troops. He felt the need of his country 
and when only fourteen years old, enlisted in Com- 
pany I, One Hundred Thirty-eighth Indiana In- 
fantry. This was in 1864, and he served till the 
close of the great struggle, being finally mustered 
out in Indianapolis. In spite of this serious inter- 
ference, he stuck to his determination to obtain a 
thorough education, and during the following years 
he was engaged alternately in teaching and going 
to school. For twelve years he was an instructor in 
Indiana. Illinois and Kansas, to the last mentioned 
of which states he went in 1871. There, in 1879, 
he was elected county clerk of Lincoln county, a 
position which he filled for six years. He also was 
two years register of deeds and in 1890 had the 
responsible task of gathering mortgage data for 
twelve Kansas counties, for the United States cen- 
sus. Upon finishing this work he came west and 
for four years after his arrival he taught school in 
different places in Skagit county. Fle was chosen 
county auditor in 1894, and served for the ensuing 
four years, then for half a decade he was connected 
with the Green Shingle Company, but he taught 
again in the school year of 190;V4. He was elected 
citv clerk, police judge and justice of the peace of 
Sedro-Woolley in 1904. 

In Salina, Kansas, in 1877, Mr. Hammer mar- 
ried Miss Catherine Doumyer, daughter of Jacob 
Doumyer, a native of Pennsylvania of Dutch de- 
scent, who became a wheat and corn raiser of Kan- 



sas. The mother, who in maiden life was Miss 
Sarah Baumgartner, was also of Pennsylvania 
Dutch origin. Mrs. Hammer was born in the Key- 
stone state in 1857 and received her education there 
and in Kansas, at one time being a pupil of her fu- 
ture husband. Of this union have been born three 
children : Harriet A., now wife of Hon. N. J. Mol- 
stad, representative in the last two sessions of the 
state legislature, and one of the prominent mer- 
chants of Mount Vernon ; Kathryn S., bookkeeper 
and stenographer at Sedro-Wooley, and Hiram J. 
In politics Mr. Hammer is a Republican and in fra- 
ternal affiliations a blue lodge Mason and a member 
of the Grand Army of the Republic. He has accu- 
mulated considerable city property. l\Tr. Hammer 
is one of the best known and most highly res])ected 
citizens of Skagit county, a worthy representative 
of his high profession. 



SAMUEL S. GAY. the popular boarding house 
man at Burn's mill, .Sedro-Woolley, was born in 
King County, Prince Edward Island, Canada, Janu- 
ary 26, 187>.'. His parents, Andrew and Flora (Mc- 
Phaii ) C.iy. still are living at his boyhood home. 
The f.illu"-, wlio was born in England in 1837. has 
spent his entire life on the farm. The mother is a 
native of Nova Scotia, born in 1849. Like many 
another successful man, Samuel S. Gay started for 
himself at an early age. He left home at fourteen 
and served a three-year apprenticeship in a carpen- 
ter shop, then worked at his trade two years in 
North Dakota bef6re coming to Washington in 1893. 
Times were hard and work in his line was scarce, 
so, with the energy and determination so charac- 
teristic of the man, he worked at whatever offered 
itself for the first year, then located at Cokedale, 
where he v/as employed at the coke furnaces three 
years. He was employed by the Pacific Coast 
Steamship Company for a year and went to Skag- 
way, his capable wife assisting him by cooking for 
the company. Whi'e in this employment thev saved 
what they could, laving the foundation for their fu- 
ture prosperity. Eventually returning to Cokedale, 
he had charge of a boarding house and store there 
until he sold the latter to the company. A year 
later he sold the boarding house also and purchased 
a ranch of forty acres two miles east of Woolley, 
which, after greatly improving it, he sold five months 
later at a good profit. He invested his earnings in 
real estate in Everett, where he still holds a lot and 
a two-storv hotel on Rucker avenue, a half block 
from Hewitt street. Having rented this, he returned 
to Cokedale, where he was employed by the same 
coal company until the mines closed. He was with 
the New York Life Insurance Company for a year 
afterward, then entered the employ of Mr. Burn 
as manasrer of the boarding house at his mill, a posi- 
tion he still retains. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Mr. Gay married, while living at Cokedale, Miss 
Lena Johnson, the daughter of John and Mirandy 
(Anderson) Johnson. When Mrs. Gay was four- 
teen her njolher died, and she came with her father 
to Skagit county, where he since has been a resi- 
dent. Mr. and Mrs. Gay have three children: Ran- 
dolph, born October 8, ISOi ; Florence, July 14, 
1898, and Arthur C. J., February 20, 1901. The 
family attends the Methodist church of which both 
he and his wife are members. Mr. Gay is a Re- 
publican and has been a member of the Republican 
central committee and a road supervisor, discharg- 
ing the duties of these positions in a creditable man- 
ner. He is a public-spirited citizen whose influence 
can be relied upon to support anything for the good 
of his town and county. He adheres strictly to 
sound business principles and attends carefully to 
the comforts of his patrons, thus establishing an en- 
viable reputation for (jiis house. 



WILLIAM H. PERRY, the well known and 
able attornty-at-law, has had more varied and in- 
teresting experiences than have fallen to the lot of 
most residents of Sedro-Woolley. He was born in 
Jefferson County, New York, May 32, 1850, the 
son ot Holbrook Perry of New York, a prominent 
Horace Greeley man who died in 1881 when sixty- 
one years old. The mother, Mary (Ross) Perry, 
was born in 1825, a descendant of the famous Gen- 
eral Ross of England. She died in August, 18G2. 
The seventh child of a family of nine, William H. 
Perry began working for himself when ten years 
old, his lirst emp'.oyment being 6n a farm hoeing 
corn. For several years he worked out summers, 
returning home winters to attend school, and later 
he worked for his board while he continued his 
education. By diligently improving every oppor- 
tunity, he acquired an excellent preparation for the 
profession he afterwards entered. After moving to 
Illinois he still worked and went to school until 
1867, when he went to Minnesota as a trapper. He 
remembers that, while on his way to Fort Aber- 
crombie with a load of flour to exchange for furs, 
he was forced to spend one terribly cold night in 
his wagon because he had failed to reach the usual 
stoppuig place, and that his partner by making a 
grass fire, set the whole prairie afire, almost burning 
the fort. They were badly cheated in their trade 
and the few furs they did receive his partner shipped 
to Chicago, disappearinar himself. Mr. Perry tork 
a c'aim near Osakis, Minnesota, but abandoned it 
later to go to Fort Wadsworth, South Dakota. 
There he lived among the same Indians who perpe- 
trated the horrible Minnesota massacre in ISfiO. He 
cut cord wood for a living at first, then drove oxen 
for a contractor wdio was furnishing: supplies for 
the fort. One trip with the oxen he will never 
forget. The first night he slept in an Indian tepee 



near Buffalo lake, where a war dance was in prog- 
ress. Two nights later he was caught in a blizzard, 
lost the trail, and was obliged to corral the cattle 
and sleep as best he could in a sled. In the morning 
he found his boots frozen so stiff it was impossible 
to put them on. The rest of the winter he cared 
for his cattle and traded with the Indians and in 
the spring took up a claim in Stevens county, Min- 
nesota, which he sold three years later. He had 
long cherished an ambition to enter the legal pro- 
fession, so now he began reading Blackstone and 
later entered the state university at Minneapolis. 
He applied himself too closely to his books and 
found after two years that his health was fail- 
ing, so went to Illinois for a rest, but resumed his 
study the following spring, completed his course 
and was admitted to the bar in 188.3. He practiced 
law three years in Villard, Minnesota, then prac- 
ticed in Alexandria in the same state, then in Ham- 
ilton, Washington, and finally in 1895 opened an 
office in Sedro-Woolley, where he still lives. He 
has a brother, George W. Perry, who has resided 
in Seattle since 1887, and a sister, Mrs. Harriett 
Martin, who lives in Kansas. Mr. Perry became a 
stanch Prohibitionist in 1886 and has since worked 
loyally for the interest of that party. He is a promi- 
nent worker in the Independent Order of Good 
Templars and a faithful member of the Methodist 
church. He showed his energy and ability as a so- 
licitor on one business trip by insuring every build- 
ing between Hamilton and Sauk. On one occasion 
he insured a house in the afternoon and that night 
it burned to the ground. The next morning he ad- 
justed the loss, sending in a claim for loss with the 
application for insurance. Mr. Perry is an ener- 
getic man of irreproachable character who enjoys 
the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens. 



MENZO B. MATTICE, M. D., the pioneer 
physician of Sedro-Woolley, Washington, is a na- 
tive of Albany, New York, born April 2, 1855. He 
is the son of John J. and Emeline (Canada) Mat- 
tice, natives and esteemed residents of the Empire 
state, who were born about the close of the first 
quarter of the nineteenth century. The elder Mat- 
tice was engaged in mercantile pursuits until the 
year 1861, w hen he enlisted in the Ninety-first New 
York Volunteers, .for service in the Civil War. Al- 
though among the very first of New York's patriotic 
citizens to answer the call to arms, he was not aes- 
tined to serve the full time for which he enlisted. 
Because of physical disability he received an honor- 
able discharge from the service in 1863 and returned 
to the North. He never recovered from the effects 
of disease contracted while in the discharge of his 
duties as a soldier and died in 1868. 

Menzo B. Mattice is the third in a family of 
five children. The vears of his boyhood and youth 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



were spent in the state of his birtli where he also 
received his education. After a course in the schools 
of his home city he was graduated from the acad- 
emy at Fort Plain in the central part of the state. In 
1881 he received a certificate of graduation from the 
Albany Medical ( olU-e and soon afterwards located 
in Brookings, Sniiih Dakota, where he began his 
career as a praclirmg physician. In 188;i, at Brook- 
ings, he inairied Miss Fannie Plocker, daughter of 
James and I-'annie (Spaulding) Plocker, the father 
a native of England, of Holland-Dutch extraction; 
the mother born in Augusta, Maine. James Plock- 
er was a graduate of the Amsterdam (Plolland) 
University; was a man of exceptional literary at- 
tainments and achieved distinction in his day as a 
writer. He was a pioneer of Wisconsin and died 
in that state. Mrs. Plocker died at Brookings, 
South Dakota. Mrs. Mattice claims Wisconsin as 
the state of her nativity, the date of her birth being 
April 21, 1S58. There, in the common schools and 
in the State Normal, she received her education. 
Following her graduation, at the age of seventeen, 
she became a teacher, in which profession she con- 
tinued for eight years, meeting with marked suc- 
.cess; at the age of twenty-five she abandoned her 
work in the schools and became the wife of Dr. Mat- 
tice. 

After a residence of ten years in lirookings, 
South Dakota, Dr. Mattice came to Washington, lo- 
cating at Scdro, which afterwards was joined to the 
town of Woolley, the two communities uniting in the 
municipality of Sedro-Woolley. At the time of his 
coming, there was no physician beween Sedro and 
Snohomish, and the boundary of the territory over 
which his practice extended formed a circle whose 
radius was forty miles long. Here the Doctor has 
watched and participated in the growth and develop- 
ment of the town and the surrounding country, in 
the meanwhile contributing very materially to their 
general advancement. He has built up an exten- 
sive practice and an enviable professional and social 
reputation. In addition to caring for his general 
practice he has for many years served the Northern 
Pacific Railroad as Company Physician, and as a 
condition of the pioneering days we may mention the 
fact that he was allowed the use of the company's 
"speeder" in visiting patients living along the right 
of way. F'or a number of years he was company 
physician for the Cokedale Mining Company. Ever 
watchful of the interests of his home community he 
has given liberal support to all public enterprises, 
devoting his energies especially to the advancement 
of the schools. He has for twelve years been an 
active member of the school board, and is largely 
responsible for their high standing among the edu- 
cational institutions of the county. Both Dr. and 
Mrs. Mattice believe thoroughly in the advantages 
of practical education as is evidenced by the care 
they are taking with that of their five children, here 



named. The eldest, Albert F., who was born in 
Brookings, South Dakota, December 2G, 1884, was 
first graduated from the South Dakota State Col- 
lege, and has just received his di])loma from the 
School of Pharmacy at the State College at Pull- 
man, Washington. He has also devoted consider- 
able time to tlie study of music. Clyde M., born in 
the Dakota home January 21, 1S87, is now in the 
high school at Sedro-Woolley. Cornelia, also born 
in Dakota, her birthday being March i6, 1889, is 
at present a student in the Pullman College. Mil- 
dred and Menzo, Jr., born in Sedro, the former 
November 8, 1895 and the latter April 21, 1901, 
are at home. 

Dr. Mattice's fraternal connections are with 
the Knights Templar, the Knights of Pythias, and 
the Odd Fellows ; he is also prominent in the Ska- 
git County Medical Society. The family attend 
the Presbyterian church in which the Doctor has 
been a trustee since its organization. In politics he 
affiliates with the Democratic party. He is a stock 
holder in the Citizens Bank of Anacortes and in 
the State Bank of Arlington ; is interested also in 
the oyster beds at Bay Centre. His varied prop- 
erty holdings and his professional success make 
him a leading and influential citizen in financial 
and professional circles, as well as in the political 
and other public councils of this section of the 
state. In church and social circles Dr. and Mrs. 
Mattice have many personal friends, and here, as 
well as in the more public walks of life, they are 
held in the highest esteem. 



CHARLES VTLI.ENEUVE is one of the men 
whose activities in Skagit county commenced in the 
days when settlers were few and communications 
difficult. He and Mrs. Villeneuve were the real 
pioneers of Conway, where they still have inter- 
ests, though living in Sedro-Woolley and operat- 
ing the St. Charles hotel in that city. Mr. Villen- 
euve was born in Ottawa, Carlton county, in the 
eastern part of the province of Ontario, February 
18, 1830. His father, Charles Villeneuve, was a 
native of Quebec where his ancestry had gone to 
engage in the fur trade. He took sides with the 
American revolutionists when the struggles of the 
colonists commenced with the mother country, and 
as one result of this, the Villeneuve estates were 
forfeited. Mrs. Ann (McKusick) Villeneuve was 
a native of Ireland. Charles, who was the only son 
of his parents, attended school until he was six- 
teen years of age, and his interests being in com- 
mon with those of his parents, he continued to re- 
side with them long after he had attained to man's 
estate, but in 1868, shortly after his marriage, he 
went to San Francisco, where he passed three 
years in a sash and door factory, his natural ability 
with tools su])plying in a great measure what he 
had lacked in experience and training. He finally 



BIOGRArillCAL 



determined to come to the Puget Sound country 
and boarded the Forest Queen for the trip to Port 
(jamblc, in Kitsap county, reaching his destina- 
tion after an exciting voyage in which the vessel 
was driven 200 miles to the south of the Golden 
Gate on the third day out from San Francisco. 
At Port Gamble Mr. Villeneuve passed two years 
in a saw-mill, engaged in sawing and tallying, 
then he went back east and visited his family and 
friends for six months, returning with his daugh- 
ters. In the fall of 1873 Mr. Villeneuve came to 
what is now Skagit county and took up land 
where now stands the town of Conway. In a 
few months his family came. On the east side 
of the river at that time were Big Wilson, Little 
Wilson, Willard Sartwell, Orin Kincaid and Billy 
Johnson. During the following summer an Eng- 
lishman named Marshall started a little trading 
post across the river where Fir now stands. 
Marshall had to leave because he was selling whis- 
key to the Indians, and a Frenchman named Long- 
I)re, who became his successor, left after a time 
for the same reason, but was later caught by the 
authorities and had to serve a term in prison. The 
stock of goods was bought by Charles Mann early 
in 187(), and the steamers, which by that time came 
up the river quite frequently, gave the place the 
name of Mann's Landing. Further up the river 
were Joe Lisk, William Caton, James Abbott and 
John Wilber, in regular order toward Mount Ver- 
non, all squaw men. Next came Thomas and John 
Moore with their white wives, and Robert Gage 
and McAlpin came next after them, all on the 
west side of the river. To the south was Tom 
Jones, who came shortly after the Villeneuves. 
There were no roads, and travel was wholly by 
boat. Mrs. Villeneuve had preceded Mrs. Tom and 
Mrs. John Moore, and was thus the first white wo- 
man in that section of the county. At that time on 
the site of Mount Vernon were Mrs. Jasper Gates, 
Mrs. Hartson and her mother, Mrs. Kimball and 
Mrs. Ford, the Washburn family not coming till 
later. In order to get lumber with which to build 
his house Mr. Villeneuve went to Utsalady, on 
Camano island, made the lumljer into a raft and 
towed it behind his Whitehall boat. The tides 
greatly hindered progress, and he was four days 
in making the return trip. The house built from 
that lumber was the first board structure in this 
section of the country. A suggestion as to the 
utter wildness of the country may be gathered 
from the fact that on the site of Mann's landing 
was an old Indian burial place and bodies were 
found wrapped in blankets and hung in canoes in 
the trees, which were removed by the first two 
traders because they caused so great a stench. 
Many of the Indians at that time had long fiery 
red hair. 

January 29, 1868 at Ottawa, Ontario, Mr. Vil- 
leneuve married Miss B. A. Treacy, daughter of 



William and Rachael (Dagg) Treacy, who were 
of Irish descent. Mrs. Villeneuve was born in 
Ottawa in 1847, the tenth of a family of eleven 
children. She and Mr. Villeneuve have six chil- 
dren: Mrs. Drusilla T. McGregor; William Eu- 
gene, now in Alaska ; Mrs. Ida Emogcn Lloyd, 
wife of John Lloyd ; Charles F. and Joseph Benja- 
min, both of whom are in British Columbia ; and 
Cecilia, living at home. In politics Mr. Villen- 
euve is a Democrat, always active in attending the 
conventions of that party and prominent in its work. 
He was postmaster at Conway for eight years, 
during the last three of which he was a resident of 
Sedro-Woolley and conducted the post-office 
through a deputy. When Mr. Villeneuve first set- 
tled on the Skagit where Conway now is, he 
worked in the woods and logging camps for a 
number of years. In 1880 he sold out and went 
to Snohomish county, taking up a preemption 
near Stanwood, but on proving up, he came back 
to Skagit county in 1885. For a year after his 
return he ran a hotel at Fir. Later he purchased 
land on the east side of the river hard by Conway 
and commenced to operate a ferry across the Ska- 
git, also built the first store in Conway and ar- 
ranged for keei^ing boarders. When he attempted 
to get a post-office located there, he met with op- 
position from the people of Mann's Landing who 
looked with displeasure on the rival town across 
the river. In 1897 Mr. Villeneuve came to Sedro- 
\yoolley and built the Hotel Royal, now the Ven- 
dome, the largest hostlery in the city, in the mean- 
time renting out his property in Conway and 
ultimately selling it. In 1903 Mr. Villeneuve sold 
the Hotel Royal and built the St. Charles which 
he continues to operate. In addition to his hotel 
property he owns seven acres of the town site. 
During his residence at Conway and in Snohomish 
county he was justice of the peace ; he was a mem- 
ber of the city council at the time of the consolida- 
tion of Sedro and Woolley and is still a member 
of that body, also is secretary of the Skagit County 
Pioneer Association. Mrs. Villeneuve, who is 
deeply interested in education, was the prime mover 
in the establishment of the first school built on the 
Skagit river, the lumber for which was brought 
by boat at half charge owing to Mrs. Villeneuve's 
individual effort and public spirited action. 



OTTO K. VON PRESSENTIN and his 
father are pioneers of Skagit county, the latter as a 
farmer and the son as a teacher, and, in more re- 
cent years, a hardware merchant. Charles von 
Pressentin, the father, is a native of Germany, de- 
scended from one of the old families of that coun- 
try which dates back to the thirteenth century 
without a lapse in the family record. Mr. von Pres- 
sentin came to America, landing first at Quebec; 
but in 18C7 he moved across the border into Wis- 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



consin and remained there a short time before 
going to Michigan. In the Peninsula state he 
worked in a logging camp and afterwards became 
bookkeeper for Louis Sands, with whom he con- 
tinued for two years ; he was also town clerk in 
his home town. In 1877 Mr. von Pressentin 
crossed the plains and came to Washington via 
San Francisco, settling at Fjirdsview and taking up 
a homestead. Mrs. Wilhelmina (May) von Pres- 
sentin was also born in Germany of an ancient 
family, but as a girl accompanied her parents to 
Michigan in 1869, marrying in that state. She is 
the mother of seven children, six of whom are 
living. Otto being the third. Otto von Pressentin 
was born in Manistee, Michigan, June 4, 1876. 
After his parents came to Washington he at- 
tended scliool in P>irdsview and prepared himself 
for teaching, in which vocation he engaged when 
twenty years old, in a school at Marblemont. Two 
years later, in 1898, he and his brother Paul opened 
a general merchandise store in Marblemont and 
continued to run it for four years, at the end of 
which time he sold out to his brother Paul and en- 
gaged with the Great Northern railway as timber 
cruiser. During his business partnership with his 
brother in the general store, he had been forest re- 
serve ranger. In 1903 Mr. von Pressentin took a 
two-months' trip through the eastern states, and on 
his return, went to work in Fritsch Brothers' hard- 
ware store. Six months later he bought the hard- 
ware store of R. Lamont at Sedro-Woolley, which 
business he is conducting with marked success at. 
the present time. Mr. von Pressentin has five 
brothers: Bernhard, now in the Klondike: Paul, 
in the general mercantile business at Marblemont: 
Frank, in the hotel business at Marblemont; and 
Hans and Charles in the employ of the govern- 
ment at the Birdsview fish hatchery. In politics 
Mr. von Pressentin is a Republican and in church 
relations a Lutheran. He is one of those whose 
qualities are such that he attracts men to him, and 
is very popular with all classes. He is a success- 
ful business man, full of energy- and enterprise, 
and whatever he undertakes, he throws his whole 
soul into its accomplishment. 



J. WILLIAM KYLE, a well educated and 
cultured gentleman, proprietor of the Sibley & 
Kyle Mercantile Company of Sedro-Woolley, was 
born in Jamestown, Ohio, May 25, 1858. His 
father. Doctor Joseph A. Kyle, a native of Green 
County, Ohio, born in 1811, passed away in 188-1, 
after a long and useful life. Mrs. Sarah (Mooney) 
Kyle, the mother, was born in 1824 in Indiana and 
died in 1895. Intending to follow his father's 
profession, J. William Kyle supplemented his excel- 
lent high school training by a course in the Kan- 
sas City Medical college, but on completing his 
studies he took up an entirely different line of 



work, entering the employ of the Union Pacific 
Railroad company, as agent. He was ten years in 
this service in Kansas and ten more in Elgin, Ore- 
gon, after which he went to Portland. He soon 
after accepted a position in the Great Northern 
office at Sedro-Woolley, which he held until 1891, 
when he resigned to begin a mercantile career. 
He formed a partnership with Mr. Sibley and es- 
tablished the business of which he now is the sole 
owner, having bought out the interest of Mr. Sib- 
ley soon after the partnership was formed. 

Mr. Kyle married Lizzie E. Farringer in Kan- 
sas City in 1883. She is a native of the Buck- 
eve state, as also was her father, Philip Farringer. 
Her mother, Sarah (Singleton) Farringer, was 
born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1813 and died 
in 1873. Mr. and Mrs. Kyle have two children 
living, Edwin, born December 21, 1893, and Eliza- 
beth, November 15, 1883, now a student at the 
Anna Wright seminary in Tacoma. Mr. Kyle 
heartily endorses Republican principles but never 
has had political aspirations. In religious faith he 
is a Presbyterian. He takes pride in the fact that 
he is a descendant of the Covenanters who were 
driven out of Scotland during the terrible perse- 
cutions of the seventeenth centurv. Besides his 
business and other real estate he is the owner of 
the property of the Mortimer Cook estate, com- 
prising twenty-four city lots. He is a man of ster- 
ling character, enjoying the entire confidence of his 
fellow citizens, and possessed of keen, practical 
business abilitv. 



FREDERICK R. FALLER, one of the 
skilled mechanics of Sedro-Woolley and also vice 
president of the Sedro-Woolley Iron Works, is a 
man of recognized ability in his special line of work 
and a business man of excellent standing. Mr. 
Falser is a native of Germany, born at Seppen- 
hofer in 1872. Matthew Faller, the father, was 
born in England, but moved to Germanv when a 
boy with his parents and became a bookkeeper by 
profession. Mrs. Helena (Wetzel) Faller, the 
mother, was born in Germany, the daughter of 
German parents, and continued to reside there 
until her removal to the United States. She is now 
living at Everett with a daughter, Mrs. Sophia 
Creese. Frederick Faller came to the United States 
with his mother in 18S3 and lived in Illinois dur- 
ing the years of his early youth and young man- 
hood. On the com])letion of his education, he came 
to Snohomish Countv, Washington, and entered 
Sumner's Iron Works, at Everett as apprentice 
to the iron workers' trade. In 1900 he went to 
Seattle, and he put in the next year and a half there 
in the shops of Moran Brothers, shipbuilders. Com- 
ing to Sedro-Woolley in 1903, he became one of 
the organizers of the Sedro-Woolley Iron Works, 
accepting the position of vice-president of the com- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



pany, and he has devoted all his time since then 
to this business, contributing much to the success 
it has attained. 

In 1898 at Everett Mr. Faller married Miss 
Myrtle A. Havercroft, daughter of Thomas Haver- 
croft, an English carpenter, who is now a resident 
of Everett and janitor in the schools of that city. 
Mrs. Sarah (Collins) Havercroft, the mother of 
Mrs. Faller, a native of Nebraska, is now living 
in Everett. .She has four children, Mrs. Faller, Mrs. 
Eliza Squires, Mrs. Ethel Hotchkiss and Henry 
Havercroft. Mrs. Faller was born in Nebraska 
in 1878 but received her education in Everett, 
graduating from the high school. She and Mr. 
Faller have four children, Herbert, Edna, Freddie 
and Pearl. In politics Mr. Faller is a Republican ; 
in fraternal affiliation a member of the Masonic 
order. He is now serving in the city council. He 
owns a one-third interest in the Sedro-Woolley 
Iron Works, which employs fifteen men and has a 
payroll of -$1,200 a month. Since coming to Sedro- 
Woolley he has not only established himself firmly 
in business, but has won popularity with all classes 
of citizens, and is now enjoying in full measure the 
respect and confidence of those who have been as- 
sociated with him. 



D.\RIUS KINSEY, the popular photographer 
of Sedro-Woolley, learned the art before the Ska- 
git county communities had developed sufficiently 
to warrant the establishment of a gallery, but as 
soon as the population increased enough to make it 
profitable he entered the business which he and 
Mrs. Kinsey have successfully conducted ever 
since. Mr. Kinsey was born in Nodaway County, 
Missouri, in 1869, the son of Edward j. Kinsey. 
The father, of German and English descent, was 
born in New Jersey in 184-t, learned the trade 
of carpenter and cabinet maker, went to Missouri 
just after the Civil War had closed, moved to 
Barton county in 1880, in 1885 went to the Indian 
territory, returned to West Virginia in 1887 and 
two years later came to Washington, locating at 
Snoqualmie in the hotel and mercantile business ; 
he died there in 1896. The mother, Mrs. Louisa 
(McBride) Kinsey, of Scotch lineage, a native of 
Boone County, Illinois, born in 1846, became the 
mother of six children, Darius being the second. 
Darius Kinsey received his education in the schools 
of Kansas. He remained at home until he was 
twenty-one years old, when he learned the artistic 
•and professional ends of the photography business 
and \vent to Seattle. After one year's experience, 
so skillful had he become, he was engaged by the 
Seattle & Lake Shore Railroad company and spent 
five years taking views along its line. In 1895, 
while temporarily in Sedro, he conceived the idea 
of establishing a branch gallery in that commun- 
ity, which he did in 1897. He rightly judged that 



the place would give good support to a first class 
artist. 

In 1896 Mr. Kinsey married Miss Tabitha 
Pritts, daughter of Samuel A. Pritts, a Pennsylvan- 
ian, of German descent. Adam and Andrew Poe 
the historical Indian fighters were his great uncles. 

Mrs. Pritts came to Washington in 1881 and lo- 
cated at Nooksack as a farmer. Mrs. Elizabeth 
(Berg) Pritts, Mrs. Kinsey 's mother, of Pennsyl- 
vania Dutch stock, still is living in the Sound coun- 
try. Mrs. Kinsey was born in Minnesota, May 24, 
1875, and received her education in Whatcom coun- 
ty, this state, marrying when twenty-one years old. 
She and Mr. Kinsey have one child, Dorothea, born 
in Sedro, May 30, 1901. Mr. Kinsey owns his 
home. He is a prominent worker in the Methodist 
church, and superintendent of its Sunday school. 
He believes in the dutv of the people to abolish the 
liquor traffic and that the only means of doing it is 
through the Prohibition party. Mrs. Kinsey also is 
a photographer and takes charge of the office. Mr. 
Kinsey's camera is said to be the largest in the 
state of Washington and he is especiallv skillful in 
scenic work. He is in great demand for outside 
photography, while at the same time he and Mrs. 
Kinsev have the reputation of conducting one of 
the best galleries north of Seattle. 



WILLIAM J. THOMPSON, the well known 
liveryman of Sedro-Woolley, was born February 
2, 1862, in Perth, Ontario, which was also the 
birthplace of his parents, William C. and Margaret 
(Gamble) Thompson. His father, born in 1831, 
is now a retired farmer living in his native city, 
his mother, born in 1837, died" in December, 1903, 
after a long life of devotion to her husband aijd 
children. Leaving home at the age of twenty. Will- 
iam J. Thompson went to Assiniboia and took up 
land near Moosomin remaining three years. At 
that time no settler had penetrated farther into the 
Northwestern part of Canada. When the North- 
west rebellion broke out in 1885, he volunteered 
to go as one of Major Bolton's scouts, and he was 
in several skirmishes before the uprising was put 
down. Having spent the following winter in 
Moosomin, he went to Donald, British Columbia, 
where he worked two years in constructing 
bridges on the Canadian Pacific railroad which 
then terminated at that point. He spent some time 
in Vancouver, later made Seattle his home, being 
employed in building docks there for a year, after 
which he came to the present site of Bellingham. 
He worked the next three years in logging camps, 
and during the first four years of his residence 
in Sedro-Woolley was also engaged in logging, be- 
ing manager of the Sterling Mill company's camp. 
Eventually moving into town, he opened the livery 
barn that he now owns. While convalescing from 
a severe attack of appendicitis in the fall of 1904, 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



he made his first visit to his old home in the East 
from which he had been absent twenty-three years. 

Mr. Thompson in 1893 married Louise Gra- 
ham, a native of Berlin, Germany. Her father died 
in Germany when she was a small girl, and she 
immigrated with her mother to Michigan, coming 
later to Whatcom with a sister. Her mother died 
in Michigan in 1896. 

Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have two children, 
Margaret, born September 26. 1893, and William 
G., born July 31, 1895. Mr. Thompson is active 
in fraternal circles, being a member of the Masonic 
lodge. Number 90, and Truth lodge. Number 147, 
Odd Fellows, also of the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen, while Mrs. Thompson is actively iden- 
tified with the Rebekahs. In politics Mr. Thomp- 
son is a loyal Republican. Peculiarly fond of 
horses from his boyhood, he is especially fitted for 
the business that now claims his attention, and in 
which he is winning marked success. He gratifies 
his passion for fine horses by keeping the pedigreed 
stallion Nortwood, which though never entered in 
a race, has paced a mile under 2:17, and a half 
mile in 1:05; also a pedigreed gelding, Teddy C., 
with a record of 2 :24 as the result of two months' 
training. He does not keep these horses for rac- 
ing purposes, but fimply because they are splendid 
specimens of what years of careful, scientific breed- 
ing have succeeded in producing. Few men in the 
Northwest enjoy a wider reputation for accurate 
knowledge in regard to horses than does Mr. 
Thompson, whose excellent judgment is relied 
upon by those less familiar with the subject. A 
man of broad intelligence, public spirited, and 
withal possessed of a reputation for strict integ- 
rity, he enjoys an enviable position in his com- 
munity. 

FRANK J. HOEHN, who gives his name to 
the livery and stage business of F. J. Hoehn & 
Company of Sedro-Woolley, has had an interesting 
and successful career and has been engaged in 
manv operations in many parts of the United States. 
Mr. Hoehn is a native of Posey Countv, Indiana, 
born August 28, 18()4. His father, Blasius Hoehn, 
was a New Englander by birth, of French descent 
and of ancient family, who became a farmer in the 
early settlement of the Hoosier state. Mrs. Jose- 
phine (Phister) Hoehn. was a native of Ohio, of' 
German descent, the mother of nine children of 
whom Frank is the youngest. The others still 
living are Charles, George L. and Mary, all resi- 
dents of Indiana. School and boy's work around a 
farm occupied young Hoehn until thirteen years of 
age when he abruptly left home and started for 
himself in Illinois. The year 1877 found him in 
Texas riding cattle ranges for a living, and he 
continued at this work three years, during which 
► time he made frequent trips north to Niobrara river 
points in Nebraska. In this work he was employed 



by Irving Brothers. He' was with them in all five 
years, then entered the service of the Chicago & 
Northwestern railroad at Gordon, Nebraska, con- 
tinuing with the company for a year and a half af- 
terward. In the fall of 1886 he went to Douglas, 
Wyoming, and entered the second hand and bro- 
kerage business, later going to a mining camp 
called Hartville, but eventually he determined to 
try the Pacific coast. He started overland by team 
from Laramie, Wyoming, in July, wintered in 
Boise, Idaho, resumed his journey in the spring, 
stopped at Ellensburg, Washington, a short time 
and finally reached Sedro-Woolley, February 28, 
1890, with fourteen head of horses. The Fair- 
haven & Southern railroad was under construction, 
and Mr. Hoehn used his horses in freighting and 
packing for the road. He did the game when the 
Cokedale road was built. For the following three 
seasons he dealt in horses which he bought in the 
Ellensburg and North Yakima country and sold at 
a good profit in Skagit county. He spent one sea- 
son breaking horses on a ranch and for four years 
was foreman of the Hightower Lumber Company's 
logging camp and mill, and in 1904 he, with J. T. 
Hightower and W. M. Kirby bought the livery 
stable and business of William Thompson. It has 
since been managed entirely by Mr. Hoehn, his 
partners being mill men. The business is in excel- 
lent condition. It includes the operation and own- 
ership of a stage line between Sedro-Woolley and' 
Burlington. Mr. Hoehn never was married. In 
fraternal circles he is an Odd Fellow, including 
membership with the Rebekahs and in the Encamp- 
ment : he also is a member of the Fraternal Order 
of Eagles and recently has joined the Masonic or- 
der. In political faith, he is a Republican. He is 
an active man. of generous nature, good adminis- 
trative ability and of much shrewdness, all of which' 
qualities have contributed to his present prosperity. 



DANIEL A. McGregor, contractor and 
builder, of .Sedro-Woolley, Washington, is a native 
of Bruce county, Ontario, born December 14, 1868. 
He is the son of Angus and Catherine (McLen- 
nan) McGregor, natives of Ontario, of Scotch an- 
cestry. Angus McGregor, a farmer and stock man 
now living in Bruce. r)ntario. was born December 
14, isn, in Nova .Scfitia. His parents were native 
Scotch Highlanders, his great-grandfather having 
been a com])anicn of Rob Roy and an active parti- 
cipant in the councils of the famous McGregor clan. 
His life companion,^ — still his companion in the 
Canada home, — was born in America in 1852, and 
is of Scotch ancestry, tracing back to the clans of 
the Highlands. She is the mother of eight chil- 
dren, of whom the following are living: Daniel 
A., of this article ; Richard, a stock dealer of Can- 
ada who ships to Buffalo, New York, and to Bos- 
ton, Massachusetts ; Murdock, at present in Eu- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



685 



rope; Angus, living in IManitoba ; Joseph, a bicycle 
expert, and Ross, a teacher in the schools of On- 
tario. As a lad, Daniel A. McGregor lived on the 
the home farm and attended school. From the 
common schools he entered Queen's College, Tor- 
onto, and he was graduated from IMcAIaster's Hall 
at the age of eighteen with the degree of B. A. 
Early in life he evinced a fondness for mechanics, 
even in his boyhood days being skilled in the use 
of tools, so much so that at one time he succeeded 
in making an exc^'llcnt mndcl in miniature of his 
grandfather's mill. Shortly after graduation he 
went to Fargo, North Dakota, and etigaged in car- 
pentering, with the idea of ultimately establishing 
himself as a contractor in wood work. He spent 
nine years in Fargo in contract carpenter wnvk an<l 
in metal and other fire-proof roofing, then, in IS!);. 
started for the Klondike country, .\rri\ing in 
Seattle he formed a company for the purpose of 
packing goods over the trail into the mining regions 
of Klondike, himself investing $1,700 and his part- 
ner $600 in the venture. They started at once with 
their first, and what proved to be their last, train 
of loaded pack mules. Skagway was their starting 
point. Lake Lindeman their destination. In at- 
tempting to get over the White Horse pass the 
whole outfit was swept down the mountain side and 
buried beneath an avalanche of snow, Mr. McGreg- 
or himself narrowly escaping death. Returning to 
Seattle he spent two years there in contract work, 
coming then to Sedro-Woollew This was in 1899 
and until 100-2 he worked at the carpenter's trade, 
establishing himself then as a contractor. Since 
that time he has done the woodwork on every brick 
building erected in the city and on many of the 
buildings has also had the contract for the brick- 
work. 

In .\pril, 190-2, Mr. ^McGregor married Miss 
Zella Villcneuve, daughter of Charles and Betsy A. 
(Treacy) \'illeneuve, two of the earliest settlers of 
southwestern Skagit county and at present proprie- 
tors of the St. Charles hotel in Sedro-Woolley. 
Mrs. McGregor was born in San Francisco in 187.3. 
To Mr. and Mrs. McGregor have been born three 
children, Anna Catherine, Helen and Charles Wal- 
lace. Mr. McGregor is a member of the American 
Yeomen, and is at present Foreman of the Home- 
stead, — the chief office in the local branch of the 
order. In politics he affiliates with the Republican 
party, taking an active interest in primaries and 
conventions. He is proud of his Scotch ancestry 
and holds that it makes a better American citizen 
of one, if one does not forget old country associa- 
tions and history. Success is crowning his efforts 
in business life, and with success have come the re- 
spect and confidence of his fellow citizens. 



JAMES RITCHFORD, shin.gle manufacturer 
of Sterling, was born in Ontario, Canada, July 23, 



18.50, but since twenty-four years of age has re- 
sided south of the international boundary line. He 
is one of the pioneers of Skagit county who have 
prospered with the development of the valley's re- 
sources. His father, William Ritchford, also a 
native of Canada, born in ISlfi, died in Ontario in 
1876. Mrs. Fli;^aheth (Wi:kie) Ritchford. born 
in lS2fi, still is livinu' in the province of Ontario, 
the mother of eight children, of whom James is the 
fourth. ^^■lK■n t\vcnt\ -three vears old James Ritch- 
ford left liMiiic and w . >rked in the forests and mines 
of California until iss:!, but in that year Mr. Ritch- 
ford came north to Seattle, and soon moved to 
Sterling, where he has lived ever since. He brought 
his family up the river in a row boat, a mode of 
tra\'el which is in sharp contrast with the present 
manuei- i>f traveling up and down this rich valley. 
Mr. Ritchford worked seven years in the woods, 
then took up ninety acres of land and began farm- 
ing. High water in the spring of 1897 swept away 
all his improvements ; he then went to work for 
others on the mill at that time being built at Ster- 
ling. With the beginning of the year 1905, Mr. 
Ritchford leased this mill, which he now is operat- 
ing with marked success. 

Air. Ritclit..nl married Miss Addie Findley, a 
native of California, in 1883. Her father, Joseph 
Findley, crossed the plains in the early days from 
Illinois. Mr. and Mrs. Ritchford have seven chil- 
dren, Adelbert, Guy.W., Janeta, Royal, Cecil, Flor- 
ence and Muriel. Mr. and Mrs. Ritchford are 
members of the Order of Pendo and attend the 
Presbyterian church. In politics Mr. Ritchford is 
independent. He owns five acres of land adjoinin.g 
the mill and keeps a few cows and some poultry. 
His good memory and early associations have made 
him the possessor of inany interesting reminis- 
cences of the daj's when settlers were few and con- 
veniences meager. He has borne a material share 
in the development of the country in which he has 
made his home, enjoys the confidence of friends 
and associates, and is well entitled to a place of 
honor amon.g the pioneers of Skagit county. 



- DAVID M. DONNELLY, a prosperous busi- 
ness man of Sedro-Woolley and for fifteen years a ' 
citizen of .Skagit county, was born in St. Clair 
county, Michigan, May 12, 1864, the son of James 
C. and Esther T. (Norman) Donnelly; the parents 
are now residents of Skagit county. The elder 
Donnelly was born in 1830 while his parents were 
crossing the .\t!antic to America from the old coun- 
try home, which was in Queens county, Ireland. 
He settled with his family in Michigan. — then a 
territory, and eventually made a home at Port Hu- 
ron, where he resided until coming to Skagit coun- 
ty, \Vashington, in 1895. Esther T. Donnelly is a 
native of Queens Countv. Ireland, but was 
brought by relatives to Michigan when a small 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



child; here until the time of her marriage she made 
her home with an uncle and aunt. She is the 
mother of six children, of whom David M. is the 
fourth. It was in St. Clair County, Michigan, that 
David M. Donnelly received his early education. 
At the age of thirteen he left the paternal roof and 
began life in its truest sense, as a self-supporting 
and responsible individual. He found employment 
in a logging camp of his native state, beginning as 
a helper in the cook's department, but soon becom- 
ing himself a skilled cook. For thirteen years he 
followed the luiiil)LriiiL; llusim•S'^ in Michigan, leav- 
ing the state tlu-n :u\<\ CMiniii- w WaNhington. He 
settled first at l^disi.n. .^kagU county, and for one 
year worked for the Blanchard Logging Company. 
He followed this period with a service of one and 
one-lialf years in the logging camp of Pat. McCoy, 
and then opened a butcher's market at Wickersham. 
Eighteen months later he removed to \\'oolley and 
purchased the meat market business of Grethus & 
Burmaster, managing the estahli-hment successful- 
.ly until the year 1900. At tlli^ 111110 lir h..ld to Phil- 
lips & Carstens; in 190-2 he ni.mchasid the busi- 
ness, which he again sold out in May, 1901. 

The marriage of David M. Donnelly and Miss 
Marv A. Halloran was solemnized in Skagit county 
in ISIM. :\Irs. Dnnne'lv is the daughter of Pat- 
rick anil r.riduft (Mcllinty) Halloran, the former 
a native of Xew Lirunswick, of Irish parentage, 
and the latter a native of Ireland. The mother 
came to Canada with a brother when a small child. 
Patrick Halloran was elected treasurer of Skagit 
county at the fall elections of 1901 and took charge 
of the office January 1, 1905. The biographies 
of Mr. and Mrs. Ha'loran will be found elsewhere 
in this volume. Mrs. Donnelly was born in Michi- 
gan in 1872 and came with her parents to the Puget 
Sound country when a child. Her education was 
obtained in the common schools, and in the Sister's 
Academy at Seattle. Previous to her marriage 
she taught school for several years and still holds 
a first grade teacher's certificate. Mr. and Mrs. 
Donnelly have three children : James N., bom in 
Edison August 25, 189ri: Marv E., in Woollev 
May 12. 1898, and David M., 'in Sedro-Woolley 
in 1904. In Mr. Donnelly the fraternal spirit is 
■ strong; he is an active member of the following 
orders: the Ancient Order of United Workmen, 
the Knights of Maccabees, the Modern Woodmen 
of America, the Woodmen of the World, the Yeo- 
men, the Catholic Order of Foresters, and the Fra- 
ternal Order of Eagles. In church membership 
Mr. and Mrs. Donnelly are Catholics. Mr. Don- 
nelly owns a one-half interest in IfiO acres of land 
on the Olympia marsh where he has an extensive 
herd of cattle and hogs, held for the supply of 
his home market. Here also he makes a specialty 
•of the dairy business. He is proprietor of the city 
cold storage plant of Sedro-Woolley. He has al- 
ways been active in the councils of the Republican 



party and was a member of the first town council 
of Sedro-Woolley. In political, fraternal and com- 
mercial circles he is a man of acknowledged influ- 
ence. His business ability is of the highest order ; 
he is popular with his fellow citizens and holds 
their confidence and esteem. 



HENRY H. DREYER, one of the prosper- 
ous farmers of Skagit county, has lived a life of 
more than the usual experiences, embracing Ger- 
man farm life, travel as a sailor to nearly every 
country of the globe, logging and "roughing it" 
on the Pacific coast, and the attainment of pros- 
perity on a Skagit county farm. He was born Oc- 
tober 22, ]848, at Hanover, Germany, the son of 
Harms Dreyer, a farmer, born in 1816. His mother 
Treante (Hines) Dreyer, born in 1812, is still liv- 
ing in the old country, the mother of six children 
of whom. Henry is the third. At the age of sev- 
enteen Henry H. Dreyer left the fatherland with a 
determination to see the world, so went to Eng- 
land and shipped as a sailor, following the sea 
for six years thereafter during which time he 
touched at ports of nearly every civilized nation 
of the earth. In 1873, while in the harbor of San 
Francisco, he decided to give up a sea-faring life 
and become a farmer. He worked for others seven 
years. In 1875 he married, came to what was then 
Whatcom county and began working in a logging 
camp near where Mount Vernon now stands. After 
a year of this work he went to the Willamette 
valley, Oregon, and remained nine months, return- 
ing then to Skagit county. In later years, speaking 
of this trip to Oregon, of herself and husband. 
Mrs. Dreyer jocularly gave as the reason: "Mos- 
quitos drove us from Skagit county, and Willa- 
mette flies drove us back." After eight months 
of work in the woods Mr. Dreyer preempted some 
land and later sold it, in the meantime having 
taken a homestead on which he still lives. His 
new home was in a deep forest and it was with dif- 
ficulty that he cleared enough ground for the 
erection of a shack, twelve by sixteen feet. He 
still holds the one hundred and sixty acres he took 
at that time and has cleared forty of them. His 
house is large and commodious, with ten rooms 
and the conveniences of a modern home. His 
barn also is a large building, its ground dimensions 
being fifty-two by sixty feet. 

May 5, 1875, Mr. Dreyer married Miss Alma 
Nash, a Massachusetts girl, who went to California 
when sixteen years old. She is the daughter of 
Terry von H. Nash, a German, born in 1825, who 
came to this country and died in the Bay state in 
18G6. Mrs. Dreyer's mother was Sarah (Rumrell) 
Nash, a native of England, who died in 1899 at the 
age of eighty years. Mrs. Nash was the mother of 
eight children, Mrs. Dreyer being the sixth. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Dreyer have been born six children, 




LIAM A. IJI'NLOP 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



one of whom died in infancy. The hving- are: 
Ernest H. T.. born in Santa Clara, California, 
March 26, 1876, now living: in Alaska; Mrs. Wa- 
neta T. Osborne, born in Napa County, California, 
February 10, 1879; Mrs. i\Iaud T. Southennark, 
born Mav 21, 1881, near Sterling, and now a resi- 
dent of Dawson; Mrs. Elizabeth A. Averill, born 
in Sterling August 27, 1883, and Wetzel H. Dreyer, 
born Septembe'r 17, 1887, now living with his par- 
ents. Mrs. Dre.ver has a brother and sister living 
in Massachusetts. Mr. Dreyer is a member of the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which or- 
ganization he has taken the encampment degree; 
and with his wife he is a member of the Rebekahs. 
In religious persuasion they are Methodists, in 
politics Mr. Dreyer is a Republican. He has served 
as road-master and member of the school board. 
A believer in varied farming, he keeps fowls of 
several varieties, cattle of mixed breeds, and other 
live stock of unusual strains. Mr. Dreyer has lived 
a busy life, and so closely has he applied himself to 
his work that it was not until recently that he 
found time to visit the land of his nativity, which 
he had not seen f'^r thirt\'-three years. He con- 
ducts his business with intelligence and is one of the 
successful and public spirited citizens of Skagit 
county,- a man always ready to assist any needed 
improvement. 



JOHX KIENS is one of the pioneer fanners 
of the section of Skagit county just north of the 
thriving city of Sedro-Woolley, and since 1884 has 
prospered on land he took up in that year and con- 
verted into a home farm from its native state 'as a 
part of the heavy forest of the Puget Sound coun- 
try. Mr. Kiens is a native of Germanv, born 
November 15. 1851, the son of Fred Kiens, a 
German miner who passed his entire life in the 
land of his nativity. John Kiens received his edu- 
cation in the German schools before coming to the 
United States and on reaching H'inois in 1872 
learned the trade of blacksmith, finishing what he 
commenced while still in his native land. He then 
went to work on a farm and remained in agricul- 
tural pursuits eleven years. In 1884 he came to 
Skagit County. Washington, and took up his pres- 
ent farmstead of one hundred and sixty acres, of 
which he has about twenty acres under cultivation, 
part of it in orchard. Mr. Kiens is one of three 
children. Theresa Kiens, his sister, who was a 
Sister of Charity, died in Iowa some years ago, 
and his brother, Fred Kiens, is a farmer, living 
near him. Mr. Kiens has six head of cattle at the 
present time. As a farmer he is recognized as one 
of the conservative kind, preferring the ordinary 
lines rather than the speculative and unusual. He 
is highly respected in his community, as a man of 
sterling manhood, and it is with pleasure that we 
accord him a place in this work as one of those 



who, during his residence of over twenty years in 
the county, has aided materially in its development 
and progress. 



DAVID BATEY is one of the men who 
know from experience what pioneer life in Skagit 
county was, for he and his wife and family have 
seen the country developed from a roadless forest 
with scarcely a human habitation into its present 
state of civilization and advancement, contribut- 
ing not a little to the change. Interwoven in the 
history of the county are the lives of this noble 
man and woman and their vigorous, brave sons and 
daughter. They suffered privations and hardships, 
enjoyed the pleasures and romances of frontier 
life, shared their own scanty stores with those who 
had still less, ministered to the sick and distressed, 
laid the foundation for their future prosperity and 
were the means of bringing many other sturdy 
sett'ers to the community. 

i\Ir. Batev was born in Carlise. Cumberland 
Countv, England, May 21, 1849. He cannot re- 
call the name of his father, because the latter 
d-ed when he was very young and his mother, 
Mrs. Ann Batey, remarried, so the memory of the 
elder Batey faded from the child's mind. The lad 
attended school until twelve years of age, then 
went to work on a farm, remaining at farm work 
a year and a half, when he became apprenticed to 
the carpenter's trade. He stood the abuse he re- 
ceived here for a year, then ran awav and for the 
next two years worked at making pickhandles. At 
Newcastle he completed his training as a carpenter 
and he worked at the bench until 1872 when he left 
England for the United States. He was in Syra- 
cuse. New York, one year and in Omaha, Ne- 
braska, another, then went to San Francisco, where 
for the ensuing half decade he was engaged in 
carpenter work. He was accompanied from Omaha 
to the West, by William Dunlop, whom he had 
known as a boy in England, and at San Francisco 
the two rejoined Joseph Hart, another boyhood 
friend. The three became interested in the sound 
country, and in August, 1878, Hart and Batey came 
to what has since been organized into Skagit 
county. Mr. Batey took up the land where he now 
resides; There were no permanent settlers in his 
neighborhood, though a couple of miles down the 
river was Ball's logging camp. William Dunlop 
came a little later and took land adjoining Mr. 
Batey's. Mrs. Batey came two years later. Be- 
fore her arrival the men had manv bitter ex- 
periences. Potatoes were scarce and had to be 
brought down the river thirty miles from Amasa 
Everett's place, while other supplies were brought 
from Seattle by the steamer Gem, w'hich sometimes 
did not arrive when expected, causing distress to 
the isolated men. Sometimes they could catch fish, 
which were a great help, but often they could not. 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



On one occasion Mr. Hart became exhausted from 
lack of food. To add to their distress at that time 
fire destroyed their shack, blankets and other sup- 
plies inchidin.? a part of their weapons, but Mr. 
Batey managed to shoot a duck and some pheas- 
ants, thereby replenishing the larder. He also treed 
three animals which he afterwards learned were 
coons. 

When the men were ready to stock their places 
they had to go to the White river country for their 
cattle which were brought up the Skagit by vessel 
to Frank Buck's place, below where Mount Ver- 
non now stands, but it took longer to get the ani- 
mals from the landing to the new ranches, than 
to make with them all the rest of the journey 
from White river. Mrs. Batey and her two sons 
came in 1880 and brought sunshine to the com- 
munity, but this was not the end of their hard- 
ships. At one time one sack of flour had to last the 
entire family three months. During these years 
Mr. Batey worked some at carpentering, building 
the first store in Sedro, for Mortimer Cook, who 
was determined to call the new town, Bug. There 
was much bantering over the name. Mrs. Batey 
was appealed to and she suggested the word "Se- 
dro," the Spanish for "Cedar" which grew so plen- 
tifully in the woods. Her discussion of the appro- 
priateness of the word was published in the Skagit 
News and was sent to several eastern states by 
Mrs. Batey's friends. Mr. Batey painted a large 
sign "Sedro" and nailed it up on one of the build- 
ings. These circumstances finally induced Mr. Cook 
to accept the name "Sedro." One man brought 
from Seattle a large sign reading "Charlotte," in 
honor of his daughter, but the other name was 
chosen. 

In 1890 Mr. Batey and Mr. Hart started a 
saw-mill plant under the name "Sedro Saw & 
Planing Mill." To this plant later was added a 
shingle mill and the business was continued by 
Messrs. Batey and Hart as a stock company. Just 
as they were beginning to see some substantial 
profits in the business and when the plant was 
running twenty hours out of every twenty-four, 
it was destroyed by fire, a severe financial blow 
to the owners. At this time, also Mr. Batey was un- 
fortunate enough to be stricken with sciatic 
rheumatism which kept him confined for sixteen 
months. On his recovery in 1898 he began the 
manufacture of vinegar, in which industry he has 
continued up to the present time. 

Mrs. Batey, whose maiden name was Georgiana 
Farrar, was born in Southwestern Wisconsin, not 
far from Dubuque, Iowa, October 2, 1838, the 
daughter of Rev. Edward Y. Williams and Mrs. 
Naomi (Jones) Williams. Mr. Williams was a 
native of Manchester, England, who came to the 
United States when a young man. Both he and 
Mrs. Williams have been dead many years. As a 
young woman Mrs. Batey, in 1852, commenced to 



study medicine with an uncle, Dr. Steele, and she 
finished her medical education in Hughes & San- 
ford's Medical College in Keokuk, Iowa. She 
was one of the pioneer practitioners of this part of 
the country, and is today registered at Olympia 
and at Mount Vernon. She was the only physician 
in the vicinity of Sedro in the early days, the near- 
est one beside her being Dr. Calhoun at La Con- 
ner, and she rendered invaluable service to the 
early settlers, traveling day and night by horseback 
and by boat, wherever called. She continued in 
active practice until about six years ago. In those 
days Mrs. Batey was as active in religious matters 
as in the practice of her profession, and it was she 
who was chiefly instrumental in securing the first 
clergyman for Sedro, giving her personal guar- 
antee of his salary. This man was Rev. McMillan, 
under whose leadership the first church in the vi- 
cinity was organized. Mrs. Batey was the first 
superintendent of the Sunday school, appointed by 
Presiding Elder Atwood of Seattle. Three chil- 
dren have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Batey: John 
Henry, living in New Mexico ; Robert Bruce, a 
traveling insurance man ; Mrs. Susanna Fuller, the 
first white child born in the Sedro community, now 
living at Santa Rosa, New Me.xico, where her hus- 
band is a merchant. ]\Ir. Batey is a member of the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which fra- 
ternity he is a past grand, also belongs to the En- 
campment and Mrs. Batey is a Rebekah. They 
are members of the First Presbyterian church of 
Sedro- Woolley, and both are prominent in the Ska- 
git County Pioneers' Association, of which Mr. 
Batey is president and Mrs. Batey vice-president. 
In politics Mr. Batey is an ardent Republican and 
in former vears he was active in all the councils 
of his party. Though at one time he operated a 
dairy farm, he now is devoting his attention prin- 
cipally to the manufacture of apple vinegar, his 
factory being on the south border of Sedro-Wool- 
ley. He has a large orchard and is building up a 
fine business. Formerly he owned three hundred 
and twenty acres of land, but in the daxs of financial 
distress following the destruction of his lumber and 
shingle mill, he disposed of all but sixty-five acres, 
but 1/e also owns an addition to tlie city of Sedro- 
Woolley and considerable other town property. A 
public spirited citizen, he donated to the railroad 
company its entire right of way through his lands, 
and in numerous other ways he has manifested an 
interest in the general progress. He is one of the 
most energetic citizens of the county and has done 
more than most others for its development. 

]\lrs. Batey's sister, Mrs. Isabella Marean, of 
Ocala, Florida, is also a woman of high intellec- 
tual attainments. She is an author of note and 
has written, under the nom de plume' of Beatrice 
Mareari, many works, one of the most popular 
being "The Tragedies of Oakurst," which has had 
wide circulation. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



JOSEPH HART, a well known and well-to-do 
himbernian. and one of the honored pioneers of 
Sedro-Woolley, was born in Durham, England, 
July 4, 1852, the son of Robert and Barbara 
(Franklin) Elart. His father, a native of York- 
shire, England, followed railroading until his death 
in 1SS3, and his mother, who was born in Durham, 
died in 1809. Joseph Hart left home when four- 
teen years old and spent two years in the iron 
works learning the trade of machinist, but finally 
abandoning this, spent three years at work in a 
saw-mill in Yorkshire and two in another mill at his 
own home. Pie then came to America. After a 
stay of eighteen months in Lyons, Iowa ; he reached 
San Francisco in August, 1874. where he secured 
employment as saw filer in a large factory. He 
Avorked until the spring of 187fi. then moved to Se- 
attle and the White river district, but in 18T8, re- 
turned to San Francisco and met David Batey, 
whom he had known in England. The two came 
together to S-edro, Washington, which then was a 
wild and desolate country with only four white set- 
tlers on the river. Two months later they were 
joined by \\'illiam Dunlop and the following year 
by \\'ii;iam Woods. The four brave pioneers took 
adjoining land and laid the foundation for the pres- 
ent beautiful town of Sedro-Woolley. Mr. Plart 
went to Seattle some years later, but continued to 
make yearly trips to the little settlement until 1890, 
when he became a permanent resident here. He 
and Mr. Batey built a saw-mill that year, and to- 
gether they operated it two years, thereupon 
forming tlie Sedro Lumber & Shingle Company. 
When the mill was burned in ]89(i. Mr. Hart re- 
sumed work in other mills, making his home on his 
original farm of 160 acres, which he still owns with 
the exception of three acres sold. 

Mr. Hart was married December 27, 1887. the 
lady being Emma L. Anderson, a native of Swe- 
den, born in 1863. Her father, Nels P. Anderson, 
now lives with his son-in-law, Mr. Hart. The 
home of Mr. and Mrs. Hart has been brightened 
by the advent of two children, Emma F., born Janu- 
arv 20. 1890, and Dolly B.. August 10, 1896. Mr. 
Hart is a member of the Pioneer Association and 
lie and Mrs. Hart are identified with the Order of 
Pendo. In political belief Mr. Plart is a Socialist. 
In addit'Jin to liis valuable ranch he is interested in 
city property in Everett, also owns considerable live 
stock. During his long residence here he has wit- 
nessed a marvelous transformation, in which cities- 
and towns have taken the place of the dense forests, 
fulfilling his own prophecies of what the future 
held for this peculiarly favored region. He is rec- 
ognized as a broad-minded, public-spirited citizen, 
one of the progressive, substantial men of the 



JOSEPH WILSON. Well at the top of the 
roster of pioneers of Skagit county is to be found 



the name of Joseph Wilson, the subject of this bio- 
graphical article, who first made his advent mto 
Fidalgo Island in 1868, came to the mouth of the 
Skagit river in 1869 and became a land holder in 
1H70, at that date taking up a pre-emption on the 
lower Skagit river. Here he was living and im- 
proving his land at the time of the murder of Bar- 
ker, the trader, by the Indians, and the summary 
execution of the murderers by the whites. He it 
was who took what there was remaining of Bar- 
ker's goods up to Whatcom, the then county seat of 
ihe present Skagit and Whatcom counties, in a 
canoe, and delivered them to the authorities. Born 
in Sweden in 1839, the son of Sven Monson and 
Charlotte Hagland Monson, born respectively in 
1806 and 1812, in the fatherland, where they I'ived 
until the close of life on their own farm land, Jo- 
seph was there reared to the age of seventeen on 
the farm, and was instructed in the traditions of a 
long line of Swedish ancestors as well as in the ru- 
diments of book learning. However, the former 
seemed to make the stronger impression, the blood 
of the Viking forebears coursed hot in his veins, 
untempered by age and the lessons of experience, 
and called him to the sea. Hither he went at the 
age of seventeen, securing the consent of his father 
by agreeing to pay for the services of an assistant 
on the farm, and for years he followed the life of 
the sailor before the mast on the coast vessels, final- 
ly becoming owner of a vessel himself, which he 
ran until he came to the United States in 1863, 
shipping before the mast from France to Boston on 
an American vessel. For five years he followed the 
sea, shipping from the United States to the leading 
ports of the world, first reaching San Francisco in 
April, 1865, just at the time of the ('eath of Presi- 
dent Lincoln. In a trip to Shanghai, China, he 
was taken with the smallpox and left by his vessel, 
which he was later enabled to join in Japan through 
the good offices of the resident LInited States consul 
at Shanghai, returning to Port Townsend in 1868. 
The transition from sailor to logger and lumber- 
man was rcaflily made by Mr. Wilson and a few 
short weeks found him in the logging camps of Fi- 
dalgo, applying himself diligently and tactfully to 
the mastery of the new calling; while only a few 
months later he was settled on his own pre-emption 
claim on Dry slough, near the mouth of the Skagit, 
now known as the Good place, clearing, diking and 
wrestling energetically with all the combined ob- 
stacles, so familiar to the sturdy frontiersman of 
all ages and sections of this recently vast wilder- 
ness. At the end of six years the claim was traded 
for lots in the city of Seattle, and Mr, Wilson be- 
came connected with an enterprise that forever as- 
sociates his name with the benefactors of Skagit 
county in a most creditable manner. After dispos- 
ing of his ranch he removed to Mount Vernon, and 
there in connection with McDonald, Hines and 
Miiinick, he conceived the idea of removing the his- 



693 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



toric log jam from the Skagit river. This "jam," 
an accumulation of logs, rolled upon each other by 
the force of the swift river current, until in places 
they mounted to the height of fourteen feet from 
base to top, and upon the surface of which grew 
trees three and four feet in diameter, had been for 
ages forming, its beginning passing beyond the 
knowledge, and even tradition, of the Indians of 
the surrounding country. The vast collection of 
logs and debris so changed the natural channel of 
the river as to cause overflow of the rich, fertile 
valley and worked serious damage to the settlers 
along its course. The government engineers sent 
to view the situation had estimated the cost of re- 
moval of this obstruction way up into the tens of 
thousands of dollars, the exact amount varying 
with the dififerent pioneers interviewed from $25,- 
000 to $125,000. However, the government failing 
to take action in the matter, Mr. Wilson and the 
other bold spirits who became associated with him, 
determined upon a practical demonstration of pa- 
ternalism themselves, and at once decided that they 
would undertake the removal of the jam, without 
promise of reward from either government, munic- 
ipality or citizens, other than what mi^ht accrue to 
them from the sale of the logs upon their removal. 
Upon this plan they began operations, the first part 
of February, 1876, with but little moral support and 
few words of encouragement from the citizens in 
general, and no capital but courage and muscle 
with which to carry on the enterprise. Believing 
the project to be feasible, and that with sufficient 
funds to supply the needed provisions they could 
carry it to successful issue, Mr. Wilson made a 
trip to Whidby island to see his old friend. Major 
Haller, who at once fell in with the idea, when pre- 
sented to him. and offered to back Mr. Wilson with 
cash or his name to the completion of the enterprise. 
Much against the protests of the Major he v.'as 
given as security for the first $200 that went 
toward the removal of the famous "jam," a mort- 
gage on the lots owned by Mr. Wilson in Seattle, 
which represented so many years spent in hard la- 
bor on the pioneer claim on the Skagit river, and 
which canceled mortgage he has in his possession 
at this writing, prizing it far beyond its original 
cost. Major Haller expected that the government 
would help reimburse the men for their work. 
From February until August, Mr. Wilson contin- 
ued to push the. work on the jam, and on July 4th 
had the satisfaction of witnessing the passage 
through the lower jam in a canoe of Mr. and Mrs. 
Jasper Gates. Some intermeddling at this time 
caused differences to arise, and in August Mr. Wil- 
son withdrew from the work, allowing others to 
carry it on to final completion. He lost $700 and 
his summer's work. For several years following 
this he engaged at work in the logging camp of 
William Gage and on the Ford ranch, three years 
of the time operating a saloon in Mount Vernon; 



until in 1885 he took up a homestead on Skiou 
slough, three miles east of Sedro-Woolley, and en- 
gaged in farming for himself. Here he continued to 
reside for thirteen years, at the end of which time, 
1898, he removed with his family to Seattle, where 
he has since resided, an honored and respected citi- 
zen. He is the only one of the original promoters of 
the removal of the log jam living to-day, and is per- 
sonally acquainted with the founding of the towns 
of Mount Vernon, Sedro and Woolley, and was one 
of the citizens who went up the Skagit river to in- 
vestigate the Indian uprising at the time Amasa 
Everett shot the two Indians. 

Mr. Wilson was married in 187G, the wife dying 
a few months after their marriage. He was united 
in marriage at Mount Vernon in 1882 to Charlotte 
Beckman, daughter of Gustave and Hilda (Amon) 
Beckman, both natives of Sweden, where they died 
several years ago. The father was a teacher by 
profession. Mrs. Wilson was born in Sweden in 
18.jb!, and came to the United States in 1882. To 
the union of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have been born 
three children, Gustave, Alma and Albert, all na- 
tives of Skagit county. Mr. Wilson is of a retiring 
disposition, and little given to talking of his adven- 
tures by land and sea. He owns some property in 
Seattle and still retains a portion of his homestead 
near Sedro-Woolley and holds a position with the 
Seattle Electric Company. Well and favorably 
known among the pioneers of Skagit county, it was 
by frequent mention of his name in connection with 
the early events in the county that the writer was 
led to interview I\Ir. Wilson, and thus spread on the 
pages of history the honorable part he has taken in 
helping to redeem Skagit from its v>'ilderness state. 



WILLIAM A. DUNLOP, the well known pio- 
neer of Sedro-Woolley, residing at the foot of 
Sixth street, w;is born in Northumberland county, 
England, < tctdher '!'>. Isis. His father, also a na- 
tive of luiLjhniil, is a sti nirinasnii. Marjorie (Alex- 
ander) Dunldu. the mother, was likewise born in 



England. 



:ed to a carpenter at the age 



of fifteen, William A, Dunlop thoroughly mastered 
the trade, working with his employer three years 
after serving his prescribed term. At the age of 
twenty-two he went to Crook, England, and he 
worked in other portions of the land of his nativ- 
ity tijl 1873, when he emigrated to Syracuse, New 
York. A few months later he went to Omaha, 
thence to San Francisco, where he made his home 
for five years, making two trips to Portland, Ore- 
gon, in the meantime. In 1878 he made an extend- 
ed trip through the Northwest, coming up the 
Skagit river on the steamer "Gem" to Sedro-Wool- 
ley to join Joseph Hart and David Batey, old- 
friends of his, who had located there a few months 
previous. It was a desolate country, which, as Mr. 
Dunlop says, might have been more aptly named 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



"Wildenwoolley." William Wood was the next set- 
tler. With the exception of the men in a logging 
camp at Sterling, there were no neighbors nearer i 
than five miles at first, ana for several years settle- | 
ment was slow. Having pre-empted one hundred j 
and sixty acres, eighty of which he afterward sold, : 
Mr. Dunlop at once began the task of clearing the 
land, preparatory to cultivating it, and by the time 
Sedro-Woolley became a town he had cleared six 
acres. He now rents the portion of his farm that 
is in condition to cultivate, and devotes his entire 
time to his trade. Last year he made his first trip 
east, visitins: tlie St. Louis fair, where the 
Pioneer Association with which he is identified was 
formed. Mr. Dunlop is a loyal Republican, though 
he has never manifested any political aspirations. 
He is a thoughtful, intelligent man, esteemed 
throughout the community as a man of strict integ- 
rity. 

FRANK A. DOUGLASS, druggist, is one of 
the self-made men of Sedro-Woolley, and success 
in his profession has come to him as a reward for 
his courage and strict application to business. He 
was born in Rock county, Wisconsin, September 16, 
]857. the son of Albert C. Douglass, a native of 
Michigan. The elder Douglass, when a boy of 
fourteen, came with his parents to the Badger state 
and he used to relate that when en route their wag- 
on and team were mired at a point now in the heart 
of the city of Chicago. He was a butcher by trade. 
He died in 1S99 in the state where Frank A. was 
born. His wife, Mrs. Mary (Beach) Douglass, was 
born in Connecticut in 1833, and when a girl came 
with her parents to Wisconsin, where she died in 
189.3, leaving three children, of whom Frank A. is 
the second. Frank A. Douglass, when eleven years 
of age, went to Broadhead, Wisconsin (where his 
father opened a butcher shop and meat market) and 
received his education there, entering a drug store 
as clerk when sixteen. He thoroughly mastered 
the drug business by practice in the store and by 
his own study of pharmaceutical works. When 
twenty-one he went to Oberlin, Kansas, to clerk for 
Bariteau Brothers there, and in a few years he and 
Frank Coard were able to and did purchase this 
store, which they together conducted for twelve 
years. Mr. Douglass's capital in this venture was 
small, but bv careful business methods and the exer- 
cise of professional sagacitv, he prospered. In 1890 
he sold out his Kansas holdings and came to Wash- 
insrton, stopping at first for a short time at North 
Yakima, but ultimately proceeding to Woolley, 
where he opened the first drug store in the town. 
Increasing business demanded larger and better 
quarters, so in 1903 he erected the building his store 
now occupies. 

In 1884 Mr. Douglass married Miss Minnie 
Ormsby, daughter of John and Nancy (Martin) 
Ormsby, the former of whom was killed in Iowa in 



1866 while sheriflf of Fremont county. He was of 
Irish descent. Mrs. Ormsby, a native of Indiana, 
died in Sedro-Woolley Oct. 18, 1905. Mr. and 
Mrs. Douglass have had eight children, of whom 
the first two, John and Jennie, were in the first and 
second graduating classes of their home high school, 
and the youngest in their respective classes. John 
is now pursuing a course in the Washington State 
College at Pullman. The living children are : John, 
born April 8, 188(; ; Jennie, March 21, 1888 ; Arthur, 
April 6, 1890; Inez"M., August 5, 1892; Nellie, on 
New Year's dav, 189.5 ; Frank H., October 17, 1899 ; 
William, April 2, 1901, and Minnie, May 29, 1905. 
Their one deceased child. David L., was born March 
2, 1897, and died December 31st of the following 
vear. Mrs. Douglass's brother, Norris Ormsby, 
proprietor of the Sedro-Woollev Transfer Company, 
was the first mayor of Sedro-Woolley. Mr. Doug- 
lass is a charter member of Truth Lodge, No. 147, 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he has 
been secretarv since its formation ; also belongs to 
the Modern Woodmen of America, and now is clerk 
of his camp, while Mrs. Douglass is a member of 
the Rebekahs and Royal Neighbors. In politics 
Mr. Douglass is a Republican. He was a member 
of the last city council of Woolley, also of the joint 
committee nliicli arranged the consolidation of the 
two towns which compose the present municipal 
corporation. He was the only member of the city 
council who was re-elected in 1899. He also has 
been town clerk. I\Ir. Douglass is one of the sub- 
stantial citizens of .Sedro-Woolley, broad-minded in 
public afifairs and energetic in the conduct of his 
own business. 



GEORGF O. WICKER is the pioneer black- 
smith of Sedro-Woolley, and has seen both Sedro 
and Woolley grow from mere centers for loggers 
and traders into the modern city they now form. 
He has grown with the community and has kept 
abreast of all lines of development. Mr. Wicker 
was born in Chillicothe, Iowa, September 4, 1857, 
the son of Andrew Wicker, an Ohio stonemason, 
who became a pioneer of Iowa in 1845 and remained 
in that state until his death. Mrs. Janet (Bntin) 
Wicker, a native of Ohio, was the mother of six 
children, of whom George was the fourth. Our 
subject attended the public schools at Chillicothe un- 
til sixteen years old, when he was apprenticed to 
the trade of blacksmith and continued three years 
at the same forge until he had mastered his trade. 
He worked for himself at the anvil in Iowa until 
1884, then came to Washington territory and joined 
his brother at Sedro. He was blacksmith at the 
Charles Jackson logging camp, a year later at the 
ATortimer Cook camp and in the summer of 1886 
opened the first blacksmith shop in Sedro. Later 
he bui't the first shop at Woolley but sold out to 
Mr. McCabe. He followed his trade for a num- 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



ber of years, working both in camp and in town, 
until in l!i04 he opened his present shop. He has 
secured a long list of customers and secures some 
of the best trade in the community which comes to 
him because of the high quality of his work. 

In 1SS3, while still a resident of Iowa, Mr. 
Wicker married Miss Maggie Nelson, daughter of 
George Nelson, who was of German birth, but was 
educated and trained in Iowa, where he followed 
the barber trade until his death. Mrs. Wicker was 
born in Bloomfield, Iowa, in 18(i7, and received 
her education there, marrymg when seventeen }ears 
old. To Mr. and Mrs. Wicker have been born five 
children, as follows: Frank, January 29, 1885; 
Bessie, 1889; Mitchell, 181)0; Edna, 189G ; Ervan, 
1902. In fraternal circles Mr. Wicker is a member 
of the Modern Woodmen of America, the Foresters 
and the Royal Neighbors. The family attends the 
Methodist church and in politics Mr. Wicker is a 
Democrat. The "Sedro" part of the present name 
of the city was selected by Mr. and Airs. Wicker, 
Mrs. Batey and Mortimer Cook, the name being the 
Spanish for "Cedar." Mr. Wicker is a well-in- 
formed, substantial and respected member of the 
community. 

GEORGE W. RATCHFORD has been a resi- 
dent of Skagit county for fourteen years, during 
which time he has prospered in his blacksmithing 
and in other employments, and he now is one of 
the respected property holders of Sedro-Woolley. 
He was born in Prescott, Ontario, April 17, 1863, 
the son of William Ratchford. a native of Quebec, 
born in 1816. Mrs. Elizabeth (Wilkie) Ratchford 
was the mother uf eight children of whom George 
was youngest. The death of his father having oc- 
curred when he was fourteen, George W. started 
into the world to fight his own battles at that early 
age. A rather unusual thing for a boy, he rented 
a farm and ran it successfully for two years, finding 
time to attend school in winter. The next three 
years the young man hired out to other farmers, 
then he learned the trade of blacksmithing, receiv- 
ing $50 a year for the three years of his service as 
an apprentice. He ran a farming business again 
for a few months, then opened a blacksmith shop 
and continued in the business eighteen months, re- 
linquishing it to take a farm on which to keep the 
cattle he had been compelled to accept in payment 
for blacksmith work he had done for farmers. He 
continued on the farm for two years, then ran a shop 
again for a few months, then crossed the continent 
to Mendocino, California. This was in 1890. Af- 
ter passing a year there, he came to where Sedro- 
Woolley has smce grown, finding Sedro a camp with 
a mill in process of erection. The Fairhaven & 
Southern railroad, since abandoned, has just been 
constructed. He worked as mill blacksmith eight- 
een months, then spent two years barking logs for 
Smith & Bechtel and for Matt McElrov, then hav- 



ing met with an accident, he came to town, where 
he worked three years as driver for Hightower 
Brothers. In 1896 he entered into partnership with 
Hightower & Kirby in contracting single bolts for 
the Green Shingle Company, a partnership which 
continued three years, at the close of which time 
Mr. Ratchford was bought out by the others. He 
thereupon returned to town, put up a shop, and be- 
gan once more the pursuit of his handicraft, which 
he has followed continuously since. He has added 
two more lots to his holdings and has built a fine, 
modern eight-room house. 

December 18, 189T, Mr. Ratchford married Miss 
Clara Miller, who was born in Iowa and who came 
to the coast with her father, Samuel Miller, and her 
brother, after her mother's death. Mr. Miller was 
a Virginian by birth but spent most of his life in 
Iowa before coming to Sedro-Woolley, where he 
died in 1904. Mrs. Ratchford's mother also was a 
Virginian. Mr. and Mrs. Ratchford have three 
children: S. Floyd, born June 20, 1898; W. Wy- 
man. May 2, 1900, and George E., May 25, 1902. 
In fraternal circles Mr. Ratchford is a member of 
the Modern Woodmen of America and of Truth 
Lodge, No. 147, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
while Mrs. Ratchford is a member of the Rebek- 
ahs. In politics he is a Republican. He once served 
in the city council, having been elected b'y the largest 
majority of any one on the ticket. The family at- 
tends the Methodist church. Mr. Ratchford's real 
estate holdings are all in city property. He believes 
in the future of Sedro-Woolley and Skagit county, 
and is contributing his mite toward the general 
progress of both, at the same time retaining the re- 
spect of all for his industry and worth. 



NORRIS ORMSBY, the first mayor of Sedro- 
Woolle\', and for the last twelve years a member of 
the town council, is a native of Illinois, born in 
Shelby count\ in l.s:ii;. His father, John J. Orms- 
by, was of Irish ancestry, but a native of Balti- 
more, Fairfield County. Ohio. In the sixties John 
J. Ormsby moved to Fremont County, Iowa; he 
became sherifif of that county and was killed while 
in the discharge of his official duties. The mother 
of Norris Ormsby, now residing with him in Sedro- 
Woolley, is Nancy (Martin) Ormsby, a native of 
Indiana ; she is the mother of six children of whom 
our subject is second. Norris Ormsby attended the 
Iowa schools until his twelfth year, at this time 
entering the employ of a merchant with whom he 
remained for three years. Close attention to his 
duties and the confinement necessarily incident to 
his clerkship afi^ectcd his health to such an extent 
that a change in his every day life became impera- 
tive. He therefore severed his connection with 
the store and became an attache of a livery barn, 
remaining so employed for fourteen years. He then 
removed to Nebraska and for two years operated 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



a hotel at Odell, selling out the business at the end 
of this period and going to Kansas, of which state 
he continued a resident for three years or until 
1890, when he came to Washington. His first stop- 
ping point was North Yakima in the arid section 
east of the Cascades, but in the summer of the 
year 1891 he came to Woolley and forming a part- 
nership with his brother-in-law, F. A. Douglass, 
opened a drug store. A year later he sold his in- 
terest in the drug venture to Mr. Douglass and at 
once established himself in the transfer and dray- 
ing business which he has ever since followed with 
marked success. 

May 11, 1879, while residing in Missouri, Mr. 
Ormsby married Miss Sena Taliaferro, a native of 
that state, born in 1859. She, however, received 
her education in the schools of Iowa. Mr. and 
Mrs. Ormsby have one daughter, Mrs. Hallie Hol- 
brook, wife of J. B. Holbrook, a partner of Mr. 
Ormsby in the transfer business. In fraternal cir- 
cles Mr. Ormsby is a member of the Knights of 
Pythias, a past chancellor of the local lodge ; in pol- 
itics he affiliates with the Democrats. In addition 
to his transfer business he has considerable real 
estate in Sedro-Woolley, a town in whose future 
and tributary wealth he has much faith. He is a 
business man of superior ability and the success 
that has attended his years has been but the natural 
result of energy and application, of business capac- 
ity coupled with strictest integrity and a spirit of 
fairness in all his dealings. He has many personal 
friends and holds the respect of all. 



JAMES McDonald, one of the best known 
and most highly respected pioneers of Sedro-Wool- 
ley, was born in Lanark, Ontario, April 14, 1845, 
the son of Archibald and Martha (Kelsey) McDon- 
ald, both natives of Scotland. The father moved 
to Canada in early life and was engaged in farm- 
ing and teaching there until his death in 1873. The 
mother, a native of Glasgow, died in Lanark in 
1877. When only thirteen years old James Mc- 
Donald began to support himself, and he earned 
his first pair of shoes by driving cattle for a 
butcher, of whom he learned the trade, remaining 
with him nine years. After spending twenty-five 
years in the woods of Michigan and Minnesota, he 
came in 1889 to Mount Vernon where he worked 
in a butcher shop, later opening a shop of his own 
in Sedro. The only homes there at that time were 
those of William Dunlop, William Woods and Mor- 
timer Cook, a logging camp and a few shacks 
comprising the rest of the town. Soon after this 
the town boomed and real estate advanced with 
amazing rapidity. The following year the town 
of Woolley came into existence. Mr. McDonald 
sold his meat business at the end of two years and 
for several years thereafter drove a freight team, 
after which he engaged in contracting and various 



other kinds of work. He has established for him- 
self a reputation for faithfulness and ability that 
secures for him ample employment. 

In 1873 Mr. McDonald 'was married to Miss 
Irene Jewell, a native of Aroostook county, Maine. 
Her father, David Jewell, bom also in Maine, 
moved to Minnesota when Mrs. McDonald was a 
young girl, farming there until his death in 1887. 
Abigail (Brothers) Jewell, her mother, was born 
in Nova Scotia, but was living in New Brunswick 
at the time of her marriage. Her death occurred in 
Maine, in 1870. She was the mother of nine chil- 
dren, Mrs. McDonald being the oldest. Of the 
eight children born to Mr. and Mrs. AIcDonald 
only three are living: Alexander, born in 1879, 
now in Sedro-Woolley; Mrs. Flora Bresee, born 
in 1881, residing in Sedro, and Janette, born in 
1891, at home. Mr. McDonald loyally supports 
the Republican party, though he never has accepted 
office. He is interested in real estate, owning eight 
dwellings in Sedro, five lots in Sedro-Woolley, and 
his own commodious home. Mr. McDonald is 
known throughout the community as a man of 
thrift and industry. 



FREDERICK J. JARVIS, driver on the gro- 
cery wagons of Howard & Reynolds of Sedro- 
Woolley, is one of the energetic and enterprising 
young citizens of that city and resides a short dis- 
tance west of town. Mr. Jarvis is a native of As- 
toria, Illinois, born in 1883, the son of George E. 
Jarvis, an Englishman, who emigrated to this coun- 
try in 1875 and first located in New York as a rail- 
road engineer. The elder Jarvis came to Skagit 
county in 1894, locating at Sedro-Woolley, where 
he became engine hostler for the Northern Pacific, 
remaining in that position until his death, in the 
summer of 1902. Mrs. Charlotte (Davis) Jarvis, 
is a native of Wales, and now lives at Sedro-Wool- 
ley, the mother of five children, those besides Fred- 
erick being: Thomas, Emily, John and William. 
Frederick J. Jarvis graduated from the grammar 
schools of Seattle and immediately thereafter took 
up the responsibilities of life. He has been in the 
employ of his present firm for a period of three 
years. 

In 1904 at Sedro-Woolley Mr. Jarvis married 
Miss Nora McCarthy, a daughter of Michael and 
Mary McCarthy, and a member of a family of six 
children, the other members being : George, Mag- 
gie, Thomas, Lucy and Leo. Mrs. Jarvis was born 
in Wisconsin and received her education in that 
state, but came thence to Skagit county with her 
parents in the fall of 1903. In politics Mr. Jarvis 
is an independent, in lodge affiliations a member of 
the Modern Woodmen of America and in church 
membership an Episcopalian. He enjoys the high- 
est confidence of his employers and is popular with 
the people with whom he comes in contact, admired 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



for his energy and devotion to the duties which 
devolve upon him. 



GEORGE COX, the superintendent of the Sedro- 
Woolley Ice Company's plant is a man whose life 
has been one of constant endeavor and steady prog- 
ress. He was born in Port Huron, Michigan, in 
1850. the son of James A. Cox, a vessel owner of 
the Great Lakes, who died at the age of thirty-two. 
The mother, Mrs. Emily (Whiting) Cox, also a 
native of the Peninsula state, died in the Centennial 
year, after having borne eight children of whom 
George was third. When thirteen years old George 
Cox left school and started in life for himself, be- 
coming a sailor. His first job was as cook on a 
boat plying between Chicago and Buffalo, later he 
went before the mast, still later he was promoted 
to mate, and he first became a captain when on the 
"Uncle Sam." He afterward commanded the 
"Dreadnaught," the "E. M. Carrington," and the 
schooner "Louise," remaining in charge of the last 
named for two years. When he married at the age 
of twenty-five he left the lakes and went to farming 
in summer and lumbering in winter near Port 
Hope, also studied engineering. He went to South 
Dakota in 1885. In 1888 he moved to Washington 
and became engineer at Allen & Horton's mill in 
Olympia. After spending two years there he be- 
came engineer in the Olympia Sash & Door fac- 
tory at Elma, Washington, whence in 1891 he came 
to Everett to take the position of engineer in the 
nail works in that place. He afterward was engi- 
neer for the Rockefeller smelter and for the ice 
plant of the Washington brewery. Coming to 
Sedro-Woolley in 1903, he entered upon the duties 
of engineer of the local ice plant and he has re- 
mained here ever since, later becoming superin- 
tendent. 

On Independence day, 1875, Mr. Cox married 
Miss Delia Birtch, a native of St. Mary's Ontario, 
born in 1857, daughter of George Birtch, a mill- 
wright. Her mother, Mrs. Matilda Birtch, is still 
living, making her home in Everett. In fraternal 
associations IVIr. Cox is a member of the Ancient 
Order of LTnited Workmen and Degree of Honor, 
also retains his membership in the Shipping Masters' 
Association, with lieadquarters at Bufifalo, New 
York. Mrs. Cox attends the Methodist church. In 
politics Mr. Cox is an ardent Republican. In Sedro- 
Woolley he is known as a painstaking man of ster- 
ling qualities, one whose integrity never is ques- 
tioned. He is the owner of considerable property in 
Everett. 



SYLVESTER BURNS, proprietor of the Sed- 
ro-Woolley steam laundry, owns a thriving business 
in that city which he has built up by his own energy, 
He was born in Prairie City, Jasper County, Iowa, in 



1859, the son of Jerome S. Burns who was born in 
Missouri in 1827. The elder Mr. Burns was a pio- 
neer farmer in Jasper county and crossed the plains 
to California in 1859 but soon returned to his old 
Iowa home. In 1888 he went again to California 
and now is living at San Jose, where he owns a 
farm. Mrs. Mary (Kuhns) Burns, the mother, is 
a native of Pennsylvania of Dutch ancestry, who 
was taken by her father and grandfather by ox- 
team to Iowa. Eleven children were born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Jerome S. Burns, eight of whom are 
living, Sylvester being fifth. Until twenty-two years 
old he remained on the farm in Iowa, attending 
school and passing the life usual with farmers' sons 
in Jasper county. In 1882 he went to Nebraska 
and remained two years, accompanying his father 
to San Jose and farming there for a year. He 
went to Lake View, Oregon, one hundred and sixty 
miles from railroads, where for two years he was 
in charge of sheep camps. He then went to Port- 
land, then to Seattle and Port Townsend. In 1891 
he came to Sedro-Woolley and started a laundry, 
having the valuable assistance of Mrs. Burns, who 
was a laundress by trade. He built his laundry, 
operated it for a year and a half, and went to Pull- 
man, Whitman County. Washington, where he es- 
tablished another laundry. He sold out after ten 
months and farmed four years near Portland. In 
189G he was in the laundry business eight months 
in San Jose, was in Seattle a short time, then re- 
turned to Sedro-WooHey, where he still held his 
property, which he reopened in 1900. He sold his 
laundry, but the purchasers were burned out, and 
Mr. Burns bought what was not destroyed in the 
fire and erected his present building in 1903. , He 
has built up an excellent business, being ably as- 
sisted by the practical knowledge of Mrs. Burns 
who is fully conversant with all branches of the 
work. 

In 1889 Mr. Burns married Miss Emma Taylor 
Knepp, a native of Pennsylvania, one of the best 
laundresses in that state. She was active in her 
husband's business until 1903 when she was injured 
by a kick from a horse. Mrs. Burns is a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal church. In politics Mr. 
Burns is a Republican and while living in Oregon 
was justice of the peace. Since living in Sedro- 
Woolley Mr. Burns has been unusually successful 
and claims to have the best paying business in the 
citv. with the exception of the bank and one mer- 
cantile establishment. He is highly respected and 
enjoys the confidence of his fellow men. 



CHARLES WARNER. Foremost among the 
men who have taken advantage of the splendid bus- 
iness openings afforded by the great forests of the 
Northwest, is Charles Warner, born in Whatcom 
county, Washington, February 6, 1867. His fath- 
er. Captain John M. Warner, was a native of 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Maine, born in 1827, who spent his early life on 
the Great Lakes until 1857, when he left his boats 
and took a prairie schooner for California. He 
mined near Sacramento a year and went to the 
Fraser river mining district in British Columbia' 
when the excitement there was most intense. He 
made a stake at Spencer Bridge and then went to 
the present site of Bellingham, Washington, where 
for six years he was engaged in timbering the coal 
mines. He moved to Samish and took a home- 
stead where he resided twelve years, being one of 
the first five settlers in that district. He disposed 
of his property at Samish and was the first man 
to take land on Warner's prairie, building a twelve 
mile road in order to reach his property. Con- 
vinced that it was a region of great fertility, he 
endeavored, but in vain, to induce others to come. 
Five years later, after the real estate boom had 
commenced, he was offered ten thousand dollars 
for his one hundred and sixty acres. His death 
occurred December 9, 1903, on the prairie which 
bears his name and which for so many years was 
his home. Ellen Warner, the mother, was born in 
British Columbia in 1837 and after a long and use- 
ful life died on Warner's prairie in 1881. She was 
the mother of eleven children. Remaining at home 
until twenty-two, young Charles Warner ably as- 
sisted his father in the support of the family, but 
was able to spend but nine months in school. He 
applied himself diligently to study at home, how- 
ever, and was able to acquire a good business edu- 
cation. When he left home he did logging for 
Mortimer Cook on the ground now occupied by 
Sedro-Woolley. He has followed logging much of 
his life. 

Mr. Warner and Louise Yates were married 
October 9, 1884. She is a native of British Co- 
lumbia, the daughter of William Yates of Scotch 
nativity. He went to Hope, British Columbia, in 
1859, and was employed by the Hudson Bay Com- 
pany. He still resides there. Mrs. Elizabeth 
Yates, the mother of Mrs. Warner, was born in 
British Columbia, where she still lives. Mr. and 
Mrs. Warner have one child. Nellie, born in Brit- 
ish Columbia, September 17. 1887. Mr. Warner is 
a Forester and a member of the Ancient Order of 
Foresters. He is a loyal Democrat but never has 
cared to take an active part in politics. After his 
father's death, Mr. Warner sold the home place 
on Warner's prairie and bought his present home 
in Sedro-Woolley. Mr. Warner is ambitious and 
energetic, a man of much worth, popular in his 
community. " 

ADAM W. DAVISON has spent his entire 
life in the atmosphere of logging and lumbering 
and now is one of the stockholders and active men 
m the management of the Green Shingle Company 
of Sedro-Woolley. He is a man greatly admired 
for his excellent business qualities. He was born 



in Pennsylvania, August 17, 1857, the son of Daniel 
Davison, a lumberman of that state. His mother, 
Mrs. Mary (Pickard) Davison, a native of New 
York, is still living in Pennsylvania, the mother of 
twelve children, of whom Adam is fourth. The 
Davisons are of German extraction but this branch 
has been in America many years. Adam Davison 
acquired his education under difficulties in the 
common schools of the state, walking seven miles 
to school, but since those days he has picked up, 
by observation and reading, a large amount of gen- 
eral information. When fifteen years old he went 
to the Michigan woods and worked three years, 
then returned to Pittsburg and stayed a year. Two 
years more were spent lumbering in Michigan and 
in 1878 he came to San Francisco, later to Port- 
land, and in the fall of that year he entered the em- 
ploy of Stetson & Post in their mill at Seattle. He 
soon after went to San Juan island, where he was 
employed by James McCurdy two years working in 
and around a lime kiln. He then worked two years 
on Vashon island in the woods for Saywood & 
Meigs, then was made foreman of the logging 
camp of William Cochran where he remained two 
years more, thereupon returning to San Juan is- 
land, where he quarried limestone until July, 1890, 
He then came to Sedro where Mortimer Cook had 
already established a small store and had secured a 
postoffice. Under contract he took out lumber for 
the Fairhaven Land Company for two years; thert 
built a saw-mill on the Seattle & Northern railroad 
at Woolley which he operated for two years more ; 
then he moved his plant to a location on the Seattle 
& Lake Shore road where he operated it half a 
decade longer, eventually selling out to Shrewsbury 
& McLane. He later entered the logging business 
in partnership with W. W. Caskey, and after three 
years, both he and Caskey went into the Green 
Shingle Company. 

On San Juan island on Christmas eve, 1882, 
Mr. Davison married Miss Betsy Firth, daughter 
of Robert Firth, a Scotchman who had entered the 
employ of the Hudson Bay Company and had come 
to Victoria, British Columbia, in 1851, later taking 
up his residence on San Juan island. Mrs. Firth, 
whose maiden name was Jessie Grant, came to Vic- 
toria on her wedding tour, being six months on the 
overland journey. Mrs. Davison was born and ed- 
ucated on San juan island. She and Mr. Davison 
have nine children : Roche L., born December 21, 
1884; Irthamore R., August 24, 1886; Lexie, Octo- 
ber 13, 1887 ; Olive C, October 8, 1891 ; Bessie G.. 
November 27, 1893 ; Inez R., August 1, 1895 ; Hazel 
E.. July 14, 1897; Mary I., March 17, 1901, and 
Adam W., May 14, 1903. Mr. Davison is a Mason, 
which order he joined when twenty-one years old ; 
he also is a member of the Knights of Pythias and 
of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In re- 
ligion he is a Presbyterian and in politics a Re- 
publican. He is not especially ambitious politically. 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



though taking always the interest in the pubHc 
affairs of his community that a good citizen should, 
and at times manifesting his pubhc spiritedness by 
accepting such offices as school director and city 
councilman. In the realm of industry his ambition 
has had its chief field of activity and there his hard 
work and faithful endeavor have won an abundant 
reward. 

FRANK BRADSBERRY, logger of Sedro- 
Woolley, has firmly established himself in the busi- 
ness community of Skagit county in a little more 
than twenty years and has formed for himself a 
large place in' the estimation of the public as a man 
of spirit and energy. He was born in Missouri in 
1860, the son of John B. Bradsberry. a native of 
Pennsvlvania of Dutch descent who began life as a 
shoemaker and later went to Missouri and became 
a farmer. Mrs. Nancy (Tucker) Bradsberry, the 
mother, was born in Indiana, but died in Missouri 
in 1896. Young Bradsberry was trained and 
brought up by his mother, the father having died 
when he was but a year old. He attended the schools 
at home and remained on the farm with his 
mother until he was fourteen years old, at which 
time he went to Kansas. A year later he engaged 
to accompany a man who was taking a band of 
horses and mules to Texas, and so well did the 
young man carry himself in his part of this work 
that the owner gave him entire charge of the ex- 
pedition and left the outfit in western Kansas. 
Young Bradsberry delivered the stock at Stevens- 
ville, Texas, without a mishap. He then made a 
trip across the international border into Mexico, 
but remained there only a short time, returning 
home bv horseback from Alma, Texas, to Wichita, 
Kansas, a distance of about a thousand miles, and 
at one time experiencing the unpleasant predica- 
ment of having his horse stolen at night while he 
slept. He spent a year at the old Missouri home 
and in 1879 went to Colorado, where for a year he 
operated a logging camp for Joseph Lamb. The 
mining excitement was running high, and Mr. 
Bradsberry put in two years at prospecting in Utah 
and Arizona. In 1881 he passed five months in Cal- 
ifornia, but went back to Colorado to work in a saw- 
mill. He was there a year this time, then returned to 
California for what proved to be a short stay before 
coming to Washington in 1884. In March of that 
year Mr. Bradsberry located in the Skagit valley, 
and began working in a logging camp at Sterling. 
After three years of this he engaged in logging on 
his own account in the Sauk valley and he has 
since been in the logging business in this county, 
forming the Bradsberry Logging Company in 1901. 

March 30, 1890, Mr. Bradsberry married Miss 
Marinda Kelley, daughter of Leander Kelley, who 
came from Ireland to the sound country in 1865 and 
has since died near Fir. Mrs. Bradsberry is a na- 
tive of Skagit county, born in 1873, and educated in 



the local schools. Three children have been born of 
this union, Emerson, George and Ernest Q. In fra- 
ternal circles Mr. Bradsberry is a member of the 
Knights of Pythias and of the Concatenated Order 
of Hoo Hoo. A Republican in politics and active in 
the councils of that party, he has even been called 
upon to attend some of its state conventions. The 
Bradsberry Logging Company, of which he is the 
president and manager, owns four thousand acres 
of timber land, which is rapidly being converted into 
farms as the forest is removed, also the mill which 
it operates in Sedro-Woolley. Mr. Bradsberry is a 
very public-spirited man, a hard worker at anything 
he undertakes and one of the substantial citizens of 
the community. 



JOHN LLOYD is one of the natives of the 
Province of New Brunswick who have prospered in 
Skagit county. He was born in 1868. His father, 
Michael Lloyd, of Welsh extraction, crossed from 
Ireland and engaged at first in lumbering in New 
Brunswick, but late in life took to farming. He 
died in 189-4. Mrs. Lloyd, the mother of the subject 
of this sketch, was born in New Brunswick of Irish 
parentage, and died in that province in 1881. She 
was the mother of four children, Mrs. J. P. Collins 
of Portland, Maine ; William and Daniel, living on 
the old farm in New Brunswick, and John, logger 
and real estate owner of Sedro-WooIley, Washing- 
ton. The early life of John Lloyd was like that of 
other lads on Eastern farms. He attended school 
some, helped with the crops during harvest, 
and worked in the woods in winter. When nineteen 
he left home and went to the Rice Lake district of 
Byron County, Wisconsin, where he spent one 
season logging and driving. He then passed some 
time in the lumber town of Stillwater, Minnesota, 
but was working westward and reached Seattle in 
July, 1888. Having been connected with the lum- 
bering industry, he naturally looked for an engage- 
ment in that line, so went to the Skagit valley, land- 
ing at the mouth of the river in the days when there 
was nothing there but a logging camp dignified by 
he name of Fir. The nearest mill, however, was 
Decatur's at Mount Vernon. Mr. Lloyd found a 
half brother, Michael, at Fir, and for him he began 
working, logging off the brother's claim. He also 
took up a homestead near Arlington in Snohomish 
county, upon which he proved up six years later. 
His homestead adjoined that on which James Cav- 
anaugh had filed and the two men decided, while 
improving their places, to combine their efforts, 
working part of the time on one homestead and part 
of the time on the other, Mr. Lloyd making his 
home with Mr. Cavanaugh and wife in a shack they 
had erected. Mr. Lloyd worked at logging in Skagit 
county mostly until 1897, when he went to Alaska, 
with a partner, Eugene Taylor. They each packed 
eighty-five pounds over the White Pass from Skag- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



way to Lake Bennett, and that summer they put in 
whipsavving hmiber, receiving six hundred dollars 
per thousand for their product. With a new part- 
ner, Fitzpatrick, they went the next spring to Daw- 
son City, but returned to Mount Vernon in 1898. 
Mr. Lloyd has done a varied business, dealing in 
any kind of property which gave promise of legiti- 
mate profit. He has bought much timber and from 
it furnished bolts to shingle mills. 

In the summer of 1900 Mr. Lloyd married Miss 
Ida Villeneuve, who was born near the mouth of 
the Skagit river in 1877. She is a daughter of 
Charles and Bridget Anna (Tracy) Villeneuve, pio- 
neers of Sedro-Woolley and now proprietors of the 
St. Charles hotel in that city. Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd 
have one child, Frances, born September 15, 1902. 
Fraternally, Mr. Lloyd is a member of the Knights 
of Pythias ; in religion he is a Catholic ; in politics 
a Republican. Mr. Lloyd's holdings now consist of 
one hundred and sixty acres of timber and forty 
acres of farm land between Edison and Bay View- 
together with a number of lots in Anacortes, Mount 
Vernon and Sedro-Woolley. He is recognized as 
one of the substantial citizens of the county, a man 
who has won success because of the possession of 
those sterling qualities so characteristic of many of 
the privates in the great army of settlers that has 
subdued the forests of the Northwest and estab- 
lished its commercial and industrial institutions. 



SAMUEL E. SHEA, liquor dealer of Sedro- 
Woolley, one of the most successful business men 
of the place, has prospered by buying and selling 
Skagit county realty. He was born in Woodstock, 
New Brunswick, August 2, 1852, the son of Wil- 
liam Shea, also a native of Woodstock, and of 
Mrs. Margaret (McCauley) Shea, who was born in 
Springhill, New Brunswick. Both parents of Mr. 
Shea died in the province where they were born. 
They had ten children, of whom our subject was the 
fifth. Samuel Shea remained at home until 1876, 
then he went to Wisconsin, where two years were 
passed in the woods. He then spent two years more 
at the old New Brunswick home, then a brief period 
in Minnesota, whence, in 1883, he came to Seattle. 
After a short stay in the Queen City, he went to 
Edison and worked in the woods a few months, re- 
turning eventually to Seattle, but in 1884 he was 
again in Edison, this time in the employ of D. Storrs 
& Company, for whom he worked two years. 
Thence he came to Mount Vernon and for three 
years was with Clothier & English in the lumber, 
real ^ estate and mercantile business, occasionally 
dealing in land on his own account. During this 
period he bought forty acres of land at Burlington, 
an interest in land at Avon, one hundred and twenty 
acres on Walker prairie and located two timber 
claims. He sold these holdings to good advantage 
and when Sedro was platted purchased property 



there. He also homesteaded the land where Rock- 
port now is and by another deal acquired part of the 
Charles Martin ranch at Clear Lake, which he still 
owns. Later Mr. Shea ran a camp for Kane, 
Shrewsbury & McLean, was in the employ of 
Parker Brothers, spent a year with the Lyman Lum- 
ber Company, worked for Hyatt & McMaster and 
built the road for the Hightower Company at Sedro- 
Woolley. All Ihis time he kept his eyes open for 
bargains in real estate and was shrewd enough to 
recognize and seize them when they came. In May, 
1902, he erected a building on the lot bought earlier 
in the history of Sedro and established his present 
business, opening one of the finest establishments of 
its kind in the city. 

jMr. Shea never has married. In 1903 he re- 
turned to his childhood home in New Brunswick 
and renewed old acquaintances, also spent two 
months visiting at Houlton, Bangor and Milo in 
Maine and Woodstock, Frederickton, Hartland, 
Marysville and Stanley in his native province. In 
politics Mr. Shea is a Republican but has firmly re- 
fused all requests to accept public office. He has 
engaged in many lines of business both before and 
since coming to Skagit county and has had the abil- 
ity to prosper in all his ventures. At present he is 
erecting a modern six-room house in the western 
part of Sedro-Woolley. 



EMMETT VAN FLEET, living one mile east 
of Sedro-Woolley, is one of the early pioneers of 
Skagit county who knew no neighbors but them- 
selves and counted the later settlers as one by one 
they came into that wilderness of trees. Mr. Van 
Fleet was born in Lackawanna county, Pennsyl- 
vania, January 23, 1849, his father, George Van 
Fleet, being one of a family long established in that 
section of the Keystone state. James Van Fleet, 
father of George and grandfather of Emmett, was 
well known in the community and in his honor the 
postofifice at his heme was named Fleetville. The 
Van Fleets originally came from Holland. Mrs. 
Lexa (Thacher) Van Fleet, mother of Emmett Van 
Fleet, was a native of Pennsylvania of Scotch de- 
scent. She died two years ago at the age of seventy- 
seven. Emmett Van Fleet attended school and grew 
to manhood on his father's farm, learned the car- 
penter's trade and followed it five years in Scranton, 
Pennsylvania. After this he leased and ran his 
father's farm until he came to his present home in 
1880. Not a white woman or a white child was then 
in all the section from Lyman to Sterling, then 
called Ball's logging camp. His nearest neighbor 
was Dan Benson, well known as a pilot on the 
Skagit river. Messrs. Woods, Dunlop, Hart and 
Batey were further down the river. His brother, 
Luther Van Fleet, who had preceded him to Skagit 
county, was to the north, on what was called the 
"fern land," a name given to land burned over by 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



Indians where an abundance of ferns grew. There 
were no roads and few trails in those days, and the 
river constituted the chief highway. Mr. Van Fleet 
commenced clearing his land and bought cows with 
which he started dairying. He was much troubled 
by bear and cougar, and killed many of them. 

December 23, 1874, before leaving Pennsylvania, 
Mr. Van Fleet married Miss -Eliza Farnham, 
who was born in Lackawanna county, the daughter 
of Granville and Harriet (Sprague) Farnham. The 
Farnhams are well known in Pennsylvania, having 
lived there on land granted by the government to 
Captain Eliab Farnham, for his services in the 
Revolutionary war, when he served as captain of a 
company of the Green Mountain Boys. On this land 
now stands the city of Hawley, Pennsylvania. Cap- 
tain Farnliam's son, Eliab, was born in August fol- 
lowing the capture of Ticonderoga and Crown Point 
by the Green Mountain boys under Ethan Allen, 
and his son, Stephen, was the father of Granville 
Farnham, who still is living. On her mother's side, 
Mrs. Van Fleet traces back to the Spragues of 
Rhode Island, who held eighty acres of the city site 
of Providence. The noted war governor of Rhode 
Island was a cousin of Mrs. Van Fleet's mother. 
Mrs. Van Fleet is the oldest of four children and 
is the only one in the west. The others are Eliab, 
Charles and Robert Farnham. She came west with 
her husband and was the first white woman in this 
vicinity. Mr. and Mrs. Van Fleet have three chil- 
dren: Eva, born in Pennsylvania on the last day 
of the Centennial year; Ethel, born in Skagit 
county, August 17, 1887, and Earl, born here, 
March 30, 1889. Mr. Van Fleet is an Odd Fellow, 
member of Truth lodge at Sedro-Woolley, and he 
and Mrs. Van Fleet are Rebekahs. She is a mem- 
ber of the Methodist church. In politics he is a 
Democrat and active in primaries, and often is sent 
to county and state conventions. The Van Fleet 
place contains 140 acres, is worked as a general and 
stock farm, and has a highly productive orchard. 
Mr. Van Fleet also has a large colony of bees, his 
stand last year producing over a ton of honey. On 
this pioneer farm was erected, years ago, the first 
schoolhouse in that part of the country, its owner 
donating liberally towards its construction. He is 
greatly interested in the schools and has served as 
school director. Mrs. Van Fleet has many interest- 
ing reminiscences of pioneer life, some of which she 
published in the School Journal, when Mrs. Currier 
Ornes was superintendent. The article received 
much praise for its literary merit. Mr. Van Fleet 
is a loyal American citizen who is entitled to unlim- 
ited credit for the part he took in opening one sec- 
tion of the great west. 



FRANK R. HAMILTON.— Although there are 
a few men in Skagit county whose advent long ante- 
dates that of Mr. Hamilton, yet that gentleman has 



probably seen as much of pioneering and pioneer 
conditions as any one, and he has certainly done his 
full share toward blazing trails, beating back the 
forests, overcoming the obstacles and ushering in 
the better day. His pioneer experiences include the 
management of Indians disposed to be unfriendly, 
for the home of the Hamiltons was claimed by the 
red men, their presence in the upper valley was dis- 
tasteful to the members of the inferior race who 
foresaw defeat in the irrepressible race conflict, and 
at one time the white settlers had good reason to 
fear an uprising, but the privations of the early days 
were bravely endured, the dangers were safely 
passed and surrounded by the blessings of the civ- 
ilization which they helped to establish, Mr. and 
Mrs. Hamilton are spending the evening of their 
lives near the thrifty town of Sedro-Woolley, in the 
enjoyment of abundance of everything which can 
add to their material comfort, and none the worse 
for the pictures of trying experiences which hang 
on memory's wall. 

Mr. Hamilton was born in Wapello county, 
Iowa, in 1857, the son of William Hamilton, a 
native of Ohio and a wheelwright and carpenter by 
occupation. The elder Hamilton, a native of Ohio, 
was left an orphan at an early age, and was bound 
out and raised by a strange family. He eventually 
moved to Iowa, whence, in 1863, he crossed the 
plains with ox teams to California, accompanied by 
his family, and he died in the Golden State in 1873. 
Our subject's mother, Mary E. (Prather) Hamil- 
ton, who was born in the year 1832, is still living 
in Oakland, California. Though a native of Iowa, 
as heretofore stated, Frank R. Hamilton became a 
resident of the Pacific coast very early in life, cross- 
ing the plains, as heretofore stated, with his father 
in 1862. After spending short periods of time in 
Petaluma and Santa Rosa, he moved, at the age of 
thirteen years, to Nevada, and he finished his edu- 
cation and took his first lessons in the art of selling 
goods behind the counter in Virginia City, that 
state. He resided in Nevada until 1880, though 
making frequent trips to California, but in the year 
mentioned he put into practice a resolve to leave 
both states permanently, and with his newly wedded 
wife to make a home in the wild, undeveloped but 
rich and promising Skagit valley. He chose as the 
scene of his home-building venture a point far up 
the Skagit river, where it receives the waters of 
the Baker, beyond the outmost bounds of settlement 
at that time. His only neighbors were Mrs. Ham- 
ilton's half-brother, Theodore Sunter, Mr. Sunter's 
mother, Mrs. luiiily Glass, who was the first white 
woman to go that far up the river, Amasa Everett, 
Orrin Kincaid and a man named Anderson. The 
family had much ado to obtain subsistence at first. 
Mr. Hamilton traded with the Indians and miners 
and when logging camps began to be established 
that far up river sold them the products of his farm, 




SAMUEL S. TINGLEY 



MRS. SAMUEL S. TINGLET 




AMASA EVERETT 



JOHN SUTTER 



WILLLVM BARRATT 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



703 



in this manner supporting his family. The battle 
with natural conditions was severe enough to try 
the sturdiest, but its rigors were aggravated by fear 
of trouble with the Indians, who strenuously ob- 
jected to surveyors and settlers. At one time a 
party of surveyors, with Amasa Everett and Willard 
Cobb, had some difficulty with the Indians and two 
of the red men were shot and wounded, but the dis- 
pute was settled without further trouble, much to 
the relief of all the whites, though real security was 
not had till soldiers entered the country. 

Mr. Hamilton kept steadily at the task of devel- 
oping and opening up his farm until by 1897 he had 
it in condition to produce five hundred sacks of 
grain and one hundred tons of hay; then disaster 
came. That was the year of the memorable flood 
which did so much damage throughout the length 
and breadth of the Skagit valley. The rampant wa- 
ters surrounded his house and outbuildings, com- 
pelling him and his family to seek safety in a canoe, 
while the excellent crops of hay and grain went to 
destruction, as well as his forty head of cattle and 
fifteen fat hogs. After the waters subsided Mrs. 
Hamilton and the family went to live on land they 
owned near Sedro-Woolley ; later Mr. Hamilton 
disposed of his up-river farm and joined them, and 
they have been farming and stock raising in that lo- 
cality ever since. Their farm contains 105 acres of 
land in excellent condition for the maintenance of 
stock, and they give much attention to the rearing 
and care of high-grade cattle, especially of the Jer- 
sey strain. 

Though he has battled with the wilderness dili- 
gently and with great assiduity, Mr. Hamilton has 
always taken time to discharge well the duties which 
have devolved upon him as a good citizen, his public 
spirit finding expression principally in efforts to 
promote the cause of popular education so far as 
he was able. For a number of terms he served on the 
school board of his district. He also, several times, 
consented to accept the office of justice of the peace 
of his precinct while living in the upper valley. 
He is prominent in Odd Fellowship, having passed 
through all the chairs in his home lodge and being 
now a member of the grand lodge. In politics he is 
a Republican. 

In 1880 Mr. Hamilton married Miss Adelaide 
S. Glass, a native of Iowa and a daughter of James 
and Emily (Provost) Glass. Mrs. Hamilton takes 
a just pride in her family history, for her ancestry 
can be traced in this country back to 1624, when 
the first Provost established himself on American 
soil. He was a man of unusual ability, a deep stu- 
dent of the Latin language and very thoroughly 
versed in classic lore. He belonged to that famous 
class of Frenchmen known as the Huguenots, the 
flower of France, in expelling whom from her bor- 
ders, it is said, France slit the veins of her own 
national life. The family is well known in the his- 



tory of Massachusetts, and it is worthy of mention 
that the first Episcopal bishop of New York was a 
Provost. One of Mrs. Hamilton's brothers enlisted 
in 1861 for service in the Civil War as a member 
of the Sixteenth Iowa, and he continued to follow 
the flag until the last disloyal gun had been silenced. 
He spent two months in Andersonville prison. In 
1878 he settled near Baker river in Skagit county, 
becoming the first settler in that locality, and on 
the 10th of April, 1881, he passed away at La Con- 
ner. Three of Mr. Hamilton's brothers were also 
veterans of the Civil War. Mrs. Hamilton's father, 
James Glass, was born in the north of Ireland, but 
early in life came to New York and engaged in the 
mercantile business there. He was a relative of A. 
T. Stewart, the well-known multi-millionaire mer- 
chant. In 185,5 he migrated to Iowa and purchased 
a thousand acres of land. He was preparing to go 
into the mercantile business there when he was 
caught in one of the blizzards which are so common 
in some parts of the middle west and lost his life. 
Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton have two living children, 
namely, James B., the first white child torn so far 
up the river, now bookkeeper in the bank of C. E. 
Bingham & Company at Sedro-Woolley, and Frances 
A., attending the high school at present. One of 
their children died October 17, 1901, at the age of 
nine vears. 



GEORGE G. ARNOLD, farmer, stock raiser 
and dairyman, seven miles east of Sedro-Woolley, is 
a man whose days have been filled with the excite- 
ment which attends a succession of reverses and 
successes, and now in the evening of life he is en- 
joying the smiles of fortune. Mr. Arnold was born 
in Harrison county. West Virginia, November 14, 
1836, and inherits from both sides of his ancestry 
the blood of patriots and pioneers. His father, 
George Arnold, was born in West Virginia, moved 
to Missouri late in life, and ultimately settled in 
Oregon, where he died fifteen years ago. He was 
of Scotch-English parentage, his mother's people 
having settled in Albemarle county, Virginia, in 
the early days of the colony. His father was a 
veteran of the War of 1812. Mrs. Rebecca (Green) 
Arnold, also of English descent, was born in Penn- 
sylvania. Members of her family served both in 
the Revolution and in the War of 1812. George 
G. Arnold is the third of her family of ten chil- 
dren. The early years of Mr. Arnold's life were 
spent on a farm and as was often the case in fami- 
lies living in the states along Mason and Dixon's 
line, he disagreed with his brothers on the issues 
of the Civil War. He stood alone in his family 
for the union cause. At the outbreak of the war he 
was working on a road building contract near 
Charleston, West Virginia. An argument arose 
about the size of the ball a nearb'y cannon would 
throw. He stepped to the muzzle of the piece and 
was measuring the bore when he was placed under 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



arrest and conveyed to General Wise's headquar- 
ters as a spy. He made his escape and had enlisted 
in Company A of the Fourth West Virginia Vol- 
unteer Infantry before the close of 1861. He saw 
service under General Ewing, was with Grant's 
victorious army at Vicksburg, endured the hard- 
ships of hunger and participated in the glories of 
Sherman's operations around Atlanta and on the 
march to the sea. After four years of service he 
was mustered out at Wheeling. All this time three 
brothers were wearing the Confederate gray — 
James S., Floyd and William Pitt, the last named 
being killed in the battle of Winchester. At the 
close of the war Mr. Arnold returned for a time to 
Gilmer county, West Virginia, and after marriage 
went to Cass County. Missouri. In 1ST3 he came 
to Seattle, which at that time did not number over 
1,000 inhabitants, with bears plentiful within the 
city limits. For twelve years he followed the log- 
ging business at Seattle, and in the latter part of 
the seventies was interested in the Ruby creek min- 
ing development. Mr. Arnold and Al. Spalding 
conceived the idea of building a saw-mill on Granite 
creek and with the help of a third man they car- 
ried a shaft weighing 400 pounds sixty miles to the 
site of their mill operations. The venture proved 
a flat failure and only one log was sawed. Mr. Ar- 
nold secured mining property in company with 
Colonel Larrabee, but after financial losses with- 
drew from the district to recoup in the logging 
business. His attention had been directed during 
his experiences in the Skagit valley to the possi- 
bilities in this county, and m 1883 he moved here 
and settled near Lyman, then only a trading post 
for barter with the Indians. He filed on a home- 
stead, which he developed into a farm. One of his 
early ventures was in hop raising, leasing the hop 
ranch of Alvin H. Williamson, formerly of New 
York, later a partner of Ezra Meeker in hop grow- 
ing at Puyallup. Mr. Williamson was the pioneer 
hop grower of Skagit county, if not of the entire 
state. When Mr. Arnold settled here there were 
no roads, and the one trail in that section passed 
directly in front of the spot on which the present 
Arnold house stsnds. Since coming to Skagit 
county Mr. Arnold has done no logging except on 
his own farm. His early clearing was done with 
cattle, six yoke of which he brought with him from 
Seattle. He it was who had the first team of horses 
in this section. After he had become settled, he 
turned his own place into hops and became one of 
the big producers of that product in this county, 
twice harvesting a crop worth $15,000. In some 
years reverses would sweep away the profits of pre- 
ceding years and for that reason Mr. Arnold quit 
hop raising several years ago. Mr. Arnold for- 
merly owned 160 acres of land, but he has disposed 
of half of it. He has a fine herd of selected milch 
cows and engages in dairying. 

April 5, 1866, in West Virginia, Mr. Arnold 



married Mrs. Mary Nutter, born in the Old Do- 
minion, daughter of Thomas and Martha McDaniel, 
natives of that state, of English descent. Mr. Mc- 
Daniel was a colonel in the Civil War. Mrs. Arnold 
was a widow with three children at the time of her 
marriage to Mr. Arnold, and by him she is the 
mother of three others, Olive, Laura and Albert. 
By her former husband her children are William, 
Thomas and Mary, the first named being dead. The 
name of her first husband was Davis. In fraternal , 
circles Mr. Arnold is a member of the Odd Fellows 
and of the Knights of Pythias. In politics he is an 
active and ardent Democrat. He has served as 
committeeman and has attended every county con- 
vention of his party, save one, since coming to 
Skagit county. Mr. Arnold served as member of the 
school board for many years, but retired in 1901. He 
alwavs has been active in work for the schools and has 
contributed liberally toward building schoolhouses. 
Mr. Arnold is one of the leading citizens of Skagit 
county, honored and respected by all who know him. 
He is just such a man as one would picture who knew 
of the vicissitudes through which he has passed. 



SAMUEL SIMPSON TINGLEY, farmer and 
stock rasier, located across the river from Lyman, 
is one of the very earliest settlers of Skagit county 
and a man who has had a remarkably active career. 
Mr. Tingley was born at Violet Brook, Aroostook 
county, Maine, February 12, 1836, the son of John 
C. Tingley, a native of New Brunswick. He be- 
came a farmer and shipbuilder in the Pine Tree 
State, whence in later years he removed to Skagit 
county, and he died in' Skagit City in 1896. The 
elder Tingley had three brothers in the battle of 
Lundy's Lane, in the War of 1812, one of whom 
was on the side of the British. Mrs. Sophia 
(Boline) Tingley, mother of Samuel, was also a 
native of Maine. Samuel S. Tingley lived on the 
home place until ten years of age, when he was 
bound out to learn the trade of machinist. He 
worked two years in the shop, then spent a like 
period on a boat, learning to handle steam ; then 
he shipped for deep water work, and in 1859 was 
on Puget sound helping to build the revenue cutter, 
I. I. Stevens. After working a year and a half, he 
started home in 1861 to attend a military school, 
and while on his way fell in with the Tenth Maine 
Infantry at Eastport en route to the front for serv- 
ice in the Civil War. The ardor of young Tingley 
was so fired that he at once enlisted in the com- 
mand. A short time later, in company with some 
400 others, he was transferred to the engineer corps 
and he continued in that line of duty and in the 
secret service until the close of the war. After 
spending some time in Pennsylvania he came around 
the Horn on the old Continental, and landed at San 
Francisco, later coming to Puget sound on the 
George Washington, and going to Port Orchard, 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



where he was engaged in shipbuilding. In 1867 
Mr. Tingley went to the mouth of the Skagit river, 
on the south side of the north fork, and took up a 
claim. Messrs. Abbott and Sartwell were the orrly 
men on the south fork at that time, though up by 
La Conner were Mike Sullivan and Sam Calhoun, 
both of whom had some land diked in. Mr. Ting- 
ley went to diking, soon had a small farm in cul- 
tivation, and lived there until, in 1879, the Ruby 
^creek excitement lured him away. In the winter of 
1880-1 he came to Mount Vernon, built a black- 
smith shop and moved his family to that town. 
Three years later he came up to his present place, 
which he had taken in 1880 while timber cruising 
for Clothier & English, and commenced clearing 
and raising stock. Mr. Tingley has done consider- 
able logging and has also been in demand for build- 
ing ferries, having had a hand in the construction 
of nearly every boat of that character on the river. 
His experience in the army engineer corps also 
makes him almost indispensable in raising boats 
which sink on the Skagit. 

In 1867, at Portland, Oregon, Mr. Tingley mar- 
ried Miss Maria Kinney, a native of Canastota, 
New York. She was one of the seventy-five school 
teachers who came around the Horn through the 
influence of A. S. Mercer in behalf of the schools 
of the Northw-est in 1867. It so happened that Mr. 
Tingley met her on the trip of the Continental com- 
ing to San Francisco on the same boat. Mrs. Ting- 
ley died in 1874, leaving two children, Ida and 
Oliver, The present Mrs. Tingley was born in 
Pennsylvania in 1840, the daughter of Dr. Herman 
and Elizabeth ( Easterbrook ) Knapp, and received 
an excellent education, not the least part of which 
was a thorough knowledge of the use of drugs and 
medicine. Mrs. I'ingley was a widow ap the time 
of her marriage to Mr. Tingley and had one son, 
Warren Taylor. She had come west in 1872. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Tingley have been born five children : 
Mary Elizabeth, graduate of the Whatcom Normal 
School and for six years a school teacher; Hiram 
B., Henry, Martha, now acting matron of the 
Sedro-Woolley hospital, and Lillian, a trained nurse 
by profession. In fraternal circles Mr. Tingley is 
a Mason. In politics he is a protection Republican, 
sufficiently active to attend all local conventions 
and to serve as committeeman. The present Ting- 
ley farm consists of 200 acres, ten of which are in 
fine orchard. The house is a homelike structure 
built in Southern style, and suggestive of hospitality 
and comfort, with fireplace, fur rugs, literature in 
abundance and musical instruments of many kinds. 
The Tingley family is one of culture and refine- 
ment, possessing especial aptness in music. During 
her residence in Skagit county Mrs. Tingley has 
frequently been called upon to administer to the 
suffering and her knowledge of nursing and medi- 
cines has proven of great assistance to the settlers. 



especially in the early days, when no call upon her 
skill and sympathy went unheeded. Among the 
Skagit county pioneers few antedate Mr. Tingley 
in point of arrival, and few have been more active 
in affecting the many changes making for develop- 
ment and progress, and few are better known 
throughout the county. 



AMASA EVERETT, now farmer and stock- 
man and town site owner at Baker, Washington, is 
a pioneer of Skagit county and one of the men who 
discovered the agricultural value of the upper val- 
ley and also its mineral deposits. He is one of the 
men who, coming here in the early days, have con- 
tributed much to the laying of foundations in Skagit 
count}\ Mr. Everett was born in Washburn, Aroos- 
took county, Maine, June 3, 1849, the son of Lyman 
Everett, a native of New Hampshire, born in 1803, 
of English descent, who died in 1865. His ihother. 
Mrs. Regina (Sperry) Everett, was a native of 
Switzerland, of German parentage, and came to the 
United States when a child. She died in 1890, the 
mother of eleven children, of whom Amasa was 
tne ninth in order. Young Everett grew to man- 
hood in the woods of Maine and followed lumber- 
ing in that state. On the death of his father he 
took charge of the logging camp and operated it 
successfully, but at the age of nineteen left for 
Minnesota, where he was engaged in lumbering for 
three years. The summer of 1874 he spent at La 
Conner, Washington, and that fall commenced 
prospecting in the upper Skagit valley. It was Mr. 
Everett who discovered the coal deposits at Hamil- 
ton. Finding his first bits of coal on the high hill, he 
carried the samples out in his hat. While on this ex- 
pedition Mr. Everett met with the misfortune which 
cost him the loss of a leg. He was drinking from 
a creek when a landslide occurred and a large boul- 
der struck and broke the bones of the limb'. An 
Indian was with him at the time and the red man 
was sent for Lafayette Stevens and Orlando Gra- 
ham, the other members of the prospecting party. 
On their arrival they tore up a shirt and splinted 
the member, but later Seattle surgeons had to am- 
putate it. The prospectors, in company with J. J. 
Conner, who had grubstaked them, formed a com- 
pany for developing the coal find and spent several 
thousand dollars in sinking a shaft. They went 
down 120 feet and sent a quantity of the coal taken 
from the excavation to San Francisco for a test, 
which proved it to be excellent for blacksmith pur- 
poses. Air. Everett finallv abandoned the work 
after having given James O'Laughlin a half interest 
in his share. In the fall of 1875 Mr. Everett came 
further up the valley on a prospecting tour. He had 
no intention of taking up land, but built a cabin at 
the mouth of Baker river and put in a garden, 
which so prospered that he did not care to leave 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



it. For five years he prospected and worked at the 
trade of carpenter during a part of the year, in 
order to maintain himself, at the same time clearing 
a little of his land at intervals, until the place finally 
developed into proportions large enough that it 
might be denominated a ranch. In 1879, in com- 
pany with William Cobb, Mr. Everett grubstaked 
a party consisting of Charles von Pressentin, Jack 
Rowley, John Sutter and John Duncan to look into 
the Ruby creek district. The prospectors brought 
out large nuggets, but big boulders in the ground 
interfered with anything like success in the develop- 
ment of the placer mines. Mr. Everett did not 
travel into the mining country, but remained at 
home ranching, at which he made money, but his 
profits were all consumed by the miners, who stam- 
peded out from Ruby creek after the boom broke. 
In 1880, after government surveyors had arrived 
in the upper valley and had had trouble with the 
Indians, who broke the instruments, Mr. Everett 
advised the surveyors to kill a few red men if they 
did not let the whites alone. Two Indians heard 
this statement and advice of Mr. Everett, and in a 
spirit of vengeance entered his house and attacked 
him with knives. He stopped one with a b'ullet in 
the jaw and shot the other, "Bill" by name, in the 
body. The savage continued to athancc and Air. 
Everett shot him the second time, after which both 
he and the other Indian lay apparentlv dead, but 
both recovered. The surveyors sent to Port Town- 
send for soldiers and Mr. Everett gave himself up 
to the authorities at Mount Vernon. On the trial 
he was acquitted, many of the Indians testifying to 
the bad character of those who had attacked him. A 
big powwow was held, and on Mr. Everett's pay- 
ing $20 for each of the Indians shot matters were 
patched up and he was on friendly terms with them 
ever after ; they in their turn reimbursed him for 
depredations committed. In the aftermath of the 
incident numerous agents were sent out by the gov- 
ernment to investigate the occurrences, one of 
whom, a Colonel Pollock, bragged considerably of 
his bravery and aggressiveness. To try him Mr. 
Everett and an Indian agent assembled some In- 
dians behind an ambuscade on the river bank as the 
brave colonel passed down the river in boats. A 
volley from the ambuscade, directed to the rear of 
the boats, was sufficient to send the doughty colonel 
hustling down the river out of range. Mr. Everett 
continued to work his ranch and in 1885 discovered 
a ledge of marble on his place which he considered 
was valuable for lime manufacture. He also found 
a deposit of clay from which he built two brick fire- 
places. In 1904 an expert, examining the marble 
and clay, said that the clay was more valuable for 
cement than for brick. The upshot of this incident 
was that E. C. Miller, acting for what is now known 
as the Washington Portland Cement Company, re- 
cently bought forty-five acres of the land, and he is 



now arranging for the erection of a large plant at 
the point. Mr. Everett has platted a town site 
called Cement City and is soon to put lots in it on 
the market. 

October 21, 1891, at Seattle Mr. Everett mar- 
ried Miss Mary Seeger, a native of Germany, 
daughter of Frederick and Charlotte (Harding) 
Seeger, the latter of whom is still living in the old 
country, the mother of eight children, of whom 
Mrs. Everett is next to the youngest. She came 
to this country in 1888 and settled in Wisconsin. 
She and Mr. Everett have five children: Leonard, 
born in 1892; Nina, in 1893; Elva, in 1895; Ed- 
ward, in 1898, and Ruth, in 1904. In politics Mr. 
Everett is an ardent Republican and an attendant 
at most conventions. He has long been a member 
of the school board and is an earnest advocate of 
the betterment of schools. He owns and operates 
eighty-five acres of land and is in very good circum- 
stances, financially, and also enjoys the respect of 
the community in which he has played so active a 
part. 



JOHN SUTTER, of Sauk, has had much to do 
with the opening up of the upper Skagit valley, and 
by reason of years spent in the hills prospecting 
for mineral wealth probably is more familiar with 
the Cascade mountains and their western foothills 
than any other man now living. He has been a 
pioneer in every line of activity known to the upper 
part of the Skagit. Mr. Sutter was b'orn in Maine 
January 12, 1849, the son of James and Catherme 
Sutter. Of his mother he knows little. His father 
was a native of New York, Ixiirn in 1797, who went 
to Maine when a very young man and led the life of a 
lumberman and farmer there until his death fifty-two 
years ago. John Sutter is the only child of his par- 
ents who is now living. Fie left home at the age 
of fourteen, going to Pennsylvania, where for four 
years he followed the lumber business. In 1870 he 
went to Florida and he was connected with the lum- 
ber industry of that state for the next two years. 
He then went to Dakota and started for the Black 
Hills, but the government, owing to Indian troubles, 
stopped the wagon train and refused it permission 
to go on. Mr. Sutter then went to California, 
whence after a short time he came on to Washing- 
ton. He first stopped at Port Townsend, but soon 
went thence to Port Gamble, where he put in two 
years working on a logging boom. He moved to 
Sauk in the centennial year and lived there for the 
ensuing twenty-seven years, coming to his present 
place, five miles east, in 1903. He was, however, 
absent in Alaska for a time in 1898 and had some 
experience in mining and logging there. Though 
he has always made his home in the upper part of 
the valley, he has put in much time prospecting. In 
1876, in companv with John Rowley, George E. 
Sanger and Will Cobb, he went into the Baker river 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



district and located some quartz mines, and it was 
during one of his trips to this region that Mr. Sut- 
ter explored Baker lake, gaining the distinction of 
being the first white man to do this. Of the quar- 
tette of men mentioned, who did much prospecting 
together, Mr. Sutter and Will Cobb only are living, 
the latter in Seattle. Sanger lost his life on Porcu- 
pine creek, Alaska, and Rowley died in Arizona. In 
company with Rowley and Frank Scott Mr. Sutter 
prospected in the Ruby creek district in 1876, four 
years prior to the excitement which later attracted 
many to the diggings. Rowley, Cobb and Sanger 
had come up the river just a few days before Sutter 
got there and the four men were almost insepar- 
able for years afterward. Mr. Sutter has not been 
active in prospecting since 1892, having settled 
down to the life of a farmer. He owns 1(50 acres 
of land, of which forty are cleared, and on which 
he has built a fine seven-room house. He has thirty 
head of cattle, an equal number of sheep and horses 
enough for the operation of his farm. An incident 
of Mr. Sutter's early days on the upper Skagit was 
the piloting- of the steamer Chehalis from Sauk to 
the portage sixteen miles above Marblemount. 
Captain Brannon had brought his steamer up as 
far as Sauk, but being unfamiliar with the channel 
of the river above that point hesitated about con- 
tinuing. He eventually sent for Mr. Sutter, who 
pointed out the channel and showed the way safely 
to the destination. Mr. Sutter enjoys the reputa- 
tion of being reliable in all ways and is highly re- 
spected by the people of his community. Probably 
no man is so familiar with the trailless country 
around the head waters of the Skagit and its tribu- 
taries as this old-time pioneer and prospector. 

In 1897 Mr. Sutter married Alice Wilson, 
daughter of Joseph Wilson, one of the very oldest 
settlers in Skagit county, having come to the region 
during the Eraser river excitement of 1858, "and 
having located in the county two years later. He 
died there in 1893. Mrs. Sutter was born on the 
Skagit river in 1875 and acquired her education in 
the schools of the county. 



WILLIAM BARRATT, living across the river 
from Marblemount, is one of the men who have 
secured a competence since coming to Skagit county 
and are well satisfied with the good fortune which 
directed them to this part of the country. He is a 
native of London, England, born Januarv 13, 1851, 
the son of Alexander Barratt. The elder Barratt 
was born in London in 18-20 in the house in which 
his father before him had first seen the light of day. 
He is still living in the English capital and run- 
nmg a shoe store there. Mrs. Sarah (Montgomery) 
Barratt, the mother of William, was a native of 
Scotland, but was taken when a mere child bv her 
parents to London and lived there until her death 



in 1904. William Barratt has three brothers and 
one sister, Alexander B., Qiarles, James and Sarah. 
Young Barratt grew up in the world's metropolis, 
went to work when very young and so was unable to 
obtain more than a meager education. He lived 
with his parents until he was nineteen years of age, 
when he crossed the Atlantic alone and settled in 
Canada, in which country he remained three years, 
working on farms in the summers and at the shoe 
bench in the winters. In 1873 he went to Chicago, 
where he put in eight years driving team and fol- 
lowing various lines of occupation. In 1884 he 
came to Washington, stopping at Seattle for a time, 
and then coming to Mount Vernon. Here he com- 
menced driving a logging team for Clothier & Eng- 
lish, and he continued at that line of work for seven 
years, then came up the river, took a pre-emption 
near Sauk and lived there three years, moving on 
to his present place in 1891. He has resided here 
ever since. 

In 1878, while living in Chicago, Mr. Barratt 
went back to Canada and married Miss Maggie 
Glover, daughter of David Glover, a native of Can- 
ada, a farmer who had moved to Marlette, Michi- 
gan, where he still resides, having accumulated 
sufficient of this world's goods to live the life of 
a retired gentleman. Mrs. Catherine (Ramsay) 
Glover, the mother of Mrs. Barratt, is a native of 
Scotland, but came to America when a girl after 
receiving her education in the land of her nativity. 
For a time after coming to Canada she worked out. 
She is still living, the mother of six children : Arch- 
ibald, Martha, Maggie; William, Mary and David. 
Mrs. Barratt was born August 15, 1861, and was 
educated in the Canadian schools, living with her 
parents until her marriage. She and Mr. Barratt 
have five children : William A., Barbara L., Cleve- 
land, Charles W. and lola M. In politics Mr. Bar- 
ratt is a Republican and in fraternal affiliations an 
Odd Fellow. The Barratt farm consists of 120 
acres of excellent land, half of which is under 
cultivation, the whole being now valued at $8,000. 
Upon it are fifteen head of cattle and five horses 
at present. In addition to his farm Mr. Barratt has 
a half interest in four good mineral claims on the 
Skagit river. Many changes have taken place since 
he came to Skagit county. The railroad at the time 
of his arrival had not reached Mount Vernon and 
but a very little diking had been done. The town 
site had not been fully laid out and no roads worthy 
of the name had been b'uilt. In the Sauk country 
there were no roads and no trails, so Mr. Barratt 
had to bring his family here in a canoe, taking four 
days to pole up from Mount Vernon. He was in- 
strumental in establishing the school at Sauk and 
later the schools at Rocky Creek and at Marble- 
mount, and he has further manifested his interest 
in popular education by serving as school director 
for sixteen years. He cleared his own land by hand. 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



The distinction is his of having put in the first cat- 
tle ferry at Marblemount, his present farm being 
across the river from that town. Mr. Barratt is 
one of the leading citizens of the up-river commu- 
nities and is respected and honored by his fellows. 



JAMES M. YOUNG, farmer and stock raiser, 
living seven miles east of Sedro-Woolley, is one of 
the pioneers of the upper Skagit valley who has 
participated in all the changes which have taken 
place in the county since he came in 1878. His un- 
erring foresight told him twenty-seven years ago 
of the future of that section and he has been an 
important factor in laying the foundation of a 
prosperous community. He was born in Ireland in 
1845, the son of Hamilton and Sarah (Mitchell) 
Young, who came to z\merica when James was 
eighteen and settled in Dearborn county, Indiana. 
They died in Kansas more than a quarter of a cen- 
tury ago. James was the oldest of seven children 
and on coming to this country commenced the life 
of a farmer. At twenty-one years of age he went 
into the brick manufacturing business, in which he 
continued until he moved to Lawrence, Kansas, in 
1868. Seven years later he went to Nevada and 
worked in the timber two years, then came to Skagit 
county and located on his present place. Messrs. 
Duffey, Connrey and Lagget were his nearest neigh- 
bors, and Mount Vernon was the only postoffice 
within reach. The only white women in that sec- 
tion were Mrs. Minkler and Mrs. Charles von Pres- 
sentin, but Mrs. Van Fleet and Mrs. Batey came 
soon after and located down the river. Mr. Young 
helped cut the first road to where Sedro afterwards 
grew up, all travel before that time being b'y canoe 
on the river. Soon after he arrived there was an 
Indian scare and the men gathered at the logging 
camps and stood guard. The country was a wilder- 
ness of timber with bears everywhere. He spent 
parts of his first few years working in the logging 
camps and the rest of the time clearing the timber 
from his land. 

In 1890 in Seattle, Mr. Young married Miss 
Mary Matthews Cochrane, a native of Ireland, 
daughter of Adam and Elizabeth (McKibbin) 
Cochrane, the eleventh of their fifteen children. In 
1905 Mr. Young sold seventy of his 170 acres, in- 
cluding improvements and most of his live stock, 
and he has since built a handsome new home. Mr. 
Young is a member of the Sedro-Woolley lodge of 
the Order of Pendo. His services and good judg- 
ment have been in demand in the county where he 
has been called upon to fill the offices of road super- 
visor, clerk of the school board and twice the office 
of county commissioner. While he was in the lat- 
ter position the new county jail was built. He has 
manifested his deep interest in popular education by 
at all times favoring tax levies for school purposes. 



Mr. Young has been an active man and a success- 
ful one, enjoying the respect of the pioneers and 
the confidence of the newcomers. 



WILLIAM WOODS is a well-educated and 
well-read farmer who has resided in Skagit county 
for twenty-six years and has a good stock farm 
adjoining Sedro-Woolley on the east. He was born 
January 17, 1835, in County Tyrone, Ireland. His 
father, William Woods, born in 1810, spent his life 
in Ireland, engaged in farming until his death in 
1843. Ellen (McLaughlin) Woods, the mother, 
also of Irish nativity, was born in 1812 and died in 
Syracuse, New York, in November, 1891. William 
Woods, though only a b'oy of eight when his father 
died, bravely shouldered the responsibilities of life 
and relieved his mother of much of the care of the 
farm, remaining at home until nineteen, when he 
found he could be spared. He then went to Eng- 
land and obtained a position as furnace man in a 
chemical manufacturing establishment, where his 
work was so satisfactory that his employers were 
glad to keep him four years, at the end of which 
time he determined to return to America. After a 
visit of a month with his mother at her home he 
crossed to Quebec, in which province he was em- 
ploxed for a year on a farm and for another year 
in a mill. He then went to Syracuse, New York, 
and worked twelve years there for a salt company. 
In 1875 he removed to California. He stayed in 
Colfax for the winter, then went to San Francisco, 
and thereafter he was engaged in operating a hoist- 
ing works in Knoxville for nine months, and spent 
a year in the mines of Southern California. He 
had heard much of the Puget sound country and 
having finally determined to investigate it for him- 
self, came here in 1878. After working for a time 
in the logging camps of Hood's canal he moved to 
Sedro-Woolley in the fall of that year and took 
147 acres of land under the pre-emption act. His 
present home is a part of this claim. During the 
boom he sold ten acres of this land for $8,000, re- 
ceiving one-half of the purchase price at the time 
of the sale. When the financial crash came he 
bought back the property on a tax sale. Later he 
divided the land with the man who had purchased 
it and presented him with the mortgage he held 
on it. This transaction is characteristic of the 
straightforward dealings which have established his 
reputation. Neighbors were few in the first year 
of his residence in the valley, Joseph Hart, David 
Batey and William A. Dunlop being the only men 
living within seven miles. Mrs. Van Fleet, who 
came two years later, was the first white woman 
on that part of the river. Mr. Woods is an inde- 
pendent Democrat and has been several times the 
recipient of honors at the hands of his party, hav- 
ing been the second mayor of Sedro-Woolley, a 
member of the city council and more than once 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Democratic central committeeman. He is an ad- 
herent of the CathoHc faith. Prosperity has at- 
tended his efforts until to-day he is one of the well- 
to-do residents of the county. He owns 100 acres, 
seven of which are cleared and under cultivation, 
also some good town property. He raises beef cat- 
tle on the home place. 



FRED KIENS, a farmer, a half mile north of 
Sedro-WooUey, has made a success of farming in 
Skagit county, at the same time winning by de- 
crees the high respect and esteem of his neigh- 
bors and all those with whom he comes in contact. 
Mr. Kiens was born in Germany January 9, 1859, 
the son of Fred Kiens, a miner, who never left the 
F"atherland. The mother died when the subject of 
this sketch was two years of age. Fred Kiens re- 
ceived his early education in Germany, and after 
completing it remained on the parental farm until 
eighteen years of age, when he entered a steel fac- 
tory. He was there for the next three years, leav- 
ing' only to take up the military service incumbent 
on every able-bodied male citizen of Germany. 
After he had served the required number of years 
in the Kaiser's army he returned to the steel fac- 
tory, determined to save money until he should have 
enough with which to come to America. Having 
realized his ambition in about six months, he 
crossed to the United States in 1883 and settled in 
Illinois, but after eight months there he came to 
Skagit county, arriving in April, 1884, and tooft up 
the land comprising his present home farm. He 
has since lived on this place, and has acquired an- 
other farm also, making his holdings at present 
aggregate 260 acres, eighty of which are under 
cultivation and producing the crops for which Ska- 
git county is famous. 

In Seattle in 1885 Mr. Kiens married Miss Mary 
Teal, daughter of Bert Teal, a farmer of Germany. 
Mrs. Kiens was born in the old country in 1859 and 
received her education there. She had known her 
husband before he left Germany and when he was 
so situated as to justify marriage, the old acquain- 
tance was renewed and she traveled across an ocean 
and a continent to be wed. Mr. and Mrs. Kiens are 
the parents of seven children, all born in Skagit 
county: Dena, Frank, Lizzie, John, Anna, Joseph 
and Alary. In fraternal connections Mr. Kiens is 
a member of the Improved Order of Red Men and 
in church membership a Catholic. While in poli- 
tics he is a Republican generally, he is not bound 
so strictly by party ties as to overlook a good can- 
didate on the opposing ticket. In addition to a few 
horses for farm purposes, Mr. Kiens keeps twenty- 
five head of cattle. He is recognized as one of the 
solid conservative farmers of the Sedro-Woolley 
section of Skagit county and he enjoys the full con- 
fidence of his neighbors. 



PLIN V. McFADDEN, farmer and stock 
raiser, residing a mile and a quarter east of Sedro- 
Woolley, is one of the Skagit county men who with 
their own hands have cleared their farms and 
turned the heavy forest into pleasant and profit- 
able dwelling places. Mr. McFadden was born 
near New Philadelphia, Ohio, September 21, 1849, 
the son of Wilson McFadden, whose father was 
one of the pioneers of Guernsey county, later mov- 
ing to Harrison county. Wilson McFadden was 
of Scotch-Irish descent and died in 1892 at the age 
of eighty-four. Mrs. Tilitha (English) McFadden 
was a native of Harrison county, descended from 
Pennsylvanians of Irish, Scotch and English ex- 
traction. Plin V. was next to the youngest of her 
ten children. Lhitil fourteen years old he attended 
school in Ohio and worked on the farm, but in 1863 
on his parents' removal to Iowa he accompanied 
them. A little later, when still a young boy, he en- 
listed in the Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry and in the 
closing days of the Civil War saw service in Ar- 
kansas. On his return to Iowa he operated a ferry 
near Ottumwa on the Des Moines river. He came 
to Skagit county, Washington, in 1885 and bought 
of Mortimer Cook his present farm. The place at 
that time was without improvement and the forest 
was so dense th^t his only glimpses of the sky were 
from directly overhead. Clearing the place was a 
great undertaking and at times Mr. McFadden was 
discouraged, but matters brightened as soon as he 
had cleared enough 'for a garden and had set out 
an orchard. When not engaged in clearing his 
place he worked in logging camps, returning home 
only at the end of the week. Those were trying 
days for Mrs. McFadden. Bears were plentiful and 
would come to the house, driving away the dogs 
and compelling the brave woman to bar doors and 
windows for her protection. In such times she had 
as companion in trouble her neighbor, Mrs. George 
Wicker, and the two managed to keep away the 
wild beasts. 

September 22, 1872, while still living in Iowa, 
Mr. McFadden married Miss Olive A. Wicker, a 
native of Wapello county, and daughter of Andrew 
and JenettH (Butin) Wicker. Her father, at dif- 
ferent times, was merchant, bricklayer and farmer, 
and was one of the pioneers of Wapello county. 
Mr. and Mrs. McFadden have four living children: 
Lillie Pearl, Anna Belle, Edith C. and Cecil C, 
the last of whom was born in Washington. Mr. 
McFadden is a Democrat and an active worker in 
the party, attending primaries and conventions. He 
was a delegate to the first Democratic county con- 
vention after Skagit county was formed from a 
portion of Whatcom county. He has been a direc- 
tor of schools and is an ardent advocate of better 
education. As a farmer he has been successful. 
His live stock consists of cattle, hogs and sheep, 
the latter being of the Cotswold breed. He is ex- 
perimenting with Angora goats, keeps bees and has 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



a good orchard. Mr. McFadden is highly thought 
of by his neighbors and is one of the leading men 
of the community. 



JAMES M. HARRISON, dairy farmer, living 
two miles east of Sedro-Woolley, came to Skagit 
county, bought land, and with his own hands 
changed an uninviting tract into a modern, highly 
unproved farm. He is a native of Harrison county, 
Ohio, born November 4, 1855, the son of John Har- 
rison, who still is living on the old homestead, 
which was taken by his father, Joseph Harrison, 
in 1816. The Harrisons are of English parentage. 
Mrs. Euphemia (Patterson) Harrison, the motber 
of James M., was born in the same county and was 
a schoolmate of the lad who afterwards became 
her husband. She is of Scotch descent. She is 
still a resident of Ohio, the mother of twelve chil- 
dren, of whom eight are living, all in the East ex- 
cept the subject hereof. James M. Harrison lived 
on the farm and attended school, which included 
a short course in college, until eighteen years old, 
when he commenced to teach and he taught for five 
years, then he and his father built a drain and tiling 
factory on the home farm, which he operated eight 
years, after which he bought a half interest in his 
grandfather's place, but continued in the manage- 
ment of the factory, becoming an expert on the sub- 
ject of drainage and kindred matters. In 1885 he 
delivered an address on this subject, which has been 
incorporated in the Ohio state history. Mr. Har- 
rison spent the year 1887 in California with an in- 
valid brother, and on his return sold his interests 
in Ohio, moving to Skagit county in the spring of 
1889. He purchased the pre-emption claim of Mr. 
Moody of Mount Vernon, where he has since made 
his home. A cabin was the only evidence that the 
property had been located, though some timber had 
been removed. Mr. Harrison personally has done 
all the work of improvement on this place, which 
consists of one hundred and thirty-three acres, thirty 
of which are cleared and the rest in pasture. In 
1893 he sold one hundred cords of shingle bolts and 
hauled them to Batey's mill. 

In 1880, while yet living in the Buckeye state, 
Mr. Harrison married Miss Ora E. Holmes, daugh- 
tei- of George W. and Mary (Quiplever) Holmes, 
both natives of Pennsylvania of Dutch stock. Mrs. 
Harrison was born in 1859. She is the mother of 
three children: George H., Elmina and John. Mr. 
Harrison is a member of the Knights of Pythias 
and in politics is an influential meml>er of the Re- 
publican party, attending primaries and conven- 
tions, and in 1901 representing his district in the 
lower house of the state legislature. He is deeply 
interested in schools, has been president of the pub- 
lic school board and a director of the district; also 
has spent some time organizing new school dis- 



tricts. Besides his home place he has a farm on 
the Skagit river of nearly the same acreage. His 
cattle are of the roan Durham breed, good milkers 
and good for beef. He milkes thirteen head and 
separates his cream at home. He also raises fine 
fruit of many varieties and has a large stand of 
bees which thrive well and produce highly in this 
county. In addition to his activity on the farm and 
in educational matters, Mr. Harrison keeps abreast 
of the times and is well informed. He is in de- 
mand in political campaigns, is an interesting and 
forceful speaker and has delivered addresses in 
nearly every school-house in the county. Mr. Har- 
rison has large private interests, but finds much 
time to give to public affairs where his assistance 
is in great demand. 



JOHN KELLEHER, a thrifty and industrious 
farmer, residing two and one-half miles northwest 
of Sedro-Woolley, was born in Killamey, Ireland, 
August 19, 1803, the son of Maurice and Julia 
(Crean) Kelleher, also natives of Ireland. The 
father, born in 1818, was a farmer in his native 
country till his death in 1881. The mother, emi- 
grating to the United States after the death of her 
husband, died in 1903, after a lifetime of devotion 
to her family. She was the mother of twelve chil- 
dren. After acquiring his elementary education in 
the common schools of the country, John Kelleher 
studied for some time under a private instructor, 
thus enjoying unusual advantages. On coming with 
his mother to this country in 1881, after the death 
of his father, he located in Massachusetts, where 
he worked as helper in a blacksmith shop for four 
years. He then decided to investigate the superior 
advantages offered by the Northwest, so moved to 
Washington in 1885. He stopped a short time in 
Olympia and Tacoma, then came on to Mount Ver- 
non, filing on a pre-emption claim on the Olympia 
marsh" that fall. Three years later he took up his 
present property, then a wilderness, and he has 
made it his home for the past seventeen years. 
Toiling arduously year by year, he has cleared off 
eighty acres, but he has now sold of¥ all of the 
homestead except fifty acres. No finer land can 
be found in the state than this portion of his ranch, 
which is peculiarly adapted to raising fruit and oats. 
His four-acre orchard yields the choicest varieties 
in the market. He has a splendid dairy and a 
number of horses. In political belief Mr. Kelleher 
advocates the single tax principle, adhering to no 
party. He is a hearty supporter of the Catholic 
church, to which he belongs. The Ancient Order 
of United Workmen claims him as a worthy mem- 
ber, and he is also identified with the Good Tem- 
plar lodge. Being of a happy, genial disposition,, 
he makes friends of all with whom he comes in con- 
tact, while his untiring energy and careful manage- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



ment have made him one of the successful and well- 
to-do farmers of this locality. 



HANS PETER SORENSEN is developing an 
excellent farm in an untraveled part of Skagit 
county, where he will own a handsome and valuable 
property when transportation comes. His place is 
eight miles east of Sedro-Woolley on the south 
side of the river, where cougar, bear and deer are 
found. Until a year ago he could come and go 
only by canoe and brought in his supplies in the 
same way. Now there is a road. Mr. Sorensen 
was born in Omaha, Nebraska, April 30, 1874, the 
son of Peter Sorensen, who was born in Denmark 
about sixty years ago, came to the United States 
when a young man and ultimately took up land 
where his son now is living. This was in 1880. He 
had been a tailor before coming to the West, and 
later he moved into Sedro-Woolley and re-entered 
the business. He now lives in Oakland, Califor- 
nia. His wife, Mrs. Christina (Petersen) Soren- 
sen, a native of Denmark, died in America in 1901, 
the mother of three children, of whom Mrs. Chris- 
tina Johnson and Hans Peter Sorensen are living. 
The latter attended the schools of San Francisco 
until thirteen years old ; also went to school in 
Skagit county after his parents came here. When 
he came there was no town of Woolley. The chief 
industry of the farm has been cattle raising and 
growing peas, hay and oats. Recently thirty-three 
head of cattle were sold at a good price. 

In 1903 Mr. Sorensen married Miss Carolina B. 
Moe, a native of Norway, born at Trondhjem in 
1883, and educated in the old country. Her parents, 
Ole and Beret (Einersen) Moe, were natives of 
Norway, the father a brickmason. Mr. and Mrs. 
Sorensen have two children, Harry, born May 21, 
1903, and Nels, born March 20, 1905. In politics 
Mr. Sorensen is a Republican and generally is a 
delegate to conventions. He has served as justice 
of the peace for two years and had been on the 
school board several years prior to 1905, taking an 
active interest in the improvement of the schools 
of the neighborhood. The Sorensen place contains 
two hundred and twenty acres of unusually fertile 
land. Mr. Sorensen is a bright young man, certain 
that the future will make his place one of great 
value, hence quietly developing it and biding his 
time. 



JAMES SCOTT, farmer and stockman, four 
and a half miles east of Sedro-Woolley, on the Ly- 
man road, is one of the pioneers of that section of 
the county and has watched the development of 
the community from a forest land to a country of 
farms and homesteads. Mr. Scott was born in Ire- 
land of Scotch parentage November 15, 1843*. His 



father, John Scott, was a native of Glasgow, Scot- 
land, who moved to Ireland, and later, in 1844, came 
to the United States and settled in Pennsylvania. 
Mary Ann (Thompson) Scott was a native of 
Scotland and after marriage followed the fortunes 
of her husband, both dying in Pennsylvania. Nine 
children were born to them : Joseph, Mary Ann, 
John, Robert, Margaret, Jane, Nancy, James, Sam- 
uel and Thomas. James lived with his parents 
until he was twenty years of age and during the 
Civil War was employed by the government in the 
construction corps. At the close of the war he en- 
listed in the regular army and served a term of 
three years, seeing Indian fighting with the Sioux. 
On receiving his discharge he farmed in Dakota 
for a time and then passed the greater part of a 
3 ear in California. Then followed work in a log- 
ging camp at Olympia, this state, and in 1875 he 
came to Skagit county and located on a place up 
the river near Hamilton. For a number of years 
he followed prospecting and mining, during which 
time he located some of the coal claims in the vi- 
cinity of Hamilton, but lost valuable property there 
through the rascality of his partner. In 1892 he 
returned to his homestead and lived there until he 
sold out in 1897 and purchased the place on which 
he is still living. 

In politics Mr. Scott is a Socialist and in fra- 
ternal circles a member of the Knights of Pythias. 
He has 173 acres of land, forty of which are 
cleared. He has two horses and twenty-five head 
of stock cattle in addition to six milch cows. His 
cattle are of the Durhai* breed and one of his 
horses is descended from the famous Messenger. 
He is a well-to-do farmer who has prospered by 
conscientious work and upright dealings. 



WOODBRIDGE ODLIN, retired farmer and 
lawyer, two and a half miles west of Sedro-Wool- 
ley, has had a career of more than the usual ac- 
tivity and excitement and is now spending the even- 
ing of his life on a Skagit county farm. Mr. Odlin 
comes of a family which has a record for energy 
and public service, and his own life has shown him 
no unworthy member of that family. Mr. Odlin 
was born in Dayton, Ohio, in 1833, the son of Peter 
Odlin, a native of Trenton, New Jersey. The elder 
Odlin was prominent in legal and political circles 
in Ohio and was the law partner of Robert C. 
Schenck, at one time representative of the United 
States at the court of St. James. He served in 
the lower house and the senate of Ohio and was 
a member of one of the electoral colleges.' For 
thirty-two years he was president of the bank at 
Davton, now the Dayton National bank. His 
father, Peter, was a sea captain and owner of West 
India merchantmen which were impressed into the 
federal service during the War of 1812, he re- 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



ceiving pay for them. Mrs. Ann Maria (Ross) 
Odlin, mother of our subject, was a native of Phil- 
adelphia, to which city her mother had gone from 
her home in Washington, D. C, during the cholera 
epidemic of 1797. Her people came from the stock 
of the Perrys, of which Commodore Oliver Hazard 
Perry, the hero of Lake Erie, was one. She died 
in 1873, the mother of nine children, of whorr 
Woodbridge was the fifth in order and the oldest 
son. Young Odlin grew up in Dayton, attended 
the schools and graduated from Kenyon College at 
Gambier, Ohio, afterwards taking up the study of 
law. He went to Wabaunsee county, Kansas, in 
J 85(5, when Kansas was a territory, and took up a 
claim a short distance west of the Pottawatomie In- 
dian reservation. At the time of the breaking out 
of the Pottawatomie troubles and the Civil War, 
Mr. Odlin was in Junction City and received ap- 
pointment as United States district attorney for six 
counties of Kansas. He had been prosecuting at- 
torney for Wabaunsee county for a term and a 
half prior to this. But when the war actually 
broke out Mr. Odlin enlisted in Company E of the 
Second Kansas Infantry, which was organized even 
before Lincoln's first call for troops. He was com- 
missioned third lieutenant, but resigned to return 
to Kansas and raise a regiment, which he did, the 
Second Kansas Cavalry. He rose through succes- 
sive promotions from private to captain. His serv- 
ice included the battle of Wilson's creek, where 
General Lyon was killed. At about this time, while 
carrying dispatches from General Lyon to Fort 
Leavenworth, Mr. Odlin was arrested as a spy by 
Price's men, taken to Independence and tried by a 
court-martial in the court-house, the finding being 
a sentence of death. Mr. Odlin pleaded for the 
three enlisted men with him and agreed to acknowl- 
edge his guilt if they were held as prisoners of 
war. The scaffold was built under the very window 
where the prisoner was confined. Owing to ill- 
ness he was attended by a physician, and through 
him the prisoner got word to Fort Leavenworth of 
his predicament. He was rescued by Captain Sully 
and General Thayer on the morning of his intended 
execution. The soldiers entered Independence but 
two hours before high noon, the time set for his 
execution. 

Mr. Odlin suffered cruelties and indignities at 
the hands of Price's men, being forced by punches 
in the back to stand by the window and watch the 
progress of the construction of the gallows upon 
which he was to be hanged. They even went so 
far as to suspend a sandbag, in effigy of a man, 
from the same rope which was to stretch his own 
neck in a few hours. After the death of General 
Lyon Mr. Odlin served as a scout under Genera! 
Blunt. He participated in the battle of Prairie 
Grove, under that leader, a severe engagement, in 
which he was slightly wounded. He was sent at 



one time to St. Louis in charge of military pris- 
oners and improved this opportunity to visit his 
brother, James H. Odlin, a captain in charge of 
troops at Cairo, Illinois. Here he was made pro- 
vost marshal of the district of Cairo under General 
Braman and while acting in this capacity secured 
thirty-two steamers which were used in conveying 
supplies to Sherman's army just prior to its march 
to the sea. In later 3'ears Mr. Odlin was in the 
secret service and he was finally mustered out at 
New Orleans in April, 1865. Shortly after his re- 
turn from the south he went to Ohio, where he 
lived until he came to Skagit county in 1889, and 
located on his present place ; here he has resided 
ever since. 

In 1854 in Ohio Mr. Odlin married Miss Lizzie 
Thompson, a native of Preble county, Ohio, daugh- 
ter of Andrew and Susan (Johnson) Thompson. 
The mother was a first cousin of President Andrew 
Johnson. Mrs. Odlin died in December, 1904, just 
after she had celebrated her golden wedding. She 
was the mother of three children : Mrs. Eleanor J. 
Pelham of Washmgton, D. C. ; William T. Odlin, 
president of the Citizens' bank of Anacrotes, and 
mayor of that city; and Harry N. Odlin, now re- 
siding in Vancouver, British Columbia. In frater- 
nal circles Mr. Odlin is an Odd Fellow and a thirty- 
second degree Mason. He was born a Whig and 
raised a Republican and has not wavered in his 
party allegiance. Since the death of his wife he 
has retired to his farm and gives his attention to 
raising hogs and fine horses. Mr. Odlin has never 
drawn a pension and will not consent to accept any- 
thing along that line from the government. In his 
early days in this county he was more active than 
at present and served as road supervisor for a num- 
ber of terms, traveling facilities when he first came 
not admitting of wagon traffic. Under his super- 
vision the "Cook road," accredited with being a 
fine piece of work, was constructed; also the Odlin 
road, which is named for him. Mr. Odlin is highly 
esteemed by his neighbors, is an entertaining man, 
with a host of friends among his many acquain- 
tances. During his sixteen years of residence in 
Skagit county he has been identified, directly or in- 
directly, with many of the steps taken in the course 
of its development and progress. Among business 
and professional men he has a wide acquaintance, 
and in these circles as elsewhere he is known as a 
man of superior intellectual attainments and gen- 
erous public-spiritedness. 



JOHN EGELKROUT, dairy farmer, two miles 
west of Sedro-Woolley, is one of the energetic 
young men of the central part of the county and a 
man who has made his way in the world with very 
little assistance from others. He educated himself 
for civil engineering, but relinquished that for the 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



life of a prosperous Skagit county agriculturist. 
Mr. Egelkrout was born in Germany, November 30, 
1S69, the son of Nicholas and Sophia (Hero) Egel- 
krout, neither of whom left their native land. He 
is one of two children, having a brother, George 
Egelkrout. As a lad he attended the common 
schools and the high school in Germany, intending 
to prepare himself for a career as civil engineer; 
but the death of his father spoiled his plans and 
he came to the United States and worked as a 
farmhand in Indiana for four years. With the 
money thus earned he took a course in school in 
Cincinnati and came to Washington in 1889. He 
went to Birdsview and later took up a homestead 
on the Baker river. He worked in logging camps 
on the upper Skagit and at odd times improved his 
land. He had cleared fifteen acres when a portion 
of his land was included in the forest reserve. This 
fact and the isolation of his land determined him 
to sell out. Mr. Egelkrout then purchased his 
present place in the Lindsay tract in 1902. It was 
unimproved, but he has built a house and barns and 
converted the place into an attractive farmstead. 

In 1891 Mr. Egelkrout married Miss Myrtle 
Reidhead, a native of Minnesota, born in 1882, the 
daughter of Pearl and Lydia Reidhead. Mrs. Reid- 
head makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Egelkrout. 
To this union have been born two children, Mildred 
and Alma. In fraternal circles Mr. Egelkrout is 
a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows. In politics he is a Democrat. Mr. Egelkrout 
is one of the men who firmly believe in increasing 
the efficiency of the schools, and he works in their 
interests. His home farm consists of forty acres 
of land, which is chiefly devoted to dairying. His 
herd consists of six milch cows, and his dairy is 
modern in its equipment. He is a young man of 
high standing in the community and enjoys the best 
of repute among the men of the business and social 
life. Possessing the will to do and the ability to 
direct, he is making a success of the industries in 
which he is now engaged, and being a man of cor- 
rect principles and strict integrity, he will ever com- 
mand the respect which is now accorded him by all 
with whom he is associated. 



GEORGE WHEELER, dairy farmer, two miles 
west of Sedro-Woolley, is one of the young farm- 
ers of the community who have made a. recent start 
in farm life in Skagit county: but he is already 
recognized by those with whom he comes in contact 
as a man of integrity and sincerity of purpose, 
promising success as the years go bv. Mr. Wheeler 
is a native of Pennsylvania, born October 9. 1870, 
of Yankee stock. His father, Cvrenius Wheeler, 
is living in the vicinitv of Sedro-'Woollev, but the 
mother, Mrs. Abigail (Bragg) Wheeler, died in 
1900. Mr. Wheeler is one of seven children. His 



parents moved to Minnesota when he was a year 
old and he grew up there and received his educa- 
tion in the common schools. At eighteen years of 
age he started for himself, working on farms for 
several years and then buying a place in Wadena 
county. He remained there until 1898, when he 
sold out and came to Bellingham. He lived in the 
Whatcom county city for two years, working at va- 
rious lines of occupation. He then came to Skagit 
county, went to the Baker river and engaged in the 
shingle bolt camps for a time. Then in company 
with his brother-in-law, John Egelkrout, he bought 
eighty acres of land a short distance west of Sedro- 
Woolley and has lived there ever since. 

July 4, 1893, Mr. Wheeler married Miss Alma 
Reidhead, who was born in Minnesota in 1876, the 
daughter of Pearl and Lydia Reidhead. Of this 
union have been born two children: Pearl, born 
November 5. 1S97, and Ruby, born July 8, 1905. 
In church affiliation Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler attend 
the Methodist Episcopal. In politics he is a Repub- 
lican and is now serving as clerk of the school 
board. In his dairy business Mr. Wheeler has 
seven cows and separates the cream before putting 
it on the market. He is a young man who is just 
getting well started in Skagit county and enjoys the 
respect and well wishes of all who know him, a man 
of energy and definite purpose in life, possessing 
those qualities of mind and heart which ultimately 
lead to success. He believes in the future of his 
home county, takes an interest in educational mat- 
ters and in general progressive movements, and 
must of necessity become a man of influence in the 
councils of his fellow-citizens. 



SIGURD IVARSON. farmer and ferryman, 
five miles east of Sedro-Woolley, is one of the pop- 
ular Scandinavian-American citizens of Skagit 
county, who is much respected by those who meet 
him and are acquainted intimately with him. Mr. 
Ivarson was born in Norway August 18, 1859, the 
son of Ivar and Ragnild (Quiten) Ivarson, natives 
of the land of fjords, who never left their native 
shores. They were the parents of two children be- 
sides Sigurd, Mrs. Carrie Hanson and Ivar Ivarson. 
Sigurd lived with his parents and attended school 
in boyhood, but when twenty-one years of age came 
to the United States and located in Wisconsin. He 
worked in the logging camps, in the saw-mills and 
on the railroads from 1883 to 1885, moving to Ska- 
git county, Washington, in the last named year. 
He located on a farm two and a half miles east of 
Sedro-Woolley on the river and remained there un- 
til 1900, when he came to his present place of ten 
acres and engaged to operate Anderson's ferry. Mr. 
Ivarson's later years have been much clouded by 
the death of his brother by drowning in the river 
in 1889. The brother had come to ths United States 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



seven years prior to Sigurd's arrival and the two 
had come to Skagit county and had been insepar- 
able. In politics Mr. Ivarson is a Democrat and in 
church adherence a Lutheran. He owns ten acres 
of land, three of which are cleared, and he makes 
his home there. This little farm and the revenue 
received from the county for operating the ferry 
together give Mr. Ivarson a very good living. He 
is pleasant and genial, a faithful soul and to those 
who gain his confidence reveals himself as a worthy 
man. A reliable and esteemed citizen of his locality, 
he is entitled to honorable mention in the history 
of his home county. 



DAVID ROSS, residing one mile west of town, 
is one of Sedro-Woolley's prosperous farmers who 
is making a success of life. He was born March 18, 
1847, in Rosshire, Scotland, which also was the 
birthplace of his parents, Alexander and Christina 
(Ross) Ross. The father, all his life, was an agri- 
culturist in his native land. Both died at their old 
home, he ten years ago and she in 1900. Young 
David Ross remained at home for the first twenty- 
four years of his life, acquiring an education in the 
schools of Scotland. In 1872 he came to San Fran- 
cisco, where he made his headquarters for fourteen 
years, during which time he followed various pur- 
suits. He worked in a wood and coal yard for six 
months, was employed in a saw-mill, then on a farm 
in the San Jose valley. He managed a farm for 
three years in San Rafael, then returned to San 
Francisco and with his brother purchased a wood 
and coal yard which they owned four years. He 
bought a hay press and for two seasons furnished 
baled hay under contract. He took advantage of 
numerous opportunities in California, then in 1884 
came to Skamania county, Washington, and took a 
homestead which he occupied for six years and par- 
tially cleared. In May, 1891, he bought a few acres 
of land in Lyman, Skagit county, which he farmed 
with his brother. Later he came to Sedro-Woolley 
and purchased his present fine property, which con- 
sists of forty acres with a splendid orchard of 700 
trees; also rented the adjoining place of 160 acres. 
He still holds his homestead, but has disposed of 
his Lyman property. 

Mr. Ross and Miss Hannah Anderson were 
united in marriage October 2, 1886. Mrs. Ross 
was bom in Sweden January 16, 1849, the daughter 
of Andrew and Hannah (Jones) Johnson, both na- 
tives of Sweden. Her father was born and has 
lived all his life in South Rarum. where he has been 
a farmer and a packer of fish and meat. The 
mother, born in 1827, three years before the father, 
died in her native land in 1890, leaving six children, 
of whom Mrs. Ross is the oldest. Mr. Ross is a 
popular member of the Odd Fellows' lodge and is 
a member of the Presbyterian church, while Mrs. 



Ross is a Lutheran. He is a Republican, but never 
has sought office at the hands of his party. He is 
a holder of considerable property and is making a 
specialty of dairying, having thirty-five head of Dur- 
ham stock, besides horses, Berkshire hogs, and other 
high grade live stock. He is a man of upright 
character, thrifty and industrious, who is achieving 
a large measure of success, and at the same time is 
enjoying the confidence and respect of his fellow 
citizens. 



WILLIAM O. GREGORY, the genial post- 
master and merchant of Burlington, was born De- 
cember 24, 1844, in Portage county, Ohio, fifty-five 
miles east of Cleveland, which was also the birth- 
place of his father, William Gregory, an engineer, 
who died in Michigan in 1880. His mother, Mary 
L. (White) Gregory, was a native of Ohio, and died 
in Michigan in 1846. Left motherless at the age 
of two, William O. Gregory was adopted by a fam- 
ily in Michigan with whom he lived until he was 
seventeen, then started out for himself as a railroad 
employee. Of a mechanical turn of mind, he was 
able after two years service with the railroad to ac- 
ceptably fill the position of engineer in a saw-mill, 
and he followed the lumber business for twenty 
years. Leaving Michigan, the state that had been 
his home for so many years, he came to what is now 
Burlington, then only a tiny hamlet consisting of a 
few rude shacks, a hotel, store and a shed used for 
a depot. He found employment as engineer in the 
shingle mill of Larson and Luddington for the first 
two years and a half; then served as mail carrier 
for four years. He received the appointment of 
postmaster at the end of that time, which public po- 
sition he still fills with eminent satisfaction. Having 
met the losses incident to most business careers, 
Mr. Gregory has not always known the prosperity 
that is his to-day. He now owns five lots and a 
neat, commodious house. 

Mr. Gregory was married in August, 1865, to 
Fannie Ledwill, a native of Ohio. Her father was 
Robert Ledwill, lx>rn in Ireland. Coming to this 
country in early life, he settled in Ohio, there en- 
gaged in farming till the time of his death, some 
sixteen years ago. Her mother is Rachel (Wilcox) 
Ledwill, born in New York. Mr. and Mrs. Gregory 
have one child, Mrs. Emma Read, of Burlington. 
Mr. Gregory is past grand of the Odd Fel- 
lows order, of which he is an active and prominent 
member. Mr. and Mrs. Gregory are actively iden- 
tified with the Congregational church, while she ij 
one of the moving spirits in the Rebekahs. Pol- 
itically Mr. Gregory is a staunch Republican, but, 
with that commendable spirit which so generally 
characterizes the American citizen, his zeal is tem- 
pered with moderation and fairness toward his 
neighbor of opposing views. Ever a firm believer 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



in educational progress, he was for six years con- 
nected with the school directorate of his community, 
in which capacity, as in his entire connection with 
the community, he has contended for advancement, 
and is justly esteemed one of the worthy citizens of 
Burlington. 



JESS H. KNUTZEN, the prominent merchant, 
farmer and creamery man of Burlington, was born 
m 1850, in Schleswig, Germany, the birthplace of 
his parents, Hans C. and Annie (Peterson) Knut- 
zen. His father, a manufacturer of brick, was born 
in 180?, and continued to reside in the old country 
until his death in ISS-t. His mother was born in 
1816, and after a lifetime of devotion to husband 
and family of seven children, died in 1886. Leav- 
ing home at the age of fifteen to become a sailor, 
Jesse H. Knutzen spent seven years on the sea, re- 
ceiving frequent promotions until he was at last 
captain of the vessel. He then decided to find a 
home in the United States, and came first to Chi- 
cago, where he worked at whatever he could find to 
do for the first year, then went to Buena Vista 
county, Iowa. Employed on a farm the first year, 
he then purchased one hundred and sixty acres of 
land, which he farmed for twelve years. During 
that time he became the owner of a second farm 
comprising one hundred and twenty acres. Dispos- 
ing of all his property, he came to Washington in 
1891, first settling in Fidalgo, and later on Olympia 
Marsh, there renting a farm. The first season he 
put in twenty-five acres of oats, increasing the acre- 
age to one hundred and fifty the second year. The 
first two years the crop was a partial failure owing 
to its tardy maturity and the frequent rains. The 
third year he rented another farm, of one hundred 
and sixty acres, entirely covered with brush. Pur- 
chasing a mowing machine, which he used to cut 
down the brush, he cleared the entire farm in the 
course of a year. In the fall of 1895 his barn, con- 
taining five head of horses and one cow, was de- 
stroyed by fire, also five thousand sacks of grain 
just thrashed. The flood of the following year, so 
well remembered by the inhabitants of that part of 
the state, caused him the loss of three thousand sacks 
of grain. Meeting this accumulation of reverses 
with the uncomplaining fortitude so characteristic 
of the man, Mr. Knutzen toiled on, and in 1898 
bought one hundred and sixty acres. Two years 
later he opened a creamery on Olvmpia Marsh, 
which was destroyed by fire July 24, 1905. He 
opened his present store in 1901. 

In 1873 Mr. Knutzen and Mattie Hanson were 
united in marriage at the old home, where both had 
been born. Her parents were Hans F. and Annie 
K. Peterson, also natives of Schleswig, Germanv. 
The father, born in 1809, died in 1854. The date 
of the mother's birth was 1811, that of her death 



1883. Mr. and Mrs. Knutzen have seven children, 
as follows : Chris, born in 1874 ; Hans F.. born in 
1875 ; Alfred P., born in 1876 ; William G., born 
in 1878; George F., born in 1880; Edward H., 
born in 1882, and Harry S., born in 1887, all of 
them claiming Iowa as their native state. The 
youngest son, a graduate of Anacortes Business 
college, is now in the postoffice at Burlington. Mr. 
Knutzen is a loyal member of the Republican party. 
For five years he was dike commissioner, an office 
which he filled with great credit to himself. He 
has also given his services to the educational mat- 
ters of the community, serving for some time on 
the school board. He and his family attend the 
Lutheran church. The entire family being inter- 
ested in the business, Mr. Knutzen and his sons 
farm one thousand acres, six hundred devoted to 
oats, the remainder to hay. They have an immense 
dairy, consisting of two hundred head of cattle, own- 
ing also thirty draft horses, forty sheep and one 
hundred Poland-China hogs. Mr. Knutzen owns 
the store, creamery and three hundred and twenty 
acres of land, which yield him a large annual in- 
come. A successful agriculturist, a capable and 
honorable business man, Mr. Knutzen holds an en- 
viable position in the community. 



WILLIAM HURLEY. Among the successful 
shingle manufacturers of Skagit county is the well 
known Burlington citizen whose name gives title to 
this biographical record. For twelve years past he 
has been identified in various capacities with the 
shingle industry of this section of Puget sound and 
for nearly fifteen years he has resided in Skagit 
county and partaken in its general development. 
Under the firm name of Hurley, Marshall & Ritch- 
ford, he and his associates are now operating a well- 
equipped mill of medium capacity, having leased, on 
January 1, 1905, the plant of the Sterling Mill Com- 
pany, situated on the Skagit river three miles above 
Burlington. 

Mr. Hurley is a native of Illinois, born at Ha- 
vana, October 6, 1857, and comes of good old 
pioneer American stock. Originally his people came 
to America from Ireland and England. John Hur- 
ley, the father of William, was born in New Jersey 
in 1822. When a young man he sought a home in 
the newly opened country beyond the Alleghanies, 
settling on the frontier of Illinois and engaging in 
farming. At the advanced age of eighty-four he is 
still living in that state. Julia (Baldwin) Hurley, 
his wife, was one of Ohio's pioneer daughter's, 
Cleveland having been her birthplace. She passed 
away in 1889 at an advanced age. To this union 
eight children were born, of whom William Hurley, 
of this review, is the fourth child. Until he was 
twenty-eight years old he resided with his parents, 
assisting his father on the farm and in a business 



ri6 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



way, after finishing his education in the pubhc 
schools of the district. He then leased a place and 
operated it four vcars, selling out in 1889 to go west 
as his father had done half a century earlier. While 
living in Illinois he had learned mechanical en- 
gineering, so when he reached Jackson County, 
Oregon, on the very shores of the Pacific, he to6k 
up this trade as an occupation and during the next 
two years was thus engaged in southern Oregon. 
Believing the Puget sound offered greater oppor- 
tunities than Oregon, however, in 1891, he came 
north to Skagit county, settling first at La Conner, 
where he pursued his trade three years. He became 
a resident of the little village of Burlington in 1894, 
while it was only a junction point, hardly more than 
a hamlet, and with the exception of a few months 
spent in Santa Rosa, California, in 1897, has lived 
there ever since. With characteristic public spirit 
and energy, he early became prominent in the com- 
munity and when Burlington was organized as a 
city he was selected as one of its first councilmen. 
In a modest though forceful way Mr. Hurley has 
continued his public activities for the betterment 
and development of his home city with profit to his 
fellow citizens. His home is one of the coziest and 
most hospitable in Burlington, around which has 
grown a wide circle of acquaintances and loyal 
friends. From 189-4 until the organization of the 
present firm, Mr. Hurley was connected with the 
Sterling Mill Company, principally as engineer, ex- 
cepting during his absence in the South. In political 
matters he is affiliated with the Democratic party, 
though a man of liberal views on all subjects, who 
believes first of all in good government by com- 
petent, honest men. 

JMiss Lizzie Shaupaugh, a native of Illinois, too, 
was united in marriage to Mr. Hurley in 1886, while 
residing in Kansas. Her father and mother, both of 
whom died many years ago, were pioneers of Illinois 
and descended from American forbears. Four chil- 
dren have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hurley, all 
of whom are at home: Uquinna, born September 
14, 1887, employed at present in the Skagit State 
bank at Burlington; Qine W., Nellie B. and Wil- 
lard. 



ORSON PEASE, hotel proprietor, is one of the 
old settlers of Burlington, where he has lived and 
prospered for fifteen years. Webster Pease, his 
father, was born in New York in 1810 and moved 
to Illinois in early life, crossing in 1845 into Iowa, 
where he secured deeded government land which 
was sixtv miles from the nearest postoffice. Orson 
Pease's ninthrr was Lucy (Older) Pease, born in 
Connecticut in islS. She was the mother of eight 
children. Orson being third and one of a pair of 
twins. He was born in Illinois May 14, 1848. He 
lived at home until twenty-six. when he married and 



leased an Iowa farm, living in different parts of 
the Hawkeye state until 1890, when he came to 
Burlington and erected the first dwelling in fhe 
town. It was a logging camp and its only build- 
ing was occupied by a saloon. The Great Northern 
railroad was clearing its right of way. Mr. Pease 
has some interesting reminiscences of those early 
days. The smallest coin used was the twenty-five 
rent piece, called "two-bits." On his arrival he 
was asked to do some work and was greatly sur- 
prised at an ofl"er of two dollars and a half a day 
and board ; he had been accustomed to seyenty-fi\e 
cents in Iowa. At one time he worked as a butcher 
for McKay & Millet. They would kill a steer 
wherever they found him and haul him into camp on 
a skid, selling chunks of the carcass cut out of the 
hide to customers along the trail. The skid road 
was the best highway in those days. Wild black- 
berries were plentiful, but the picker had to carry 
liis gun, for there was "a bear in every clump of 
lierry bushes." 

While living in Iowa, Mr. Pease, in 1874. mar- 
ried Miss Caroline Beaver, who was born in Wis- 
consin in 18.56. She died in 1883, the mother of four 
children : Henry, horn in 1875, now a resident of 
Burlington; Erve, born in 1877, now living at Fri- 
day Harbor ; IMyrtie, born in 1879, who died when 
twelve years old, and Clair, born in 1881, now living 
in North Dakota. In 1890 Mr. Pease married Miss 
M. E. Thomas, daughter of Daniel Thomas, a native 
of Ohio who moved to Iowa and late in life came 
to Burlington, where he died in 1901. Mrs. Pease's 
mother was Philena (Foote) Thomas, born in Ohio 
in 1839, now spending the evening of her life in 
Burlington. Mrs. Pease is one of twelve children. 
Of this second marriage there have been born three 
children, Roy, Mossey and Fay, the second dying 
when five years old. Mr. and Mrs. Pease are Mac- 
cabees and he is a member of the Masonic order. 
The family attends the Baptist church. In politics 
Mr. Pease is an active Repulilican. For six years 
he filled the difficult position of road supervisor to 
the satisfaction of his neighbors and later was a 
member of the city council for two terms. He owns 
his hotel and twenty city lots. Mr. Pease's integrity 
has made him popular among the citizens of Bur- 
lington, who are glad to have his wise counsel in 
the city government. 



ALBERT LUNDIN, one of the successful hotel 
men of Burlington, was born at Stromsholm, 
Sweden, in October, 1849, and first came to Skagit 
county in 1883. His father, Lars Erick Lundin, was 
in the government employ as an expert in stock rais- 
ing, his special study being horses. He died at his 
Stromsholm home, just outside of Stockholm, in 
1860. Five children were born to Lars and Anna 
Lundin, all now deceased except Albert and his 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



brother Carl, who is gardener at the Swedish capital. 
As a lad young Lundin attended the common schools 
and assisted at gardening, later following the occu- 
pation of coachman. He came to the United States 
in 1SG9, reaching Chicago in June. He had not ex- 
pected to remain in this country, but receiving an 
offer of employment he engaged to the McCormick 
miplement house and continued there for several 
years, later entering a grocery for two years until 
1874, when he went to Michigan and followed lum- 
bering for nine years. His last engagement there 
was with Saling, Hanson & Co., of Creeling, by 
whom he was sent to the Puget sound country to 
cruise timber. Following that year he alternately 
cruised and drove logs on the Skagit river, settling 
down in Mount Vernon. In 1890 he moved to Bur- 
lington, built his present home and entered upon his 
career as hotel keeper. Two years from 1898 to 
1900 were spent at prospecting and mining ventures 
at Dawson and Nome, Alaska. Some of his claims 
were good, but on the whole his Alaskan experi- 
ences netted him but little. 

In 1888 Mr. Lundin married Miss Anna Beck- 
man, a Swedish girl who came to this country two 
years before, and who has three sisters here, Mrs. 
Charlotte Wilson, Mrs. Alma Bramm and Mrs. 
Clara Peterson. Mr. and Mrs. Lundin have one 
child, Carl Gustav Albert Lundin, born March 8, 
1889. Mr. Lundin is a member of the Mount Ver- 
non lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows. In politics he is an active Republican, not 
seeking office but doing work in the interest of his 
party at caucus, primary and convention. Mr. Lun- 
iHn is an ardent exponent of the view that the 
school system cannot be too good or too effective, and 
his service as a member of the school directorate 
is but one instance of his earnestness in this matter. 
Mr. Lundin's real estate holdings consist of a half 
block, which includes his hotel property. 



OLE JOHNSON. It is a noticeable fact that 
many of the most successful farmers of the North- 
west are natives of the Scandinavian peninsula, as 
is he whose name forms the caption of this biog- 
raphy. Born in Norway April 15, 1858, his parents 
were John and Josie (Ingobar) Johnson, born like 
their ancestors for generations, in Norway. The 
father died there in 1902, the mother i'n 1890. 
Starting out for himself at the age of fourteen, Ole 
Johnson spent three years on a farm, acquiring the 
practical knowledge that was to prove so valuable 
m later life. Many of his countrymen having found 
homes in the United States, he decided to seek his 
fortune here also, coming to Wisconsin when sev- 
enteen years old. Working in the woods as team- 
ster for the first three years, he then went to Seat- 
tle, locating in La Conner five months later. He 



rented sixty acres of land, farming it for five years, 
then rented a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. 
Three years later, having met with success in his 
previous business ventures, and having found that 
lie could handle still a larger acreage, he rented 
three hundred and twenty acres for four years. 
Prior to this, however, he had invested in sixty 
acres on Beaver Marsh, which he made his home at 
the expiration of the four year lease, renting one 
hundred and sixty acres adjoining his farm. At the 
end of the fifth year, he moved to his present home, 
situated just north of Burlington, renting three hun- 
dred and twenty acres. 

Mr. Johnson was married December 28, 1890, to 
Hannah Erickson, who made the trip from her na- 
tive land, Sweden, to the state of Washington, en- 
tirely alone, in the year 1888. Her father, Erick 
Erickson, came to Washington in 1893, locating in 
La Conner, this being his home at the time of his 
death in 1901. His wife still resides here. Mr. and 
Mrs. Johnson's children are as follows : Minnie, 
Alma, Axel, Hulda, Olga, Eveline, and an infant 
son, who died July, 1905. Mr. Johnson is an hon- 
ored member of the American Order of United 
Workmen. In political belief he is a Republican. 
Always interested in educational matters, he served 
one year on the school board. Mr. Johnson is a 
thoroughly practical farmer, giving personal atten- 
tion to the details of the work on his extensive farm. 
He is thus able to secure much larger returns than 
would be possible were the responsibility delegated 
to others less familiar with the duties, or less con- 
scientious in the performance of them. He has now 
two hundred and twenty-five acres in grain and 
pasture. His splendid dairy of one hundred Dur- 
ham cows yields a substantial yearly income. His 
farm is also stocked with draft horses, Berkshire 
hogs and fine poultry. He raises only the best stock, 
believing that to be the only kind that it is profit- 
able to keep. It must be gratifying to Mr. Johnson 
to sometimes remember that he has secured his 
present business standing wholly by his own efforts, 
and that, too, in the face of heavy losses. The flood 
of 1894, remembered by many residents of La Con- 
ner, swept over his farm, devastating the one hun- 
dred and eighty acre oat field that he had just seeded 
and the hay fields upon which he was dependent for 
the winter's supply of hay, causing a loss of more 
than a thousand dollars. Redoubling his energies in 
the succeeding years, he is now enjoying the reward 
of his earnest efforts. A man of strict integrity, and 
noble impulses, he commands the respect of all who 
are associated with him either in a social or business 
way. 



T. NELSON OVENELL, the well known and 
piosperous farmer residing just at the edge of Bur- 
lington, was born on Whidby island August 25, 
1861, the son of the distinguished pioneers, Thomas 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



P. and Nancy Adelaide (Miller) Ovenell. The 
father was born in England in 1835, and came to 
Whidby island, Washington, in 1858. His death 
occurred in California. The mother, born in Con- 
necticut in 1838, came with her parents to Whidby 
island when fifteen years of age, the trip from New 
York to San Francisco via Cape Horn occupying six 
months and ten days. There were only a few other 
white families on the island at that time. When 
fifteen years old, his parents having moved to La 
Conner, T. Nelson Ovenell did a large share of the 
farm work, being able to assume the entire charge 
of the farm at the time his step-father, Joseph 
S. Kelly, was drowned, five years later. Three 
years afterwards he purchased a seventy-five acre 
farm at Stanwood, living there for several years. 
He then sold it, and leased the adjoining property. 
In 1889 he located in Avon, he and A. D. Fraser 
purchasing together a farm of one hundred and 
sixty acres in the vicinity of Burlington. In 19(M 
the partnership was dissolved and Mr. Ovenell has 
since farmed his eighty acres alone. 

On June 2, 1890, Mr. Ovenell and Hattie Cal- 
lahan were united in marriage. Born in Aurora, 
Indiana, Mrs. Ovenell came with her parents to La 
Conner in 1876. Her father, James Callahan, was 
born in Limerick, Ireland, and was brought by his 
parents to Indiana when a child. He later came to 
Washington, and now lives at Fredonia. Her 
mother, Harriet E. (Ball) Callahan, is a native of 
Ohio, born in Harrison county. She is the mother 
of nine children. Mrs. Ovenell being the second. Mr. 
and Mrs. Ovenell have four children. Bertha E., 
born May 15, 1891 ; James T., born February 21, 
1893; Albert R., born April 18, 1898; George E., 
born April 4, 1900. Mr. Ovenell is a prominent 
member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. 
He loyally adheres to Republican principles. The 
members of the family are regular attendants of the 
Catholic church. Identified for so many years with 
this state, Mr. Ovenell has had an opportunity of 
observing some remarkable fluctuations in real 
estate values. When he located in La Conner there 
were no roads, the only way of traveling being by 
boat. Land which to-day cannot be purchased for 
less than one hundred dollars per acre could not 
then be sold at any price. Believing in the future of 
Avon, he bought his farms, and the years 1891-2 
demonstrated the wisdom of his course, for he could 
then have sold his lands for thirty thousand dollars. 
The three succeeding years witnessed hard times 
and a surprising depreciation in real estate, and he, 
like many others, was forced to dispose of a portion 
of his land to save the remainder. The prices have 
again changed, however, and the land is once more 
steadily rising in valuation ; in the meantime it is 
yielding him a fine yearly income. Being known 
throughout the community as a man of industry, 



skill and strict integrity, Mr. Ovenell has a host of 
warm personal friends. 



MRS. NANCY A. KELLY, daughter of pio- 
neers and herself one of the early settlers in Skagit 
county, is a native of Connecticut, born March 18, 
1838. Her parents, Caleb and Esther M. (Pierce) 
Miller, both born in Massachusetts, made the trip 
from New York to San Francisco via Cape Horn in 

1853, the journey occupying six months and ten 
days. After a three weeks' visit in San Francisco, 
they came to Whidby island, arriving January 2, 

1854. Here they were met by two sons, who had 
preceded them to the sound country. There were 
then only a few white families on the island, their 
other neighbors being Indians whose language was 
utterly unintelligible to them. They were forced 
to learn Chinook in order to be able to make them- 
selves understood. The dauntless courage of the 
pioneer father has been the theme of many- a song 
and story, but fewer pens have written the equal 
bravery of the pioneer mother. Left alone while 
the husband and father toiled in the dense forests 
to make a clearing, often with a family of little ones 
around her, she must learn to still the wild beatings 
of her heart when dusky faces presented themselves 
at her door, or entered, uninvited, the little home. 
Self-reliant, resourceful and cheerful must she b'e 
when illness threatened the little circle, for many 
miles intervened between herself and the nearest 
physician. She might not even anticipate the visit 
of a kind, sympathetic neighbor, ready with helpful 
suggestions. Small wonder that such an ancestry 
produced a character so worthy of emulation as that 
of the one whose biography we are privileged to 
chronicle. Living with her parents till her marriage 
to Thomas P. Ovenell in 1860, Mrs. Kelly became 
familiar with all the dangers and difficulties incident 
to pioneer life. She was divorced from Ovenell in 
1864, was married to Joseph S. Kelly in 1865, and 
in 1867 went with her husband to White river, re- 
turning to Whidby island six months later. They 
remained on the island till 1876, when they moved 
to the Swinomish flats. He farmed there till Octo- 
ber, 1882, when he was drowned in the Swinomish 
slough. Upon his death Mrs. Kelly's son, T. N. 
Ovenell, rented the farm and also managed her af- 
fairs when she moved to Stanwood. Five years 
later she came to Avon, purchasing her present 
property, located one-fourth of a mile from the city, 
and consisting of thirty acres partially cleared. She 
is also interested in Avon city property, owning 
two blocks. Mrs. Kelly has one daughter, Mrs. Ella 
R. Larrison, of Preston, California. Her husband, 
Mr. Kelly, was a native of England, born in White- 
haven in 1839. His death occurred at La Conner 
in 1882. He was a Mason and member of the An- 
cient Order of LTnited Workmen. Mrs. Kelly is a 




MRS. NANCY A. KELLEY 



L:DEinCK KAT 



MRS. FREDERICK KAT.FO 





OLE J. nORSETH 



MRS. III. I-: .7. riORSKTH 



JOHN B. GATES 







^^m 



GEOROE J. HANSON 



MRS. GEORGE J. ITANSON 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



prominent member of the Episcopal church. A ca- 
pable, energetic woman, possessed of peculiar gifts 
and graces, she is one of the best-known residents 
of Skagit county. 



OTTO KALSO, a leading farmer of the Bay 
View district and a man who has won the respect 
and esteem of all because of his sterling qualities, is 
a native of Wisconsin, born in 18.5G. His father, 
Frederick Kalso, was born in Germany and spent 
his early manhood there, working on the farm, 
learning the trade of shoemaking and attending the 
German schools, but when still quite young he set 
sail for the new world. Settling in Iowa county, 
Wisconsin, he commenced business there as a shoe- 
maker, from which peaceful occupation he was sum- 
moned to participation in the stirring events of the 
Civil War. He had objected to military service in 
his native land, feeling it an injustice that he should 
be required to spend some of the best years of his 
life in the army to help maintain the peace of Eu- 
rope, but when needed to support a cause he con- 
sidered just he was quick to respond. Answering 
the first call of President Lincoln upon the people 
of Wisconsin, he enlisted in Company G of the 
twenty-seventh regiment, and thereafter until the 
close of hostilities he followed the flag wherever it 
might lead. The war over, he took a homestead in 
Iowa, and for the ensuing eleven years he was num- 
bered among the agriculturists of that state, but in 
ISn he came to Washington. He lived in Blaine, 
Whatcom county, for a brief period of time, then 
came to the Swinomish flats country, purchased a 
tract of eighty-five acres a mile and a quarter south 
of Bay View and identified himself permanently 
with the agricultural industry in Skagit county. His 
original home in the vicinity of Bay View is still his 
place of abode, and in April of the current year he 
celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his wedding. 
Though now far on in life's journey he is hale, 
hearty, active and keenly alive to all that is going 
on around him. None enjoys, in a fuller measure, 
the confidence and good will of the people of his 
neighborhood. The mother of our subject, Hen- 
rietta (Hintz) Kalso, was also a native of Germany 
and was educated there. She was the parent of nine 
children, four of whom are still living, namely, 
Otto, Fred, JMrs. Emma Hoppner and Mrs. Minnie 
Crumrine. 

Otto Kalso, of this article, though born in Wis- 
consin as before stated, received his education in the 
public schools of Iowa. He has always remained 
with his parents, never marrying, and at present he 
resides with his father and brother Fred in the 
pleasant family home near Bay View. He has, 
liowever, accumulated property interests indepen- 
dent of this home and in which no other person has 
any share ; indeed his separate estate includes some 



of the finest land in an exceedingly rich country, 
the site of Whitney station being his. For a number 
of years after purchasing this tract in 1883 he cul- 
tivated it himself, but recently he has been leasing 
it to other farmers. It contains two hundred and 
twenty acres. Mr. Kalso belongs to the Lutheran 
church and in political faith is a Republican. His 
influence in the community is always on the side of 
progressiveness, good government and social good 
order, and his industry, force and business ability 
make him a potential factor in the industrial life of 
his community and county. 



FRED KALSO. Among the young men who 
are carrying forward with efficiency and success the 
work so well begun by their pioneer fathers in 
Skagit county is Fred Kalso, who, though born in 
Iowa, is to all intents and purposes a son of the 
West, having accompanied his parents to Washing- 
ton when only four years old, and having acquired 
his education in the schools of this state. He is a 
brother of Otto, and a son of Frederick and Hen- 
rietta (Hintz) Kalso, to whom more extended refer- 
ence has been made elsewhere in this volume. Like 
his older brother he has always made his home with 
his father, but his agricultural operations extend 
beyond the bounds of the parental farm, and at 
present he is cultivating some two hundred acres of 
rich Skagit county land. Ever since his twenty- 
second year he has been in full charge of the home 
place. His intimate knowledge of the peculiarities 
of Skagit county marsh land, gained by concentrat- 
ing the efforts of a lifetime to the mastery of this 
species of farming, and his natural industry, steadi- 
ness and business ability have enabled him to 
achieve an excellent success as an agriculturist. 
Born in 1873, he is still a young man, yet he already 
has a start in life such as many have striven in vain 
for years to secure, and a standing among agricul- 
turists that many nearly twice his age might envy. 

In is'.Hi, at I'adilla, Washington, Mr. Kalso mar- 
ried Miss Elizabeth Jenne, whose father, George 
Jenne, was a successful farmer on the Swinomish 
flats until his death in the year 1902. Though born 
on Whidby island, Mrs. Kalso, like her husband, 
acquired her education in the public schools of 
Skagit count}'. She and Mr. Kalso have two chil- 
dren, Melvin, born in 1807. and Willie, Iwrn in 1898. 
In politics Mr. Kalso is a Republican, somewhat ac- 
tive in the work of his party but not ambitious for 
personal preferment, though he is serving at present 
as dike commissioner. 



OLE J. BORSETH, of Fir, is one of the solid, 
substantial business men of south Skagit county, 
who since coming here in 1882 has accumulated con- 
siderable of this world's goods in Skagit real estate 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



operations and in other fortunate and well consid- 
ered investments. Nominall)', Mr. Borseth is a 
farmer at Fir, but his holdings there represent but a 
small part of his estimated wealth. He was born 
in Christiansund, Norway, on May 7, 1857, the son 
of Johan J. and Marit ( Jordal) Borseth, who died 
in their native land, the former in 1883, aged sixty- 
seven, and the latter in 1873, aged fifty-three. Four 
children survive, the subject of this sketch and 
Marit, both in the United States, and Magnhild and 
Brit, both in Norway. Ole Borseth lived at home 
and attended school until he was sixteen years old. 
He entered the military college at Christiania at the 
age of twenty-one and at the close of a three years' 
course he left the army, coming to the United States 
in 1882, settling in Michigan. He remained there 
for seven months, working in lumber camps, and 
then came to Fir and worked in a logging camp for 
MX years. He was of a speculative turn of mind 
and determined on dealing in real estate. He platted 
land at the town site of Woolley and dealt in land 
in a very successful manner. In 1S90 Mr. Borseth 
spent three months in his old home in Xorway and 
on his return bought a store at Fir, which he con- 
ducted with marked success until in 1902 he sold his 
stock and leased the store to C. F. Treat. While 
running the store he continued dealing in real estate 
at Sedro-WooUey and investing his capital judi- 
ciously. Early in 1905 he sold out all his real estate 
holdings except twenty-five acres, which he still re- 
tains as a farm and home place. 

In 1891 Mr. Borseth married Miss Dordi Fur- 
seth, a native of Christiansund, Norway, born 
February 18, 1867. Her parents, Ole and Brit 
(Oien) Furseth, yet reside on their old Norwegian 
homestead. Mrs. Borseth remained with her par- 
ents until 1890, when she came to the United States 
with Mr. Borseth on his return to Skagit county, 
and they were united in marriage at Fir. Of this 
union there are eight children, John Daniel, Bertha 
Malinda, Mabel Gudrun, Ole Alfred, Marit Sigfrid, 
Nils Bernhard, Clara Dorthe and Gladys Olina. In 
fraternal circles Mr. Borseth is an Odd Fellow, 
being now a past grand. The family attends the 
Lutheran church. While Mr. Borseth has been un- 
usually successful in his speculative ventures and 
has built up quite a fortune, he is the last man to 
boast of his achievements or make unusual display 
of the same. On his twenty-five acre home he has 
a good dwelling, furnished in a comfortable manner 
and with every convenience afforded. Among his 
investments in recent years are three hundred and 
twenty acres of timber land in Oregon. If Mr. Bor- 
seth has a hobby it may be said to be the advance- 
ment of the effectiveness of the schools. He has 
served as school director, giving his time and energy 
to increase their efficiency. He was largely instru- 
mental in having his home school at Fir graded and 
placed on its present footing in the schools of the 



county. Mr. Borseth is a quiet and unassuming 
man, though one of great energy and accomplish- 
ment, and is recognized as one of the leading factors 
for progress and advancement in the community. 



JOHN B. GATES. Much that recalls times of 
trouble for the American Union is suggested by the 
life of the late John B. Gates, one of the pioneers of 
Skagit county and Whidby island, who died January 
12, 1905, after a career full of years of activity and 
of good deeds. At the time of his death Mr. Gates 
resided on the place he had cleared of the virgin 
forest and that is now the home of his widow and 
those of his children who still surround her. Mr. 
Gates was a native of Missouri, born in Pike countv 
on October 6, 1831. His father was Abel Gates, a 
native of Massachusetts and a son of Colonel Gates 
of Revolutionary fame. It was in the schools of 
Missouri that John B. Gates gained his education, 
and it was there also that he imbibed the spirit of 
loyalty to the cause of the Southern states in their 
great conflict with the American Union. The year 
1SG2 found him enlisted in the Confederate army, 
in which he served throughout the war, rising to a 
sergeancy in his company. 

At the close of the conflict he returned to his 
native state, bringing with him a bride of South 
Carolina, Sarah Turner, whom he had married at 
Hamburg in the Palmetto state in the closing days 
of the Lost Cause. Mr. and Mrs. Gates resided in 
Missouri until 1871, when they came to Washing- 
ton and took up a homestead near Mount Vernon, 
the place now sheltering Mrs. Gates and on which 
she has had many unusual experiences incident to 
pioneer life in a new country. For five years much 
of Mr. Gates' time was spent on Whidby island, 
working for others, but during that time he cleared 
twenty-three acres and commenced the orchard and 
meadow land home which was his until death. Rob- 
ert Turner, the father of Mrs. Gates, was a native 
of Dublin, Ireland, coming to the United States 
with his parents when eighteen years of age. The 
Turners settled in Edgefield county, South Caro- 
lina, and resided there until their death. At the 
outbreak of the Civil war Mr. Turner cast his for- 
tunes with those of the Confederacy and during 
the engagement resulting in the fall of Fort Sumter 
received a wound from the effects of which he died. 
Mrs. Turner, the mother of Airs. Gates, was a na- 
tive of Wales, but came to South Carolina with her 
parents when a child. Mrs. Gates was born in South 
Carolina and received her education there. She was 
twenty-four years of age when she married. To the 
union ten children were born : John, Robert, Ed- 
win, Lamora, Adaline and Dortha. all deceased; 
David and Henry A., at home, and two married 
daughters. Mrs. Mary L. Moore and Lillian M. 
Slosson, having homes, respectively, near Mount 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Vernon and on Whidby island. The family gener- 
ally are Methodists, though David has embraced the 
Catholic faith. John B. Gates' widow is still living 
on the land which her husband wrested from its na- 
tive state to become one of the farm homes of the 
Puget sound country. She vividly remembers her 
early days on that ground, the woods alive with 
wild beasts, and recalls with distinctness the cir- 
cumstances under which many of her domestic ani- 
mals were carried off under her very eyes by the 
bears. She has lived to see the wilderness of trees 
turned into human habitatious. the wild creatures 
disappear, and to note the work done by herself and 
her husband in effecting the transformation from 
forest to family fireside. 



FRANKLIN BUCK transplanted to the shores 
of Puget sound the traditions of Bucks County, 
Pennsylvania, and the hardihood which is given 
the Pennsylvania Dutch. His present home is three 
miles southwest of Mount Vernon, where he has 
developed from a homestead a fine farm of more 
than half a hundred acres. Mr. Buck was born 
in the Keystone state on September 5, 1837, his 
father being Henry Buck, son of the Buck of Penn- 
sylvania who in the years of the American Revolu- 
tion gave his name to the famous county. Judice 
(Wetcel) Buck, the mother of the subject of this 
sketch, was also of Pennsylvania Dutch stock. She 
gave the world ten sturdy children, of whom Frank- 
lin is seventh in order of birth. Franklin Buck re- 
ceived his education in the schools of Pennsylvania 
and did not leave the parental roof until after he 
had attained the age of eighteen years and had be- 
come thoroughly acquainted with the tobacco trade. 
He left home then to enter the government service 
as teamster, in which he continued for two years, 
to later re-enter the tobacco trade in Chicago and 
St. Louis. After two years in the tobacco business 
Mr. Buck decided to try his fortunes on the Pacific 
coast and started overland by ox team in 1855 
across the plains on a trip that consumed four 
months before San Francisco was reached. Reach- 
ing California in the wake of the "Forty Niners," 
he spent eighteen months pursuing wealth in the 
gold districts in the fall and winter of 1856-7. The 
following year, while in San Francisco, he learned 
of the Puget sound country in "Old Oregon" to 
the north of the Columbia. Mr. Buck's first stop 
on the sound was at Steilacoom, where he entered 
a logging camp and remained "until 18C1. Tiring of 
the life of a logger he went to the Snohomish 
river, where he took a pre-emption claim on unsur- 
veyed land, remaining there until 1808. His name 
appears on the census roll of that county taken in 
1862. In the year 1868 he returned to his native 
state, traveling via the Panama route, but stayed at 
the old home only eight months. The spirit of the 



West called him and he spent the summer of 1869 
in Kansas. Puget sound drew him further west the 
following spring, when he took up the homestead 
which is now his farm home. 

Mr. Buck married a native of Skagit county and 
to the union there have been ten children, all but 
one of whom are living: Martha Jane Fellows and 
Sarah A. Church, of Qear Lake; Emma A. Payne, 
of Mount Vernon, and Mamie, Dora, Joseph, Frank, 
Henry and Edward, living at home. A married 
daughter, Elizabeth, is dead. Mr. Buck is a Re- 
publican and in an early day served as justice of 
the peace and county commissioner of Snohomish 
county. Fraternally, his affiliation is with the Ma- 
sonic order. His farm is an illustration of what 
may be carved out of the woody wilderness of the 
western slope of the Cascades, having its dairy, or- 
chard and general sections, a typical Skagit county 
farmstead. Mr. Buck stands high in the esteem of 
his fellows as a successful business man and an ex- 
emplary exponent of American civilization and 
American energy. 



GEORGE J. HANSON has transplanted the 
ideas of Maine to the country of Puget sound, and 
much of the thrift of the most easterly state in the 
Union is to be seen about his place in the country of 
the great gulf of the Pacific coast. Much of this is 
the result of the first transplanting of Maine tradi- 
tions by the father, James Hanson, who was born 
in Ripley and lived there until he came to Sno- 
homish county more than twenty years ago. The 
mother of the subject of this sketch was also a na- 
tive of Maine. George J. Hanson was born in 
Maine in 1860, and was a lad of very few years 
when his father entered the ranks of the Thirteenth 
Maine infantry in the war of the Rebellion, serv- 
ing for thirteen months. The son came with the 
father to Snohomish county, and his mother, Mrs. 
Emiline (Whitney) Hanson, resided with him until 
her death in 1895. She was the mother of ten chil- 
dren, six of whom are living, namely, Eliza, Emma, 
May, George, Charles and Frank. For a time after 
coming to Snohomish county George J. Hanson 
joined with his father in leasing a farm. At the 
close of that lease period he took with his brother a 
similar lease and they remained together until they 
came to Skagit county in 1896. Then George 
bought forty acres, which with one hundred and 
twenty since purchased constitutes the Hanson home 
of the present time. 

In 1890 Mr. Hanson married Miss Lena Gordon, 
daughter of Stephen and Nancy Gordon, both na- 
tives of Maine, the former still living, the latter 
having passed away there twelve years ago. Mrs. 
Hanson was herself a native of Maine, born in 
IST.". One child was the fruit of this union, a son 
named Guy. Mrs. Hanson passed away in 1895 and 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



seven years later Mr. Hanson married Miss Anna 
Snook, a native of Kansas, the daughter of Mrs. 
Ellen Snook, and one of a family of five, her brother 
and sisters being Bert Snook, Mrs. Nellie Dean, 
Mrs. Rita Johnson and Mrs. Cora Dean. Mrs. 
Hanson's mother is still living at Mount Vernon. 
Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Han- 
son, Vesta and Marie. The Hanson farm is well 
improved, fifty-five of the one hundred and twenty 
acres being under cultivation. The house is a mod- 
ern eight-room structure, with all up-to-date im- 
provements. On the home place are twenty-five 
cows, forty-three head of stock cattle, horses and 
colts, hogs and other live stock. In addition to this 
place Mr. Hanson operates rented land, raising 
about three thousand sacks of oats per year in 
Skagit county. He is the inventor of a dike-build- 
ing machine with which he has built one hundred 
and fifty rods of dike on his own property. He is 
a raiser of hay and has baled more of that com- 
modity than any other man on Snohomish county 
land, in one year having put up as many as two 
thousand two hundred and twenty-two tons. In all 
the years since he left his native state Mr. Hanson 
has lost none of the Maine idea of public spirit. 
With all the weight of management of his affairs he 
does not forget his duty to the community at large, 
and is one of the most public spirited citizens in the 
Skagit valley. He is one of the reliable men of the 
community and is large hearted and liberal in his 
dealings with his fellow men. In politics he is an 
advocate of Republican principles. 



WALTER S. BURTON, one of the active busi- 
ness men of Burlington, was born in Lapeer county, 
Michigan, October Ifi, 1870, the son of Esquire D. 
Burton, a veteran of the Union army and now a 
resident of Skagit county. The elder Burton is a 
native of New York, but had gone to Michigan be- 
fore the breaking out of the Civil war. Responding 
to Lincoln's call for volunteers, young Burton en- 
listed in the Eighth Michigan infantry and saw 
some rough service while his regiment was with 
the Army of the Potomac and General McClellan, 
and in later campaigns. Notwithstanding his many 
exposures, chief of which was when the Eighth 
Michigan was badly cut up at Bull Run, Mr. Burton 
was never wounded. After the war Mr. Burton 
returned to Michigan and remained there until 1876, 
when he moved to New York and was there until 
February, 1882, when he crossed the continent, 
going first to San Francisco and thence coming to 
Skagit county, where in August he located at Mount 
Vernon and engaged in market gardening. He 
later took up land at Avon, but is now residing on 
land of which he has a life lease from his son, the 
subject of this sketch. The elder Burton's first wife 
was Svlvia Burton, the mother of one child, WaltCi 



S. She departed this life in 1872, and the husband 
remarried. Walter S. Burton was only twelve years 
of age when he began life for himself, working m 
California for a few months prior to his arrival with 
his father in Washington. His first work in Skagit 
count}', as a mere boy, was greasing skids for log- 
gers below Mount Vernon. He "logged" on the 
site of Burlington before there was any settlement, 
and the trees were thick upon the land. He fol- 
lowed the woods and timber until he was nineteen 
years old, attending school whenever he had the 
chance. His first venture in business for himself 
was the purchase of a hay baling outfit, which he 
successfully operated on the Olympic marsh for 
twelve seasons, during which he bought one hun- 
dred and seventeen acres of land on the marsh. 
About this period Mr. Burton erected the first build- 
mg in Burlington, in which for a year he operated 
a general mercantile business whicii he later sold 
to Thomas -Wilson, now of Anacortes, returning 
to his farm. During the days of his connection 
with logging, Mr. Burton worked for such well- 
known men as William Gage, Ball & Barlow and 
William McKay. He was one of the stockholders in 
the Burlington shingle mill and for three years sup- 
plied it with bohs. Early in 1905 Mr. Burton 
formed a partnership with Mr. Knutzen and opened 
the City meat market in Burlington, since which 
time he has purchased the entire business and has 
also become interested in the Burlington electric 
light plant, of which he is a trustee. 

In 1899 Mr. Burton married Miss Sarah M. 
Ward, born in Hartland, Niagara county, New 
York, in 1881, June 3, the daughter of Jabez and 
Mary J. (Vanorman) Ward, both of whom were 
of English descent. Mr. Burton is one of the Knights 
of the Maccabees and an Odd Fellow, while 
Mrs. Burton is a member of the ladies' auxiliaries 
to those orders, being secretary of the Rebekahs 
and record keeper in the Maccabees. In politics 
Mr. Burton is a Republican. In addition to his meat 
business Mr. Burton has a farm of one hundred 
and seventeen acres three-quarters of a mile west 
of Burlington. 



SANDS C. PETTIT is one of the successful 
contractors and builders of Burlington. He was 
born in Orleans county, New York, September 21, 
1855, the family name being one well known in that 
part of the Empire state. His father was Charles 
P. Pettit, born in New York in 1818. The father 
went to New York city when a young man and con- 
ducted a successful business as a commission mer- 
chant, later going to Orleans county, and in 1867 to 
Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he remained until 
his death in 1897. The mother, Mrs. Elizabeth 
(Schofield) Pettit, a cousin of Major General J. M. 
Schofield, was born in New York city June 16, 



BIOGRx\PHICAL 



1831. She was the mother of three children, two 
of whom are hving. She died June 14, 1885. 
Young Pettit, at sixteen, began to learn the car- 
penter's trade, working in the summer and attend- 
ing school during the winter. He was graduated 
when eighteen from the state normal school at Lake 
City, Minnesota, and a few months later completed 
a business course at the Minneapolis Commercial 
college. Leaving school he worked a short time at 
his trade, then went to Dexter, Minnesota, where 
he opened a grocery and drug store. He also con- 
ducted a lumber and wheat buying business with 
his brother-in-law, Alexander Stewart, who is now 
president of the Monarch Elevator Company. He 
continued in this business three years, when he dis- 
posed of his interests and went to Australia. After 
remaining almost a year, he returned to San Fran- 
cisco ; then went to Eureka, where he stayed a year 
and a half; then moved to Seattle and secured 
three building contracts, upon which he was en- 
gaged six months. He was afterward in La Conner 
for five months, and has resided in this county con- 
tinuously since that time, with the exception of 
about sixtv davs, in 1S98, while on a trip to the 
East. 

Mr. Pettit was married October 2, 18T6, to Miss 
Mary Arnold, who was born June 16, 1857, and 
who died December 27, 1886. She was a graduate 
of the Minnesota Normal school, and taught in sev- 
eral schools of that state. Her parents, J. Wesley 
and Harriet (Hyde) Arnold, both were natives of 
Ohio, the father born in 1825, the mother ten years 
later. Mr. Arnold, a farmer by occupation, died in 
1902 in Minnesota, where Mrs. Arnold still lives. 
Mr. and Mrs. Pettit have two children. Lee, the 
elder, was born June -i, 1875. He graduated at 
Carlton college at Northfield, Minnesota,, and now 
is studying law at Pasadena, California. Charles 
Wesley was born October 27^ 1877. When sixteen 
he graduated from the state normal, at seventeen 
from the state university, and a few months later 
from Carleton college. He received his diploma 
from the Minnesota State Medical college in 1902 
and now is practicing medicine in Minneapolis. In 
1892 Mr. Pettit purchased eighty acres of timber 
land on San Juan island, which he has leased to 
A. C. Brown. S. C. Pettit has made Burlington 
his home for ten years. He is a Royal Arch Mason, 
being a member of Spring Valley lodge, No. 57, 
North Star chapter, at Chatfield, Minnesota. He is 
a staunch Republican and in Minnesota held the 
offices of county assessor and county commissioner. 
He is a man of genial disposition and sound judg- 
ment, popular with all who know him. 



DAVID KOCH, millwright and carpenter as 
well as successful small farmer, is one of the pio- 
neers of the city of Burlington. He was born in 



Stark county, Ohio, March 22, 1835, and resided 
there until he reached his majority. He was the 
son of John and Mary (Buchtel) Koch, natives of 
Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, born in 1792 and 
1795 respectively. The father in early life removed 
to Ohio and in 1847 to Indiana, where he died in 
is;4. Mr. Koch, his wife, died in 1865, the mother 
of twelve children, of whom David was the tenth. 
When he readied the age of twenty-one David Koch 
selected the trade of millwright and apprenticed 
himself, receiving fifty dollars a year for the two 
years of his service. He followed' this calling until 
the Civil war, when he enlisted in Company D of 
the Twenty-third Missouri infantry, under Captain 
Robertson. His first fight was at Shiloh, where he 
was captured by the Confederates; he was released 
on parole and exchanged after six months. He im- 
mediately returned to his command. Young Koch 
fought bravely at Iron Mountain and at Rawley, his 
regiment later being joined to General Sherman's 
corps, participating in the operations around At- 
lanta and in the famous march to the sea. He was 
in twelve of the hardest fights connected with the 
siege of Atlanta. His last battle was at Jonesboro, 
and he was mustered out at Savannah, Georgia, De- 
cember 30, 1864. He returned to Missouri at the 
close of the war, resumed his trade and followed it 
for twelve years. He then went to Hastings, Neb- 
raska, where he resided thirteen years, leaving there 
for the state of Washington. On his arrival at 
Burlington he found it to be "merely a hole in the 
woods," as he expresses it. He took a pre-emption 
clami and relinquished it to his son, later taking a 
homestead in the vicinity of Burlington, which he 
still retains, having cleared a small part of it. A 
five acre tract and one of twenty acres also are 
among the holdings of Mr. and Mrs. Koch. Mrs. 
Koch owns the five acre place, which she paid for 
by the earnings of two cows, purchased in 1893. 

Mr. Koch married Miss Sarah Garl April 1, 
1860. She was born in November, 1842, the daugh- 
ter of John and Sarah (Buchtel) Garl, natives of 
Summit County, Ohio. To Mr. and Mrs. Koch 
have been born six children, of whom four are liv- 
ing, John B. Koch, Mrs. Sarah A. Cressey, Abra- 
ham A. Koch and Mrs. Rose E. Hamilton. Mr. 
Koch is a member of W. T. Sherman post. No. 97, 
Grand Army of the Republic, at Sedro-Woolley. 
He is a Republican and served in the first city coun- 
cil of Burlington. Mrs. Koch is a Congregation- 
alist. There are nine head of Jersey and Holstein 
cattle in the Koch dairy and White Wyandotte and 
Leghorn chickens are raised. Mrs. Koch is a lover 
of flowers and has a great variety of beautiful ones 
in her garden. She has a dozen varieties of cactus, 
some of them of giant size. The flower beds at this 
home have a reputation which extends all over 
Skagit countv. Mr. Koch's life record is one of 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



which any man may be proud — a rich legacy to his 
posterity. 



THOMAS SHAUGHNESSY, of Burlington, 
was b'orn in Tipperary, Ireland, November 11, 18-15, 
one of the two children of Michael Shaughnessy 
and Annie (Burke) Shaughnessy. Of his parents 
Mv. Shaughnessy has little record, he having left 
home at the age of ten years to find support for 
himself. For five years the lad made his living by 
doing odd jobs in different parts of his native isle. 
In 18G0 he set out for Liverpool, England, where 
he worked for about two years, leaving for New 
York in 1862. The young man was anxious to see 
the world, preferring not to remain in one place, 
so alternately traveling and earning his livelihood, 
he passed the years until 1880 in different parts of 
the Southern and Western states, arriving in the 
Pacific Northwest in that year. _ For seven years he 
followed railroad work in British Columbia, and 
then made his headquarters in Seattle. It was about 
this time that a big development boom was on at 
Anacortes, and thither Mr. Shaughnessy went and 
remained until 1891, but did not lose any money in 
the speculations. He was the representative of the 
Oregon Improvement Company for a time. After 
leaving Anacortes Mr. Shaughnessy took the con- 
tract for clearing the timber from the town site of 
Burlington. There were only three houses there 
when he commenced operations. When his con- 
tract was completed he decided to remain in Bur- 
lington and embarked in the meat business, opening 
a market there and continuing to run it for several 
months. He then took up the liquor trade and 
opened the World's Fair saloon, which he has con- 
ducted until the present time. Fle has been away 
from Burlington for an extended stay but twice 
since he located there. In 1903 he made a trip to 
Ireland, remaining three months on his native 
island. A year later he crossed the continent to 
Fall River, Massachusetts, where he visited his 
daughter, Mrs. ?\Iary -V. Murtagh, in her home 
there. Mr. Shaughnessy is a member of the For- 
esters of America. In politics he is a Democrat and 
of the type which has never held or desired public 
office ; in religious faith he is a Catholic. During 
his residence in Burlington Mr. Shaughnessy has 
accumulated valuable property, including five acres 
of land a half mile southeast of the town, his saloon 
property, a hotel and two store buildings. The suc- 
cess that has come to him is evidence of his ability 
as a business man, and of the possession of other 
traits of character necessary in anyone who success- 
fully courts prosperity. 



JAMES M. NORRIS, after a number of years 
of construction work in connection with the es- 



tablishment of two of the transcontinental railway 
systems, has settled down to the life of a farmer on 
the outskirts of Burlington. He was born near 
Belleville, Hastings county, Ontario, September 29, 
181)1. His father was a native of New Foundland, 
born in 1821. Matthew Norris spent many years of 
his early life as a sailor on the great lakes, but 
eventually settled down in the province of Ontario, 
where he died in 1885. His wife, Rhoda (Freder- 
ick) Norris, was born in Ontario in 1825, where she 
is still living. She is the mother of ten children, of 
whom James M. is the youngest. Young Norris 
left home when he was twenty-two years of age and 
engaged in the work of constructing snowsheds for 
the Canadian Pacific railway. This work ultimately 
brought him to Donald, British Columbia, where he 
br.ilt warehouses and helped put up snowsheds in 
the Selkirk mountains. The fall of 1881! found him 
in Ashland, Wisconsin, where he went to work for 
the Lake Shore railroad. He continued with this 
company until the following July, when he engaged 
with another road, with which company he had 
charge of the construction of bridges for more than 
a }ear. Mr. Norris then spent some time at Esca- 
naba, Michigan, in the employ of the Chicago, Mil- 
waukee & St. Paul road. A few months later he 
went to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and there engaged 
himself to the Great Northern road, the scene of 
his operations being at Minot, North Dakota. He 
was transferred to Teton, Montana, and remained 
with the Great Northern for two years. A little 
later he was in Spokane, Washington, and assisted 
in the erection of the Auditorium theater, at that 
time the largest structure in that city. He next 
went to Portland, Oregon, and after a short time 
to Seattle, where he made his headquarters for a 
number of months, during which he was connected 
with the San Francisco Bridge Company. He then 
came to Skagit county and Burlington, where he 
bought five acres of land which to-day constitute a 
part of his home farm. He worked for a time for 
the Great Northern on the portion of the road be- 
tween Everett and Spokane. Mr. Norris was at- 
tacked by the Alaskan fever and put in two and a 
half years there, doing fairly well. In the days of 
1896, when Rossland, British Columbia, was boom- 
ing, Mr. Norris went there and engaged in timber- 
ing the property of the C. & K. Mining Company. 
Upon the completion of that work, he spent some 
time in the Cariboo mining country, returning 
home to Burlington in 1900. He made a purchase 
of land adjoining his former holding and has now 
forty-five acres of cleared land, with five acres of 
orchard and considerable meadow. Mr. Norris 
does a dairying business, thirty-five head of Dur- 
ham cattle constituting his present supply. He has 
horses and raises pigs, also paying attention to poul- 
try, having black Minorcas and buff" Leghorns in 
his chicken yards. 



m 




KVNDER D. FRASEU 





WILIJAM H. ITALPIN 



JOHN LEWI 




THOMAS D. THORNE, D. D. WOODBURY J. THORNE MRS. ADEEIA I.ATHROP THORNE 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Xovember 19. 1884, Mr. Norris married Miss 
Marv A. Stewart, a native of the province of On- 
tario. Her father. Alexander Stewart, died during 
the year of her birth. 1863. Mrs. Eliza (Crosby) 
Stewart was born in County Down, Ireland, Decem- 
ber 26, 1836, but in childhood went to Ontario, 
where she still lives. Mr. and Mrs. Norris have 
si.x children : Murny E., Grace B., Stewart M., 
Pearl R., Guy J. and Ross H. Mrs. Norris is a 
member of the Ladies of the Maccabees and of the 
Rebekahs. Mr. Norris is a Democrat in politics. The 
family is affiliated with the Presbyterian church. 
The Norris home is one of the pleasant ones of 
Skagit county, having all modern conveniences to 
he seen in any suburban farmhouse. Mr. Norris is 
making a success of life and is well esteemed by all 
his associates. 



WILLIAjM henry HARRISON CRESSEY 
was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, April 30, 
1839. His parents, William and Jane (Borman) 
Cressey, were natives of Lincolnshire, England, 
who came to the L^nited States within two years 
rfter the downfall of Napoleon at Waterloo. By 
occupation the older Cressev was a pattern and 
model maker in iron foundries. After a short stay 
in New Jersey he moved to Philadelphia, where he 
had the distinction of introducing into this country 
through his employers, Morris & Tasker, the use 
of the small pipes so familiar at the present time 
for conveying gas for the purposes of illumination. 
The idea he had brought from England, and he in- 
troduced it while he was constructing the first fur- 
naces for the manufacture of gas in Philadelphia. 
The first gas system in Cincinnati, Ohio, was in- 
stalled by him. During the Kansas excitement Mr. 
Cressey went to that state and he resided for a time 
at Lawrence, but left there just before the raid of 
the famous guerrilla leader and bandit, Quantrell. 
He returned to Lawrence in 1868 and died there a 
few months later. The Cresseys are an ancient fam- 
ily in Lincolnshire, tracing their ancestry for two 
and a half centuries in English history. Mrs. Jane 
Cressey died in 1861. Nine children were born to 
this couple, of whom the living at present are Mrs. 
Rachel P. Mills of Philadelphia, George G. Cres- 
sey of Philadelphia, and William H. H. Cressey of 
Burlington, Washington. 

William H. H. Cressey, of whom this is written, 
followed the movings of his parents while a youth, 
going to school and working in the foundries. He 
also accompanied his father to Kansas. In 1860, 
when twenty years old and a resident of the Quaker 
city, he heard the first call of Lincoln for volun- 
teers, and less than two days after he had entered 
the ranks of the Twentieth Pennsylvania Infantry, 
sometimes known as the "Scott Legion." A month 



later the command, under General Paterson, was in 
Virginia, a part of the army of the Potomac. His 
baptism of fire came at Falling Waters, the scene of 
the first fight of the war on the soil of the Old Do- 
minion. At the close of his two-year enlistment 
young Cressey was mustered out and at once re- 
turned to the iron works of Morris & Tasker, with 
whom he continued fifteen years. In the course of 
the years which followed Mr. Cressey worked at 
his trade in the railroad shops at Pittsburg and Al- 
toona, Pennsylvania. He came west in 1890 and 
settled in Skagit county, living for one year at Ana- 
cortes. He later bought land a mile southeast of 
Burlington, upon which, with the help of his sons, 
he cleared at first enough for his home, and after 
moving upon it he cleared enough more to permit 
the keeping of a small dairy. This was the begin- 
ning of his dairy and stock raising enterprises, now 
grown to handsome proportions. He furnishes 
cream to the creamery company. 

In 1865 Mr. Cressey married in Philadelphia 
Miss Rachel P. Walton, daughter of Amos H. and 
Sarah (Whartnaby) Walton. The Walton family 
was one of the earliest settlers of Philadelphia. It 
located originally at Beybrey, and has since been 
prominent in that part of the state, Harry Walton, 
at the time of this writing, being speaker of the 
lower house of the Pennsylvania legislature. Nine 
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Cressey: 
Robert S. Y., George G. and William, all of whom 
reside near their father in Skagit county; Lewis W., 
living at Marysville, Snohomish county; and Madge 
F. and Victor Hugo, living on the home farm. Of 
the deceased children, B. C. True Cressey died at 
Newark, Ohio, of yellow fever contracted during 
his service with the Twentieth United States In- 
fantry in Cuba, where the young man participated 
in the battles of El Caney and Santiago. Mr. Cres- 
sey is a member of the Grand Army of the Re- 
public and has served as commander of D. A. Rus- 
sell Post, No. 35. at Mount Vernon; also has the 
distinction of having been a Blue Lodge Mason for 
forty years. In politics Mr. Cressey is an active 
Republican. He has served his party as central 
committeeman, but has done more for his friends 
in a political way than for himself. He served as 
assistant superintendent of the Baker lake govern- 
ment fish hatchery, holding this position three 
years. As might be expected of a man who has 
had such varied experiences in life, Mr. Cressey 
is well posted on all current questions, keeping 
abreast of the times in everything useful. Since 
leaving the iron trade he has devoted his study to 
stock raising and dairying, and his sons, residing on 
their own farms, have the benefit of his advice and 
experience. Mr. Cressey, a man full of years and 
honor, occupies a large place in the esteem of those 
with whom he comes in contact. 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



ALEXANDER D. FRASER. Among those 
who have witnessed the wonderful transformations 
wrought in Skagit county in the last twenty-five 
years stands he whose name initiates this biography. 
He was born in Pictou county, Nova Scotia, May 
2, 1861, the son of John and Ellen Fraser, both 
natives of Glasgow, Scotland. The father was born 
in 1819, becoming a resident of the United States 
in early life. His death occurred here in 1904, that 
of his wife, some nine years previous, in 1895. The 
fourth of a family of ten children, Alexander D. 
Fraser relieved his parents of his support when but 
fourteen years of age, hiring out to a saw-mill com- 
pany for three years, then teaming for a railroad 
the following two years. Returning to his old home, 
he served an apprenticeship of three years in a 
blacksmith shop, becoming a partner in the business 
at the expiration of that time. Six months later 
he sold out his interest, going to Charlottetown, on 
Prince Edward island, where he did teaming for a 
brick manufacturer. Influenced by the accounts of 
the wonderful mineral deposits of California, he 
went there later, locating in Sierra county. Three 
months of mining having satisfied him that his trade 
yielded a more certain income, he moved to Nevada 
county and was employed at blacksmithing for the 
next four years. In 1880 he went to Seattle, then 
a town of less than three thousand inhabitants, re- 
maining during the summer. Spending the follow- 
ing eighteen months in San Francisco, he then came 
to La Conner, hiring out on a ranch for five years. 
He and his employer, T. Nelson Ovenell, having 
formed a partnership, they purchased one hundred 
and sixty acres of timber and marsh situated one 
mile north of Burlington. The nearest road being 
two miles from the ranch, it was impossible to drive 
a team on it. When at last a road had been built 
to the ranch, it was necessary for the horses to 
wear "tule" shoes to keep them from sinking in the 
mire. Dissolving the partnership in 1897, Mr. 
Fraser continued the work of draining and clearing 
his farm, now having eighty acres in cultivation. 
He has built a neat, convenient seven-room house, 
a barn seventy-six by twenty feet, and a granary 
and workshop, each forty by twenty feet. 

Mr. Fraser was married May 3, 1894, to Altha 
Scott, a native of Tennessee, as were her parents, 
Albert H. and Eliza (Prather) Scott, who came to 
Washington in 1880 and are now living in La Con- 
ner. Two children have brightened the home of 
Mr. and Airs. Fraser : Alice Rosina, born February 
28, 1895, and Bessie, born May 2, 1897. Mr. Fraser 
is a prominent member of the Maccabee fraternity; 
his wife is actively identified with the Order of 
Pendo. Both regularly attend the Methodist 
church, contributing liberally to its support. Mr. 
Fraser is a Republican, has held the office of road 
supervisor, and was for some time a member of the 
school board, there manifesting his deep interest in 



the educational affairs of the community. He has 
been very successful in his business undertakings, 
owning, in addition to his fine farm, a house and 
twelve lots in Burlington, where he now resides, 
having sold his stock and rented his farm. Decem- 
ber 23, 1905, he purchased a half interest in the 
business of the Burlington Mercantile-Grocery Com- 
pany, to which he is now directing his attention. 
Inheriting the ability and force of character pos- 
sessed by his Scotch ancestry in such a marked de- 
gree, Mr. Fraser is a man of influence in his com- 
munity and enjoys the confidence and esteem of the 
entire countv. 



JOHN LEWIS, farmer, three and a half miles 
south of Edison, is one of the respected and es- 
teemed young men of the community. He is the 
son of one of the pioneers of .Skagit county, and 
though not a native, is in reality a product of this 
section of the sound country. Here he received his 
education and here he is making a home for him- 
self and a reputation for probity and forcefulness. 
Mr. Lewis was born in Pennsylvania January 11, 
1874. His father, the late John T. Lewis, was a 
native of Wales, born August 16, 1819 ; he re- 
mained in that country until he was married, then, 
in ISGO, came to the United States, eventually Ich 
eating in Pennsylvania. He came to Washington 
in the fall of 1877 and settled at Seahome, What- 
com county, where he worked in the coal mines for 
three months. Coming then to the Samish flats, 
he rented a place of his brother, taking up the 
present home of his sons, Alfred and John, in 1879. 
It was then a wilderness, Mrs. Lewis being one of 
the first white women in that part of the county. 
Seven years were spent here by the elder Lewis, 
then he returned east, and he died in New York 
four years later. The mother of our subject, Mrs. 
Mary T. (Daniels) Lewis, who was also a native 
of Wales, died in Skagit county February 2, 1900, 
aged seventy years, three months and five days. Of 
her children, Alfred is the fifth and John the young- 
est. The others are Ann, wife of David Richards, 
born in Wales and now living in South Africa ; Mrs. 
Elvira Thomas, who died in Pennsylvania; John 
D., who died at the age of twenty years in Penn- 
sylvania ; David T., living in New York ; Mrs. 
Emma Lynch of Seattle; Lewis, living at Sylvana, 
Snohomish county ; William, living in Seattle. 

John Lewis received his education in the schools 
of Skagit county, where he has lived ever since he 
was three years old. When he was thirteen he went 
to work in the logging camps and he continued to 
work in the woods until 1895, when he began farm- 
ing in company with his brother, Alfred. They 
have one hundred acres of land, thirty-five of which 
are under cultivation. On the home farm are raised 
cattle and sheep ; it is also well stocked with work 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



horses. The Lewises are developing their place 
into one of the best farms of the country. Being 
of pioneer ancestry and possessing high intellectual 
and moral qualifications, they are well equipped for 
success in this rich field of endeavor. The future 
is full of promise for them. By their fellow-citi- 
zens they have long been classed with the reliable 
and substantial members of the community. Ready 
ever to bear his share of the public burdens, the 
subject of this review is now discharging with 
faithfulness the duties of the unremunerative and 
often thankless office of school director. He is a 
Republican in political faith. 



WILLIAM H. HALPIN, a resident of Wash- 
ington for the past twenty-five years, now engaged 
in farming near Campbell lake, was born in Wilkes- 
barre, Pennsylvania, June 23, 1842. His father. 
Patrick D. Halpin, a native of Ireland, born in 1818, 
emigrated to America in early life, and was a sol- 
dier in the Mexican War. His death occurred in 
1858. The maternal ancestor was Eunice P. 
(Woolley) Halpin, born in New York, December 
1. 1814. After a long, useful life she died in 1898 
The oldest of a family of four children, William H. 
Halpin began his career at the early age of twelve 
years, working on a farm, and in the meantime, by 
diligent improvement of every opportunity, secur- 
ing his education during the winter months. Six 
years later he ran a "Yankee" huckster wagon, his 
first business venture. Having learned the cooper's 
trade later, he worked at that three years, going 
then to Virginia City, Montana, in the spring of 
1865, where he spent two years in the mines. Not 
as successful in finding a fortune in the mines as 
he had hoped to be, he turned his attention to ranch- 
ing on the Jefiferson river, and raised cattle for 
some time. He next located in Helena, devoting 
his time to market gardening. Going by boat from 
Fort Benton to Sioux City, Iowa, he proceeded to 
Lamars, Iowa, and established the Northwestern 
nursery. The destructive grasshoppers that in- 
fested that region during the summer and the se- 
vere weather of the following winter caused him to 
fail in this enterprise and return to gardening. 
Lured by the tales of the wonderful fertility of the 
land of the Northwest, he sailed for Puget sound 
from San Francisco. After a short residence on 
Fidalgo bay, he settled near Seattle, but soon re- 
turned to Fidalgo, taking up a homestead which he 
sold at the opportune time during the boom. For 
three years he was in business at Deception, now 
known as Dewey. He purchased fifteen acres, 
property which he still owns, and at once began 
clearing it. He has it now in fine shape, with a 
three-acre orchard that yields him a substantial re- 
turn each season. His farm is well stocked with 



Holstein and Jersey cattle and a large band of fine 
sheep. 

Mr. Halpin and Hannah R. Seid were married 
at Des Moines, in 1876. A native of Germany, Mrs. 
Halpin came with her parents to Iowa at the age 
of fifteen. Her father, William F. Seid, met his 
death by falling down a coal shaft in his own mine 
in Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Halpin have two children : 
William S. and Ida R., both born in Iowa and 
now at home. Mr. Halpin is a well-known Repub- 
lican, though he has never sought office. He is 
deeply interested in the educational affairs of the 
community, and he has served on the school board, 
advocating progressive ideas. He and his family 
attend the Methodist church. His genial nature 
and recognized industry and enterprise secure for 
him the lasting esteem of his many acquaintances. 



WOODBURY J. THORNE, one of Thorn- 
wood's most popular and prosperous farmers, was 
born in Lewiston, Maine, May G, 1851. His father, 
Thomas D. Thorne, D. D., born August 29, 1815, at 
Lewiston, Maine, traces his ancestry back in an un- 
broken line to the sixteenth century. To him be- 
longs the honor of having been the first alderman 
of Lewiston, and the first Republican in either that 
city or Auburn, he having identified himself with 
that party in 1854. He has given to his son the 
genealogical record of the family. Jane M. (Mer- 
rill) Thorne, the mother, was also a native of 
Lewiston. Her death occurred many years ago. 
Late in life the elder Thorne remarried, Mary H. 
Bickford becoming his wife, and to this second 
union one child was born, Harry, now residing in 
Auburn, Maine. Both Dr. Thorne and his wife are 
living. 

By diligently applying himself to his studies, 
Woodbury J. Thorne, of this article, acquired a 
good education while yet a boy, and at the age of 
eighteen had completed an apprenticeship to the 
bricklaying trade, which he followed till he went to 
San Francisco in 1877. He was employed in a shoe 
factory in the Golden Gate city for seven years, 
then opened a fruit and produce store, a business 
which he conducted successfully for the ensuing 
twelvemonth. Eventually selling out his interests 
in San Francisco, he came to Skagit county, Wash- 
ington, and took as a homestead the farm he now 
owns. After clearing off a small place in the dense 
forest, he built a house upon this land, and this has 
been his home ever since, though at times he has 
been employed temporarily in other parts of the 
county. In 1890 he made a three months' visit to 
his old home in Maine. 

Mr. Thorne was married April 5, 1892, the 
lady being Adelia M. Lathrop, a native of Cam- 
bridge, Vermont, and a member of an illustrious 
family the lineage of which can be traced directly 



733 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



to the time of Mary, Queen of Scotts. One mem- 
ber of the family was a high priest in the Queen's 
court, and at the time of her capture by the British 
was in extreme peril. The manner of his escape 
was indeed novel. He caused himself to be con- 
cealed in a hogshead and to be shipped on a vessel 
about to sail for America, nor was he released from 
his voluntary imprisonment until far out to sea. 
Two brothers of this celebrated progenitor held 
military positions. The coat of arms which was 
his as a member of the royal court is now in the 
Boston museum. Mrs. Thome's father, a black- 
smith of the old school, skilled in many arts not 
taught to the apprentice of to-day, also a manufac- 
turer of tools, farm implements, carriages, etc., who 
also had a salesroom in Montreal, went to Califor- 
nia in 1850 and made his home there for four years, 
thereupon returning to Vermont, whence he later 
moved with his family to Wisconsin. He made his 
home in that state for a number of years, but ulti- 
mately located in South Dakota, spending the re- 
mainder of his life there. He died in 1885. His 
forefathers were prominent in Revolutionary times, 
one of them especially being made famous through 
his associations with the illustrious Miles Standish. 
Maria Louisa (Newton) Lathrop, the mother of 
Mrs. Thorne, who was born in Vermont August 8, 
1813, was the daughter of a well-known physician, 
a graduate of Dartmouth college. Her death oc- 
curred in November, 1888. 

Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Thorne there 
have been three children, the oldest of whom, born 
January 29, 1893, died when five davs old. Marion 
Adelia." born September 30, 1895, died March 26, 
1899, while L. Seth Weston, born July 6, 1897, is 
still living. Mrs. Thorne was appointed postmis- 
tress at Thornwood at the time the office was opened 
in 1900, and has discharged the duties of the posi- 
tion in a very capable manner ever since. For 
twenty years she was a teacher in the schools of 
Wisconsin, South Dakota and Washington. She is 
a devoted worker in the Good Templars' lodge and 
an active member of the Congregational church, 
while Mr. Thorne adheres to the Baptist faith. Mr. 
Thorne is a member of the Pioneer Association and 
in fraternal affiliation a prominent Mason. In poli- 
tics he is a Republican, firmly believing in the fun- 
damental principles of the party. His holdings con- 
sist of one hundred and twenty-one acres of land, 
fifty of which are in crops and pasture, and he i.^ 
giving much attention to dairying, keeping always 
a fine herd of Jersey cattle. Uniting with his un- 
questioned ability and industry a generous, upright 
character, he naturally holds the abiding esteem of 
his fellow-citizens. 



cote, Winnischick county, Iowa, in 1863. His 
father, Stoller Stevens, was of Norwegian birth, 
but came to the United States, became one of the 
first settlers in Winnischick county, and died there 
in 1870 at the age of fifty. His widow, Rachel, has 
since married and lives in Iowa. Tobias Stevens 
was the oldest of his parents' children; his sister 
Betsy has died, but two others, Mrs. Sarah Jacob- 
son and Stena Stevens, are still living. Mr. Stevens 
passed the life of a farmer youth, going to school 
and working on the farm, until he was twenty-three 
and then spent a year in Minnesota, after which he 
came to Skagit county. He was at La Conner for a 
year, working on the dikes. In company with Jacob 
Hogan he bought a place on Olympia Marsh, but 
later sold out to his partner. Some time was later 
passed in work on different farms, after which he 
made a trip to his old Iowa home. He remained 
there but a short time and on his return bought his 
present one hundred and sixty-acre farm, one mile 
north of Burlington, and traversed by the Great 
Northern railway. Mr. Stevens' most exciting ex- 
periences were during his occupancy of the Olympia 
Marsh land. The uncleared portion was under wa- 
ter and covered with brush, which afforded plenty 
of shelter to bear and other game, which came near 
the houses. It was not an uncommon thing to sus- 
pend work for a moment and bring down a bear or 
a deer. The first threshing on the marsh was done 
by Ovenell & Troser on the land now owned by Mr. 
Stevens. Mr. Stevens is a member of the Lutheran 
church and in politics is a Republican. He owns 
one hundred and sixty acres of land, over one hun- 
dred of which are under cultivation. The raising 
of short horn cattle is his specialty, and his produc- 
ing herd numbers twenty-eight head. He also 
breeds Norman horses and has an interest in one 
of the finest stallions of that species on the coast. 
In addition to these branches. Mr. Stevens owns and 
operates during the season a threshing outfit. By 
honorable dealings with his fellow-men he has es- 
tablished for himself a reputation with which any 
man may be well satisfied, and he enjoys the good 
will and esteem of all his associates. 



TOBIAS STEVENS, one of the farmers and 
stock raisers of Skagit county, was born at North- 



GEORGE G. CRESSEY has the kind of grit 
and perseverance which could develop ninety cents, 
his sole wealth in the spring of 1890, into the holc!'- 
ings of farmer, promoter, landowner and man of 
independence in 1905. His younger days in Penn- 
sylvania indicated that he had the energy which 
constitutes one of the chief characteristics of a suc- 
cessful man. He was born in Philadelphia March 
6, 1869, the son of William H. H. Cressey, iron 
worker and union soldier of the Civil War, now 
farmer and cattle raiser near Burlington. The 
mother was Rachel Walton, daughter of Amos II. 
Walton, one of the early settlers of Philadelphia, 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



^33 



the history of whose family constitutes m«ch of the 
history of the early days of the Quaker city. 

When seven years old George Cressey was in 
Forest county, Pennsylvania, where in the country 
schools he obtained the rudiments of an education, 
making his home with his grandfather. While at- 
tending school he walked through the woods three 
miles, with no house in sight, in order to secure in- 
struction. A number of years were spent in Forest 
county in school and doing what work the lad could 
find. At the age of eleven, while living near Brad- 
ford in the oil district, he took a contract to cut 
wood for the oil drillers, and had the perseverance 
to carry out his agreement. Later he engaged in 
peeling tanbark for a tannery. When the family 
moved to Marionville, Forest county, the hamlet 
had no railroad, and until the establishment of a 
postoffice the mails were carried twenty-two miles 
on horseback. It was about this time that young 
Cressey entered the employ of L. S. Clough, now 
■one of the largest manufacturers of hardwood prod- 
ucts in the East. He managed the cabinet shop for 
Clough for a time and was foreman when the For- 
est county industry was established. It was through 
the efforts of Mr. Cressey that large tracts of hard 
native wood were located, and these locations were 
the commencement of the policy of buying up all 
the hardwood land obtainable. About this time, in 
dull seasons, Mr. Cressey, acting as guide for hunt- 
ing parties, turned his knowledge of woodcraft to 
advantage. It was perhaps during these trips Mr. 
Cressey acquired his desire to get away from Penn- 
sylvania. At any rate, with his brother Will, he 
left his home state and went to ^linnesota, a little 
laier following the westward course into Montana, 
and in the spring of 1890 the brothers stood in 
Seattle and counted ninety cents in their pockets, 
all their worldly possessions. On May 23d of that 
year they reached Anacortes on the boat "Sea- 
home," Judge Joiner, the well-known jurist, being a 
passenger on the same boat. The first job obtained 
was transferring railroad iron at the time of the 
construction of the Seattle & Northern railroad. 
During the boom in Anacrotes Mr. Cressey turned 
his hand to any kind of work, felling timber as an 
employe of Lathrop, later doing similar work by 
contract, or filing saws. Wages were good and the 
brothers saved their money, and in February, 1891, 
bought the place they now occupy, east of Burling- 
ton, into which town the Great Northern was then 
•completing its road. Mr. Cressey has made his 
home on this farm ever since, though much of his 
time is required in Seattle, where he has large in- 
terests, located chiefly in West Seattle and on the 
shores of Lake Washington, to develop and pro- 
mote. 

Mr. Cressey, in February, 1895, married Miss 
Alice Koch, a native of Johnson county, Missouri, 
who came to Skagit county with her parents in 



1890. Mrs. Cressey's father is a carpenter and 
built the greater part of the substantial business 
section of Burlington. He is a veteran of the Civil 
War, having served over three years in the Twenty- 
third iMissouri regiment. He and Mrs. Koch are 
of German descent, though the families have been 
in this country for generations. Mr. and Mrs. 
Cressey have four children : Leonore R., Jefferson 
K., Georgia G. and Donald C. In politics Mr. Cres- 
sey is an active Republican. He has served as con- 
stable, deputy assessor, member of the road com- 
mission, road overseer, notary public and deputy 
postmaster. He has a deep interest in the schools 
and was a member of the board of directors when 
the Burlington school building was completed. 
With his father and brothers, Mr. Cressey promoted 
the incorporation of Burlington and was active in 
extending the town limits to take in territory and 
population not first included. They also were in 
the first telephone and electric light companies. 
Hard work, alertness and adaptability to whatever 
lay at hand are the chief elements which have con- 
tributed to the success which has crowned the ef- 
forts of this young man. 



HARLTON R. UMBARGER of Burlington 
and his heroic mother have had eventful lives in 
their struggle against poverty and western hard- 
ships, the story of their bravery and endurance be- 
ing a romance of Civil War days and pioneer life. 
Mr. Umbarger was born in Sauk county, Wiscon- 
sin, September 21, 1863, and when two years old 
was taken by his fearless mother to Iowa, traveling 
by ox team. Samuel LTmbarger, the father, was 
born in Wisconsin and died in New Mexico in 1865 
while a member of Company C, Third United States 
Cavalry. Mrs. Mary (Rowley) Umbarger, the 
mother, even before the death of her soldier hus- 
band, was called upon to prpvide for her children. 
What she accomplished proves her to be a woman 
of remarkable perseverance and force of character. 
She was b'orn in 1841: of sturdy Pennsylvania stock. 
While her husband was in the army she purchased 
on credit a yoke of oxen, placed her children in the 
wagon, and wielding trie whip herself started for 
Fort Dodge, Iowa. Under her rights as a soldier's 
wife she filed on one hundred and sixty acres in Po- 
cahontas county, Iowa, which became hers in her 
own name on the death of her husband. On this 
western homestead this remarkable woman was 
able to care for her children, manage a farm and 
go to school in order to prepare herself to teach, 
which she did for thirty years in Iowa and Wash- 
ington. In 1883 she heard that a brother whom 
she had not seen for thirty years was at La Conner, 
Washington, and there she went, leaving her boys, 
then grown, in charge of the Iowa farm. She found 
her brother and remained in Washington, teaching 



sk:agit county 



first near La Conner, then opening the first school 
at Avon. Her oldest son came to Washington and 
took up eighty acres at Fredonia. A cousin was 
working in the woods at Burlington for McKay & 
Alillet, and to him young Umbarger went one day 
to deliver some mail. While talking with the cousin 
a gun slipped from a log and was discharged, the 
ball entering young Umbarger's throat, killing him 
instantly. The shock nearly killed the mother. She 
was forced to take charge of his claim, on which 
she proved up. Later she was quite successful in 
land speculations. In 1888 she married James Mc- 
Cain, an ex-soldier, who died in 1891. She lived with 
her stepchildren until the McCain estate was set- 
tled, when she returned to Avon and resided until 
failing health compelled her to accept a home with 
her son, Harlton, who had come to Washington. 
She died June 28, 1901. 

Harlton R. Umbarger remained seven years on 
the Iowa farm after his mother came to Washing- 
ton, when he followed and did teaming for a year 
at Woolley ; then moved to Burlington, built for 
himself a small house and began hauling shingle 
bolts for the new mill of T. L. Fox & Son. He and 
his mother bought eighty acres on the Olympia 
marsh, to which place he moved in 1895. He was 
unfortunate here and the place was lost under a 
mortgage. He returned to Burlington; then went 
to Whatcom county and prospected on Canyon 
creek, hiring out his team of horses at Burlington, 
where their earnings were the chief support of the 
family during his absence. Those horses now are 
pensioners on the Umbarger place, fondly remem- 
bered for their services in days of need. Mr. Um- 
barger prospected four years, during that time pur- 
chasing two acres at Burlington, partly on time. 
He cleared enough for a house which he built and 
has since occupied. At one time he would have 
lost his home property but for a fortunate sale of 
a mining claim which gave him just enough money 
to make the needed payment. The claim never 
amounted to anything. 

Mr. Umbarger was married November 4, 1885, 
to Miss Frances E. Thomas, daughter of Daniel 
Thomas, an early Iowa settler, who came from 
Ohio. In 1891 Mr. Thomas came to Burlington 
and died here, March 4, 1901. Philena (Foote) 
Thomas, mother of Mrs. Umbarger, native of 
Ohio, is now living in Burlington. She has been 
the mother of twelve children. Mr. and Mrs. Um- 
barger have six children : Clarence, born August 
18, 188G: Frank, born September 1, 1888; Mary 
P., born May 23, 1890; Ellsworth, born April 29', 
1893; Bernard, born February 11, 1895, and Gol- 
dine, born July 26, 1896. Mr." and Mrs. Umbarger 
are members of the Maccabees ; in politics Mr. Um- 
barger is a Republican and has served a term in 
the city council. The home farm consists of thirty- 
two acres, chiefly used for pasturing a herd of fine 



Holsteins. Harlton R. Umbarger, since the time 
his mother left him on the old Iowa homestead, has 
had a career of endeavor and disappointment, but 
the sagacity and determination which he inherited 
from his mother have enabled him to overcome all 
obstacles and he now is recognized as a successful 
man. 



WILLIAAI CRESSEY, Jr., one of the pros- 
perous young farmers near Burlington, is a native 
of Philadelphia, born May 17, 1872. William H. H. 
Cressey, his father, born in 1839, is also a native of 
the Quaker city, where he followed the trade of a 
moulder. He is a veteran of the Civil War, now 
living in Burlington. Rachel P. (Walton) Cressey, 
the mother of William, Jr., likewise was born in 
Philadelphia, springing from the well-known fam- 
ily of Walton, which is prominent in Eastern Penn- 
sylvania. She has had eight children, of whom 
VVilliam is the fourth. Mr. Cressey of this review- 
left home when eighteen and was in Anacortes dur- 
ing the boom days of that town. He arrived in 
the city at four o'clock one morning and at seven 
o'clock had secured a position and was at work. 
Two months after reaching Anacortes he took a 
contract to clear land and completed the work in 
six months, making a good profit on the venture. 
He then came to Burlington, bought ten acres of 
timbered land and erected the house in which he 
is now living. The financial depression of the early 
nineties fell heavily on the young man and stripped 
him of everything but his home and his land. Years 
of sulifering followed, one of the most trying ex- 
periences being when he was beaten out of land on 
which he had taken homestead rights. 

In 1900 Mr. Cressey married Miss Maud Thomp- 
son, daughter of Charles Thompson, a native of 
New Jersey, who passed much of his life in the 
states of Illinois and Nebraska and later in Wash- 
ington. He is now living at Burlington, this state. 
Mrs. Cressey is a native of Illinois and during her 
school days there fitted herself for teaching, which 
vocation she followed at Clear Lake and other 
places in Washington until her marriage. She and 
Mr. Cressey have had two children, Luzelle, born 
October 15, 1901, who died when one week old, and 
Madge L., born January 19, 1903. Mr. Cressey 's 
home farm consists of thirty acres, and is devoted 
largely to the growing of fruit, though he does gen- 
eral farming, and raises Chester White, Berkshire 
and Poland China hogs. He has triumphantly re- 
covered from the efTects of the hard times. He 
has always taken an active part in Republican poli- 
tics and has the distinction of having been the first 
clerk of the city of Burlington. He is a man of 
splendid ability, capable of adapting himself with 
ease to whatever task is before him, and is rec- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



ognized as one of the successful and wide-awake 
3'oung men of the vicinity of Burlington. 



WILLIAM H. MILLER is one of the pioneer 
farmers of Skagit county, having resided here since 
]S?4. He was born in Ohio January 13, 1845, the 
son of George W. and Margaret (Weaver) MiUer, 
natives of Ohio, both of whom died in Skagit 
county. Mr. Miller, the elder, passed away near 
Mount Vernon in 1890 at the age of eighty-three 
years, while ]\Irs. Miller succumbed to the dread 
reaper at Burlington five years later, at the age of 
seventy-seven. William H. Miller is the fourth of 
ten children. In 18G1 he enlisted for the Civil War 
in Company A of the First Missouri Cavalry, Cap- 
tain Jackson commanding. He was with his regi- 
ment at the battles of Lone Jack and Lexington and 
carried his saber all through Price's raiding in Mis- 
souri. He was wounded during the engagement of 
Mine creek, receiving a bullet in the side of the 
head. After being mustered out at Benton bar- 
racks in St. Louis, he made his home in Sullivan 
County, Missouri, where he worked at farming for 
seven years. In 1874 he came to the site of the 
present Mount Vernon, finding at that time only 
five white families on .the Skagit river. About ten 
years were passed in various logging camps, then 
Mr. Miller took up land where Avon now stands, 
but he sold his holding in 1891 to purchase his 
present farm one mile east of Burlington on the 
railroad. The farm is all cleared and under culti- 
vation. Mr. Miller gives his attention chiefly to 
fruit raising, though he has considerable meadow 
and raises many vegetables. 

In 186C Mr. Miller married Miss Mary Kim- 
ball, whose father, David Kimball, still lives near 
Mount Vernon. Mrs. Miller was born in Septem- 
ber, 1848. She is the mother of four children, the 
last of whom, William, died in 1875 at the age of 
one year. The surviving children are Mrs. Viola 
A. Swauk, who lives near Burlington ; Nathaniel 
Miller of Burlington and Mrs. Annie Bell Slater, 
who lives on her father's farm. Mr. Miller is a 
member of the Grand Army of the Republic and in 
politics is a Republican. He has been deputy sheriff 
and constable of his home precinct. A man of 
worth and influence in the community, he enjovs 
the esteem of his fellow-citizens of Skagit county. 



CHARLES A. LINDAMOOD is one of the hus- 
tling young men of Skagit county, combining farm- 
ing with the business of contracting in land clear- 
ing. He was born in Illinois March 8, 1879, and 
came to Washington with his father in 1890. The 
elder Lindamood, whose given name is Washing- 
ton, was born in Ohio March 8, 1837. He was a 
successful farmer and was one of the immigrants 



who were attracted to this state soon after it was 
received into statehood. He is still living at Bur- 
lington. Mrs. Lindamood, whose maiden name 
was Hannah Smith, was a native of Ohio and died 
there in 1886, leaving five children, of whom 
Charles A. was the youngest. On coming to Wash- 
ington young Lindamood went to Avon and worked 
on various farms for four months. Later he bought 
forty acres of timber land a mile and a half south- 
west of Burlington and he has made his home there 
ever since. Ten acres are now cleared, two of 
which are in orchard, the remainder being given 
over to dairying, of which business Mr. Lindamood 
has made a special study, intending ultimately to 
develop this line of activity to a greater degree. 
About the first of the year 1905 Mr. Lindamood 
joined with G. C. Drown in the purchase of a don- 
key engine outfit for clearing land of trees and 
stumps, and since that time they have been doing a 
contracting business in this line. 

Mr. Lindamood has never married, but finds 
pleasant company in the family of his brother John, 
who lives on an adjoining farm. Fraternally he 
is a member of the Order of Washington ; in poli- 
tics a Republican. His dairy stock at present con- 
sists of Durhams and Guernseys, in all twenty 
head, and he also keeps other live stock, horses, 
hogs, etc. He is a young man of energy and in- 
tegrity who is well respected and whose future 
holds good promise of success. 



JOHN B. LOCKWOOD has a pleasant place 
three miles northeast of Burlington, on the road to 
Sedro-Woolley, where he owns forty acres of ex- 
cellent land. He was born in Hillsdale, Michigan, 
August 3, 1846, and before coming to Washington 
spent most of his life in Wisconsin and Minnesota. 
He is the son of Levi Lockwood, a native of St. 
Lawrence county. New York, born in 1818, who 
moved to Michigan and later to Wisconsin, dying 
in South Dakota in 1886. Mrs. Thankful (Jenkins) 
Lockwood, born in Vermont in 1822, was the 
mother of eight children, of whom John B. is the 
second. She died in 1880. Until he was twenty- 
seven years old, John B. Lockwood lived with his 
parents, then he married and took his father and 
mother into his own home. Prior to this time he 
had worked at threshing during the harvest sea- 
sons and in the woods in the winters. After mar- 
riage he sold the old farm in Wisconsin and moved 
to South Dakota, where he took three hundred and 
twenty acres of land, which he held for fourteen 
years. He resided on this place two years, then 
moved to Millbank, South Dakota, and went into 
the farm implement business, which he conducted 
with success for eight years, part of that time being 
also deputy sheriff. After disposing of his imple- 
ment store, he returned to Wisconsin and opened a 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



grocery and meat market in Ashland. After a 
year and a half there he returned to Millbank and 
ran a livery business for three years. He spent the 
next four years leisurely travehng with his family 
through Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Arkansas in 
quest of farm land in a milder climate than where 
they had lived. He had sold his real estate before 
starting on this trip. He remained at some places 
several months, looking over the country or taking 
contracts, but eventually he returned to Minnesota, 
satisfied that what he wanted was not in any of the 
states he had visited. The following spring he 
came to Washington and purchased fifty-five acres 
of partly cleared land near Burlington. Of this 
land a spring freshet took away three acres, twelve 
he sold and" forty he retains. His land is so rich 
that he does not need it all, and being an adept in 
intensive agriculture, he is satisfied to cultivate only 
four acres and says he could make a good living 
ofif the product of half that much. 

In 1873 Mr. Lockwood married Miss Flora 
Southard, a native of Wisconsin, born in 1851, the 
daughter of James W. Southard, a Pennsylvanian, 
born in 1825, who later removed to Wisconsin. Mrs. 
Mary (Hanna) Southard, the mother of Mrs. 
Lockwood, was born March 7, 1837, and died in 
Burlington March 20, 1899. She and Mr. Southard 
had come to Skagit county in 1890. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Lockwood have been born five children: Er- 
nest Jay, March 12, 1875, now living in North 
Dakota; James E., May 20, 1877, at home with 
his parents; Mrs. Winnie Brider, December 29, 
1878; J. Fay, May 6, 1881; and Mrs. Genevieve 
Rund'quist, June 18, 188;;. Mr. Lockwood makes a 
specialty of growing garden produce and small 
fruit, but also carries on a small dairy business and 
raises poultry. In politics he is a Republican. The 
family attends the Methodist church, in the Ladies' 
Aid Society of which Mrs. Lockwood is an active 
worker. Mr. Lockwood is a UMiaiccfnl man of 
energy and good business aliilii\ ; onr who is actu- 
ated by honorable motives in all Ins dealings with 
others,' and therefore enjoys their esteem and good 
will. 



RUDOLPH PULVER, one of the foremost 
among the popular and successful farmers of Bur- 
lington, is a native of Switzerland, as were his 
parents, Rudolph and Katrina (Von Kauel) Pulver. 
The father, born in 1820, followed farming until 
his death in 1888. Mrs. Pulver, born in 1819, 
passed away in 1871, the honored mother of eight 
children, of whom the subject of this sketch was 
the second. Rudolph Pulver, the son, was born in 
Berne canton June 25, 1853. He remained at home 
nineteen years, attending the schools of the country 
and acquiring a practical knowledge of farming. 
By the time he was twenty, however, he had served 



at diflferent times in the army, his entire time of 
service amounting to two years. When he left 
home he found employment on a farm, then drove 
a mail wagon four years, then accepted a position 
as coachman at the Steinburg hotel, situated at the 
famous pleasure resort at the Jungfrau, in the val- 
ley of Lauterbrunner. For four years he viewed 
the matchless Alpine peak, resplendent with the 
snows of countless centuries, and he still carries 
with him a never-to-be-forgotten picture of its 
grandeur. He was married in this charming spot, 
and he and his wife the following spring came to 
New York, then to Richway, Pennsylvania, where 
for eighteen months he was employed in a tannery. 
He came to Mount Vernon in 1881 and worked for 
Peter Lee in Skagit City two months, then rented 
for two years the ranch owned by D. Storrs. At 
the end of this time he took a homestead of one 
hundred and sixty acres on Olympia marsh, and 
during his first four years there he packed all his 
family supplies on his back from Mount Vernon. 
Few young women of to-day would be willing to 
make the trip which Mrs. Pulver made in June, 
188G, when she went to this new home. In high 
rubber boots she waded three miles through the 
water, while her husband carried the children. It 
was a year and a half before she saw another 
woman of her own race and two years and a half 
before she left this home. This farm, which con- 
sisted of one hundred and twenty acres, was densely 
covered with brush, and elk, deer and bears fre- 
quently came to the house. Now there are one hun- 
dred acres of cleared land with eighty in crops. 
One of Mr. and Mrs. Pnlver's boys was the first 
white child born on the Olympia marsh. During 
the panic Mr. Pulver sold oats for seven dollars a 
ton and hay for three dollars and a half a ton, but 
since then he has prospered. He has a fine twelve- 
room house and two large barns on his ranch. He 
devotes special attention to raising oats, hay, cattle 
and horses, being the owner of fifty-two head of 
fine Durham and Guernsey stock. 

Mr. Pulver and Miss Anna Ammeter were mar- 
ried in 1881 in Switzerland. Mrs. Pulver was born 
in 18(51. Her parents were Peter and Anna (Boss) 
Ammeter, both natives of Switzerland, where the 
father was a well-known farmer, stockman and 
cheesemakcr till his death, April 19, 1905. The moth- 
er died August 25, 1900. Mr. and Mrs. Pulver have 
had eight children: Anna, born December 4, 1882; 
Rudolph, May 24, 1885; Fred, December 19, 188fi; 
Peter, February 10, 1890; Mary. April 14, 1893; 
Edward, April 14, 1893 ; Lena, December 20, 1897 ; 
Frank, March 19, 1902. In fraternal circles Mr. 
Pulver is a prominent member of the Masonic order 
and the Maccabees, and in politics he is an active 
Republican, deeply interested in the welfare of the 
party. He and 'his family attend the Lutheran 
church. Mr. Pulver is one of the substantial citi- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



zens of Skagit county, surrounded by evidences of 
the prosperity which has rewarded his years of toil, 
and is also rich in the respect and esteem of the 
coniniunity. 



MICHEL iMAJERUS, a well-to-do farmer of 
of Skagit county, residing two and one-fourtli 
miles west of Burlington, was born in Luxemburg, 
Germany, in November, 1847. His parents, Nicho- 
las and Mary (May) jVIajerus, were born in the 
same part of Germany, and there spent their entire 
lives. The oldest child of a family of ten, Michel 
Majerus remained at home till he reached the age 
of twenty-four, assisting his father in the support 
of the family, and meanwhile attending the common 
schools in which he received his education. His 
first work away from home was in a quarry in 
France, where he spent three years.' Desiring to 
visit the United States, he sailed for New York 
in LSil, giiing at once to Chicago, and he soon 
found employment twenty-five miles out of the city. 
Four years later he went to low-a, thence to Dakota 
and Minnesota, residing in the latter state a year, 
at the end of which period he came to the Puget 
sound country. After a brief stay in Seattle and 
Whatcom, he located in La Conner, hiring out to 
John Conner to construct ditches on the Conner 
ranch. The following year he and a brother and 
two other men rented four hundred and fifty acres, 
and they farmed it for two years, during which 
they met with excellent success. Having dissolved 
partnership, Mr. Majerus took a homestead of one 
hundred and sixty acres, which he held for five 
years, selling it just prior to his removal to Samish. 
He then invested in one hundred and seventy acres 
of marsh land, and began the arduous task of dik- 
ing and improving it, making it his home for the 
ensuing twenty years. He still owns the property. 
Thirteen years ago he purchased eighty acres of 
school land, but in the succeeding years permitted 
his title to lapse, and now rents the property. He 
has it all cleared, and has been using it for raising 
hay, intending, how^ever, in the near future to sow 
it to oats. He has a brother, Jake, who lives on 
the north fork of the Skagit river. Mr. Majerus 
is a loyal Republican, but has never sought any po- 
litical office. He is a prominent member of the 
Catholic church. A man of intelligence and good 
judgment, he is one of the respected residents of 
the county, and one of those who have won a com- 
petence by skillfully making use of the advantages 
it offered. 



GEORGE A. BROSSEAU, formerly engaged 
in railroad work, both in the East and in the West, 
now a successful farmer residing between Burling- 
ton and Sedro-Woolley, was born in Chittenango, 



New York, December 22, 1847. His father, Luke 
Brossea'u, was born in Quebec. Canada, February 
2!), LSv'd. moving tn New \'(>rk in early life, there 
owning and dperaling a hlacksniith sli(ip in connec- 
tiiin witii ;i l!\er_\- stalile. His death nccurred Sep- 
tember 3, 1887. The mother, Jane (Hood) Bros- 
seau, was born March 30, 1824, and died Septem- 
ber 12, 1891. Remaining at home the first twenty- 
two years of his life, George Brosseau attended tlie 
schools of the state, acquiring a practical educa- 
tion, of which he has made excellent use. Entering 
the shops of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern 
railroad as car inspector, he remained for eighteen 
\ears in the employ of the road at Adrian and 
Grand Rapids, Michigan, establishing for himself 
an enviable reputation for skill and faithfulness. He 
started for Seattle August 29, 1888, making only 
a brief stop there, however, as he went on to Ta- 
coma to accept a position on the Northern Pacific 
railroad. Wearying of that kind of employment, 
he went to Coupeville, on Whidby island, renting 
3 farm of eight hundred acres for a year; later, 
after a three months.' visit to California, moving to 
Sedro. He purchased ten acres wbere he now lives, 
adding seventeen acres of timber land to his original 
farm some years afterward. He now has eighteen 
acres in cultivation, eight of which are in orchard. 
He has built a neat, convenient six-room house, a 
barn and fruit dryer, and otherwise greatly im- 
proved the ranch which he devotes to diversified 
farming. Mr. Brosseau has witnessed great 
changes in the town since he came to it. He was 
present at the first Fourth of July celebration held 
here, a unique feature of which was the hoisting of 
a flag sixteen by forty feet, made by the ladies at 
the home of Mrs. Brosseau, the flagpole being a 
cedar tree two hundred and twenty-six feet in 
height stripped of all its branches. During the first 
summer the town consisted principally of saloons 
and dance halls. The first Presbyterian service was 
held in a partly furnished saloon, with a bar in the 
same building. The first church was built by the 
members of the congregation, the men making 
board walls and the ladies a roof of canvas, this 
serving as a house of worship for nearly a year. 
'Mrs. Brosseau is the only surviving member of that 
early congregation. Perhaps the most impressive 
sight at that time was the burning of immense fir 
trees, the grandeur of which can never be sur- 
passed by the most elaborate modern fireworks. 

Mr. Brosseau and Edna Parsons were united 
in marriage March 2, 1870. Born in Woodstock, 
^Michigan, December 23, 1849, Mrs. Brosseau is the 
daughter of Hiram Parsons, a native of New York, 
born December 2(3, 1803. He followed farming till 
his death on October 7, 1850, at Woodstock, Michi- 
gan.- Her mother, Sarah A. (Loss) Parsons, was 
born in Oneida county, New York, November 10, 
1807, and died in Adrian, Michigan, March 2, 1884. 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



She was the mother of five children, Mrs. Brosseau 
being the youngest. Two children have been born 
to Mr. and Mrs. Brosseau, Dwight M., born Janu- 
ary 9, 1871, now living at Bellingham; Frank L., 
born January 13, 1873, now deceased, his death oc- 
curring at Grand Rapids, Michigan, November 15, 
1879. Mr. Brosseau is a Democrat. He is a mem- 
ber of the school board, cheerfully giving his time 
and attention to educational matters, which he 
deems of such vast importance. He and his family 
are identified with the Presbyterian church. He is 
a man of sterling worth, honored and esteemed by 
all who come in contact with him, either in busi- 
ness or social relations. 



FAYETTE L. JONES, a well-known farmer 
and stockman, residing two miles west and one 
south of Sedro-Woolley, was b'orn in Waseca 
county, Minnesota, May 20, 1869. His father, 
James E. Jones, was born in England, where for 
twenty-five years he was connected with the navy. 
He came to the United States in 1861, settling in 
Minnesota, where he died August 7, 1905, at the 
age of ninety. Louisa (Brossard) Jones, the 
mother of our subject, was born in New York in 
1845, and is still living. She bore to her husband 
eleven children. Fayette L. Jones spent the early 
years of his life at home, securing an education and 
assisting his father in the support of the family. 
Leaving home at the age of twenty, he worked for 
a few months on a farm, coming to Sedro in De- 
cember, 1890. He worked for the first two years 
in the woods and mills ; also leased five acres of 
land, which he cleared during the first year, and 
which he held for half a decade. Eventually he re- 
turned to the East, expecting to make that his 
home, but found, as so many others do, that West- 
ern life has an almost irresistible charm for those 
who have once known it. After a few months' visit 
he came again to Sedro, and invested in ten acres 
of timber land, to which he soon added sixty acres 
more, and of the whole he already has twenty acres 
cleared and in cultivation. 

Mr. Jones was married in December, 1898, to 
Vera E. Brosseau, born in Detroit, Michigan, the 
daughter of Frank and Anna (Moll) Brosseau. 
Her father was born in Chittenango, New York, in 
1854, and died at Sedro-Woolley in 1897, while her 
mother, born in Sherrell, New York, in 1849, is 
still living at Clear Lake. Mr. and Mrs. Jones have 
two children, Leslie R., born August 18, 1900, and 
Marie A., August 11, 1904. Another son. Earl B., 
born February 15, 1903, died April 27, 1903. Mr. 
Jones is a prominent member of the Modern Wood- 
men of America. In political belief he is a Repub- 
lican, supporting the party in every possible way. 
He keeps only the best stock on his farm, fifteen 
head of thoroughbred Durham cattle, twenty-five 



Cotswold and Lincoln sheep, Poland China hogs 
and several horses. He is a practical farmer, ear- 
nest and energetic, familiar with the various de- 
partments of the work, and he is meeting with the 
success that his efforts so richlv merit. 



EDWARD D. SOUTHARD, now residing two 
and one-half miles southwest of Sedro-Woolley, 
has been a resident of Skagit county for fifteen 
years, having first located at the old town of Ster- 
ling. He has inherited from pioneer ancestors the 
perseverance and fortitude that have made success 
possible under frontier conditions ; also the superior 
qualities of mind and heart that inspire confidence 
and command respect. Mr. Southard is a native of 
Buffalo county, Wisconsin, born September 13, 
1864, the son of James W. and Mary (Hanna) 
Southard, natives of Pennsylvania. James W. 
Southard was born May 9, 1824; he spent his youth 
and early manhood in the Keystone state, but in 
the early forties began the life of the pioneer in 
Wisconsin. Thirty-five years later (1879) he re- 
moved to Grant county, South Dakota, where he 
farmed for eight years. At the end of this period 
he went to Becker county, Minnesota, remaining 
there until 1890, when he came with Peter his son to 
Sterling. Mary (Hanna) Southard was born in Ly- 
coming County, Pennsylvania, March 7, 1827, and 
after a long and useful life passed away at Sterling 
March 20, 1899. She came to Washington with 
the subject of this review and rejoined her husband 
at Fidalgo City. 

Edward D. Southard acquired his early educa- 
tion in the schools of his native state, but he con- 
tinued his studies for some time after the family 
located in South Dakota, which change of residence 
was made in his fifteenth j^ear. He began the ac- 
tive and independent discharge of life's responsibili- 
ties in 1886, when he filed on a homestead of one 
hundred and sixty acres in Minnesota. After farm- 
ing the place for four years he signed a relinquish- 
ment to another for a consideration, having decided 
to locate in the Northwest, where he believed the 
possibilities of success to be greater for one en- 
gaged in agricultural pursuits than in the Minne- 
sota wheat region. In the summer of 1890 he 
started West, arriving at Fidalgo City July 19th, 
and at once securing employment in a saw-mill. 
Three months later he settled on the place that is 
now his home, having eventually secured it by pur- 
chase after the government had completed its sur- 
vey. The location is near the former town of Ster- 
ling, whose site was absorbed by the Skagit river. 
To the original purchase Mr. Southard has added 
fourteen acres, and the whole has been transformed 
from a forest into a valuable farm and comfortable 
home. Here he is engaged profitably in diversified 
farming and stock raising, fruit growing and dairy- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



rso 



ing. The rapid changes of the past two decades 
are nowhere more apparent in visible results than 
in this portion of Skagit county, and no farm shows 
more plainly the results of method and industry 
than that of Mr. Southard. 

While the care of the details of his operations 
keeps Mr. Southard busily employed at all seasons, 
he yet finds time for attention to the public affairs 
of neighborhood and county, in which he is always 
interested. He is not a politician in an active way 
and has never been a seeker for political prefer- 
ment ; but he supports the Democratic party with 
his influence and vote. He has won and will al- 
ways holds the esteem of his fellow-citizens because 
of his integrity, honesty of purpose and fairness in 
his dealings with others ; his name will always be 
associated with the names of those who have con- 
verted the forests and swamps of the Skagit into 
fertile fields, thus making possible the building of 
towns, cities, industries and homes for a happy 
people. 



MRS. ELIZABETH JEWELL, a practical 
farmer a mile and a half east of Burlington, is one 
of the women of Skagit county who are active in 
the management of good farming property and have 
shown themselves possessed of executive ability of 
a high order. She was born in Sherman, Maine, in 
1849, the daughter of John McCarron, a native of 
Ireland, who came to Canada when a lad and 
worked at farming and lumbering in Canada and 
Maine, dying in the last mentioned place in 1876 
at the age of seventy-four. The mother, Mrs. Mar- 
garet (Kearns) McCarron, was born in Dublin, 
Ireland, in 1800 and died in Maine in 1889, the pe- 
riod of married life covered by Mr. and Mrs. Mc- 
Carron being forty-seven years. Of this union 
there were eight children, of whom the living are 
Thomas McCarron, Mrs. Rose A. Hogan, Mrs. 
Catherine R. Patterson, Mrs. Margaret Finnegan, 
Airs. Ellen Duffy, John McCarron and Mrs. Jewell. 
One daughter, Mrs. Mary A. Goodwin, is now dead. 
Mrs. Jewell lived with her parents until her mar- 
riage at Benedicta, Maine, in 1877, to Qiarles 
J. Jewell, whose father, Jacob Jewell, a native of 
Maine, died when his son was a small boy. His 
mother, Mrs. Elathier (Stuart) Jewell, is still liv- 
ing in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Charles J. Jewell 
was born Septeml>er 27, 1850, and lived at home 
until his marriage. Coming to Skagit county in 
1886, he located at Lyman, and he has lived at dif- 
ferent places in the county up to the present time 
and has been a factor in the development of the 
county. Mrs. Jewell is the mother of ten children, 
of whom the living are Frederick V., Walter S., 
Charles E., Wallace X., Emma E., Elizabeth G. 
The names of the deceased are John, Harry A., John 
Ira and James D. Active in the management of 



the farm as his mother's assistant is Walter S. 
Jewell, the second oldest of the living sons of Mrs. 
Jewell. The farm work done is general in char- 
acter, the fifty acres being all under cultivation. 
The dairy consists of five cows. Mrs. Jewell in the 
time since she has had the management of the farm 
has proved herself to have great business ability. 
In church affiliations the Jewells are Catholics. 



GEORGE McMILLIN, dairy farmer and 
breeder of thoroughbred cattle, two and a half miles 
northeast of Burlington, is one of the newcomers 
to Skagit county, but has already gained for himself 
a prominent place in the community. He was born 
in Dark county, Indiana, March 15, 1859, the son 
of Edward and Mary E. (Mott) McMillin. Ed- 
ward McMillin was a native of Gallia county, 
Ohio, the son of a pioneer of that state, but later 
removed to Iowa, where he died in 1881. Mrs. 
McMillin, the mother of George, was a native of 
Pennsylvania, of Dutch descent, the daughter of a 
blacksmith. She had two brothers in the Civil War. 
George McMillin is one of five children and the 
only one who is living in the West. When he was 
but a lad his parents removed to Taylor county, 
Iowa, and there he received his education, attend- 
ing school in winter and working on the farm in 
summer. He left home at seventeen years of age 
to do for himself, and married at twenty-three. For 
a number of years he operated a rented farm in 
Iowa county in the center of the state. Early in 
January, 1899, he came to Skagit county and bought 
his present place of one hundred and forty acres. 
At that time seventy acres had been slashed or 
partly slashed, and there was an old house on the 
place and a very few other improvements, but un- 
der Mr. McMillin's management it has become one 
of the most attractive and valuable farms in the en- 
tire section. 

In 1883 ill Iowa Mr. McMillin married Miss 
Mary Alice Hartley, who was born August 15, 
1861, in Allamakee county, daughter of John and 
Sarah Hartley, natives of England. Mrs. Hartley 
is still living at Tacoma. Mr. and Mrs. McMillin 
have one child, Martin L. Roy, born in 1887. In 
fraternal affiliation Mr. McMillin is an Odd Fellow; 
in politics a Republican. He served as constable 
for ten years in Iowa and was for five years mar- 
shal of Ladora. He began his dairy and breeding 
herds with thoroughbred short horns which he 
brought from Iowa. He has stock in the Sedro- 
Woolley creamery, and after separating the milk 
from his twenty-four milch cows disposes of his 
cream to that establishment. He has also dealt in 
horses to some extent and has disposed of eight 
carloads he shipped into this country. The McMil- 
lin farm is a part of the old Mortimer Cook hold- 
mg. which consisted of a whole section. Both Mr. 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



and Mrs. McMillin like Skagit county far better 
than the Iowa place and hold that with an equal 
amount of work better returns come to the farmer 
than in the prairie state. Mr. McMillin is a genial 
man, a hard worker, energetic and respected by his 
fellows in business and in general society. 



PETER SCHMITZ, one of Burlington's popu- 
lar citizens, has won his present prosperity in the 
face of almost overwhelming adversity. He was 
born in Luxemburg, Germany, August 22, 1857, 
his parents being John and Margueretta (Ryferts) 
Schmitz, also natives of Germany. The father, a 
dye worker, died in 1861 ; the mother in 1874. 
Left fatherless when he was but four years old, 
Peter Schmitz began early to support his mother 
and himself, at twelve years of age hiring out to 
neighboring farmers, who were very willing to lend 
a hand to the sturdy, energetic boy. Six years 
later he found employment in the mines and smelt- 
ers of that country, proving so valuable a worker 
that he was retained for five years. After a year's 
residence in France, he sailed for America in 1880, 
reaching Chicago in the fall and proceeding at once 
to Michigan. He soon went to St. Louis, where 
he worked for a butcher one winter, going thence 
to Springfield. Illinois, the following summer. Re- 
turning to Michigan he worked at logging another 
season, then moved to Iowa, and later to Belleville, 
Illinois, mining in the latter state for four years. 
Having spent the two succeeding years in the mines 
of Iowa, he then went to Dakota, but failed to find 
a position, so was forced to walk to Livingston, 
Montana. He worked on the railroad there a few 
months, then took charge of a number of men work- 
ing in the Yellowstone National Park. Later, how- 
ever, he went once more to Iowa and resided there 
one winter, deciding then to go to the mines of 
Roslyn, Washington, where he worked eight con- 
secutive years, at the end of which time, on account 
of labor troubles, he went back to Montana. A year 
later he came to Edison, Washington, and married 
a lady who had a forty-acre farm and upon this 
they made their home. The years that followed 
were full of trials and disappointments sufficient to 
daunt the courage of a less determined nature. Sev- 
eral times floods devastated the farm, destroying in 
a few hours the work of many months, the most 
severe one causing him a loss of $1,.")00. The stock 
had to be driven to the hills for safety, water was 
sufficiently deep all over the marsh to float an ordi- 
nary steamboat, and the current was so swift that 
fording was impossible. A neighbor rescued the 
family on a raft. The water did not subside for a 
week. Another season the flood from the melting 
sno\. o in the mountains completely ruined a hay 
crop amounting in value to another $1,500, but not- 
withstanding all these reverses, Mr. Schmitz has 



prospered and he now owns one hundred and sixty 
acres of land in a fine state of cultivation, forty 
acres in pasture, and a half interest in a warehouse 
in North Avon. Upon his home place he has built 
a cosy six-room house and a barn forty by seventy 
feet. He has his farm well stocked with fine cattle 
and horses. 

Mr. Schmitz was married in 1896 to Annie Ma- 
jerus, who was born in Luxemburg, Germany, and 
who came alone to America. Her parents are dead, 
the mother having passed away in 1903 at the age 
of seventy-four. Mr. and Mrs. Schmitz have one 
child, Alfred M., born January 16, 1899. Mr. Schmitz 
is identified with no political party, preferring to 
vote each time for the man whom he considers 
to be the best qualified to fill the office, and as for 
himself he has never had any political aspirations. 
He and his family are members of the Catholic 
church. A man of recognized skill and industry, 
a loyal citizen and kind neighbor, he holds an en- 
viable position in the community. 



CHARLES H. WILLIAMS, farmer and dairy- 
man, three miles south of Edison, has had a very 
interesting career which covers work as a lad in a 
knitting factory in Connecticut, service as a volun- 
teer in the Civil War, and experience as a farmer 
in Iowa and Washington. Mr. Williams was born 
in Wallington, Connecticut, in 1848, the son of 
David and Caroline (Chamberlain) Williams, farm- 
ers of the Nutmeg state, and parents of eight chil- 
dren, of whom the subject hereof is sixth. After 
attending the common schools Charles W. went to 
work at the age of twelve years in a knitting fac- 
tory, and he was employed there for the next four 
years, then, in the month of December, 1862, he 
enlisted in the First Connecticut heavy artillery, 
and he served continuously thereafter till the sur- 
render of Lee at Appomattox. The war over, he 
went back to his old work in the knitting factory, 
remaining until 1878, then going to Iowa, in which 
state he farmed for seven years. In 1885 he came 
to Washington and, locating at La Conner, put in 
a number of months in work at different places on 
the flats. The following year he filed on his pres- 
ent place. It was a dense forest ; no trail led to it, 
and it was necessary to carry in his first stove on' 
his back. He has lived there since that time and 
has cleared enough to permit of the establishment 
and operation of a dairy business. 

In 1869, in the state of Connecticut, Mr. Will- 
iams married Miss Ellen Crandall, daughter of 
Aldon B. Crandall, a native of Massachusetts, and 
by occupation a farmer. The mother, Mrs. Rachel 
(Usher) Crandall, was a native of Rhode Island, 
but died in Connecticut. Mrs. Wiliams was born- 
in the latter state in 1847 and received her educa- 
tion there. She died December 20, 1904, leaving- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



three children: Airs. Jennie R. Cornelius, who is 
living on Pleasant Ridge ; Charles Henry Williams, 
Jr., and Mrs. Mary Inman, who is living at home. 
In politics Mr. Williams is a Democrat. His home 
place consists of eighty acres of land and his dairy 
herd numbers twenty head. Here he is spending 
the remaining days of his life, in comfortable cir- 
cumstances, and in the full enjoyment of the re- 
spect and esteem of all who know him. The twenty 
years of his life in Skagit county have been full of 
earnest endeavor, entitling him to share with his 
fellow-citizens the honor of having developed a con- 
siderable section of the Northwest from its prime- 
val state into a region of fertile farms and comfort- 
able homes. His name must ever be associated with 
the names of those who are responsible for the won- 
derful progress of Skagit county. 



EARL H. STEARNS, of Edison, has been 
identified with the agricultural interests of Skagit 
county since 1883, practically since the organization 
of the county, and is at present one of the Samish 
district's well-known farmers. By birth a native of 
the Keystone state, he was born in Wayne county. 
May 9, 1853, to the union of Sheldon H. and Mary 
J. (Monroe) Stearns, both Pennsylvanians also. 
The elder Stearns was born in 1822 and resided in 
Pennsylvania until 1855, at that time settling in 
Jones county, Iowa, where he spent ten years. In 
1865 he removed to Linn county, Kansas, still pur- 
suing farming as a vocation, and four years later 
secured a rich claim on the newly opened Osage 
reservation, now Chautauqua county, Kansas. He 
took a prominent part in developing the new region 
and there resided until his death. Mrs. Stearns, the 
mother, was born in 1830, and is at present living 
in Whatcom county. The subject of this review 
is the second of her children and an only son. His 
rearing and education were received in Iowa and 
Kansas for the most part, so that he is practically 
a Western product. At the age of twenty-one he 
commenced to do for himself, the first year operat- 
ing his father's farm. He was engaged in farming 
in Chautauqua county until 1883, at that time emi- 
grating to the Pacific Northwest. The Skagit coun- 
try appealed most strongly to him, so he rented the 
Byron house on the Swinomish flats. The next 
year he rented E. A. Sisson's farm at Padilla for 
a period of three years, upon the conclusion of 
which he went into the Samish district, purchasing 
fifty acres there. Three years later he sold this 
tract to John Harrell (now it is the property of 
Nick Bessner) and made a three months' trip back 
to Kansas. Upon his return he bought what is 
known as the Cook place at the mouth of Joe Lar- 
ry's slough, and there resided until 1891, when he 
removed to Bay View to obtain better educational 
advantages for his children. In 1808 he rented 



Otto Kalso's place near Whitney station, which was 
his home for the ensuing five years, or until the fall 
of 1903. He then purchased eighty acres two and 
a half miles south of Edison, and to this he has 
devoted his energies and skill since the spring of 
1904. It is all in cultivation, producing oats and 
hay, one of the highly improved farms of the Samish 
ar.d consequently of more than ordinary value and 
this, too. in one of the richest farming regions in the 
United States. The place is equipped with modern 
machinery, is well stocked and well improved with 
buildings, all denoting progress and energy on the 
part of the owner. 

Miss Margaret A. Closson became the wife of 
Mr. Stearns in Chautauqua County, Kansas, in 1875. 
She was a native of the Hoosier state, born in June, 
1834, and when a little girl lost both her father and 
mother by death. Grandparents reared her to young 
womanhood. At the age of sixteen she commenced 
teaching in Iowa and was engaged successfully in 
that calling when married four 3'ears later. Coming 
west with her husband she shared with him the 
vicissitudes of pioneer life and the successes of later 
years, but at Seattle, June 3, 1905, succumbed to an 
operation, an irretrievable loss to a devoted family 
and an unusually wide circle of friends. Of the four 
children born to this union, Mrs. Jessie Bradley, 
the wife of R. L. Bradley, prominent merchant of 
Anacortes and state representative from his district, 
is the oldest ; she was born in Kansas* November 
20, 1ST5. Clinton E., now living at Edison, was 
born in Kansas February 5, 1880; Mrs. Kathryn 
McCullough, wife of Charles McCullough, the well 
known Samish farmer, born April 15, 1881, is also 
a native of Kansas ; and Claudia is one of Skagit's 
daughters, born May 29, 1892. Both older daugh- 
ters received a good education and previous to 
marriage taught in the public schools. A spirit of 
progress and culture pervades the Stearns home; 
success and esteem have followed in the wake of 
Air. Steam's numerous activities, placing him 
among the substantial citizens of his community. 
His wife and children are members of the Aletho- 
dist church and he has been a life-long believer in 
the Universalist faith. 



JAAIES J. SULLIVAN, hop grower one mile 
east of Belfast, is one of the successful and pros- 
perous men of Skagit county, a man who has ob- 
tained his worldly possessions by his own energy 
and ability. He was born in Cork settlement, New 
Brunswick, April 17, 1870, the son of John and 
Alargaret (Donovan) Sullivan, both of whom were 
natives of New Brunswick and died there a num- 
ber of years ago. Young Sullivan received a^om- 
mon school education in New Brunswick, tWn in 
1889 came to Edison, Washington, going to work 
at once for his uncle, Daniel Sullivan. He re- 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



mained in his employ for seven years, then leased 
sixty acres of land on Jarman prairie. Seventeen 
acres of this land are in hops and part of the rest 
in hay, the two being the principal crops of the 
farm. 

In 1900 Mr. Sullivan married Miss Phoebe Ches- 
sie, a native of Hanwell settlement, New Bruns- 
wick, born in 1876. She is the daughter of Eph- 
raim and Frances (Burgoyne) Chessie, farmers of 
the province, until they came to Washington and 
settled in Skagit county, on Jarman prairie. Mrs. 
Sullivan is one of their seven daughters, all of 
whom reside on Jarman prairie or in its vicinity. 
Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan have three children: John 
A., Daniel L. and Phoebe L. In politics Mr. Sul- 
livan is an Independent, in church membership a 
Catholic. He raises some live stock, havmg eight 
head of draft horses, fifteen hogs and twenty-five 
head of cattle, some of the last named being for 
dairy purposes. Mr. Sullivan is an active man, one 
of energy and shrewdness. He is one of the popu- 
lar men of his community, respected by all for his 
excellent traits of character. 



DANIEL P. SULLIVAN, living one mile east 
of Belfast, is one of the' successful young farmers 
of the community and has already established him- 
self on a firm business footing in Skagit county as 
an agriculturist and stock raiser. He was born in 
the Cork settlement in New Brunswick, January 12, 
1873, the son of John and Margaret (Donovan) 
Sullivan, who passed their entire lives in the gulf 
province and died a number of years ago. Daniel 
P. Sullivan received a common school education in 
New Brunswick and in the summer of 1888 came 
to Washington, settling at Edison, where he passed 
eight years at work on the farm of his uncle, Daniel 
Sullivan. At the end of that period the young man 
leased two hundred and eighty acres on Jarman 
prairie, fifty of which are in grain, the remainder 
devoted to pasturage. While his chief crop is hay 
and oats, he raises considerable live stock. Mr. 
Sullivan has remained in Skagit county ever since 
his first coming with the exception of trips back 
to liis old home in New Brunswick, the first in 1894 
and the second in 1899. 

In the latter year in New Brunswick Mr. Sul- 
livan married Miss Frances Chessie, born in Han- 
well, New Brunswick, in 1878, daughter of Eph- 
raim and Frances (Burgoyne) Qiessie, natives of 
New Brunswick and farmers there until they came 
to Washington. They are now living on jarman 
prairie. For a few months after her marriage Mrs. 
Sullivan remained in New Brunswick, while her 
husband returned to Skagit county and arranged 
for their home. Air. and Mrs. Sullivan have two 
children, Ephraim L. R. and James Wesley. In pol- 
itics Mr. Sullivan is a Republican, but aside from 
serving as road supervisor he has never held or 



sought office. The family are adherents of the 
Catholic faith. Aside from raising crops of hay 
and oats Mr. Sullivan raises live stock, keeping 
sixty head of graded cattle, a few horses, a number 
of hogs, etc. Mr. Sullivan is one of the bright 
young men of the community, a man of energy and 
accomplishment, enjoying the respect of all for his 
innate qualities of mind and heart. 



AL BENSON is one of the prosperous and 
successful farmers of the Edison region of Skagit 
county, his home place being a mile and a half 
south of town. He has seen some of the pioneering 
life of the early eighties, but in recent years has 
been comfortably situated on his own property. 
Mr. Benson was born in Norway April 13, 1869, 
the son of Aleck Benson, a Norwegian farmer who 
came to the United States in 1903 and is now living 
with his daughter, Mrs. Anderson. Mrs. Carrie 
(Sorneson) Benson, the mother, was a native of 
Norway and passed her entire life there. She had 
five children. Young Benson attended the com- 
mon schools, remaining at home until he was seven- 
teen years of age, when he determined to come to 
the United States. He arrived on the La Conner 
flats in 1884 and at once went to work on the' farm 
of John Ball, by whom he was employed for two 
years, then he was engaged for successive terms of 
one year each by Patrick Smith and Daniel Sul- 
livan. Three years of work for his brother, Ben, 
followed; then Mr. Benson obtained a lease of a 
farm from John Miller. After operating this for 
two years he was in a position to buy a place of his 
own. What he chose was raw land, but he has 
cleared eighty of the one hundred and twenty-five 
acres in the tract and now has an excellent farm on 
which he raises oats as his principal crop. On this 
place Mr. Benson has lived since 1899. 

In 1900 at Whatcom Mr. Benson married Miss 
Serena Anderson, daughter of Anders and Hannah 
(Nelson) Sorneson, who are still living in Norway. 
Mrs. Benson was born in 1874 and received her edu- 
cation in the schools of Norway. On her arrival in 
the United States she went first to Minnesota. She 
and Mr. Benson have four children, Agnes, Her- 
man, Esther and Walter. In politics Mr. Benson is 
a Republican and in religion the family belongs to 
the Lutheran church. Since he has been farming 
for himself Mr. Benson has exhibited good business 
judgment and he has become recognized as one of 
the successful men of the community. In live stock 
he has sixteen cattle and eight head of horses. It 
has been by the exercise of energy and economy 
that Mr. Benson has placed himself in the position 
of independence he now enjoys and his career in 
Skagit county is like that of many another young 
man coming from foreign shores, who, by strict at- 
tention to business, have placed themselves in a few 
>ears in an enviable position. He has the fruit of 




NELS ANDERSON 



FLETCHER W. CONN 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



his years of toil about him, and is also rich in 
tlie confidence and respect of those who have been 
his associates and co-laborers. 



ANDREW S. JOHNSON, living two and a 
half miles southwest of Edison, one of the large 
farmers of tliat section of the county, has gained 
possession of his holdings and attained his prom- 
inent place in the business community by hard 
work, aggressiveness and commercial acumen. He 
was born in Norway December 3, 1854, the son of 
Soren and Annie (Larsen) Johnson, neither of 
whom left their native land, dying there some years 
ago. The elder Johnson was a pilot and fisherman. 
Young Johnson received his education in the schools 
of Norway, but at the age of seventeen left the land 
of fjords for the United States. On his arrival 
here he went to Minnesota and passed two years at 
farm work there, then moved to Wisconsin and 
worked as farmhand for four years in that state. 
In 1880 he went to Norton county, Kansas, where 
lie passed two and a half years. Returning to Min- 
nesota at the end of that period he worked on a 
farm there for one summer, then went to Duluth, 
where he followed the Lake Superior fisheries for 
a number of years. In 1883 he made a trip to the 
old countr)-, returning the next year. In 1888 he 
came to Edison and went to work for Nels Richard, 
from whom he took a contract to clear five acres of 
land. On the completion of this Mr. Johnson en- 
tered the employ, successively, of William Gilmore 
and Daniel Sullivan, for short terms, and in the fall 
of that year he bought one hundred and twenty 
acres of land of Will Gilkie, near Edison, which he 
at once commenced to clear. The whole tract is 
now in cultivation. Later Mr. Johnson bought forty 
acres of F. W. Conn and this tract also is cleared. 
Afterwards he acquired forty acres of Mr. Ames, 
and still later he bought of Mr. Watson the place 
on which he now lives. After clearing about eighty 
acres he slashed eighty more and evidently desiring 
a still larger field for his teeming energy he has, 
since coming upon this place, increased his holdings 
by the purchase of twenty acres that formerly be- 
longed to Curtis Loop. It has been only since 1903 
that Mr. Johnson has maintained his home on its 
present site. 

In l!)ii:! at Whatrom j\Ir. Johnson married Miss 
Louise Ondal, daughter of Swvend and Bertha 
(Nelson) Ondal, who are still living in their native 
Norway. Mrs. Johnson, born in 1877, was educated 
in the schools of her native land and came to 
Washington in 1902. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are Lu- 
therans and in politics he is a Republican. Mr. John- 
son's real estate holdings now comprise three hun- 
dred and eighty acres, two hundred of which are un- 
der cultivation, and upon which he raises hay and 
oats principally, but he also keeps forty head of cat- 
tle. He has mining interests in British Columbia in 



addition to his farming. Mr. Johnson was compara- 
tively a poor man when he first' came to Skagit 
county, but his ability to work, his business fore- 
sight and his penchant for taking advantage of 
every opening, have combined to put him in an ex- 
cellent financial position. He commands the respect 
of all with whom he had business dealings and is 
personally popular with those with whom he comes 
in contact. Not many of the citizens of Skagit 
county have accomplished so much in the work of 
developing its varied industries and in making of it 
a region of comfortable homes and splendid farms, 
as has Andrew S. Johnson. 



RASMUS S. JOHNSON, a farmer just south 
of Edison, is one of the strong men of that section 
of the county, and has built up a highly successful 
farming business there. He was born in Norway 
early in 1851, the son of Soren Johnson, who was 
a Norwegian pilot and fisherman. Mrs. Annie 
(Larsen) Johnson, also a native of Norway, was 
the mother of eight children, of whom the subject 
of this sketch is next to the youngest. Rasmus S. 
Johnson received the education afl^orded by the 
common schools of Norway in the middle of the last 
century, and when but fifteen commenced the life of 
a sailor. He continued to follow the sea until 
twenty-one years of age, then came to the United 
States and settled in Waseca county, Minnesota, 
where he was engaged in farming for two and a 
half years. He then returned to the old country 
and again entered upon the sailor's life, remaining 
for four years, but in 1878 he came once more to 
the United States. That same year he took a pre- 
emption claim in Norton county, Kansas, where he 
remained for two and a half years, going thence to 
Duluth, Minnesota. Jor the eight 'years ensuing 
he followed fishing on Lake Superior. In the fall 
of 1889 he came to Washington and settled on the 
Samish flats, where he was engaged in fishing and 
farming alternately until 1898.^ He then joined in 
the rush to Alaska and remained in the North min- 
ing for a year and a half, when he returned to 
Skagit county and embarked once more in the fish- 
ing business, which he followed until-he bought his 
present place in the fall of 1900. It consists of one 
hundred and fifty-five acres of the original purchase 
and twenty which have been added since. His spe- 
cial crops are oats and hay. 

In 1889 at Chicago, Illinois, Mr. Johnson mar- 
ried Miss Johanna Lund, daughter of John and 
Christina Lund. She passed away after having 
borne him two children, and in 1903 at Seattle he 
married Miss Anna Benson, daughter of Ben and 
Carmelena (Orneson) Benson, natives of Norway. 
Mrs. Johnson was born in the old country and re- 
ceived her education there, but later came to Wis- 
consin, and thence to Seattle. She and Mr. John- 
son have one child, Berger, born October 17, 1903. 



746 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



Mr. Johnson's children by his first wife are Rntll 
and Samuel, both natives of Skagit county. In pol- 
itics Mr. Johnson is independent. He takes a lively 
interest in the cause of popular education and has 
served as school director of his home district. He 
has a fine eight-room house and excellent outbuild- 
ings and in all respects his place is well improved, 
furnishing not a little satisfaction to its owner. Mr. 
Johnson is recognized as one of the sterling citizens 
of the county, a man who may he depended on to 
do the right thing, and to contribute his share to- 
ward the promotion of the common weal whenever 
opportunity oflfers. 



NELS ANDERSON, farmer and stock raiser 
two miles and a half southeast of Edison, has dem- 
onstrated his capabilities by going, within compara- 
tively few years, from the position of farmhand to 
that of proprietor of a large and successful farming 
and stock raising business. He now is recognized 
as one of the wealthy men of his community. Mr. 
Anderson was born in Norway May 9, 1871, the 
second of the seven children of Anders and Hannah 
(Nelson) Sorneson, both of whom are still living 
in the old country. After attending school until he 
was seventeen years of age, young Anderson deter- 
mined to come to the United States. He stopped 
for a short time in Minnesota and put in eight 
months fishing on Lake Superior; then came to 
Washington and the Samish flats. Here he worked 
for Charles Motson and Michael Myers for nearly 
two years ; then he went to Whatcom county, where 
he followed the fisherman's occupation for nine 
years. In 1898 Air. Anderson bought his present 
place of three hundred and ninety-four acres, which 
was covered with heavy timber. He has now one 
hundred and fifteen acres of this cleared and is raising 
hay and oats and giving much attention to hve stock. 

In 1899 on the Samish flats Mr. .Anderson mar- 
ried Miss Celia Benson, daughter of Altag Benson, 
a native of Norway, who is now making his home 
with his daughter, her mother having died in the 
old country. Mrs. Anderson was born in Norway 
in 1873 and attended the schools there, coming to 
Washington when eighteen years of age. She and 
Mr. Anderson have two children : Helen, born in 
19(13, and Carl, in 1901. The family attends the 
Lutheran church, and in politics Mr. Anderson is a 
Republican. His farm is one of the best in this 
section of Skagit county and is being operated ac- 
. cording to modern methods. While the chief agri- 
cultural crop consists of hay and oats, Mr. Ander- 
son has gone in quite heavily for raising Hereford 
cattle for the markets. His herd at present consists 
of two hundred and twelve head of tliat breed. Mr. 
Anderson is wide awake and active in watching his 
business interests. He has done much toward sup- 
plementing his early education, becoming one of 



the well-informed men of the community, while his 
business methods are honorable and such as to win 
h.im esteem. In short, Mr. Anderson is a striking 
illustration of the immigrant of a score of years 
ago developed into an aggressivt and public spiritect 
American citizen, — a man of inielligence and integ- 
rity who has succeeded because of inborn strength 
of character and native ability to remove obstacles 
from his path and to choose well the road to inde- 
pendence. 



FLETCHER W. CONN, farmer, two and a half 
miles south of Edison, is one of the prosperous agri- 
culturists of Skagit county. He was one of the- 
early settlers and his career illustrates the possibili- 
ties in Skagit for a man of energy and application. 
Mr. Conn is a native of the province of Ontario,. 
Canada, born February 14, 1850, the son of Wesley 
Conn, a Canadian carpenter, whose father was one 
of the pioneers of Ontario. Mrs. Hester (Black- 
burn) Conn was also a native of Canada and passed 
all her life there. She was the mother of eleven 
children, of whom the subject hereof is the second. 
Fletcher W. Conn received his education in the On- 
tario schools, remaining at home until he was six- 
teen years old, when he went to New York state- 
and spent a year in farm work. The ensuing twelve- 
month was passed in the lumber woods of Michigan, 
then Mr. Conn went to New York city and engaged 
as a sailor. He followed the sea for the next six 
years, reaching San Francisco in 1872, where at a 
later date he bade farewell to a seafaring life. He 
remained in the California metropolis for some time,, 
but in the Centennial year came thence to the Puget 
sound country. His first summer in this region was 
spent on Whidby island in the lumber trade, but in 
the fall he moved to the Samish flats and took up a 
homestead, upon which he lived for the eight years 
ensuing, eventually selling out to Mr. Shumaker 
and purchasing his present place. Mr. Conn had 
his first farm in a good state of cultivation. His 
new place was wild when he bought it and the pro- 
cess of clearing and putting the land into shape had 
"to be gone through once more by him, but he- 
bravely faced the task and now has it in excellent 
condition. 

In the summer of 1877, at Whatcom, Mr. Conn 
married Miss Ida A. Gilkey, daughter of Franklin 
E. Gilkey, a Pennsylvania farmer who subsequently 
left the Keystone state, farmed in Kansas for a time, 
came to W'ashington in 1875, and no\^ is a resident 
of Snohomish county. Mrs. Eliza (Bowen) Gilkey 
was a native of the Keystone state and married 
there, but died in Skagit county in 1898. Mrs.- 
Fletcher W. Conn is likewise a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, but went to Kansas in childhood and was 
educated there, preparing herself for the teaching 
profession, which she followed for a time after com- 
ing to Washington. She is a member of the Metho- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



(list cluirch. The followins children have been born 
to Air. and Mrs. Conn: Mrs. Maud Streeter of 
Skagit county; George, at home; Mrs. Annie Kerr, 
hving near her father's home ; Frank, recently re- 
turned from a sojourn of eighteen months in the 
Philippines, followed by a year and a half in Ari- 
zona ; Bert, in the Okanogan country of British 
Columbia ; Cliiiford, at home : Raymond, in the 
British Columbia Okanogan country ; Charles, Will- 
iam, Ralph, Fred and Bessie. In fraternal circles 
Mr. Conn is an Odd Fellow and a past grand; in 
politics an independent, choosing candidate, not 
party. He served as county commissioner in 1891-2. 
The Conn homestead now contains ninety acres of 
excellent land, all but fifteen of which are under 
cultivation. Mr. Conn has twenty head of cattle 
and other live stock. He is one of the prominent 
men of the vicinity of Edison and has made a great 
success on the Samish flats ; is capable as a man- 
ager, honorable in all his dealings with others, actu- 
ated always by worthy motives ; and possessed of 
the esteem of iiis fellow citizens. 



BERENT A. BENSON, one of the leading 
farmers of the Edison section of Skagit county, his 
place being three miles southwest of town, has made 
an unqualified success since coming here, through 
application to business and watchfulness for oppor- 
tunity. He was born in Norway June 13, 1860, the 
eldest of the si.x children of Aleck and Carlen (Sor- 
enson) Benson. The mother died in Norway, but 
the father is living with a daughter, Mrs. N. .Ander- 
son, in Skagit county, though now seventy-five 
years of age. Young Benson received his educa- 
tion in the schools of Norway. He remained at 
liomc until twenty years of age, then came to the 
United States and the first five months of his stay 
liere were spent in the employ of an unclt in Min- 
nesota. Two years and a half followed in the fish- 
eries of Lake Superior, then in 1884, Mr. Benson 
came to the Puget sound country. After a short 
stop in the Hood's canal section he came to the 
Swinomish flats, where he worked on the farm of 
John Ball for three years, then leasing Swan John- 
son's farm on the Samish flats. Next he took up a 
place on the Olympia marsh, where he remained 
imtil 189(). The succeeding five years he jiassed in 
fishing, his ventures proving successful financiallv, 
but in 1901 he sold out his interest in the fishing 
business and bought his present place, at once going 
extensively into oat raising. For lum to reap a 
hundred bushels to the acre of this cereal is no un- 
common thing. 

In 1901 on the Samish flats Mr. Benson married 
Miss Clara Boe, daughter of Olaus and Enger 
(Orestad) Boe, both of whom are living in Nor- 
way. Mrs. Benson was born in Norway in 1881 
and received her education there. She and Mr. 
Benson have two children, Carl, born in 1902, and 



Enga, in 1904. In church membership the Bensons 
are Lutherans ; in politics he is a Republican. He 
has served as road supervisor of his district and is 
now dike commissioner. In addition to his two hun- 
dred and ninety-seven acres of Skagit county land. 
one hundred and seventy-five of which are under 
cultivation, he owns one hundred and sixty acres in 
Oregon. In live stock he has ten head of cattle 
and eight horses. Mr. Benson is considered a 
wealthy man, his success in the industrial world be- 
ing due solely to his business ability in putting 
through his ventures both in fishing and in agricul- 
ture. He is personally popular and highly esteemed 
by those who know him, and the results he has ac- 
complished in the development and progress of this 
section of the Northwest entitle him to enrollment 
among the substantial, progressive men of the 
country. 



JAMES NEELY, farmer, four miles south of 
Edison, is one of the respected men of his commun- 
ity and though not one of the large land holders is 
successful and prosperous in his business. He is a 
native of Pennsylvania, born in Clarion county in 
1847, the son of Jacob Neely, a native of the Key- 
stone state and a potter by trade, who eventually 
settled in Illinois. When the Civil war broke out 
the elder Neely enlisted in the Thirty-seventh Iowa 
volunteer infantry, known as the gray beard regi- 
ment, and he served until sickness overtook him. 
His death occurred in Alton, Illinois. Mrs. Neely, 
whose maiden name was Priscilla \\ alters, was born 
in Pennsylvania and died in Iowa, the mother of 
twelve children, of whom the subject of this review 
is the youngest. James Neely attended the schools 
of Iowa after his parents removed to that state. At 
sixteen years of age, his father having just died, he 
started to do for himself and he passed the next 
four years at farm work, then went to work in the 
coal mines at Flagler and continued there until 
1886, when he came to Washington. His first em- 
ployment in the new state was furnished by John 
Poison near La Conner and later he worked for 
Charles Elder. In 1888 he moved to Edison, where 
he was engaged in the Howard saw-mill for two 
years, leaving to enter the McCoy logging camp, in 
which he remained one year then and later two and 
a half years. Upon leaving this camp he bought 
his present farm. Of tlie eighty acres in his original 
purchase he has cleared twenty and sold twenty. 
For the two years from 18!)(; to 1898 he operated a 
leased farm on the Olympia marsh, then he went to 
Sedro-Woolley, but in 1899 he moved back to his 
own farm. 

In 18?6 at Pella, Marion county, Iowa, Mr. 
Neely married Miss Mary E. Horn, daughter of 
Elias and Mary (Blodgett) Horn, natives of Ohio, 
whose lives were spent as farmers in Indiana and 
Iowa ; they passed away in the latter state. Mrs. 



748 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



Neely is the third of their ten children. She was 
born in Ohio in 1857, but received her education in 
the common schools of Iowa and in Central univer- 
sity. Mr. and Mrs. Neely have had two children : 
Edward, born in Iowa in 1877, died in Skagit county 
in 1900 ; and Lois, born in Skagit county in the sum- 
mer of 1901. In politics Mr. Neely is a Republican. 
He is an active member of the Methodist church at 
Bayview and at present one of the trustees of that 
organization. His home place consists of sixty 
acres, upon which he keeps a considerable number 
of live stock. He is highly respected in the com- 
munity, being an earnest, efficient man, active, in- 
dustrious and capable and a forceful factor in the 
promotion of every cause which appeals to him as 
worthy. 



ANDREW J. MOORE is one of the prosperous 
farmers and successful business men of the district 
just to the south of Edison. His chief occupation is 
logging and in that he is accumulating money read- 
ily and has been doing so since he was twenty years 
of age. Mr. Moore was born in Ontario, Canada, 
in 1876, the son of Andrew D. Moore, a native of 
Ireland, who was brought when an infant to Can- 
ada, where he grew to manhood and became a 
farmer. He migrated to Washington in 1888, set- 
tled in Skagit county and is still living there near 
Bayview. Mrs. Isabella (McGillivray) Moore, who 
was born in Scotland and brought to Canada by ner 
parents when she was very young, is also living 
near Bayview. Andrew J. Moore was twelve years 
of age when he came to Skagit county with his par- 
ents, and he received the most of his education there. 
At twenty he commenced work in a logging camp 
and thereafter he was employed in various localities 
until 1900, when he went into the logging business 
for himself on the Joe Leary slough. He continued 
there two years, then bought a place of three hun- 
dred and twenty acres, for the sake of the timber 
standing on it. Having moved onto this place in 
1902, he has since logged off much of the timber and 
has cleared about half the land. 

In 1901 at Vancouver, British Columbia, Mr. 
Moore married Miss Maggie Young, daughter of 
George Young, who was born in Ontario, Canada, 
in 1844, to Scotch parents, and on reaching young 
manhood became a mechanic. He is now living 
with Mrs. Moore. Her mother, Mrs. Jessie (Mc- 
Gillivray) Young, a native of Canada, is living at 
present in Montana. Mrs. Moore was born in 
Canada in 1877 and was educated in the schools of 
Alanitoba. She and Mr. Moore have two children, 
William J., born in 1902, and John W., in 1904. In 
church memljership Mr. Moore is a Presbyterian 
and in politics a Republican. While heretofore he 
has directed most of his attention since the purchase 
of his place to the timber upon it, he has cleared 
enough to start an excellent farm. His stock at 



present consists of ten head of cattle and eight 
horses. Mr. Moore is a level headed business man, 
as is shown by his career, and is possessed of those 
sterling qualities which command the esteem of all 
classes of citizens. In the history of Skagit county 
his name will be associated with the development of 
the greatest industry of the Northwest, and with 
those of the men who have been most active and 
successful in its upbuilding. 



EDWARD REED, whose farm lies two miles 
east and two south of Edison, is one of the young 
men who have made an unqualified success since 
coming to Skagit county. Beginning his industrial 
career as a boy in the logging camps, he is now 
operating with ability a farming venture of his own. 
He was born in Sweden March 5, 1872, the sixth 
of the twelve children of Charles Reed, a native of 
Sweden, who is now living in Des Moines, Iowa. 
Mrs. Frederika (Anderson) Reed, the mother, also 
a native of Sweden, died in her Iowa home. Young 
Reed obtained his education in the schools of his 
native land, but has added much thereto since com- 
ing to this county. At seventeen years of age he 
began working in the logging camps of Skagit 
county and he remained at that employment ten 
years. In 1901 he purchased his present place of 
eighty acres, which was all in timber at the time he 
acquired it, but he now has ten of it under cultiva- 
tion, and the timber has been removed from the re- 
mainder. He has made his home on the place since 
he purchased it. 

In 1901 while on a trip to Iowa Mr. Reed mar- 
ried Miss Emma Linderson, third of the six children 
of Otto R. and Ida (Johnson) Linderson, natives 
of Sweden who came to the United States and set- 
tled on a farm in Iowa in 1866 and are still living 
there. Mrs. Reed was born in Jefferson county, 
Iowa, in 1875 and was educated there, teaching 
school for several terms prior to her marriage. She 
and Mr. Reed have one child, Earl, born in Skagit 
county, February 27, 1902. The family are adher- 
ents to the Lutheran faith and in politics Mr. Reed 
is a Republican. He has eight head of cattle and 
one horse. Though one of the less extensive farm- 
ers of the community, Mr. Reed is just now begin- 
ning to get good returns from his place and the fu- 
ture looks bright for him, as he is a young man of 
thrift and character and possesses the qualifications 
whicli will enable him to win his share of the good 
things the rich Skagit country has in store for men 
of application and energy. 



JOHN W. JACKSON, whose farm lies five miles 
southeast of Edison, is one of the early settlers in 
this part of Skagit county, having been identified 
with the Samish flats and vicinity since 1888. He 
was born in Harrison county, Indiana, May 15, 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



1853, the son of Silas Jackson, whose people were 
among the early settlers of that section of the 
Hoosier state. Mrs. Lewene (Horner) Jackson, a 
native of Indiana also, who died in 1873, was the 
mother of eight children, of whom John W. is the 
oldest. Our subject received his education in the 
Indiana schools. He remained at home until reach- 
ing his majority, then went to Illinois, but after 
spending a year at farm work there he went back 
to his native state. He worked in an Indiana coal 
mine for a time, then rented a farm and he con- 
tinued to till the soil of the Hoosier state until 1887, 
after which he spent sixteen months in Elk County, 
Kansas. In 1888 he came to Washington territory 
and located in the Samish country, and he worked 
as a farm hand on the river and flats until January 
of 1903, when he bought his present place. The 
entire farm is slashed and a part of it is in cultiva- 
tion. 

In 1875 in Indiana Mr. Jackson married Miss 
Ellen Colegrove. daughter of James C. and Martha 
(!\lason) Colegrove, New Yorkers who came to 
Indiana in their early years, but passed most of 
their lives in Kansas, where they are still residing. 
Mrs. Jackson, born in 1860, was a native of the 
Hoosier state and received her education there. 
She died in Kansas May 12, 1887, leaving four chil- 
dren: ;\Irs. jMartha Moore, now in Kansas; Mrs. 
Maiemie Easley, now of Skagit county ; Mrs. Cora 
Anderson, of Kansas, and Mrs. Lizzie McCoskey, 
also of the Sunflower state. In politics Mr. Jackson 
is a strong Republican and an active party worker, 
but for himself has sought no preferment, though 
he has served as dike commissioner of Samish flats 
district No. 5. He is a type of the men who came 
to Skagit county in the early days to carve for- 
tunes from its forests and river valleys. He pos- 
sesses in a marked degree those personal traits of 
character which lead to ultimate success in whatever 
field of endeavor the possessor chooses to expend 
the energies of his mind and body. He has won the 
esteem of his fellow-men by the exercise of a spirit 
of fairness in all his dealings, and by the application 
of correct principles and sound judgment in all 
matters pertaining to the advancement of the gen- 
eral interests of the community. 



MICHAEL SPAULDING. whose pleasant 
place of eighty acres lies four miles south of Edison, 
is one of those early Skagit county settlers who have 
seen the wilderness changed into a land of rich gar- 
dens, waving grain and well fed cattle. In this 
transformation he has done his share. He was born 
in Switzerland April 23, 1865, the son of John and 
Annie Spaulding, both citizens of the Alpine re- 
public who came to America while he was still an 
infant and found a home in Erie county. New 
York, not far from Buffalo. The father had been a 
farmer in the old country and continued to till the 



soil in his new home, while the boy went to school, 
helped on the farm and grew to manhood. Both 
parents now are dead. The young man was en- 
gaged in railroad wqrk for a year in Minnesota and 
Dakota and came west in 188G. He came direct to 
Skagit county, which has since been his home. In 
1890 he filed on a homestead near Birdsview and 
lived there five years, during which period he was 
engaged quite extensively in logging. He next 
spent several years in and around La Conner, work- 
ing four years for J. O. Rudene. In 1900 he bought 
a place on Beaver marsh which he held five years 
and sold to P. Person. Mr. Spaulding purchased 
his present farm in June, 1905. This tract is ex- 
ceedingly fertile and is said to be one of the finest 
farms in that part of the county. Mr. Spaulding is 
a Democrat in politics. He never has married. He 
is well to do, amiable by nature and popular in his 
community, one of the county's stalwart citizen 
farmers. 



WILLIAM GEESAMAN, a farmer one mile 
east and four miles south of Edison, is a man who 
within the past few years has literally chopped a 
home for himself and family out of the virgin forest. 
Where once the monarchs of the woods stood in 
their solitude has arisen one of the cozy small farms 
of which Skagit county boasts, and the transforma- 
tion has been effected by Mr. Geesaman since 1895. 
He was born in Allen county, Indiana, of Penn- 
sylvania Dutch stock February 1, 1864, the youngest 
of the thirteen children of Henry and Mary (Work) 
Geesaman. The elder Geesaman was born in the 
Keystone state in 1815, and in 1833 began clearing 
up a home for himself in Ohio. He later went to 
Indiana and still later to Iowa, where he died in 
1882. Mrs. Geesaman, the mother, was a native of 
Ohio. 

William Geesaman of this review received his 
education in the schools of Cedar county, low-a. 
He remained on his father's farm until he was 
eighteen years of age, then \vent to Kansas and 
spent a year in nursery work. Subsequent years 
were passed at dififerent lines of employment, in- 
cluding farming, until in 1890 he came to Washing- 
ton and located on the Samish flats. His first year 
in this state was passed as a laborer, but in 1892 he 
leased the Nick Beaser place for one year. Two 
years were then spent as lessee and operator of the 
Mike Myers farm, after which Mr. Geesaman went 
to Samish island for a year and a half. In 1895 he 
bought his present place of forty acres, which at 
that time was covered with heavy timber and dense 
brush. The thirty-two acres of it which are cleared 
are considered equal to the best land on the marsh 
— land which in 1901 produced an average of one 
hundred and thirtv bushels of oats to the acre. 

At Eureka, Kansas, in 1888, Mr. Geesaman 
married Miss Annie McKibben, daughter of Joseph 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



McKibbin, a native of Ireland who came to the 
United States when nine years of age. He served 
in the Civil war as a member of the Eleventh Iowa 
volunteers. The mother of Mrs. Geesaman, Mrs. 
Eliza (Chase) McKibbin, was born in Illinois. 
Mrs. Geesaman is the second of five children. She 
was born in Cedar county, Iowa, in 1868 and edu- 
cated in the Iowa schools, but when nineteen years 
of age went to Kansas, where she met and married 
Mr. Geesaman. Mr. and Mrs. Geesaman have two 
children: Pearl E., born in Kansas in 1889, and 
Florence E., born in Skagit county in 1890. In 
fraternal circles Mr. Geesaman is an Odd Fellow 
and his wife is a Rebekah ; in politics he is a Repub- 
lican. He has manifested his public-spirited interest 
in the cause of education by serving as a member 
of the school board. Mr. Geesaman is a hard 
worker, thrifty, energetic, public spirited and suc- 
cessful in all the walks of life. His home is one of 
the pleasantest places in Skagit county. 



JOHN HUSTON WILSON is one of the pros- 
perous farmers of the Edison country of Skagit 
county. As a young man he took charge of his 
father's interests in this county and is showing his 
energy and good management, his ability to make 
a success of the business he is now pursuing. He 
was born in Marysville, Tennessee, in the spring of 
1875, the son of Samuel C. Wilson, a native of Ten- 
nessee, born in 1850, who later became a farmer in 
Illinois and ultimately moved to Skagit county, 
Washington, settling on La Conner flats in 1887. 
He is now in business in Bellingham. Mrs. Annie 
(Martin) Wilson, also a native of Tennessee, is 
the mother of three children, of whom the subject 
of this sketch is the oldest. John H. Wilson at- 
tended school in Illinois, from which state he came 
to Washington with his parents when he was twelve 
years of age. He passed his life in work for his 
father until he was twenty-six, when he took charge 
of the place on the Samish flats and commenced to 
make a specialty of raising hay and oats, the latter 
yielding not less than one hundred bushels to the 
acre. For the seven years of his stewardship he has 
been successful as a grower and marketer and in 
everything relating to the business. 

In January of 1901 on the Swinomish flats Mr. 
Wilson married Miss Pear! Sisson, daughter of 
E. A. and Ida L. Sisson, of whom mention is made 
elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Wilson was born in 
Bayview in the summer of 1877, and received her 
education in the schools of Skagit county and in the 
Baptist seminary in Seattle. She and Mr. Wilson 
have one child, Carroll S., born in April of 1903. 
The family belongs to the Baptist church and in pol- 
itics Mr. Wilson is a Republican, though of the in- 
dependent type, which considers the qualification of 
the candidate and is not bound always by party bias. 
Mr. Wilson keeps six horses and a few cows, but is 



not a stock raiser, preferring to confine his energies 
to cereal production. He has some interests hs a 
stockholder in coal mines in .Maska. 

In the cultivation and management of his excel- 
lent eighty-acre farm, he has been very successful, 
applying his abundant energy in a way to achieve 
the best results ; and in all the relations of life he 
demeanors himself in a manner calculated to win 
and retain the esteem and contidence of his fellow 
citizens. 



FREDERICK C. KUNZMANN, whose place 
lies some two miles west of Edison, has been in 
Skagit county since 1882, and has been steadily in- 
creasing in worldly possessions and the esteem of 
the c(JiiiHnmil\ since his arrival. He is now the pro- 
priiiiii III :m excellent farming business. Mr. Kunz- 
niaiiii wa-^ Imvn in Germany in the spring of 1853, 
the son of Jacob and Caroline (Kleiber) Kunzmann, 
farmer folk who never left their fatherland. Fred- 
erick Kunzmann, fifth of their eight children, re- 
ceived his education in the German schools, which 
he attended until he was fifteen years of age. At 
that time he commenced to learn the trade of brick- 
layer and continued at the same until at the age of 
eighteen he was considered to have mastered the 
craft. The next nine years were passed in brick- 
laying in Germany, then, in 1880, he came to the 
United States and settled in Wisconsin, After fol- 
lowing liis trade for one summer in the Badger 
state, he came to California and passed a summer 
there on a farm, then came to Whatcom county and 
worked one winter in the woods. In the spring of 
1882 he came to the Samish flats, where he worked 
for wages on a farm for the ensuing six years, at 
the end of which period he purchased a place two 
miles south of Edison, consisting of eighty acres, 
vvliich he cleared, and on which he lived until 190-1, 
when he leased the H. S. Conner place. He farmed 
there two years, but at present is living on the 
George Hoffman ranch. 

In 1889 Mr. Kunzmann married Miss Anna G. 
Wieber, daughter- of Conrad and Elizabeth (Isa- 
riel) Wieber, both of whom lived and died in the 
old country. Mrs. Kunzmann was born in Ger- 
many in the summer of 1863 and received her edu- 
cation in the schools of the old country. She and 
Mr. Kunzmann have three children: William H., 
born in 1S!)(): Caroline E., in 1892, and Carl F., in 
1S!M. all of whom are natives of the Samish flats. 
In fraternal affiliation Mr. Kunzmann is a member 
of the Fraternal Union of America ; in church mem- 
bership he is a Lutheran, and in politics a Demo- 
crat. For nine years he has been a member of the 
school board, and he has also served the public as 
dike commissioner. Cattle sufificient to supply the 
home with dairy commodities and ten head of 
horses are maintained on his farm. 

Manifesting abundantly the thrift which is so 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



prominent a characteristic of the sons of Germany, 
and possessed of an enviable reputation for integ- 
rity of character, Mr. Kunzmann maintains a high 
standing among his neighbors and fellow-citizens as 
a worthy and forceful member of society. 



NELSON B. RICHARDS, one of the sturdy 
agriculturists of the valley in the vicinity of Edison, 
came to Skagit county when the country was new 
and has carved his fortune out of the then wilder- 
ness of woods. His farm, located four miles south- 
west of Edison, is one of the prosperous places of 
Skagit county. Mr. Richards was born in Fulton 
county, Illinois, in September of 1859. His father, 
John V. Richards, a native of Pennsylvania and a 
farmer by occupation, became a resident of Illinois 
in the early fifties. Mrs. Sarah (Crowley) Rich- 
ards, mother of our subject, was a native of Ohio. 
Of her seven children. Nelson B. was the sixth, and 
he was but six years old at the time of her death. 
Young Richards received his educational discipline 
in the Illinois schools. At the age of thirteen he 
was sent to his uncle's stock ranch in Texas, where 
he remained three years. Returning then to his 
native state, he put in three years as a farmhand, 
then went to Kansas City, where for two years he 
worked in a packing house. He spent the next 
year in railroad work in Arizona, then spent seven 
months in California. In the fall of 1881 he came 
to Washington and entered the employ of R. E. 
Whitney, with whom he stayed three years. In 
1887 his present home place was bought, then all 
raw land, now all in cultivation and with excellent 
buildings erected upon it. Mr. Richards has made 
this his home ever since, except for three years, 
when he leased the place. 

In 1893, at Victoria, B. C, Mr. Richards mar- 
ried Miss Lydia Price, daughter of Thomas Price, 
a merchant, native of Wales, who came around the 
Horn in the early sixties in a sailing vessel to Vic- 
toria, in the employ of the British government, in 
whose service he helped blaze the first trail into the 
Cariboo mining district. Mr. Price died in Skagit 
county. Mrs. Jane (Howells) Price, mother of 
Mrs. Richards, was also a native of Wales. She 
died in Bayview in 1893. Mrs. Richards was born 
in Westminster, British Columbia, in August of 
1865, and received her education in a Victoria con- 
vent. She came to Skagit county with her mother 
in 1887. In fraternal circles Mr. Richards is an 
Odd Fellow, in church membership a Presbyterian 
and in politics a Republican. At presnt he is serv- 
ing as clerk of the school board. Mrs. Richards 
adheres to the Episcopalian faith. The Richards 
home is on two hundred acres of land, one hundred 
and twenty of which are under cultivation, the re- 
mainder being excellent timber land. In live stock 
Mr. Richards has twenty head of cattle, ten horses, 
3. number of sheep, etc. He is considered one of 



the strong- men of the county, a farmer of ability 
and skill and in all the relations of life a man of 
unquestioned integrity. 



LINUS ABBOTT is one of the men of pure 
Yankee stock who have helped in the work of turn- 
ing Skagit county from a wilderness into a com- 
munity of agriculture and farm homes. His life 
has been one of travel, yet for more than a quarter 
of a century he has been a successful farmer in the 
Puget sound country. Mr. Abbott was born in 
Windsor county, Vermont, in 1843, the son of 
Elam Abbott, whose father, Daniel, settled at Stock- 
bridge, Vermont, among the very first settlers, and 
there founded the Stockjaridge branch of the Abbott 
family. Elam Abbott was born at Stockbridge Feb- 
ruary 26, 1805, died June 22, 1895, and was buried 
in the Sunnyside cemetery, Coupeville. The mother, 
Mrs. Roxey (Ellison) Abbott, born February 24, 
ISotj, was likewise of Vermont nativity; she died 
February 14, 1885, the mother of nine children, of 
whom Linus was ne.xt to the youngest. At nine- 
teen years of age, after attending school, Linus Ab- 
bott sailed from New York, bound for San Fran- 
cisco, via the Panama route. The trip occupied 
forty-nine and one-half days. The first year and 
a half of young Abbott's life in California was spent 
in farming and dairying at Bloomfield. In the 
fall of 1863 he came north to Victoria, spending 
but a short time there before going to Seattle. The 
following year Mr. Abbott returned to Victoria, 
and he followed the carpenter trade there for a 
twelvemonth, or until he went to Coupeville, Whid- 
by island, where he passed three years at farming. 
The year 1868 found him first at St. Helens, Ore- 
gon, and later working at the carpenter's bench in 
San Francisco. Again coming north, he located 
at Napton, on the Columbia river, in Washington, 
and helped build a saw-mill, remaining there eight 
months. At this time he decided to go back to the 
Green Mountain state, and there for a number of 
years followed agriculture. But the sound still at- 
tracted him, and in March of 1879 he returned to 
Coupeville, where he leased a farm and was en- 
gaged in tilling the soil for seven years. Early in 
1886 Mr. Ab"bott came to Skagit county and rented 
a farm, also purchased eighty acres of wild brush 
land from R. H. Ball. Sixty acres of this were 
cleared and brought under cultivation when Mr. 
Abbott also bought the relinquishment of C. Dicks, 
filed on it as a pre-emption and later moved there. 
On his acquisition of this land it was largely in 
brush and had only a cabin in the way of improve- 
ments. After clearing sixty acres of it, he pur- 
chased forty more lying west, which had been part 
of the E, S, Jones homestead. 

March 30, 1874, while residing in Vermont, Mr. 
Abbott married Miss Lucy S. Putnam, born Octo- 
ber 5, 1849, of good old Yankee stock. Her father 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



was Ezra N. Putnam, whose father was a soldier 
of the War of 1812, and a relative of General Israel 
Putnam of Revolutionary fame. Mrs. Lucy (Wash- 
burn) Putnam, her mother, was a native of Ver- 
mont, springing from old pioneer stock of the Green 
Mountain state. Mrs. Abbott received her educa- 
tion in Vermont, eventually graduating from the 
State Normal school at Randolph, then following 
the teaching profession until her marriage. She 
died in Skagit county, October 6, 1889, and was 
buried in the Sunnyside cemetery near Coupeville. 
She was the mother of five children : Mrs. Mary 
L. Callahan, who lives near Fredonia ; Hollis R., 
Nelson S., Hattie R. and George W., the last named 
dying in infancy. July 30, 1891, Mr. Abbott mar- 
ried Miss Harriet L. Underwood, the daughter of 
Jonas Ralph Underwood, who was born in Susque- 
hanna county, Pennsylvania, October 4, 1828. He 
was a pioneer in Kansas prior to the Civil War. At 
the beginning of hostilities he enlisted in Company 
F, Thirty-second Iowa Volunteers, and died Octo- 
ber 12, 1863, after serving a little over one year. 
The mother, Harriet Louisa (Lewis) Underwood, 
was also born in Susquehanna county, the date be- 
ing September 22, 1836, and is now a resident of 
Skagit county. After the death of Mr. Underwood 
she became Mrs. Waters. Mrs. Abbott was born 
in DeKalb county, Illinois, May 17, 1863, received 
her education in Kansas, graduated from Gould 
college and followed teaching for several years, un- 
til her marriage. She died June 15, 1903, and was 
buried in Sunnyside cemetery. Two children sur- 
vive, Lucy A. and Louisa R. 

Politically Mr. Abbott affiliates with the Demo- 
cratic party. In addition to the pursuit of the other 
forms of agriculture, he devotes much time to stock 
raising, making a specialty of hogs, of which he has 
at present one hundred and fifty head; but he also 
has a fine herd of cattle and a number of good 
horses. His one hundred and twenty acres of land 
are all under cultivation and are so systematically 
farmed as to reflect great credit upon the worthy 
owner. Mr. Abbott has the energy and push neces- 
sary to win success in a business way, and also is 
possessed of that afifable, sociable turn which wins 
and maintains for its possessor a high place in the 
regard and esteem of his fellow-citizens. 



GEORGE HOFFMAN, a farmer residing 
southwest of Edison, is one of the men who have 
deserted the shoemaker's last and hammer for the 
farmer's plow and harrow. His experiences since 
coming to the United States cover numerous states, 
at last to become those of a pioneer in the woods of 
Skagit county. Mr. Hofifman was born in Germany 
in the summer of 1835, the son of John and Mar- 
garet (Decker) Hofifman, who passed all their lives 
in the old country. They were parents of two chil- 
dren, George and a girl, who died in infancy. 



George Hoffman received his education in the old 
country, then served a three-year apprentice to the 
shoemaker's trade, commencing when but fourteen 
years of age. On the completion of this term he 
came to the United States, and he spent the first 
two years of his residence here at work at his trade 
in New York city. In 1864 he began pursuing his 
calling in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, remaining there 
for the next two years. At Wheeling, West Vir- 
ginia, he remained four years, and in Chattanooga 
two years ; then, in 1872, he came West to Dayton, 
Washington. After remaining in the Columbia 
county town two years, he came on to Seattle, where 
he spent the next twelvemonth. He then went to 
eastern Oregon, and remained a year, thereupon 
coming to La Conner. Soon after arriving in that 
town, he came over on the Samish flats and filed on 
a homestead, upon which he has resided since 1879. 
At that time the land was covered with brush, but 
he went to work with energy and in due time got 
it ready for the crops of the farmer. Mr. Hoffman 
has never married. In church membership he is a 
Catholic ; in political faith a Democrat, believing 
that in that party is more independence than in any 
other political organization. Mr. Hoffman, while 
leading a very quiet life, is one of the respected and 
esteemed citizens of his community. 



BENGT JOHNSON, living a half mile south- 
east of Milltown, is one of the prominent men of 
that section of Skagit county, and he has amassed 
his present property only after much discourage- 
ment and in the face of many obstacles. His life 
has been a useful one and in his carrer he has given 
his attention to many lines of work and activity. 
Mr. Johnson was born in Sweden December 31, 
1844, the son of John and Hannah (Knudson) 
Johnson, who have passed their entire lives in the 
old country. Mr. Johnson had few educational ad- 
vantages as a boy, but his native qualities have 
stood him well in hand. At the age of twenty-three 
years he left Sweden for the United States, landing 
in New York May 16, 1868. He went to Penn- 
sylvania and worked a short time in a tannery, then 
went to Omaha, Nebraska, where he worked on a 
rravel train for the construction department of the 
Union Pacific. He remained at this work for some 
time and was present at Ogden, Utah, when the 
golden spike was driven in commemoration of the 
completion of the first transcontinental railroad in 
America. Mr. Johnson returned to Omaha, then 
went to Iowa and worked at hauling ties for a time ; 
later he moved to Missouri and did railroad work. 
This he relinquished for farming in Kansas, where 
he resided until 1876. There grasshoppers and 
cinch bugs ruined his crops, and he sold out his 
farm and stock, coming to the Puget sound country 
via San Francisco. He worked seventy-six days 
at $1 per day, but had the misfortune to lose the very 




LIXUS ABBOTT 



GEORGE HOFFMAN 




BENGT JOHNSON 



CUARI,i:S ALS IRANI.) 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



first money he made in this part of the country. 
^Ir. Johnson then went to Stanwood and worked 
at diking for Mr. Hancock. In company with two 
other men he built four hundred rods of dike. He 
also diked the town of Stanwood, accomplishing the 
work in six months. He pre-empted his present 
place in the fall of 1877, built a cab'in, diked the ad- 
joining place and lived in his cabin until 1880 ; then 
put up a dwelling near where his present house 
stands, and where he has cleared and diked one 
hundred and twenty acres. Litigation with the 
Puget Sound Mill Company lasted three years and 
cost Mr. Johnson $750, but he had the satisfaction 
of winning and keeping his place. It seems that the 
company proved up on the place on which he had 
lived and upon certain allegations received the pat- 
ent. Mr. Johnson carried the case up and ultimate- 
ly the decision of the land office was reversed. The 
one hundred and twenty acres of Mr. Johnson's 
bottom land are all under cultivation and are very 
fertile. He has sowed two hundred acres of higher 
land to timothy and clover and uses it for pasture, 
and he has yet another hill tract of one hundred and 
sixty acres which is not sown. At present Mr. 
Johnson has eighty head of good cattle. He is a 
Republican in politics. One of his ventures in the 
early eighties was a partnership with William and 
Jefferson Sill and Mr. Forsyth in the butcher and 
meat business at Stanwood. The firm fattened two 
hundred and fifty head of cattle and three hundred 
and fifty hogs and Mr. Johnson went to Seattle to 
sell them. On his return trip the steamer Jose- 
phine blew up and killed ten men, also breaking one 
of Air. Johnson's legs. He was laid up for five 
weeks, then sold out to his partners. Mr. Johnson 
has been in other accidents and has had some nar- 
row escapes. When he was running on the gravel 
train on the Union Pacific, a wreck mixed up twen- 
ty-four carloads of telegraph poles and killed ten 
men, Mr. Johnson having a narrow escape. When 
he was working in the Pennsylvania tannery he was 
nearly drowned in one of the tanning tanks. Since 
coming to the sound country he narrowly escaped 
drowning in the Skagit river, being unable to swim, 
and only by chance getting a foothold on the bottom 
sufficient to permit him to crawl to shore. Mr. 
Johnson has never married. He is well esteemed 
in the community, a man possessing sterling char- 
acteristics, but one who, in his daily intercourse with 
his associates, is unpretentious and straightforward. 
The degree of prosperity that has come to him is 
the direct result of perseverance, of honest endeavor 
and of square dealing with his fellow-citizens. 



CHARLES ALSTRAND, farmer, stock raiser 
and dairyman, living a short di'stance northeast of 
Belleville, after a few years of hard work and 
struggle with nature, is now well on the road to 



prosperity and is already enjoying a competence. 
During the past few years he has labored well, and 
now the results of his efforts are taking material 
form and bringing substantial returns. He is a na- 
tive of Sweden, born July 8, 18G7, the son of Knute 
Benson Alstrarid, a farmer of the old country, who 
died in 1875. Mrs. Johanna (Martinsen) 
Knutsen, the mother of the young man of whom 
this is written, was born in Sweden, but came to 
this country in 1898, when seventy years old, and 
made her home with her son Charles until her 
death last fall. She was the mother of ten children, 
two of whom are now dead. Besides Charles the 
living are Johan and Alexander, in the old country; 
John and Mrs. Bettie Hughes, southwest of Seattle; 
Mrs. Christina Holmberg, in Kansas; Mrs. Jose- 
phine Alstrander, in Seattle ; and Mrs. Bena Swan- 
son, in Skagit county. Qiarles Alstrand grew to 
manhood on the farm in Sweden, attending school 
in the winter and herding sheep in the summer, un- 
til fifteen years old, when he started for himself. 
He first hired out to a widow by the year, then did 
blacksmithing for awhile. When nineteen he de- 
cided to try his fortunes in the new world, so came 
to the United States with his older sisters, Bettie 
and Christina, and located at Osage City, Kansas, 
where for two years he found employment in the 
mines. He then came to Washington and worked 
on a White river hop farm south of Seattle for a 
time, then for seven years rented land in that sec- 
tion. In 1897 he came to Skagit county and with 
his brother John bought the place where he now 
lives, eighty acres, of which only three acres were 
cleared at the time of the purchase. All the other 
improvements on the place have been made by the 
brothers. Charles borrowed money and laid the 
foundation of his present dairy business by buying 
one cow, also worked in shingle bolt camps at in- 
tervals to obtain money with which to make im- 
provements on the farm and to buy calves. During 
the first year his residence here began, his aged 
mother came over from Sweden and became his 
housekeeper. She died September IG, 1905, aged 
seventy-seven years. Little by little the stock has 
been increased and improvements made until early 
in 1905 Charles Alstrand was in a position to buy 
his brother's interest in the farm, and he has since 
been sole owner. He raises hay and oats princi- 
pally, but keeps thirty head of shorthorn and Dur- 
ham cattle, also forty head of Poland China and 
Berkshire hogs. He is a Republican in politics, but 
consistently refuses office, recently declining to 
serve as road overseer. Mr. Alstrand is a thrifty, 
hard worker, progressive, strong willed and deter- 
mined to attain a position of independence. He has 
a nice house, good barns and is now approaching 
the full realization of the hopes of the past, the 
goal of his ambitions. Pie is persevering and in 
all things honorable, and must ever command the 
respect and confidence of his fellows. 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



EUPHRONEOUS E. WATKINSON, who 
lives four miles south of Bow, is one of the agricul- 
turists of that section who are making a success 
of diversified farming. He was born in Linn 
county, Oregon, the son of Robert Watkinson, who 
crossed the continent to Oregon in pioneer days, 
and later contributed to the development of commu- 
nities in that state and Washington. On coming 
to this commonwealth, the elder Watkinson located 
in Mason county. A somewhat fuller sketch of his 
career and that of his worthy helpmeet will be 
found in connection with the biography of another 
son, Melbourn Watkinson, which precedes this bio- 
graph. 

Euphronious E. Watkinson, of this review, was 
brought by his parents to Mason county, Washing- 
ton, in 1869, when al>out four years old, and was 
educated in the public schools there established. 
When he was sixteen, in 1880, his parents removed 
to Skagit county and he accompanied them here, 
though for two years previous he had been earning 
his own living. After locating in Skagit county, he 
followed logging and other work in the woods un- 
til the year 1900, when he decided to engage in 
farming. He had previously purchased a place of 
ten acres, all in timber, and had cleared and other- 
wise prepared it for cultivation, but he preferred to 
locate on the old home of his parents in the vicinity 
of Bow, and the parental place has been the scene 
of his operations since. 

In 1900 Mr. Watkinson married Miss Lena 
Lonsdale, a native of Fergus Falls, Minnesota. Ole 
Lonsdale, her father, who is a native of Norway, 
born July 28, 1846, came to the United States in 
early manhood and engaged in farming in Minne- 
sota, but in 1888 came to Washington and is now 
living at Edison. Mrs. Mary (Christianson) Lons- 
dale, mother of Mrs. Watkinson, was born in Nor- 
way in 1845, came to the United States in 1868 
and lived for a time with her brother in Minnesota 
ibefore marrying Mr. Lonsdale. She passed away 
ii; 18S7, the mother of nine children, of whom Mrs. 
Watkinson is fourth. Mr. and Mrs. Watkinson are 
the parents of three children : Georgie May, born 
September 26. 1901; Walter, March 15, 1903, and 
Herbert M., January IS, 1905. In fraternal circles 
Mr. Watkinson is an Odd Fellow and in politics a 
Democrat. He is engaged in general farming, in- 
cluding stock raising, and nnw has nine head of 
cattle, horses sufficient to culti\ate the place to ad- 
vantage, and other live stock. l\lr. Watkinson is a 
man strong in character and cajKiljle of hard work, 
and his success is the le-ilini.iti- r< -ult of his earnest 
endeavor and good business aliilitx'. 



WILLIAM J. BROWN, retired farmer at Bow, 
is one of the pioneer men of Skagit county, who is 
intimately connected with the opening up of the 
country. He probably knows as. much about the 



topography of Skagit county from actual experi- 
ence as any other man now resident here. Before 
he came to this country Mr. Brown had been 
through experiences in the world which do not 
usually fall to the lot of the average man. Mr. 
Brown was born at the Bow in London, England, 
October 15, 1850, the son of William M. Brown, 
who was born in 1815, became a civil engineer in 
the employ of the British government, and who is 
still living. Mrs. Louisa (Wisbey) Brown, also a 
native of London, born in 1817, of Irish extraction, 
is also still living. 

William J. Brown, of this review, left home 
when he was fourteen years of age, his father hav- 
ing bought him a commission on board a man-of- 
war sailing from Plymouth. During his service on 
the seas he visited Aladeira, the Cape of Good 
Hope, Angle Point at the southerly extremity of 
India, Singapore and Penang. From the latter 
point he went to the Nicobar islands, near the Phil- 
ippines, thence to Hong Kong and back to Bombay. 
He was in the Red sea at the time of the war be- 
tween Abyssinia and Great Britain, and was one of 
the expedition against King Theodore under Lord 
Napier. Another trip was made through the 
straits of Malacca and up to Yokohama, crossing 
from Japan to Victoria, British Columbia. At the 
last named place Mr. Brown severed his connection 
with the (Hk-iu's na\v, then he came to Utsalady 
and comnuiiccil In tally lumber for shipping, re- 
maining at that work for aljout two )'ears. He then 
came to Fidalgo island and bought 160 acres of 
land on Similk bay, which he later sold, in the fall 
of 1871. Mr. r.rdwn then came to Samish island 
and located on tlu- place where he now resides. 
During these years lie w as also engaged in sailing, 
running a sloop, the "True I'.lue," on the waters of 
the sound. After two years of this traffic lie sold 
the vessel to John J. Conner, one of the founders 
of La Conner. Between his trips on the slixjp Mr. 
Brown had been careful not to allow his rights 
ashore to lapse. Since leaving the shipping busi- 
ness, he has done much cruising on timber lands, 
eighty per cent, of the timber locations between 
Samish and the Prairie having been made by him. 
He has also been deputy county surveyor and in 
this capacity surveyed the first road between Edi- 
son and Lake Samish and between the county line 
and Wickersham. During his lumber cruising days 
Mr. Brown located the first claim for Patrick Mc- 
Coy, was in charge of the holdings of W. H. Miller 
of Wisconsin, and did all the location work for 
Clothier & English. Mr. Brown is also the founder 
of Bow, named by him and platted on his land in 
lecent years. Its history is given elsewhere. 

In 1872 Mr. Brown married Miss Jennie Tahati, 
who is now the mother of seven children : Mrs. 
Kate Lonsdale, living near Bow ; William, Minnie, 
Joseph, Louisa, Jennie and Mary. In politics Mr. 
Brown is a Republican. He is the owner of two 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



hundred and ten acres of land, including a large 
proportion of the town site of Bow. Mr. Brown 
is now devoting most of his time to his orchard of 
four hundred trees and his seventy stands of bees. 
He is one of the old-timers in the county, a man of 
force of character and respected by all. 



WILLIAM A. DAWSON, a pioneer of 1877, 
has participated in the development and progress 
of Skagit county, beginning his individual opera- 
tions in the days that preceded the removal of the 
famous Skagit river log jam, over which as a young 
man he made his first crossing of the Skagit. Mr. 
Dawson was born in Gordon county, Georgia, June 
2, 1859, the son of Ratliffe Boone Dawson, named 
after the famous old pioneer of Kentucky, Daniel 
Boone, who was a cousin of his mother. The elder 
Dawson was a farmer in his early days, but es- 
poused the cause of the Confederacy during the 
Civil War and served through the great conflict 
with the Third Georgia Volunteers, closing his 
army career under Lee at Appomattox, and return- 
ing to his Georgia farm after the surrender. In 
1877 he came to Washington and he remamed here 
for eight years, ultimately going back to Georgia, 
where he still resides. Airs. Mary (Terrell) Daw- 
son, mother of our subject, is one of the old Talt 
Terrell family, well known in Georgia, and is still 
living, the mother of nine children, of whom Will- 
iam A. is the oldest. William lived at home until 
he was twenty-one years of age, coming to Wash- 
ington with his parents, but declining to return with 
them. They had bought two hundred and twenty 
acres of land here, and after they had sold out he 
determined to remain. He bought an acre of ground 
a half mile west of Bow, on which he is still living, 
and from which, as a center, he conducts his log- 
ging operations. Soon after his parents returned 
to Georgia, Mr. Dawson commenced logging, and 
during two later years he conducted logging opera- 
tions in a camp of his own near Edison. He has 
followed logging ever since, his yearly output some- 
times reaching as high as three million feet. 

In 1884 Mr. Dawson married Miss Jennie 
Walker, a native of Canada and the daughter of 
Andrew P. W'alker, who was of Scotch birth, and 
all of whose brothers became officers of the British 
army. Mr. Walker was but a lad when his parents 
removed to Canada. He grew up there, but spent 
some time in Minnesota, and ultimatelv came to 
Washington, where he died in 1884. Mrs. Eliza J. 
(Bingham) Walker, mother of Mrs. Dawson, is a 
native of Canada, and at present is residing in Ana- 
cortes, having since the demise of her first hus- 
band married B. C. Ranous of that citv. Mr. and 
Mrs. Dawson have five children: D.' Rav. Rex- 
ford P., Maxwell B., Ruby E. and Ralph F. Mr. 
Dawson is a member of the Modern Woodmen of 
America, he and Mrs. Dawson belonging also to the 



Pioneer Association. In politics he is a Democrat. 
He is a man respected in the neighborhood and rec- 
ognized by his business associates as one who has 
business ability and business integrity. During a 
residence in Skagit county of more than a quarter 
of a century he has applied his energies almost ex- 
clusively to the development of the one industry in 
which he is now engaged. He has demonstrated 
his ability not only to master the details of his 
business, but so to manage it that it will yield its 
largest returns. His name must ever be linked with 
those of the pioneers of this section who found it a 
primeval forest and have converted it into a habit- 
able region, with its homes, farms, towns, cities and 
innumerable industries. 



JOHN L. DALE, postmaster of Edison, canie 
to Skagit county several years after his parents, 
being attracted West by the possibilities of the 
country as represented to him by his father. He 
has prospered since coming and to-day is not sorry 
that he joined his fortunes with those of the Skagit 
county pioneers. Mr. Dale was born in Venango 
county, Pennsylvania, September 7, 18.54, the son 
of John L. Dale, a native of Pennsylvania, born in 
1814, an attorney at law, who practiced his profes- 
sion for twenty years in River Falls, Wisconsin,, 
then moved to Tennessee. The elder Dale came 
in the centennial year to Edison, where he died in 
1878. He saw long service in the Civil War, and 
at the time of his discharge was a second lieutenant 
m the Thirtieth Wisconsin. Mrs. Massey (Jordan) 
Dale, a native of the Keystone state, born in 1833, 
shared the fortunes of her husband until his death. 
She passed away in Skagit county on Independence 
day of 1887, leaving five children, of whom John L. 
is third. Mr. Dale attended the schools of Wiscon- 
sin and worked on his father's farm in that state 
until twenty years old, then accompanied his parents 
to Tennessee, where he leased land and operated 
farms for twelve years. He remained in that south- 
ern state when his parents moved ^to Washington, 
but ten years later he followed them. For four 
years after his arrival here he worked in different 
places in the vicinity of Edison, and in 1890 he 
bouglit land which he sold to advantage in 1900. 
He then purchased the house and lot in Edison 
where he now resides. July 16, 1897, he was ap- 
pointed to the postmastership of Edison, a position 
which he still holds at this writing. He was chosen 
county commissioner in the fall of 1893 and served 
four years, all of the time as chairman of the board. 

December 38, 1875, Mr. Dale married Miss Lucy 
J. Brown, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, and a 
daughter of Aquila Brown, a prominent citizen, at 
one time sherifif of Davidson County, Tennessee, for 
eight years. He is still living at the advanced age 
of eighty. Mrs. Martha J. Brown, the mother of 
Mrs. Dale, was a native of Tennessee and was 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



reared and married there. Slie died in Nashville 
in 1884, leaving six children, of whom Mrs. Dale 
is third. Five children have been born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Dale: Annie L., Robert I., Jennie C, John L., 
Jr., and Edna M. In fraternal circles Mr. Dale is 
an Odd Fellow and Mrs. Dale and her oldest daugh- 
ter are Rebekahs. In political faith Mr. Dale is a 
Republican. He is one of the prominent and influ- 
ential citizens of Edison, a man of energy, whose 
attainments are the results of earnest endeavor, as- 
siduously continued, and in no degree of fortuity. 



WILLIAM GILMORE. To the man_ whose 
life work it is now our task to treat of in brief out- 
line, it was not given to move in those larger affairs 
of life which call forth elements of greatness, if 
such exist, but pioneer conditions in Skagit county 
furnished abundant opportunity for the exercise of 
one element of greatness, and by universal consent 
a very essential element, namely: self-abnegation, 
with its necessarv concomitant, an enlightened phi- 
lanthropy. This splendid quality William Gilmore 
possessed in a high degree and its exercise in the 
days when the struggle for existence was to most 
people a hard one rendered many of the pioneers 
his debtor for numerous and much needed benefac- 
tions. He undoubtedly stands out as one of the 
most prominent figures in the early days of Skagit 
county. His faith in the future of that section never 
wavered, hence he feared not to forge ahead boldly 
in industrial and commercial ventures and he was 
always in the forefront of the progressive move- 
ments of his day. Later developments have justified 
his faith. His ventures proved as successful as he 
anticipated and as a reward for his strenuous and 
prolonged endeavor he acquired for himself and his 
descendants a splendid fortune, not a dollar of 
which came to him by other than legitimate means. 
He bequeathed to his progeny the noblest heritage 
that it is possible for any man to leave behind, the 
memory of a life well spent, a work well done, a 
name untarnished. 

Mr. Gilmore, like many other forceful men in the 
development of American communities, was a na- 
tive of the Emerald isle, born in 18-10, and his edu- 
cational training was acquired in the excellent 
public schools of that land. In early manhood he 
decided to seek his fortune in America, and in 1870 
emigrated to the United States. His first home in 
the new world was in Lucas County, Iowa, where 
he farmed continuously for six years, thereupon 
embarking in the mercantile business, to which he 
devoted himself assiduously and uninterruptedly 
until 1882, when he sold out and changed his place 
of residence, coming to Edison, Washington. Short- 
ly after his arrival he purchased the merchandise 
stock of Captain A. J. Edwards, the pioneer mer- 
chant of the little town, and indeed the only mer- 
chant who had established himself there up to that 



time. This business he carried on successfully for 
many years. In many other ways also he took a 
leading part in the transformation of the struggling 
little town into a thriving business center and in the 
development of all the country tributary to it. The 
magnitude of his agricultural operations may be 
estimated from the fact that at the time of his death 
April 4, 1900, he was one of the largest land- 
owners and one of the heaviest taxpayers in all 
Skagit county, where so many wealthy men dwell. 
And though this wealth was acquired by his own un- 
aided effort, the struggle for its possession did not 
warp any of the finer sentiments in the man, nor 
had it any tendency to develop miserly qualities in 
him, as such a struggle so often does in smaller 
men. On the contrary, he was always remarkably 
generous with his means and no worthy cause ap- 
pealed to him in vain. It frequently happens that 
a community fails to recognize its debt of gratitude 
to great, public-spirited men until death has 
claimed them, but fortunately this was not so in 
Mr. Gilmore's case. It was given to him to enjoy 
the appreciation and honor of his fellow-citizens 
while he was yet among them, the best reward that 
it is in their power to give for a life replete with 
unselfish and kindly deeds. 

In 1870, before leaving Ireland for the new 
world, Mr. Gilmore married Mary McCullough, 
also a native of the "Little Green Isle," born at 
Grey Abbey, County Down, in 1814. She accom- 
panied him across the waters and made his path 
in the new continent a pleasant one, sharing in his 
successes and burdens up to January 10, 1883, when 
she succumbed to a short illness and was buried in 
the cemetery at Edison. They became the parents 
of five children, two of whom are still living, Will- 
iam N. and John A. 

Later in life Mr. Gilmore remarried, from which 
union one child was bom, Hugh J., who now re- 
sides in Olympia. Though active in so many other 
lines. Mr. Gilmore never manifested political am- 
bition, but during a period of residence at Olympia 
he served on the city council there. 

William N. Gilmore, eldest son of William Gil- 
more of this article, was born in Lucas County, 
Iowa, February 10, 1873. Upon completing his ele- 
mentary education, which he did in the public 
schools of Edison, Washington, he attended the col- 
lege at Olympia for a year. At the age of sixteen 
he became a clerk in his father's store, and as soon 
as he attained his majority the elder Gilmore re- 
warded the faithfulness and aptitude for business 
which he had displayed by making him a partner 
in the establishment. To his strict adherence to 
sound business principles and careful study of the 
requirements of his patrons, the reputation of the 
house is in no small measure due. He is a young 
man of industry, integrity and ambition, a worthy 
son of his worthy sire, destined, if indications are 
to be trusted, to win for himself a splendid success 




WILLIAM GILMORE 






r 




PATRICK McCOY 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



in the commercial world. His land holdings con- 
sist of a half interest in an eleven hundred-acre 
farm, of which five hundred and sixty acres are in 
cultivation. 

In his home town, Edison, in 1S99, Mr. Gilmore 
married Minerva Butler, a native of Pennsylvania, 
where she received a careful and thorough educa- 
tion. Her parents were Anurew and Rebecca 
(Moore) Butler, both natives of the Keystone 
state, the former of whom, a lumberman, was killed 
while she was yet a child, the latter of whom died 
in Edison. Mr. and Mrs. Gilmore have two chil- 
dren, Reba J., born July 2, 1901, and Helen W., 
December 24, 1904. The family are regular attend- 
ants of the Congregational church, and m politics 
Mr. Gilmore is a loyal Republican, while his frater- 
nal affiliations are with the Masonic order. 

John A. Gilmore, another of the sons of the sub- 
ject hereof, is likewise a native of Lucas County, 
iowa, the date of his birth being March 21, 1877. 
His common school education, acquired in Edison, 
was supplemented by a course in the Olympia high 
school and another in the state university at Seattle, 
and that he might be still better titted for a business 
career he spent a twelvemonth in the Acme Busi- 
ness college, which is likewise located in the Queen 
city. Upon returning to Edison he entered his 
father's mercantile house, and in 1898 he, too, be- 
came a partner. After his father's demise the firm 
name was changed to Gilmore Brothers & Com- 
pany. An upright, energetic and ambitious young 
man, he is contributing his full share to the suc- 
cess of the establishment, at the same time taking 
the first steps in a career which gives promise of 
much to be realized in the future. Like his older 
brother, he is a Republican in politics and in re- 
ligion a Congregationalist. His marriage was sol- 
emnized in Bayview October 31, 1900, when Mary 
McKenna, daughter of the well-known W. J. Mc- 
Kenna, became his wife. Mrs. Gilmore is a native 
of Eureka, California, born in 1878, but was edu- 
cated in the public schools of Bayview and Ana- 
cortes. She and Mr. Gilmore are parents of two 
children, both born in Edison, J. Wayne, September 
29, 1901, and Constance M., July 20, 1903. 



PATRICK McCOY of Edison, one of the most 
widely known lumbermen of the Northwest, was 
born in Quebec, Canada, April 24, 1854, the son of 
Walter and Ann (Burk) McCoy, both natives of 
Ireland. The father was one of the pioneer settlers 
in the southeastern part of Canada. The youngest 
of a family of ten children, Patrick McCoy attended 
the common schools, diligently making use of every 
opportunity to secure an education. At the age of 
fifteen years he began work in the woods, follow- 
ing it till 1878. After working on a farm for a 
time he went to the woods of Michigan, and two 
years later to Butte, Montana, still engaged in lum- 



bering. After stopping at Wood river, Idaho, a 
few months, he went to Seattle in 1882, thence to 
Stanwood, and that fall filed on a timber claim and 
a homestead near Edison. The ne.xt fall he and 
F. E. Gilkey became proprietors of a hotel, which 
they owned for two years, at the end of which time 
Mr. McCoy returned to his former occupation. 
After logging in the McAlroy, now known as Blan- 
chard slough, two years, he moved his camp to the 
Samish river, in 1887, remaining there for the next 
six years. In 1893, however, he located on the 
Nooksack river, in Whatcom county, but two years 
later he again made Skagit county his home. He 
was employed by the Atlas Lumber Company from 
that time until 1898, then resumed work on the 
Samish river, and since that time has been a resi- 
dent of Edison. In 1902 he put in between six and 
seven miles of standard gauge railroad for logging 
purposes, which was thoroughly equipped with roll- 
ing stock, etc. He is a very large operator in tim- 
ber, among the largest in this section of the state. 

Mr. AlcCoy was married in Edison, January 20, 
1889, to Gertrude Butler, a native of Pennsylvania, 
born June 3, 1867. After completing her educa- 
tion in the schools of her native state, she came with 
her mother to Washington in 1887, and for sev- 
eral years after her arrival she was one of the suc- 
cessful and popular teachers of Skagit county. Her 
parents were Andrew and Rebecca (Moore) Butler, 
both born in Pennsylvania. Her father, a well- 
known lumberman, was killed when she was a small 
child. Mr. and Mrs. McCoy have the following 
children: Annie, born in Skagit county April 28 
1890; Edna, in Edison, February 17, 1892, and 
Wade, also a native of Edison, the date of his 
birth being July 8, 1894. Mr. McCoy is a member 
of the Catholic church, and in politics is a promi- 
nent member of the Democratic party. He was 
elected representative of Skagit county in 1902 and 
served two years, and for four years he was post- 
master of Edison, during Cleveland's second admin- 
istration. Mr. McCoy is a man of splendid business 
abilities. He is a recognized authority on all mat- 
ters relating to the lumber industry, to which he 
has devoted the best energies of his^life. The large 
measure of success attending his labors has come 
as a reward for years of unremitting toil. Few 
men in the county can claim so large a circle of ad- 
miring friends as can he, for his frank, manly bear- 
ing and sterling character attract all who are thrown 
in contact with him, either in business or society. 



THOMAS CAIN, one of the wealthy and in- 
fluential citizens of Edison, Washington, was born 
November 15, 1847, in Port Calborn, Canada. IVxs 
father, John Cain, a native of Ireland and by occu- 
pation a shoemaker and farmer, was brought by his 
parents to New York state at the age of eight years, 
becoming a pioneer of Erie county. He died there 



764 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



at the age of ninety-eight. Mrs. Bridget (Quinn) 
Cain, the mother, also born in Ireland, died in Can- 
ada in 1862. She was the mother of ten children. 
After receiving his education in the public schools 
of Canada, Thomas Cain, at the age of fifteen, went 
to work in the lumber camps of Michigan, \\-]ierc 
he remained ten years. In 1873 he located in Colo- 
rado, but soon moved to Texas to accept a position 
with the Baltimore Bridge Company, engaged in 
constructing railroad bridges. One year later he 
migrated to Wisconsin and took charge of a logging 
camp. In 1876 he came thence to Washin.gton. He 
was in Tacoma a few months, then came to Seattle 
and for two years managed a logging camp at Port 
Ludlnw. iiwned bv Arthur Phiney, who at that time 
jiail iIk- iiKist extensive lumber business in the state. 
At Mr. Phiney 's death Mr. Cain was appointed one 
of the administrators of the estate, which was closed 
up in eight months. He then assumed the manage- 
ment of a logging camp on Whidby island, owned 
by Edward Oliver, but three months later he broke 
the bone in his hip and for nearly a year and a half 
afterward he was disabled. He entered the custom 
service at Port Townsend under A. W. Bash, in 
1881, and continued there until the spring of ISS-t, 
when he resigned, and entered into partnership with 
Messrs. Churchill, lioyce & Sweeny, to put in the 
second store in the town of Edison. Later he built 
the first hotel, which he owned and operated seven- 
teen years. During this time he purchased five hun- 
dred and thirty acres of land near the town, all 
heavily timljered, and he now has two hundred and 
twenty-five acres of it cleared and in cultivation, 
the cost of clearing a part of it being $100 an acre. 
Recently he has let a contract for clearing the trees 
and stumps from one hundred acres of his timber 
tract. He gives special attention to raising cattle, 
keeping some fine Durhams. 

In Edison, in 1891, Mr. Cain married Miss Eliza 
M. Dufify, who was born in Canada in 1863, the 
daughter of James Duffy, a native of Ireland. Her 
father is a well-known pioneer, now residing- in the 
province of Ontario. Her mother. Mrs. ;\Iary 
(Kelly) Duffy, was born in Canada and died there 
in 1888. Mrs. Cain received a thorough education 
in her native country, graduating "from Brandford 
imiversity, and for a number of years she was one 
of the most popular and successful teachers of Ska- 
git and Whatcom counties. Two children have 
come into the home of Mr. and Mrs. Cain, Arthur 
T-. born in Edison February 34, 1896, and Eugene, 
born in Edison December 16, 1899. Mr. Cain is 
prominent in the Knights of Pythias fraternity, and 
he and his family attend the Catholic church. He 
adheres loyally to the principles of the Republican 
party, always attending county and state conven- 
tions and giving his influence to every movement 
that he considers promotive of good government. 
For many years he has been importuned to accept 
office, but has refused, contenting himself with ef- 



forts to fill posts of trust in private life. He was, 
however, postmaster of Edison irom 1889 to 1893, 
under appointment by Harrison. Unselfish devo- 
tion to the interests of county, state and nation is 
one of the marked characteristics of this all-round 
man, who holds the unbounded confidence of all 
who have had the privilege of association with him. 
His genial, social disposition, combined with strict 
integrity and high ideals, has given him an honored 
position in the community. 



DANIEL SULLIVAN. Prominent among the 
agriculturists who have amassed great wealth in the 
fertile lands of the Northwest, stands the one whose 
name initiates this article, a well-known resident of 
Edison, Washington. He was born in New Bruns- 
wick, December 30, 1841, the son of Daniel and 
Mary Sullivan, both natives of Ireland. Having 
completed his education in the schools of his native 
province at the age of sixteen, Daniel Sifllivan be- 
gan working in logging camps, following that for 
the ensuing eleven years. In 1869 he removed to 
California, and he was employed in the lumber 
business in the Golden state for more than two- 
years, but in January, 1872, he located in Washing- 
ton, taking a pre-emption on Samish flats and be- 
coming one of the earliest pioneers of that sec- 
tion. He raised his first grain in 1876. Two years 
previous, in 187-1, he filed on a tract two miles east 
of his original claim, under the homestead act. 
Sixty acres of the homestead were in marsh lands; 
the rest covered with brush and trees. He now has 
seven hundred acres on Samish flats, all in a splen- 
did state of cultivation ; one hundred and sixty 
acres on Olympia marsh, in cultivation ; one hun- 
dred and twenty acres of farm land and three hun- 
dred and. forty acres of timber, on Jarman prairie, 
and another timber tract comprising three hundred 
and twenty acres. 

Mr. Sulli\-an was married in Seattle in 1883 to 
Ellen Daily, a native of New Brunswick, born- 
February 33. 18.")3. Her parents, Timothy and 
Mary (RIade) Daily, were born and married in Ire- 
land, but were among the early settlers in New 
Brunswick. Mr. and Mrs. Sullivan are parents of 
the following children, all natives of Skagit county, 
namely: Mary M. E., born July 21, 1883, now at 
home; Nellie' F. M., February '28, 1885, the wife 
of I. Fredricks, of Clear Lake; Katie T., January 
28, 1887; Amelia V. L., died Tune 27, 1905; Mag- 
gie M. L., May 26, 1890; John A., January 26, 
1895, died July 'lO, 1895. Mr. Sullivan is a promi- 
nent member of the Catholic church. In political 
matters he is a firm believer in Democratic prin- 
ciples, but has never desired for himself any politi- 
cal prominence. His splendid business abilities are 
apparent in the wise and careful way in which he 
manages his vast holdings, comprising nearly nine- 
teen hundred acres in Skagit county, one thousand' 




THOMAS CAIN 




EDWARD W. McTAGGART 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



769 



of which are in cultivation. Although occupied with 
the multiplicity of details incident to the ownership 
of such an estate, he yet finds time to watch care- 
fully over the welfare of county and state and freely 
gives of his time and wealth to the advancement 
of any enterprise which will redound to the public 
good. It is not possible to estimate the advantages 
that accrue to the community and the common- 
wealth because of the activities of such men as 
Daniel Sullivan. Like so many Ainerican citizens 
who have sprung from Celtic ancestry, he possesses 
in a marked degree the power of organization, of 
systematizing his eiiforts for the accomplishing a 
given purpose. During the thirty-four years of his 
residence in Skagit county he has perhaps accom- 
plished more in the development of its agricultural 
resources than anv other one individual, and these 
results have followed the formation oi defiiiite 
plans and the painstaking execution thereof. The 
development of the homestead of 18T4 into the vast 
estate of 1905 is an attainment that evincrs in. li sui- 
table courage, keen foresight and superinr t\((-mi\e 
ability. Of the pioneers of the early sc\^'ntu■^ in 
Skagit county, no one is more worthy of the pro- 
found respect and admiration of his fellow-citizens ; 
no one is better entitled to prommence in the pages 
of the county's history, than is Daniel Sullivan of 
Edison. 



NICHOLS SHUMAKER, a prosperous farmer 
residing near Bow, one-half mile southwest of Edi- 
son, was born October 7, 1851, in Germany, the 
native land of his parents, Henry and Catharine 
(Sonntaeg) Shumaker. His father, born in 1807, 
was a shoemaker; he died in Germany in 1901, 
where the mother's death also occurred. Having 
acquired his education in the common schools of 
Germany, Nichols Shumaker was apprenticed at 
the age of sixteen to learn his father's trade, which 
he followed a number of years. A longing to try 
his fortune in the United States, whither so many 
of his countrymen had journeyed, at lenglh seized 
him and in 1872 he sailed for the new world. He 
located in Chicago, found employment in a soap 
factory owned by James Kirk, and remained there 
two years. Afterwards he farmed nearly a year 
and a half in Iowa, returning then to Illinois. In 
1878 he came to La Conner, and he worked for J. 
S. Conner until the summer of 1880, when he filed 
on a homestead on Samish flats, becoming one of 
the finst men to dike land in that vicinity. He 
worked two years before he had the land in' condi- 
tion to raise crops. This place is still his home. 

Mr. Shumaker was married in \\'hatcom, March 
8. 1885, to Catharine Denis, born in Minnesota, Oc- 
tober 19, 1864. Her father, Claude Denis, was born 
in France in 1833 and emigrated to Minnesota in 
1863. Ten years later he took ud his residence in 
Whatcom, finding employment in the coal mines 



there, but after three years' experience as a collier 
he moved to La Conner and rented a farm from 
J. S. Conner for one year. He then leased a place 
of the Puget Sound Mill Company, upon which he 
lived three years. In 1881 he returned to What- 
com, where he later proved up on a homestead. In 
1886 he came to the Samish fiats and bought one 
hundred and ten acres of land, upon which he re- 
sided till his death, January 25, 1893. Elizabeth 
(Bessner) Denis, mother of Mrs. Shumaker, was 
born and married in Germany, but died in Wash- 
ington in 1898, her demise occurring at Edison. 
Mr. and Mrs. Shumaker have the following chil- 
dren, all born in Edison : Alice, December 26, 
1S8G, Louisa, October 13, 1888; Bertha, Decem- 
ber 10, 1890; William. February 13, 1894. Mr. 
Shumaker and his family are members of the Catho- 
lic church and he is a well-known Republican. He 
has been deeply interested in educational matters, 
and has cheerfully given his time and influence to 
advancing them, having served as school director 
for the past eleven years, and being now chairman 
of the high school board. He owns one hundred 
and twenty acres, all in a fine state of cultivation ; 
keeps a large number of thoroughbred cattle, and is 
surrounded on every hand by evidence of the pros- 
perity that his years of arduous toil so richly merit. 
He is recognized as one of the substantial, public- 
spirited citizens of the town and enjoys the confi- 
dence and respect of all who come in contact with 
him. 



EDWARD McTAGGART. Probably no man 
in Skagit county has been more actively connected 
.with the development of the community which 
claimed him as a citizen than has the gentleman 
whose -name initiates this article, with that of Edi- 
son and the Samish country, to which he came in 
1870. At the time of his advent into that section 
the Samish flats were a wilderness, with but one or 
two settlers for miles around, no roads nor trails, 
and the dugout and canoe the only means of in- 
gress and egress. The land was boggy and subject 
to overflow and covered with almost impenetrable 
forests of mammoth trees and underbrush. Here' 
he took up land and begun the fight against wilder- 
ness and flood ; and with that broad grasp of pos- 
sibilities which is peculiarly characteristic of the 
man, and that progressive public-spiritedness which 
has ever marked his course in life, he soon begun 
casting about to see what could be accomplished in 
the way of development and progress. He it was 
who deeded the land for the first store to Captain 
A. J. Edwards, as an inducement to him to bring 
in a stock of goods, in 1883, and one year later he 
was instrumental in getting William Gilmore to 
come to Edison and buy the Edwards stock; and 
it was at his place the meeting was held by the set- 
tlers on March 26, 1876, for the securing of a post- 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



office and he was selected to fill the position of 
postmaster. The name Edison, adopted as the 
name of the postoffice, was of nis suggesting, and 
he appointed Swen Johnson as mail carrier in June, 
being personally responsible for his conduct until 
official action could be taken by the postoffice de- 
partment. He went before tlie county commission- 
ers in the early eighties and urged upon them the 
dire needs of his community for a bridge across 
the south branch of the Samish river, pledging to 
raise half of the expense of building the bridge 
among the settlers, and standing personally respon- 
sible for the sum. He had been instrumental in 
having a bridge built across the north branch of the 
Samish by the settlers prior to this, and had taken 
the lead in digging a ditch along the south side of 
the main Samish river and constructing an elevated 
footpath in the shape of a dirt dike thrown up for 
a half mile or so, with two small bridges across the 
salt water sloughs which it intersected, thus afford- 
ing a means of connection between that community 
and Samish island, where the Seattle steamers 
landed. Between the years 1870-78 Mr. McTag- 
gart practiced in the United States land office at 
Olympfa, during which time he secured to the set- 
tlers of the Samish and other parts of Skagit county 
their title to lands. Since 1879 he has held the posi- 
tion of state lumber inspector for the district in 
which he has resided, having received his appoint- 
ment first from Governor Elisha P. Ferry, for dis- 
trict No. 9, composed of Whatcom county, and on 
the construction of district No. 1, by the legisla- 
ture in 1881, which comprised the counties of 
Island, Whatcom, Skagit and Snohomish, Governor 
Newell appointed him as inspector of that enlarged 
territory. Since that time he has successively been 
appointed to the same position by Governors Squire, 
Semple, Acting Governor Laughton and Governor 
McGraw. He is now living tlie life of a retired 
gentleman, in the city of Bellingham, respected and 
honored by all, and loved and esteemed as a friend 
and brother by the old-time citizens of Edison and 
community, where he is still interested largely, and 
to which he makes regular visits to look after his 
interests and talk over old times with his former 
neighbors. 

Mr. McTaggart comes of good old Scotch stock 
and himself is a native of Argyllshire, born in 1833. 
At the age of six years he was brought to the 
United States by his parents, Edward and Mary 
(McGeachy) McTaggart, who settled in Virginia 
in 1839, and engaged in farming. Here young Mc- 
Taggart was reared and educated, dividing his time 
between the farm and school until twenty-six years 
of age, when he turned his face toward the Pacific 
coast, traveling to San Francisco via the Isthmus 
of Panama. He turned his attention to mining, 
and for five years wooed fortune in the gold fields 
of California, then he returned to his former home 
and entered the mercantile business with his 



brother Archibald. Four years of this business suf- 
ficed, then he again sought the genial clime of the 
Pacific coast country, purchasing a farm near Los 
Angeles, where he continued to live one year. Then 
after a visit home he came on up the coast to Olym- 
pia, then to Seattle, and in October of 1870 he first 
landed on the Samish flats, in what was then What- 
com county. 

In 1878 Mr. McTaggart and Miss Mary L. 
Judson, daughter of Holden A. Judson, of Lynden, 
Whatcom county, were united in marriage. Mrs. 
McTjiggart's father was a native of Ohio, as was 
also the mother, Mrs. Phoebe N. (Goodell ) Judson. 
Her parents crossed the plains in a very early day 
and settled at Olympia, where the husband engaged 
in farming and later in the mercantile business. 
Still later he came to Whatcom county, and 
in 1877 he laid out the town of Lynden, 
of which he was the pioneer merchant. He passed 
away in 1890. Mrs. Judson shared with her hus- 
band all of his pioneer experiences, gaining the dis- 
tinction of being the first white woman to settle 
north of the town of Bellingham. She still lives 
at Lynden. Mrs. McTaggart was born in Olympia 
in 1861 and received her education in the capitol 
city. She taught school in Whatcom county for a 
time prior to her marriage. She departed this life 
in 1894, leaving two children, Edward L. and May 
E., born in Edison, the latter of whom died in Feb- 
ruary, 1905. 

Politically Mr. McTaggart is a staunch Repub- 
lican. In 1873 he served his district as a member 
of the board of county commissioners, of which he 
was the chairman. He served as member of the 
school board at Edison and furnished the lumber 
and personally assisted in the erection of the first 
school-house in district No. 7, after having secured 
a grant of land from the government for the site. 
Broad-minded, energetic and liberal to a fault, Mr. 
McTaggart has left his impress on the Edison com- 
munity in such a manner that it will never be ef- 
faced, and has made a place for himself in the 
hearts of the people by his many acts of unselfish- 
ness that will last indefinitely. 



NATHANIEL McCULLOUGH, whose farm 
is about two miles southwest of Edison, is one of 
the prosperous and well-to-do agriculturi^sts of Ska- 
git county, owning a farm of three hundred and 
twenty acres, all of which is under cultivation and 
admirably adapted for raising oats. Mr. McCul- 
lough is a native of the north of Ireland, born 
March 21, 1852, the seventh of the eight children of 
Nathaniel and Jane (Beck) McCulIough, both of 
whom passed their entire lives as farmers of the 
Emerald isle. The elder McCulIough died when 
his son was but a lad and the latter remained on 
the farm with his mother until he was nineteen 
years of age, receiving a common school education. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



771 



He then emigrated, and, in the fall of 1871, settled 
in Lucas County, Iowa, as a farmer, and continued 
there until 1890. In 1883 he made a trip to Skagit 
County, Washington, and his permanent settling 
here is the result of that visit seven years before. 
Air. McCulIough bought his present place on the 
Samish flats and later added one hundred and sixty 
acres more, secured by purchase, to his original 
tract. 

In 1876, in Lucas County, Iowa, Mr. McCul- 
Iough married Miss Amy Young, daughter of Will- 
iam and Sarah (Graham) Young, both of whom 
were natives of Pennsylvania, but settled in Lucas 
County, Iowa, in the pioneer days of 1856. They 
have both died within a comparatively few years. 
Mrs. McCulIough was born in the Keystone state 
in 1854, and received her education in Iowa, marry- 
ing when twenty-two years of age. To this union 
have been born three children : James, in 1877 ; 
Charles, November 20, 1879. and Ivy, May 20, 
1884. The family attends the Presbyterian church, 
and in politics Mr. McCulIough is a Republican. 
The principal crop raised on the McCulIough farm 
is oats, the land being of excellent quality for that 
crop. He also raises considerable live stock, keep- 
ing at present fifty head of cattle and fifteen horses. 
Mr. McCulIough is not onlv prosperous as a farmer 
and business man, but stands high in the esteem of 
his fellow-citizens. Though he is a newcomer, as 
compared with some of the earliest settlers of Ska- 
git county, he has gained for himself a reputation 
for energy and thrift, has proved himself a man 
of integrity and fair dealing, and has enrolled him- 
self with the substantial men of the community 
whose influence weighs for higher standards, good 
citizenship, right government and material prog- 
ress. 



MELBOURN WATKIXSON is one of the old- 
time men of Skagit county and has done his share 
toward developing the resources of the country. 
His life, like that of his father, has been the life of 
the pioneer farmer and timber man. Mr. Watkin- 
son was born in Linn County, Oregon, May 3, 1857, 
the son of Robert Watkinson, a native of Manches- 
ter, England, who came to the United States and 
was a school teacher in New Orleans, in Ohio and 
in Indiana. In 1852 he crossed the plains by ox 
team and settled in Linn County, Oregon, taking 
up a homestead and teaching school. He also spent 
two years in California, but returned to his Oregon 
home, and in 1869 came to Washington and settled 
on Hood's canal in Mason county. Two years he 
passed as a merchant, and then took up a pre-emp- 
tion and lived on it for ten years. He visited for 
one year in his old haunts in Canada and died in 
Skagit county in 1902. Mrs. Rebecca (Beeler) 
Watkinson, now living in Skagit county, was born 
in Missouri, but crossed the plains with her father 



in 1852 and was married in Oregon, becoming the 
mother of ten . children, of whom Melbourn is the 
oldest. Melbourn Watkinson received his educa- 
tion in the schools of Oregon and Washington, and 
at the age of sixteen commenced to do for himself, 
working with Qiris Johnson for four years in a 
logging camp. He afterwards engaged in logging 
in his own interests and then cruised timber for a 
year from Hood's canal to Quiniault, on the Pacific 
coast, traversing the Olympic range of mountains. 
In 1880 he came to Skagit county and for a year 
worked for Joe Miller in a logging camp. Then, in 
company with his brother-in-law and six other men, 
he formed a plan to take up land and follow log- 
ging. This arrangement was successful and con- 
tinued for two years, at the end of which time In- 
bought his present home place of one hundred and 
forty-two acres, a little over two miles south of Edi- 
son. It was then in its raw state, but Mr. Watkin- 
son has diked and cleared the entire tract and 
erected a fine eight-room house and large barn. 

In 1882 Mr. Watkinson married Miss Ada G. 
Gilkey, daughter of Franklin and Eliza (Bowen) 
Gilkey, natives of Pennsylvania, later farmers in 
Kansas, and Washingtonians since 1875. Mr. 
Gilkey, who was born in 1840, is living in 
Snohomish county, but Mrs. Gilkey died here 
in 1898. Mrs. Watkinson was also a native 
of the Keystone state, born in 1865, but edu- 
cated in the schools of Kansas and Washington. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Watkinson have been born ten 
children: Melville E., living at home; Cora M., 
who died in 1904; Arthur P., Nellie F., Ida, Alice, 
Nora, Myrtle, Blanch and Frankie. In politics Mr. 
Watkinson is a Democrat. He is farming but sixty 
acres now ; the place is well stocked with horses 
and cattle. He is recognized as one of Skagit's 
citizens of sterling worth and integrity and is a man 
respected by all. 



CLExMENT CULVER, one of the successful 
farmers of the Edison section of Skagit county, re- 
siding two miles and a half south of town, was 
born in Michigan in 1851, the second of the eleven 
children of Lyman and Mary (Closson) Culver. 
The elder Culver, who was a native of Ohio, was 
for years a farmer in Michigan and Iowa, but came 
to Washington in 1885 and has since died here. 
Mrs. Culver was also a native of the Buckeye state. 
Our subject received his education in Iowa, whither 
he was taken when a child by his parents. In 1867 
the family went to Kansas. When young Culver 
was twenty-one years of age he joined a surveying 
party in Oklahoma, but later he engaged in farming 
in Neosha County, Kansas, where he resided con- 
tinuously until 1875. In that year he went to the 
mines of Cherokee County, Kansas, and he stayed 
there two years, then going to farming near Chau- 
tauqua, in the same state. In 1888 he came to 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



Washington. The first summer of his residence 
here he ran a threshing machine for. Mr. Dawson 
on the Samish flats, then he rented the Ed Ames 
place and farmed it two years. For the ensuing 
four years he was lessee of the McCullough place, 
and subsequently he moved onto the Conner farm, 
which he operated for six years. During his ten- 
ancy of this place he purchased sixty-eight acres 
of it. After the termination of his lease he added 
forty acres more to his holdings, and upon the 
splendid farm thus secured he has ever since lived, 
successfully and profitably cultivating the whole. 

In Neosha, Kansas, in 18^4, Mr. Culver mar- 
ried Honor Eller, daughter of Henry EUer, a native 
of Indiana, who became a pioneer farmer of Kan- 
sas, later, however, moving to Colorado, where he 
now resides. Mrs. Culver was born in the Hoosier 
state in 1856, but attended school in Kansas. Four 
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Culver, of 
whom the living are Delbert E., now in Oregon ; 
Alfred and Leo. In fraternal circles Mr. Culver 
is a prominent Odd Fellow. He is a past grand 
in the order and was a member of the grand lodge 
that met in Spokane in 1894 and Seattle in 1900. 
In politics he is a Republican. Though like most 
of the farmers in his part ni Sls,r;it ci unity, he gives 
most of his attention to ccnal priKhiction, he does 
not neglect live stock, but kcejis eighteen head of 
cattle and a number of horses. He is a prosperous 
farmer and a man in whom people repose confi- 
dence because of his integrity and worth. The 
success that has attended his efiforts under the many 
difficulties that have beset his paths during the 
seventeen years of residence in Skagit county, is 
abundant evidence of the possession of those sterling 
qualities of diaracter so characteristic of the sub- 
stantial citizens of any communitv. He is justly 
entitled to enrollment with the progressive men of 
Skagit county. 

PETER DENIS, one of the prosperous farm- 
ers of the Edison part of Skagit county, in which he 
has lived continuously since boyhnod, was born in 
France, June 17, 18G0, the son of Clamk- and Eliza- 
beth (Ressner) Denis. The fatlicr, a veteran of 
the Crimean War, came to the United States in 
1863 and settled on a farm in Minnesota. Nine 
years later he came to Washington, located in 
Walla Walla and opened a harness shop there, 
which he ran for a twelvemonth. Coming then to 
Whatcom, he spent four years in the coal mines 
near that city. His next occupation was farming 
near La Conner, but eventually he returned to 
Whatcom and took a homestead in the vicinity, on 
which he spent a half decade. At a later date he 
became once more a resident of Skagit county, but 
he was again in Whatcom when death claimed him, 
January 25, 1893. Mrs. Elizabeth Denis, the 
mother of our subject, was a native of Luxemburg, 
Germanv. 



The school opportunities enjoyed by Peter Denis 
were curtailed by the removal of his father when 
he was a lad of thirteen to Whatcom. The next 
year he entered the Seaborne mines and for two 
years thereafter he enjoyed the distinction of being 
the youngest operative employed in them. When his 
father rented the J. S. Conner farm he moved with 
him onto it, deserting the mines. After becoming 
of age he took a pre-emption, but for the next half 
decade he devoted most of his time to laboring for 
others in the vicinities of La Conner and Whatcom. 
Eventually he came to the Samish flats, where he 
worked for awhile for his father, finally, in 1889, 
renting his farm from him. This he operated for 
three years, thereupon leasing the Gilmore place, 
upon which he has ever since resided, though he 
has one hundred and sixty acres of land of his 
own, which he purchased originally from the state, 
it having been school land. 

In 1890 Mr. Denis married Miss Mary Thein, 
daughter of Peter Thein, a native of Luxemburg, 
who came to the United States in the early fifties 
and settled in Minnesota. He was a blacksmith 
by trade. Mrs. Cathron (Felton) Tliein, the 
mother, was also a native of Luxemburg. Mrs. 
Denis was born in Minnesota November 17, 1871, 
and received her education in that state. Mr. and 
Mrs. Denis have four children: Thomas P., born 
November 27, 1890 ; Eugene C, July 5, 1894 ; Marie, 
December 8, 1896, and Leona, May 3, 19(13, all in 
Skagit county. The members of the family are 
adherents of the Catholic faith and in politics Mr. 
Denis is a Democrat. He has served as dike com- 
missioner and road supervisor. He now owns one 
hundred and sixty acres of land, half of which is 
cultivated, and has twenty-five head of cattle, as 
well as draught and road horses. Mr. Denis is an 
open-hearted gentleman, successful in business, rich 
in the esteem of his neighbors and ever contribut- 
ing his full share to the developing of the re- 
sources of Skagit county. 



JOHN W. MARTIN, whose farm is about 
three miles southwest of Edison, devotes much of 
his attention to the industry of raising oats, and in 
this line of activity has achieved a high degree of 
success. He is a native of Tennessee, born in 
Blount county, April 4, 1856, the eleventh of twelve 
children of Moses and Celia (Carr) Martin. The 
elder Martin was a native of North Carolina, but 
moved to Tennessee when a lad and spent the re- 
mainder of his years there. Mrs. Martin was a 
native of Tennessee. John W. Martin received his 
early education in his native state, in the common 
schools and the college at Marysville, but when 
nineteen he left home for Illinois to work at farm- 
ing. He, however, afterward put in several win- 
ters in school, supplementing his formerly acquired 
scholarship. After a few years in Illinois he re- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



turned to his Tennessee home and operated his 
father's farm there until he was thirty years of age, 
at which time his attention was called to the re- 
sources of Washington, and in 1888 he came to 
Skagit county. He leased land on the Samisli at 
first, but a little later purchased eights acres of 
Samish land, cleared it and placed it cntiiel\ nmler 
cultivation. He, however, rents the place un which 
he now lives, though he still has land of his own. 

In 1888, in Louden County, Tennessee, Mr. 
Martin married Miss Letcia Kerr, daughter of 
James C. and Harriet (Newell) Kerr, natives of 
Tennessee, where the father ii still living. Mrs 
Martin was born there in 1863 and received her 
education in the schools of her native state. To 
this union have been born eleven children : Celia 
(deceased), Ora, Clinton, Rosa, Gracie (, deceased). 
Ruby, Everett. Mary E., Iva and Ida, twins, and 
Lida J. The family are attendants of the Metho- 
dist church. Mr. Alartin is an Odd Fellow and a 
past grand in the order. In politics he is a Re- 
publican. He owns sixty-five acres of land, and 
though he makes a specialty of oat raising keeps 
considerable live stock, having at the present time 
twenty-four head of cattle and nine horses. In his 
early years in Skagit county he taught school at 
both Mount Baker and Edison. He is a thorough- 
going farmer, a man of attainments and highly re- 
spected by the members of the community, where 
his influence is always exerted for the betterment 
of general conditions and for the elevation of the 
standard of citizenship. 



EUGEN DANIELS, a farmer, residing four 
miles southwest of Edison, came to Washington 
with his parents in 1883, and has ever since resided 
in Skagit county, where he enjoys the respect of a 
wide circle of acquaintances. He was born in 
Crawford County. Iowa, September 17, 1864. the 
fifth of eleven children of John R. and Lennra 
(Lupton) Daniels. The elder Daniels, who was a 
native of Ohio, went to Iowa in the early days, 
married in that state and followed farming there 
until 1867, when he moved to Brown County, Kan- 
sas. He later returned to Iowa and farmed in 
Crawford and Howard counties until 1.S83, when 
he came to Washington, settling first on La Conner 
flats, but moving after two years to the Samish 
flats, where he died in 188.')' Mrs. Daniels, the 
mother, was a native of Illinois, but when two 
years of age removed with her parents to Iowa and 
acquired her education there. Her children are 
James N., a carpenter; Alice L., William A., Josiah 
H., Eugen. Charles (deceased), Ellis Q., Mrs. Rosa 
Stump, wife of a farmer near Edison; Marion and 
Mahlon, twins, and Mrs. Eva Streeter. wife of a 
farmer on the Samish flats. Eugen Daniels was 
educated in the Kansas schools, being only three 
years of age when his parents left Iowa for the 



first time. He lived with his parents until after 
they came to Washington, but eventually purchased 
the farm that is now his and began making a home 
for himself and family. The forty acres constitut- 
ing his place were bought in 1893. They were then 
covered with timber and brush ; but he has cleared 
and brought under cultivation every acre of his 
land. A small orchard upon it forms the begin- 
ning of a venture in the direction of horticulture. 

In 1898, at Mount Vernon, Washington, Mr. 
Daniels married Miss Margaret Duren, daughter 
of Marion and Emalie (Allen) Duren. The father, 
a school teacher by profession, served during the 
Civil War in the Southern army. He and Mrs. 
Duren are still living in Arkansas, of which state 
Mrs. Daniels is a native, and in which state she 
received her education. One child has been born to 
Mr. and Mrs. Daniels, namely. Raymond V. In 
politics Mr. Daniels is a Republican. He is highly 
esteemed in his neighborhood, as a hard working, 
industrious man, successful in his business and ef- 
ficient in promoting the general progress. His 
mental and moral traits are such as will make him 
a man of influence and one who will be found 
always on the right side of questions that have to 
do with the forward march of county, state or na- 
tion. 



NICHOLAS BESSNER, engaged in farming 
three miles south of Edison, is one of the most 
prosperous agriculturists of that section, a man of 
energy and application, popular in the community 
because of his innate good qualities. He was born 
in Mansfield, Ohio, December 17, 1859, the son of 
John Bessner, who was born in Germany Novem- 
ber 5, 1829, and came to the United States in 1857, 
settling in the Buckeye state. In 1860 he (John 
Bessner) moved to Minnesota, and for the next 
fifteen years he farmed there, but on coming to 
Washington in 1875 he engaged in mining in what 
is now Bellingham. After spending two years at 
that, he moved to La Conner. He was there a year, 
ihen leased the Williamson place, three miles north, 
remaining upon it for the next three years. In the 
spring of 1882 he bought land on the~ Skagit delta, 
which was the scene of his farming operations un- 
til February 12, 1905, when he died. His wife, 
Mary (Berenger) Bessner, was likewise a native 
of Germany, born November 25, 1837. She died 
in Skagit county April 4, 1904, the mother of 
twelve children, of whom the subject hereof is the 
oldest. 

Nicholas Bessner, of this article, secured his 
educational training in Minnesota. Coming west at 
the age of seventeen, he worked in the mines of 
Washington for a time, then found employment in 
the vicinity of La Conner for four or five years. 
In 1885 he moved to Samish flats and for the next 
four vears was engaged in farming leased land 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



there. He purchased his present fine farm in 1890, 
and to its cultivation and improvement he has ever 
since devoted himself with assiduity and success. 

On the 20th of February, 1890, on the Samish 
flats, Mr. Bessner married Mrs. Mary Hoffman, 
daughter of Mathias Hazer, a German by birth and 
a pioneer farmer of Iowa, in which state he died. 
Her mother, Mrs. Marie (Nausbaum) Hazer, was 
also a native of Germany, and she, too, sleeps in 
Iowa. Mrs. Bessner was born in Jackson County, 
Iowa, December 29, 1859, and received her educa- 
tion in that state, remaining until 1883, when she 
came to Washington. She and Mr. Bessner have 
two children, both born in Skagit county: William, 
born April 27, 1891, and Viola, born June 11, 1894. 
in fraternal affiliation Mr. Bessner is a member of 
the Woodmen of the World ; in church mem- 
bership a Catholic, and politically a Democrat. He 
was a member of the board of county commission- 
ers for the term 1902-1. Mr. Bessner's home p'ace 
contains one hundred and forty acres, all under cul- 
tivation, and he also owns sixty acres on the Skagit 
river. His chief crops are oats and hay. He takes 
special pride in his horses, of which he has thir- 
teen head, four of them thoroughbred animals 
brought from Portland, Oregon. Mr. Bessner has 
made an unqualified success of farming hi Skagit 
county. The qualities of his mind and heart rec- 
ommend him to all with whom 'he comes in contact, 
for he is a genial, whole-hearted man and public- 
spirited citizen. 



JAMES T. SQUIRES. Among the younger 
farmers who are making a success of the business 
in the Samish country is James T. Squires, a man 
of ability and education and one who enjoys in 
abundant measure the esteem and regard of his 
fellows. Though compelled by opposing circum- 
stances to abandon the professional career he laid 
out for himself in boyhood, he is yet making his 
mark in the world as a man- of ability and force 
of character. He is a native of Smith County, 
Tennessee, born August 9, 1867, the son of James 
M. and Amelia (Jones) Squires. His father, a 
man of unusual ability and force, was very ambitious 
to become a physician, so much so that he attempted 
to fit himself for the medical profession by study- 
ing at odd moments while plowing. He was ruined 
financially by the exigencies of the war, but was 
rapidly regaining his lost fortunes when death over- 
took him, December 24, 1875. The mother of our 
subject, who was a native of Nashville, Tennessee, 
died on the 3d of July of the year just mentioned, 
so young James T. found himself orphaned and adritt 
at the tender age of eight. For six years he re- 
mained around the old place, then an uncle, a prac- 
ticing physician, took charge of him, giving him 
support and an opportunity to attend school. This 
uncle, John L. Jones, intended giving his nephew 



a professional education ; circumstances prevented, 
but to this day Mr. Squires accords him filial rev- 
erence. At the age of nineteen young Squires was 
a common work hand on a Mississippi plantation, 
but he soon became foreman, and he passed two 
years in that capacity. He then went to Napa 
County, California, and worked in vineyards and 
wine cellars for a year, thereupon moving to British 
Columbia, but in 1891 he came to Edison, a town 
in which he had neither friends nor acquaintances, 
arriving with just thirty-five cents in his pocket 
and with no reserve bank account anywhere. Going 
to work on a farm, he spent the ensuing year and 
a half as a laborer, then he leased forty acres of 
land and began cultivating the soil on his own ac- 
count. He worked this land from 1895 to 1903. In 
1898 he leased two hundred and forty-five acres of 
school land and went into the business of raising 
oats, for this purpose diking eighty acres of the 
marsh land included in the tract, and, like most other 
oat raisers, he is now rapidly accumulating a com- 
petence. A believer in diversified agriculture, he is 
giving some attention to live stock, keeping at the 
present time twenty head of graded cattle, eleven 
head of work horses, eight head of fancy South- 
down sheep, etc. He also owns a share in the im- 
ported stallion Duke of Illinois. 

November 20, 1895, Mr. Squires married Miss 
Theodosia E. Giles, daughter of T. J. Russell Giles, 
a native of Tennessee, who came to Skagit county 
in 1891, and is now living at Rosario. Mrs. Squires' 
mother, Martha (Best) Giles, also a native of Ten- 
nessee, is likewise living. To the union of Mr. and 
Mrs. Squires three children have been born, namely, 
Theodora, James T., Jr., and Mary Gladys. Mr. 
Squires is a member of the La Conner Camp of 
Woodmen of the World and with his wife affiliates 
with the Fraternal Union of America. He belongs 
to the Democratic party, which in 1898 honored him 
by making him its candidate for county .treasurer. 
In religion the family are Congregationalists. Mr. 
Squires is one of the popular men of his commu- 
nity, energetic, refined, well informed on all topics, 
progressive and ambitious. 



WTLLIAM WOOD, engaged in farming a mile 
and a half south of Fravel, is one of the pioneers 
of Skagit county, having come here in 1867, and 
it is noteworthy that he has not since been farther 
away from his original homestead than Olympia. 
In his early days he was a prospector and on one 
occasion nearly met death with four others while 
on a trip up the south fork of the Nooksack. The 
men started out with their provisions on their backs 
and camped the first night at Whatcom lake. From 
the lake they journeyed on, making but a single 
mile the first day owing to the thickness of the 
brush and the steepness of the mountain. That 
night they camped without water and were with- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



775 



out it until the middle of the followino: afternoon, 
when they had to take their choice of bear-tainted 
pools or nothing. The sufferings of the men were 
intense, and i\Ir. Wood says he then came nearer 
death than at any other time in all his pioneer ex- 
periences. Mr. Wood was born in Liberty, Maine, 
January 27, 1839, the second of five children of 
Phineas and Mary (French) Wood, both of whom 
were natives of the Pine Tree state. They were 
of a sturdy, patriotic stock. Mr. Wood's grand- 
father left Admiral Cockburn's fleet in the Revolu- 
tionary War to espouse the cause of liberty. 

At fourteen years of age William Wood of this 
article left home and came to San Francisco via 
Cape Horn. He remained there but a year, how- 
ever, then returned to New York, via Cape of 
Good Hope, but in 1859 he was once more in San 
Francisco. He remained a year there, then came 
on to Whatcom and made that place his home until 
1867, when he came to Skagit county. During the 
time spent in Whatcom he followed fishing in the 
summers and working at different callings in the 
winters. On one hunting trip he saw a herd of 
twenty-seven deer, so plentiful was game in those 
early days. Mr. Wood left Whatcom direct for the 
country where Edison now is, accompanied by Ben 
Samson, Captain John Warner and Watson liodge, 
none of whom is now living. The four squatted on 
land near each other, and there Mr. Wood has since 
resided. He had to wait four years for a surveyor. 

In 1863 Mr. Wood married Mary Wood, and 
they have had fourteen children, eight of whom 
are living : Mrs. Annie Smith of Fravel ; Lucy, in 
Whatcom; John, in Alaska; Andrew, at Gray's 
Harbor ; Ella, at Whatcom ; and James, Thomas 
and Fannie, at home. One daughter, Mrs. Nettie 
Crane, died at New Westminster, B. C, in Decem- 
ber, 1905. In politics Mr. Wood is a Democrat, 
but aside from serving as justice of the peace on 
Fidalgo island and as road supervisor, he has never 
held any office of a political nature. He has one 
hundred and twenty acres of land, all but twenty 
of which are cleared and devoted principally to 
raising hay and oats. In live stock he has six head 
of horses, fourteen head of cattle, a number of hogs, 
etc. He is one of the old-time citizens of Skagit 
county and has seen the country pass from a state 
of absolute wildness to its present condition of 
prosperous settlement, himself keeping fully abreast 
of all this progress. He enjoys the esteem of pio- 
neers and later comers alike. 



ALFRED J. LAWSON is one of the pros- 
perous farmers of the Fravel region of Skagit 
county, his place being but half a mile from the 
town. _ Here, by energy and business ability, he 
has within a few years accumulated a small fortune 
and he still continues to increase his substance. Mr. 
Lawson was born in Henry County, Illinois, Feb- 



ruary 19, 1862, the seventh of the ten children of 
Charles and Annie C. (Wiren) Lawson, natives of 
Sweden, who came to the United States in early 
life and became prosperous farmers in Illinois. The 
elder Lawson came to Washington six years ago 
and is living in Seattle, where four of his daughters 
reside. He also has a son at La Conner. Alfred J. 
Lawson remained at home in Illinois until his mar- 
riage, then rented a farm for two years. On com- 
ing to Washington he spent a few months in Seat- 
tle, then bought seventy-five acres of timber land, 
a portion of which he cleared during the five years 
of his residence upon it. He came to La Conner 
in 1895 and leased six hundred and forty acres of 
land, two hundred and forty of which were under 
cultivation. He continued there until January 1, 
190-1, then bought the one hundred and fourteen 
acres where he now lives, all of which is in culti- 
vation, his specialty being hay and oats. 

In ISSS Mr. Lawson married Miss Emily Peter- 
son, a native of Illinois, daughter of John and Mar- 
garet (Johnson) Peterson, who were born in Swe- 
den, but came to this country and settled in Moline, 
Illinois, where Mr. Peterson operated a wagon shop 
until his death in 1871. Mrs. Lawson is the young- 
est of five living children, her four brothers being 
now residents of Seattle. Mr. and Mrs. Lawson 
have six children: Minnie M., Ruth M. A., George 
B., Maurice W., David J. and Willard A. In poli- 
tics Mr. Lawson is a Prohibitionist. He is serving 
at present as a member of the school board. The 
family are adherents of the Methodist faith, of 
which church Mrs. Lawson is a member of the aid 
society. While putting his greatest efforts in the 
direction of raising hay and oats, Mr. Lawson has 
considerable live stock, which includes ten head of 
horses, four of which are of Hambletoman stock 
and the remainder largely Percherons. Mr. Law- 
son is a man of energy and force of character, high- 
ly respected by all who know him, of recognized in- 
tegrity, successful in business and a commanding 
figure in his community. 



GEORGE ECKENBERGER, whose farm is a 
mile and a quarter east of Samish, was one of the 
first settlers on Samish island, and lias experienced 
all the vicissitudes which come to the pioneer in the 
timbered countrv. He was born in Posev Countv, 
Ohio. December 23, 1843, the third of the six chil- 
dren of Leonard and Henrietta Eckenberger. The 
father died when the son was voung during the 
cholera epidemic, and the mother subsequently mar- 
ried Captain Yocham of the union army. She lived 
until 1900. Mr. Eckenberger of this article left 
his home in 1860 and went to Alabama to follow 
steamboating. When the Civil War broke out he 
came north, enlisted in the Thirtieth Ohio under 
Captain Riley and served with that command at the 
second battle of Bull Run and in other engage- 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



nients. He was at home on sick leave when the 
war closed, but soon after went to Indiana, and 
at Evansville, in that state, he worked twelve years 
at masonry. He then crossed the continent by rail 
to San Francisco and came thence to Seattle, dur- 
ing his two years' residence in which city he made 
a trip to Saniish island and took up the land on 
which he now lives. Mrs. Eckenberger was the 
first white woman on the island, and preceded the 
second one by seven years. She held the place at 
intervals while he was in Seattle, and at one time 
passed eighteen months without once looking upon 
the face of a white woman. The claim was under 
heavy timber, and thousands of feet of good mer- 
chantable trees had to be destroyed to make way 
for the clearing and the crops. The third year 
that they lived here a forest fire swept the island, 
leaving them with only a sack of flour and a couple 
of blankets, and things looked so discouraging that 
Mr. Eckcnbergcr then off^ered to sell his place, for 
$300, but could not find a purchaser. Hard times 
were experienced until the boom commenced in 
1881-2, then Mr. Eckenberger's knowledge of the 
country stood him in good stead in locating settlers. 
Until recent years he has held all his original land, 
but now has^sold all but sixty acres. This remnant 
he devotes to cattle raising, dairying, hay and 
fruit, seven acres of it being in orchard of first 
quality. 

In Evansville, Indiana, June 5, ISi;,"), Mr. Eck- 
enberger married Miss Elizabeth Garis, who was 
born July 4, 1812, daughter of Bonjamin and Alice 
(Hayes) Garis, of whom little record exists to-day. 
Mrs. Eckcnberger had two brothers in the union 
army. She and Mr. Eckenberger are the parents 
of eight children, of whom five are living: Fred C, 
Mrs. Lucy Rhodes, Mrs. Martha Hopley, George 
and John. Mr. Eckenberger is a Democrat in poli- 
tics, interested in matters of public concern, as a 
good citizen should be, but not an office seeker. He 
has, however, served as road supervisor and mem- 
ber of the school board. Though he has passed 
through the extremes of hard times, he has always 
rallied and is now in good financial circumstances. 
He is respected in his community as a man of many 
sterling cjualitics of character. 



GEORGE DEAN, a shipwright by trade, for 
many years postmaster at Saniish, one of the early 
comers to Samish island, has made a success in 
business, though at times he has had trymg experi- 
ences. He was born in Banffshire, Scotland, Jan- 
uary 15, 1850, the fourth of the ten children of Will- 
iam and Catherine (Horn) Dean, both of whom 
lived and died in the old country. When a lad of 
fourteen years George Dean left home to serve a 
five years' apprenticeship to the trade of shipwright- 
ing. On receiving his papers he worked at Aber- 
deen, Dundee and Glasgow, Scotland, and New- 



castle, England, each time changing location on ac- 
courit of labor troubles. In 1875 he came to the 
United States, landing in New York, and started 
on a tour of the country, which was finished at 
Seattle in the fall of 1875, Mr. Dean arriving there 
on the first iron steamer which entered that port. 
The city boasted of but two hotels then, the Occi- 
dental and the New England. 

After looking over Seattle for two weeks, Mr. 
Dean came to Samish, where a brother was keeping 
store and postoffice at the steamboat landing. Sam- 
ish was then the chief distributing point for the 
whole valley back as far as Warner's prairie, but 
there was but one white family on the Samish flats. 
Mail came by the steamer "J. B. Libby" once a 
week and the steamer "Dispatch" from Port Town- 
send also stopped once in seven days. It was not 
an unusual sight to see a band of one hundred 
Samish Indians about the store and postoflfice, and 
Mr. Dean soon became able to converse with them. 
Much of the water front around Edison had been 
taken up, but no one lived there until about 1880, 
when settlement began in earnest. Soon after his 
arrival Mr. Dean built a saw-mill, using wind as 
motive power, and with lumber turned out from 
that mill he built a schooner which he sailed for 
nine years; then he built the steamer "Mary Pur- 
ley" and operated that for three and a half years, 
eventually selling out. Ou the death of his brother 
Mr. Dean took charge of the property. A difficulty 
arose with the shipowners and none would stop at 
his wharf or warehouse except the independent 
boats, but he did business with these for two years. 
He continued to be postmaster until 1897, when he 
went to Unalaska to build river boats, in company 
with J. F. T. Mitchell of Seattle, for the Boston & 
Alaska Trading Company. On his return Mr. Dean 
worked out the details of a new fishing device which 
combines the qualities of the purse seine with those 
of the pile trap, and is adapted for work in either 
deep or shallow water. The device has been pat- 
ented, and the authorities consider it the most val- 
uable thing of the kind developed in this state for 
a decade and a half. Mr. Dean has never married. 
In politics he is a Republican. He is a man of en- 
ergy, wide awake, thorough in business and posses- 
sing traits of personal character that win for him 
the confidence of his associates and the respect of 
all whom he meets. 



CHARLES W. HODGE, farmer of Samish, is 
a native of the Puget sound country and one of the 
large poultrvmen of Skagit countv. He was born 
in'Bellingham, October 22, 1868,' the fifth of the 
nine children of Watson and Jennie Hodge. The 
elder Hodge, a native of Burlington, Connecticut; 
started for the Pacific coast when a young maa 
Fie came around the Horn and was shipwrecked on 
the coast of Panama some three hundred miles 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



777 



from a shipping point. In company with another 
man he purchased a horse for the transportation of 
their belongings, but the partner stole the horse 
and Mr. Hodge's boots as well, forcing the unlucky 
traveler to cover the remaining distance in his sock 
feet. That was not the only unpleasant experience 
of this eventful trip, for at one place Mr. Hodge 
was arrested as a suspicious person by the Mexicans 
and held for a month. Eventually, however, he 
arrived safely in California, but was soon drawn 
into the gold excitement at Cariboo, British Colum- 
bia, where he spent six years, doing well. He then 
came over to Bellingham and engaged in business 
there, later, however, moving to Edison and pre- 
empting one hundred and sixty acres of land, which 
he held for six years, and upon which the town was 
built. On selling out he went to Samish island 
and took a homestead of eighty acres, which is now 
held by his heirs. He died in 1905. 

Charles W. Hodge attended school until he was 
fourteen years of age, then went to work in a log- 
ging camp in the vicinity of Edison. He followed 
logging at various points along the sound for twen- 
ty-two years and ten years ago took up farming. 

In 1895 Mr. Hodge married Miss Alice Hansen, 
•daughter of William and Jennie Hansen. The 
father was born in Norway, but came to the United 
States in 1853 and soon after took up his residence 
in the Pacific Northwest. He lived in Skagit county 
until 1898, farming on the Samish river, and is now 
a resident of Tacoma. Mrs. Hansen, a native of 
B.-itish Columbia, was the mother of fourteen chil- 
dren, of whom Mrs. Hodge is the tenth. Mr. and 
Mrs. Hodge have six children : Herbert E., W, 
Douglass, Lydia M., Ivan Roosevelt, Stanley W. 
and Glenn L. In politics Mr. Hodge is a Repub- 
lican. He has been road supervisor of his district, 
but aside from that has not held any public office. 
Most of his land is devoted to the poultry busi- 
ness, his yards containing at present a magnificent 
and numerous flock of Brown Leghorns. He is 
also well provided with horses and cattle of the 
best grades for the operation of the farm. Mr. 
Hodge is one of the representative citizens of his 
community ; a wide-awake, active man, who enjoys 
the esteem of all who know him, and ever shows 
himself an aggressive influence in the progress of 
its people and its industries. 



FRITZ JOHNSON, a farmer, stock raiser and 
dairyman just outside of Belleville, though born in 
Sweden in 1869, is in reality a pioneer of western 
Skagit county. He is the son of John S. and Han- 
nah (Carlson) Johnson, neither of whom ever left 
their native country, and both of whom have passed 
away. They were parents of five children: Mrs. 
Lena Olson, wife of S. P. Olson of Brown's 
slough ; Fritz, Gust, Annie and Carl, the last three 
•of whom live in Seattle. L'p to the time he was 



fourteen years of age young Johnson attended the 
schools of Sweden. He then started out for him- 
self, coming to the United States, and in 1883 set- 
tled on the north fork of the Skagit river, going to 
work on the farms of that section, among them that 
of Peter Oleson on Brown's slough. Mr. Johnson 
remained in that part of the county for fifteen years 
and saw its development from a few little tracts on 
which some were doing such farming as could be 
done between stumps, to a country with large areas 
of cultivated land which form one of the best agri- 
cultural districts in the Pacific Northwest. In those 
days there were no roads, the river was the high- 
way and canoes the means of transportation. Since 
then fine highways have been built and gasoline 
launches have come to ply the waters of the river 
and sound. The man of the early eighties who 
made his shack with axe and saw, now directs his 
agricultural operations from a modern and princely 
home. In 1S99 Fritz Johnson and Ole Johnson 
leased the W. E. Schricker farm near Burlington 
and together they worked it for the next three 
years. At that time Fritz Johnson and his nephew, 
Albert Olson, bought their present place of ninety- 
seven acres on the outskirts of Belleville, which they 
have converted into a splendid farm. It was for- 
merly the property of W. E. Harbert. In frater- 
nal affiliation Mr. Johnson is an Odd Fellow, in 
church membership a Lutheran, and in politics a 
Republican. While Messrs. Johnson and Olson 
raise large quantities of oats and hay, their live 
stock business is considerable. They take especial 
pride in their graded stock, which consists of short- 
horn cattle, Berkshire and Poland Chma hogs. 
Their facilities for conducting an up-to-date dairy 
business are excellent, and in this they are meeting 
with splendid success. The house and barns on the 
place are large and of modern construction. Mr. 
Johnson is a genial man, one of good sense, ener- 
getic and thrifty. Since coming to Skagit county 
lie has supplemented his education acquired in Swe- 
den by a course in the normal school at Lynden, 
Whatcom county, and by diligent reading he has 
ever since kept well abreast of the times. His intel- 
lectual attainments, coupled with his excellent per- 
sonal traits of character, make of him a man of in- 
fluence and win for him the confidence of his asso- 
ciates in business and social life. 



WILLIAM J. McKENNA. A veteran of more 
than six decades, almost all of which were passed 
on the Pacific coast, a pioneer of the pioneers, and 
a man of great activity always, the subject of this 
review has stamped his impress upon the historj' 
of more than one of our Western communities, ex- 
erting his influence always on the side of progress, 
ever taking a leading part in the ushering in of 
better conditions. In mercantile life, as a real estate 
dealer, in the service of the public and in all his 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



relations with his fellow-men, he has maintained a 
high reputation for integrity and uprightness, and 
now, in the early evening of his life, he has the 
satisfaction of realizing that the ideals of his youth 
have been kept unsullied. He also has the further 
satisfaction of knowing that in the great industrial 
development he has witnessed he himself has borne 
no sluggard's part, but that on the contrary he has 
been in some measure a leader in pushing on the 
work. 

The father of our subjejct, William McKenna. 
was a native of Belfast, Ireland, but some time in 
the thirties he sailed to far-away Australia, and it 
was there that William J. was born, the date of his 
birth being 1843. The family came to California a 
few years later, and in 1849 the elder McKenna en- 
tered the federal service in Benicia, that state, as 
master mechanic. He had learned the trade of a 
carpenter in his native land. Our subject received 
an unsually good education, taking the course of- 
fered by the public schools of the Golden state and 
one in the university at Eureka, also one in the cele- 
brated Heald's business college of San Francisco. 
At the age of twenty-six he began clerking in a 
general store in Eureka, and after two years had 
been spent in that occupation, he went to Hoopa, 
Humboldt county, to assume charge of a mercan- 
tile establishment for Greenbaum & Chapman. He 
managed their business at that point successfully 
for a period of two years, then was promoted to 
the charge of their wholesale trade at Areata, Hum- 
boldt county, where two years more were spent. 
Mr. McKenna then engaged in the mercantile busi- 
ness in Areata on his own account, going into part- 
nership with a man named Harpst for that purpose, 
but he soon after sold out to his partner and re- 
tired from that line of business for a time. In 1874 
he was elected to the county clerkship of Humboldt 
county, an office which at that time carried with it 
the duties of auditor, clerk of supervisors and clerk 
of the court, but so efficient was his discharge of 
them all that he was twice elected by the people and 
kept in the office until he was ready to leave the 
country. In 1880 he was drawn to Washington 
by the excitement over mining in the Ruby Creek 
district. Upon arriving in Skagit county he opened 
the second store in the now thriving town of Mount 
Vernon, and he continued in business there a couple 
of years, going thence to Bay View, where in com- 
pany with W. A. Jennings, a wholesale merchant 
of Seattle, he embarked in another mercantile ven- 
ture. This, however, unfortunately failed, owing 
to the failure of the Seattle house with which Mr. 
Jennings was connected. 

In 1884 Mr. McKenna was nominated on the 
Republican ticket for the office of county assessor. 
and so completely had he won the confidence of 
the people in the few years of his residence in the 
country that he was easily elected. He served 
with efficiency and in 1886 the electors signified 



their satisfaction with his administration of the 
office by giving him a second term. This completed, 
he engaged in the real estate business with T. B. 
Elliott. One of the most noteworthy things accom- 
plished by the firm was the foundation and promo- 
tion of the town of Bay View, a splendid monument 
to their enterprise, but the story of its inception 
and growth is told elsewhere in these pages. In 
1890, during the boom days at Anacortes, he moved 
to that city, and being possessed of good judgment, 
plenty of experience and a sharp eye for opportuni- 
ties, he naturally did well during the two years of 
his operations there. His residence in the town of 
Bay View was renewed in 1900, in which year he 
was appointed United States census enumerator for 
that part of Skagit county. He has been in the 
service of the government almost ever since, becom- 
ing postmaster soon after the work on his census 
returns was completed. He is also engaged in the 
mercantile business (that hne in which he has been 
so well qualified by long experience to succeed), the 
stock of the former postmaster having been pur- 
chased by him. He devotes his spare time to look- 
ing after his property interests in the town, and 
more especially at present to the improvement of a 
sixteen-acre tract near by, for he is still ambitious 
to do his full share toward the subjugation and im- 
provement of the section in which he makes his 
home. 

In 1872, while in Humboldt County, California, 
Mr. McKenna married Miss Mary E. Campton, 
whose father, a physician, had crossed the plains 
from Wisconsin in 1855. She was born in the 
Badger state in 1844, but acquired her education in 
the public schools- of California and in the univer- 
sity at Eureka. She and Mr. McKenna have had 
five children, namely: William A., a resident of 
Mount Vernon, who owns a logging camp on Fidal- 
go island; Mrs. Louise Risbell, a resident of Mount 
Vernon; Mrs. May Gilmore, wife of a merchant 
of Edison ; Puget, living at home, and Margery, 
who died at the age of eight years. Mr. McKenna 
has been a loyal Republican during all the years of 
that party's existence, and takes not a little pride 
in the fact that his first vote helped to swell Abra- 
ham Lincoln's majority. For forty years he has 
been identified with the splendid Odd Fellows' fra- 
ternity, which has frequently honored him with a 
seat in one of its chairs and in which he is a past 
grand. In politics, in fraternal relations and in all 
the associations of private and business life he has 
invariably proved himself a loyal, "true blue" man, 
and he has the full confidence and respect of every 
community in which he has lived. 



OTTO KLINGENMAIER, a well-known citizen 
of the Bay View district of Skagit county, is one 
of the members of a highly esteemed family of pio- 
neers which came from Nebraska to Washington in 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



1875 and settled near Bay View a few years later. 
The father, John Klingenmaier, was a native of 
Wittenberg, Germany, and in tne old country fol- 
lowed farming until his emigration from Europe to 
the United States. He was married while still a 
resident of Germany, his wife, Mrs. Anna Klingen- 
maier, becoming one of Skagit's earliest pioneer 
women. Reaching America, the husband settled in 
Pennsylvania. Two years later he removed to 
Omaha, Nebraska, and there followed dairying 
with fair success. Thence he came direct to Puget 
sound, obtaining employment here in the ncv.'Iy 
opened coal mines at Newcastle, King county. His 
family joined him at Newcastle the following year, 
and a year and a half later he abandoned mining 
for the heatlhier, pleasanter occupation of farming. 
At that time what is now Skagit county contained 
only a few hundred people, being in a frontier con- 
dition. With commendable courage and energy, 
however, he filed on a homestead a half mile north 
of the present town of Bay View, and later on a 
pre-emption claim adjoining the town site. This 
last claim he took in 1877 and for the next twenty 
years, or until his death, followed farming and log- 
ging with substantial results. He came into that 
region as one of its earliest pioneers and to him 
and his family Skagit's future generations will owe 
a heavy debt for the part they have taken in laying 
the foundations for the broader civilization that is 
following in their wake. 

Otto Klingenmaier received the rudiments of 
his education in Skagit county, but, as is the lot of 
the young pioneer, his opportunities have been lim- 
ited, though he has made the most of them. His 
attention has been chiefly occupied by logging and 
farming operations, principally the former. In this 
work, however, Mr. Klingenmaier has attained suc- 
cess and is especially favorably known among the 
lumbermen of his section. f3ne brother, Henry, 
who came to Skagit as a lad of nine, lives near Bay 
View, engaged in farming, while three sisters have 
found homes elsewhere. Mrs. Anna Butters and 
Miss Bertha Klingenmaier reside at Clear Lake, 
Skagit county, the latter with the former; the re- 
maining sister. Miss Victoria Klingenmaier, lives 
in Tacoma. The family reputation for integrity, 
industry and ability to perform whatever work they 
undertake, is still zealously maintained by the 
younger generation. One hundred and ten acres 
constitute the family estate near Bay View, which 
is counted a valuable holding. 



JOHN PURCELL, for thirty-five years past 
identified with the development of Puget sound and 
for a quarter of a century one of tlie well-known 
citizens of Skagit county, is well worthy of a place 
among these biographical records. His' career as a 
lumberman on the sound covers a period of thirty 
years, with the exception of five spent in British 
Columbia, he having retired five years ago to the 



more peaceful pursuit of farming, his place lying 
just south of Bay View. A native of New Bruns- 
wick, born in 1844, John Purcell comes of Irish 
parentage, the son of pioneers of the Gulf province. 
William and Catherine ( Burke j Purcell came to 
New Brunswick when young people, where the hus- 
band followed the carpenter's trade until his death 
at the age of seventy-eight. Mrs. Purcell, also de- 
ceased, was the mother of twelve children. John 
passed his youth attending school and working with 
his father, leaving home at the age of twenty to 
seek his fortune. Going to Wisconsin, he first spent 
six years with a lumber firm, then went across the 
plains to Colorado. The same fall he pushed on 
across the Rockies and later across the snowy Cas- 
cades to the territory of Washington, reaching here 
late in 1870. Here he worked at Utsalady two 
years, then crossed the sound to Hood's canal and 
was there engaged in logging until 1875. The next 
five years he spent at pile driving in Seattle, during 
its transformation from a town into a little city. 
At the close of that period he came north to what 
is now Skagit county and in the Skagit valley spent 
the first four years of his residence in that section 
in the logging industry. From there he went on 
the Samish, then alternated for several years be- 
tween that river and Skagit, finally taking a pre- 
emption claim in 1891. A year later he left that, 
residing at various points in the county until 1896, 
when he accepted the position of foreman of the 
Hastings Mill Company's camp in British Colum- 
bia, with which he remained five years. Upon reach- 
ing the end of this engagement, Mr. Purcell, wea- 
ried with the hard life which is the logger's lot, 
returned to the beautiful Swinomish flats and 
bought his present place of thirty-two acres, lying 
a mile south of Bay View, which he has brought 
under a high state of cultivation and improvement. 

At Seattle, in 1875, Mr. Purcell and Miss Alice 
McGroaty were united in marriage. Her father, 
Patrick McGroaty, was born in Ireland and by 
trade was a shoemaker. He settled in Wisconsin in 
an early day and at the outbreak of the Civil War 
gallantly joined the boys in blue and upon a South- 
ern battlefield nobly sacrificed himself upon the 
altar of his adopted country. His widow, Mrs. 
Catherine (Rock) Lloyd, is still living, residing 
with her husband near Fir, Washington. Mrs. 
Purcell was born in Wisconsin in 1858, receiving 
her educational instruction within the borders of 
the Badger state. Mr. and Mrs. Purcell are the 
parents of four children : Mrs. Eliza Tholstrup of 
Wenatchee ; Mrs. Catherine Tholstrup of Seattle; 
Edward W., and Leonard J. The family are adher- 
ents of the Catholic faith. Politically Mr. Purcell 
is a Democrat. His well stocked, neatly improved 
farm bears the same marks of thoroughness and 
industry which brought him success in the lumber 
business, and his personality has won him a host 
of warm friends. 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



EDWARD CRUMRINE, a young man of 
Skagit county birth, has already assured success 
for himself in the management of a farm, and he 
enjoys a reputation for executive ability of a high 
order. He was born in 1880, the son of Thomas 
and Minnie (Kalso) Crumrine. The elder Crum- 
rine was born of Irish and Dutch descent in Indi- 
ana, and after a few years in South Dakota came 
to Washington, in 1875, locating at Blaine, in 
Whatcom county, in 1878, and later coming to the 
Ray View country. Mrs. Crumrine was born in 
Wisconsin in 1863, receiving her early education 
in that state and coming to Washington with her 
parents when fifteen years old. The younger Crum- 
rine received his education in the Skagit county 
schools and has been at home all his life, in late 
years operating his mother's farm, a mile and a 
half south of Bay View, and in the neighborhood 
of his mother's people, the well-known Kalso fam- 
ily, sketches of whom appear also in this volume. 

In April of 1905 at Bay View Mr. Crumrine 
married Miss Anna Jergenson, daughter of James 
and Mary A. (Sorenson) Jergenson, natives of 
Denmark, who came to Washington in 1896. Mr. 
Jergenson was a tailor by trade and followed tailor- 
ing at Bay View until his death in 1900. Mrs. Jer- 
genson is still living at Bay View. Mrs. Crumrme 
was born in Wisconsin in 1883 and received her 
education before coming to this state. She was 
twenty-three years of age when married. The 
Crumrine farm consists of fifty-seven acres, all of 
which are under cultivation. The live stock main- 
tained is for the use of the family, consisting of 
four head of cattle and five horses. The Crum- 
rines attend the Methodist church. In fraternal 
circles Mr. Crumrine is an Odd Fellow, and is now 
serving a term as noble grand of Bay View lodge. 
No. 138. His mother is an ardent member of the 
Daughters of Rebekah and a woman much esteemed 
in Odd Fellow circles as well as by the citizens of 
Bay View generally. The Crumrine place is one 
of the pleasant ones near Bay View and in its man- 
agement Edward Crumrine is showing all the fac- 
ulties essential to success on a modern farm. 



EDGAR A. SISSON, proprietor of the Fair- 
view farm near Padilla, is one of the pioneers of 
Skagit county who has done as much as any other 
man to develop the resources of his section of the 
state. He has lieen active in the life of the com- 
munity since 1873, when he was one of the men 
who inaugurated the plan of reclaiming lands from 
the tide water. Mr. Sisson was born in Lackawanna 
County, Pennsylvania, in 1849, the son of Arnold 
C. Sisson, a native of Connecticut, and later a mer- 
chant and farmer of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Isabel 
(Green) Sisson, mother of our subject, was born 
in the Keystone state and is now living at Factory- 
ville. She is the mother of three children. Edgar 



A. Sisson received his early education in the com- 
mon schools, prepared for college in the academic 
department of the University of Lewisburg, now 
Bucknell University, and took a course in Cornell 
University at Ithaca, New York. For two years 
following his college course Mr. Sisson engaged in 
market gardening in company with his father. He 
then came West and in the fall of 1873 joined 
forces with A. G. Tillinghast and R. E. Whitney 
in the work of reclaiming and improving tide lands, 
diking in some five hundred acres, which were put 
under cultivation. But they did not realize crops 
of any great consequence until 1876, and in that 
year the three men dissolved partnership. Of this 
tract Mr. Sisson pre-empted forty-nine acres, Mr. 
Whitney one hundred and seventy-four and Mr. 
Tillinghast one hundred and seventy-one, the 
balance of the five hundred acres being pur- 
chased. 

In 1876 Mr. Sisson married Miss Ida Learner, 
daughter of David Leamer, a Pennsylvania farmer 
of Holland Dutch descent, who died in Iowa, where 
he had farmed a number of years previous to his 
death. Mrs. Eliza J. (Campbell) Leamer, mother 
of Mrs. Sisson, was born in Ireland of Scotch 
parentage in 1818 and died in the Sisson home in 
1901 full of good works and beloved by all. Mrs. 
Leamer was a woman of exceptional culture and 
tenderest sympathies, and in the early days of the 
settlements in Skagit county performed many deeds 
of kindness and self-sacrifice for the less fortunate. 
She was ever ready to lend her assistance to the 
needy and often took her boat and crossed the wa- 
ters to give succor to the distressed. Mrs. Sisson 
was born in Davenport, Iowa, in 1857, and obtained 
her early education in that state. On coming to 
the coast country she attended the Seattle high 
school and took a course in a convent at Salem, 
Oregon. She commenced teaching school when 
fifteen years of age, her first school being at Pleas- 
ant Ridge, in Skagit county. Later she became the 
first woman teacher in the La Conner schools. She 
also taught at the town of Stanwood, Snohomish 
county. Three children have been born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Sisson : Mrs. Pearl Wilson, who is living on 
t!ie Samish flats, near Edison ; Mrs. Nettie E. 
Wright, living in La Conner, and Grant C. Sisson. 
Mr. Sisson is a member of the Baptist church and 
in politics is an active Republican. The land at 
Fairview farm consists of one hundred and sixty 
acres, all of which is in a state of high cultivation. 
Mr. Sisson is not only one of the successful men of 
Skagit county, but also one of the most popular and 
most public-spirited of citizens. He and the mem- 
bers of his household have played a very important 
part in the work of developing the wooded and wa- 
tered wilderness of Skagit county into a place of 
smiling farms and happy homes, which stand to- 
day as monuments to the courage, industry and 
thrift of the sturdy pioneers. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



781 



THOMAS H. TAIT, residing near Padilla, in 
one of the richest farming sections of the state, is 
to be tnily ranked as an industrious, persevering, 
capable agriculturist, for within a coi^paratively 
few years he has wrested a goodly competence 
from the soil and become the owner of a large and 
valuable tract of its broad, fertile acres. Such 
thrift is worthy of the Scottish blood that flows 
within his veins and of the substantial qualities 
which he inherits from his Pennsylvania-Dutch an- 
cestry on the maternal side. Born April 25, 1866, 
at Joliet, Illinois, he is the fourth child in the fam- 
ily of Thomas and Katherine (Shutts) Tait, the 
former born in Scotland, the latter in New York 
state. When the elder Tait was but nine years old, 
however, his parents brought him to the United 
States, settling in Illinois, where he followed farm- 
ing until his death. His wife is still living near 
Joliet, at an advanced age ; she is the mother of 
eight children. In the common schools of his na- 
tive state young Tait received his educational train- 
ing, remaining at home until he was twenty-two. 
Then he set out to make his own way in life, going 
at a bound to where the waters of the Pacific wash 
the shores of California. The Golden state could 
not hold him, however, for that fall, the fall of 
1888, he came north to Whatcom, and after a short 
stay there entered the precincts of the section which 
was to become his permanent home. On the Swi- 
nomish flats he entered the employ of Peter Dow- 
ney, for whom he worked steadily nine years, gain- 
ing a most profitable experience, forming friend- 
ships and accumulating enough to obtain a start 
for himself. Thus equipped, in 1897, he rented a 
place on the flats, operated it two years, then bought 
ninety-seven acres. This tract he is rapidly devel- 
oping into a fine farm and in the meanwhile is leas- 
ing another place of one hundred and sixteen acres 
from Mr. Downey, upon which he makes his home 
and has lived since 1900. He owns two hundred 
and forty acres on the flats and sixty acres on 
Fidalgo island. 

Elsie Layton, a daughter of Olaf and Anna 
(Johnson) Osland, natives of Norway, became the 
wife of Thomas H. Tait in 1903, the marriage tak- 
ing place in Seattle. Olaf Osland came to Michigan 
direct from Norway in 1879. engaging in the pur- 
suit of his trade, carpentering. From Michigan he 
shortly went to Chicago, thence to Minneapolis, 
from there down into Wisconsin, then to Montana, 
and from Montana removed to Anacortes, Wash- 
ington, in 1890. He is at p.esent residing at 
Brighton Beach, near Seattle. Mrs. Osland is also 
living, now in her fifty-fourth year. Mrs. Tait was 
born in 1873, November 14th, in Norway, but re- 
ceived her education and rearing in the United 
States. After leaving school she learned the milli- 
ner's trade and followed it six months before her 
marriage in 1891 to Frederick Layton. Three chil- 



dren came of this union. Hazel, Harold and Freda, 
the second of whom is dead. 

In politics Mr. Tait is an active Republican and 
known as a liberal believer as, first of all, an advo- 
cate of good government. Most of his large farm 
is under cultivation and producing the usual heavy 
crops of oats and hay characteristic of the Swinom- 
ish country, besides being well stocked with horses 
and cattle. He is a wide-awake farmer of high 
abilities and endowed with those substantial, ster- 
ling qualities which invariably bring success and 
esteem. 



DAVID F'ULK, an early pioneer of two states 
and the scion of two well-known pioneer families 
of the Ohio valley, is prominently identified with 
the history of Skagit county, both as a pioneer and 
as a latter-day citizen, progressive and active in its 
affairs. He has won his success out of the soil and 
his position amodg his fellows by reason of his 
strong individuality. Born in Noble County, In- 
diana, in 1843, Mr. Fulk is a son of Adam Fulk, a 
descendant of the Virginians who filed through the 
passes of the Alleghanies in the early part of the 
last century and peopled the great Ohio valley 
after George Rogers Clark had blazed the path with 
colonial militia. The mother, Eliza (Bonar) Fulk, 
was also of frontier stock, born in the Ohio coun- 
try. She passed away in 1901, while residing in 
Skagit county, the mother of twelve children, of 
whom David is the second child. After attending 
the Indiana schools and working at home on the 
farm, David Fulk, at the age of twenty-three, com- 
menced farming for himself, leasing land for eight 
years in the Hoosier state. During the centennial 
year, when so many were attracted by the prospects 
of Washington territory, Mr. Fulk joined the pro- 
cession of immigrants to the sound country and lo- 
cated a homestead on Fidalgo island. There he re- 
mained seven years, clearing a large portion of his 
holdings and incidentally becoming thoroughly ac- 
quainted with methods of farming the famous flat 
lands across the bay on the mainland. Then he 
came to the flats and rented the Purdy pbce five 
years, going at the end of that period across the 
mountains to the Palouse for a change. Upon his 
return a year later, he rented the 0"Loughlin farm 
for three years, thence farming along the Skagit. 
At present he is ooerating the Kalso place, half a 
mile west of Padilla, one of the highly improvect 
farms on the flats, and one demanding the closest 
attention and keenest abilities on the part of him 
who would, be most successful and maintain its 
high standard. 

While still a resident of Indiana, in 1875, Mr. 
Fulk and Miss Frances Bonham, a daughter of 
Samuel Bonham, were united by the bonds of mat- 
rimony. Samuel Bonham, a farmer by occupation, 
died during the infancy of his daughter. She was 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



born in 1855, a native of the Buckeye state, where 
her education and rearing were obtained. To the 
union of Mr. and Mrs. Fulk eight children have 
been born, whose names follow : Mrs. Alice Har- 
rold, residing in the Palouse region of Washington ; 
Mrs. Delia Jost, living near Fredonia, Skagit 
county; Mrs. Minnie Neil, living near Mount Ver- 
non, and Adam, George, Pearl, Nettie and Puget, 
ai home with their parents. 

Mr. Fulk is a public-spirited citizen and in politi- 
cal affairs is active as a Democrat. His farm and 
live stock bespeak his capability and thrift in those 
lines of activity, and all his life he has been a close 
student of agricultural matters. He is accorded a 
leading position in his community and is respected 
and esteemed by all who know him for his many 
sterling qualities as well as his business abilities. 



ROBERT WOODBURN. The thrifty and 
successful farmer of the Padilla country whose life 
history forms the theme of this article is one of the 
many men who, by the exercise of economy, energy 
and good business judgment and the skilful utiliza- 
tion of the enormous resources of Skagit county, 
have won their way from comparative poverty to 
independence and affluence, at the same time con- 
tributing their share to the general progress. Born 
in Ireland in 1860, Mr. Woodburn has in his veins 
the blood of the sturdv Scotch race, known and 
honored throughout the world, and the warm, gen- 
erous, impulsive Irish race, of which it is said that 
it has fought successfully everybody's battles except 
its own. His father, William Woodburn, though 
also a native of Ireland, was of Scotch descent, and 
his mother, Mary (Montgomery) Woodburn, was 
in the fullest sense a daughter of the Emerald isle. 
When the elder Woodburn emigrated to the new 
world, he tried his fortune first in Canada, but 
eventually moved to New York state, where he now 
lives, a resident of the city of Lockport. 

In the excellent public schools of Canada Mr. 
Woodburn, of this article, received his educational 
discipline, having completed which he embarked in 
the lumber business in the Lake Huron district. 
Four or five years were spent at that, then, in 188-1, 
he decided to seek a larger and more promising 
field of activity, so crossed the continent to Skagit 
county. For three and a half years after his arri- 
val he worked continuously for R. E. Whitney, but 
he was not the kind of man to remain indefinitely in 
the service of another, and as soon as opportunity 
presented itself he began building a home for him- 
self. He took a pre-emption claim at Fredonia and 
for the ensuing three years lived upon it, giving 
the major portion of his time, however, to the im- 
provement of an eighty-acre tract he had bought on 
Olympia marsh. The marsh farm he still owns, 
but since 1894 his home has been on land a mile 
west of Padilla, which he and his father-in-law, 



John Ball, that year purchased. The home place 
consists of one hundred and seventy-five acres, all 
cleared and much of it in a high state of cultiva- 
tion. It is supplied with a large, convenient barn 
and other outbuildings, as well as all the necessary 
implements for the convenient and economical han- 
dling of its products. The dwelling house is a 
large, modern and up-to-date one, erected in 1904. 

In Skagit County, Washington, in 1887, Mr. 
Woodburn married Miss Globe E., daughter of 
John and Eleanor (Massey) Ball, natives of Ohio 
and England respectively, to whom more extended 
reference is made elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. 
Woodburn was born in California in 1868, but came 
to Skagit county when a mere child and received 
her public school training there, though her educa- 
tion was completed by a course in the Victoria, 
British Columbia, high school. She and Mr. 
Woodburn are parents of two children. Ruby M., 
born in 1890, and R. E. (so named after his father's 
first employer in the West, R. E. Whitney), born 
in 1892. In politics Mr. Woodburn is a Republican 
and in fraternal affiliation a member of the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen. While achieving, 
through his inherent force of character and his abil- 
ity to perceive and grasp opportunities, a highly 
enviable industrial success, he has also won for him- 
self a reputation as a man of sterling integrity and 
one who stands "four-square to every breeze." 



OTTO W. KILANDER is one of Skagit 
county's progressive citizens who is devoting his 
energies and skill to the production of cabbage seed 
with which to supply less favored sections of the 
world, and in this high class industry has won a 
goodly success. He is a native of Sweden, born in 
1859, the son of Christian and Kajsa M. (Johnson) 
Kilander, both of whom passed away in their native 
land, where the husband was a successful farmer. 
Otto W., of this sketch, received his education in 
the schools of Sweden. At the age of eighteen he 
became an orphan, and during the next two years 
worked at various places in the neighborhood of his 
old home. In 1881 he bade farewell to the land of 
his nativity and sought the great republic across 
the seas. He first settled in Wisconsin, but directly 
went to Michigan and entered the mines in which 
he worked four years. At the close of this period 
he visited the old country, remaining there five 
years. But the attractions of the new world proved 
too strong for him to resist and again he crossed 
the Atlantic, this time pushing westward via Michi- 
gan to Puget sound, where he entered the fishing 
industry. One year later, 1890, he joined George 
Johnson as a partner in producing cabbage seed. 
They bought four acres on the flats of western 
Skagit county and raised two crops as partners. 
Tlien Mr. Kilander sold his interest to his partner 
and rented land by himself, always continuing to 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



raise seed, however. Ultimately he purchased the 
thirteen-acre tract two miles west of Padilla, which 
has since been his home and the field of his horti- 
cultural operations. 

During his residence in Sweden in ISSo, Mr. 
Kilander and Miss Emma C. Johnson, a daughter of 
John and Carlina (Johnson) Johnson, were mar- 
ried. Her father still resides in Europe, but her 
mother died when iMrs. Kilander was five years of 
age. Mrs. Kilander received her education in Swe- 
den and there passed the first twenty-eight years of 
her life. To her union with Mr. Kilander five 
children have been born: Hugo C, in 1886; Eitel 
A., in 1888, both born in Sweden ; Thyra, in 1893 ; 
Fritz, in 1894, who died in nine months, and Elvira 
E., in 1897, born in Skagit county. Mr. Kilander 
and his family are attendants of the Lutheran 
church, in politics he is a Republican and fraternally 
is affiliated with the A. O. U. W. Aside from his 
home and farm, he owns two houses and lots in 
Anacortes and sufficient stock to engage all the 
time he can devote to them. His seed farm, though 
not as large as an oat farm might be, is ample for 
the successful prosecution of his specialty in hor- 
ticulture, and he has won commendable success as 
a grower of fine seeds. Success in business and 
esteem and respect socially are his, and justly, too. 



BLOOMINGTON R. SUMNER, a man whose 
life on land and sea has been full of of the most in- 
teresting events, was born November 30, 1845, af 
Winter Harbor, Hancock County, Maine, the son 
of William W. Sumner, a carpenter. Like his an- 
cestors for si.x generations, the father was born on 
Battery March street, Boston, the date of his birth 
being December 12, 1815. His death occurred at 
Wilton, Maine, in April, 1867. The maternal an- 
cestor was Philena (Leland) Sumner, born in 
Eden, Maine, in October, 1823. She died in Au- 
gust, 1891, after having been a devoted mother to 
her eleven children, of whom the living are as fol- 
lows: Benjamin F., William W. and Philander 
A., residing at Winter Harbor, Maine; Charles P., 
of Elliott, Iowa ; Mrs. Lizzie M. Hodgkins, of Pas- 
adena, California; Bloomington R. ; Mrs. Annette 
Chappel, of Providence, Rhode Island. Early giv- 
ing evidence of a love for life on the ocean, Mr. 
Sumner's first trip, made when he was fourteen, 
was a fishing cruise to the gulf of St. Lawrence 
and Chaleu bay. He then attended school for six 
months. In March, 1860, he shipped on the gov- 
ernment transport "Emma Fairbush," sailing from 
Rockport, Alaine, to Fort Monroe in Hampton 
Roads. Detained six weeks at this fort, the vessel 
proceeded thence to Yorktown and Shipping Point, 
and was then ordered back to Baltimore, where it 
was loaded with mules and potatoes for Whitehouse 
Landing. Having returned to Baltimore after mak- 
ing the trip, the owners of the ship gave up their | 



government charter, took a cargo of oak lumber to 
Bath, Maine, from which point they went to Rock- 
land, and obtained a charter to carry coal to New- 
Haven, Connecticut. Leaving the vessel when it 
reached Rondout, New York, Mr. Sumner boarded 
the "Horace E. Bell," chartered to load coal at 
Delaware City for Salem, Massachusetts, and after- 
ward captured as a b'ockade runner. He again en- 
tered school after returning to Winter Harbor. En- 
listing three diflierent times before he was of age, 
he was each time denied parental consent, but on 
January 3, 1861, he became a member of the crew 
of the ship Sacramento, of the North Atlantic 
squadron, stationed at Fort Fisher. There he saw 
his first naval battle, later being an active partici- 
pant in the engagements at Jordan's Landing, Har- 
rison's Landing, Charlestown and Port Royal. Dis- 
charged in Boston, January 4, 1864, he still fol- 
lowed the sea, employed in the trade of the West 
Indies for two years. He then took up the car- 
penter trade, only to be mastered by his old pas- 
sion for the ocean, some four years later. Visiting 
the ports of Africa, the Mediterranean sea and all 
the maritime nations of Europe, he held every posi- 
tion from that of cook to that of captain. July 4, 
187G, he abandoned the life of a sailor, went to 
Newport, Rhode Island, where he worked at his 
trade for several years, and thence to Boston, there 
being employed by the New England Piano Com- 
pany for ten years. Coming to Avon in 1893, he 
purchased his present place of two acres, cleared it, 
and built his house. 

Mr. Sumner was united in marriage to Leila E. 
Flagg, March 6, 1879. Her father, Josia Flagg, 
was born in England in 1811, and died in Avon 
March 8, 1893. Her mother was Janette (Mc- 
Caren) Flagg, a native of New Brunswick, born 
June 25, 1819. Her death occurred May 27, 1903. 
Mrs. Sumner has one brother, A. E. Flagg, of Seat- 
tle, and two sisters, Mrs. Emma Daggett, of Seat- 
tle, and Mrs. Janette Daggett, of Port Kells, Brit- 
ish Columbia. Mr. and Mrs. Sumner have four 
children, Aubrey, at Anacortes, Lelia G., Amy D., 
and Carleton B., at home. Mr. Sumner is prom- 
inent in fraternal circles, being a member" of the 
American Order of United Workmen of Boston; 
of the Avon lodge of Odd Fellows, and the D. A. 
Russell Grand Army Post, Washington lodge num- 
ber two. Mrs. Sumner takes an active part in the 
Olive Branch Lodge of Avon. She is the able 
president of the Women's Christian Temperance 
Union, in the work of which both she and her hus- 
band are deeply interested. An active Republican 
for many years, Mr. Sumner held the office of jus- 
tice of the peace for eight years, and that of coroner, 
for five years. He is now a notary public. Educa- 
tional matters have always claimed his most earnest 
attention, and during- his ten years of service on the 
school board he has had the pleasure of having at 
least some of his progressive ideas carried out. 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



He and his family attend the Baptist church, con- 
tributing liberally to its support. Broadened by a 
lifetime of travel, a keen observer of the countries 
he has visited and the people he has met, Mr. Sum- 
ner is recognized throughout the community as a 
man of unusual intelligence, whose earnest, upright 
character renders him a man of influence. 



THOMAS P. WILKINS, one of North Avon's 
prosperous farmers was born February 24, 1839, in 
Wales, the birthplace also of his parents, James and 
Elizabeth (Reese) Wilkins. Losing his mother at 
the age of four, Thomas Wilkins enjoyed but few 
educational advantages, acquiring his training in 
the larger school of experience. Child labor had 
not been abolished in that country, so at the age of 
twelve he entered a rolling mill in his native coun- 
try, learning all the departments of the work during 
the sixteen years he spent there. In 1866, after 
having mined four years, he came to the United 
States to seek his fortune, finding employment in 
the mines at Alleghany, Pennsylvania. Remaining 
four years, he moved to Iowa, thence to Seattle in 
1872. Commercial street had only a few buildings 
en it then, and had any one foretold the city's pres- 
ent greatness he would have been considered an 
idle dreamer, indeed. The railroad did not reach 
the town for years after that date. Taking up a 
homestead of one hundred and sixty acres in what 
was then Whatcom county, his wife, a woman of 
rare courage and self reliance, remained upon it 
while he was engaged in mining. Tlie journey from 
Mount Vernon to the ranch occupied the time from 
Saturday morning till noon of the following day, 
In 1879 he gave up mining, taking up his residence 
on the homestead and clearing off twenty-five acres 
in the twelve years he lived there. Having sold it 
he purchased his present farm, forty acres of timber 
land, of which he has sold thirty acres. His fine 
six room house, with its neat and convenient ap- 
pointments, tells its own story of successful en- 
deavor. Two years after coming to Avon he built 
a hotel, owning it for ten years, during a part of 
which time it was rented. 

Mr. Wilkins was married in 1859 to Jane 
Thomas, born in Wales in December, 1835, the 
daughter of John Thomas, also a native of Wales. 
Nine children have blessed the union of Mr. and 
Mrs. Wilkins, three of whom died in infancy, and 
one, James, the eldest, born in 1859, died in 1877, 
at the age of sighteen. The other children are as 
follows: Mrs. Elizabeth Tingley, born in 1863; 
Mrs. Adeline Gage, born in 1865; Susan A., born 
in 1873 ; Mrs. Hannah Ford, of Seattle, born in 
1874; Helen, born in 1877. Mr. Wilkins is a 
popular member of the Knights of Phythias. He is 
a loyal Democrat, aiding the party in every possi- 
ble way. In religious belief he and his family ad- 
here to the Episcopalian faith. A man of industry 



and activity, he is meeting with success in his agri- 
cultural pursuits, devoting his time principally to 
dairying, which he believes to be an especially pro- 
fitable branch of farming, and one to which this 
state is peculiarly adapted. He is justly considered 
one of the most intelligent and progressive citizens 
of the community in which he resides. 



WILLIAM MEINS, living west of Prairie, is 
one of the men who have made a marked success 
of farming in Skagit county, to which he came when 
roads were few and everything was in a primitive 
condition. He was born near Bremen in Germany, 
August 11, 1862, the son of William and Sophia 
(Semreng) Meins, farmers of that country who 
died there many years ago, leaving four children, 
of whom the subject hereof is third. As a lad Mr. 
Meins obtained a common school education in the 
eld country and at the age of fifteen started in life 
for himself, serving three years for his board in 
order to learn the shoemaking trade. He then 
worked for wages for several years and had a shop 
of his own when he left Germany for the United 
States in 1882, landing at Baltimore. From that 
city he came to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he worked 
at his trade six months, going thence to Hennepin 
county, Minnesota. He remained there two years 
farming, then migrated to Washington. After a 
short stay in Tacoma he came to Skagit county and 
took up a hotnestead all in timber at Hamilton, to 
which point, with pack on his back, he walked from 
Mount Vernon over a road in name only. At one 
place when undecided as to whether he was really 
en the road he assured himself by finding a news- 
paper wrapper dropped bv one who had gone along 
ahead of him carrying the mail. Mr. Meins at once 
set out to make a home for himself and passed 
eighteen years there, clearing the land and erecting 
house and barn. In his later years on the place, he 
accumulated enough to buy the eighty acres on 
which he is now living, though he still retains his 
original farm. In 1904 Mr. Meins made a trip to 
his native land, stopping en route at the Louisiana 
Purchase Exposition and in various places in Eng- 
land. 

October 15, 1890, Mr. Meins married Miss 
Sophia Bolhorst, whose birthplace was near that of 
her husband. She is the daughter of Wilhelm and 
.Sophia (Hespenheide) Bolhorst, who came to the 
United States when their daughter was a child and 
settled in Ohio, later going to Minnesota, where 
the father is still living, and where Mrs. Meins re- 
ceived her education and grew to womanhood. She 
is a woman of more than ordinary business instinct 
and capacity, and her husband accords her a large 
share of the credit for the success they together 
have achieved. Mr. and Mrs. Meins have three 
children, Edward W., Charles L. and Harry J. Mr. 
Meins is a member of the Pioneers' Association 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



and in politics a Republican. He has served on the 
school board as well as having been six years road 
supervisor. In church affiiliations he and his family 
are Lutherans. When Air. Aleins came here he had 
but two hundred dollars ; his accumulations since 
include, besides his farm lands already mentioned, 
which are extensive and valuable, some city property 
in Ballard said to be worth a goodly sum. A be- 
liever in diversified farming, he raises a great var- 
iety of crops, and keeps, besides other livestock, 
about twenty-five head of graded cattle. Mr. Meins 
is personally popular and deservedly so, being a 
man of energy and forceful character, as well as a 
kindly neighbor and worthy citizen. 



SMITH O. ALLEN, one of Prairie's thrifty 
and industrious farmers, was born in Mondovi, Buf- 
falo county. Wisconsin, July 5, 1864, the son of 
Dutee B. and Annis W. (Gleason) Allen, both of 
whom were born in Greenfields, New York. The 
father, born October 30, 1823, was a teacher in his 
early manhood, but later engaged in mercantile 
pursuits, and at the time of his death, March 10, 
1878, was a farmer. The mother, born February 
7, 1831, was at one time a pupil of her husband. 
Her death occurred December 23, 1904. She was 
the mother of eight children, of whom all except 
the two oldest are living. His father having died 
when he was twelve years old. Smith O. Allen left 
home at that time, assuming self support thus earlv 
in life. He farmed and worked in the woods till 
1880, then went to Dakota, soon returning, how- 
ever, to Wisconsin. In 1883 he was employed on a 
railroad in Nebraska. He located next m Akron, 
Colorado, where he dug the first well in the town. 
Going thence to Denver he worked on the Oregon 
Short Line railroad for a while, then after brief 
residences in Anaconda, and Helena, Montana, went 
to Dakota. He returned thence a little later to his 
native state for a visit, but in 1888, was once more 
a resident of the large interior territory, which soon 
after was carved into two splendid states. Desiring, 
however, to investigate for himself the resources 
of the great Northwest, he soon went to Seattle ; 
thence to Samish Island, thence to Prairie. In 1890 
he took a pre-emption east of where he now resides, 
consisting of forty acres which he afterward sold ; 
and later he purchased the eighty acre farm that he 
now owns. He has made this his home for the past 
seven years, though at the same time he has been 
engaged to some extent in logging and contracting. 
He has thirty-five acres cleared, and in excellent 
shape and gives special attention to dairying, keep- 
ing always a fine herd of cattle. He also raises 
oats, hay and vegetables. Though experiencing 
during his lifetime some financial disappointments 
and trials, he is now enjoying the prosperity that his 
untiring energy so richly merits. 

Mr. Allen and Flora Warner were united in 



marriage October 16, 1889. She was bom in Edi- 
son, Washington, March 9, 1873, the daughter of 
Captain John M. and Ellen Warner. Her father, 
born in England in 1828, was brought by his par- 
ents to Michigan in infancy, and became one of 
the famous "Forty-Niners" of California. He went 
to the Fraser river district during the excitement 
there, thus becoming a resident of the Northwest. 
After several years of service in the employ of the 
Hudson's Bay Company, he became the pioneer 
settler of the prairie that bears his name. He died 
in Sedro-Woolley in 1903. The mother was born 
at Yale, British Columbia, in 1845, and died in 
June. 1890, leaving eleven children, all of whom 
are still alive. Five children have been born to 
Mr. and Airs. Allen, namely: Ralph W., July 16, 
1890; Burton T.. June 17, 1892, died November 
15, 1904; Arnold E., November 13, 1893; Annis 
v.. August 17, 1896; Dutee S., March 17, 1898. 
Mr. Allen is a member of the Modern Woodmen 
of America and the Maccabees, and in politics an 
active Republican. He has held the oifice of jus- 
tice of the peace for two terms. A man of upright 
character, he enjoys the respect and confidence of 
his associates, and is recognized as one of the sub- 
stantial citizens of his part of Skagit county. 



CHARLES F. TREAT, the popular merchant 
and postmaster of Fir, Washington, the direct de- 
scendant of an illustrious family of business men, 
soldiers and statesmen, with a genealogy tracing 
back to the fifteenth century, was born in Bridge- 
port, Connecticut, October 7, 1849. His father, 
Benjamin Treat, a prominent contractor and 
builder, died in 1853. One member of the family, 
Robert Treat, was one of the ablest men that ever 
filled the governor's chair of Connecticut. An- 
other, a naturalist, bequeathed a fine collection of 
butterflies and a large number of books to Har- 
vard university. Still other representatives of the 
family maintained its dignity in colonial and revo- 
lutionary times. Treat's island and Treat's sugar 
refinery in Maine are holdings of the family. The 
maternal ancestor. Julia A. (Anderson) Treat, born 
near Belfast, Maine, died in Oakland, Cd-lifornia, 
in 1904. She was the mother of three sons, only 
one of whom, Charles F., is living. Mr. Treat 
grew to manhood in the city of his birth, leaving 
it at the age of twenty-three to locate in Boston, 
where he entered a wholesale dry goods house. 
Later he removed to Lynn, Massachusetts, engag- 
ing in the coal business, until he came West in 
1889 and located in Ballard, Washington. There 
he opened the real estate firm of Harrison, Treat 
& Company. In 1892 Mr. Treat incorporated at 
Seattle the wholesale and retail firm of Harrison, 
Treat & Co., a glass, bar and billiard supply house, 
now known as the A. H. Harrison Company. In 
1897, when this country was thrilled by news of the 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



wonderful deposits of gold found in Alaska, he 
decided to seek his fortune there, being a passen- 
ger on the eleventh boat that entered Dawson, which 
at that time had only two log cabins. During the 
famine of 1897 he was chairman of the meeting 
that sent the surplus men out of camp to prevent 
starvation. He had intended to locate at Circle 
City, where he had property, but hearing of the 
strike then in progress there, he changed his plans, 
remaining at Dawson. There he opened the first 
brokerage office on the Yukon river, drawing up 
contracts and agreements, and handling the prop- 
erty of Treat, Crawford & Depreau. In the fall of 
1897 he came out on the ice, returning the follow- 
ing summer to remain four years longer. He was 
owner and operator of thirty-two mining claims at 
cne time, meeting with wonderful success at first, 
but later suffering some reverses of fortune. He 
witnessed the marvelous growth of Dawson, which 
was a city of twenty thousand inhabitants at the 
time he returned to the United States in 1902. Pur- 
chasing his present business upon his return, he in- 
creased the capital stock several times over, now 
owning one of the substantial business houses of 
South Skagit, handling hay, grain and fish. The 
firm of Chlopeck of Seattle, one of the largest in 
the city, is one of his fish customers. He is also 
postmaster of Fir. Mr. Treat is an enthusiastic 
member of the Order of Elks of Seattle. Politically 
he loyally adheres to Republican principles, having 
always been actively identified with the party. Dur- 
ing his residence in Ballard he was the first mayor 
of the town, elected to succeed himself at the ex- 
piration of his first term. Thoroughly conversant 
with every detail in connection with his large and 
increasing business, to which he gives the most 
careful attention, he yet finds time to indulge in his 
favorite diversions, hunting and fishing. Possessed 
of rare business qualifications, Mr. Treat unites 
with them a genial disposition that makes a per- 
sonal friend of all who come in contact with him, 
either in a business or social way. 



GEORGE H. MANN, the well-known member 
of the firm of Mann & Wallon, hotel proprietors at 
Fir, Washington, was born near Lewiston, Maine, 
January 28, 1871, the son of Orin and Rebecca 
(Huntington) Mann, both natives of Maine, where 
the father, a descendant of one of the oldest fami- 
lies, followed farming till the time of his death in 
1899. The mother is now living at Edwards, Wash- 
ington. Having spent his early life on the farm 
and acquired his education in the common' schools, 
in 1891 Mr. Mann came to Fir, where his uncle, 
Charles H. Mann, the pioneer merchant of Fir, 
was engaged in handling general merchandise. To 
this uncle belongs the honor of founding Fir, which 
was then known as "Mann's Landing," he having 
established a trading post among the Indians on 



the west side of the south fork of the Skagit river, 
when there were but few white settlers in the lo- 
cality. His death occurred December 15, 1899, at 
the age of fifty-si.x years. Employed as a clerk in 
his uncle's store for three years, George Mann be- 
came familiar with the business, and later formed a 
partnership with Axel Anderson, owning a store 
in connection with the postofifice for some two 
years, after which they sold out. Later he was pro- 
prietor of a meat market for several years. He 
then decided to engage in farming, leased a large 
ranch of his uncle and devoted his entire attention 
to that work, having charge also of his own ranch, 
situated east of town. In 1903 he traded his prop- 
erty for his interest in the hotel, he and Mr. Wal- 
lon forming a partnership, which has been a very 
successful one. His brothers and sisters are as 
follows: Laura, Roger, Richmond, Main, Frank 
and Bert, residing near Fir; Lulu Toop of Ballard. 
Mr. Mann was married July 22, 1898, to Helena 
Swanson, who was born in Sweden in 1871, and 
came to the United States when but eight years 
of age. Her father, August Swanson, is now living 
on the J. L. Downs place west of Fir. Three chil- 
dren have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Mann: Hat- 
tie, Lottie and Walter. Mr. Mann is a strong Re- 
publican, actively engaged in furthering the inter- 
ests of his party. Believing this to be the finest 
country he has ever been privileged to see, he is 
enthusiastic over the almost unlimited opportunities 
for success. He has seen many fields of grain run- 
ning one hundred and fifty bushels to the acre, 
some as high as one hundred and eighty bushels ; 
also hay fields yielding from four to five tons per 
acre. His own prosperity certainly justifies him 
in believing that the young man of steady and in- 
dustrious habits may here find an opening that can 
be duplicated in but few places in the world. 



ALFRED POLSON. Among the young farm- 
ers of Skagit county who have won for themselves 
an enviable position in the community is Alfred 
Poison, the well-known manager of the Poison 
ranch, situated eight and one-half miles southwest 
of Mount Vernon, on the Skagit delta. His father, 
Olof Poison, a native of Hasslof, Halland's Lane, 
Sweden, born March 23, 1833, came to the United 
States October 26, 1868, locating near Ottumwa, 
Iowa. Removing in 1871 to what was then What- 
com county, he took up a homestead on Brown's 
slough and transformed it into one of the finest 
farms in the Northwest. Later he retired from 
active work on the farm, taking up his residence 
in La Conner, of which city he was mayor for 
three terms. Always an active Republican, he at- 
tended the conventions, lending his influence to 
every measure that would advance his party's in- 
terests. He was an earnest worker in the Swedish 
Lutheran church to the time of his death, which 




OLOF POLSON 




MRS. OLOF POLSON 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



cccurred May 30, 1903. He was married in Munk- 
agardden, Sweden, June 7, 1853, to Gunhilda Nel- 
son, a native of Sweden, born September 35, 1832, 
and now living at La Conner. 

Tlie family having removed to Skagit county 
when he was but a year old, Alfred Poison spent his 
early years on the farm acquiring a practical knowl- 
edge of the work and at the same time a good com- 
mon school education. Early giving evidence of 
unusual business talent, he was placed by his father 
in charge of the entire farm when the older Mr. 
Poison moved to La Conner. One year later, on 
October 1, 189G, he entered the hardware business 
with his brother, John, in La Conner. The firm 
name chosen was "The Poison-Wilton Hardware 
Company." Another brother. Perry, who was in 
the wholesale hardware business in Seattle, also had 
an interest in the enterprise. At the end of a year 
and a half our subject returned to the farm at his 
father's request, assuming the management of it, 
that the elder Poison might be free to retire again 
to his town residence in La Conner, which he had 
left to oversee the ranch during his son's absence. 
This estate, comprising three hundred and twenty- 
live acres, splendidly equipped with houses, barns 
and warehouses, which in the distance give it the 
appearance of being a village in itself, has never 
been divided. Upon the death of its owner it was 
not probated, the heirs forming a stock company, 
each holding an equal number of shares, and the 
mother retaining her interests in her own posses- 
sion while she lives. Mr. Poison's brothers and 
sisters are as follows: Perry, president of the 
wholesale hardware and implement company, of 
Seattle ; Nels, a farmer in Skagit county ; Mrs. 
Pauline Nelson of La Conner; Mrs. Christine Bell 
and Mrs. Josephine Calkins, residents of Skagit 
county ; William L., assayer and chemist, at Ketch- 
ikan, Alaska. 

Mr. Poison was married December 6. 1899, to 
Cora E. Hayton, who was born in 1880, the daugh- 
ter of Thomas and Sarah E. (Sanders) Hayton. 
Her father, a distinguished pioneer of Skagit 
county, and a veteran of the Civil War, is still liv- 
ing, but her mother died November 21, 1896. Mrs. 
Poison has one sister, Mrs. Laura Hemingway, and 
six brothers, Jacob. Thomas, Henry, George, James 
and William. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Poison 
are Edna May, born May 6, 1901; Florence E., 
born June 9, i903, and Genevieve C, born July 1, 
1905. Mr. Poison is affiliated with the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen and Woodmen of the 
World and is an influential member of the Swedish 
Lutheran church, while his wife is a Baptist, active 
in the work of her denomination. He is a member 
of the school board and being an earnest advocate 
always of the policy of supplying the best educa- 
tional advantages is now advocating an enlarge- 
ment of the school building and the employment of 
an additional teacher in his district. A loyal sup- 



porter of the principles of the Republican party, he 
is active in its councils and a frequent attendant of 
its county conventions. 

Mr. Poison is the owner of a fine tract of one 
hundred and sixty acres of valuable land, which 
he farms in connection with the family estate. In 
addition to his own farming operations he is breed- 
ing Ho' steins for dairy and beef purposes. Pie is 
the owner at present of eighty head of cattle. He 
has his own separator and sells the cream product 
of the herd to the Pleasant Ridge Creamery Com- 
pany, in which he is a stockholder. He is also in- 
terested in the rearing of fine English Shire horses. 
The conditions under which Mr. Poison operates 
illustrate how farm life may be made easy and de- 
lightful in Skagit county. He has every facility 
for shipping his grain and other products to the 
markets of the sound, as steamers of a hundred 
tons burden or even larger come up Brown's slough 
to his very doorstep. He has a gasoline launch 
anchored at his landing, making it pos^^ible for him 
to make convenient trips by water as often as he 
pleases to Mount Vernon, La Conner and oiher 
points on the river, sloughs and sound. With rural 
free delivery, telephone connections with neighbo-- 
ing towns and cities and every modern convenience 
for lightening the work indoors and out, he and his 
family live an almost ideal rural life. They have 
the splendid satisfaction also of realizing that most 
of the advantages they enjoy came as a reward of 
their own labor and planning, and that the public 
institutions which add to their comforts have al- 
ways received from them a generous encourage- 
ment and support. 



J.A.MES B. HAYTON. a prosperous young 
farmer and stockman, residing seven miles south- 
west of Mount Vernon, was born in Skagit county 
on the place where he now lives, February 8, 1877. 
His father, Thomas Hayton, a retired farmer, born 
in Kentucky, June 23, 1833, is a well-known pioneer 
of Skagit county, having come here in 1876. since 
which time he has been prominently identified with 
the county and state. He was a member of the 
constitutional convention when the territory of 
Washington became a state. He was in active 
service throughout the Civil War, enlisting in Ken- 
tucky, and he experienced the horrors of Libby 
prison. Tlie mother, Sarah E. (Sanders), was 
born in what is now West Virginia in 1834 and died 
in Skagit county November 21, 1896. She was the 
mother of fourteen children, eight of whom are 
living, as follows : Jacob, in Oregon ; Thomas R., 
a merchant in Mount Vernon; Henry, in British 
Columbia ; George, in Kitsap County, Washington ; 
Mrs. Laura Hemingway of Fir; William of Skagit 
county, and Mrs. Cora Poison of Skagit county. 
Born on the old home place one year after the fam- 
ily had moved there, James B. Hayton completed 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



his eriucation in the high school and then took up 
farming under the supervision of his father. 
Adapted to the work and thoroughly familiar with 
the detail upon which success in such a large meas- 
ure depends, he was soon able to relieve his father 
of the management of the farm. Three years ago 
he and his brother-in-law leased the father's place 
of three hundred and sixty acres for a period of 
three years. In 1903 he purchased one hundred 
and twenty acres, now farming three hundred and 
twenty acres in all, the majority of which is in oats. 
The maximum yield of oats per acre on his farm 
has been one hundred and sixty bushels to the acre, 
the average about one hundred bushels. Hay yields 
from four to five tons per acre. His place is well 
stocked, having on it about seventy-five head of 
Durham cattle and horses of the best breed. 

Mr. Hayton was married December 25, 1901, to 
Maud M. Good, born in Washington January 4, 
1883. Her parents, Edward and Mary (Forbes) 
Good, are well-known pioneers of this county. Mrs. 
Hayton has two brothers, William and Edward. 
One child, Evelyn, has made happy the home of 
Mr. and Mrs. Hayton. Mr. Hayton is an active 
member of the Yeomen fraternity at Mount Ver- 
non. He is also a member of the Baptist church. 
In political belief he is a strong Republican, loy- 
ally supporting the party in every possible way. 
Earnest and industrious, possessed of youth, health 
and ambition, it is safe to predict for him a still 
larger measure of success in the business to which 
he is devoting his best energies. 



ALEX JOHNSON is one of the farmers of Fir 
who believe in carr_ving on diversified agriculture, 
and the sixty-acre place he is master of is the result 
of his ideas on the best manner of operating a 
small farm. Mr. Johnson is a native of Norway, 
where he was born on May 17, 1866, the son of 
Leonard and Bertha (Erickson) Johnson. The 
parents passed their entire lives in the old country, 
the former dying in 1893 at the age of fifty-three 
and the latter in 1891 at the age of forty-seven. 
There were three children of the union besides the 
subject of this sketch, George, Hans and Mrs. 
Kate White. Alex Johnson attended school until 
fifteen years of age, then worked on a salary until 
1886, when he came to the LTnited States. He first 
went to Michigan and remained there four years, 
being employed in lumber camps and mills. Com- 
ing to Washington in 1890, he located in King 
county and worked in a saw-mill at Ballard for 
seven years. He has been a resident of Skagit 
county since 1897. 

In that year Mr. Johnson married at Seattle 
Miss Alary Johnson, the only daughter of Ole 
Johnson, who came to this country from Norway 
and settled in Skagit county twenty-six years ago, 
where he still resides. Mrs. Alex Johnson's mother 



died while her daughter was an infant, and she v/as 
brought to this country by her father in 1879 at the 
age of nine, and lived in Seattle at the time of her 
marriage. Five children have been born to Mr. and 
Mrs-. Johnson: Louise, Olga, Leonard, Alfred and 
Carl. In politics Mr. Johnson is a Republican and 
m church affiliation a Lutheran. Mr. Johnson owns 
the farm which he operates. It is entirely cleared 
and devoted to general farming. The main features 
of the products of the place are oats and cattle, 
though a little of everything demanded by the mar- 
kets is raised. Six head of cows are milked and eight 
head of young cattle range the pastures. Most of 
the land is in oats. The Johnson home is a pleasant 
one, filled with interest in the children, about whose 
education much of the planning in the home circle 
centers. 



ANDREW N. CROGSTAD, the owner of a 
splendid ranch situated one and one-half miles 
southwest of Fir, is a native of Norway, born in the 
state of Trondhgem, June 27, 1852. His father. 
Nils Andrews, immigrated from Norway to the 
United States in 1880 and is now engaged in farm- 
ing in Minnesota. The mother, Carrie L. (Lewis) 
Andrews, died in 1880. Mr. Crogstad attended 
the common schools of his country, completing his 
education by a course in the agricultural schools, af- 
ter which he took up the trade of ship building, 
working in the iron department until in 1872, he 
sought the larger opportunities afforded by the 
United States, locating in Wisconsin. Employed by 
a sawmill company at Red Cedar Falls, he there re- 
mained for three years, following which he spent 
the same length of time at another town. Skagit 
county became his home in 1877, and the next year 
he leased Captain Loveland's ranch on the Skagit 
river for three years. A government survey near 
Wenatchee, on the Columbia river, and in the vi- 
cinity of Priest Rapids occupied his time and at- 
tention for a while. He then removed to Seattle, 
where he worked in a foundry for several months, 
returning at length to Skagitt county. After log- 
ging 'near Mill Town a short time he bought his 
present place in 1889, of Jacob Hoyton, together 
with a forty acre tract off another place, thai had 
been only partially diked and cleared, but is now in 
an excellent state of cultivation. He owns one hun- 
dred and twenty acres, a large part of which he de- 
votes to hay and oats, the remainder to the cultiva- 
tion of fruits, of which he has a great variety, cher- 
ries, pears, apples, plums and berries. His ranch 
is stocked with thoroughbred short horn cattle that 
give evidence of careful attention. Last year he and 
his neighbors formed a stock company for the pur- 
chase of an English shire stallion, that they might 
be able to breed superior horses. Mr. Crogstad has 
a brother, Louis Nelson Crogstad, and a sister, Mrs. 
Jennie G. Long, both residing in Minnesota. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



793 



In Seattle, March 8, 1889„Mr. Crogstad was mar- 
ried to Wilhelmina Janssen, a native of Germany, 
born June 36, 1864. Her father, P. N. Janssen, 
born on the line near Denmark, immigrated to the 
United States, locating on White river, near Seattle, 
in 1873, where he died in January, 1899. Her moth- 
er, long since deceased, was Wilhelmina Christine 
Janssen. Mr. and Mrs. Crogstad have the following 
children: Carrie Elvina, attending school at Ever- 
ett, having completed the eighth grade at home; 
Maurice N., Lottie, Clara and Louis. Mr. Crog- 
stad is an active member of the American Order of 
United Workmen. Though not identified with any 
church organization, he contributes liberally to the 
support of all. As a member of the school board he 
is an earnest advocate of modern methods, believing 
that the educational advantages are a vital force 
in the development and progress of our civilization. 
In political belief he is a Republican, reserving, 
however, the right to vote an independent ticket 
when he deems best. An earnest, intelligent, pro- 
gressive citizen, possessed of sterling character, he 
is one of the substantial members of the community, 
enjoying the confidence and respect of all. 



LEWIS P. HEMINGWAY, a successful farm- 
er and stockman residing one and one-fourth miles 
west of Fir, is a native of Maine, born April 2-3, 
1863, in Rumford, Oxford county. His father. Col- 
man Hemingway, born in Maine, the home of his 
ancestors for several generations, was a veteran of 
the Civil War, in the Twelfth Maine Volunteer regi- 
ment. Having suffered severely from the effects of 
exposure during his service in the army, he was the 
recipient of a pension to the time of his death, in 
1904, at the age of eighty-one. Tlie mother, Orpha 
G. (Pinkham) Hemingway, was born in Penob- 
scot county, Maine, and died in 1903, at the age of 
seventy-one. Mr. Hemingway grew to manhood on 
his father's farm, acquiring a practical knowledge 
of the work which has occupied his attention these 
later years. At the age of twenty he moved to La- 
moure county. North Dakota, there engaging in 
farming for two years, after which he accepted a 
position with the Seattle Cereal Company. Later 
he dealt in feed and grain, spending two years buy- 
ing oats in Skagit county, which section impressed 
him at the time as being an especially favored lo- 
cality for agricultural pursuits. Having made a 
trip to Maine in 1890, he came to this county two 
years later, he and his brother-in-law, James Hay- 
ton, leasing the old Thomas Hayton ranch of three 
hundred and sixty acres, for a period of three years. 
They have now divided the ranch, each farming 
separately. Mr. Hemingway has recently purchased 
forty acres of the Cobb ranch, erecting a fine new 
house on it which he is now occupving. He has 
four brothers, Myron, Charles, Frank and Willis, 
the last-named following the carpenter trade in 



Scdro-Woolley. His only sister, Maydelle Neal, 
lives in Maine. 

Mr. Hemingway was married August 525, 1898, to 
Laura M. Hayton, born in Cass county, Missouri, 
tile daughter of Thomas Hayton, a well known pio- 
neer of Skagit county, born in Kentucky June 23, 
1833. He came to this country in 1876, and still 
makes it his home. Mrs. Hemingway's mother was 
Sarah E. (Sanders) Hayton, a native of Virginia, 
born in 1834 ; her death occurred November 2, 1896. 
The fifth child of a family of eight, Mrs. Heming- 
way has brothers and sisters as follows : Jacob, in 
Oregon ; Thomas R., a merchant in Mount Vernon ; 
Henry, in British Columbia ; George, in Kitsap 
county; James B. and William, Skagit county, and 
Cora, the wife of AJfred Poison. Mr. and Mrs. 
Hemingway have one child, Edith, born September 
7, 1900, and twins, born Aug. 23, 1905, Harold and 
Hazel. Mr. Hemingway is a prominent member of 
the Woodmen of the World and the Foresters of 
America, at Seattle. He is actively identified with 
the Republican party. Thoroughly familiar with 
every branch of farming, he is one of the successful 
ranchers in this section, farming two hundred acres, 
one hundred and thirty-five of which are in oats, the 
remainder in hay and pasture. Realizing that diver- 
sified farming is the demand of the hour, he devotes 
much time to stock, owning forty head of cattle and 
twelve horses. Much of the land in this vicinity 
will average thirty-five sacks of oats, of three bush- 
els each, and three and one-half tons of hay, per 
acre. Farm hands receive good wages, from thirty 
to thirty-five dollars per month with board being the 
usual compensation, thus making it easy for an in- 
dustrious poor man to gain a footing. Industrious, 
ambitious, and a man of integrity, Air. Hemingway 
is a highly respected citizen, enjoying the confidence 
of the entire community. 



CFIRISTOPHER OLSEN is one of the pros- 
perous and reliable farmers of the Fir district, his 
farm being located about a mile and a half south of 
town. Here he conducts a successful dairy busi- 
ness. Mr. Olsen was born in Norway in 1853, the 
son of Oie Christopherson, who is still living in the 
old country, and Mrs. Gunie (Nelson) Christopher- 
son, who died five years ago in Norway, the mother 
of nine children, eight living, as follows : Birta, 
Christopher, Nels, Martin, Ole, Ivar, John and Gun- 
der. Christopher Olson attended the schools of 
Norway until sixteen years of age and after leav- 
ing school entered the fisheries of Norway and con- 
tinued in that line until his departure for the United 
.States in 1881. He stopped for a year in Michigan 
and then came on to Skagit county in 1883. He 
went to work at once in the logging camps and con- 
tinued at that work for a full decade when he 
bought his present place and has lived on it ever 
since. 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



At Milltown, in 1889, Mr. Olsen married Miss 
Lizzie Larson, daughter of Lars and Mary Larsoa 
natives of Norway, who never left their native 
shores and fjords. Mrs. Olsen received her educa- 
tion in the old country and came to the United 
States m ISSG and worked at dressmaking at Fir 
until her marriage. Mrs. Olson died in 1902, leav- 
ing two children: Minnie, born in 1890. and Ole, 
born in 1893. In politics Mr. Olson is a Republican 
and in church alSliations a Lutheran. His farm con- 
sists of forty acres, all under cultivation, and he has 
a nice eight-room house. In his dairy department 
Mr. Olson milks twelve cows, but he has in addi- 
tion fourteen head of stock cattle, as well as some 
sheep and a few hogs and horses sufficient to carry 
on the farm work. He also owns ten acres of land 
at Fir. Mr. Olson is one of the substantial farmers 
of the Fir country, sensible in his views of men and 
things and reliable in all things. He enjoys the es- 
teem and respect of all with whom he comes in con- 
tact. 



LEWIS JOHNSON, deceased, was one of the 
men who started in business in Sagit county when 
there was little except the wilderness to attract ; but 
before his death he had made a place for himself 
and family which will not be obliterated in the years 
to come. Mr. Johnson, during his life in Skagit 
county, was a respected and honored citizen of the 
community south of Fir, having his home on Long 
Island. He was born in Norway January 20, 1849, 
the son of Christian and Ingelberg Johnson, who 
passed their lives in that country and were the par- 
ents of five children : Berta, Andrew, John, Tena 
and Lewis. Until he was sixteen years of age Lewis 
Johnson attended school and then for a period of 
eight years worked at the trade of carpenter. He 
came to the United States in i873 and for six years 
lived in Michigan, where he engaged in logging 
and lumbering. On coming to Washington Mr. 
Johnson located in Snohomish county and took a 
homestead near Marysville ; but at the end of two 
years moved to Skagit county and rented a place on 
Brown's slough, where he lived for three years. At 
the end of that time he moved on his present place, 
where he lived until his death and where his widow 
still resides. 

January 5, 1881, Mr. Johnson, at Seattle, married 
Miss Berta Johnson, born in the old country, daugh- 
ter of John and Elizabeth (Brotten) Bransted, na- 
tives of Norway, who passed their entire lives there, 
the father being a blacksmith by trade. Mrs. John- 
son was one of five children, the others being Eliza- 
beth, Ande, Ivar and Rande. She was born July 
27, 18-16, and grew up at home, attending school ; 
she stayed at home with her parents until in 1873 
she came to the United States, went to Michigan 
and passed two years at domestic work. Six more 
years were spent thus in Chicago, San Francisco 



and Seattle, prior to her marriage. Three children 
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Johnson — Anna, 
Mamie, Moone and Julia, of whom Mamie only is 
living. Mr. Johnson was a Republican in politics. 
The family are Lutherans in church affiliations. The 
home farm, which is operated by Mrs. Johnson 
since the death of her husband, consists of 130 acres, 
fifty of which are tillable. Mr. Johnson is remem- 
bered in the community as a thrifty, hard working, 
honorable man, and one in whom his fellows placed 
the highest confidence. His life in Skagit county 
was that of the pioneer. His share in the develop- 
ment of the section was an important one and his 
name must ever be inseparably linked with those of 
the sturdy characters who wrought the wonderful 
changes that have marked the last quarter of a cen- 
tury. 



LEWIS LARSON, a farmer and dairyman a 
mile and a half south of Fir, is one of the successful 
agriculturists and stock men of the southwestern 
part of Skagit county, who have accumulated valu- 
able property interests. Mr. Larson is a native of 
Norway, born Dec. 26, 1859, the son of Lars Levek, 
a farmer who lived and died in the old country and 
put in the regular term of army service demanded 
of the young men. The mother was Marat Norvek, 
who had six children, two of whom have died, the 
living being Christian, Aldre, Dorde and Lewis. 
Lewis Larson attended school until he was fifteen 
vears of age ; then commenced to work for his 
brother but made his home with his mother until he 
was twenty. He chartered a fishing boat and oper- 
ated that for two years prior to coming to the Unit- 
ed States in 1882. On reaching this country he 
stayed for a time in Michigan, but came to Skagit 
county in the fall, locating at LTtsalady, where he re- 
mained four years at saw mill work. For a number 
of years he worked in King county mills, returned 
to Skagit county in 189G and located on his present 
place, where he has resided since. 

In 1903, on Christmas Day, at Mount Vernon, 
Mr. Larson married Mrs. Eldre Schrondahl, widow 
of Andrew Schrondahl of Fir. She was the daugh- 
ter of Christopher Vike, a native of Norway. There 
were five children in the Vike family, and those liv- 
ing are : John, Mrs. E. Bransted, Mrs. Larson and 
Gunder. Mrs. Larson was born in Michigan in 
1858, and obtained her education there, residing at 
home until her marriage. Mr. Schrondahl was 
drowned in the Skagit river in 1889. Mr. Larson is 
a Republican in politics and in church affiliations a 
Lutheran. He owns forty acres, all under cultiva- 
tion and well tilled, in his home place ; and has also 
160 acres of valuable timber land in Oregon. In 
his dairy barn Mr. Larson keeps eleven cows, but 
he also has thirty-five head of other cattle, as well 
as sheep and hogs. Mr. Larson's farm is in its 
present fine shape solely through the efTorts of its 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



owner, for he cleared it himself and built his own 
dike. Mr. Larson is very popular in the commun- 
ity ; he is a man of energy and industry and keeps 
abreast of the times. For almost a quarter of a cen- 
tury he has been an active participant in the work of 
developing the industrial resources of this section, 
and during this long period of activity has won for 
himself a reputation in which any citizen may well 
take commendable pride. 



LAFAYETTE S. STEVENS is one of the men 
who have unbounded faith in Skagit county as a 
mining district, and his experience as a prospector 
should enable him to recognize a good mining coun- 
try when he travels over it. He was born in Illi- 
nois August 22, 1847, the son of Alfred and Esther 
(Kellogg) Stevens, natives of Pennsylvania. The 
elder Stevens early in life owned 320 acres of the 
site where Chicago now stands, but left it for Ra- 
cine, Wisconsin. He died in Illinois in 1874. In 
early life Mrs. Steven? was a school teacher, but she 
relinquished the profession when she married. She 
died in Wisconsin in 1892, the mother of nine chil- 
dren. Young Stevens lived at home and attended 
school until he was nineteen, then farmed in Illinois 
for a time, whence in 1870 he went to California. 
He put in one year ranching at Chico, then went to 
Nevada and took up the life of a prospector, and 
during the two and ojie-half years he was in 
that state he located a number of good paying claims 
that cleaned up well. In 1873 he came to the Skagit 
river, and for the ensuing fifteen years he prospect- 
ed up and down the entire valley, discovering man\ 
indications of minerals. It was the successful opera- 
tion of placers on Ruby creek, by Mr. Stevens, in 
conjunction with Otto Clement, Cliarles Von Pres- 
sentin and John Rowley, which caused the Ruby 
creek excitement some years ago. The story of the 
yield of twenty-five cents to the pan attracted many 
to the diggings. In 1878 Mr. Stevens located the 
coal mines of Cokedale, northeast of Sedro-Wool- 
ley, and he still believes that the Skagit coal is rich- 
est in carbon of any coal in the United States. Mr. 
Stevens at the present time has four claims on Table 
Mountain which are supposed to be valuable, as the 
ore assays $16 to the ton, appearing principally as 
gold quartz. This Table Mountain property is in 
well defined ledges, cased with slate and greenstone, 
a formation which in Mr. Stevens' mind insures per- 
manency of the deposits. He has planned to carry 
on the development of this property at once. Mr. 
Stevens has put in more years in the Skagit county 
mountains than any other prospector and he has 
great confidence in their future as a mining region. 
In 1898 Mr. Stevens left prospecting In Skagit "tem- 
porarily and went to the Dawson fields, where he 
spent two years, prospecting and mining, being one 
of a company of seven men who, as employees, took 
out $50,000 from a single claim. On his return to 



Skagit county he located in Clear Lake and opened 
the hotel which he still conducts. At one time Mr. 
Stevens owned 320 acres of farm land near Bur- 
lington, of which 100 were cleared. At the opening 
of one spring during that period he selected twenty 
acres and planted garden seed on contract at an 
agreed price of one dollar per pound for the prod- 
uct; but, unfortunately, the first big spring freshet 
for fifteen years came down the Skagit valley that 
season and swept away all of his planting. 

Mrs. Stevens, who formerly was Miss Florence 
Drown, is a native of Wisconsin who came to Skagit 
county and, December 2, 1888, was married to Mr. 
Stevens at Burlington. Of this union there have 
been five children, of whom a daughter, Esther, is 
dead. The living are : Fred, Laura, Mabel and 
Ralph. Mr. Stevens is a Republican in politics. 
While fortune has been against him in the matter 
of winning financial success, he is very hopeful that 
his mining properties will soon begin rewarding him 
for all his labor and faith and at any rate he enjoys 
the satisfaction of having contributed much to the 
mining development of the country. 



GEORGE W. PHELPS is a product of the de- 
velopment period of the country west of the plains 
and prairies of the United States, and like most of 
the men born in the west in the days when the land 
was being turned from wild nature to the uses of 
mankind, is a self-made man. He was born at St. 
George, Utah, August 22, 18G3. His father, John 
Phelps, a native of Ohio, followed the stream of 
gold seekers to California in the fifties, whence 
sometime during the decade following he went to 
Utah, where he resided until his death in 1874. He 
used to relate an incident which illustrates the feel- 
ing entertained by the Indians toward the whites in 
the days when the country was being settled. Mr. 
Phelps prepared some flour for cooking and hap- 
pened to find that it had been well doctored with 
strychnine. A supposedly friendly redskin was dis- 
covered later who confessed that he had added the 
strychnine to the flour, but blandly assured Mr. 
Phelps that he had no ill feeling against him, al- 
leging that he simply was experimenting to see if 
strychnine would kill Mrs. Phelps, the mother of 
George, whose maiden name was Phoebe M. Dart, 
was a native of New York, but raised in Bridge- 
port, Connecticut. Of her three children, only the 
subject of this writing still lives. George Phelps 
lived with his parents until 1875, when he was at- 
tracted to the Snake river country of Idaho, where 
he lived with a bachelor for more than a twelve- 
month. The year 1877 found him in California, 
where he passed a year, and at a later date he en- 
gaged in caring for stage horses in Nevada. He 
continued in that country until 1886, when he went 
to Idaho for his mother and took her to the Skagit 
valley, settling at Clear Lake. The years between 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



3 894 and 1903 he passed in British Columbia, em- 
ployed in various lines of work, but since then he 
has lived on the shores of Clear Lake, successfully 
conducting the business of a dairy farmer. 

In October, 1896, while living at Clinton, Brit- 
ish Columbia, Mr. Phelps married Miss Mary J. 
Kennedy, daughter of Donald Kennedy, the latter 
a native of Scotland who had been brought to Can- 
ada by his parents while an infant. He learned the 
blacksmith trade when a young man in Canada. Mr. 
Kennedy was in Michigan for a time. On coming 
to Puget Sound he located at Arlington in the hotel 
business, later going to British Columbia, where he 
died in 1902. Mrs. Kennedy, the mother of Mrs. 
Phelps, who is also of Canadian birth, still lives, 
now a resident of Cariboo, British Columbia. Mrs. 
Phelps was born in Ontario in 1871, and remained 
with her parents until two years prior to her mar- 
riage, when she secured employment away from 
home. Mr. and Mrs. Phelps have no children. In 
politics he is a Socialist, though at one period of his 
life he was a Republican. Mr. Phelps has ninety-five 
acres of land bordering on Clear Lake, milks six- 
teen cows and has a number of young cattle. In his 
young days Mr. Phelps was so situated that he had 
no opportunity to secure an education, but in later 
years he pursued studies by himself and has_ picked 
up a great fund of information along scientific and 
sociorogical lines. In Skagit county he has served 
as school director and takes a deep interest in school 
matters, believing the public schools to be funda- 
mental to the be'st American citizenship. He also 
has been road supervisor at Clear Lake. He has 
been compelled to do much work reclaiming his 
land, but now has a portion of it in shape for culti- 
vation. Straightforward in all business transac- 
tions, he holds, for this and other worthy traits of 
character, the respect of his fellows. 



GEORGE W. DUNN, though a resident of 
Skagit county but a short time, already has won a 
reputation for himself in the community near Clear 
Lake as an energetic and progressive man. His 
ancestry and his own previous career were of sub- 
stantial character. He was born in Licking county, 
Ohio, of the sturdy stock of Virginians who poured 
through Pittsburg and settled in the Ohio basin in 
the years following the Revolution. His father, 
born at Charlestown, Virginia, in 1803, first fol- 
lowed the trade of a carder. When twenty-one years 
old he took up pioneer farm life in Ohio, where he 
died in 1877. Mrs. Mary A. (Evans) Dtinn, moth- 
er of our subject, was born in the Buckeye state 
and remained there all her life, living with her par- 
ents until she married. She was the mother of six- 
teen children, of whom seven are living: Caroline, 
Alfred, James W., Rebecca, Milligan, George W., 
and Leonard B. George W. was born May 26, 
1846. He remained at home until the outbreak of 
the war, then enlisted in the One Hundred and 



Thirty-fifth Ohio Volunteers. He was captured by 
the Confederates July 3, 1864, and languished at 
Andersonville, Charleston and Florence for five 
months and seven days thereafter, but was given 
his parole in December, 1864, and received his dis- 
charge in January of the following year. He at 
once commenced planning his future under the 
Union to be reconstructed, and in the winter of 
1865-6 went to Missouri, thence in the spring to 
Kansas, where he remained three years. He then 
went back to Missouri and operated a farm in that 
state for eight years, after which he returned to 
Ohio, and passed nine more years in farming, then 
spending an additional two years in the same pur- 
suit in Indiana. Mr. Dunn thereupon took up his 
abode in Nebraska, where he resided from 1885 to 
the last days of 1904, engaged in the sheep and cat- 
tle industry, a line in which he was quite successful. 
On coming to Skagit county he bought a tract of 
land on the Skagit river for $4,500, upon which are 
three million feet of merchantable timber. He has 
cleared eight acres and erected a handsome house 
and ample barns, and expects to pass the remainder 
of his days here. 

Mr. Dunn, in 1868, while in Missouri, married 
Miss Mary Deffenbaugh, daughter of John Deffen- 
baugh, a native of Pennsylvania who had moved 
west and engaged in farming. Mrs. Dunn's mother, 
a native of Indiana, gave to the world ten children, 
two of whom have died. The living are George W., 
Mathias A., Carrie L., Nettie M., Roily O., Leslie 
E., Charles A. and I\Irs. Dunn. George W. Dunn 
is a Republican in politics, and in fraternal connec- 
tion a member of the Grand Army of the Republic 
and of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He 
also belongs to the Methodist church. As a man 
and citizen his standing in the community in which 
he lives is a highlv enviable one. 



XAVER BARTL is one of the very earliest set- 
tlers in Skagit county, commencing his residence 
when there were only seven white men living on 
the river and when it was necessary to go to Whid- 
by Island to get a day's work. He built the first 
house in Mount Vernon, and recalls that while liv- 
ing in this house at one time he was out of bread 
for days because the river was frozen and he could 
not go to the island. He has lived to see wondrous 
changes in the Skagit valley. Mr. Bartl was born 
in Germany in 1846, the son of Franz Bartl, a na- 
tive of Germany, who came to the United States 
when thirty years of age, settling first in Wiscon- 
sin, then in Missouri, and coming to Skagit county 
in 1872. The father located at Mount Vernon and 
operated a farm until his death in 1889. The moth- 
er died in Germany when Xaver was six years old. 
Of this union two sons survive, Frank Bartl and 
the subject of this sketch, both of whom reside in 
Skagit county. After continuing with his father 
until eighteen young Bartl commenced the life of 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



a farmer on his own account in Missouri in 1864. 
Three years were spent in Missouri and one in Illi- 
nois, then Mr. Bartl located on Whidby Island, 
Washington, where one year later he moved to 
Mount Vernon. He chose the land which has since 
been converted into the fair grounds and lived 
there until 1SS4, when he moved to his present farm 
north of Clear Lake. 

Xaver Bartl in 1865, while a resident of Mis- 
souri, married Miss Mary Bozarth, daughter of Ir- 
vin and Elizabeth (Rice) Bozarth, who were natives 
of Missouri. ]\Irs. Bozarth died in her native state, 
but her husband lived to come to Whidby Island, 
where he died thirty-five years ago. Mrs. Bartl 
was born in Holt county, Missouri, in 1847, and af- 
ter her mother's death lived with her grandfather 
until her marriage. She is the mother of twelve 
children, eight of whom are living, namely, Jacob, 
James, Frances, Eliza Jane, Viola, Lavanchie, 
Phoebe and David. The deceased are : William, 
David, accidentally shot, iMargaret and Dora. Mr. 
Bartl's home place consists of fifty-five acres, and 
he also has a farm of 155 acres west of Clear Lake. 
His live stock numbers twelve cows, four horses, 
sixty sheep and a number of hogs. Mr. Bartl is a 
Democrat in politics and in religion a member of 
the Methodist church. While his life has been an 
active one, with many vicissitudes in the earlier 
days, he is now in a position to enjoy the comforts 
M-hich his activity has brought to his later and 
fuller vears. 



R. H. PUTNAM, a veteran of the Civil War 
and an honored pioneer of Skagit county, residing 
a little over a mile by the wagon road from Clear 
Lake, was born in Essex countv. New York, in Oc- 
tober, 1846. His father, Daniel P. Putnam, a na- 
tive of Newberry, in the Connecticut valley, born in 
1807, spent most of his life in New York, engaged 
in carpenter work, and he passed away in that state 
a number of years ago. The mother of our subject, 
Mary (Sheldon) Putnam, was a native of Essex 
■county. New York, where her forbears settled be- 
fore the Revolutionary War, and she used to re- 
peat stories told her by her parents of the stirring 
events which took place in the Lake Champlain dis- 
trict during that struggle. The family had their 
stock killed and sustained other losses on account of 
the depredations of the British soldiers. R. H. Put- 
nam, of this article, after completing his education 
in the common schools, began working on the 
neighboring farms, and continued to be employed 
thus until he reached the age of eighteen, when he 
enlisted in the Ninety-firstNew York, for service 
in the Civil War. the great fratricidal struggle 
was nearing its close at the time, but he did what 
he could in the final conflicts, though he was unfor- 
tunately too sick to participate in the battle of Pet- 
ersburg, although within hearing of the guns. 

After the war Mr. Putnam moved, in the fall of 



1865, to Missouri, and clerked in a store there un- 
til 1866, but inasmuch as he did not have good 
health there, he returned the next year to the Em- 
pire state. There he worked with his father at the 
carpenter's trade until the spring of 1868, when he 
moved to Minnesota, and for a number of years 
thereafter he was employed at farm work in various 
parts of that state, also in Iowa, Missouri, Kansas 
and California. Finally, in 1876, he came to Puget 
sound and located on the Skagit river near Bur- 
lington, where his home was until 1880. After par- 
ticipating in the Ruby creek rush, he went east of 
the mountains. He farmed in the Wenatchee val- 
ley and in Moses coulee for a time, but in 1883 re- 
turned to the Sound and located on his present place 
near Clear Lake. Here he has a farm of 130 acres, 
of which about eighty acres are hill land, the re- 
mainder bottom land of excellent quality. About 
thirty-five acres have been cleared and put in culti- 
vation, from a part of which the stumps have been 
removed. Although Mr. Putnam has an excellent 
orchard, he has given most of his attention to stock 
raising and dairying, keeping until recently quite a 
herd of milch cows, but he is now selling out with 
intent very soon to try the effect of a southern cli- 
mate upon his health. Mr. Putnam has never mar- 
ried, but his sister keeps house for him in their 
pleasant home near the banks of Clear Lake. 



JOHN R. SMITH, one of the respected citizens 
and successful dairy farmers of the Clear Lake re- 
gion of Skagit county, was born in Nova Scotia, 
August 28, 1858, the son of Robert W. Smith. The 
elder Smith left Nova Scotia for New Brunswick 
in 1865 and continued there as a farmer until 1886, 
after which he passed two years in Maine. He 
crossed the continent in 1888, settlmg in La Con- 
ner, and he was a successful restaurant keeper there 
and in Fairhaven until his death in 1891. Mrs. 
Sarah L. (Br|swster) Smith, a native of New 
Brunswick, died in 1902 at the home of her son, 
John R. Smith, leaving six other children. John R. 
attended school until twelve years old and then 
worked on the parental farm until twenty-two, at 
that time securing emplovment with a neighboring 
farmer. Later he bought a farm of his own. After 
successfully operating it for three years, he sold out, 
and came to La Conner, Skagit county, arriving in 
1888. Here he bought a forty-acre farm and con- 
ducted it for two years, at the end of which time he 
entered the dairy business at Sedro-Woolley. In 
1895 he went to Fredonia, the followmg year mov- 
ing to a place a mile and a half north of Clear Lake, 
where he has ever since resided. 

June 28, 1882, Mr. Smith married Miss Mary E. 
Downing, daughter of Thomas and Eliza (Fitzger- 
ald) Downing, who lived the life of New Bruns- 
wick farmers until recent years, closing their labors 
only with death. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith have been 
born six children, of whom Annie, Percy D., Jen- 



798 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



nie and Thomas C. are living. The Smith home is 
a pleasant one, and its maintenance, and the prepa- 
ration of his children for the duties of life, are Mr. 
Smith's chief care. He owns nearly 170 acres of 
rich bottom land, ample for the support of his cat- 
tle and for the general farming he does. His dairy 
herd numbers twenty-eight cows and twenty head 
of young cattle, and while he devotes most of his 
attention to these, he also keeps other live stock, 
horses and hogs. Mr. Smith has made two trips 
out of the state since his arrival within its borders 
in 1888. September 8, 1894, he left on a reconnois- 
sance of the Alberta country for a satisfactory 
homestead location, and he had a pleasant trip of 
twenty-one days, pleasant except for one memor- 
able snow storm. He failed, however, to discover 
anything more promising than the prospects which 
Skagit county offered. January 19, 1897, he started 
on a gold hunting expedition to Alaska, and he re- 
mained in the far north until the ensuing June, en- 
gaged for the most part in work on the White Pass 
wagon road. This trip was a profitable one finan- 
cially, but nowhere has Mr. Smith found opportuni- 
ties better than in Skagit county, where he is doing 
well and expects to continue doing well. In poli- 
tics, Mr. Smith is a Republican. As a man and 
citizen his standing in the community is a highly 
enviable one, the esteem and confidence of his 
neighbors being his in abundant measure. 



WILLIAjNI T. RAINS, a stockman whose ranch 
is three miles northwest of Clear Lake, has spent 
fifty years of ups and downs on the Pacific coast. 
He has experienced the trials and fortunes of the 
gold hunters of California, Idaho and British Co- 
lumbia ; has cultivated the rich farming land and cut 
the heavy timber of the Willamette valley in Ore- 
gon, and of the Skagit country in Washington ; has 
seen his logs go into the mills and come out as lum- 
ber, and at other times has placed his logs in booms 
only to see them lost by freshet and flood ; has 
farmed in the arid country of the Yakima valley 
and in the moisture of the Puget Sound district. 
With all these experiences, Mr. Rains is a hale, 
hearty, strong souled man who has the esteem of all 
who know him, a man not soured by misfortune. 
He was born in Illinois in 1836, the son of Thomas 
Rains, a Tennesseean, born in 1799, who lived the 
life of a farmer in Tennessee, Missouri and Illinois 
until his death in 1852. The mother, Matilda 
(Boyd) Rains, lived to a ripe old age, passing away 
while residing with her son on the sunset slope of 
the continent. Of her nine children, but four are 
living. 

William T. Rains, of this article, lived with his 
parents until eighteen. Six years after the argo- 
nauts of '49 uncovered the riches of California he 
commenced to look for fortune in the mountains of 
the Pacific coast. During the four vears from 1854 
to 1859 he mined in California; from 1859 to 1863 



he was on the Willamette farming the rich soil of 
that valley, but the hidden secrets of the mountains 
attracted him and he went to Florence, Idaho, in 
the days of the first gold excitement in that terri- 
tory; a year later he went to Warrens in the same 
district and remained there until he found a good 
quartz prospect which he sold in 18G8 ; then he left 
the countr}', which has since seen the Buffalo Hump 
and Thunder Mountain excitements, returned to 
the Willamette and ran a sawmill for three years. 
Idaho still called him, and in 1871 he went to a 
ranch on the Salmon river, a year later going to 
Warrens and still later to a farm on Camas prairie, 
where he remained until coming to the Pugef 
Sound country, in 1874. Here he turned logger, 
but for six months in 1878 he tried the mines of 
British Columbia. He followed farming near Ta- 
coma, again near North Yakima and once more in 
the Snoqualmie valley, before he settled down near 
Clear Lake in 1904. Here he is still residing. 

In 1868 Mr. Rains married Miss Vina Frances 
Boyd, daughter of Rev. J. M. Boyd, a Methodist 
clergyman of Oregon, and Lavina (Goodrich) 
Boyd. Mrs. Rains was born in the famous Grand 
Ronde valley of northeastern Oregon while her par- 
ents were crossing the divide from the plains to 
the coast. Her life until marriage was passed in the 
home of her parents. She is the mother of twelve 
children, of whom Thomas, Ida, Joseph, Mary, 
Martha and Hannah still are living. Mr. Rains 
owns his home place of sixty-five acres three miles 
northwest of Clear Lake, and upon it he has sixty 
head of sheep, twenty-six head of cattle, numerous 
hogs and other livestock, but keeps only as many 
horses as are necessary for the farm work. In poli- 
tics he takes little part, preferring to use his energy 
developing his holdings. His neighbors know him 
as a man of wide information, doubtless obtained by 
his extended travels, and as a man possessing many 
commendable traits of character. 



ALEXANDER K. SMITH is a raiser of vege- 
tables for market, his ranch being on the northeast 
outskirts of Clear Lake. He was born in Scotland 
in March, 1835, and during his long life has had an 
active, varied and useful career. His father was 
David Smith, whose life spanned the period from 
the days when the American Revolution was in its 
throes to those when the nation was deep in the war 
for the preservation of the Union. David Smith 
was a fisherman and died in his native Scotland in 
1864. Alexander's mother, Mrs. Christina (Clark) 
Smith, passed away in Scotland full of honor and 
years. Alexander Smith lived with his parents in 
the old home until he was twenty-two, obtaining an 
education and becoming skillful in the carpenter's 
trade. LTntil 1857 he worked at the bench in Lon- 
don, Dundee and Edinburgh and then came to the 
provinces of Canada, whence at a later date he 
crossed the St. Lawrence to New York. Learning 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



799 



of the great country across the Rockies, he fol- 
lowed the tide of immigration to the Pacific and 
reached San Francisco via the Panama route in 
1858. He spent some time mining in Shasta Coun- 
ty, California, then dropped back to the valley of 
the Sacramento for several months' stay. He re- 
turned at length to San Francisco and worked at 
liis trade there until the spring of 1861, when he 
went to the Fraser river country in British Colum- 
bia during the days of the mining excitement. Here 
for several years, he combined mining with carpen- 
ter work, but eventually went to the San Jose coun- 
try, California. In 1886 he came to the Skagit and 
located at Clear Lake, where he has since made his 
home, engaged in farming and in carpenter work 
as demand has come for his services. 

In 1867, while a resident of Santa Qara County, 
California, Mr. Smith married Miss Mary Calahan, 
and the fruit of their union was two children, 
Charles and Mrs. Qiristina Bartl. Mr. Smith is the 
owner of ninety acres of land and divides his time 
between operating so much of it as is cleared and 
working at his trade. In politics he is a Republi- 
can. His judgment on political matters is consid- 
ered good, and he is well esteemed by his friends 
and associates as a substantial member of the com- 
munity. 



THOMAS EDGAR TURNER was one of the 
first settlers in the Clear Lake section of Skagit 
county, where, from the wilderness, he has carved 
out a modern American farm, and now is reaping 
the reward of his hard work, his frugality and his 
early hardships. ]\Ir. Turner is a native of In- 
diana but was taken when very young by his parents 
to Missouri, where his father and mother still live. 
The elder Turner was a cabinet maker until he 
took to farming after he moved to Missouri. Mrs. 
Catherine A. (Crum) Turner, the mother, was born 
in Pennsylvania. Her mother dying when she was 
young, she spent much of her time in early life 
working for others. She is the mother of seven 
children, two of whom died when in infancy. The 
living are: Francis A., born in 1861 ; Thomas E., 
the subject of this sketch, born in 1863 ; Flora B., 
born in 1869 ; Harney W., born in 1873, and Emma 
C, born in 1876. After attending the common 
schools in Missouri, Thomas E. Turner continued 
to live with his parents until nineteen, when he left 
home and spent a year on a farm in Iowa. In 1883 
he came to Skagit county and April 29, 1884, took 
land on Clear Lake, but kept at work in various 
logging camps for five years. It is interesting in 
these days of easy and quick transportation to hear 
Mr. Turner recite incidents of those early times. 
He tells a story of a lamp chimney, which is very 
entertaining. Mr. Turner had been to Alount Ver- 
non with a companion to lay in a stock of everyday 
supplies for their cabin and when crossing the 
Nookachamp river on their return they nearly cap- 



sized the craft and a much needed lamp chimney 
and some dishes were broken. The Turner cabin 
was dark at supper that night. The next day an- 
other trip to I\Iount Vernon was made, and dur- 
ing the home coming there was no mishap, but be- 
fore the lamp was lighted the chimney rolled off 
the table, fell to the floor and was broken. That 
night supper was eaten by the light of a flannel 
wick saturated with bacon fat. Fifty-five miles 
were traveled before the troublesome lamp was 
fitted with a chimney. Ferrying across the Nooka- 
champ river in those days was a hazardous under- 
taking; the Indians were expert oarsmen, but not 
at all times was there an Indian on hand when the 
white man wanted to cross. Mr. Turner also re- 
calls many troublous experiences he had with bear 
during the days when he was a pioneer hog raiser 
in the wilderness. Bruin took many a porker from 
his band, but Mr. Turner retaliated by causing an 
appreciable decrease in the bear census, developing 
in consequence into one of the most famous bear 
hunters of the valley. 

Mr. Turner has two sons and one daughter: 
Charles E., John L. and Daisy Belle. The home 
farm, on the flats southeast of Gear Lake, consists 
of forty acres, of which ten are in cultivation. 
Dairying is one of his chief industries, although 
he is engaged quite extensively in the poultry busi- 
ness. He sells a great deal of butter. In his day 
he has practiced the strictest frugality and economy, 
but now congratulates himself that he is in good 
circumstances, as the result of self-denial in the 
days when there was little fat in the land. In the 
political field Mr. Turner is a Republican. Recog- 
nized as one of the substantial citizens of the com- 
munity, he holds the respect of all, as one who has 
been an active factor in the development and prog- 
ress of the section. 



ALEXANDER B. AIELVILLE, whose ranch 
is a mile and a half southeast of Clear Lake, is one 
of the young men of that section of the country 
who believe in diversified farming. He was born 
in Canada, October 1, 1865, and came to \\^sh- 
ington in 1888. His father, Alexander Melville, 
came from Glasgow, Scotland when a mere lad and 
grew up in Ontario, Canada. On reaching man- 
hood, the elder Melville entered the hotel business. 
He came to Tower City, North Dakota, ui 1881, 
but lived only six weeks after he had crossed the 
boundary line. Mrs. IMelville, the mother of the 
subject of this sketch, was Miss Grace Brown, also 
a native of the land of the heather. She came to 
Canada when very young and lived to a ripe age, 
passing away in Seattle in May, 1905. She was 
the mother of ten children, all of whom are living, 
William, Elizabeth, Alexander, Lily, Mary, John, 
Bella, Maggie, Grace and James. Before leaving 
home Alexander had been the support of his mother 
and the family and two years after his arrival in 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



Washington he brought them west. He lived sev- 
eral years in Olympia, working at masonry, and 
was in Tenino one year commencing with 1894. He 
had early learned to run an engine, an accomplish- 
ment which stood him in good stead at Tenino, for 
he was engineer in different mills while there. He 
then spent two years as fireman on a steamboat at 
Gray's Harbor, receiving U. S. chief engineer's 
license of lakes, bays and sound, then, in 1897, he 
came to Clear Lake and went to work as chief en- 
gineer for the Clear Lake Lumber Company, the 
largest inland saw-mill finn in Washington, using 
in its work eleven engines and eleven boilers. This 
position he held until 1902. He had bought his 
present place in the spring of 1898 and has lived 
there since retiring from the mill business. Tlie 
home place consists of eighty acres of excellent land, 
a considerable portion of which is now devoted to 
the pasturing of his forty head of cattle, but the 
acreage that has been stumped and plowed is truly 
surprising, and speaks volumes for the industry and 
ambition of Mr. Melville. His capacity for hard 
work is marvelous. 

While living in Olympia, Mr. Melville married 
Miss Mamie Justice, the daughter of John Justice, 
who was born on an Indiana farm, and is now re- 
siding at Toppenish, Yakima county, this state. 
She and Mr. Melville are parents of two children, 
Maudie and Alexander. In politics Mr. Melville is 
a Republican, in church membership a Baptist. A 
thrifty, progressive man, he is sure to wm a marked 
success by taking advantage of the excellent op- 
portunities afforded to the worthy in the sound 
country. He is one of the most promising young 
men in his neighborhood, and none stands higher 
than he in the esteem and confidence of his neigh- 
bors. 



JOHN G. RIEMER, a successful farmer liv- 
ing three miles S(juth of Qear Lake, was born in 
Germany, January ■-'0, 1852, the son of John G. and 
Dora Elizabeth (Kerger) Riemer. The father died 
in Germany, where the mother was still living at 
last .accounts. They had six chiklrcn, Gottlieb, 
Paulina, John G., Carl Fred Williams, Carl Henry, 
and Juliaetta. Until he was twenty years of age 
John Riemer lived at home, then he served the usual 
term in the German army, returning at its expira- 
tion to the parental roof, where he lived until 1879, 
then coming to the United States. For several 
years he worked at various occupations in different 
parts of the country, coming to Skagit county in 
1886, when he located on land he has since devel- 
oped into a home. The property in its natural state 
presented many difficulties. Mr. Riemer not only 
was confronted with great obstacles at home, but 
had to devise ways and means of getting in and 
out of his place from and to the regular highways. 
He solved this problem by building a road of 
puncheons which has stood the test of time and 



gives promise of supporting travel for many years 
to come. 

Mr. Riemer, in 1898, married Mrs. Frank Bros- 
seau, whose maiden name was Miss Annie Moll. 
She was a daughter of Michael and Mary (Bar- 
inger) Mill, natives of Germany, who came to New 
York and engaged in farm work. Mr. Moll died 
in 1898, but his wife lives with a daughter in the 
Empire state. She is the mother of eight children, 
all of whom are living in New Yo/k except Michael 
and Mrs. Riemer. Mr. and Mrs. Riemer have no 
children, but Ralph Brosseau, Mrs. Riemer's son by 
a former husband, lives with them. In politics Mr. 
Riemer is a Republican, in fraternal circles an Odd 
Fellow and in church affiliations a Lutheran. His 
dairy herd consists of twenty milch cows and eleven 
head of young cattle, the head of the herd being a 
thoroughbred Durham bull. Mr. Riemer also raises 
hogs, but dairying is his chief industry. In addi- 
tion to operating his farm, he has assisted in dig- 
ging a canal between Beaver and Clear lakes and 
at times has packed goods to Clear lake, thence 
forwarding by canal to the Beaver lake settlement. 
His life has been one of hard work, but he looks 
back with pardonable pride on what his own energy 
and his own hands have accomplished in the past 
few years. 



JAMES H. FELLOWS has passed all his lift 
on the Pacific coast, having been born in San 
Francisco, May 20, 1864. George W. Fellows, his 
father, a native of the New Hampshire hills, went 
to California during the gold excitement of the 
early 'fifties and later embarked in the dairy busi- 
ness in San Francisco, selling his milk to custom 
trade. He came to Skagit county in 1885 and set- 
tled on a homestead, the land adjoining that of his 
son's present farm. Mrs. Katherine (Hayes) Fel- 
lows, the mother of our subject, died thirty-three 
years ago in San Francisco. She was a native of 
Boston, and the mother of five children, Mrs. Nellie 
A. Swift, Mrs. Helena Evans, Thomas J,, James H. 
and George W. • James H. Fellows, of this article, 
lived with his parents in San Francisco until twelve 
years old ; then went to Merced county and made 
his home with J. Upton until 1879. The two years 
which followed were passed in the employ of sheep 
raisers and in working on a ranch ; then he came 
north to Oregon and commenced to learn the trade 
of carriage painting, but on his father's settlement 
in Skagit county, lie determined to join him here. 
For several years he worked with and for the elder 
Fellows and in 1893 purchased of linn twenty acres 
of land. Four years later he went to Alaska, where 
he remained three years, but returning to Skagit 
county in 1901, he has ever since made it his home, 
operating a dairv farm southeast of Clear Lake. 

In 1893 Mr. Fellows married Miss ]\Iartha Buck 
at Mount Vernon, a daughter of Franklin Buck, a 
pioneer of the Skagit valley, a sketch of whose life 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



appears elsewhere in this vokime. Mrs. Fellows is 
one of ten children: Mrs. Emma Payne, Mrs. 
Sarah Omrch, Joseph, Charles F., Mamie, Dora, 
Henry and Edward Buck. Her sister, Elizabeth 
Buck, died two years ago. Mrs. Fellows is a native 
of Skagit county, and received her education here, 
remaining at the Buck home until her marriage. 
She and Mr. Fellows have had two children, Alice, 
at home, and Elizabeth H., deceased. In politics 
Mr. Fellows is an independent Democrat and in 
fraternal connections a member of the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen. Mrs. Fellows is a 
communicant of the Catholic church. The Fellows 
farm now consists of sixty acres, a portion of which 
is cleared and under cultivation, the dairy upon it 
numbers ten milch cows and eight head of young 
cattle. Mr. Fellows also raises other livestock and 
keeps enough horses for the work about the place. 
He is one of the substantial men of the community. 



JOHN B. LACHAPELLE, hotel keeper at Big 
Lake, is one of the most prominent of the citizens 
of this rapidly developing section of Skagit county, 
in which he settled late in 1899. Mr. Lachapelle is 
a native of Montreal, Quebec, born August 27, 
1869. His father, John B. Lachapelle, also a native 
of Montreal, was a successful horse dealer until his 
retirement a few months ago at the advanced age 
of seventy-five years. The mother, Mrs. Julia (Le- 
barge) Lachapelle, is still living in the metropolis 
of Lower Canada, having attained the traditional 
three score years and ten. Until he was fourteen 
years of age young Lachapelle attended school and 
made his home with his parents, but at that age he 
set out for himself, going to the woods of Michigan, 
where he passed five years employed in saw-mills 
or turning his hand to any kind of work which was 
available. Then followed a period of a number of 
years in the timber belt of Wisconsin, working in 
different capacities, until in 1899 he came to Skagit 
county and engaged in business in Big Lake, where 
he has ever since resided, being now a popular hotel 
man of the place. Mr. Lachapelle owns a forty 
acre tract Just outside of town and has erected a 
fine cottage there in which he makes his home. 

In 1903 at Vancouver Mr. Lachapelle married 
Miss Nora Anderson, the only child of Andrew X. 
Anderson, a native of Michigan who is now living 
at Big Lake. Mrs. Lachapelle was born in Michi- 
gan and lived with her parents up to the time of 
her marriage. In politics Mr. Lachapelle is a Demo- 
crat ; in lodge affiliation, a member of the Fraternal 
Order of Eagles and of the Catholic Order of For- 
esters; in religion, a Catholic. Mr. Lachapelle has 
been uniformly and progressively successful in all 
his business enterprises, now owning his hotel busi- 
ness, with fixtures and furnishings, a forty-acre 
tract with elegant two thousand dollar cottage on 
the outskirts of town, another cottage which he 
leases, and property in Seattle. Mr. Lachapelle 



stands high in the esteem of the people of Big Lake 
and vicinity, being recognized as one of the ener- 
getic and reliable citizens of that place. 



JAMES LOUGH, who a few months ago went 
into the dairy business, purchasing a fine piece of 
property a mile north of Big Lake, has spent all 
the rest of his life since coming to Skagit county in 
the timber and lumber industry. He was bom in 
Canada, April 8, 1863, the son of Alexander Lough, 
a Canadian mechanic born in 1831, now living in 
Michigan. The mother, nee Mary Wall, born in 
Ireland in 1833, is also living in Michigan. James 
Lough is one of twelve children, the others being 
Samuel, John, William, Hattie, Albert, Susan, 
Alexander, Mary, George, Robert and Emma. Mr. 
Lough lived with his parents until he came to 
Skagit county in 1889, when Mount Vernon, the 
only town on the Skagit river, was a small village. 
He was thoroughly familiar with every feature of 
work in the timber and found ready employment. 

In 1888 in Michigan Mr. Lough married Miss 
Ella McKay, daughter of Neal McKay, a Canadian 
farmer, born in 1836, who eventually moved to 
Michigan, where he spent the remainder of his days. 
Mrs. Lough's mother, Mrs. Anna (McGregor) 
McKay, born in Canada in 1831 to Scotch parents, 
is now living in Alpina, Michigan, the mother of 
nine children, James, Duncan, Alexander, Anna 
(deceased), Christina, Isabelle, Ella, Kate and 
Emma. Mrs. Lough was born in Canada in 1869' 
and lived with her parents until her marriage to Mr. 
Lough. Of this union four children have been 
born, James Arthur, Lester Dimcan, Katie Leona 
and Norman Alexander. In politics Mr. Lough is 
a Republican. He is a member of the Modern 
Woodmen of America, and in church membership 
is a Presbyterian. Tlie farm purchased by Mr. 
Lough in 1905 for his home consists of one hun- 
dred and forty-five acres, thirty of which have been 
cleared and prepared for the establishment of a 
dairy farm. It is located a mile north of Big Lake, 
in a section of country admirably adapted for dairy 
purposes. Mr. Lough started his dairy with but 
five cows and five young cattle, and purposes to 
develop his place as rapidly as possble, planning 
ultimately to increase his stock and broaden his 
work. He is also giving some attention to poultry, 
having started with thirty selected fowl. Mr. 
Lough has been successful as a woodsman and has 
well developed those qualities which are certain to 
bring good results in the dairy and poultry farming 
lines. He is a man much respected by those with 
whom he has worked or has had business connec- 
tions. 



KENNETH MacLEOD is one of the enter- 
prising and successful farmers of the Conway sec- 
tion of Skagit county, having a large and productive 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



farm well stocked in every way. His home is two 
miles southeast oi town and it is one of the fine 
places of that part of the county. Mr. MacLeod 
was born in Canada July 1, 1862, the son of Ken- 
neth R. MacLeod, a native of Scotland who emi- 
grated to Canada with his parents and passed his 
entire life there, -until he came to Skagit county in 

1902. The mother, Mrs. Martha (Morrison) Mac- 
Leod, is a native of Canada and received her edu- 
cation there. She is still living, at Conway, the 
mother of eight children : Mrs. Maggie Young, 
Merdock, Kenneth, Roderick, Annie, Mrs. Mary 
Finch. Allan and Katherine. Kenneth MacLeod 
attended school in Canada until he was fifteen years 
of age. His years as a young man were passed in 
earning a livelihood at whatever presented itself ; 
in 1885 he came to Skagit county and worked for 
Richard Holyoke for eight years and eight months. 
He then bought a place near the Holyoke farm and 
lived there until 1901, when he sold out and pur- 
chased the farm on which he has since resided. 

Early in the year 189G Mr. MacLeod married 
Miss Maggie M. Finch, daughter of Linus and 
Annie (McPherson) Finch, both of whom are now 
dead. Mrs. MacLeod has one sister, Mrs. Ida Mc- 
Bain, and a brother, George. She was born March 
20, 1876, educated in the Canadian schools, taking 
a high school course, and lived with her parents 
until marriage. Mr. and Mrs. MacLeod have two 
children: Linus, born in 1898, and Ida, born in 

1903. In politics Mr. MacLeod is a Republican, in 
lodge affiliations a member of the Modern Wood- 
men of America, and in church relations a Metho- 
dist. The MacLeod farm consists of one hundred 
and eleven acres, eighty-five of which are bottom 
land of great fertility. Fifteen cows constitute the 
dairy herd, while fourteen head of other cattle and 
thirty hogs constitute the remainder of the farm's 
livestock, except horses and a carriage pony. Mr. 
MacLeod is well satisfied with his fortunes since 
coming to Skagit county, and has made a success 
through his energy, thrift and shrewd management 
of his afifairs. He is highly esteemed in the neigh- 
borhood and is recognized as one of the leading 
men of the community. 



NILS DONALDSON, farmer and dairyman a 
mile and a half northwest of Milltown, is one of 
the men of Scandinavian birth who have made a 
financial success since coming to Skagit county. 
He operates a farm, and his place of about ninety 
acres is one of the fine agricultural properties in 
his section. Mr. Donaldson was born in Norway 
April 2, 1853. the son of Donald and Gura John- 
son, natives also of Norway, who are spending the 
evening of their lives with their children in Skagit 
county, the father with Nils and the mother with 
a daughter at Fir. They are the parents of six 
children: John, Brit, Nils, Christian, Louis and 
Johanna, the two last named being residents of Fir. 



Nils Donaldson attended the schools of Norway 
until he was sixteen years of age and remained in 
the old country until 1879, when he came to the 
United States and located in Michigan, where he 
worked in an iron foundry for two years. He then 
came to Skagit county and worked in logging camps 
for six years. In 1886 he went back to Norway for 
the purpose of bringing his parents to Skagit county 
and he also brought with him his future wife. On 
his return Mr. Donaldson located on his present 
place and has lived there ever since. The land was 
raw, with no improvements, not even a dike. 

At Seattle July 3, 1887, Mr. Donaldson married 
Miss Anna Erickson, daughter of Erick Erickson, 
a Norwegian farmer who lived and died in the old 
country. The mother was Marit Alingson before 
marriage. She is still living in Norway, the mother 
of six children: Aling, Sigfrid and Tvlagnus, who 
live in Norway ; Erick, now a resident of Grays 
Harbor, Washington ; Ole, residing at Fir, this 
county ; and Mrs. Donaldson. She was born May 
28, 1857, and attended school until sixteen years of 
age. She then worked out until coming to this 
country, making the trip with her future husband 
and his parents. Mr. and Mrs. Donaldson have 
two living children : Gena, born August 25, 1888, 
and Mabel, born November 30, 1896. A son, 
named for his father, was born in 1894, but has 
died. In politics Mr. Donaldson is a Republican 
and in church affiliations a Lutheran. He has a 
farm of eighty-six acres, sixty-seven of which are 
under dike. His dairy herd numbers twelve cows, 
while he also has nine head of beef cattle and horses 
of sufficient number to work the farm. Mr. Donald- 
son is one of the prosperous men of his community, 
reliable and well esteemed by his associates. For 
twenty-five years he has assisted ably in the devel- 
opment of Skagit county and is now aiding ef- 
fectively in the progress of its people and their 
industries. 

Later. 

Nils Donaldson died October 22, 1905, after an 
illness lasting three months. Since his death the 
home farm has been sold and Mrs. Donaldson has 
purchased an improved eight-acre place at Fir, 
where she and her daughters are now residing. 



JOHN ABRAHAMSON, living one mile north- 
west of McMurray, is of the type of agriculturists 
who have made a success of land life after having 
followed the sea for an extended period. His farm 
home is one of the pleasant places of the Mc- 
Murray section and the few years he has passed 
there have shown many improvements. Mr. Abra- 
hamson is a native of Norway, having been born in 
the land of the fjords February 8, 1863, the son of 
Abraham and Grata (Jorgenson) Johanson, farm- 
ers who died in the old country more than a decade 
ago. Of their seven children four are dead. The 
living are John, Jacob and Albert. Young Abra- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



803 



hamson lived with his parents until he was sixteen 
years of age, when he determined to follow the sea 
for a livelihood. This he did for a period of eleven 
years, until in 1890 he decided to land in the United 
States and continue his life as an American. For 
the first five years of his life on the Pacific coast Mr. 
Abrahamson was employed on various vessels run- 
ning in and out of Seattle, but in 1895 he came to 
McMurray and bought seventy acres of land, ten 
of which are now cleared and the remainder in 
slashing. 

In 1895 in Seattle Mr. Abrahamson married 
Miss Agnes Londahl. Mrs. Abrahamson was born 
March 13, 1862, and lived with her parents until 
1889, when she went to Minnesota. After remain- 
ing there a year she came to Seattle, where she was 
employed until her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Abra- 
hamson have three children. Alma, George and 
Oscar. In politics Mr. Abrahamson is a Republican 
and has served as road supervisor in Skagit county 
for five years. Tlie live stock on the home place 
consists of cattle, horses and hogs. Since becoming 
a farmer Mr. Abrahamson has demonstrated his 
good business ability ; has been successful as an 
agriculturist and has proven a welcome addition to 
the settlers in the vicinity of McMurray. Both he 
and Mrs. Abrahamson are highly respected by a 
large circle of friends. 



HON. BIRDSEY D. MINKLER, the first 
postmaster of Birdsview, the man m whose honor 
that town is named, the mill man of Minkler and 
the merchant of Lyman, was one of the first of the 
pioneers on the upper Skagit river. For nearly 
thirty years he has been an active and important 
personage in the development of the county. He 
was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, October 9, 1849, 
the son of Cyrl and Mary Ann (Thradel) Minkler. 
The father was a farmer, born in New York state, 
who came to Wisconsin two years before the birth 
of his son. In 1852 he started across the plains for 
California, but was seized with the cholera and died 
on the Platte river. A part of his family was with 
him, but Birdsey and two brothers had been left in 
Wisconsin with the grandparents, and under their 
charge he grew to manhood, attended the common 
schools, worked on the farm at home and took a 
two year course in the Lawrence university at Ap- 
pleton, Wisconsin. In 1871, he went to Kansas, 
and two years later to California, where for a short 
time he was employed in the lumbering business. 
He came to Port Madison on Puget sound in 1874 ; 
in 1876 moved to Seattle and in 1877 came thence 
up the Skagit river and took pre-emption and tim- 
ber claims at Birdsview. His faithful wife braved 
the dangers and endured the hardships with him, 
becoming the first white woman in that part of the 
country. Qiarles von Pressentin and August Kim- 
rich were the only neighbors. By the first settlers 
he was called Bird and when the town was estab- 



lished and he was made its first postmaster, it was 
called Birdsview in his honor. Soon after coming 
to the county he built a saw-mill and he was en- 
gaged in lumbering until 1886, when he sold the 
mill, moved to Lyman, built another mill and en- 
gaged in the mercantile business. He has sold the 
mill business at Lyman to his son and son-in-law, 
but continues in the mercantile business. The town 
of Minkler, two miles west of Lyman, where he 
built a mill in 1897, was named in honor of Mr. 
i\I inkier. He secured the postoffice for this town 
and his son John is postmaster. The two have a 
store there. Mr. Minkler is president of the Lyman 
Lumber & Shingle Company at Minkler. In the 
early days on the river the only travel was by canoe ; 
later the settlers blazed trails through the dense 
forests and these trails finally were broadened into 
passable highways, but he had lived ten years in 
the valley before there were wagon roads. 

Miss Hannah Chisholm and Mr. Minkler were 
married in 1873, and they have eight children: 
Maud, John, Garfield, Birdsey, Mattie, Edith and 
Ethel, — twins, and Elmer. Mr. Minkler is a 
member of the Knights of Pythias and a Mason. 
Throughout his residence in Skagit county he has 
been a man upon whom the Republican party al- 
ways relies. He was a member of the first state 
legislature in the winter of 1889-90, served two 
terms in the 'eighties as county commissioner, 
and has been delegate to most of the county and 
state conventions. He is considered one of the best 
business men in the county, conservative, farseeing 
and shrewd, and personally he is unusually popular. 
His name must ever be honorably associated with 
those of the sturdy characters who, with unfalter- 
ing courage and determination, have for more than 
a quarter of a century battled with nature in her 
swamp and forest strongholds, bringing order out 
of chaos, making fertile the waste places, and 
changing the crooked trails into broad avenues that 
now front the homes and institutions of civilization, 
pass through picturesque villages and towns, and 
lead to the populous centers of commerce, industry 
and erudition. To such men as Mr. Minkler the 
Northwest must ever owe an honest debt of grati- 
tude. 



HENRY HURSHMAN, merchant of Lyman, 
who has made a marked success of his business dur- 
the fifteen years he has been in Skagit county, re- 
calls the time when there was not population 
enough up the river to warrant a mercantile ven- 
ture of any kind. He was born in Springfield, Illi- 
nois, April 13, 1863, the son of Charles Hurshman, 
a German who came to America from the old coun- 
try and engaged in the meat business. The elder 
Hurshman, during the Civil war, had a contract 
with the government to furnish meat to the soldiers 
at Camp Butler, Springfield. He still is living at 
the advanced age of seventy-seven. Of his mother 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



Henry Hurshman remembers but little, for she died 
when he was a small boy, and the remarriage of 
his father, coupled with the boy's going to live with 
one John Lutz, obliterated from his memory much 
that he knew of her. He was the youngest of five 
children, the living now being widely scattered. He 
rem.ained eight years at the home of Mr. Lutz, at- 
tending school and working on a farm. At eighteen 
he commenced railroading, his first work being as 
fireman running out of Springfield. Mr. Hursh- 
man was an ambitious youth, and during the seven 
years he was in railroad work he attended the night 
classes of a business college, ultimately completing 
a regular course. He came west in 1889 and after 
stopping a short time in Seattle, moved to Skagit 
county the same year, settled at Hamilton, and took 
a contract for clearing a part of the site of the pro- 
jected town. The roads were bad and he endured 
many hardships on the trip in, carrying his blankets 
on his back and in places wading knee deep through 
mud and water. While working on this contract 
at Hamilton he took up two claims near the town- 
site and began improving them. Later he sold 
these and opened a confectionery store at Hamilton 
and then a general merchandise establishment at 
Lyman, but he still 'claims Hamilton as his place of 
residence and votes there. He has, however, sold 
some of his interests in the latter town in recent 
years. He owns the business and building at Ly- 
man and still holds the building he occupied when 
in Hamilton. He believes in Skagit county and its 
great resources and thinks there is no better place 
anywhere in the world for a man of moderate 
means who is capable of taking advantage of the 
opportunities offered. In politics he is an active, 
enthusiastic Republican. 



MRS. MARY MARTIN, in the years that she 
has operated a farm a mile and a half west of Ly- 
man, has demonstrated that a woman is competent 
to manage an agricultural industry and earn the 
respect of the business community. Mrs. Martin 
is a native of Belgium, having been born there May 
13, 1854, the daughter of Joseph Paradise, who 
died when his daughter was twelve years of age. 
Of her mother, she recalls nothing, having been 
reared by a brother. Mrs. Martin is one of five 
children, the others being Joel, Alexander, John 
and Felice. After her father's death, the girl lived 
with a brother until she came to the United States 
and Chicago a quarter of a century ago. She re- 
mained in Chicago for three years, at the end of 
which period she came to Skagit county and set- 
tled at Hamilton for two years ; but has lived on 
the present place for a score of years. 

In 1876 she was married to Clement J. Martin, 
from whom she has been separated for three years. 
In the separation Mrs. Martin retained the farm 
and Mr. Martin the stock, the members of the fam- 
ily making their home with their mother. Mr. Mar- 



tin has since remarried and is living in Alberta, 
Canada. Mrs. Martin has had seven children, one 
of whom is dead. The living are Frank, Jennie, 
Jule W., Josephine, Maggie and Sylvia. In politics 
Mrs. Martin's sons are Republicans. Frank is a 
member of the Knights of Pythias. The family at- 
tends the Catholic church. The farm consists of 
115 acres of land, 20 of which are cleared, the re- 
mainder being in pasture. Mrs. Martin has distinct 
recollection of the early days on this place, of the 
clearing made with o.xen, of the lack of roads and 
of the entire absence of facilities of the modem 
kind. She is an energetic woman, full of resources 
and of business capacity not uncommon in women 
of foreign birth. She is honored by her sons and 
daughters and respected and admired by the entire 
community. 



_ ALEXANDER ROSS, a farmer, stockman and 
raiser of registered short horns three miles west of 
Lyman, was attracted to Skagit county through an 
early connection in San Francisco with David Bat- 
ey, one of the pioneers of the upper Skagit valley. 
Though in those pioneer days he acquired interests 
here, he did not make Skagit county his home until 
1893. He was born in Ross shire, Scotland, in 
1853, the third of seven sons of Alexander and 
Tinne Ross, Scottish farming people, now dead. 
But three children remain : Donald in Ross shire, 
David, near Sedro-Woolley, and Alexander. As a 
boy young Ross passed the life of a Scottish farni' 
lad and at the age of sixteen years was apprenticed 
to the trade of carpenter. At twenty, having served 
his term, he came to the United States, and in May, 
1872, was at the carpenter's bench in San Francisco. 
In connection with his work he went to the Ha- 
waiian Islands and helped erect mills for Claus 
Spreckels, then sugar king. For twenty years Mr. 
Ross alternated between San Francisco and Hono- 
lulu and the other islands of the Pacific group, but 
in 1892 he came to La Conner and on the advice of 
his old friend, Mr. Batey, took up his present place, 
then all in timber. Leaving his brother in charge 
of his Skagit county interests, he has made frequent 
trips to San Francisco. On one occasion he im- 
ported from California five head of registered short- 
horns, the first thoroughbreds of that breed to be 
brought here. They cost considerable money, but 
the venture has proved highly successful and he 
has imported a number of registered bulls, the en- 
tire series of importation resulting in a very choice 
collection of cattle. He has also imported some 
Percheron mares for the purpose of raising draft 
horses. Mr. Ross is the owner of 140 acres of 
land, and has recently sold 200 acres, retaining pas- 
ture rights on the latter tract. In fraternal circles 
he is an Odd Fellow and a past grand; in politics 
he is a Republican and has represented his section 
in the county conventions. Mr. Ross is a man of 
considerable means, thoroughly reliable and re- 
spected in his community. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



PETER W. TRUMAN, a farmer and dairy- 
man, living a short distance east of Lyman, has 
demonstrated what a man with only $300 to start 
with can do in comparatively few years, in Skagit 
county. By energy, thrifty and constant application 
to his work, he has accumulated considerable prop- 
erty and now is considered well to do in his com- 
munity. He was born in Cheshire, England, Janu- 
ary 2(5, 1864, the oldest of the seven children of 
James S. and Jane (Wright) Trueman. As a lad 
he worked in a cotton factory four years, then at 
the age of twelve he went to work in a stone quarry. 
In 1883, he crossed the Atlantic to Belleville, On- 
tario, and there he worked for the railroads a few 
years, later engaging in farming. Early in the year 
1888, he came to Seattle, Washington, but eventu- 
ally selecting Skagit county for his future home, he 
went up the Skagit river and took land twenty miles 
above the mouth of Baker river. There were only 
two white women there at the time, and settlers 
were few. Four years later, having proved up on his 
place, he came down to Lyman and commenced 
work in a logging camp, four miles below the town. 
After being thus engaged for three years, he mar- 
ried, moved to Lyman, and began work in a shingle 
bolt camp. In 1898 he purchased land in the vicin- 
ity and a year later built the house upon it, in which 
he now lives. He afterward bought the place ad- 
joining his original Lyman property on the south, 
and he has since gradually drifted into cattle rais- 
ing and dairying on his pleasant farm of eighty- 
eight acres. A firm believer in selected stock, he 
keeps a fine Jersey bull at the head of his herd, 
while his hogs are splendid Berkshires, and all his 
livestock is the best obtainable. He also has a fine 
young orchard. 

In 189.? Mr. Trueman married Mrs. Emma Ries, 
widow of Nicholas Ries, who bore to her first hus- 
band four children. Clara, Josie, Ernest and Albert. 
The Trueman children are three, namely, Fred, 
Ruth and Jean H. Mr. Trueman is a member of the 
Knights of Pythias and of the Modern Woodmen 
of America, while the family are adherents of the 
Episcopal church. In politics he is a Republcan, ac- 
tive in primaries, caucuses, and assemblies, having 
missed only one of the county conventions of his 
party in eight years. He has been justice of the 
peace four terms : is clerk of the school board, and 
was an active and potent factor in the organization 
of the Hamilton high school district. The True- 
man family is one of the most popular and highly 
respected in the community. 



AUGUST W. SCHAFER, manager and cash- 
ier of the Bank of Hamilton, is one of the men who 
have a firm belief in the future of eastern Skagit 
county and in the speedy development of the re- 
sources of the country tributary to Hamilton; and 
Mr. Schafer's career in the banking business at this 
point substantiates his willingness to abide by that 



belief. He was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 
1875, the son of August Schafer, one of the 
prominent educators of the Badger state. The 
elder Schafer was born in Germany, but came tc^ 
the LTnited States when a young man. He soon be- 
gan his career as a teacher, first serving in the 
country schools and later in the city schools. He 
served as principal of several of the schools in Mil- 
waukee, also was an instructor in the business col- 
lege there. He died in 1898 at the age of fifty-two 
years. The mother, Mrs. Dorothy (Gabel) Schafer, 
is a native of Wisconsin, of German descent, and 
is now living with her son at Hamilton. Young 
Schafer in his boyhood days attended the common 
schools and later took a course in the cr.llege at 
Mount Calvary, Wisconsin, supplementing it with a 
course in a business college. He then became clerk 
in a drug store in Milwaukee and continued so em- 
ployed for two and a half years, leaving to enter the 
office of a large manufacturing establishment in that 
city. In 1893, the year of the World's Columbian 
Exposition, he went to Chicago and filled a clerical 
position in the offices of the Pullman Palace Car 
Company. A year later he came west to Hamilton, 
Washington, where he had acquaintances, and his 
visit resulted in his accepting a position as clerk 
in the bank of I. E. Shraugher & Company. In 
1896, on the election of Mr. Shraugher as county at- 
torney and his removal to Mount Vernon, the man- 
agement of the bank was left in Mr. Schafer's 
hands. A year later the institution went out of 
business, liquidating all indebtedness, the entire 
work of settlement devolving on Mr. Schafer. 
Called back to Wisconsin by the sickness and death 
of his father in 1899, Mr. Schafer filled out the un- 
expired term of his father as an instructor there 
and settled up the business of the estate. Upon re- 
turning to the West he took an active interest in 
forming the bank known as that of J. Yungbluth & 
Company, acquiring an interest in the institution 
and becoming its manager and cashier. 

In 1899, Miss Cora Bemis, a native of Michigan 
and the daughter of Charles E. Bemis, a shingle 
manufacturer, became the bride of Mr. Schafer, and 
to their union two children have been born, Dor- 
othy, April 17, 1900, and A. Donald, in November, 
1901. In fraternal affiliation, Mr. Schafer is a 
member of the Foresters and Improved Order of 
Red Men. His public spirit and the position he oc- 
cupies among his neighbors are clearly evidenced 
by the fact that he has served as city clerk, council- 
man and mayor ; member of the school board and 
its chairman. At present he is clerk of the board of 
the union high school district. With J. H. Smith 
and James Cochrane he has helped to push the high 
school proposition to the front and he is still main- 
taining his position as a champion of the project. 
He believes that the resources of the Hamilton dis- 
itrict, outside of its known extensive mines, are am- 
ple to maintain and increase the business of the 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



town. Mr. Schafer is one of the highly respected, 
successful and influential citizens of Hamilton and 
the upper Skagit country. 



GEORGE A. HENSON, the popular mayor of 
Hamilton, is one of the "Native Sons of Califor- 
nia," bom July 25, 185G, in the placer diggings at 
the historic "old Sutter's mill," where his father 
was mining at the time. He is, however, as proud 
of the state of his adoption as he is of the place of 
his birth. His father, William T. Henson, was a 
native of Kentucky, of German descent, but his for- 
bears had lived in the Blue Grass state for several 
generations. He was one of those brave men who 
crossed the plains in 1849. He returned later to 
Kentucky for a wife, but soon was in California 
again, and he spent the rest of his days In the Gold- 
en state, passing out of life there in 1898, at the 
age of seventy-four. Mrs. Mary (Allen) Henson, 
the mother of George A., a native of North Caro- 
lina, of French descent, passed away in 1884. 
George A. Henson was born and raised at Auburn, 
Placer county, California, the heart of the country 
which produced the gold excitement of '49. He 
was educated at Placerville, known in the old gold- 
seeking days as Hangtown, and was reared in the 
atmosphere of mines and mining, with the excep- 
tion of the years of his life between seventeen and 
twenty-two, when he learned the trade of machinist 
in the Union Iron Works in San Francisco. After 
this he had charge of the mine machinery in El Do- 
rado for a time, then he went to the big Mayflower 
mine in Placer county, where he remained in charge 
of the pumps and machinery until 1889. In that 
year he came to Skagit county as machinist for the 
Skagit-Cumberland Coal Company of San Francis- 
co, which was operating coal mines near Hamilton. 
by Mr. Henson, who is now superintendent of the 
The machinery was brought by boat and installed 
mining operations of the company in this county. 

In 1894 Mr. Henson married Mrs. Delia Par- 
burry, a native of Amador county, California, but of 
German descent. Her maiden name was Ludekin. 
To this union has been born one son, George A. 
Henson, Jr. Of Mr. Henson's father's family there 
remain Miss Mary Henson ; Mrs. Louise Thompson, 
wife of an attorney of Portland, Oregon ; and three 
brothers, William, Charles and Henry, living in 
California. By her first husband Mrs. Henson had 
three children, Louis, Callie and Claude. Mrs. Hen- 
son, who is one of the most popular women of 
Northwestern Washington, in 1905 received an ap- 
pointment as one of the hostesses of the Washing- 
ton State building at the Lewis & Clark Exposition. 
In fraternal circles Mr. Henson is an Odd Fellow, 
his membership being in a California lodge ; in poli- 
tics he is a Democrat. He was elected county com- 
missioner in 1902 for the long term, overcoming 
by his personal popularity a large normal Republi- 
can majority. He was one of the organizers of the 



Citizens' Bank of Anacortes, in which enterprise he 
was associated with W. T. Odlin and Dr. M. B. 
Mattice of Sedro-Woolley, but he has had little to 
do with its management, which is left largely to 
Mr. Odlin, though he furnished much of the capital 
upon which the bank started business. Mr. Hen- 
son is one of the substantial citizens of Skagit 
county, and one who has contributed much to its 
progress. 



JAMES J. CONNER, coal operator and owner 
of coal and iron lands in the Skagit valley, is one of 
the oldest settlers in Skagit county, and has done 
much to develop the resources of the territory. He 
feels that the opportunities are by no means ex- 
hausted by the great influx of people who have come 
here since he did, but believes that the resources of 
Skagit have been only touched as yet. Mr. Con- 
ner is a native of Ireland, born in 1842, the son of 
John O'Conner, also a native of the Emerald Isle, 
who came to the United States in 1843 and began 
railroading. He was with the Philadelphia & 
Reading road for thirty-five years, with headquar- 
ters at Conner's, near Schuylkill, which was named 
for his father. Mrs. Nora (Shanahan) O'Conner, 
the mother, has long been dead. James J. Conner 
was but a year old when his parents came to this 
country, and he was left at home with his grand- 
mother for three years, coming with her to Pennsyl- 
vania in 1846. He grew to manhood in Schuylkill 
Haven, Pennsylvania, and received his education 
there. At sixteen years of age he went to railroad- 
ing, and followed that until in 1863 General Lee's 
army began its invasion of Pennsylvania. A year 
before young Conner had tried to enlist but was re- 
jected. He did manage to get in a short-enlistment 
term in Maryland, but had not had enough of fight- 
ing, and was about to enter the navy, when deterred 
by his uncle. Instead, he went to Colorado, and a 
year later was in the Third Colorado, fighting In- 
dians, under Colonel Sivington. The expedition 
was against the Sioux, Cheyennes and Arapahoes, 
about 780 of whom were killed before the close of 
the trouble. Mr. Conner then engaged in mining 
until 1868, when he passed west along the line of 
the LTnion Pacific into Utah, doing a merchandise 
business. Later he went into the hotel business and 
served the first meal in the station at Ogden on 
Christmas Day, 1869, feeding over 300 persons, it 
being a grand Christmas dinner, the favor of the 
railroad company. In 1870 Mr. Conner canje to 
the Puget Sound country, reaching La Conner in 
February. His cousin, J. S. Conner, was there at 
the time, having purchased a trading post and put 
in the first real stock of goods. Mr. Conner took 
up 160 acres of land as a preemption, and in 1873 
laid out the town of La Conner, selecting the name 
in honor of his cousin's wife, Mrs. (Louise) A. 
Conner. A year later Mr. Conner erected the first 
hotel in the place, and it was also the first hotel in 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



807 



what has since become Skagit county. Between 
1874 and 1877 Mr. Conner ran a trading vessel on 
the sound, and entered into partnership with John 
Campbell, the first man on Skagit river to stay 
there with a stock of goods. A man named Barker 
had opened a store about one mile above where 
Skagit City now stands, but had been killed by the 
Indians. This store was later removed to the site 
of Skagit City, on Mr. McAlpin's land. They gave 
the name to the settlement. Mr. Conner soon Jaought 
out Mr. Campbell's interest and in turn was bought 
out by Daniel Gage in 1876. During these years 
Mr. Conner kept hotel at La Conner and managed 
his trading vessel. He also became interested in 
the coal mines near where Hamilton now stands, and 
in 1875 took up homestead and mineral claims there. 
He grubstaked the men who discovered the Ruby 
Creek mines in 1878-9 — Charles von Pressentin, 
Frank Kohn, Frank Scott and two others whose 
names have escaped Mr. Conner's memory. He 
remained in active management of the La Conner 
hotel business until 1879, when he removed to 
where Hamilton now is to look after his coal in- 
terests. These deposits were the first bituminous 
coal to be discovered in the Puget Sound country, 
the exact date of their discovery being in 1873, 
whereas the Wilkinson mines near Tacoma and 
Carbonado were discovered a few months later. The 
first shipments of Mr. Conner's coal were made in 
1880 consisting of about 100 tons to down the river 
points, transportation being by canoes, three tons to 
a canoe. On tests it showed up excellent as black- 
smiths' coal, and has since proved to be satisfactory 
for this class of work. For three days in 1881 it 
was used in the Seattle gas furnaces and proved 
reasonably satisfactory for the manufacture of il- 
luminating gas. In 1887-8 Patrick McKay of San 
Francisco, through his agent, F. J. Hoswell, leased 
Mr. Conner's mines, and at a later time made an at- 
tempt to obtain permanent possession of them in the 
name of the Skagit-Cumberland Coal Company. ]\Ir. 
Conner resisted these attempts and threw the mines 
into court, and the result was a prolonged litigation 
and the closing of the mines. An adjustment has 
been reached, and it is probable that the deposits 
will be reopened shortly. There are about 3,000 
acres of coal land here, the Skagit-Cumberland peo- 
ple having about 870 acres and the Conner associa- 
tion about 3,100 acres. At one time the iron hold- 
ings could have been sold to a Michigan company 
to good advantage and the coal output could have 
been contracted to the Union Pacific, but for the 
litigation. Mr. Conner sent 3,000 pounds of his 
iron-ore to the Chicago Exposition in 1893, which 
Prof. Qierry submitted to a working test and pro- 
nounced to be superior for the manufacture of steel 
to all other deposits in the United States, save one. 
Mr. Conner shipped 400 tons of his ore to Irondale 
in 1902, and in May of 1905 sent specimens weigh- 
ing 2,850 pounds to the exposition at Portland. 



The deposits are in two grades of both coal and 
iron, and now that litigation has been settled, the 
property awaits development and the influx of some 
capital. 

In 1887 at Coupeville Mr. Conner married Miss 
Annin M. Kinith, a native of Portland, Oregon, 
daughter of John and Jane (Caner) Kinith. 
Through her mother, Mrs. Conner is a member of 
the Carter family, which at one time owned a large 
portion of the land on which the metropolis of Ore- 
gon now stands. Mr. and Mrs. Conner have six 
children : Preston J., Ernest J., Mabel N., Cora, 
Charles and Bessie. The Conner family attends 
the Episcopal church. In politics Mr. Conner is a 
Republican and for five years previous to 1903 was 
postmaster at Hamilton, receiving his appointment 
from President McKinley. He has served as a 
member of the school board. In fraternal affiliation, 
he is a member of the La Conner post of the Grand 
Army of the Republic. His financial interests all 
center in the reopening of the coal and iron mines 
at Hamilton, and he overlooks no opportunity to 
exploit their value, which is generally considered 
very great. No citizen of Skagit county probably 
has been more closely identified with its pioneer his- 
tory, with the development of its resources and its 
material progress, than has James J. Conner. 



JOHN R. BALDRIDGE, liquor dealer and 
rancher of Hamilton, has been in Skagit county 
since 1885, with the exception of two years spent in 
Alaska during the height of the gold excitement in 
the northland, where he did well. On leaving Alas- 
ka he came back to Hamilton and he has been in 
active business here ever since. Mr. Baldridge was 
born in Floyd county, Kentucky, in September of 
1865. His father, William Baldridge, was also a 
native of the Blue Grass state, but came to Skagit 
county in the late eighties and is still living at Ham- 
ilton. The mother, Mrs. Phoebe J. (Beverley) 
Baldridge, a native of Virginia, died at the age of 
forty-five years, leaving nine children, of whom the 
subject of this review is the oldest. John R. Bald- 
ridge's life was spent on the old Kentucky farm and 
in attendance on the schools of his native state, until 
he was twenty years of age, when he came with his 
parents to Skagit county. The elder "Baldridge took 
up a homestead up the river, which subsequently 
was taken as a part of the townsite of Hamilton. 
The town was laid out in 1889, at which time it 
boasted only of a store, but the operations of the 
coal company contributed to the rapid development 
of the new town, and soon there were 1,500 people 
there. The senior Baldridge disposed of much of 
his holding during the boom days, and in the spring 
of 1890 the junior Baldridge opened up a livery 
business, which he continued to manage for five 
years. He went to Skagway, Alaska, in 1896, in 
time to participate in the rush of a year later. In 
two years he had cleared up what he considered 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



sufficient for his plans, and he returned home and 
opened up the hquor business at Hamilton, which 
he still conducts. 

In 1897 Mr. Baldridge married Miss Nellie Hilt, 
a native of Wisconsin, daughter of E. W. Hilt, a 
large tanner of the Badger state, now deceased. In 
fraternal affiliations Mr. Baldridge is a member of 
the Improved Order of Red Men ; in politics an ac- 
tive Republican, at present serving as central com- 
mitteeman. He has also been a member of the city 
council. Mr. Baldridge has an interest in consider- 
able town property, has money on interest, and is, 
to use a western expression, "well fixed." He also 
is interested in the development of Hamilton coal 
and believes it is the best coke coal in the country, 
though it has not yet obtained the recognition it 
surely will in the future. Mr. Baldridge has been 
very successful in business, and is recognized as 
one of the prominent and substantial citizens of 
Hamilton. 



VALENTINE ADAM, veteran of the Franco- 
Prussian War, left Germany soon after the great 
triumph of his country, in which he participated, 
and in 1877 came to Skagit county. He is one of the 
pioneers of the upper Skagit valley and now a well- 
to-do farmer and stock raiser living two miles west 
of Hamilton. He was born in Rhenish Bavaria, 
August 24, 1845, sixth of a family of seven children, 
of whom but one besides himself survives. His 
father, Michael Adam, was forest overseer in his 
native country, being employed by several towns, 
which league together to protect the woods. The 
mother, Margaret (Yost) Adam, who died in Ger- 
many at the age of seventy-seven, often has told 
her boys about the Napoleonic wars, which she dis- 
tinctly remembered. Valentine Adam received an 
education in the German schools, then learned the 
trade of stone cutter. After the death of his father, 
he contributed to the support of his mother. At the 
age of twenty-one he entered the German infantry, 
and he served his country bravely through the war 
with France. Coming to'the United States in 1872, 
he worked two years as a stone mason in New 
York, spent a year in Pennsylvania, then went to 
California, where he resided until 1877, when he 
came to Hamilton. He took up the townsite of Ly- 
inan and proved up on it, then traded it to Henry 
Cooper for his present place. This was a wild coun- 
try in those early days. There were no roads and 
all_ clearing had to be done by hand, there being 
neither horses nor oxen in the country until later. 
The first roads were built along the river, but much 
of the time they were impassable because of the 
floods. Not until 1885 was a road put through to 
Mount Vernon. When Mr. Adam settled near 
Hamilton, the chief white man in the neighborhood 
was R. H. Williamson, who came from Puyallup in 
1872, to trade with the Indians, and later established 
a twenty acre hop farm. Mr. Adam worked some- 



times for Mr. Williamson and sometimes farmed 
for himself. He went through the Indian scare of 
1878, when 300 Yakimas came over the mountains 
and urged the Indians of the Skagit valley to clear 
that part of the country of all white settlers. There 
was danger enough, but cool heads quieted the sav- 
ages. 

In 1885 Mr. Adam married Miss Margaret 
Bruns, who was born in Hanover, Germany, April 
12, 1858, daughter of Dietrich and Margaret (Hin- 
kin) Bruns, both Hanoverians. Mr. and Mrs. Adam 
have six children, Maggie, Valentine, Walter, Em- 
ma, Ralph and Herman. Mr. Adam is a member of 
the German Reform church, and his wife is a Lu- 
theran. In politics he is a Republican. For a num- 
ber of years he was road supervisor, and he has 
served on the school board and otherwise manifest- 
ed his keen interest in the cause of popular educa- 
tion. He has 240 acres of land, one of the largest 
farms in the district, and gives much attention to 
the raising of cattle and hogs, keeping always a fine 
dairy. Mr. Adam is one of the highly respected 
men of the community, an intelligent and courteous 
gentleman. 

JAMES COCHRANE, a general farmer resid- 
ing a short distance east of Hamilton, was one of 
the men who arrived early in Skagit county. Those 
who realize the great work which he and his asso- 
ciates did when they cut a channel through the 
mighty log jam at Mount Vernon, consider them 
the lasting benefactors of the hustling communities 
which since have gathered along the Skagit. These 
pioneers, without capital and with their own hands, 
removed this historic dam, which a government 
agent had estimated could not be taken out for 
le'ss than $100,000. Mr. Cochrane, Donald Mc- 
Donald, John Minnick, Joe Wilson, John Quirk, 
Dan Hines, Fritz Gibbons and Dennis Storrs un- 
dertook to free the river of this gigantic obstruc- 
tion, which had been gathering for a hundred 3'ears 
before the first white man entered the valley. It 
was a tremendous undertaking, but these strong 
young men succeeded, in spite of the ridicule of the 
settlers, who said it could not be done. Mr. Wilson 
mortgaged some lots in Seattle and purchased flour 
for the men when they commenced work. They 
hoped to sell the logs for enough to pay them 
handsomely for their work, but in this they were 
disappointed. The jam was composed of big trees 
which had floated down the river in high water and 
had become interlocked in a solid mass some places 
fourteen feet high and extending more than a mile 
up the stream. Some places trees a foot in diam- 
eter grew on top of the jam. The men, with their 
saws, cut a channel 150 feet wide and about a mile 
long through the jam. The obstructions were re- 
moved by the peavey and the saw, there being no 
donkey engines in those days. Mr. Cochrane worked 
thirty-two months in this enterprise and Mr. Mc- 
Donald just three years. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Mr. Cochrane was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, 
in 1846, the son of Francis Cochrane, foreman of a 
dye estabHshment in Paisle}', and later one of the 
first men to go to the diamond fields of South Af- 
rica. JNIrs. Catherine (Campbell) Cochrane, the 
mother, was a native of Scotland who immigrated 
to the United States ; she died at her son's place on 
the Skagit in 1897. Mr. Cochrane as a lad lived in 
both Scotland and England, but at the age of twelve 
years started out for himself, working on steamers 
plying between Scottish and Eng'lish ports for four 
years. He then came to the United States during 
the days of the Civil War and was on the Orient, 
engaged in traffic for the North, when she was 
chased by a Southern privateer. Mr. Cochrane 
made several trips between New York and Liver- 
pool in the interests of Northern merchants during 
the war. He continued to follow the sea until 1869, 
traveling to South Africa in 1867 on a vessel loaded 
with troops and wool. He also was quartermaster 
on an English vessel in the expedition to Abyssinia. 
In 1869 he landed in San Francisco and a year later 
came to Seattle, then only a small place. He passed 
some time on Whidby Island, but came to Skagit 
county in the winter of 1871-2, and engaged in log- 
ging with J. F. Dwelley of La Conner on the flats 
where now are located some of the richest farms in 
the country. He passed some time in Snohomish 
county and it was there that he fell in with the prop- 
osition to clear the Skagit river of its famous jam. 
After that work was completed, he went to logging 
on Freshwater slough, below Mount Vernon, be- 
coming one of the first to put logs into the Skagit 
river. He later started a camp above Mount Ver- 
non and was with Harry Clothier when that town 
was started, helping build the first structure there, 
Mr. Bryson's dwelling house-. Mr. Cochrane fol- 
lowed logging on the Skagit for nine years. At one 
time he took up script land near the city of Mount 
\^ernon. but later he sold this and in 1883 he located 
his present place as a homestead. L'pon it he has 
ever since resided. 

In 1885 Mr. Cochrane married I\Iiss Mary J. 
Carey, a native of Indiana, daughter of Alfred and 
Dorcas (Wood) Carey, who came to this county in 
1875. having been preceded, by their sons, Aaron, 
Freeman and Jesse, in 1874. Mr. and Mrs. Coch- 
rane have seven children : Colin C, studying prac- 
tical engineering in electrical shops in Seattle ; Rob- 
ert C, Qiarles A., Anna, Janet, Dewey and Fran- 
ces. Mr. Cochrane is a member of the Foresters; 
also of the Red Men, and in politics he is a Repub- 
lican, active in the work of the party, attending 
conventions and participating in their deliberations. 
He has been a member of the school board for many 
years and was one of the prime movers in behalf of 
the high school for Hamilton, also was on the board 
when the school house was built, lending his influ- 
ence toward making it one of the best equipped 
houses of its kind in the country. Mr. Cochrane 
has a farm of sixty-five acres in his home place, 



and has twenty-four acres of farm land in addition, 
also 170 acres of timber land in Snohomish county 
and houses and lots in Hamilton. At one time of 
his life he was interested in mining and in the Ruby 
Creek excitement took the first pack train into the 
camp. He and his partners were the only ones to 
develop their prospect openings to bedrock ; mineral 
in paying quantities was not uncovered, and hence 
the venture proved a failure. Mr. Cochrane then 
went to the Fraser river gold fields, where he spent 
one year operating a tug boat. He has ever been 
an aggressive character, and is one of the staunch 
pioneers to whom the present residents of Skagit 
county ^re greatly indebted. Without such men 
to "biaze the trails" and surmount the prodigious 
obstacles placed in the way of progress by the 
forces of nature and the savage aborigine, condi- 
tions in the Northwest would not be what they are 
today, and the boundaries of civilization could 
never be extended with the rapidity characteristic 
of the last quarter of a century. 



GEORGE W. PATTERSON, stock and dairy 
farmer across the Skagit five miles southwest of 
Hamilton, is one of the later comers to Skagit coun- 
ty who brings with him a great fund of experience 
gleaned in the turmoil of a long life of activity. He 
is a native of Illinois, born in Edgar county, Febru- 
ary 22, 1839, the son of Jonathan Patterson, who 
crossed the plains in 18-16 with California as his 
destination, but the hand of death touched him as 
he reached the crest of the Sierra Nevadas, leaving 
the family in a most distressing position. Though 
he was a native of Illinois, his forefathers came 
originally from Virginia and Kentucky. William, 
his oldest son, was but fourteen years of age at the 
time of his demise. The family was not well pro- 
visioned, and its members had to be put on allow- 
ance for many days before relief reached them. At 
the time their company gained the summit of the 
Sierra Nevada mountains, the celebrated Donner 
party was at their foot, ready to begin the ascent^ 
The misfortunes of this ill-starred company are well 
known to readers of California history, who will re- 
member that its members were reduced to the most 
terrible extremity, being compelled to devour the 
bodies of their deceased companions before succor 
reached them. A number of our subject's cousins 
were in the rescuing expedition and one of the un- 
fortunate survivors was sheltered at his family home 
for some time. During this period of California 
histor)', some of the Indians were hostile, but the 
misfortunes of immigrants arose out of the rigors 
of mountain travel in winter, not from the ravages 
of Indians. Mrs. Christina (Foster) Patterson, 
mother of George W., was a native of Missouri. 
After the death of her husband en route to Califor- 
nia, she was placed in a very trying position as the 
head of a family of ten children, but the latter 
helped in every way they could and the family was 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



kept tog;ether as long as possible. Mrs. Patterson 
died in 1895 at the age of eighty-four years. 

George W. Patterson, of this article, was about 
seven years old at the time of his father's death. 
California afforded no schools in the 'forties, and 
the lad had to do without educational advantages, 
but he made the best of the situation, and as the 
years passed worked with a will in the mines and 
at stock raising. When old enough to exercise his 
rights as an American citizen, he moved to Oregon, 
took a homestead and a pre-emption claim, and 
commenced farming and stock raismg on his own 
account. In the early 'sixties he went to the Boise 
basin in Idaho and mined there for a time, eventu- 
ally, however, returning to Oregon, where he fol- 
lowed farming and freighting for thirty years. He 
had a farm near The Dalles, and assisted in build- 
ing the Canyon City road. Coming eventually to 
Skagit county, he located first at Avon and later 
higher up the river, buying his present place in 
1900. He has an excellent farm, well improved, and 
with evidences of the thrift and good management 
of its owner visible on every han<l. 

In 18G8, at The Dalles,' Oregon, Mr. Patterson 
married Miss Leviaette Hawn, a native of Yamhil 
county, Oregon, born December 19, 1849, daughter 
of Jacob and Harriet (Pearson) Hawn, the former 
of whom was born in Germany in 1804, the latter 
in Newark, New Jersey, in 1818. They were mar- 
ried in Newark in 1833, and later coming west, 
started from St. Louis, Missouri, for Oregon, in 
1842. Being diverted to Texas, they spent a year 
in the Lone Star state, then they set out for Oregon, 
joining a wagon train of sixty teams. On settling 
at Oregon City, Mr. Hawn, a millwright by trade, 
built the first mill at that point. Later, moving to 
Lafayette, he erected the first hotel in that place. 
In 1849 he went to California during the gold ex- 
citement, and he died there ten years later, though 
he was back in Oregon in the meantime and he ancT 
his two oldest brothers served as volunteers from 
Lafayette under Captain Hembrec hi subduing the 
hostile Indians, during the uprising of 1855-6, and 
were with the captain when he was killed and 
scalped by the hostiles. The volunteers were so 
put to it for provisions that they had to live on horse 
meat for two weeks. Of Mrs. Patterson's brothers 
and sisters, the oldest, a girl, was born September 
1, 1835, at Green Bay, Wisconsin; Alonzo P. Hawn 
was born in Caldwell County, Mis.souri, in 1836; 
Jasper C, in Texas, Februarv 8, 1840; Newton 
W., in Missouri, April 20. 1843; and the rest in 
Oregon. Mr. and Mrs. Patterson have had seven 
children: Mrs. Henrietta Harding, Mrs. May 
Harris, Mrs. Myrtle Kerns, Mrs. Ida Horsey, Les- 
ter, Fred and Chester, the last mentioned of whom 
died December 13, 1905. In politics Mr. Patterson 
has been a Democrat, but of late years has voted 
independently. He has given a very large share 
of his attention to cattle raising, but recently has 
sold a large part of his herd in preparation for re- 



moval to another section. He is a man highly re- 
s])ccled in the county, honored and esteemed by 
the pioneers as well as by the later arrivals. 



HENRY WILD, a farmer three miles west of 
Hamilton, early went up the Skagit river to Birds- 
view and with his wife endured the hardships and 
experienced the loneliness of the pioneer. He was 
born at Unadilla, Otsego county. New York, April 
](), 1838, the son of Lewis Wild, a farmer, who 
died when his son was fourteen years of age. The 
father of the elder Wild served in the War of 1812. 
He was of English descent. Mrs. Lucretia (Kid- 
ney) Wild, a native of New York, died in La 
Crosse, Wisconsin, in 1890, the mother of nine chil- 
dren, only one of whom was younger, than Henry. 
Between the ages of ten and fourteen young Wild 
worked in a cotton factory, but on the death of his 
father he started out for himself, gomg first to 
Oiiio for a year and then to Iowa. He remained in 
the latter state until the outbreak of the Civil War, 
when he enlisted in Company A, Thirtieth Iowa In- 
fantry, and he served until the close of hostilities. 
Though Mr. Wild's command saw much of the 
hard fighting in the South, participating in the 
siege of Vicksburg and the operations around At- 
lanta, closing with the march to the sea, he was 
neither wounded nor captured, but the exposures 
and hardships greatly undermined his constitution. 
He returned to Iowa for a short time and then went 
back to New York for two years. Mr. Wild then 
decided to go to Minnesota and located on a farm 
in Wabaska county, continuing for ten years. His 
next move was to Dakota, where, in Spink county, 
he took up land and lived until 1888, when he came 
to the Puget Sound country. He passed one year 
in Seattle, then came to Skagit county, taking up 
land on the upper river near Birdsview. There he 
cleared off some of the timber and made a home 
for himself and wife. Neighbors were few and 
Mrs. Wild's nearest woman friend was the Indian 
wife of a pioneer, but the dusky lady proved excel- 
lent company during the times when Mr. Wild was 
forced to be absent from home a week at a time. 
In 1900 Mr. Wild sold out his Birdsview land and 
moved to Hamilton. Recently he has taken up his 
abode at Richmond Beach, in King county, where 
he has a nice little farm of ten acres. 

In 1867 while living in New York, Mr. Wild 
married Miss Anna M. Coziear, born In 1848, the 
daughter of Azias and IMelissa (White) Coziear, 
New Yorkers of English and Irish descent. Mrs. 
Wild has one sister, Mary E. Coziear. Mr. and 
Airs. Wild have no children, but have an adopted 
son, Ernest L. Wild. Mr. Wild in politics is a 
Democrat and has served as road supervisor. He 
is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, 
Sedro-Woolley post. Mr. and Mrs. Wild were 
among the highly respected people of the Skagit 
valley, and are rapidly winning for themselves a 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



place in the esteem and confidence of the people of 
Richmond Beach, where they now dwell. 



DAVID RUSSELL, stock raiser and farmer 
near Birdsview and postmaster of the town, is one 
of the men who have within fifteen years demon- 
strated what can be accomplished in Skagit county. 
Mr. Russell was born in Jackson county, Ohio, 
December 28, 18.51, the son of William Russell, a 
native of New Orleans, who became a farmer of 
Jackson county, Wisconsin, in the pioneer days of 
"that state. Mrs. Margaret (Hildebrand) Russell, 
a native of Ohio, of Dutch descent, died in 1870, 
the mother of seven children, of whom the subject 
hereof is third in order of birth. David Russell was 
raised on the farm in Wisconsin and attended the 
common schools there, leaving home to do for him- 
self at the age of eighteen years. His first work 
was in the pineries of Wisconsin, which work he 
continued until 1885, when he went to Nebraska 
and became one of the pioneers of Scott's Bluff 
county. The oldest son of Mr. Russell was the 
first white child born in that county. Mr. Russell 
raised stock and continued farming for five years, 
but in August of 1891 came west and he settled in 
Skagit county in February of the year following 
on a ranch in the vicinity of Birdsview. Shortly 
afterwards he entered into partnership with Henry 
Thompson for bridge building and the two secured 
the contract for constructing seventeen bridges in 
the county. In connection with this contract work 
they operated a sawmill which turned out the lum- 
ber and timber requisite for their bridge building 
operations. Mr. and Mrs. Russell have both taken 
timber claims, which have proven of great value, 
and Mr. Russell has also purchased land in various 
parts of the county. He has been road supervisor 
for three years, in charge of the road between Ly- 
man and the Baker river. Mr. Russell was made 
]iostmaster at Birdsview in April of 1905. 

In 1884 at Fort Sidney. Nebraska, Mr. Russell 
married Miss Maggie Conner, a native of Ireland, 
born in 1861, who was brought to this country by 
her mother when but six years of age. She is sec- 
ond of the five children of James and Nora (Ford) 
Conner, the latter of whom is still living in Wiscon- 
sin. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Russell have been born six chil- 
dren, the names of whom with their respective dates 
of birth are : James R., December 23, 1885 ; Joshua, 
June 14, 1890; Fred, April 30, 1893; Carl, March 
1, 1894; Gertrude, Julv 22. 189G; Lawrence, Au- 
gust 17, 1900. Mr. Russell is a member of the 
Foresters and in politics a Democrat, active, influ- 
ential and usually a delegate to county conventions. 
Mrs. Russell is a member of the Catholic church. 
Mr. Russell has now in his dairy nine cows, whose 
cream products he .separates at home and ships to 
Seattle. He still owns several tracts of good land 
in the county. At present he is engaged part of the 



time in timber cruising and in the real estate busi- 
ness, combining these lines with the operation of 
his farm. He is recognized as one of the progres- 
sive, wide-aw'ake and forceful men of the county. 



AUGUST KEMMERICH, a farmer and stock 
laiser five miles east of Hamilton, is one of the 
men who came into the up-river section of the 
Skagit valley when settlers were few and the for- 
ests high and deep. He now looks back with pleas- 
ure on the long years of hard work, for the con- 
trast between his land as he first saw it and his 
prosperous farm of today is very great. Mr. Kem- 
merich was born in Germany February 14, 1845, the 
son of John and Christina (Rembold) Kemmerich. 
August, the oldest of their five children, worked on 
the farm and attended school when a boy. His 
first work away from home was in the coal mines 
at Essen, the home of the famous Krupp iron 
works. There he learned of advantages offered for 
work in the United States, and he determined to 
try his fortune here, coming in 1869 and locating 
at Bredwood, Illinois, in the coal mines of that vi- 
cinity. After a time Mr. Kemmerich went to Iowa 
and tried farming, but grasshoppers and hail took 
his crops and in 187G he removed to Port Madison, 
Washington, and engaged in lumbering. Coming 
to Birdsview in February, 1878, he took up his pres- 
ent farm. A few months previous B. D. M inkier 
had come to Birdsview from Port Madison ; when 
Mr. Kemmerich came he was accompanied by Mr. 
Grandy. and the trio made a comfortable commun- 
ity in the woods, with claims adjoining. The land 
was covered with large timber. No roads or trails 
led to it and supplies had to be brought in canoe.- 
from Mount Vernon. Some trading was done, 
however, at Ball's store in Sterling and later Otto 
Clement put in a store at Lvman. During the pe- 
riod of the Indian scare following threats against 
the early settlers up the river, they crossed over and 
took refuge in Minkler's mill. It was eighteen 
years after they had settled there that these three 
men could get down the river with wagons and 
then the route could hardly be called a road. For 
three years Mr. Kemmerich paid an annual tax of 
$20 for road building and also put in considerable 
work on them himself. In sharp contra.st are the 
fine graveled roads in that district now. Mr. Kem- 
merich's policy in the early days was not to work 
out for others but to put in all his time improving 
his own land. He had hard work and underwent 
many hardships, but he felt that work done on his 
own place, in the long run, would prove the best. 

In 1884 Mr. Kemmerich went to Chicago and 
married Miss Barbara Hommerding, a native of 
that city, who died in 1903, the mother of nine chil- 
dren : Mary, Joseph, Anna, John, Katie, Julius, 
Laura, Mark and Alphonse. The family are Cath- 
olics, and in politics Mr. Kemmerich is a Demo- 
crat. He has served as road supervisor and as 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



member of the school board .being an advocate of 
good schools and willing to pay liberally for their 
support. His farm consists of one hundred and 
fifty-seven acres, all well improved, with a good 
orchard thereon. His dairy herd consists of seven 
cows, whose milk is separated at home and the 
cream marketed at Burlington. Mr. Kemmerich is 
a prosperous farmer, wide-awake and a hard work- 
er, a man who is highly esteemed by all with whom 
he comes in contact. 



WILSON M. ALDRIDGE, successfully en- 
gaged in the mercantile business at Baker, has, dur- 
ing the past five years, been closely identified with 
the progress of that place and the upper Skagit val- 
ley generally. In these days of prosperity and rap- 
id settlement, when changes for the better are be- 
ing rapidly wrought in all sections of Puget sound, 
the possession by any community of men of broad 
views and aggressive energy is a matter for con- 
gratulation. The subject of this review, whose 
position in the community is self-evident, is of 
Southern birth, born at Granada, Mississippi, No- 
vember 28, 1859, to the union of Wilson M. and 
Susan (Wiggins) Aldridge. The elder Aldridge, 
a merchant and mill owner, was a native of Ala- 
bama, whose forbears were also Southerners, for 
many generations. At the time of the Civil War 
he was in business at Duck Hill. Mississippi, and 
had amassed a fortune approximating $50,000, 
which he subsequently lost through misfortune and 
rendering aid to the families of Confederate sol- 
diers. He also incurred a heavy debt, of which, 
however, before his death he paid the last dollar. 
Mrs. Aldridge, mother of our subject, was born in 
Mississippi, a member of families who had been 
long engaged in the tobacco industry in Virginia 
and South Carolina; she died during the cholera 
scourge of 1865. 

At the age of ten Wilson M., Jr., was taken 
by his father to Arkansas, and there attended 
school, finishing with a course in a business col- 
lege at Memphis, Tennessee. His first business 
connection was with Louis Rollage & Company, of 
Forest City, Arkansas, with whom he remained ten 
years, becoming toward the last the firm's confiden- 
tial man. In 1885 he came west, stopping for short 
periods in New York, California and Oregon, be- 
fore reaching Spokane. There he spent a year in 
the cloak department of J. Kellner's establishment, 
though just previous to this he was employed for 
a time as timekeeper for the Northern Pacific in 
the construction of its Coeur d'Alene branch. While 
in Spokane he was attracted by the gold excite- 
ment at Chloride, whither he went, only to enter 
the employ of W. J. Shelton at that 'place and 
Hope, Idaho, the mines being a failure. In 1891, 
he went to Douglas county, took a homestead claim 
and at the same time commenced work for E. D. 
Nash in his store at Waterville. A year later Mr. 



Aldridge and W. E. Stevens opened a store of 
their own at Wenatchee, during the construction of 
the Great Northern railroad, but later they sold 
out and the former returned to the service of Mr. 
Nash at Waterville. Five years later he resigned 
to enter business for himself at Trinidad, Wash- 
ington, and in 1900, seeking a better field, he re- 
moved the establishment to Baker, Skagit county, 
where most encouraging success has crowned his 
eii'orts, keeping pace with the rapid growth of the 
community. From observation and experience he 
believes that this section of the state offers excep- 
tional opportunities to men of energy and will, so 
rich are the numerous resources. 

Although Mr. Aldridge takes a deep interest in 
everything pertaining to the public welfare, and in 
Waterville was quite active in public life without 
holding office, he is a member of no political or- 
ganization. The condition of his business interests 
is indicative of the ability and force of the man. 
The fine southern courtesy and fervor, which are 
his by right of inheritance and by training, blend- 
ing with the vigorous, ambitious spirit of the north, 
have created characteristics at once discernible to 
all and winning to all. 



FRANKLIN J. SPRINGSTEEN, hotel man 
of Baker, has lived in Skagit county only three 
years, but already has acquired a reputation for 
business ability and attention to commercial de- 
tails, and is one of the prominent and loyal citizens 
of the county. Mr. Springsteen was born in Penn- 
sylvania, May 20, 1868, the son of Oiarles and Flora 
J. (Bassett) Springsteen, both natives of Pennsyl- 
vania. The father was born in 1838, lived in the 
Keystone state until 1873, then moved to Wisconsin, 
where he resided sixteen years, then came to Lewis 
county, Washington, where he since has been in 
the lumber business. Mrs. Springsteen, the mother, 
lived with her parents until marriage and still is 
living, the mother of the following children : Jen- 
nie, Charles F., Myra, Leslie, Franklin J. and Mil- 
ton, the last named having died in recent years. 
Franklin J. Springsteen attended school in Wiscon- 
sin and after completing his education remained 
with his parents until thirty years old. When the 
family went to Lewis county he entered the milling 
business there and continued in that line of employ- 
ment until five and a half years ago, when he moved 
to Snohomish county. He came to Baker, Skagit 
county, in 1902 and for two years thereafter man- 
aged the Baker River Lumber Company's mill, 
leaving it to enter the hotel business. In August, 
1904, the liotel he was in burned and he rented and 
moved into the building he now occupies. 

In 1898 at Chehalis, Lewis county, Washington, 
Mr. Springsteen married Miss Anna Bernier, 
whose parents were both natives of the state of 
Washington, her father, Peter Bernier, having been 
born in Lewis county in 18-17, where he has passed 




JAMES V. VAN HORN 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



815 



all his life as a farmer, and Mrs. Eliza (Marlin) 
Bernier, the mother, having been born in Walla 
Walla county, in 1855. Her parents at one time 
owned the land on which the city of Walla Walla 
now stands. They died while Mrs. Bernier was 
quite young. The latter received her education in 
a convent and was married soon after leaving her 
studies. Her brothers and sisters are as follows: 
Helen, Moses, Lewis and Edwin (both deceased), 
and Winifred. Mrs. Springsteen was born in 
Lewis county in 1876, and received her education 
there, remaining with her parents until her mar- 
riage. One child, Donald W., has been born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Springsteen. In politics Mr. Springsteen 
is a Republican, in lodge connection a Woodman 
of the World and in church membership a Catholic. 
He is establishing another hotel in the new town 
of Cement City, where the cement works are being 
erected. 

He believes in and practices what he conceives 
to be the "square deal" in all the relations of life, 
and enjoys the standing in his community which is 
the natural outcome of a straightforward course. 



JAMES V. VAN HORN, merchant, real estate 
owner, mill man and postmaster of Van Horn, has 
done much in developing the northwestern counties 
of the state of Washington, and as a slight token 
of the honor due him for the great services he has 
done this section, two towns have been named for 
him, or at his suggestion, Van Horn in Skagit 
county and Hartford in Snohomish county. In 
both of these places as well as in many others Mr. 
Van Horn has left the imprint of his character and 
energy. He has been an agtive factor in every place 
in which he has resided. He was bom in Jones 
county, Iowa, September 14, 1854, the son of James 
P. Van Horn, a native of Pennsylvania, who, after 
marriage, removed to the Hawkeye state and lived 
the life of a farmer until 1866, when he went to 
Nebraska. In 1885 he went to Dakota and farmed 
until he passed away in 1902. Mrs. Mary (Raver) 
Van Horn, the mother of the pioneer of whom this 
is written, also was a native of the Keystone state, 
received her education there and rem.ained until 
lier marriage, after which she followed the fortunes 
of her husband, dying in 1874, when James V. was 
twenty years old. She left nine children : George, 
now deceased ; William A., Isaiah, James V., Cas- 
sandra, Ames (deceased), Valdora, Jefferson D. and 
Milo, now deceased. James attended school until 
seventeen years old, then bravely started for him- 
self. He first went to Nebraska and worked at 
farming until 1875, then continued farming in Da- 
kota until 1892. He was ever alert for any oppor- 
tunities which nature or the development of a new 
country might offer. When he left Dakota he came 
to Snohomish county, Washington, and saw the 
possibilities in the shingle and mercantile business 
in the new town, which afterwards was named 



Hartford, at his suggestion. He entered these lines 
of business, and was the first postmaster, a pioneer 
representative of the United States government in 
this new community. All parties recog:iized that 
no better man could be secured for the postofiice 
and he retained the position for ten years under Re- 
publican and Democratic administrations. Again 
on the lookout for good town locations he came to 
Skagit county and went into^ the shingle mill bus- 
iness on a more extensive scale. He started shingle 
mills and a settlement sprang into existence, which 
was called Horn, but which was changed to Van 
Horn by the postoffice department in recognition 
of his services. He was again made postmaster. 
The postoffice receipts at the_ new office of Van 
Horn were $4 the first quarter. His first quarter's 
receipts when he was made postmaster at Hartford 
were $3.75. At the new town in Skagit county Mr. 
Van Horn's energy, foresight and executive ability 
have been of as great value to the new community 
as they were at Hartford. He is interested in shin- 
gle mills at both places and also has a sawmill. 

In 1879 in Dakota Mr. Van Horn married Miss 
Catherine Lyons, who was born in Wisconsin De- 
cember 25, 1859. On the death of her father when 
she was a little girl, she was taken into the home 
of Captain W. D. Lucas, a retired officer of the 
United States army, then residing in Dakota. Mr. 
and Mrs. Van Horn have two children: Ray G. and 
Cassie Louisa. In fraternal circles Mr. Van Horn 
is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Or- 
der of Elks and of the Concatenated Order of Hoo 
Hoos. His business holdings include two shingle 
mills, a sawmill, store and stock and a hotel. The 
shingle mills have a daily capacity of two hundred 
and fifty thousand shingles and the sawmill 
twenty thousand feet. He also owns three thou- 
sand acres of excellent timber land, sixteen valuable 
lots in the resident district of Seattle and two fine 
lots in the business part of Everett. Mr. Van Horn 
is a man wide awake to possibilities, energetic in 
all that he undertakes, quick to see a point of busi- 
ness vantage, and a man who stands high among his 
fellows. 



ROBERT FRANEY, farmer and market gar- 
dener, a mile and a half southeast of Van Horn, is 
one of the successful men of the Skagit valley and 
has a firm conviction that the Skagit country is one 
of the very best in the world for a man with pluck 
and abilitv. He was born in Nova Scotia, October 
5, 1849. the son of Patrick and Mary (Butler) Fra- 
ney. The elder Franey was a native of Ireland, 
but came to this country early in life and settled 
in Nova Scotia. Mrs. Franey was a native of Nova 
Scotia, born in Halifax. Eleven children were the 
fruit of their union, namely: Martin, John (de- 
ceased), Mary, James, Robert, Agnes (deceased), 
David, Cassie, Edward, William and Albert. Rob- 
ert Franey remained at home, attending school and' 



816 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



helping on his father's farm until he was twenty- 
one years of age, when he went to Boston, Massa- 
chusetts, to learn the photographer's art. He re- 
mained there only a year, however. In 1872 he 
was back in Nova Scotia, and he put in the suc- 
ceeding four years at work in the woods there, then 
went to Windsor, and operated a hotel for a year, 
thereupon coming to Seattle. He worked in the 
woods and in the lumber business in the vicinity of 
the Oueen City, until 1885, when he came to Skagit 
county. Here he was employed in the camps along 
the river until 1893, though he took his present 
place as early as 1887, with intent to settle ulti- 
mately upon it. No roads were in existence and 
what supplies were needed in that part of the coun- 
try had to be poled in canoes up the river. Deer 
and fish were plentiful in those days and formed a 
considerable part of the food eaten. Mr. Franey 
has lived on the place since ]893, clearing thirty of 
the one hundred and forty acres in his original 
tract, and raising vegetables as his principal crop, 
though he now keeps six head of cattle and two 
horses. In politics Mr. Franey is a Republican and 
in church connections a Catholic. As he looks back 
over the years since he first came to Skagit county, 
Mr. Franey feels that it is the best thing he ever 
did when he made up his mind to become a Skagit 
county farmer. He is prosperous, well liked by his 
fellows and a man who stands high in the esteem 
of the people at Van Horn. 



JOHN L. BOWEN, postmaster, merchant, 
millman and prominent citizen of Sauk, came to 
Skagit county recently but has already by his busi- 
ness qualities put himself in the van of progress in 
liis home community. That Mr. Bowen Is not a man 
easily discouraged is shown by the will with which 
he set to work to recoup himself from losses during 
the financial distress of the early nineties. Mr. 
Bowen was born in Virginia, November 5, 1859, 
the son of Lorenzo D. Bowen, a merchant and 
farmer of the Old Dominion. During the Civil 
War the elder Bowen was in the commissary de- 
partment of Lee's army. He passed all his life in 
Virginia. Mrs. Sarah F. (Hopper) Bowen was 
likewise a native of the Old Dominion. Both are 
now dead, leaving six children: John L., Ella, 
William, Herbert W., Emmett and Elizabeth. John 
L. Bowen remained with his parents until nineteen, 
receiving a common school education, then left for 
Fort Benton, Montana. There he remained two 
years as clerk in a general store. He then removed 
to Alberta, Canada, and remained for ten years as 
manager for a large mercantile firm, receiving a 
handsome salary and commission on the business 
transacted. He went to Everett, Washington, in 
1891, and engaged in the real estate business, but 
a year later resumed the mercantile trade and fol- 
lowed it eleven years. Mr. Bowen had spent some 
time in Dawson, directly after leaving Alberta, 



working for a mercantile house. He made money 
but later lost it in real estate business in the early 
days of the boom at Everett. He purchased lots- 
and made the first payment on them, when competi- 
tion and the general slump in values caused severe 
losses. In 1903 Mr. Bowen came to Sauk and 
bought the store of H. E. Hutchins. He joined. 
with Henry W. Sullivan, J. E. Sullivan, Ralph Sul- 
livan, H. j. Sullivan and C. W. Miley in building 
the Sullivan Shingle Mill of Sauk, and the store be- 
came a part of the property of the corporation. Mr. 
Bowen is secretary and treasurer of the company 
and the manager of the store. The capacity of the- 
mill is one hundred and twenty-five thousand per 
day. 

In 1883 while living in Alberta Mr. Bowen mar- 
ried Miss Winifred Thompson at Calgary. She was 
born November 7, 1865, in Quebec, the daughter of 
Abram Thompson, a bookbinder of Glasgow, Scot- 
land, who came to Quebec and married Miss Caro- 
line De Tacey, a native of Paris, France. Mrs. 
Bowen's parents have been dead for many years. 
She lived with them until her marriage. Mr. and' 
Mrs. Bowen have five children: Frank, Conrad, 
Winifred, Olive and Stanfield. Mr. Bowen has a 
number of lodge affiliations, being a past master of 
the Masonic lodge and a member of the Order of 
the Eastern Star, a past grand of the Odd Fellows, 
a member of the Woodmen of the World and of the 
National Union. In church membership he is an 
Episcopalian, in politics a Republican. Mr. Bowen 
still owns property in Everett, consisting of three 
lots and an eleven-room house. The present busi- 
ness is prosperous and Mr. Bowen's energy and 
long experience in mercantile pursuits have contrib- 
uted to building it up. As a citizen he is highly es- 
teemed, and as a man is honored and respected by 
all. 



ALBERT VON PRESSENTIN, hotel proprie- 
tor and store keeper at Rockport, is one of the men 
who were pioneers in the upper Skagit and who 
have seen the country fill up with settlers and devel- 
op into its now attractive and bustling condition. 
He was born in Germany, June 13, 1858, the son of 
Bernard von Pressentin, a civil engineer of repute 
in the old country, one of the constructors of the 
water works at Calcutta, India, who came to the 
United States in 1870 and settled in Ohio, conduct- 
ing a general merchandise store until his death in 
1892. Mrs. von Pressentin, also a native of Ger- 
many, was in maiden life. Miss Amelia Brown. She 
received her education in a seminary and, after 
completing it, remained at home until her marriage. 
She is still living in Ohio, nearly eighty years of 
age, the mother of six children : Court, Charles, 
Bernard, Otto, Albert and Agnes, the last named 
being still in Germany. Albert von Pressentin lived 
with his parents until twelve years of age, then 
went to Richmond, Virginia, where he took a three 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



year general course of study in the St. James school. 
He then went to Manistee, Michigan, and worked 
in a saw mill and as log scaler until 1878, when he 
removed to Muskegon and took charge of a saw- 
mill for four years. Mr. von Pressentin spent the 
year 1882 in Gadsden, Alabama, where he had 
charge of a mill, returning then to Michigan. In 
1884 he came to Skagit county and located at Ham- 
ilton, remaining there and at Birdsview for four 
years, thereupon going to Sauk, where he conduct- 
ed a general merchandise business for five years, j 
He has been at Rockport for the past twelve years 
in the hotel and mercantile business. During his 
life up the river Mr. von Pressentin has made and 
lost much money. He burned out at Sauk and esti- 
mates his losses at more than $10,000. His store j 
there had been built of lumber taken up the river | 
from Birdsview in canoes by Indians who charged I 
roundly for their work. That was the first store at i 
Sauk. His hotel at Rockport is a twenty-room 
building valued at $5,500 and his store is worth 
$5,000. ]\Ir. von Pressentin estimates his annual 
business at about $25,000, the largest mercantile j 
commodity being groceries. In" addition to this ! 
property be owns a large farm near Rockport and j 
three hundred acres of fine timber land, considered 
very valuable. 

In 188-1, at Muskegon, Michigan, Mr. von Pres- 
sentin married ]\Iiss Christina Koehler, daughter of 
Christian and Dora T. (Ceigler) Koehler, natives 
of Germany who came to the United States in 1852 ( 
and were pioneer farmers of the Peninsula state. [ 
Mrs. Koehler is still living there, the mother of six 
other children: August, Christian, Hunts, John, 
Frederick and Dora. I\Irs. von Pressentin was born ! 
in Michigan, June 21, 1867, and lived with her par- 
ents, attending school, until her marriage. Mr. and j 
Mrs. von Pressentin have six children : Agnes, 
William, Edward, Walter, Olga and Bert. In poll- \ 
tics Mr. von Pressentin is a Republican. At present j 
he is serving as justice of the peace. In fraternal i 
affiliations he is a member of the Knights of Pyth- j 
ias and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. 
In spite of large losses Mr. von Pressentin has been 
very successful and he ranks among the leading and j 
influential citizens of Rockport. 



THOMAS F. PORTER, a farmer three miles 
east of Sauk and across the river, one of the pio- 
neers of the upper Skagit valley, has lived on his 
present place nearly twenty years. He is a native 
of Pennsylvania, bom June iO, 1852. His parents, 
Robert and Mary Porter, were born in Ireland, 
came to the Ignited States directly after their mar- 
riage in the Emerald Isle and settled in the Kev- 
stone state, where Mrs. Porter is still living. They 
had nine children, of whom the living are: Robert, 
Ann, Thomas, Mary A., Ellen E.. Margaret and 
Joseph, all in Pennsylvania. Thomas F. Porter re- 
ceived his education in the schools of his native 



state, and at the age of fifteen left home to face the 
world. Between 1867 and 1875 he worked at va- 
rious occupations in his native state, principally 
lumbering and carpentering. Two years were then 
spent in the woods of Wisconsin when, in 1877, Mr, 
Porter came to Oregon. After remaining there a 
short time, he came on to King county, Washing- 
ton, where he secured work as constructor of rail- 
way trestles. He continued at this work until 1884^ 
when he came to Skagit county. He took up his 
present place in 1887. His first visit to the place 
was made by canoe, the only means of transporta- 
tion until many years later. The return from his 
wedding with his bride was made in that species of 
craft. Mr. Porter, since locating near Sauk, has 
done considerable logging and lumbering, in addi- 
tion to clearing his place and bringing it to its pres- 
ent status as a farm. 

In 1891, at Lyman, Mr. Porter married Miss 
Mima S. Kerr, daughter of Robert and Catherine 
( Getty) Kerr, natives of Ireland and Canada, re- 
spectively, who passed all their married lives in 
Canada. They were the parents of twelve children, 
in order as follows : Thomas, Elizabeth, Henry, 
.•\ndrew, Isabel, Sarah, Margaret, Alexander, Mary, 
John and Robert. Mrs. Porter also has a half sis- 
ter Ellen. Mrs. Porter was born in Canada Decem- 
ber 29, 1863, and lived with a sister after the death 
of her parents until coming to Skagit county, in 
18.89, to live with her brother, near Marble Mount. 
She remained with him until her marriage. She 
passed away March 24, 1904, leaving six children: 
Robert H., William A., Bessie E., Lillian V., Theo- 
dore F. and Mima S. The Porter farm consists of 
160 acres of land, of which fifteen are cleared. In 
politics Mr. Porter is a Republican, in fraternal con- 
nection a Knight of Pythias. He is a school direct- 
or at the present time, taking a deep interest in the 
school and the education of his children. Aside 
from a general farming business, Mr. Porter is in 
live stock raising to a certain extent, having at pres- 
ent twelve head of good cattle. He is a hard work- 
er, a man respected by the community. Since the 
death of Mrs. Porter he has had the care of his 
children, and he takes a deep interest in their wel- 
fare. His commendable traits of character and the 
active part he has taken in the development and 
general advancement of this section entitle him to 
special mention in the history of his home county. 



PETER LARSEN, a farmer, three miles south- 
west of Sauk postoflice, during the sixteen years of 
his residence in Skagit county, has had many of the 
trying experiences incident to settlement in a new 
country, without roads, without markets, and with- 
out modern facilities for transforming the wilder- 
ness by which he was originally surrounded into a 
valuable producing farm, and for the building of a 
commodious and comfortable home. He was bom 
in Denmark December 17, 1853, the son of Lars 



SKAGIT COUNTY 



and Mary (Larsen) Nissen. Lars Nissen was a 
blacksmith by trade; he and his wife never left Den- 
mark. Peter I^rscn received his education in the 
old country, and lived with his parents until the age 
of twenty-five. He learned the blacksmith trade 
from his father and for three or four years before 
coming to the United States ran a shop of his own. 
■On coming to this country in. 1882, he located in 
New Jersey, where he was engaged in blacksmith- 
ing for a year and a half, then went to Pullman, II- 
hnois, and passed four years in the big car shops at 
that place. In 1888 he came to Tacoma, where he 
worked in a blacksmith shop for a year, but in 1889, 
on account of his health, Mr. Larsen decided to get 
■into the country, so he came to Skagit county, and 
located on his present place. For a while he worked 
out to obtain a livelihood, putting in his spare time 
only on his own place in fitting it for cultivation. 
This period of his life was a hard one, but the re- 
ward came surely if slowly. 

In 1879 Mr. Larsen married Miss Christina 
Hansen, daughter of Hans and Elsie Nelson, na- 
tives of Denmark, who spent all their lives there. 
Mrs. Larsen was born in the old country, June 18, 
1859, and lived at home until marriage, receiving 
her education there. Nine children have been born 
to Mr. and Mrs. Larsen, two of whom, Hans and 
Mary, are dead. The living are Hans L., Louis, 
Morris, Elmer, Harry, Nels and Peter. In church 
relations the Larsens are Lutherans; in politics Mr. 
Larsen is a Democrat. He has been road super- 
visor and has served twelve years on the school 
board, thereby manifesting his willingness to con- 
tribute his share toward the public good. He has 
seventy-five acres of land, fifteen of which are now 
cleared. In live stock he has thirteen head of cat- 
tle, five horses, etc. A fine house is on the place, 
which in every way is in sharp contrast to the w-il- 
derness which Mr. and Mrs. Larsen found there 
when they came, for there were no roads ; they built 
the house entirely by hand. One of the keynotes of 
Mr. Larsen's character is his firm belief in the effica- 
cy of education, which his long service as a member 
of the school board attests. He further is desirous of 
giving his sons a collegiate education. Mr. Larsen 
is one of the sterling citizens of Skagit county and 
a leader in the upper section of the valley. 



EUGENE BELOIT, residing two and a half 
miles northeast of Sauk, was one of the early set- 
tlers up the river in the Sauk section of Skagit 
county. It is related that in the early days the In- 
dians resident in that part of the country had many 
dogs, and that the animals were a great source of 
worry and aggravation to the settlers. Mr. Beloit 
and another man are credited with having taken ad- 
vantage of the absence of the Indians in the hop 
fields to rid the community of the annoying ani- 
mals, and fortunately the incident passed without 
any complications with the red men. Mr. Beloit 



was born in Michigan, February 19, 1844, the son 
of Joseph M. Beloit, a native of New York, who 
became architect and millwright and moved to St. 
Joseph county, Michigan, as a young man, dying 
there thirty years ago. His wife was Mary Elmore, 
a native of Pennsylvania, who died in Chicago more 
than a score of years ago, the mother of seven chil- 
dren : Elmer, Hollis, Laura, Eugene, James M., 
Jarvis J. and Florence, the last three being now 
dead. Eugene Beloit lived with his parents until 
he was fourteen years of age, attending the com- 
mon schools. Later he went to Pennsylvania and 
worked in various lines, eventually learning the 
trade of millwright, after which he worked in the 
sawmills of the Keystone state. In 1873 he went 
to Michigan, and for ten years thereafter he con- 
tinued at his trade in the mills, but in 1883 he came 
to Skagit county, Washington, and located on a 
farm below Sauk. After five years he removed to 
the place he now owns and where he has ever since 
lived. 

In 1902 Mr. Beloit married Miss Mary Hanson, 
who had obtained a legal separation from her for- 
mer husband, Jolin Erickson, of Chicago. Mrs. Be- 
loit was born in 1853, in Sweden, the daughter of 
Christ and Christina Hanson, who never left their 
native land. She has two brothers, Christ and An- 
drew. Mrs. Beloit came to the United States in 
1883 when thirty years of age, and lived in Chicago 
until she came west and married Mr. Beloit. She 
died in the Sedro-Woolley hospital January 15, 
1903, leaving six children : Andrew, John and Caro- 
lina, by her first husband, and Phillida, Millard and 
Eva, who are also the children of, Mr. Beloit. In 
fraternal circles Mr. Beloit is a Mason, in politics 
an Independent and a great admirer of President 
Roosevelt. The Beloit farm consists of seventy-two 
acres, ten of which are cleared. Mr. Beloit enjoys 
the reputation of being a man who stands by his 
obligations and in whose word confidence may be 
placed. Though not having had many school advan- 
tages, he is an omnivorous reader and one of the 
best informed men in the upper valley. For twenty- 
two years he has shared in the prosperity and ad- 
versity of the people of the Skagit country, aided 
in the development and progress of the section, and 
identified himself with those who have made its 
history, thus earning for himself an honorable place 
in these pages. 



PAUL VON PRESSENTIN, merchant and 
postmaster at Marblemount, although not a native 
son of Skagit county, was only an infant when he 
commenced to live here, and is thus in the fullest 
sense, a product of Skagit county institutions and 
civilization. He was born in Manistee, Michigan, 
February 11, 1874, the son of Qiarles von Pressen- 
tin, a native of Berlin. Germany, who came to the 
United States at the age of eighteen, settling in New 
York and later becoming bookkeeper and clerk in 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



sawmills and stores of Wisconsin and Michigan. 
He came to Skagit county and settled at Birdsview 
in 1877 and has resided there ever since, serving as 
probate judge and county commissioner at different 
times. Mrs. Wilhelmina (May) von Pressentin, the 
mother, is a native of Germany, born near Berlin, 
who came to the United States with her parents 
when a young lady. She was the first white woman 
on the Skagit river above Mount Vernon, and in 
the early days suffered many hardships, clothes be- 
ing scanty and shoes often missing, while she was 
subjected to frequent annoyances by the Indians. 
She is the mother of six children : Bernard, Paul, 
Otto K., Frank, Hans and Charles. Paul von Pres- 
sentin received his education in the school at Birds- 
view, and remained with his parents until twenty- 
four years of age. He then started in business for 
himself, buying the store of Charles Simpson at 
Marblemount, which he has since conducted with 
marked success. 

October 17, 1898, at Seattle, Mr. von Pressentin 
married Miss Bertha Kunde, daughter of Charles 
and Frederika (Pufahl) Kunde, natives of Ger- 
many. Her father died near Rockport in 1896 ; but 
her mother is still living at Marblemount. She has 
four children, Mrs. Von Pressentin, and Otto, Aug- 
ust and Reinhart Kunde. Mrs. Von Pressentin was 
born in Germany, but educated in the schools of 
Tacoma. She resided until marriage with her par- 
ents. She and Mr. Von Pressentin have four chil- 
dren: Dorothy, Laura, Wilhelmina and Alice. In 
politics Mr. Von Pressentin is a Republican. At 
present he is serving as justice of the peace, also 
school director and clerk of the board, and postmas- 
ter. Aside from his store, he owns several acres of 
land and a number of head of stock cattle, and he 
has one of the fine residences of Marblemount. He 
is a reliable young man, prominent in all the affairs 
of the community, successful in business and beyond 
question one of Skagit's rising citizens. 



BULLER BROTHERS is the name and style 
under which a large bolt cutting and lumber indus- 
try is being carried on at Marblemount. The trio 
compose the firm, Carl P., Wade H. and Richard 
H. L., are all natives of Pennsylvania, children of 
Henry and Matilda F. (Qark) Buller, both of 
whom were born in the Keystone state. The elder 
Buller enlisted with the Pennsylvania volunteers in 
the Civil War, serving as a private for three years. 
He died in Seattle in 1 903. The mother of the Bul- 
ler boys is a remarkable woman and one of strong 
personality, much of her life being spent in the ac- 
tive management of business. She is a direct de- 
scendant of Thomas Clark, who came to the Massa- 
chusetts shore in the Mayflower. Until marriage 



she lived with her parents in Philadelphia and 
taught school for five years, having obtained a first 
grade certificate entitling her to be called a "pro- 
fessor," rather than teacher. She came up the Skagit 
river with her sons in 1889, established the first hen 
tel at Marblemount and continued to manage it for 
three years. She moved to the place where her sons 
now live in 1893, after passing two years in Seattle. 
Three years were spent on the home place, 
then she went to Burlington and conducted a hotel 
for part of a year, ultimately taking up her resi- 
dence in Seattle, where she still lives. In 1899, ac- 
companied by her sons, Carl and Richard, she went 
to Alaska, and she passed two years at Nome. 
Though a resident of Seattle, she frequently visits 
her sons at Marblemount and mentally contrasts 
transportation facilities of the present day with 
those when she made her first trip up the Skagit, 
coming by boat to Sauk and by canoe the remainder 
of the distance to Marblemount. Mrs. Clark-Bul- 
ler is the author of "Road House Tales," a compila- 
tion of stories she heard in the days when she was 
keeping hotel, also is a lecturer on Socialism, Men- 
tal Science and Theosophy. In her early days up 
the Skagit she held a private school, at which her 
younger sons were educated and which was also at- 
tended by a number of Indians living in the vicinity 
of Marblemount. 

The lives of the three brothers have been so in- 
timately associated with that of their mother that a 
review of her life is almost a review of the lives of 
her sons. Wade and Richard Buller were the two 
first white boys on the upper Skagit, and all three 
brothers later became experts in the open life of 
the early days in and around Marblemount. For 
three years they followed canoeing as an occupa- 
tion. They have prospected in the Ruby Creek dis- 
trict and all through the upper Cascade mountains, 
also have done a great deal of trapping, the woods 
being full of all kinds of game and the waters 
abounding in fish in the early days. The boys are 
second cousins of Sir Redvers Buller of .South Af- 
rican fame. They own 800 acres of land, forty of 
which are cleared and the rest in valuable timber 
which they are converting in their mill to commer- 
cial uses. Wade and Richard Buller attended the 
Seattle Seminary for four years, the former gradu- 
ating from the institution. The influence of the 
mentality of the mother is seen in the intellectual 
life of the sons. Poltically they are all three Social- 
ists, and in church matters are not bound by creed 
or the formalities of denominational organization, 
leaning rather toward "free thinking." They are 
ambitious in business and hard workers, successful 
in their management and prominent in the town. 
They make their homes together, as none has mar- 
ried. 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



BIOGRAPHY 




(^^C^c. 



£y*'4^'i«= 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES 

SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



EMORY C. FERGUSON is the grand old man 
of the city of Snohomish, the proprietor of its town 
site at one time, its ma_vor, a member of its coun- 
cil, its representative in the territorial legislature 
and one of its citizens who have been honored by 
election to county offices. Mr. Ferguson was born 
in Westchester county, New York, March 5, 1833, 
the fourth of seven children of Samual S. and 
Maria (Haight) Ferguson, both of whom were na- 
tives of the Empire state. The elder Ferguson's 
father and grand father were also natives of the 
Empire state, one of the old-time families in the 
country between the Hudson and the Connecticut 
state line which was famous during the Revolu- 
tionary times as "the neutral ground," in which 
J. Fenimore Cooper laid many of the incidents con- 
nected with the exploits of Harvey Birch in his 
novel, "The Spy." Emory C. Ferguson received 
his education in the schools of Westchester county, 
and at si.xteen years of age started to learn the trade 
of carpenter. He remained with his first employer 
for two years and completed a four years' appren- 
ticeship with a second man. After working at his 
trade as journeyman for one year, young Ferguson 
sailed from New York for San Francisco, via the 
Panama route, reaching his destination in May of 
1851. His first two years in the Golden state were 
occupied in mining. Mr. Ferguson then opened a 
store in the Greenwood valley, (gen. mdse.) con- 
tinuing there in that business until near the close 
of 1856. At that time he built a saw mill, operat- 
ing the venture until the Eraser river mining ex- 
citement attracted his attention to the Canadian 
gold fields. In common with many other Califor- 
nians Mr. Ferguson drifted to the northland and in 
July of 1858 found himself at Whatcom. In com- 
pany with a number of other gold seekers he out- 
fitted a canoe and went up the Eraser, but returned 
to Whatcom that fall, later going to Steilacoom and 
passing the winter working at his trade. In 1860 
Mr. Ferguson took a pack train loaded with mer- 
chandise into British Columbia and returned to 
Snohomish. He had previously been on the site of 
the present town of Snohomish, then a part of 
Island county. In 18G0 he took a squatter's right 
to the land, as it was unsurveyed. A number of 
the settlers raised a fund of $500 and paid for sur- 



veying this part of the county, in addition to (Gov.) 
survey. As soon as possible Mr. Ferguson filed 
a preemption claim to the land where Snohomish 
now is, the papers being filed in February of that 
year. The property consisted of 160 acres. Mr. 
Ferguson commenced to clear the land at once, and 
in 1872 had a portion of his holding surveyed and 
platted as a town site. In 1867 he opened a store 
here for trade with the Indians and the early set- 
tlers, continuing in the mercantile business until 
1884, when he sold out. During these intervening 
years Mr. Ferguson operated a logging camp, re- 
moving the timber from the present site of the 
town. In his later years Mr. Ferguson has been 
in the real estate, loan and insurance business. 

In 1868, near Olympia, Mr. Ferguson married 
Miss Lucetta G. Morgan, daughter of Hiram D. 
and Mary Morgan. Mr. Morgan is a native of the 
Buckeye state who crossed the plains by ox team 
to Olympia in 1852, and is now living in Snohomish. 
Mrs. Morgan died in this city. Mrs. Ferguson was 
born in Iowa. She came to Washington when quite 
young and received her education in the schools at 
Olympia. To Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson have been 
born four children : Mrs. Sylvia Lenfest, now liv- 
ing in Snohomish; Ethel, who died when quite 
young; Iva, now in the office of Secretary of State 
NichoUs at the state capitol, and Emory Cecil, who 
is living at home. In politics Mr. Ferguson is a 
Republican, and he has been prominent in the pub- 
lic affairs of his home city and county. In 1884 
Mr. Ferguson was selected and appointed the terri- 
torial commissioner for the world's exposition at 
New Orleans for the Terr, of Washington, and 
after his return turned his attention to farming. He 
was called to public life by the legislature in 1861, 
which named him as one of the county commis- 
sioners when Snohomish was erected out of Island 
county. At the first election of the new county Mr. 
Ferguson was chosen auditor and has served in 
that capacity for several years. He was also pro- 
bate judge for a number of years and has served as 
justice of the peace. Seven terms he served in the 
territorial legislature and during one session was 
speaker of the house. To return to the part he has 
played in the affairs of the city of Snohomish, Mr. 
Ferguson was the first postmaster, serving a num- 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



ber of years from the date of his appointment in 
March of 1863. He was a member of the first city 
council, serving as its president and becoming acting 
mayor. He has also been mayor of the city for 
several terms. In fraternal circles Mr. Ferguson 
is a Mason, and in religious affiliations attends the 
Congregational church. In addition to his business 
in town he operates thirty acres of cultivated land. 
From the time of his opening the first store, oper- 
ating his first logging camp and running his first 
saw mill in Snohomish to the present time, Mr. Fer- 
guson has been an influential factor in Snohomish. 



CHARLES S. LA FORGE, lumberman of 
Snohomish and mayor of that city, is one of the 
energetic business men of the county and, though 
he has been a resident here but a comparatively 
short time, has made himself a place of prominence, 
commanding the highest respect of the entire com- 
munity because of his many admirable qualities. 
Mr. La Forge was born in Rockford, Illinois, early 
in the year 18G-1, the son of Cornelius and Grace 
(Taylor) La Forge. The elder La Forge was a 
native of Staten Island, New York, who went to 
Illinois when a young man and followed the trade 
of plasterer there for a time. Mrs. La Forge was 
a native of Vermont. Charles S. La Forge received 
his education in the common schools of Rockford, 
Illinois. He then completed a course in the busi- 
ness college of his native town, and at the age of 
twenty entered the employ of a retail lumber com- 
pany in his home town as one of the yard men. 
Four years later he was promoted to the position 
of bookkeeper for the establishment, which position 
he held for four years. In 1892 the firm was in- 
corporated and Mr. La Forge secured a quarter 
interest in the business, which then became known 
as the Woodruff & Maguire Company, Mr. La 
Forge becoming secretary. In 1894 the company 
engaged in the wholesale lumber business in Wis- 
consin and opened a manufacturing plant at Rhine- 
lander. Three years later the company built a 
manufacturing plant at Three Lakes, Wisconsin, at 
the same time incorporating in the Badger state 
under the name of the Woodruff & Maguire Lum- 
ber Company. In 1899 the company acquired a two- 
thirds interest in the plant of Parker Bros, at Big 
Lake, Skagit county, Washington, and a year later 
Mr. La Forge came to Washington to assist in the 
management of the Skagit county plant, which has 
been entirely in the hands of J. D. Day. Three 
years later the Woodruff & Maguire Company's 
interests were purchased by Wickson & Bronson, 
formerly of Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Mr. La Forge 
moved to Everett, but in 1903 when the Woodruff 
& Maguire Company purchased the Sterling Mill 
Company and all of its interests in Snohomish coun- 
ty, Mr. La Forge was called to the management. 



He removed his family to Snohomish and has ever 
since made this city his home. The Snohomish in- 
terests of the old company are known under the 
name of the Three Lakes Lumber Company. Mr. 
La Forge sold his interest in both companies in 
190.5 and became the manager of the Cascade Lum- 
ber & Shingle Company of Snohomish, the saw mill 
of which has a daily capacity of 100,000 feet and 
the shingle mill of 150.000 shingles per day. 

In 1883 at Rockford, Illinois, Mr. La Forge 
married Miss Maud E. Barnes, who died five years 
later, leaving no issue. Mr. La Forge was married 
the second time at Janesville, Wisconsin, to Mrs. 
Mary E. Simmons. Mr. and Mrs. La Forge have 
three children, Florence, Harry and Ruth. In poli- 
tics Mr. La Forge is a Republican. He was elected 
mayor of Snohomish in December of 1904. In 
church circles he is affiliated with the Methodist 
church. In fraternal circles he is a Mason and a 
member of the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. 
La Forge's career has been very successful, one of 
progress during the different stages of the lumber 
business to a position of prominence in the trade iu 
two states of the union. His career is the best com- 
mentary on the character of the man. 



JOHN F. STRETCH, one of the board of cnun- 
ty commissioners and a resident of the city of 
Snohomish, is one of the pioneers of the county. 
He is a man of broad and liberal views and of ex- 
perience with men and measures. Coming here in 
1883 Mr. Stretch has been a participant in the up- 
building of the county and has borne his share of 
the rough work of the early days. He was born 
in Wayne county, New York, in 1852, the son of 
Joseph and Caroline (Snyder) Stretch, both of 
whom were born in the Empire state. Joseph 
Stretch removed his family to Coldwater, Michigan, 
in 1854, and became superintendent of bridge con- 
struction for the Lake Shore railroad. He is still 
living there, but Mrs. Stretch is dead. John F. 
Stretch has one sister, Mrs. Grace Jacobs, wife of 
the traveling auditor of the Missouri, Kansas & 
Texas railway company. Young Stretch received 
his education in the schools of Coldwater and be- 
gan life as clerk in a store. Several years later he 
engaged in the hotel business at Greenville, Michi- 
gan, but in 1880 went to Leadville, Colorado, where 
he followed mining for three )ears. He came to 
Snohomish county three years later and took up 
land on which the town of Monroe now stands. 
The settlement was small and no one entertained 
the idea that there would some day be a hustling 
town on the spot. \lr. Stretch did work at logging 
for two years. In 1889 he went to Wallace, now 
Startup, and opened a store and hotel, continuing 
for three years. In the interim the Great Northern 
railway had been pushing itself into the country 




CHARLI-:S S. LA FORGE 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



and its appearance at Monroe with a station on 
Mr. Stretch's land determined him to return and 
oversee the development of matters at Monroe. As 
the result of investigation he sold his interest at 
Wallace and with John \'an Asdlen as partner 
platted the town of Tie City. The railway station 
was Wales and the postoffice Park Place, but the 
latter was soon changed to Monroe. Mr. Stretch 
prevailed upon the railway authorities to change 
the name of its station so that the names of the 
place might be uniform. Mr. Stretch engaged in 
the hotel and real estate business at Monroe for a 
number of years and is to-day one of the active 
real estate men of the county. In 1900 he was 
■elected county commissioner for the term of two 
years and reelected for the long term of four years. 
It was the second time in the history of the county 
that a commissioner had been reelected, and while 
the reelection was a matter of pride and congratula- 
tion to Mr. Stretch, the fact of reelection was not 
viewed by him with so much satisfaction as the 
emphatic endorsement given him for his stand in 
favor of good roads and the policies he had advo- 
cated during his first term. During his first term 
he had adopted a progressive policy and favored 
the establishment of county trunk roads leading 
from Everett to Granite Falls, Arlington, Snoho- 
mish, Monroe, Skykomish A'alley and otlirr princi- 
pal centers. Main bridges were rebuilt and large 
expense incurred for public improvements. There 
was much protest on the part of the parsimonious 
taxpayers, but in the end the policies of Mr. Stretch 
have been shown to be beneficial. 

In 1876 at Saginaw, Michigan, Air. Stretch mar- 
ried Miss Sarah Hagen, a native of Canada and 
daughter of Charles Hagen, later one of the pioneers 
of the Peninsula state. To Mr. and Mrs. Stretch 
have been born four children : Robert, now a resi- 
dent of Monroe and an employe of Bruhn & Henry; 
Bert, Jack and Claude. In politics Mr. Stretch is 
a Republican and active in the councils of his party. 
At the time Populism was rampant in Snoh(imish 
county Mr. Stretch was one of two Republican 
candidates elected, both being chosen justice of the 
peace. He is a member of the B. P. O. E. and of 
the F. O. E. Mr. Stretch is a man who firmly be- 
lieves in the future of Snohomish county. When 
he reached the city of Snohomish there were but 
three teams in the city. He drove the first team 
through between Snohomish and Monroe, traffic 
theretofore having been carried up the river by 
Indian freighters with canoes. He predicts that 
the chief industries of the county in the future will 
be farming, raising of garden produce and dairy- 
ing. Mr. Stretch is one of the active men of the 
county, thoroughly understands its necessities and 
has high hopes for its future. 



ARTHUR M. BLACKMAN, postmaster of 
Snohomish, and a pioneer of the county from the 
days of 1885, has had a long career as a merchant 
in his home town and is one of the influential men 
of the county. He was born in Penobscot county, 
Maine, in 18G1, the son of George V. and Frances 
(Eddy) Blackman. The elder Blackman sprang 
from an old-line Dutch pioneer family of the Pine 
Tree state, and followed the lumber business in 
Maine until he took up the same line in Michigan, 
and later came to Snohomish county. Both Mr. and 
Mrs. Blackman are living in Snohomish. They 
have a daughter here, Mrs. Nina I. Bakeman. 
Arthur M. Blackman left Maine with his parents 
for Michigan when he was but eight years of age. 
The family resided in Bay City for four years and 
then went to Oakland, California. In the last 
named city the subject of this biography obtained 
the larger part of his education and grew to man- 
hood's estate. He had worked in a hardware store 
for four years before coming to Snohomish in 1888, 
and soon after his arrival here he entered the em- 
play of Blackman Bros., in their general store. He 
remained there two years and in 1887 engaged in 
the grocery business on his own account. His 
business was the largest in the city and he was 
prosperous until the financial distress of 1891: forced 
him to the wall by reason of his extension of credit 
to men who were unable to meet their obligations 
with him. He was doing a tremendous business 
in both the retail and wholesale line and he gave 
extensive credits, a fact which caused his financial 
downfall. Mr. Blackman, however, managed all 
his own liabilities, but the effort cost him his en- 
tire competence. Two years later he was appoint- 
ed postmaster in a contest in which men of more 
than ordinary influence and capability were candi- 
dates. He has since been reappointed and without 
opposition, a fact which indicates that his services 
as postmaster are giving his people complete satis- 
faction. 

In 1887 in Seattle Mr. Blackman married Miss 
Adeliza Elwell, daughter of John and Eliza A. 
(Crosby) Elwell, pioneers in Snohomish county 
in the early seventies. Mrs. Blackman is a native of 
Maine. In politics Mr. Blackman is a Republican 
and active in the councils of that party organiza- 
tion. In fraternal circles he is a member of the 
Knights of Pythias, of the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen and of the Elks. Mrs. Blackman is a 
consistent member of the First Church of Christ, 
Scientist, of Snohomish. Mr. Blackman is a man 
who stands well in the community, a man of strict 
integrity and honor, popular with the public and 
individually of genial disposition. 



HON. CHARLES W. GORHAM, though pass- 
ing the greater part of his time at Olympia where 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



his appointment and work as state printer calls 
him, is one of the leading citizens of Shohomish. 
As editor and proprietor of the Snohomish County 
Tribune and Index Miner, he is prominent in all 
local affairs. On locating in Snohomish, twelve 
years ago, he at once became an influential factor 
in local matters and this influence has extended 
from local to state affairs. 

Mr. Gorham was born in New York city in 
1865, the only child of I. S. C. and Mary E. (Craft) 
Gorham. The elder Gorham is a direct descendant 
of Miles Standish of Plymouth colony fame, the 
initial "S." being for the family name of the fam- 
ous old knight of colonial fame. 

In middle life Mr. Gorham removed to Wa- 
verly, Iowa, where he followed his trade as a 
painter; he afterwards went to South Dakota and 
farmed until his removal to the coast. I. S. C. 
Gorham was engaged in fruit raising near San 
Jose, California, until 1904; he then returned to 
Morganhill, where his death occurred May 15, 
1906. Mrs. Gorham is a native of New York, of 
Huguenot stock. Charles W. Gorham received his 
education in Cornell College, Iowa, from which he 
was graduated in 1893. Soon after receiving his 
diploma he came to Snohomish, and in 1893 pur- 
chased the Tribune, continuing its policy as a Re- 
publican paper though altering its publication from 
a tri-weekly to a weekly. His activity and energy 
soon attracted attention and he speedily became 
recognized as a substantial factor in municipal and 
county affairs. He was chosen police judge and 
has also served as justice of the peace. In 1900 
Mr. Gorham was elected representative in the state 
legislature, and soon after taking his seat appeared 
as the champion of good roads legislation which 
had as its essence a uniform system to be applied 
throughout the entire state. He became the author 
of the measure of that session which became a law, 
but which was declared by the courts to be technic- 
ally unconstitutional. By the subsequent session 
the distinctive features of the Gorham bill were re- 
enacted. During his career in the legislature Mr. 
Gorham was recognized as the leading authority 
on road law matters. In just recognition of his 
services to the party, Mr. Gorham was made assist- 
ant clerk of the house of representatives at the 
last session of the legislature, and soon after ad- 
journment was appointed to the responsible posi- 
tion of state printer, receiving his commission on 
the 8th of April, 1905, since which date he has 
passed the greater part of his time in the state 
capital. 

On June 6, 1901, Mr. Gorham married Miss 
Elsie E. West, a native of Illinois and the daughter 
of M. J. and M. E. (Waggoner) West. Mr. West 
is interested in the Leaf River Bank, at Leaf River, 
Illinois, of which institution his son, H. S., is 
cashier. Two children, Harlan W. and Helen M., 



have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Gorham. In poli- 
tics Mr. Gorham is a Republican, active and influ- 
ential in city, county and state. In fraternal cir- 
cles he is a Mason, being a Knight Templar; is also 
a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the 
Knights of the Maccabees. The Gorhams are 
members of the Methodist Episcopal church. In 
addition to his newspaper interests, Mr. Gorham 
is a stockholder in the large mill now in process of 
building at Snohomish by the Cascade Lumber & 
Shingle Company, one of the largest concerns of 
the kind in the county and which is to be fully 
equipped with modern machinery. He has re- 
cently built a fine, handsome residence — one of the 
most attractive places in the city. As a newspaper 
man Mr. Gorham ranks with the leaders of thought 
and public opinion in the state, having served as 
president of the State Press Association and as its 
delegate to the national association which met at 
St. Louis during the Louisiana Purchase Exposi- 
tion. In business Mr. Gorham has shown commer- 
cial ability of a high order, while in politics he has 
exhibited executive and legislative faculties quickly 
recognized. He is a man of energy and tact, well 
poised and commanding in influence and esteem. 



JOHN F. RHOADES, deputy in the county 
treasurer's office, is one of the pioneers of Snoho- 
mish county, having come to Florence more than 
twenty-seven years ago, since which time there has 
been a great transformation in all pans of the 
county along lines of population, development and 
commercial activity. Mr. Rhoades is favorably 
known all over the county and has a large list of 
acquaintances in all sections of the community be- 
tween King county and the international boundary. 
Mr. Rhoades was born in Genesee county. New 
York, in the summer of 1856, the son of John and 
Alice (Brown) Rhoades. The Rhoades family is 
now and has been for several generations well 
known to the people of the Holland Purchase in 
western New York, and may be traced back to set- 
tlers from England in the colonial days when the 
white men were treating with the Indians led by 
Red Jacket and Cornplanter. John Rhoades was 
a well known physician of the Holland Purchase 
section and a veteran of both the Mexican and 
Civil Wars. Of the members of the present gen- 
eration of the family in direct line there is but one 
other representative than the subject of this bi- 
ography, Frank M. Rhoades. In 186-t the elder 
Rhoades removed to California, traveling via the 
isthmian route, and settled in Sonoma county, 
where he practiced his profession for nine years, 
later removing to Red Bluffs in Tehnma county. 
In the schools of California John F. Rhoades re- 
ceived his education, attending until seventeen 
^■ears of age when he learned the glove makers' 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



831 



trade at Red Bluffs. He followed that occupation 
for five years. In 1878 the family removed to 
Florence, Snohomish county, Washington, near 
which settlement the elder Rhoades took up a 
homestead. The country was sparsely settled and 
the work of clearing a home amid the giant trees 
was a laborious task. Much of it fell to the lot of 
young Rhoades. After three years' work clearing 
the land, John F. Rhoades left the farm and en- 
tered the employ of J. H. Irvine in a general store 
at Stanwood. He remained there for two years and 
was in the employ of D. O. Pearson in 1883, when 
the death of Dr. Rhoades recalled the son to the 
farm. In 1889 Mr. Rhoades was elected county 
assessor on the Republican ticket and re-elected on 
the expiration of his term. Between terms he re- 
moved to Snohomish, where he has since resided. 
In 1893 he opened an alislract office in that city, 
which he conducted until called m 1900 to a deputy- 
ship in the ofiice of County Treasurer Charles 
Lawry. Mr. Rhoades served under Mr. Lawry for 
two terms and was reappointed by W. R. Booth 
when the latter succeeded to the office in Januarv, 
1905. 

In 1892 Mr. Rhoades married Miss Lennie A. 
Fenderson, a native of Maine and the daughter of 
Horace and Susan (Pineo) Fenderson, also natives 
of the Pine Tree state, and of Scotch and French 
extraction, respectively. Mr. Fenderson was a 
veteran of the Civil War. At the close of that con- 
flict he removed to Wisconsin. Remaining of the 
family, besides Mrs. Rhoades is her brother, Orin 
Fenderson, a resident Snohomish ; and three sisters, 
]\Irs. J. E. Esper, of Lowell ; Mrs. R. E. Wood, of 
Seattle, and Mrs. R. Granger, of Wisconsin. Mrs. 
Rhoades received her education in the schools of 
Wisconsin, being a graduate of the state normal 
school at Oshkosh. She followed the calling of a 
leacher in Wisconsin before coming to Washing- 
ton and was one of the early teachers in the Snoho- 
mish schools. In 1889 she was chosen one of three 
enrolling clerks of the house of representatives in 
the first legislature of the new state of Washing- 
ton, filling the unaccustomed position with fidelity 
and marked executive ability. Mrs. Rhoades is a 
lady of culture and refinement, qualities which are 
impressed upon the guests received in her home. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Rhoades has been born one child, 
Earle D., born December 26, 1893. In politics Mr. 
Rhoades is a Republican and of the stamp which 
endorses the energetic measures of President 
Roosevelt. He was one of the nine delegates from 
Snohomish county who sat in the first state con- 
vention of the party held at Walla Walla after the 
admission of Washington to statehood. Mr. 
Rhoades believes in the advancement of education 
for the masses and the broadening of the lines of 
progress toward civic attainment-, and is an ardent 
advocate of good roads measures. In fraternal 



circles he is a prominent member of the Masonic 
order, of the Odd Fellows, of the Knights of the 
Maccabees, of the Fraternal Aid and of the Order 
of Washington, in all of which organizations he 
has filled important offices. Mrs. Rhoades is an 
active member of the ladies' auxiliary bodies of 
these societies. The Rhoades home is one of the 
pleasantest and most attractive in the city of Snoho- 
mish, ruled over by culture, hospitality and the 
spirit of sincerity. 



WILLIAM HARRISON WARD, police judge 
of the city of Snohomish, is one of the pioneers of 
the county and is a man whose influence has been 
felt from the time that he took up a soldier's home- 
stead a short distance south of the present city, in 
the days when the embyro settlement was known 
by the name of Cadyville. Mr. Ward is a native 
of New York, born the 28th day of November, of 
1840, the second of four children of Chauncev H. 
and Margaret (Hufstater) Ward. The elder Ward 
was born in Massachusetts, but after becoming a 
mechanic he moved to the Empire state, coming 
still further west to Chicago in 1853. Mrs. Ward 
was born in New York of German parentage and 
received her education in that state. She died in 
Illinois. William H. Ward received his early edu- 
cation in New York schools and after the removal 
of his parents to Ottawa, Illinois, attended the high 
school in that city. He says, however, that the best 
part of his education was gained in a printing office, 
which he entered when seventeen years of age and 
where he served three years. This was at Ottawa, 
Illinois, where he also became noted as a vocal and 
instrumental musician. It is among Mr. Ward's 
pleasant recollections that he vi'as a member of a 
band which played at the debates between Douglas 
and Lincoln in the great campaign of 1858 and 
listened to the forensic duel of the "Little Giant" 
and "Old Abe." At a later time Mr. \\':n>\ trav- 
eled extensively throughout the niiiMlc west with 
a concert band. At Beloit, Wisconsin, he enlisted 
as a member of a regimental band for a three-year 
term in the Civil War, but fifteen months later by 
act of congress was mustered out and discharged 
at Harrison's Landing, Virginia, in 1862. Mr. 
Ward returned to his Illinois home for a short tmie 
when he went to Watertown, New York, and 
learned the trade of carriage ironer. He remained 
there for a year and a half, when he engaged as 
member of a circus band, with which organization 
he played for one season. He passed the following 
winter in Albany, New York, and then returned to 
Illinois, where he worked at blacksmithing. In 
1871 Mr. Ward came to Snohomish, then but a 
hamlet under the name of Cadyville. He took up a 
soldier's homestead two miles south of the settle- 
ment and at the same time rented an adjoining 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



piece of land, which he worked for two years. In 
the spring of 18'('4 Mr. Ward opened the first 
blacksmith shop in the town and remained at his 
forge until ]89!i, having sold his homestead after 
proving up. 

In 1866 in Chicago Mr. Ward married Miss 
Mary A. Carroll, daughter of Peter Carroll, a na- 
tive of Ireland who came to the United States and 
became a mechanic in New York state. Mrs. Ward 
was born in Rome, Oneida county, in the central 
part of the Empire state, in 1844. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Ward has been born two children : Frank C, 
who died when an infant, and Mrs. Lillian C. James, 
who is now a resident of Everett. In fraternal cir- 
cles Mr. Ward is a member of the Odd Fellows, 
being a Past Grand, Master of the State, and was 
the first Noble Grand of the Snohomish, and also 
one of the Rebekahs, as is also Mrs. Ward, who is 
Past \'oble Grand and also Past Grand President. 
Mr. Ward is also a Mason, a past master and mem- 
ber of the blue lodge, and of the Order of the 
Eastern Star. In politics Mr. Ward is a Republi- 
can, having served out an unexpired term as county 
auditor, having been a justice of the peace and now 
police judge since 1902. In the summer of 1903 
Judge Ward took a trip to Alaska for the purpose 
of a pleasure trip and, incidentally, to satisfy his 
curiosity about that country of the North. 

Mr. Ward has ever been interested in the bet- 
terment of his community and his influence on the 
musical tastes of the people of Snohomish has 
been very marked. His early training in this line 
has made him of great value to the community and 
he has always been ready to lend his knowledge 
for any occasion. Mr. Ward is a popular citizen of 
Snohomish, a sterling character and one whose in- 
fluence is always in the direction of liberality and 
broadness of view. 



ELMER LENFEST, C. E.. county surveyor, 
with headquarters at Snohomish, which is also his 
home, has for the past eighteen years been closely 
identified with the interests of this section, espe- 
cially in a business and political way, his period of 
residence being practically co-eval with the period 
of the county's greatest development. He has 
been active and able in the pursuit of his profession, 
one of the greatest importance in the rapidly grow- 
ing community, and has attained to an enviable 
position. 

The Lenfest family originally came to America 
with General Lafayette at the time of the Revolu- 
tionary War from the Island of Guernsey in the 
English Channel. Its members fought through 
that memorable struggle under the great French 
patriot, and afterward settled in the new republic. 
Eugene Lenfest, the father of the subject of this 
sketch, was born in Waldo county, Maine, and after 



living at various points on the American frontier 
finally settled in Snohomish in 1889, following ag- 
ricultural pursuits. He now resides in Snohomish. 
He is seventy years of age, but still hale and hearty. 
Mary M. (Blackrnan) Lenfest, the mother of El- 
mer Lenfest, was also born in Maine and is still 
living. She is a sister of the Blackman brothers 
of Snohomish, among the most widely known of the 
county's pioneer lumbermen. Biographical sketches 
of them appear elsewhere in this volume. 

The subject of this review was born at Bradley,. 
Maine, September 10, 1864, and grew to man- 
hood's estate in that far northern commonwealth. 
He worked on the farm and attended the public 
schools until he was fitted to pursue higher educa- 
tional work, then entered the University of Maine_ 
from which he received his decree of civil engi- 
neer. At the age of twenty-one he commenced the 
practice of his profession, locating first in Minne- 
sota, where he was employed in a general survey- 
ing office. Thence with the beginning of railroad 
construction in Montana he came to that territory 
and joined the corps in charge of the building of 
the Montana Central. Upon the completion of that 
line he pushed still further westward toward the 
Pacific, coming direct to Snohomish county and at 
once opening an office in Snohomish City. This 
was in 1888. At that time he was associated with 
H. P. Niles, now assistant state land commissioner 
of Washington, in the establishment of this office. 
In 1890 Mr. Lenfest was elected county surveyor 
on the Republican ticket and served two years in 
that public capacity, retiring to engage in general 
work by himself. He pursued his profession suc- 
cessfully and almost continuously until January, 
1905, when, having been re-elected surveyor of 
Snohomish county, he again entered the public 
service. The only interruption of his private prac- 
tice was in 1896, when he accepted the principalship 
of the Emerson public school at Snohomish tempo- 
rarilv. The fire system of roads which now net- 
works the county was scarcely begun when Mr. 
Lenfest took up his residence here and the general 
condition of the region was wild and undeveloped. 
Perhaps few can appreciate these great changes so 
thoroughly as members of his profession which has 
for its very object the bringing of order out of 
chaos and the outlining of schemes for systematic 
growth and development of a region's resources.. 

The marriage of Miss Sylvia M. Ferguson to 
Mr. Lenfest was solemnized at Snohomish in No- 
vember. 1891, She was born in that city in 1870, 
when it was yet a mere trading post, and is the 
daughter of E. C. Ferguson, the county's distin- 
guished pioneer. A comprehensive biographical 
sketch of the Ferguson family appears on another 
page of these records. One child has blessed the 
union of Mr. and Mrs. Lenfest, Norman F., bora* 
July 7, 1893, in Snohomish. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Fraternally, Mr. Lenfest is affiliated with the 
Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of 
Foresters. As a Republican he has been for years 
one of the influential members in his party's local 
councils. Besides filling his present office, he has 
served the city of Snohomish as its engineer, and 
from the government he holds a commission as a 
United States mineral surveyor. His private prac- 
tice, large and varied, has led him into government 
work of different kinds, railroad construction, road 
building, mining operations and other special lines, 
thus giving him a rounded experience of immense 
value. As an official he has served and is serving 
faithfully and efficiently the people's interests, as a 
citizen he has never been found lacking in public 
spirit of the right kind, and he is respected and 
esteemed by all with whom he is associated, for 
his sterling, stable qualities of character. 



ROBERT HUGHES, retired farmer and 
logger, living in Snohomish, is one of the pioneers 
of the county for whom it is indebted to England. 
He was born in Warwickshire late in 1835, the fifth 
of the nine children of Henry and Mary (Brom- 
ley) Hughes, who passed their entire lives in Eng- 
land. The father was a laboring man. Mrs. 
Hughes lived to the remarkable age of ninety-seven. 
Robert Hughes enjoyed the advantages of school 
only until he was thirteen years old. He then be- 
gan to work and was hired out to do teaming and 
farm work. When twenty-four years of age he 
entered the marine artillery of the government 
service and during the four years of his service 
visited many ports and many countries of the globe 
In 1864, having then been two years on the Pacific 
stations, Mr. Hughes left the service at Victoria 
and crossed the straits in a canoe on May 1st of that 
year to Port Angeles. He went from there to Port 
Gamble, but after a time was taken sick in a log- 
ging camp and returned to town. Upon recovery 
Mr. Hughes came to Snohomish county, locating 
at Loyal and working in a logging camp. In the 
summer of 1864 he was logging on Eby's slough. 
In the fall of the following year Mr. Hughes went 
up the Snoqualmie valley and took up a squatter's 
right to 160 acres of land. He remained there but 
a short time, finally abandoning his claim and tak- 
ing up another place on the Snohomish. Here he 
worked durmg the summer time and passed the 
winters in improving his land. He added to these 
holdings by purchase, but sold out and in 1867 
preempted 160 acres adjoining the present site of 
the city of Snohomish. Here he remained for thir- 
teen years and then traded half of his land for 400 
acres on Eby's slough, where he had worked in 
previous years. He lived on his slough farm for 
four years before selling out; then he returned to 
Snohomish. Soon after his arrival Mr. Hughes 



purchased twenty acres of lowland near town and 
resided there for fifteen years. This property he 
sold in 1902 and purchased his present place. 

In 1869 at Salem, Oregon, Mr. Hughes mar- 
ried Miss McDonald. No children have been born 
to this union. Mr. Hughes is a communicant of the 
English church. In politics he is a Republican and 
has served as road supervisor, especially in the 
early days of the settlement. Mr. Hnglies is one 
of the find old gentlemen of a school of life which 
is fast passmg away. He is highly respected in 
the community, a man of many attainments and a 
character of much charm. 



CLARK FERGUSON, a successful farmer liv- 
ing at Snohomish, has been a resident of this county 
for four decades and has plaj'ed a large part in the 
development of the resources of the county. He was 
born in Putnam county, New York, October 13, 
1835, the fifth of seven children of Samuel S. and 
Alaria (Clark) Ferguson, both of whom have been 
dead for many years. The elder Ferguson was a far- 
mer and paper maker by occupation. Clark received 
his education in the common schools of New York 
and at twenty years of age went to California, via 
the Panama route, and passed two years at mining. 
He later opened a store in Eldorado county. The 
year 1857 he passed at his old home in New York, 
but in the spring of 1858 Mr. Ferguson went to 
Kansas and took up a preemption claim in Brown 
county, remaining there for about two years. In 
the spring of 1860 Mr. Ferguson visited the Pike's 
Peak country, Colorado, but returned shortly to 
Leavenworth. In November of that year, in com- 
pany with others, Mr. Ferguson was employed by 
a firm who engaged to furnish beef cattle and other 
supplies to Fort Laramie, Wyoming. The caval- 
cade had proceeded as far as the Platte valley in 
northern Nebraska when it was overtaken by a ter- 
rific snow storm which destroyed nearly 600 head 
of cattle, only four yoke of oxen surviving the ter- 
rible exposure to the elements. The men of the 
company returned to Leavenworth in January of 
1863 and Mr. Ferguson entered the employ of the 
government at Fort Leavenworth as a teamster and 
general utility man about the post. He remained 
with the government about a year, coming west to 
Idaho and passing one summer in the Boise Basin. 
It was in September, 1865, that Mr. Ferguson 
came to Snohomish county. On his arrival here 
he allied himself with his brother, E. C. Ferguson, 
working in the store and looking after the logging 
camp. Subsequently Mr. Ferguson commenced 
farming for himself, on his retirement from his 
brother, receiving 280 acres of land. He remained 
a farmer until 1903, when he sold out and moved 
to town. In the early days Mr. Ferguson estab- 
lished a milk route, being the first man in that line 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



of business in the city, and for twenty-one years 
his milk wagon never failed to make its daily 
rounds. 

In Seattle Mr. Ferguson married Mrs. Martha 
E. Breen, daughter of a Mr. Brown, one of the 
venturesome spirits of the middle west who started 
to cross the plains in 1852, but died before reaching 
the Pacific slope. Mrs. Ferguson was born in 
Arkansas, but received her education in the schools 
of Oregon, where she was taken after the death of 
her father. To Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson have been 
born four children : Samuel Y., who died when 
eleven years old; Eleanor C, who is living in 
Snohomish ; Grover F., who died at seven years, 
and Carl W., who is living with his parents. In 
politics Mr. Ferguson is a Democrat and was one 
of the county commissioners in the early days of 
the county. At the time of election he was the 
only Democrat on the ticket who was elected. The 
Ferguson home farm now consists of fifteen acres 
of cultivated land. Mr. Ferguson also owns con- 
siderable city property. Though not playing so 
prominent a part in the early days of the city of 
Snohomish as did his brother, Mr. Ferguson is 
still one of the men who left his imprint on the 
early business life of the city and the adjoining 
country. He is a man of excellent character and 
attainments, highly respected by the entire com- 
munitv. 



OLIVER McLEAN, carpenter and building 
contractor by trade, at present writing street com- 
missioner of the city of Snoliomish, is one of the 
men who early cast in their fortunes with those of 
this county. He still believes that his choice was 
not the result of mis-chance. Since 1886 he has 
been in the county and by his fellows in the com- 
munity is recognized as a citizen who has given of 
his strength and vitality to the development of the 
resources of this part of the Evergreen state. Mr. 
McLean was born on Prince Edward's Island, Gulf 
of St. Lawrence, in July, 1855, the older of the 
two children of Howatt and Pamelia (Howatt) 
McLean. The elder McLean operated a saw mill 
and grist mill in his native town. When Oliver 
McLean was less than three years of age a falling 
tree killed the father, but the mother is still living 
on Prince Edward's Island. Mr. McLean attended 
the schools of his native island until at twelve years 
of age he was thrown on his own resources for a 
livelihood. For six years he worked in the vicinity 
of his home, then went to Wisconsin, at first work- 
ing on a farm and later learning the trade of car- 
penter, which he followed for two years. In 1875 
Mr. McLean went to North Dakota and took up a 
homestead near Grand Forks, remaining there 
farming until in 188'2 he decided to come to Wash- 



ington. He chose Snohomish county, and for two 
years after his arrival he worked at lumbering in 
the woods. He then operated vapor and electric 
baths for some years, giving treatments of various 
kinds to his patrons. In 1890 when gold was dis- 
covered in the Monte Cristo mining district, Mr. 
McLean became one of the first to commence oper- 
ations there. He located several promising claims 
and put in some time developing them, sending his 
product to the Everett smelter. Mr. McLean still 
owns properties in the Monte Cristo district from 
which he derives some revenue. In 1899 he re- 
turned to Snohomish and entered upon a contract- 
ing and building business. He received the ap- 
pointment of street commissioner in 190J: and still 
holds that office. 

In 1888 at Snohomish Mr. McLean married 
Miss May English, a native of Canada. One child, 
Pamelia, was born to this union, but she died in 
1904 at the age of fourteen years. In politics Mr. 
McLean is not very active, preferring to be known 
as a nonpartisan. In fraternal circles he is a mem- 
ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and 
of the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Mc- 
Lean considers Snohomish county one of the choice 
places of the earth for a man of moderate means 
to make his home. He has done the advance work 
of a pioneer here and has participated in the steps 
taken to advance the community. He is a con- 
servative man, conscientious in his dealings with 
men and the public. 



URSINUS K. LOOSE.— Possessing the ge- 
nius for organizing and carrying to a successful 
issue great undertakings, the almost prophetic 
foresight which characterizes the innate captain of 
industry, unerring judgment in commercial and in- 
dustrial lines, marked executive ability and a rare 
faculty for giving attention to the details of inter- 
ests numerous and divergent, Ursinus K. Loose 
has achieved a degree of success in the world of 
industry and finance sm-passed by few if any in all 
the commonwealth of Washington. Though his in- 
terests and undertakings arc widely scattered over 
the state, Snohomish county has benefited most 
from his operations, for it is there that his home 
has been for many years and it was in the de- 
velopment and utilization of the resources of that 
section that most of his fortune has been amassed. 
Mr. Loose was not reared in the lap of luxury, had 
no advantages superior to those enjoyed by most 
of his schoolmates and the friends of his boyhood; 
his success has been due to inherent ability and 
persistent effort; furthermore it has been achieved 
without sacrifice of the esteem and confidence of 
associates or neighbors, without the development 
of those deplorable characteristics that distinguish 
"money madness." 




MR \.\l) MRS. DAVID F. SEXTON AND THEIR HOME, 
XF.AR SNOHOMISH, WASHINGTON 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Mr. Loose was born in Sugargrove, Fairfield 
county, Ohio, in 1859. His father, Nathaniel H. 
Loose, D. D., a native of Pennsylvania, had gone 
to that state in early life and had graduated from 
Heidelberg University, becoming a clergyman of 
the German Reformed church. He is still preach- 
ing in Ohio. Our subject's mother. Alma T. 
(Kroh) Loose, has also been spared to her hus- 
band and family to this date. Ursinus K. enjoyed 
the advantages of the common schools of his na- 
tive gtate and the Shelby high school, and immedi- 
ately on graduating from the latter entered the 
First National bank of Shelby as bookkeeper. At 
the age of seventeen he became assistant cashier in 
the same institution, gaining the distinction of be- 
ing the youngest person to carry the responsibili- 
ties of tiiat position in the state. In 1878 he ac- 
cepted a position as cashier and bookkeeper in a 
large mercantile establishment in Bellevue, Ohio, a 
situation which he retained for one year, leaving it 
at the expiration of that period to become clerk in 
the National Exchange Bank of Tiffin. In 1883 
he went to Toledo where he was placed -in charge 
of the books of the Toledo and Detroit branches of 
the Producers' Marble Company, of Rutland, Ver- 
mont, a corporation of which the head was Hon. 
Redfield Proctor, later governor of the Green 
Mountain state. After performing the duties of 
that position for several months, he became for 
four years head teller of the First National bank of 
Toledo. He then went to Hartington, Nebraska, 
to become cashier and part owner of the Cedar 
County bank of that city. His next move was to 
Snohomish, Washington, where he became cashier 
of the Snohomish National bank. At the time of 
the organization of this institution, Mr. Loose and 
his associates also organized the Adams County 
bank, of Ritzville, of which be came vice president. 
In lOOl this bank was reorganized as the First 
National bank of Ritzville, and the same office is 
now occupied by Mr. Loose in the new concern. He 
continued to act as cashier in the Snohomish bank 
until its dissolution upon the removal of the county 
seat to Everett in 1897, then opened a private bank- 
ing house in Snohomish, which he still conducts. 
He is also a stockholder in the Prosser State bank, 
of Prosser, Benton county, Washington, and in the 
American National bank of Everett. 

In 189G Mr. Loose became interested in a 
wholesale lumber business at Snohomish and since 
that time his logging and lumbering operations 
liave been very widely extended, his varied interests 
in that line including at present the Sultan Railroad 
■& Timber Company, of which he is president, and 
the Sultan Logging Company, of which he is vice- 
president and treasurer. It would seem that all 
these varied business enterprises must tax Mr. 
Loose's time and abilities to the fullest, but he is 
also president and general manager of the Columbia 



Canal Company, which operates at Wallula, and 
vice-president of the Index Mining Company; 
furthermore he finds time and energy to devote to 
advancing the cause of education, in which he is 
deeply interested, serving as trustee of Puget 
Sound Academy, at Snohomish, and Whitworth 
College at Tacoma, nor does he neglect social or 
religious duties, being at the present time an active 
Mason and an elder in the Presbyterian church. 
How he manages to accomplish all this must re- 
main a mystery to men less gifted with herculean 
powers of accomplishment. 

In Toledo, Ohio, in 1885, Mr. Loose married 
Miss Ada Hayes, daughter of Henry J. and Emily 
(Taylor) Hayes, the former a very early pioneer 
of the city on the Maumee and for years a promi- 
nent wholesale hay and grain dealer, the latter a 
daughter of the sunny South. Mrs. Loose was 
born and raised in Toledo. She died in Snohomish 
county in 1903, leaving one daughter, Julia, a na- 
tive of Hartington, Nebraska. A son of Mr. and 
Mrs. Loose, whose name was Ralph H., died in 
infancy. In 1905, in Buffalo, New York, Mr. 
Loose again married, the lady being Miss Charlotte 
Sawyer Tilden, daughter of Jared H. and Catherine 
E. (Hedge) Tilden, old-time residents of the 
Queen City of the Lakes. Mrs. Loose's ancestors 
have resided in Buffalo since its first founding in 
1810, having assisted in quelling the Indian troubles 
in 1812. 



DAVID F. SEXTON.— Among the honored 
and influential pioneer citizens of Snohomish 
county who took an active part in laying firm and 
broad the foundation upon which the common- 
wealth of Washington was erected must ever be 
included the man whose name forms the title of 
this biographical record. The pioneer spirit has 
run strong and deep in his family for many genera- 
tions, leaving its impress upon the frontier history 
of this country from the memorable flood of immi- 
gration which swept across the Alleghanies during 
the latter part of the eighteenth century to the ar- 
rival of the Sexton family upon Puget sound a 
hundred years later. 

The subject of this review was born in Mont- 
gomery county, Ohio, April 1, 1838, the descendant- 
of one of the Buckeye state's earliest white fami- 
lies. Joseph Sexton, the father, was born in Ohio 
in the year 1808, and was reared there. He learned 
the blacksmith's trade, spending seven years as an 
apprentice. In Ohio he was married and there 
farmed and worked at his trade until 1842, when he 
removed with his family to Jasper county, Indiana, 
That section was then new, neighbors being few 
and far between, but it gave rich promise. Mr. 
Sexton bought a tract of government land, built a 
home and there resided, farming and following his 
old trade, until about the year 1855. From that 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



time on his life was mostly spent in the religious 
work undertaken by his talented wife, he accom- 
panying her and assisting. In 1870 the family re- 
moved still further westward, this time to Wilson 
county, Kansas. In that county his death occurred 
at Fredonia, October 21, 1878. David F. Sexton's 
mother, who passed away in Seattle December 15, 
1894, at the advanced age of ninety-five years, was 
a distinguished woman. Rev. Lydia Sexton, or 
"Mother Sexton" as she was familiarly and affec- 
tionately known throughout the United States, was 
bom April 12, 1799, in Sussex county, now Rock- 
port, New Jersey, and preached for nearly fifty 
years of her long, useful life. She was a cousin of 
Bishop Matthew Simpson, and a granddaughter of 
Marquis Anthony Cozot, the name being later cor- 
rupted to Casad. This nobleman took possession 
of a grant of land along the lower Mississippi early 
in the eighteenth century, founding an American 
branch of his family whose members are scattered 
throughout the different states. He abandoned his 
grant upon the sale of Louisiana in 1803 and died 
in New Jersey, leaving nine children, among whom 
was Rev. Thomas Casad, a Baptist clergyman, the 
father of Lydia Casad. In 1814 at the age of 
fifteen, left an orphan, this intrepid girl went to 
Ohio, then called "Hios,"" and in that far off north- 
western outpost of civilization grew to woman- 
hood, learning the glove-making and tailoring 
trades. When quite a young woman she was mar- 
ried to Isaac Cox, who died shortly afterward, and 
in 1824 she was again married, this time to Joseph 
Moore. Her second husband lived only a short 
time, however. September 12, 1829, she was united 
in marriage to Joseph Sexton at Jacksonborough, 
Ohio, with whom she lived nearly fifty years, or 
until his death. In 1834 this good woman, after 
a life of doubt, affiliated with the United Brethren 
church, being baptized in the Miami river at Day- 
ton, Ohio. Shortly afterward She was moved to 
commence preaching the gospel, but owing to the 
opposition of her family, deterred action several 
years. From the first her success was notable. In 
1851 Josiah Turrell, presiding elder at the quarterly 
Illinois conference, gave her a license to preach. 
Her forte was revival work, and her converts dur- 
ing the twenty or thirty years following her regular 
initiation into the work undoubtedly numbered 
many thousands. L'pon the family's removal to 
Kansas she at once became prominent in that com- 
monwealth and was shortly appointed chaplain of 
the state penitentiary by Governor Harvey. At that 
time she was seventy years of age, and her kind, 
motherly and sympatiietic tenderness awoke in 
many a criminal's breast the love he bore for his 
own mother. In 1870 she went as a delegate to the 
national prison congress at Cincinnati, and was the 
only woman who addressed that distinguished body. 
A year or two later, when Kansas was suffering 



great distress owing to successive crop failures. 
Mother Sexton traveled throughout the east in 
their behalf, meeting with a wonderful success in 
this noble mission. At one time she secured a 
whole carload of flour for her stricken people. In 
1889 Mother Sexton came to Seattle to reside with 
her son Joseph Z. Sexton. She preached frequently 
and journeyed considerable until 1892, when fail- 
ing eyesight compelled her to abandon further ac- 
tive work. The last year of her life she was en- 
tirely blind, but still possessed unusual control of 
her faculties. Although she passed to her reward 
in the kingdom many years ago her unconquerable 
spirit and influence for the uplifting of mankind 
still live in a multitude of hearts and her name will 
be enscrolled among those of America's prominent 
religious teachers. At the time of her demise she 
was the oldest woman preacher in the United 
States. In passing it might be noted that her 
brother Abner, and her maternal ancestors, the 
Tingleys, fought in America's early wars, the 
former in the War of 1812 and the latter in the 
Revolutionary War. Only one member of her fam- 
ily survives her, David F., of Snohomish, the sub- 
ject of this article. 

As a boy, David F. Sexton attended the com- 
mon schools of Jasper county, Indiana, and thus 
acquired his elementary education. Desiring to se- 
cure a more liberal education, after reaching man- 
hood's estate, he took a course in the normal school' 
at Burnettsville, Indiana, and also for a time at- 
tended Hartsville L^niversity, at Hartsville. Indi- 
ana. While pursuing his higher studies and for a 
number of years afterward he engaged in teaching 
in the Hoosier state and was recognized as a suc- 
cessful member of his profession. He also taught 
several terms after he became a resident of Kan- 
sas. In 1870 Mr. Sexton and his wife took up their 
abode in Wilson county, Kansas, then a frontier 
community, and there he engaged in farming. 
However, the climate did not agree with his failing 
health, so he abandoned with reluctance his beauti- 
ful prairie home for one further west among the 
mountains and forests that he hoped would prove a 
permanent abiding place. On May 13, 1878, having 
sold the place, Mr. and Mrs. Sexton with their 
mule team, and accompanied by John M. Robbins, 
now a resident of Marysville, started for Puget 
sound. The journey proved a happy one, terminat- 
ing October 7th, by the party's arrival at the shores 
of the sound. The ague and fever which had com- 
menced to undermine Mr. Sexton's health were ef- 
fectually checked and he determined to locate in the 
valley of the Snohomish, at that time sparsely s'et- 
tled and for the most part in its virgin state. He 
purchased, in February, 1879, the claim on the 
Pilchuck river, just northeast of the present city of 
Snohomish, and upon it the Sexton home has since 
remained. At that time the tract was a dense for- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



est, but with returning health Mr. Sexton attacked 
the wilderness with a perseverance and a zeal that 
soon brought their rewards. During the first few 
years of his residence in the county he did consid- 
erable freighting for his neighbors, logging camps 
and the old Morgan mill, there being at that time 
only two other teams of horses in Snohomish. All 
the logging was done with oxen. Snohomish City 
in 1879 had barely a hundred inhabitants and re- 
ceived its mail two or three times a week by the 
steamer Fanny Lake of Seattle. Of public build- 
ings, only the Presbyterian church and a school- 
house had then been erected. Court was held in the 
old Eagle Hotel. 

With their fellow pioneers Mr. and Mrs. Sexton 
endured the hardships and dangers of the times, but 
faced them cheerfully and to-day express no re- 
grets. Of his two hundred-acre ranch in the beau- 
tiful Pilchuck valley, Mr. Sexton has now sixty- 
five acres under cultivation. Along with general 
farming, he pays especial attention to dairying and 
fruit raising, his dairy herd being a choice collec- 
tion of Jerseys. One ten-acre tract of this place is 
devoted exclusively to blackberries and raspber- 
ries, good crops of which are annually produced. 

On November 19, 1867, Miss Orra J. Downing 
became the bride of Mr. Sexton, both at that time 
being residents of Indiana. Mrs. Sexton was born 
in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, August 30, 1842, 
of pioneer American stock. Her parents, John H. 
and Sarah (Knight) Downing, were among the 
earliest pioneers of Tippecanoe county, having set- 
tled there after journeying from Ohio in the year 
of their marriage, 1829. They lived on the old 
homestead for more than half a century, Mrs. 
Downing's death occurring there in 1885, at the 
age of seventy-six, and Mr. Downing's death in 
1888, at the age of eighty years. Both lived to en- 
joy the fruits of their labors and the respect of their 
large circle of neighbors and friends. 

Because of his broad public spirit and interest 
taken in fruit culture, Mr. Sexton has been hon- 
ored by election to the presidency of the Snohomish 
County Horticultural Society, a position he still 
occupies. He is also an active member of the 
Grand Army of the Republic, by virtue of having 
served in the i:^>."ith Regiment of Indiana \'olunteers 
during the Civil War. In consequence of ill health 
he did not remain long in the army, however. He 
is also connected with the A. O. U. W. fraternity. 
Although not aspiring to political office, he wields 
a strong influence in his party, the Republican, and 
has consistently supported it since he cast his first 
ballot in 18G0 for Abraham Lincoln. He has been 
identified with the Snohomish Methodist church 
since since its organization, and during the entire 
life of the society has served on its board of 
trustees. Mr. Sexton and his wife have contributed 
their share to the upbuilding of Snohomish county. 



and are to-day respected and esteemed by neigh- 
bors, friends and acquaintances for their sterling 
personal qualities of mind and heart and for what 
they have done toward the advancement of the 
community. 



WILSON M. SNYDER, cashier of the First 
National bank of Snohomish, and one of the organ- 
izers of that well known financial institution seven- 
teen years ago, may justly be classed as among the 
men who have been more than ordinarily influential 
in promoting the development of his home city 
and county. His position in the business world for 
so many years has afforded him opportunity and 
power, and one of the true measurements of the 
man is found in the fact that he has improved the 
former privilege and used the latter with commend- 
able discretion. 

Of illustrious pioneer American ancestry, whose 
oldest branches reach back on the paternal side to 
the German and on the maternal to the Scotch and 
English peoples. Wilson M. Snyder was born at 
Galena, Illinois, May 7, 1853, the son of William H. 
and Lucretia H. (McLean) Snyder. The elder 
Snyder, a banker also, was a native of Utica, New 
York, born in 1814. His great grandfather fought 
in the French and Indian War, while his mother 
was a member of the Dodge family, of Boston, who 
came among the early colonists and served in the 
Indian and Revolutionary Wars. William H. went 
to Illinois in 1838, as a pioneer settler. There he 
engaged in the mercantile business, later entering 
the field of banking and finally in 1865 reorgan- 
ized the institution as the Merchants' National bank 
of Galena. Lucretia McLean Snyder was born in 
.Alexandria, Virginia, a descendant of colonial Old 
Dominion stock, slaveholders. The Battle of Bull 
Run at the outbreak of the Civil War was fought 
on the estate of her uncle, Wilmer McLean, and in 
his home at Appomattox Courthouse the treaty of 
peace was signed by Generals Grant and Lee in 
1865. Mrs. Snyder at the age of eighty-two is 
still living in Galena and is a stockholder in the 
bank established by her husband. Of the three 
children in the family, there are two daughters, 
Mrs. Fannie Merrick and Miss Alice L. Snyder, 
and one son, the subject of this sketch. 

He grew to manhood in Galena, there complet- 
ing his English education. Immediately his parents 
sent him to Germany to finish his studies, especially, 
however, to acquire the German language. After 
a two years' stay in Europe he returned home and 
in 1874 entered his father's banking house. Four- 
teen vears elapsed before he severed connections 
with that institution, but so glowing was the busi- 
ness prospect of the Pacific coast that in 1888 the 
young banker decided his opportunity had arrived. 
Coming to the thriving little town of Snohomish 
City in May of that year, he was so favorably im- 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



pressed that he purchased an interest in the private 
bank of J. Furth & Company there and at once 
entered into the life around him. In July follow- 
ing, to meet the growing demand of the public, this 
firm was dissolved and in its stead the First Na- 
tional bank of Snohomish was organized with Mr. 
Snyder as its cashier, a position he has held unin- 
terruptedly since. During the transition period of 
the city's growth — from a town into a city — Mr. 
Snyder took an active part, serving as a member of 
the first council upon incorporation, ami later, when 
Everett wrested the county seat fnun Simln miish 
after a memorable struggle of several years' dura- 
tion, he was again prominent in his home city's be- 
half. The hard times dangerously strained the 
business life of the entire county, and it is a sig- 
nificant fact, reflecting special credit upon the abil- 
ity and faith of the First National, that it weath- 
ered the storm safely, among the few banks in this 
section that did. Those were tr\in,L; times that testcil 
the mettle and the capacity of men in all ranks of life, 
yet probably upon no class was the pressure so 
great as upon those who handled the cash and the 
credit of business men generally, the bankers. 

The marriage of Miss Nettie Henry to Mr. 
Snyder took place in 1883 at Mineral Point, Wis- 
consin, she being the daughter of William T. 
Henry, prior to his death a prominent banker and 
mine owner of that place. Mrs. Emma (McHugh) 
Henry survived him and is now a resident of 
Snohomish. Mrs. Snyder is a native of Mineral 
Point and was there reared and educated. Henry 
M., the elder of Mr. and Mrs. Snyder's children, 
is attending the state university at Seattle, and dur- 
ing vacation periods learning the banking business 
under his father. The younger son, W. McLean, 
resides at home and is a pupil in the Snohomish 
public schools. The family religious faith is that of 
the Episcopal church. Mr. Snyder, while a believer 
in Republican principles and policies, is liberal in 
his political views, and when he has accepted pref- 
erment at the hands of his fellow citizens, the spirit 
of good citizenship rather than the vanity of party 
has ruled him. For several years he has filled the 
office of city treasurer. 

In closing this brief review, it is not inappropri- 
ate to make mention of a curious document in Mr. 
Snyder's possession, a business paper of special 
interest to the people of Puget sound. This is a 
contract, handed down to Mr. Snyder through his 
maternal ancestors, bearing date of December 28, 
1754, calling for the manufacture of a specified 
number of shingles to be paid for in tobacco, at that 
time legal tender in "Virginia. The ancient paper is 
well preserved and, mounted in a substantial frame 
hung on the wall at the bank, is an object of more 
than passing attention. Descended from a line of 
eminent business men, patriotic citizens, firm in 
their faith and progressive in spirit, pioneers also, 



Mr. Snyder himself is not lacking in these quali- 
ties of mind and heart, so characteristic of genu- 
inely successful men. 



GILBERT D. HORTON, proprietor of a sta- 
tionery, book, art and wall paper establishment at 
Snohomish, is one of the pioneers of the Puget 
sound country and of this part of Snohomish 
county in particular. Having come here in 1888, 
Mr. Horton is thoroughly acquainted with the 
transformation which has taken place since he first 
set foot on the shores of the Snohomish river. He 
was born in Waterford, Oakland county, Michigan, 
in the early days of 1853. His father,' William D. 
Horton, was born in New York of an old family, 
his grandfather having fought in the Revolutionary 
War. Mr. Horton went to Michigan in the pioneer 
days and is now a resident of Snohomish. Mrs 
Catherine L. (Birdsall), also a native of New 
Vork, likewise is descended from one of the old 
families of the Empire state, her ancestors at one 
time having owned considerable property on Long 
Island. Mrs. Horton still survives, the mother of 
five children : Almerian, Gilbert, Harvey, Alvan 
and a- child who died in infancy. Gilbert D. Hor- 
ton grew to manhood at Ausable, on the shores of 
Lake Huron, and in the land of the pine woods of 
the peninsula. His attendance at school was lim- 
ited but he has acquired a great fund of knowledge 
and has assimilated everything which has come un- 
der his observant eye. At the age of sixteen he 
went to Alpena, where he learned the art of photog- 
raphy. After mastering the details of his profes- 
sion, Mr. Horton returned to Ausable and opened 
a gallery of his own, which he operated for two 
years, leaving to go 'into the woods and engage in 
chopping and logging. In 1877 he came to the 
Pacific coast and located at Astoria, Oregon, where 
he at once opened a photograph gallery. At a later 
time Mr. Horton went to the Lewis river country 
and finally crossed the mountains into eastern 
Washington, where he engaged in a log drive for 
the Northern Pacific from the eastern slopes of the 
Cascades through the entire Yakima valley to the 
Snake river. This was during the construction days 
of the Northern Pacific and the drive is said to have 
been the largest in the history of lumbering in the 
Lhiited States. Mr. Horton then entered the em- 
ploy of the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Com- 
pany in the Meacham Creek canyon, leaving that 
work, however, to open a photograph gallery in 
Pendleton, Oregon. He sold out this' establishment 
and went to Michigan to visit his old home. On 
his return the Northern Pacific had been built 
through to the sound, and thither Mr. Horton went. 
He built a floating photograph gallery and for sev- 
eral years followed the enterprise of traveling about 
the sound and engaging in professional work. 
When he sold his outfit he came to Snohomish and 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



841 



in company with his brother, Harvey W. Horton, 
establislied the mercantile enterprise which he is 
now conducting. In 1899 Mr. Horton bought the 
interest of his brother, who had gone to the Klon- 
dike. 

In May of 1889 at Snohomish Mr. Horton mar- 
ried Miss Maggie Leigh Hufl, a native of Kansas. 
Two daughters have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Horton : Cora, who is chief clerk in her father's 
store, and Ella, who is attending school. In poli- 
tics Mr. Horton is a Democrat. He is a member of 
the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Mr. Hor- 
ton has very distinct recollections of the early days 
of Snohomish, when there were no roads and the 
river was the only avenue of communication or 
transportation, when the lumberjack, fresh from 
payday or a drive on the river, was wont to make 
things lively in the little town. While now retired 
from the business of photographer, Mr. Horton re- 
tains his characteristic love of art, and of photo- 
graphic art in particular. He is a man of delicately 
poised temperament and an authority regarding 
artistic matters. 



CHARLES L. LAWRY, cashier of the Mon- 
roe State bank, is a pioneer of the county. Well 
acquainted with all the resources of the valley, an 
authority on questions of finance, he naturally is a 
man whose opinions are sought and heeded. His 
beautiful home, embracing forty-five acres of valu- 
able land, lies a half mile north of the corporate 
limits of the city of Snohomish. Born in Bangor, 
Maine, February 15, 1858, he is the son of Parker 
and Thursa (Powers) Lawry, who had two chil- 
dren, Charles L. and Theresa B., the latter de- 
ceased. The father was a sailor who, at the age of 
twenty-one, became the captain of a vessel. He 
followed the high seas all his life and visited every 
corner of the globe. His wife died when her son, 
the subject of this review, was six months old. 
Charles firmly refused to listen to the alluring tales 
of a life at sea and wisely took advantage of the 
common schools of the state, attended high school, 
and took a commercial course in a business col- 
lege. He decided that the Pacific coast must have 
opportunities for young men, so crossed the conti- 
nent when he was twenty and remained a short time 
in San Francisco. On a pleasant spring day in May, 
1878, he reached Snohomish, a village of less than 
200 white people, with numerous Indians in the 
vicinity. First he worked in the lumber camps ; in 
1879 and 1880 he hunted for gold in the diggmgs 
of the Cassiar placer district; then returned to 
Snohomish county and again found work in the 
woods. From 1884 to 1888 he ran an express and 
drayage line in Snohomish and farmed on a limited 
scale, seeking legitimate opportunity where he 
could. During these years he was becoming popu- 



lar in Snohomish as well as in other parts of the 
county, so much so that the Republicans decided he 
would add strength to their county ticket, and gave 
him the nomination for county treasurer. He was 
elected and reelected in 1890 and 1892. His friends 
wished him to accept other positions but he refused 
during the next six years to take political office. 
He was devoting his energies at this time to various 
pursuits, including mining and farming; also oper- 
ating a gents" furnishing store in Snohomish. In 
June, 1898, he went to Klondyke and for a year 
mined with fair success. In 1900 he was again in- 
duced to accept a nomination for county treasurer. 
His previous record had been so clean and his man- 
agement of the county business so capable that he 
was elected easily and reelected in 1902. He showed 
himself a financier of considerable ability and to- 
wards the end of his term assisted in the organiza- 
tion of the Monroe State bank, becoming its cash- 
ier, a position for which his long experience in the 
treasurer's office had eminently fitted him. 

Mr. Lawry and Miss Zellah Getchell were mar- 
ried February 11, 1882. She is the daughter of Mar- 
tin and Olif Getchell, both natives of ]\Iaine, now re- 
siding in Lowell, Washington. Mr. and Mrs. Lawry 
have two children, Charles A. and Ethel B. Mr. 
Lawry is a popular and prominent member of two 
orders, the Masonic and the Knights of Pythias. 
One of the most honored and highly esteemed citi- 
zens of the county. He is quite unassuming, a true 
pioneer of the \\'est, who has seen his own county 
grow and prosper and who has materially assisted 
in this growth and prosperity. 



TAMLIX EL\\"ELL, retail lumberman of Sno- 
homish, is one of the men who have had intimate 
acquaintance with the lumber industry on both sides 
of the American continent. His first introduction 
to the business came as a lad in the pine trees of his 
native Maine and there has hardly been a day since 
early boyhood when he has not been in close contact 
with either standing timber or the manufactured 
product. Mr. Elwell was one of the trail finders 
in the early days of the timber business ui Snohom- 
ish county and an unimpeachable authority on facts 
regarding the forests of the western slopes of the 
Cascades. He was born in Northfield. ^Vashmg- 
ton county, Maine, in the first days of 1839, the son 
of John and Eliza (Crosby) Elwell, natives of the 
Pine Tree state in the second decade of the last 
century. The elder Elwell was a logger and lum- 
berman all his life. He came to the Pugct sound 
forests in 1858 and returned to his native state after 
a year and a half of life here. He remained in 
J.Iaine until 1872, when he came to Snohonu'sh 
county and passed the remainder of his days. Mrs. 
Elwell also died in Snohomish. Tamlin Elwell, 
after receiving his education, became associated 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



witli his father in the logging business. In 1858 he 
accompanied the elder Elwell to the Puget sound 
countr}' and returned to his native state, beconing 
a partner with his father upon attaining his ma- 
jority. Upon his marriage in 1863 yonng Elwell 
decided to return to Washington and the ijrc&ts of 
Snohomish. He sold out his interests in Maine to 
his father and crossed the continent again. His 
first work here was as logging contractor for the 
Puget Sound Mill Company at Port Gamble. Those 
were the days when there were no tug boats on the 
waters of the sound to haul rafts or boomed logs 
to their destination, but Mr. Elwell successfully 
carried out his contract within eighteen months. 
He then returned again to his native state and en- 
tered the employ of a lumber company, becoming 
master driver on the river, which position he held 
until in 1875 he came once more to Snohomish 
county, this time to make his home permanently 
on the Pacific slope. Mr. Elwell's first venture was 
the purchase of a small piece of land up the .Sno- 
homish river. He erected a house, placed the land 
under cultivation, set out an orchard and thtn re- 
turned to the logging business. In the spiing of 
the Centennial year he commenced to log off the 
land on which a part of the present town of Mon- 
roe stands. After two years of logging operations 
near Monroe Mr. Elwell purchased the bisiness 
of Ross Bros., who were engaged with teams at 
different points along the river placing the logs into 
rafts preparatory to towing by tug to different 
mills. For five years Mr. Elwell carried on this 
business, selling out in 1882 to establish a logging 
camp on the Pilchuck in partnership with Henry F. 
Jackson. The partners continued operations on the 
Pilchuck for three years and then moved to the 
Squamish harbor near Port Gamble, where they 
carried on logging business for three years. Mukil- 
teo was the next scene of the operations of Mr. 
Elwell and his partner. In 1889 Mr. Elwell bought 
out Mr. Jackson and at once commenced logging 
operations on Lake Washington, near Seattle, 
where he removed the logs from 500 acres of the 
Puget Sound Mill Company's land. During this 
period Mr. Elwell operated three camps and was 
recognized as having one of the most extensive 
logging ventures in the state. He sold a half in- 
terest in his logging business to Elmer Stinson, 
with whom he continued in business until his re- 
tirement from the logging industry in 1895. Dur- 
ing the years following 1884 Mr. Elwell had taken 
a deep interest in the breeding of horses and had 
opened a stable for breeding purposes. It was he 
who brought the first buggy to this part of the 
county. He commenced to raise fine horses and in 
1888 by reason of money he had loaned to a livery- 
man was compelled to engage for a time in the 
livery business, in connection with which he car- 
ried nut his plan of producing fine horse flesh. In 



fact, Mr. Elwell has always been a lover of good 
horses and has produced some of the finest animals 
seen in the Pacific northwest. The most of his 
horses have descended from a Hambletonian ani- 
mal whose qualities as a dam of speedy get have not 
been surpassed in Snohomish county. Among the 
record horses raised by Mr. Elwell are: Mary L., 
2:22; Snohomish Boy, 2:15; Montana Boy, 3:30; 
Stanwood Boy, 2 :18 ; as well as a number of others 
in the 3 :30 class, among which is Central Hood, 
sold a year ago for $300. The pride of Mr. El- 
well's stable at the present time is Prince B., with 
a record of 2 :28, one of the finest driving horses in 
the country. 

In 18(i2, while living in Maine, Mr. Elwell mar- 
ried Miss Sarah A. Watts, daughter of Greenleaf 
and Ruth (Marston) Watts, natives of the Pine 
Tree state, who passed their lives entirely within 
its borders. Mrs. Elwell was born in 1839 and re- 
ceived her education in Maine. She had been teach- 
ing school for five years when married. She has 
vocal attainments of a high order, and is one of 
the cultured women of Snohomish. To. Mr. and 
Mrs. Elwell have been born nine children : Mrs. 
Delia H. Deering, now a resident of Alaska ; Alice, 
who died during young womanhood in California, 
Mrs. Bertha Grossman, wife of a Snohomish mer- 
chant; Mrs. Ruth Allen, a resident of Whatcom 
during her husband's stay in Alaska ; William T., 
living in Seattle ; an insurance man with offices in 
the Alaska building; Mrs. Susie M. Woodman, a 
resident of British Columbia; Sherman, who died 
when a mere lad ; Sherman, now living at home, 
and Arthur, a resident of Tacoma. In politics Mr. 
Elwell is a Republican. In fraternal affiliations he 
is a member of the Knights of Pythias and of the 
uniform rank of that order, and also of the An- 
cient Order of United Workmen and the Degree of 
Honor. Among the property holdings of Mr. El- 
well are the 120 acres comprising the T. Elwell 
addition to the city of Everett, other lots in that 
city and some properties in Snohomish. Mr. El- 
well's life has been one of unusual activity, but he 
has been successful in all his business engagements. 
The character and attainments of this pioneer arc 
best reflected in a simple recital and narrative of 
the events of his life. 



DR. CHARLES MILTON BUCHANAN, 
though a physician by profession, is also the super- 
intendent of the Tulalip Indian schools, the acting 
United States Indian Agent in charge of the reser- 
vations of the Tulalip agency, a special bonded dis- 
bursing agent of the LTnited States Government, 
and is also the physician to the Tulalip Indian 
Training School, this last being a boarding school 
maintained by the Government at the Tulalip 
agency. Dr. Buchanan was born in the historic old 
colonial town of Alexandria, Virginia, on the 11th 



BIOGR.\PHICAL 



843 



day of October, in the year 1868. Close by the 
place of his birth stands the famous house where 
Washington and Braddock had their famous con- 
ference, in 1755, preliminary to the disastrous cam- 
paign against Fort Du Ouesne. Equally close by 
was the house where Ellsworth was shot early in 
the Civil War. In the time of his birth the Doctor 
is, in a sense, the child of the renaissance, being 
born when the Civil War was becoming a matter of 
history. His father, J. Milton Buchanan, came of 
well-known Virginian stock of strong Southern 
sympathies. His mother, Frances Eldred, came of 
well-known Northern stock whose sympathies were 
strongly Northern ; the Eldreds came to Maryland 
■originally from Massachusetts though many of the 
family are scattered in Rhode Island, Connecticut, 
and New York. Frances Eldred was a great-niece 
of Peter Cooper, the famous millionaire philanthro- 
pist who founded Cooper Institute in New York 
City and so richly endowed it. The early boyhood 
of Dr. Buchanan was spent and his education be- 
gun in the old town of Alexandria. It was here 
that his religious training began in the famous old 
•Christ Church built by George Washington in 1773. 
The old church yet contains the pew of the illus- 
trious Washington, and two marble, memorial, 
mural tablets, one on each side of the chancel, to the 
memories, respectively, of two famous vestrymen 
•of the historic old church — namely, George Wash- 
ington and Robert E. Lee. Patriotism and gen- 
tility dwell in the very atmosphere of the old church, 
and it is singular to note, in passing, that its every 
brick was brought from England, as was not un- 
usual in those days. 

The subject of this sketch received his educa- 
tion through the various and usual channels, pri- 
vate tuition, public school, high school, .private 
school, tutor, university, all but the earliest portion 
being received in Washington, D. C, to which city 
he removed with his parents at the age of ten 
years. 

Prior to pursujng the study of medicine and 
surgery, the Doctor gave his serious thought to 
chemical research and practice, having been lab- 
oratory instructor in chemistry in the Washington 
City high school and later a chemist in the U. S. 
Patent Office chemical laboratory, and later still 
the consulting chemist of the Wortman Manifold 
Company, all of Washington, D. C. Subsequent to 
this he became engaged in teaching chemistrv and 
mineralogy in the Central High School, Washing- 
ton, D. C, at which time he was editor-in-chief of 
the High School Review, a magazine devoted to 
the interests of the five high schools of Wash- 
ington City. He was graduated in medicine May 
13, 1890. from the National University of Wash- 
ington City, now the George Washington Univer- 
sity of the same city. In 1891 he was placed in 
'Charge of the department of Physical Science of 



the Capitol Hill High School of Washington City, 
and was also elected to the major chairs of chemis- 
try, toxicology, and metallurgy in the medical and 
dental departments of his alma mater, having pre- 
viously served her as prosector of anatomy. In 
October, 1894, Dr. Edwin Buchanan resigned as 
physician, after nearly six years of service, to the 
Tulalip Indian Agency, and established himself in 
practice in his profession in Seattle, where he died 
in October, 1895. He was succeeded at Tulalip 
by his nephew. Dr. Charles Milton Buchanan, the 
subject of this sketch, in October, 1894. 

From November 1, 1894, to July 1, 1901, Dr. 
Charles Milton Buchanan served the Government 
continuously at Tulalip as agency physician and 
surgeon. He was promoted to his present position 
in charge of Tulalip, July 1, 1901. He is therefore 
in his twelfth year of continuous service at Tulalip 
at the present writing, 1906. It is entirely during 
his incumbency and under his superintendency that 
the present Government institution at Tulalip has 
been erected and developed. 

Both of Doctor Buchanan's parents have de- 
ceased. His brother and sisters are as follows : 
Dr. Robert Edward Buchanan, Mrs. Ella Kemp 
Buchanan Jones, and Miss Katherine Elizabeth 
Buchanan, all of Washington, D. C, and Mrs. 
Grace Eldred Milburn of Chicago, Illinois. 

On June 30, 1893, at Epiphany Church, Wash- 
ington, D. C, Doctor Buchanan was married by 
the Rev. Dr. Randolph McKim to Miss Anne Re- 
becca IMeade Randolph Lea of Richmond, Virginia, 
but then residing in Washington City. Mrs!^ Bu- 
chanan was born in Richmond, Va., of the stock 
from which sprang the Lees or Leas, the Meades 
including Bishop Meade, and the famous old John 
Randolph of Roanoke. Mrs. Buchanan's father 
was William Gabriel Randolph Lea, and her mother 
was Miss Louise Longstreet Nash, a sister of the 
dashing Confederate cavalryman. Major Joseph 
Van Holt Nash who served through the War as 
adjutant on the staff of General J. E. B. Stuart. 
Mrs. Buchanan had no sisters and has but two 
brothers living — Howard Fairfax Lea, an attorney 
of Kansas City, Missouri, and Robert Edward Lea, 
who is interested in the publishing business in Den^ 
ver, Colorado. 

Dr. and Mrs. Buchanan have but one child, a 
daughter. Louise Eldred, born in Washington City 
August 31, 1894, who is at present a student in 
Annie Wright Seminary in Tacoma, Washington. 

In politics Doctor Buchanan has always cast the 
Republican ticket. His fraternal affiliations are 
limited to the Masonic and the Pythian orders. He 
sustains membership in and relation with many 
scientific, learned, and professional associations. 



JOSEPH E. GETCHELL is one of the oldest 
pioneers of Snohomish, having first come here in 



844 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



1864. Earlier by only fifteen years had been the 
historic rush of the excited people of the Atlantic 
coast and middle west to the golden prospects of 
California. Earlier by scarcely more than a decade 
had been the formation of any government in what 
is now the state of Washington. Mr. Getchell 
antedates in his life in Snoholnish county most 
other living men now within her borders. He was 
born in Maine in June of 1843, the son of G. S. 
and Taphene (Longfellow) Getchell, natives of the 
Pine Tree state in which they passed their entire 
lives as farmer folk and lumbering people. The 
grandfather of the subject of this biography, Joseph 
Getchell, was a native of Scarboro and served in 
the continental army in its war with the mother 
country. The grandson obtained his education in 
the schools of Maine and remained at home until 
he had attained his majority, assisting his father 
on the old Pine Tree state farm. On the 20th day 
of Jime, 1864, young Getchell bade farewell to his 
friends and relatives and started for the Pacific 
coast, via the Isthmus of Panama. The voyage was 
without particular incident and he remained in San 
Francisco, then the mecca of all Atlantic coast 
travelers, but a short time before coming to the 
Puget Sound country. He was directed here be- 
cause of the presence of a brother located where 
Lowell now stands. The first few years which fol- 
lowed his advent on the coast were passed at lum- 
bering and logging in the woods of Snohomish 
county. The five years intervening between 1873 
and 1877 were spent on the Atlantic coast, but in 
the year last named Mr. Getchell again faced west- 
ward. On his arrival he located at Snohomish, 
then a hamlet of but few houses, and again engaged 
in lumbering, adding also the business of freight- 
ing, in which he has continued to the present day. 
He has seen the entire Puget Sound country de- 
velop from a wooded wilderness to its present con- 
dition of a rich farming and commercial country. 
He has done his share of pioneer work, has taken 
his portion of pioneer hardship and privation and 
has faced his allotment of obstacles. 

While on his trip to the East in 1877 Mr. Get- 
chell married Miss Pherlissa Smith, a native of 
Maine, the daughter of Wilbur and Ursula (Foss) 
Smith, farmers of that state. Mrs. Getchell ac- 
companied her husband on his return to the Puget 
Sound country and has been one of the pioneer 
women in the winning of the woods of Snohomish 
county to the uses of the white race. In politics 
Mr. Getchell is a Republican and has always been 
active in his party, though not an office seeker. In 
fraternal circles he is a Mason and a member of the 
Knights of the Maccabees. He owns a commodious 
house in the business section of the town, which 
has grown up around his original location. He is 
widely known, reliable in business and the recipient 
of the respect and confidence of the people of the 
city. 



DOCTOR A. C. FOLSOM (deceased) was the 
first practitioner in Snohomish county to devote 
himself entirely to his profession, and no record of 
this county would be complete without presenting a 
sketch of the life and attainments of this remark- 
able pioneer physician and embodying a tribute to 
the deep interest he displayed in laehalf of his fel- 
low men in the early days of the settlement. The 
life record of Dr. Folsom in its details does not 
exist in the Pacific northwest, and the facts ob- 
tainable about the career of the physician are for 
the most part from the recollection of his fellow 
pioneer, Eldridge Morse, Snohomish county's first 
practising attorney. Dr. Folsom obtained his early 
education at Phillips-Exeter Academy, the famous 
training school in New Hampshire, and then studied 
at Harvard university, in those days known as 
Harvard college. During his student days at the 
Cambridge institution the young man came in con- 
tact with Professor Louis Agassiz, the famous 
Swiss naturalist, and the bent of young Folsom's 
mind was by him turned into the channels of scien- 
tific research. This was in the early days of the 
connection of the great scientist with Harvard and 
his zeal and interest in solving problems was in- 
fectious with his students. In no instance was a 
greater stimulus given than to the mind of young 
Folsom, with the result that he made great strides 
along all lines of science, though especially with 
reference to the problems confronting a physician. 
Soon after graduating from Harvard school of 
medicine Dr. Folsom received an appointment as 
surgeon in the United States army and reported to 
Robert E. Lee, then an army engineer with head- 
quarters at New Orleans in the closing days of the 
Mexican War. A little later Dr. Folsom was trans- 
ferred to the Pacific coast and saw seven years 
service in the army in California and Arizona. Re- 
signing his commission he returned to the Atlantic 
coast and pursued post graduate studies in medicine 
at his old alma mater, receiving at the conclusion 
of his work the "diploma ad eundem," the highest 
honors conferred by the great Cambridge institu- 
tion and indicative of having completed with honor 
and attainment no less than three courses of medical 
investigation and research. Dr. Folsom then passed 
some time in Europe, traveling extensively in Ger- 
many and other parts of the continent. On his 
return he practiced his profession for a time in 
Wisconsin, but ultimately came to California, the 
scene of his former labors as army surgeon. For 
a number of years he was connected with the gov- 
ernment secret service, running on the steamers be- 
tween San Francisco and Panama. During the 
Civil War Dr. Folsom served with the California 
volunteers as medical inspector, a line of work for 
which his previous service in the regular army 
eminently fitted him. 

When in November, 1872, Dr. Folsom came to- 
Snohomish there was need for an efficient physician 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



845 



and surgeon. Dr. H. A. Smith, who had a tide land 
ranch near the mouth of the Snohomish river, was 
the nearest practitioner in the county, and many 
of the afflicted ones were accommodated and treated 
at his ranch. He was recognized as a man of more 
than ordinary skill in attending to the needs of 
the sick. At once Dr. Folsom's services were in 
demand and the benefit of his entire fund of ex- 
perience and all of his skillful training was to be 
had for the asking. He was actuated more from a 
desire to alleviate the sufferings of the pioneers 
than to build up a fortune for himself. Much of his 
work was for gratuity, and because of this he is 
remembered with keen thankfulness by many of the 
old settlers. Dr. Folsom was more than a practising 
physician — he was a man of thoroughly trained and 
cultured mind, a recognized writer on topics scien- 
tific and a literary man of merit. When he might 
have turned to his financial benefit these stores of 
information and experience, he was lavish in be- 
stowing them upon his neighbors and fellows with- 
out stint. Little is recalled at this time of the fam- 
ily of Dr. Folsom, except that he was a nephew 
of Salmon P. Chase, L^nited States senator from 
Ohio, member of Lincoln's cabinet and later chief 
justice of the L^nited States supreme court. He 
was also relative of Captain Folsom of the regular 
army, well known in California and the man for 
whom Folsom street in San Francisco was named. 
Of kindly disposition, of keen intellectual powers, 
of remarkable skill as a physician and of warm 
heart for his fellow men. Dr. Folsom's figure looms 
up in the early history of Snohomish county as 
that of a man always ready to give of his benefi- 
cence to the needy and suffering. He died about 
1884. as nearly as can be recalled, and was buried 
by the Masonic fraternity, of which he was a mem- 
ber. 



JOSEPH DUBOISE WOOD, mechanic, car- 
penter and constructor residing in Snohomish, is 
a self made man whose position in life has been 
reached by gradual ascent and after demonstration 
of his ability to dispose of the work laid upon him. 
He was born in the province of Quefjec. Lower 
Canada, early in 1862, the eighth of the seventeen 
children of Flavian Duboise and Nathalie (Be- 
lange) Wood, natives of Quebec of French ancestry 
which may be traced back nine generations. The 
elder Wood was a well known ship builder and 
carpenter of the lower St. Lawrence who died in 
1904 at the advanced age of seventy-eight years, 
having outlived his wife by sixteen years. To pro- 
vide for the many children of Mr. Wood taxed his 
resources to the utmost and as the sons attained 
an age where they could add to the income of the 
family they left school and went to work. In this 
M-ay Joseph D. Wood began to do for himself when 
but thirteen years of age, his formal education 



having been received in the Catholic school at St. 
Romuald, Quebec. Until 1881 young Wood was 
occupied principally in the logging and lumber 
business of Quebec, but at that time he went to 
Michigan where he worked at the carpenter trade 
and on the railroads. While loading logs one time 
he was severely injured and as a result was unable 
to do any kind of work for an entire year. In 
1883 Mr. Wood went to Wisconsin, where he 
worked for a number of years in the lumber busi- 
ness and as railroad brakeman. Five years later 
he was in Butte, Montana, conducting a business 
which he subsequently sold to accept a position as 
carpenter and bridge builder for the Great Northern 
railway. In 1892 he came to Snohomish and en- 
gaged in carpenter work and the lumber business. 
In 1898 he joined in the rush to the Klondike, with 
Circle City as his objective point, and the hardships 
of the overland trail were undergone by him in 
common with others. Notwithstanding his unpre- 
pared physical condition, Air. Wood hauled a sledge 
loaded with 700 pounds of provisions over seventy 
miles of glacier trail, while seemingly stronger 
men than he dropped by the wayside. This trip was 
made four times, resulting in handsome profit to 
the adventurer. Since his return from Alaska Mr. 
Wood has been in business at Snohomish. 

In October of 1895 Mr. Wood married Miss 
Lizzie Plante, a native of Canada, and three chil- 
dren have been born to their union ; Joseph S., 
Alexander D. and Albertha. In politics, Mr. Wood 
is aligned with the Socialists ; in fraternal circles 
he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of Ameri- 
ca, in which order he is venerable consul at this 
writing; in religious belief he is a Catholic. Mr. 
Wood owns a fine residence on the south bank of 
the Snohomish river, one of the pleasant places in 
that section of the city. He is a man of force of 
character, highly respected in the community in 
which he lives. 



MYRON \\\ PACKARD, now living a retired 
life, has been a pioneer merchant of Snohomish 
county and in his business has advanced with the 
settling up of the country from the trading post of 
the earlier days to the pretentious store of the last 
decade. Mr. Packard is a native of St. Lawrence 
county. New York, his birth taking place on Christ- 
mas Eve, of 1830. He is the second of three chil- 
dren of Daniel and Amanda (Levings) Packard, 
natives of Vermont who removed to the St. Law- 
rence valley soon after their marriage. His ances- 
tors were among the very first settlers in Vermont. 
Daniel Packard met death April 1, 1835, through 
the kick of a horse when Myron W. Packard was 
but four years old. Young Packard attended 
schools of his native place and remained at home 
until, at twenty years of age, he entered the employ 
of a merchant in Madrid, New York, as clerk. After 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



serving an apprenticeship of three years the young 
man went to Pierce county, Wisconsin, in 1853, 
being one of the pioneers who took up a preemp- 
tion 'claim in the Badger state. In 1863 Mr. Pack- 
ard enHsted as a private in Company A, of the 
Thirtieth Wisconsin vohniteers, and served three 
years, being mustered out as a quartermaster ser- 
geant at Louisville, Kentucky, on July 5, 186.5. He 
returned to Wisconsin and entered a general store 
as clerk. In 1870, after having been a resident of 
the Badger state for a period of seventeen years, 
save his service as soldier, Mr. Packard came to 
the Puget Sound country. His first year in this 
region was passed as a storekeeper on the White 
river not far from Seattle. In August, 1871, Mr. 
Packard came to Snohomish county and for two 
years was in the grocery business in Snohomish, 
when he .sold out his store and for two years fol- 
lowed ranching. In 1875, in company with D. B. 
Jackson, Mr. Packard returned to the mercantile 
life, opening a general store in Snohomish, which 
was continued until in 1879 Mr. Jackson acquired 
the entire business. Mr. Packard then returned to 
Wisconsin, and again entered the same store which 
he had left in 1870 as clerk. He remained in his 
old state for three years and then once more set out 
for Washington. In June of 1883 Mr. Packard 
came to Skagit county and passed three years with 
his son-in-law. In September of 1887 Mr. Packard 
and his son opened their well known store for gen- 
eral merchandise which they operated for thirteen 
3'ears and until the retirement of the elder 
Packard. 

In December, 1855, in Wisconsin, Mr. Packard 
married Miss Cynthia Flint, daughter of Parker 
and Sarah A. Flint, natives of Vermont and subse- 
quently residents of Wisconsin. Mrs. Packard was 
torn in the Green Mountain state, where she also 
received her education. Seven children have been 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Packard, one of whom, Dan- 
iel D., died while a child. The living are : Clayton, 
a resident of Everett; Mrs. Lorie M. Jackson, liv- 
ing in Seattle ; Mynon L., Sarah A., at home ; 
Charles F., living in Copeland, Idaho, and Mrs. 
Nellie P. Wetherill living in Bridport, Vermont. 
In politics Mr. Packard is a Republican. He was 
deputy county treasurer in 1873 and was elected 
auditor of Snohomish county in 1873. He served 
several terms as probate judge, in the early days, 
and was a member of the first council of the city 
of Snohomish, receiving his appointment to that 
body at the hands of the governor. Mr. Packard's 
life has been one of conscientious service in public 
life ; consistency and integrity being his distinguish- 
ing characteristics. He is a man of large public spirit 
and is held high in the esteem of his fellow citizens, 
and more especially among his old pioneer 
friends, who are more familiar with his sterling 
qualities. 



WILLIAM WHITFIELD, retired logger and 
merchant of Snohomish, is one of the pioneers of 
the city and county and a man received in the high- 
est degree of respect by old and young alike. Mr. 
Withheld has had a curious career and a curiously 
active one, but whether as sailor, farm hand, public 
official or business man he has commanded the at- 
tention of his intimates as a man of forceful char- 
acter. He was born in London, England, in Sep- 
tember of 1846, the son of Thomas and Susan (Mid- 
dleton) Whitfield. The elder Whitfield was a coop- 
er by trade, who in middle life left England for 
New Zealand, where both he and wife died in the 
early eighties. Young Whitfield attended the 
English schools until he was thirteen, at which age 
he engaged in the coasting trade on vessels bound 
out from London. For si.x years Mr. Whitfield fol- 
lowed this kind of work, but in 1864 he shipped 
aboard a deep sea vessel, sailing from Liverpool. 
She was the Knight Bruce, bound for Victoria, Van- 
couver Island, British Columbia. The voyage 
around the Horn was completed in six months and 
two days. On the 9th of January, 1865, Mr. Whit- 
field left the vessel and on the same day made his 
way across the strait of Juan de Fuca and landed 
in Port Angeles. From there he walked to Dun- 
geness and went to work on the farm of Alexander 
Rawlings. Until April of that year he worked for 
Mr. Rawlings and Henry Grey, going then to Port 
Ludlow. Failing to find work he crossed the sound 
to Mukilteo, where he engaged to the logging camp 
of McLane & Jewett, remaining with that firm for 
two years. The years until 1869 were passed in 
different logging camps on the Snohomish river, 
and in that year Mr. Whitfield experienced a long- 
ing for the sea and late in the fall shipped as third 
mate of a vessel bound from Burravid's Inlet, Brit- 
ish Columbia, to Melbourne, Australia. He was 
eighty-four days en route, and soon after reaching 
Australia went to Christ Church New Zealand. He 
remained in the antipodes for a period of six months, 
ultimately returning to the LTnited States at San 
Francisco, landing there in the fall of 1870. Mr. 
Whitfield's next move was to Evansville, Indiana, 
where he passed two years as engineer in a flouring 
mill. In August of i87S he was at Lowell on the 
Snohomish in charge of E. D. Smith's logging 
camp. He continued there for three years and in 
the fall of the Centennial year was elected county 
commissioner of Snohomish county and removed to 
the city of Snohomish. Two years later he was 
elected sheriff and was chosen for a second term. 
Mr. Whitfield lived in the city until 1888, when he 
purchased a farm a mile and a half east of town. 
In 1891 in company with Samuel Vestal he opened 
a store in the city, walking to and from his work 
and his farm home. He continued thus until in 
1904 the business was closed and Mr. Whitfield 
moved his family into the city, where he has since 
resided. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



847 



In 1871 at Evansville, Indiana, Mr. Whitfield 
married Miss Ahvine Geue. daughter of John F. W. 
and Wilhehnina Geue, natives of Germany. Mr. 
Geue was a cabinet maker by trade, coming to the 
United States in 1S4S and settling in Indiana. In 
187() he came to Snohomish county and has since 
made his home here. Mrs. Geue passed away in this 
county some years ago. ]\Irs. Whitfield was born in 
Evansville and received her education there. To her 
have been born five children : Mrs. Susan Nerdrum, 
living at Sedro-Woolley : Mrs. Minnie Nickerman, 
a resident of Bellingham ; William Whitfield, also of 
Bellingham, and Guy and George, who are still at 
the home of their parents. In politics Mr. Whit- 
field is a Republican, and in addition to the offices 
he has held, as previously mentioned, he received 
the appointment of tide land commissioner from 
the late Governor Laughton. In fraternal circles 
he is a Mason and of the royal arch degrees. Mr. 
Whitfield has considerable property in the county, 
consisting of timber land and holdings in the city 
of Everett. Mr. Whitfield is singularly popular in 
his home town with young and old alike. He is a 
man of kindly disposition, yet of forceful character. 
He is an interesting conversationalist and draws 
from a large fund of personal experiences for the 
entertainment of his friends. 



HIR.A.M D. MORGAN is one of the few men in 
Snohomish county from whom the younger genera- 
tion may hear first handed the story of experiences 
in crossing the plains in the days before the people 
in the nation at large understood very much about 
the Puget Sound country. In 1853 he commenced 
his life in the present state of Washington, and he 
has been intimately connected with the progress and 
development of the territory and state ever since 
that October day when he dismounted from his 
horse at Olympia and went to work finishing the 
first legislative hall in the historic old town by the 
Tumwater. i\Ir. Morgan modestly styles himself 
a retired mechanic, but his friends claim for him the 
title of one of the makers of the state of Washing- 
ton. Mr. Morgan was born in Coshocton county, 
Ohio, on the first day of October, 1832, the fifth of 
six children of Calvin and Nancy (Craig) Morgan, 
both of whom were born in New York state about 
a year after the signing of the Declaration of In- 
dependence of the American colonies. The elder 
Morgan removed from New York shortly after 
marriage and became a pioneer of Ohio in the days 
soon after General George Rogers Clark had saved 
that part of the country to the union. Both of 
the parents of Hiram D. Morgan passed away in 
Ohio. As a lad young Morgan had few advantages 
by way of schooling, but in later years his powers 
of observation and grasp by intuition have stood 
him well in hand, more than counterbalancing the 
lack of formal educational training. When fifteen 



years of age he took up the trade of carpenter at 
home and followed it at irregular intervals until 
he had attained his majority. The trade of car- 
penter in the pioneer days of Ohio included a knowl- 
edge of work along more special lines than are 
carried by the craft in these days. Many are the 
spinning wheels which Mr. Morgan fashioned for 
the housewives of the old Bucke}^ state and many 
are the pieces of cabinet work which have come 
from his hands. 

In his twenty-second year Mr. Morgan married 
Miss Ann M. Van Arsdale, who passed away with- 
in two years of her wedding, one child blessing the 
brief union. In 1846 Mr. Morgan removed to Os- 
kaloosa, Iowa, and two years later united in mar- 
riage to Miss Mary J. Trout, daughter of John and 
Sarah Trout. For a number of years Mr. Morgan 
followed the trades of carpenter and cabinet maker 
in Iowa. In 1853 he determined to leave the middle 
west and cast in his fortunes in the country then 
attracting attention because of the struggle .going 
on for its possession after Dr. Whitman had told the 
statesmen at Washington that the United States 
could not afi^ord to lose Oregon to the British. Cross- 
ing the plains and the continental divide by ox team 
Mr. Morgan reached the Dalles on the 25h of Aug- 
ust, 1853. His first days were employed as car- 
penter in the construction or finishing of sailing 
vessels and flat boats plying on the Columbia. When 
the autumn season came on he went to Portland, 
from which he took steamer to the mouth of the 
Cowlitz river in Washington, thence by canoe and 
horseback, up river and across land, reaching Olym- 
pia on the 18th of October, 1853. Announcing 
himself as a carpenter, he found that the work of 
building the first legislative hall in Olympia had not 
been completed. Mr. Morgan took the contract 
and completed the structure. He then annoimced 
himself as a cabinet maker and soon had the con- 
tract for making the desks for the legislators, the 
first articles of their kind known in the legislature, 
some of which are still in existence in the state capi- 
tal and last winter did service in the committee 
rooms of the legislative bodies. Mr. Morgan also 
did all the fine interior finishing work in the state 
library and in the old state house. Mr. Morgan's 
work in Olympia was interrupted by the breaking 
out of the Indian war of 1855-56. In the latter 
year Governor Isaac I. Stevens appointed Mr. Mor- 
gan head carpenter on the Squaxon reseivation, 
in which capacity he served until he undertook a 
contract for erecting houses on the reservation. This 
work was followed by the erection of thirteen houses 
on the Puyallup reservation, the lumber used in the 
construction of which was manufactured from tim- 
ber growing on the site of the present city of Ta- 
coma. On completing this latter contract Mr. Mor- 
gan returned to Olympia, then the chief town of 
the territory, remaining there until the opening of 
the vear 1858. He then decided to visit Iowa. His 



848 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



route lay through Portland and San Francisco. At 
the latter city he took steamer for the Isthmus of 
Panama, whence he took passage to New York, 
arriving in Iowa on the 20th of February. In the 
following spring Mr. Morgan removed to Kansas, 
but remained in that state only a year. The Puget 
Sound country appealed to him strongly, and in 
May of 1859 Mr. Morgan was once more behind 
his ox teams and traveling via Denver for Olympia, 
his family accompanying him. During the winter 
of 1859-60 he cleared the ground where stood the 
first capitol building, which should not be con- 
founded with the first legislative hall. Some months 
followed at the carpenter trade, when Mr. Morgan 
accepted the position of agent at the Tulalip Indian 
reservation. In July of 1863 he returned to Olympia 
and a year later took up a homestead on Mud Bay, 
an arm of Puget Sound some four miles west of 
Olympia and Budd's Inlet. Mr. Morgan lived on 
this place until 1875, improving it and putting it 
under cultivation. In tliat year he passed six months 
in search of health in California. On his return 
from San Francisco he brought with him a stock 
of goods and opened up a grocery store at Olympia, 
which he sold in the spring of 1876 just before he 
came to Snohomish county and city. He reached 
here in the month of March, and in the fall of that 
year in company with E. C. Ferguson he purchased 
a small sawmill. Mr. Ferguson sold his intercut :;rd 
the mill soon passed into the hands of .Mr. .M- r^;:'.:!'-' 
sons who still operate it. Mr. Morgan has lived in 
retirement since turning the mill over to his sons. 

In politics Mr. Morgan has been a Republican. 
In Kansas he was postmaster. Since coming to 
Washington he has been county commissioner, pro- 
bate judge and justice of the peace. In fraternal 
circles he is a Mason, the organizer of Centennial 
lodge of Snohomish. He is a communicant of the 
Christian church. The children of Mr. Morgan 
who are living are : Mrs. Lucetta Ferguson, wife 
of E. C. Ferguson ; Benjamin H. and Alonzo, pro- 
prietors of the Morgan Bros, mills in Snohomish. 
John, who at one time owned an interest in the 
mill, has died, leaving a widow. Charles D., Lillian 
M. and Marshall B. died during childhood. Full of 
years and going gently down the sunset side of the 
mountain of life, Mr. Morgan is a reminder of the 
days when it was necessary to be a man of sterling 
parts to carve a commonwealth out of the forest. 
His recollection of the early days of the territory 
are among the pleasantest of a long life of great 
activity and abundant worth. 



HON. BENJAMIN H. MORGAN, mill man of 
Snohomish, is one of the native sons of Washington, 
a man who has passed his adult life in Snohomish 
county and who has always been identified with one 
of the great industries for which the Evergreen 
state is famous the world over. Mr. Morgan is one 



of the most successful business men of Snohomish 
and a man of influence throughout the entire coun- 
ty and state as a member of the legislature. Mr. 
Morgan was born in Olympia in 1861, the son of 
Hiram D. and Mary J. (Trout) Morgan, pioneers 
of Washington in the early fifties. The elder Mor- 
gan is one of the prominent pioneers of the terri- 
tory, a complete sketch of the life of whom appears 
elsewhere in this volume. Benjamin H. Morgan 
received his earlier education in the Olympia 
schools, finishing in Snohomish county to which he 
came when eighteen years of age. ]\Ir. Morgan's 
early days were intimately associated with his 
father's milling business and he thoroughly learned 
the principles of lumber trade and lumber material 
work. When twenty-two years of age Mr. Morgan 
in company with his brother, purchased the interest 
of the elder Morgan in the pioneer mill of Snohom- 
ish. Up tO' this time the father and a brother John, 
the latter of whom had earlier acquired the interest 
of E. C. Ferguson, had operated the mill. On the 
death of John Morgan, Benjamin H. and Alonzo 
Morgan obtained complete control of the establish- 
ment and have conducted the business to the pres- 
ent time under the name of Morgan Bros. Much of 
the timber near the city found its way to the Morgan 
mill. To the original saw-mill has been added a 
shingle mill, the capacity of the establishment now 
being 30,000 feet of lumber and 75,000 shingles a 
day. Mr. Morgan devotes his entire time to the mill 
business. 

In 1885 at Snohomish Mr. Morgan married Miss 
Nettie Foss, daughter of Fred and Almira (Deer- 
ing) Foss, natives of Maine who came to Washing- 
ton in 1875 and are still living in Snohomish. Mrs. 
Morgan was born in the Pine Tree state in 1868. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Morgan have been born two chil- 
dren : Maud, in 1886, and Benjamin, in 1889. In 
politics Mr. Morgan is an ardent and influential 
Republican. He is a member of the city council 
and has been for ten years in that body. In the 
campaign of 1902 Mr. Morgan was elected to the 
legislature and re-elected two years later. As a mem- 
ber of the legislature he has been one of the leading 
men and during the last session was chairman 
of the committee on commerce and manufacture. 
In fraternal circles Mr. Morgan is a member of 
the Masonic order, having taken the Royal Arch 
degrees ; an Odd Fellow, being a past grand, mem- 
ber of the Encampment and of the Rebekahs. He 
is also a member of the Knights of the Maccabees. 
In addition to the mill plant and his share in it, 
Mr. IVIorgan owns about 600 acres of land, some of 
which are timber and some logged ofi^. Mr. Mor- 
gan is a man of attainments and force of character, 
easily one of the foremost citizens of Snohomish. 



ALONZO W. MORGAN, prominent business 
man of Snohomish and one of the proprietors of the 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



849 



Morgan Bros.' mills in this city, is one of the in- 
fluential citizens of the county, a man of integrity, 
of force of character and those qualities which 
make for success in any walk of life. Air. Morgan 
is a native son of Washington, having been born in 
Olympia in September 24, 1863, the son of Hiram 
D. and Mary (Trout) Morgan, pioneers of Wash- 
ington in the early territorial days. The elder 
Morgan is one of the few remaining pioneers of 
the first movements of immigration to the Pacific 
northwest. A sketch of his remarkable life appears 
elsewhere in this work. Alonzo W. Morgan at- 
tended the schools of Olympia until he was thir- 
teen years of age, his parents at that time moving 
to Snohomish. It was here that his education was 
completed. At eighteen he entered the service of 
his father in the pioneer saw-mill in this part of 
the country. An older brother, John, had purchased 
the interest of his father's partner, E. C. Ferguson, 
and after John's death Alonzo and another brother, 
Benjamin, assumed the entire business, the father 
retiring from active life at that time. In the old 
days the mill was known as that of H. D. Morgan 
& Son; Morgan Bros. Company is the name it now 
bears. The Milling Company is incorporated and 
$25,000 of capital stock has been paid in. Benjamin 
Morgan is president ; Alonzo W. IMorgan, secretary 
and treasurer. In 1885 the brothers added to the 
saw and shingle mills already existing a sash and 
door factory, which is still in successful operation 
in connection with the other two branches of the 
business. Mr. Morgan's time is occupied with 
milling. 

In 1S91 at Seattle I\Ir. IMorgan married Miss 
Agnes C. Newhall, daughter of Captain William 
and Margaret (Liddell) Newhall. Captain Newhall 
was born in l\Iaine and early took to the sea, be- 
coming skipper of a vessel at twenty and continuing 
the life of a sailor for half a century. He came 
around the Horn in 1847 and is now living in retire- 
ment with the subject of this sketch. Mrs. New- 
hall was a native of Scotland and married in South 
America. She passed away when Mrs. Morgan 
was four years old. Mrs. Morgan was born in 
Maine, but coming to the Pacific coast with her 
father, received her education in the schools of 
Seattle, finishing with the State University at 
Seattle. Four children have been born to Mr.' and 
Mrs. Morgan ; Kenneth who died in infancy, Mil- 
dred, Howard and Clififord A. In politics Mr. Mor- 
gan is a Republican. In fraternal orders he is a 
member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, 
of the Knights of Pythias and of the Concatenated 
Order of Hoo Hoos. ]\Ir. Morgan's favorite form 
of recreation is hunting, being an ardent admirer 
of game fowl of all kinds. He is a man of sterling 
personality, of genial disposition and of much popu- 
larity. 



FRED V. FOSS, cigar and confectionery mer- 
chant in Snohomish, has had a long and honorable 
career in different lines of business activity in va- 
rious parts of the land. He has suffered reverses, 
endured hardships and undergone privations, yet 
he is to-day recovered financially and is one of the 
prosperous business men of his home city. Mr. 
Foss was born in Aroostook county, Maine, Jan. 
29, 1845, the eldest of three sons of Elias and Betsy 
(Niles) Foss. Christopher Foss, grandfather of the 
subject of this sketch, was a soldier of the War of 
1812, a man of the hardy principles of New England 
stock. Fred V. Foss at the age of eighteen entered 
upon business for himself, farming and lumbering 
constituting his chief lines for a number of years. 
Until he attained his majority he turned over a part 
of his earnings to his father, but on his arrival at 
twenty-one he formed a partnership with Leavitt 
Moss in operating a stage line between Bradley and 
Bangor, Maine. The firm also conducted a grocery 
business in Bradley. The coming of the railroad 
put the stage out of business, but Mr. Foss con- 
tinued the mercantile establishment until the com- 
mercial panic of 1873 put him also out of business. 
Mr.' Foss returned to work in the pine forests of his 
home state, determined to retrieve his fortunes. 
He was tireless in his efforts and honest in his 
dealings with his employers, with the result that he 
was successively advanced to positions of trust in 
the establishment. In 1889 Mr. Foss decided to 
come to Washington and at the invitation of Black- 
man Bros., formerly saw and grist mill men of 
Bradley, he accepted the position of tallyman in 
their saw-mill at Snohomish. He remained with 
that firm for some time, leaving to take a position 
in a grocery store. He was three years with that 
establishment and on the completion of the water 
works of Snohomish became superintendent and 
treasurer of the new venture, which positions he 
held for two years. Mr. Foss then went to San 
Francisco and passed seven months as motorman 
on the street railways of the California metropolis. 
On his return he entered mill work at Everett, ulti- 
mately entering the work of bridge construction for 
the Great Northern railway. In 1901 he established 
his present business which has been constantly 
growing in volume and profit. 

In 1870 while living in Bradley, Maine, Mr. Foss 
married Miss Flora B. Blackman, a native of the 
Pine Tree state, who passed away in this county 
in 1895. In 1901 Mr. Foss married Miss Alice 
Day, a native of Vermont. In politics Mr. Foss is 
a strong Republican and an active worker in the 
partv councils. In fraternal circles he is a member 
of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Mr. 
Foss feels that the days of his reverses are passed 
and that for the remainder of life Fortune will deal 
kindly with him. He is one of the respected and 
influential citizens of Snohomish, whose determina- 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



tion to do has not been broken by a succession of 
misfortunes. 

In politics he is a Republican since the fusion 
movement drove him from the Democratic party. 



CHARLES HAWKINSON, until recently one 
of the successful merchants of Snohomish engaged 
in the cigar and confectionery lines, now a pros- 
perous logger, has been in Snohomish county for 
a decade and a half, during which time he has stead- 
ily advanced by economy and energy from the posi- 
tion of a laborer in the lumber business first to the 
proprietorship of a prosperous commercial business 
of his own and then to logging on his own account. 
Mr. Hawkinson was born in Sweden March 23, 
1854, the son of Hawkin and Maria (Tryls) Swen- 
son, farmer folk, whose entire lives were passed in 
their native land. They had ten children, of whom 
Charles is the fifth. He attended the schools of 
Sweden only during the years of boyhood, early in 
life being compelled by necessity to support himself. 
He had few educational advantages because of this 
fact, but this disadvantage has been greatly offset 
by his keen powers of observation and ability to 
learn the lessons of whatever experience he under- 
went. When thirty years of age he left Sweden 
and came to the United States, setding in Cass 
county. North Dakota, in 1884. Here he engaged 
in farming for five years, then coming to the Puget 
Sound country and taking up a homestead thirteen 
miles northeast of Snohomish. He conducted farm- 
ing operations and engaged in lumbering up to 1902 
when he moved to town, thinking it would be to the 
advantage of his children to furnish them with bet- 
ter educational facilities. He then established the 
confectionery business in which until the fall of 
1905 he was steadily engaged with credit and with 
profit. Upon selling out his store he joined forces 
with others in purchasing a tract of timber land 
near Tolt about ten million feet in all, which they 
are now logging. Their firm name is the Novelty 
Logging Company. 

In 1878 before leaving his native land Mr. Haw- 
kinson married Miss Inga Jensen, also a native of 
Sweden. To Mr. and Mrs. Hawkinson have been 
born four children : Hilma, Thekla, Oscar and 
Selma, all of whom are still with their parents. In 
politics Mr. Hawkinson is a Republican, though his 
chief interest in public affairs is along the line of 
improving educational standards, a cause in which 
he takes a deep interest. In fraternal circles he is 
a member of the Foresters of America and of the 
Fraternal Order of Eagles. Mr. Hawkinson still 
retains title to his original homestead, which, to- 
gether with his city residence, constitutes a valu- 
able propert}'. He is one of the respected business 
men of Snohomish, a man of the highest character 
and of public spirit. 



CHARLES F. MOEHRING, shoe dealer of 
Snohomish, is one of the pioneer shoe men of the 
county, having been connected with this line of 
mercantile business since coming here in 1888. Mr. 
Moehring was one of the proprietors of the first 
exclusive shoe house in this city, which was also 
the first one in the entire county. Mr. Moehring 
was born in Pekin, Illinois, September 11, 1859, the 
youngest of three children of Frederick C. and 
Helena (Helwigs) Moehring, natives of Germany 
who came to the United States in 1858. The elder 
Moehring died when the subject of this biography 
was only six weeks old. The son was reared by 
the mother, who was remarried to H. O. Often, by 
whom she had three children. She died in Illinois 
in 1900. Charles F". Moehring received his educa- 
tion in Illinois, having the advantage of a private 
school. At fourteen he was learning the trade of 
shoemaker and for several years alternated betweea 
using the last and clerking in stores. When he 
became of age he had completed his education as 
a craftsman and at once opened a shoe shop on his 
own account in Pekin, 111. He managed this busi- 
ness for three years, selling out and becoming shoe 
salesman in a large establishment. In 1888 he came 
to Washington and at Snohomish in company with 
a step brother opened the first exclusive shoe house 
in the city and county, under the name of Often & 
Moehring. This business was continued until 1893, 
when Mr. Otten withdrew and left the trade in Mr. 
Moehring's hands. In 1896 he established a branch 
store in Everett, but after six months of experiment 
removed the stock to his Snohomish store. 

In 1882 at Pekin. Illinois, Mr. Moehring mar- 
ried Miss Clara Fauth, daughter of John and Eliza- 
beth (Morgenstern) Fauth. Mr. Fauth was a 
Pennsylvanian by birth and a descendant of the 
old Dutch stock for which that state is noted. He 
was a blacksmith and miner, dying in 1888. Mrs. 
Fauth was born in Germany, coming to the United 
States when a young lady. Mrs. Moehring was 
born in Pennsylvania Jan. 30, 1861. When she 
was four years old her parents moved to Illinois 
and located in Pekin, 111., where she received her 
education. To Mr. and Mrs. Moehring have been 
born nine children: Henry F., who is head clerk 
in his father's store ; Frederick C, bookkeeper in the 
Commercial bank of Snohomish : Carl W., Walter 
P., Julia H., Luther H., Albert T., Ellis H., and 
Esther E. In politics Mr. Moehring is a Democrat, 
but not an office seeker. He is a member of the 
Lutheran chiu-ch. In addition to his shoe store Mr. 
Moehring has property interests in both Snohomish 
and Everett. He is a man of sterling character, of 
business ability of a high order and of citizenship of 
the best kind! He is" highly respected both as a 
merchant and as a man. 



CHARLES H. BAKEMAN, furniture dealer 
and undertaker of Snohomish, is one of the thor- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



ough business men of the city and one of her lead- 
ing citizens. Air. Bakeman has been intimately 
connected with the business and public affairs of 
the city since he came here in 1883. Mr. Bakeman 
was bom in Marinette county, Wisconsin, in Octo- 
ber of 1861, the son of John and Louise (Bartells) 
Bakeman, natives of Germany who came to the 
United States when young and settled in the Badger 
state. Mr. and Mrs. Bakeman came to Washington 
in 1884 and are living on a farm about a mile east 
of Snohomish. Charles H. Bakeman received his 
formal education in Wisconsin and after leaving 
school learned the trade of carriage maker, serving 
a three years apprenticeship at Green Bay. He then 
spent some time in the woods of northern Wis- 
consin and for two years worked at his trade. In 
1883 he came to Washington and settled in Snohom- 
ish. His first engagement was teaching school, after 
which he was employed in a general merchandise 
store. In 1885 he opened a furniture store, and 
later added an undertaking department. He also 
worked some at his trade, turning out the first 
bugg)' made in Snohomish county, a vehicle which 
is still in use. In 1893 Mr. Bakeman's establish- 
ment was destroyed by fire. He reopened business 
on a smaller scale and sold out two years later to 
James Hall, and left the undertaking work in the 
hands of a brother while he went into the Monte 
Cristo mining district. For two years he worked 
the O. & B. mine and took out considerable value. 
The flood of 1897 tore away the railroad and dam- 
aged the mine workings to a large extent, so that 
Mr. Bakeman retired once more to Snohomish and 
assumed charge of the undertaking business, his 
brother going to Alaska. 

In 1890 at Snohomish Mr. Bakeman married 
Miss Nine Bakeman, daughter of George and Fran- 
cis (Eddy) Bakeman, natives of Maine and now 
residents of Snohomish where Mr. Bakeman is a 
contractor. IMrs. Bakeman was born in Bangor and 
received her education in that cit}' and in the high 
school at Oakland, California. She taught school in 
California and at Snohomish prior to her marriage. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Bakeman have been born four 
children : Inez, Guy. Francis L. and Charles T. 
In politics Mr. Bakeman is a Republican. He has 
been coroner for a number of terms, city treasurer 
for one term and for twelve years a member of 
the city council. He has also served as a member 
of the school board. In fraternal circles Mr. Bake- 
man is an Odd Fellow and a past grand of that 
order, a member of the Knights of Pythias, of the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen, of the Red 
Men and of the Eagles. In addition to his business 
in Snohomish Mr. Bakeman owns 200 acres of 
timber land and is also engaged in breeding fine 
horses. He is considered one of the representative 
business men of Snohomish and a man of sterling 
character. 



ELHANAN BLACKM AN.— There is no one 
familiar with the history of Snohomish county but 
recognizes the immense debt of gratitude that is 
due the Blackman Brothers for their contributions- 
to the art of logging or will deny that to them is 
due a large share of the credit for the fact that 
the Sound country (as is asserted by United States 
government publications) leads the world in the 
perfection to which that art has been brought. 
Mechanics by nature and training, they have in- 
vented more improved ways of doing things in the 
woods and studied out more appliances than any 
other firm in the entire state, and it can hardly be 
doubted that the introduction of their logging car 
in the eighties paved the way for the development 
of logging railroads. To them also belongs the 
honor of having first introduced Snohomish red 
cedar shingles into the markets of the East, thereby- 
laying the foundation for the splendid industry 
which has sprung up since, bringing great wealth 
to the entire Sound country. Their own milling 
operations, carried on in spite of adversity, for 
they have sufifered overwhelming losses by fire, have 
contributed very materially from an early date to 
the prosperity and progress of Snohomish county. 
The courage, devotion and business ability displayed 
by this firm has merited a better reward than has 
been meted out to them from the hand of fate, but 
they can enjov the consciousness of having accom- 
plished a good work in their line of endeavor and 
won the admiration and respect of those with whom 
they have been associated, even though the mone- 
tarv reward for such work may have in large meas- 
ure escaped them. 

Elhanan Blackman is a native of Bradley, 
Maine, born in 1844, the fourth of the six children 
of Adam and Mary (Howard) Blackman, both of 
whom were bom in the Pine Tree state. The par- 
ents both passed most of their lives in the common- 
wealth of their nativity, deriving a livelihood from 
agriculture and the lumbering industry, but a few 
years before their demise came to Snohomish, the 
scene of their worthy sons' operations. Elhanan 
received the customary common school discipline, 
then worked on the parental farm until 1865, when 
he and his brothers A. A. and Hyrcanus embarked 
in a general lumber manufacturing business at 
Bradlev. After seven years of successful endeavor, 
thev started for Washington, leaving the morning 
of Grant's second election. Our subject's first work- 
in the new state was in a Port Gamble saw-mill, 
but he soon came to Lowell, where he was engaged 
in logging and working in the woods for a twelve- 
month. In the spring of 1875 he came to Snoho- 
mish and with his brothers opened a logging camp 
on the lake which bears their name. For nine years 
their operations were confined chiefly to that lake, 
though in 1883 they commenced offerations at 
Mukilteo, where they had a partner named W. W. 



€52 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



Howard, and they were at work there also for four 
years. Other camps operated by the brothers were 
those at Cathcart, where they were engaged for 
three years ; at Marysville, where they spent four 
years, seUing out in 1892 their outfit and a large 
body of timber ; and at Pilchuck, the last mentioned 
camp being operated at least part of the time con- 
comitantly with that at Marysville. In 1892 the 
brothers incorporated under the laws of the state. 

The Blackmans built their first mill in Snohomish 
in 1884, including shingle, sash and door factory, 
and continued to operate it until 1889, when it 
burned down, entailing a loss of $150,000. Nothing 
daxnited they soon after erected another mill the 
same as before. It fed the flames two and a half 
years later, the loss this time being $100,000. At 
Granite Falls in 1892 they built a saw and shingle 
mill which, three years later, met the fate of its 
predecessors, and the Blackmans had the mortifica- 
tion of seeing $20,000 more go up in smoke. With a 
courage that was truly remarkable they built a 
fourth mill in 1897, a large saw and shingle plant 
at Everett, and this time the fates were kinder for 
thev were permitted to operate the mill in peace for 
four years, and though it finally burned it did not 
do so until it had passed into the hands of Wheeler 
& Osgood, of Tacoma, so the loss fell upon others. 

The Blackman Brothers have also branched out 
into other lines. In 1881 they opened a general 
store in Snohomish which was placed under the 
supervision of H. Blackman ; in 1891 they pur- 
chased as a speculation thirty acres of land under 
ditch at Wenatchee, to which six acres have since 
been added ; this land they held without ever going 
to see it or ever having seen it in the first place 
until 1901, when they recognized its value as fruit 
land and converted it into an orchard. It is now 
in charge of a manager and one of the owners 
makes a visit to it spring and fall to look after it. 
The brothers are also interested in the Bonito Min- 
ing Company at Slate creek, Whatcom county, 
owners of a free gold proposition to which they are 
giving much attention. The company has twenty- 
three claims, developed by 1,550 feet of working 
tunnels besides the underground working tunnels, 
and supplied with a tcn-stainp mill. To date the 
mine has produced ovrr s I on, (inn Since 1903 Mr. 
Blackman has prospcclc'l c iisi(lrral)ly in the Cas- 
cades, one result of his explorations being the loca- 
tion in the Sultan basin, of the Shamrock and ib; 
extensions, in which the three brothers and William 
Brown of Snohomish are all interested and which 
they all consider a very valuable property- The 
brothers also own considerable realty in Everett. 
They have achieved a success in the industrial world 
such as comparatively few men have the ability to 
win, starting with nothing, and fighting their wav 
step by step, conquering in spite of losses which 
would utterly crush men of ordinary pluck, so con- 



ducting their enterprises at all times as to retain 
the highest respect and good will of those with 
whom they have been associated and to confer the 
greatest possible benefit upon the community and 
county. None has a more exalted place than they 
in the esteem of the people of Snohomish and ad- 
joining counties. 

In 1868 Mr. Blackman married Miss Frances 
Osgood, oldest of the six children of Joseph and 
Mary (Archey) Osgood, natives of Maine and 
Missouri respectively. Mrs. Blackman was born 
in Buffalo, New York, while her parents were en 
route from Missouri to Maine, and she acquired 
her education and spent her life until her mar- 
riage in the last mentioned state. She and Mr. 
Blackman are parents of one daughter, Mrs. Edith 
Morris, wife of the cashier of the Oregon Savings 
Bank of Portland. In fraternal affiliations, Mrs. 
Blackman is identified with the Order of the East- 
ern Star, while Mr. Blackman is a Mason; in pnli- 
tics he is a Democrat, in religious belief a Christian 
Scientist. 



HYRCANUS BLACKMAN is a member of the 
celebrated firm of Blackman Brothers, which has 
been so frequently referred to in these pages and 
whose extensive and praiseworthy operations have 
been briefly narrated in the article under the head 
of Elhanan Blackman. It is fitting, however, that 
brief mention be made of Hyrcanus Blackman per- 
sonally. Fie was born in Bradley, Maine, Janu- 
ary 4, 1847, and was educated in the public schools 
of that state and in Westbrook Seminary, also took 
a full course in and received a diploma from the 
Charles F. Wells Business College, at New Haven, 
Connecticut. His first occupation was teaching but 
after spending a term as head of the school room he 
concluded that practical pedagogy was not the pro- 
fession for him. No doubt the larger opportunities 
and greater possibilities of a business career at- 
tracted him and the promptings of a restless ambi- 
tion made the limitations of the school room irk- 
some; at any rate he soon joined his brothers in 
the lumber manufacturing business and he has been 
associated with them continuously since exce]it for 
a hiicf pcrin.l after first coming to Snohomish 
coiiniy wlitii he worked for E. D. Smith at Lowell. 

(^hir sulijict has, perhaps, given more attention 
to politics than either of his brothers, discharging 
with credit to himself the duties of several respon- 
sible offices. When the city of Snohomish was in- 
corporated he was the choice of the people for their 
first mayor. He was a member of the territorial 
legislature in 1878 and had the honor to serve as 
delegate to the Democratic National Convention 
which nominated Parker for the presidency. 

In ]\Iay, 1869, Mr. Blackman married Ella E., 
daughter of Cyrus and Phoebe A. (Foss) Knapp. 
Her parents spent most of their lives in Maine but 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



853 



they went to California in 1854 and spent the en- 
suing six years in the Golden state; both are now 
deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Blackman have two chil- 
dren, Clifford A., born October 19, 1884, now a 
student in Puget Sound Academy, and Eunice L., 
born May 17, 1887. In fraternal affiliations Mr. 
Blackman is a Mason, having joined Centennial 
Lodge No. 35, of Snohomish, as a charter member, 
and he is also a charter member of the Knights of 
Pythias. 



ALANSON A. BLACKMAN, of the firm of 
Blackman Brothers, Inc., has been associated with 
his brothers, Elhanan and Hyrcanus, throughout 
practically the whole of his business career, and the 
doings and fortunes of that well known firm have 
received extended attention elsewhere. Mr. Black- 
man was born in Bradley, Maine, May 26, 1840. 
He received the advantages of a common school and 
academy training, then started in the lumber busi- 
ness, a line which has demanded a large share of 
his time and- energies ever since. He is the patentee 
of the Blackman logging truck, heretofore referred 
to, and he and his brother, Elhanan, are the in- 
ventors of the Mitchell Clipper Shingle Machine. 
Although an enthusiastic Democrat, Mr. Blackman 
has never accepted office, preferring to give his 
whole mind to his busines and to inventing better 
methods and appliances for carrying it on success- 
fully. Fraternally he is a member of the Masonic 
order, his name being on the charter of Centennial 
Lodge No. 25. In November, 1866, he married Miss 
Eliza J., daughter of Willard and Triphena Howard, 
well known residents of the Pine Tree state. 



GEORGE W. KIRK, scenic and portrait pho- 
tographer of Snohomish, is one of the well known 
citizens of that city and a man who probably knows 
as much about the landscapes of Snohomish county 
as any other one individual within its borders. Mr. 
Kirk was born at Port Deposit, Maryland, in' Sep- 
tember of 1848 of Scotch-English and Welsh-Eng- 
lish parentage. His father, William Kirk, was the 
son of Elisha Kirk, a soldier of the Revolutionary 
War, and a lineal descendant of Roger Kirk, well 
known in the colonial days of Maryland. Mrs. 
Jane (Williams) Kirk was also a native of Cecil 
county, Maryland. George W. Kirk grew up on 
his father's farm, and attended the common schools 
until fitted to enter the West Nottingham academy. 
Upon leaving that institution he came west as far 
as Iowa, where, at Pulaski, Davis county, he en- 
gaged in mercantile business for four years, return- 
ing to Maryland to care for his father in his old 
age. While here his attention was drawn to pho- 
tography and he commenced to learn the art, com- 
pleting his preparation with William Chase, a noted 
scenic photographic artist of Baltimore. Mr. Kirk 
then went to Huntington, West Virginia, where he 



followed his calling for thirteen years. In 1888 
he came to Chehalis, Lewis county, Washington, 
and engaged in growing fruit. He later removed 
to Puyallup and for two years engaged with un- 
usual success in producing small fruits. In 1891 
from one and a half acres, Mr. Kirk marketed 
8,321 pounds of raspberries, receiving $840 there- 
for, while disposing of $200 worth of plants grown 
that year on the same tract. Mr. Kirk had still 
held his farm at Chehalis and in the fall of 1891 
returned to that place. Five years later he re- 
sumed, to some extent, the photographic profession, 
and in 1898 came to Everett and purchased a gal- 
lery. This he continued to manage for four years, 
closing out to come to Snohomish. 

February 6, 1876, in Chester county, Pennsyl- 
vania, Mr. Kirk married Miss Eliza J. Pennypacker, 
first cousin of Governor Samuel Pennypacker and 
daughter of Washmgton and Eliza (Wright) Pen- 
nypacker, both of whom came of the old Holland 
stock for which Pennsylvania is noted. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Kirk three children have been born: 
Thomas Leston, Sherman E., who is employed at 
Williams' saw-mill near Monroe, and a daughter 
who died in infancy. In politics Mr. Kirk is a 
Republican and active in the caucuses, conventions 
and councils of his party. He is a member of the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen. His church 
affiliations are with the Methodist Episcopal society 
and have been for thirty-three years, in which or- 
ganization he is holding official position. Since 
coming to Snohomish, Mr. Kirk has engaged also 
in fruit growing to a degree, he having a predilec- 
tion toward fruit culture just as much as he has 
for nature and the camera. Mr. Kirk is highly 
esteemed, is prosperous in business and a man of 
influence in his home town and surrounding com- 
munity. On October 9, 1905, Mr. Kirk took up a 
homestead near Darrington, to which he will soon 
remove, his health having been impaired by a para- 
lytic stroke some years ago, which has recently 
been causing him trouble again. The Snohomish 
business will be continued by the son Thomas Les- 
ton, who is also a photographer of ability. 



LOT WILBUR.— In a work of this character 
special attention is always paid to the pioneer, the 
man who came to the country while it was yet in 
its wilderness state, had the perception to appre- 
ciate its undeveloped resources and the persistency 
to "stay with it" until he had demonstrated its 
worth to the world in general and, with the help 
of later comers, forever won it from the domain 
of savagery to that of civilization and liberal en- 
lightenment. But among pioneer peoples as else- 
where there are always men who are distinguished 
above their fellows on account of the special abund- 
ance of their contributions to progress, the large- 
ness of the mold in which they are cast, the magni- 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



tude of their success. Entitled to not a little of 
this special distinction even among a distinguished 
and honored class is Lot Wilbur, the pioneer drug- 
gist of Snohomish county, the victor in a long, hard 
battle with opposing forces in the industrial and 
commercial world. Fortune seems to have frowned 
upon him in early life but the buffeting of adver- 
sity only strengthened him for the struggle and he 
has won where the less resolute woulil have gone 
down to defeat. 

Mr. Wilbur was born in Lapeer Comity, Michi- 
gan, .\ugust 39, 1846, the fourth of the six children 
of iMarvin W. and Jane (Gregory) Wilbur, both 
of whom were natives of New York state, but 
passed the greater portion of their lives in Michi- 
gan. The father settled in the latter common- 
wealth when nineteen years old, took up the pur- 
suit of the lumber business and followed that and 
farming for years. He and his worthy helpmeet 
have both passed away. Mr. Wilbur, of this article, 
acquired a common school education, though he 
had to work hard all the time he was getting it, 
and was in the midst of a high school course when 
adverse circumstances called a peremptory halt and 
forced him prematurely into the industrial whirl. 
His first employment was on a farm, his wages 
nine dollars a month. After having worked long 
enough to earn the mimificent sum of forty-five 
dollars, he became an employe in his father's lum- 
ber camp and he was thus engaged for the ensuing 
six years or until his legal majority was reached, 
whereupon he went to Minnesota. His ambition 
for professional life had never left him and he re- 
solved that if he must give himself to business he 
would at least devote a portion of his time to study, 
so he bought a drug store at Mantorville, and be- 
gan, in his own establishment, an effort to master 
the theory and practice of pharmacy. For nine 
years he conducted this business successfully, then 
he disposed of his interests and headed for the far 
West. His first home in Washington was Olympia, 
where, for a few months, he was engaged in log- 
ging operations on his own account ; then he worked 
a month in a drug store in Seattle, then, in Decem- 
ber, 1875, he came to Snohomish and opened the 
pioneer drug store of the county and the only one 
within its bounds until Andrew B. Klaeboe estab- 
lished one at Stanwood in 1S8S. Snohomish City 
has been Mr. Wilbur's place of residence continu- 
ously since his first arrival thirty years ago, but he 
is widely known throughout the sound country and 
wherever his celebrated Puget Sound remedies have 
been advertised. He has spent much study and 
effort in perfecting these, many thousands of dol- 
lars in introilucing them to the public, and he has 
reason to believe that in so doing he has conferred 
a real blessing upon suffering humanity. 

In 1808 in Calhoim County, Michigan, Mr. Wil- 
bur married Miss Jennie Moore, whose parents, 
John and Betsy (Grenell) Moore, were natives of 



New York state but became pioneers of Michigan. 
Mrs. Wilbur was born and reared in the last men- 
tioned state, the date of her birth being IS-IG. 

Mr. Wilbur is a member of the A. O. U. W. and 
the I. O. O. F. fraternities, and in politics a Repub- 
lican. Wliile giving close attention to business, as 
every man must who makes a success of it, he has 
not neglected the social or intellectual sides of life, 
nor has he been derelict to his duties as a citizen. 
On the contrary he has been in some measure a 
leader in political matters, serving with efficiency as 
county treasurer for two terms and as probate 
judge for one, while the municipal government of 
Snohomish had the benefit of his ripe experience 
and sound judgment during the earliest years of 
its corporate existence. 



TIIOM.VS PHILIPSEN, expert iti dairy pro- 
ducts and at present the sole proprietor of the Sno- 
homish creamery, is one of the men who was quick 
to see the advantages of a specialty which had as 
its basis one of the staples of the small farmer and 
small dairy farmer. After three years of experi- 
ence in farming in the vicinity of Snohomish he 
concluded that a depot for dairy products would be 
a paying investment, and on putting his theory to 
the test found that he was not wrong in his esti- 
mate of the possibilities. Mr. Philipsen was born 
in southern Denmark, near the line of Schleswig- 
Plolstein, .\pril (i, IST'l, the son of Jerry and Cecelia 
(Smith) Philipsen. The father was a musician and 
dancing master of wide repute in Denmark and 
was in a position to give his son an education of 
more than usual advantages aft'orded the young of 
Jutland. A part of young Philipsen's formal edu- 
cation was obtained in Germany, where he took a 
business college course and qualified himself for 
details of a commercial life. Lie also became thor- 
oughly familiar with dairying, as that branch of 
farm industry is carried on in the old country. Un- 
til 1898, ]\Ir. Philipsen was connected with com- 
mercial farming and with dairying in the old coun- 
try, but in the year mentioned he came to the 
United States in quest of openings for an expert 
dairyman. He first settled in Ehvood, Clinton 
County, Iowa, and worked on a dairy farm. Soon 
after he became known and his qualities became 
recognized, he was engaged as manager of the 
Farmers' LTnion Creamery Company at Maquoketa, 
the county seat of Jackson county, .\fter a success- 
ful career in this capacity, Mr. Philipsen came to 
Washington and for a year worked in connection 
with the Monroe Creamery Company at Monroe, 
Snohomish county. One year later he had leased 
a farm and was operating a dairy establishment 
on his own account. .'\ short experience as a pro- 
ducer indicated to him that there was lack of facil- 
ity for the profitable disposition of the produce of 
the average farmer of the vicinity engaged in dairy- 



X.K'AI'IIK Al 



.•,Im;mIv |h..vc(1 ili:i.lc( 
iipnii il. lie is turn 
;il..)iil .fiiiO.OOO aii<l III 

l.lu.lllCLTH. Mr. Hull 



ilii.'iti 



il.iiiplalint,^ (loiil)- 
ilaiiiiff a sH-aiiKT 

,i.-nl .nllrrli,,,, „f 



IVIT 



l.ililics of llu 

licforc leaving ln'. naliv.- I.iihI Mk I 'liiliir^.n 

111.11 ric.l Miss Jo.srpillllr I :iilllll, .l.ill|:lil.l ni I'.inrJ 

Hiiiiili. .1 iialivc- of l)ciiiiiari<, 1lioii^;li now a tvsi- 
(Iciii nl (..iiuany. To Mr. and Mrs. riiilipscii liavc: 
l.rrn lioiii live cliiMii'ii, of whom i'.incsl aiui an 
iiiiiianic.l iiifani have <lic<|, jcnv, Imik-sI ,iii.| ( iirih- 
tiiia arc slill living;'. Mr, I 'liilijcrn is |,ro-,|.<M-oiis 
ill liis line of liiisiiicss, a iii;in ciirrfc'lic and with 
f.iciiilics alert lo possihililii-s, a . Iiai :n ici r.lir cvi- 

dnii in liis lakinj,' advanlai^'c of : drvdopcd 

d.iiiy siliiatioii in Snolioniisli. 

IKI'.I) .SCIIAI'I'-.K, liariu'ss inaniira. Iiir.-r' and 
.|r;,|,T ,,f Snohoniisii, is one of (lie men who <'anu- 
iiiio (his pari of (in- coinilry in llic early days. 
'I lionj^di 111! is conipaialively a yoiinjjf man, it may 
seem a little slarlliiiK to tin- r<:i<|ri h, understand 
that Mr. Schafer's inlnxliK imn Im iIic I'lijrct .Soinid 
coiintry came only after In- li.id iriififred across 
llie crest of the Cascarles from ^:llellsl,nr^,^ then 
I lie western terminus of the Northern Pacific rail- 
ro.id. Mr. Scliafer was horn in the far south of 
'i.rmaiiy, on the horderland (,f the country (jf tlie 
Alps, in I'ehruary of IHCO, the younf,'-est of nine 
<liildren of John C. ami Dorothy ( Apjierspach) 
Schafer, farmer folk of the southern part of tlie 
l-atherland. YoiniK' .Schafer receive.! his educa- 
tion in the common schools of liis native land and 
iniirl i||i. memhers of his family to the 
:.t.iir , 1,1 IHHI. When (ifteen years of a^e 
Mill- .ippi.iiliced lo the trade of harness 
maker at llol^;al<', I Imrv 'oiiiilv, Ohio, then the 
home of his pareiils. I'onr var, lal.-r he left jlol- 
^Vitr, on the look.ail for a location for himself. He 
vi ii<d diCfereiil jjarts of the country, workiii)? at 
his trade, imtil in IHHCJ his attention was called lo 
the rapidly develo(»inf( resources of WaHhin),'ton. 
The Northern I'acific railroad harl not heen con- 
structed further west than I'"llenslnir(.( and at that 
point Mr. Schafer joined a hand of travelers hound 
for the sound on foot. He took iij) a preemption 
<:laini some six miles from Snohomish, and f(jr four 
years alternaterl helween farming,', devekjpint,' his 
own holrhuf,' and workinfj for the railroarl. In 
]H!iO he accepted a position in ConieKys harness 



llnih 

lie h 



IlK Ihe e!,tal.lisl ■lit 

lldlirjcd the hnsiliess 
:idvaii( iiij'. with the 



two rif whom, John .and lulward, survive, Mrs. 
Schafer pas.sed away lal(.' in the year IH!)H. In 
Novemher of i!)(H Mr. .Sch.afer married Miss 
luiialic! Johnson, a native of Miimesola and daiiKli- 
ter of natives of Sweden who :irr? slill living in 
111,- I'l.ilii,- sl.il.-. T.. Ihi, union one child ll.as heen 
I... Ill, ii.iiiMsl ( |,,i;,. In |„,|,i„v Mr. .Schafer is af^ 
hlial.sl Willi III. 1^ |,iiI,Im:,i, p;,ilv, IIioukIi he is 

not adivr 111 lis lis. Ill li,,lriii;,| rirrl.-:, he 

is a iim-iiiIm-, ,,I ilir hid. p. lid. 1,1 I II. I. I .,1 ( Md hrh 
lows, ol 111.' I'.,i,.s|.is .,1 Ain.ll.a, .,1 III.- VVoor|iii,-|| 

of Ihe World and of (he Anrienl Order of llniled 
Workinen, in e;icli of which oiKanizalions he in 
active. Mr. Seh.-ifcr is one of the enerf.;.'lic hiisi- 

enjoyiiiK the . ..iili.|.ii. . ..I lli.- . ..iiiiii.i. i.-il p.-opl.; 
of the city ;il|.| siiii .hiimIiii}', roiililiy. 



(il'.OUCIC M, (.OCIIkAN, pn.pM.-lor .d I 
Snohomish Hardware Company, is one of Ihe lea 
ill),'- merchants of ihe city and a man of varied e 
perieiices from the Atlantic lo the I'arilic. I 
cam.- 1.1 111.- I'acific Northwest in IHH.'i and h;is sin 
tli.-il liiii.- lii-.-n actively en),'aKed in coimncn i;il pi 



ily, 



siiil-i. Ml, ( ochran was horn in Aroostook ' 
Maine, June m, IH(i;(, the lliird of seven .hil.li.-n 
of Henry I', and Addie flseatonj Co.ln.-in, ,-d-.o 
natives of tile I'ine Tree slate. The elder ( orhLin 
is of Irish extraction. The Kiealer part of his lifo 
has heen passed in the inercanlile hiisiness, hut he 
was a pioneer miner in California to which Htate 
lie came first hy the isthmu.'i route in IH.'Ja, and 
ajfain in IH(;;t. He is now livinjf in TaconKi. Mrs. 
C'ochran jirior to her marriage was a school teacher 
in her native state, Ccor).;e M. ('ocliran received 
his early education in the common schools and later 
took a course at H'lnllon Academy, When fifteen 
years of a^e he entered a druj,' store in Hoiilloii 
for the purposes of Ktudyiii« the profession of driiK- 
^dst and learnin^f ^a-neral hiisiness principles. Hiir- 
hiii the last year of the four whi<:h he passerl in 
this store, he fillerl the position of prescription clerk. 
Tn \HH2 went to IJosloii and attended the Massaclni- 
setts CnUcfii: of rhannacy, also at llic name time 
serving as prescription clerk in the store in which 
he worked. In IHH;i he came to Kllisf)ort, Idalu*, 
where he remained hut four months, ultimately set- 
lliiiK ill Montesano, Chehalis C'oiinly, Wasliinj^'lon, 
wliere in crjinpany with IC. A. Lancaster he en- 
f(a((ed in the hardware hiisiness for two years. At 
the end of that period Mr. Lancaster died, and 



856 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



his interest in the establishment was acquired by 
Mr. Cochran's brother. In 1898 the business was 
removed to Snohomish, and established as the Sno- 
homish Hardware Company, the brother being in 
charge, as Mr. Cochran had received appointment 
as deputy county treasurer in Chehalis county in 
the previous year. The deputyship continued until 
1901, in which year Mr. Cochran came to Sno- 
homish and took charge of the business. In the 
same year C. N. Wilson purchased the interest of 
Mr. Cochran's brother, the new firm continuing 
the business as the Snohomish Hardware Company, 
under which style the establishment is now known, 
though in 1904 Mr. Cochran acquired Mr. Wilson's 
interest and is now sole owner of the store. 

At Montesano, in 1887, Mr. Cochran married 
Miss Laura Campbell, daughter of Angus and Mag- 
gie (Singleton) Campbell, natives of Illinois. The 
father died when Mrs. Cochran was a child, but 
the mother is still living, a resident of Chehalis 
county. Mrs. Cochran was born in Mount Ster- 
ling, Illinois, and received her education there. She 
passed away in 1894, leaving two children: Alta, 
and Ralph C., now in the high school at Snohomish. 
In 1897 Mr. Cochran married Miss Retta Baker, 
daughter of William and Amanda (Young) Baker, 
natives of Kentucky who came to Washington in 
the 'seventies. The father is still living at the 
home of his daughter. Mrs. Cochran is a native 
of Illinois, but came with her parents to this state 
when a child. She received her education in the 
common and high school and also in the State 
Normal school at Ellensburg. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Cochran two children have been born, Lyall W. 
and Neil M. In fraternal circles Mr. Cochran is 
a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows and of the Encampment, also of the Rebekahs, 
and he has held the chair of noble grand in its sub- 
ordinate lodges. Mrs. Cochran is also a Rebekah 
and a past grand of that auxiliary order. In poli- 
tics Mr. Cochran is affiliated with the Democratic 
party. Though one of the comparatively new men 
in Snohomish business life Mr. Cochran has already 
made for himself a place high in the esteem of the 
business people and the public of the city. 



CHARLES E. SPRAU. one of the proprietors 
of the Penobscot Hotel, the leading hostelry of 
Snohomish, is among the hustling citizens of that 
city, a well known hotel man of the county, and a 
popular citizen. He was born in Ohio in the closing 
days of 1865, December 20th, the son of Jacob and 
Julia (Burgdoerfer) Sprau, natives of the Buck- 
eye state and of German ancestry. Two years after 
the birth of the subject of this biography the Sprau 
family removed from Ohio and settled on a farm in 
Michigan, where Charles E. Sprau received his 
education, together with his brothers and sisters, 
Jesse M., Roy A., Arthur B., Effie, Nina and 



Ethelyn. The young man remained at home, as- 
sisting his father on the farm, until he was twenty- 
four, at that age coming to the Puget sound coun- 
try- and engaging in work in the saw mills for three 
years. In 1894 Mr. Sprau returned to his old home 
in the Peninsula state for a few months and then 
set his face once more toward the Pacific coast. He 
came to California and for two years was in the 
employ of the Kern County Land Company at 
Bakersfield. In 1896 he was once more in Snoho- 
mish county, working in the mills and at various 
occupations, at which he continued for three years. 
In 1899 he opened a cigar and confectionery store 
in this city, which he conducted with good success 
for five years, at the end of which period he formed 
a partnership with C. Gosch and leased the Penob- 
scot, the leading hotel of the city. The house has 
been popular with the traveling public, and under 
the energetic management of its present proprietors 
has steadily grown in the esteem of its patrons. 
Mr. Sprau is popular with all classes of the travel- 
ing and home public and largely because of this fact 
the business enjoys a liberal patronage of local and 
transient guests. In politics Mr. Sprau is a Re- 
publican ; in fraternal affiliations, a member of the 
Knights of Pythias and of the Foresters of America. 
He is a man of liberal views, endowed with exec- 
utive ability, unquestionably lending his influence 
toward the betterment of every condition bearing 
on his home city and the state in general. 



T. VENZEL URBAN, one of the leading mer- 
chant tailors of the city of Snohomish, within fifteen 
years has established a lucrative business in the 
manufacture of men's wearing apparel and at the 
present time enjoys a large list of patrons who 
place every confidence in his skill. Mr. Urban was 
born in Bohemia in the autumn of 1861, the son of 
Joseph Urban, who became a widower shortly after 
the birth of the subject of this biography. The 
elder Urban was born in 1807 and during his long 
life, which continued until 1888, was a farmer ex- 
cept when called to positions in the public service, 
where he was held in high esteem because of his 
marked ability. The other children of the elder 
Urban are: Joseph, born March 21, 1859; Frank, 
born in 1857 ; Mary, now Mrs. Frank Audel, born 
1864 — all living in Bohemia. 

T. Venzel Urban received his education in the 
common schools of his native country, but at the 
age of fourteen left school and home and went to 
Vienna, Austria, where he began his apprentice- 
ship in the tailor trade. He passed five years in the 
Austrian capital, during one of which was in busi- 
ness on his own account. Returning to Bohemia, 
Mr. Urban passed two years there and in 1881 he 
came to the LTnited States, settling in New Prague, 
Minnesota, where he worked in a tailor shop for 
three months. He then removed to Rice county, 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



in southern Minnesota, and followed farming for 
six years. A short time was then spent in New 
Prague, after which he went to Duluth, on Lake 
Superior, where he worked at his trade for more 
than a year. In 1889 he came to the Puget sound 
country, and after spending a few months at his 
trade in Seattle, located in Snohomish, where he 
has ever since resided. For a time after coming 
here Mr. Urban was an employe of a tailoring es- 
tablishment, but he had not been here a year when 
he purchased the interests of his employer and he 
has since managed the business himself, establish- 
ing an excellent reputation as a practical, thorough 
tradesman and energetic business man. 

In Letcher, South Dakota, November 21, 1892, 
Mr. Urban married Miss Annie Merleen, who, 
though a native of Texas, was a daughter of parents 
who were natives of Bohemia. Mr. and Mrs. Mer- 
leen are now living in Minnesota. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Urban have been born four children : Mary, Frank, 
Lawrence and Charles. In fraternal circles Mr. 
Urban is a member of the Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows, of the Modern Woodmen of America 
and of the Foresters, while Mrs. Urban is a mem- 
ber of the Royal Neighbors of America. Mr. 
Urban is regarded with favor by the citizens of 
Snohomish, not only on account of his sterling 
qualities as a tradesman and business man, but also 
because of his personal characteristics of affability, 
honor and integritv. 



HON. WOODBURY B. SINCLAIR (de- 
ceased) was one of the pioneers of Snohomish city 
and county and a man widely known and highly 
respected throughout the entire Puget sound region. 
His career in this county was of such prominence 
and his contributions to the development of Sno- 
homish county were so many and of such effect that 
no history of the county would be complete without 
adequate reference to him. Mr. Sinclair was born 
in Kenduskeag, Maine, August 5, 182G, attended 
the common schools and the high school of his na- 
tive town, and after completing his schooling 
learned the trade of cooper. In 1851, when twenty- 
five years of age. Woodbury Sinclair was attracted 
to California by the glowing reports which followed 
the discovery of gold. In 1855 he came to Puget 
sound and in company with others built a saw mill 
at Seabeck, Kitsap county, — the first in that section 
of the sound country. In 1864 he came to Cady- 
ville, now included in Snohomish, and opened a 
trading post for the exchange of supplies for the 
furs and cranberries of the Indians. Trade was in 
a very crude condition and often Mr. Sinclair re- 
ceived from the settlers home-made shingles, or 
"shakes," which in turn he forwarded to Victoria, 
where they were exchanged for merchandise and 
supplies. From Mr. Cady, who had given his name 



to the early settlement, Mr. Sinclair purchased a re- 
linquishment to 160 acres where the city of Sno- 
homish is now situated. The name of the town was 
then changed and Mr. Sinclair platted his land into 
lots. In company with Mr. Clendenning, Mr. Sin- 
clair built the steamer "Tappy," the first steam craft 
to ply the waters of the Snohomish river. Traffic, 
by means of the boat, between Snohomish and other 
ports, soon became so extensive that additional 
carrying facilities were required, and the steamer 
"Chehalis" was purchased in Portland. Much diffi- 
culty was experienced in bringing the boat from 
the Oregon metropolis because no pilot could be 
found who understood navigating the course, espe- 
cially that portion of it commencing with the Strait 
of Fuca. This difficulty, however, was eventually 
overcome and the boat put in commission. From 
1866 to 1870 Mr. Sinclair served in the territorial 
legislature. He was appointed custom house in- 
spector under Selycious Garfield and continued in 
that office until his death in 1872. His body was 
the first to be interred in the Snohomish cemetery, 
which is located on a part of the 160 acres which he 
had secured from Mr. Cady. Mr. Sinclair was the 
first Mason in Snohomish. He always labored un- 
selfishly for the upbuilding and for the progress of 
the town and the surrounding country. He was 
the possessor not only of rare and enviable qualities 
of mind and heart, but also of a comprehensive 
knowledge of men and affairs. In business mat- 
ters his judgment was rarely at fault and present 
prosperous conditions are but a fulfilment of his 
early prophecies. 



GEORGE W. SHAW, agent at Snohomish of 
the Northern Pacific Express Company, and mem- 
ber of the firm of Shaw & Hodgins, dealers in 
school supplies, stationery, wall paper and general 
notions, is one of the pioneers of the city, in which 
he has been a business factor since 1888. Mr. 
Shaw was born in the Canadian gulf province of 
New Brunswick, January 23d, 1862, being the son 
of Alexander and Elsie (Giberson) Shaw, both of 
whom were born in New Brunswick. The elder 
Shaw was of Scotch descent, springing from one 
of the old families of the province. He was engaged 
at milling and lumbering for many years in the 
East, being a large operator at Hartland and Car- 
lisle until fire destroyed his establishment in 1893, 
when he came to Snohomish to make his home with 
his son. Mrs. Shaw also came from one of the old 
families of New Brunswick of Scotch and Eng- 
lish extraction. She is the mother of thirteen chil- 
dren, of whom the living are: George W., Maria, 
Clara, Mary, Ruth, Colby, Donald and Lee. Mrs. 
Shaw makes her home with the subject of this 
biography. From his earliest days George W. 
Shaw was connected with his father's business in- 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



terests. When but a lad he was bookkeeper for the 
elder Shaw in his lumbering and milling business 
and as he became older was his father's general 
assistant. They operated the mill in the summer 
and carried on a logging business during the win- 
ter months. In 1886 Mr. Shaw came to the Puget 
sound country and for two years worked in a saw 
mill at Seattle. He came to Snohomish in 1888 and 
opened a music store, later establishing his present 
business. In sharp contrast is the Snohomish of 
to-day with what it was when Mr. Shaw iirst saw it. 
Rather than take the longer route by the river from 
Marysville, Mr. Shaw walked over the trail. The 
river provided the only means for transportation 
and no such thoroughfare as Front street, now the 
principal business street of the city, was thought 
of. In recent years it has been a matter of regret 
with Mr. Shaw that he did not at once take up 
lumbering, but to his eyes at that time the methods 
in vogue were so diflferent from what he had known 
and the means seemed so primitive that he decided 
that there was a better field for himself than en- 
gaging in that industry. He had been carefully 
trained to the business and thoroughly understood 
it, and had he then not been turned aside by condi- 
tions as he viewed them at that time, he would have 
undoubtedly been one of the factors in the lumber 
industry of Snohomish county. 

On New Year's Day, 1890, in Seattle, Mr. Shaw 
married Miss Louise M. Noble, daughter of 
Issacher and Caroline (Thomas) Noble, natives of 
New Brunswick. Mr. Noble was a blacksmith by 
profession, a man of high principles and respected 
because of the nobility of his impulses and his deeds. 
He passed away in 1872. Four of his six children 
are living: Edwin, William, Mrs. Shaw and Ida. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Shaw one son has been born — 
Varian R. — who first saw the light on New Year's 
Day, 1892. In politics Mr. Shaw is a Republican. 
In addition to the Snohomish store, Shaw & Hodg- 
ins have a store of similar stock at Everett. Mrs. 
Shaw is the proprietor of a millinery store at Sno- 
homish and is recognized as an active business 
woman of exceptional ability. Mr. Shaw is one of 
the most highly respected citizens of Snohomish 
and a man of most excellent qualities of mind and 
heart, preeminently of solid business capacity. 



ARTHUR C. KNIGHT, proprietor of the 
racket store at Snohomish, a place where is kept 
a general line of men's and women's furnishings 
and notions, is a man who has seen the city, a spot 
in the wilderness alongside of the river, pointed 
out in the days agone as a stopping place for canoes 
and other river craft, grow into the city of Snoho- 
mish, as she is known to-day. It was in XoNcmber 
of 1885 that Mr. Knight first saw StiMliniiiisli, then 
a hamlet and with no promise of grow th to ils pres- 



ent importance. At that time Mr. Knight preferred 
lumbering in the woods near Port Gamble to re- 
maining in the settlement. Mr. Knight was born 
in Monson, Maine, April 11, 1863, the fourth of 
seven children of Amos and Lois (Hall) Knight, 
both of whom sprang from old-time families of the 
Pine Tree state. The elder Knight was born in 
Oxford county in 1827 and became a man active in 
public afifairs and a selectman of the town of Mon- 
son. Of his seven children Arthur is the fourth, 
the three others living being: Peleg W., Dora M., 
and Lois H. Arthur C. Knight grew to manhood 
in his native town and attended the schools there, 
but when twenty years of age entered the employ 
of a general merchandise establishment, where he 
remained for three years. He came to Snohomish 
in 1885 and became clerk in a general store. A 
year later Mr. Knight was at work in the wood? 
near Port Gamble. A few months later he oper- 
ated a dairy, but returned to Snohomish in 1887, 
engaging in logging and lumbering. The latter 
half of the year 1889 found him in the meat and 
butcher business. He then entered lumbering and 
remained in that line of business activity until in 
1898 he went to Alaska in the column of gold seek- 
ers who filed over the passes into the Klondike 
country, ultimately making his way to the sands of 
Nome's seashore. In the fall of 1900, having been 
absent from Snohomish two and a half years, he 
returned and for the three years following reen- 
tered the lumbering business. Early in 1903 he 
purchased the business of Frank Moody and has 
since conducted it along lines of success from both 
a business and personal viewpoint. In fraternal 
circles Mr. Knight is a member of the Foresters of 
America and of the Brotherhood of American Yeo- 
men. In politics he is a Republican. Mr. Knight 
is one of the men who has seen many changes in 
life since he first saw Snohomish, but has invariably 
kept abreast of the business and social growtli of the 
community. He is a thorough gentleman, courteous 
to all and popular with his fellows, while enjoying 
as a member of the comnninity a position high in 
the esteem of all. 



BENJAMIN THOMAS, now farming three 
miles south of the city of Snohomish, but in 
former years a contractor and builder, is one of the 
men who have seen much of business in widely 
separated parts of the globe. Carpenter, contrac- 
tor and farmer are the three words which indicate 
his life's work, and in each of the trinity of branches 
of industry he has been successful. Mr. Thomas 
was born in southern Wales in 1867, the fifth of 
six children of Thomas and Elizabeth (Jones) 
Thomas, both of whom are descended from Welsh 
families which date back to the days even beyond 
the Tudors. Both the father and the mother are 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



still living, residents of Wales, the parents of six 
children, four of whom are still living : Thomas, 
John, Benjamin and Mary, the last named being in 
South Africa. Until nineteen years of age Ben- 
jamin Thomas led the life of the usual lad of South 
Wales, attending the common schools and learning 
from his father the arts and business methods of 
the carpenter and contractor. After leaving the 
land of "soft Llewellyn's lay," Mr. Thomas lo- 
cated in Los Angeles, California, and worked at 
the carpenter's bench for some months, ultimately 
going to San Francisco. Fifteen months later he 
was in Seattle, working at carpentering and con- 
tracting. In 1891 he came to Snohomish county 
and bought some land, following his trade of car- 
pentering also. Then the unusual happened to Mr. 
Thomas. He started on a trip to his old home in 
Wales, fully expecting that he was starting on a 
mere vacation which had as its chief points the 
World's Columbian Exposition at Chicago and the 
land of his birth. He did not return, however, until 
he had made a circle of half the circumference of 
the globe. Fate willed that Mr. Thomas was to go 
to South Africa during the Boer-English war and 
engage in contracting. He was in the chief cities 
of the country — Pretoria, Cape Town and other 
centers — engaged in engineering and construction 
work, rather than as a belligerent. The trip was 
successful financially, and after returning to his 
native land with his family, Mr. Thomas again set 
his face toward the slopes of the Puget sound coun- 
try. In 1900 he was in Everett engaged in con- 
tracting, being in charge of the erection of some of 
the chief buildings of that city, notably the Amer- 
ican National bank building and the Colby block. 
In 1904 he purchased his present farm of forty 
acres and is now engaged in farming eight acres, 
devoted to fruit raising, and attending to a general 
contracting work. 

In 1891 at Snohomish Mr. Thomas married Miss 
Gwen Morgan, daughter of Morgan and Hannah 
(Williams) Morgan, both of whom are natives of 
^^'ales. Morgan Morgan has for a number of 
years been a resident of Snohomish county and is 
now a retired farmer of the vicinity of Snohomish. 
Of recent years Mr. Thomas has been engaged in 
real estate speculation in Everett property, dealing 
in improved city lots and also property which is in 
demand. To Mr. and Mrs. Thomas have been born 
six children : T. Edwin, M. Glyn, David Tyssil 
(deceased), W. Ellis, Myfanny and E. H. Llew- 
ellyn. In politics Mr. Thomas is a Republican and 
in fraternal circles a member of the Elks. He is a 
man of wideawake nature, quick to see an oppor- 
tunity, endowed with the happy gift which impels a 
man to take chances and at the same time to weigh 
carefully the possibilities of conservative specula- 
tion. Mr. Thomas is one of the substantial citizens 
of Snohomish county, respected highly by his asso- 



ciates and recognized as a man of force in the 
moulding of the community's future. 



MORGAN MORGAN, SR., is one of the few 
citizens of Snohomish county who trace their an- 
cestry back to the Welsh Tudors, whose descendants 
furnish some of the best citizens of whom the 
American republic may boast. He has been a 
resident of this county for nearly a quarter of a 
century and is numbered among the prosperous 
farmers of the Puget sound country. Mr. Morgan 
was born in Swansea, Wales, in 1839, the fifth of 
the nine children of William and Mary (Griffith) 
Morgan, both of whom were of pure Welsh blood. 
At Swansea Mr. Morgan received his education. 
He remained on his father's farm until reaching 
the age of twenty-seven, when he engaged in agri- 
culture for himself. From that time until 1885 he 
led the life of a prosperous Welsh farmer, but in 
the year named, in company with two sons, Charles 
and Morgan, he decided to come to America and 
take advantage of the land laws which made pos- 
sible the acquisition of land for all three in the 
vast domain along the Pacific coast. After a short 
stay in New York the trio came to Seattle and ulti- 
mately to the forest country of Snohomish, where 
the elder Morgan purchased 160 acres of land. Mr. 
Morgan had left wife and family, save the two sons 
accompanying him, in the old country. Two months 
after his arrival on the Pacific coast he received 
word of the death of his wife, and as soon as pos- 
sible afterward he sent for the remainder of the 
family, all of whom are now in- this country. Mr. 
Morgan has prospered in the new land and has 
been living in peaceful retirement for the past five 
years. 

In Wales Mr. Morgan married Miss Hannah 
Williams, and to their union were born the follow- 
ing children : William, Morgan, Charles, Thomas, 
Mrs. Gwen Thomas, David, Mrs. Mary Watkins, 
Mrs. Elizabeth Watkins and Jane. In politics Mr. 
Morgan is a Republican, and that he is a man of 
public spirit is evidenced by the fact that in the 
past consented to serve as a school director in his 
district. In his later years he has divided his 
worldly goods among his children and has been liv- 
ing in retirement from the activities of business life, 
a fine old gentleman of the class of foreign-born 
people which most easily assimilates the best in 
American life. Mr. Morgan has returned to the 
land of his nativity but once since coming to the 
United States. He desired to see the pageantry 
connected with King Edward's coronation and so 
took advantage of the opportunity to see his native 
land once more. He came back to Snohomish 
county better satisfied with America and with his 
adopted country than ever before. Mr. Morgan is 
one of the grand men of character in Snohomish 
county and one of those who believe thoroughly in 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



the possibilities yet latent in Snohomish, a man of 
ripe and rare experience, with a large fund of 
knowledge gained by close observation and study of 
men and events. 



JAMES W. HALL, president of the Snohom- 
ish Chamber of Commerce, is one of the leading 
business spirits of the city and a man whose varied 
interests bring him into close contact with the com- 
munity. He is the proprietor of the Snohomish 
Furniture Company, manager of the Postal Tele- 
graph Company, resident agent of the Canadian 
Pacific Railroad Company and one of the chief pro- 
moters of the projected Snohomish Valley railway. 
Mr. Hall is a native of California, his birth taking 
place at San Francisco on November 27, 1860. His 
parents, George E. and Mary E. (Fowzer) Hall, 
were natives of Maine and Louisiana, respectively, 
who came to California in 1850 by the Nicaraugua 
route. The elder Hall was a shoe merchant in San 
Francisco. During the Civil War he was a lieute- 
nant in the First California infantry and at the close 
of his service was mustered out at Fort Boise. 
James W. Hall attended the schools of San Fran- 
cisco up to the time he became fourteen years of 
age, when he learned telegraphy. The daily use of 
electricity by Mr. Hall and his desire to learn more 
about the subtle energy, directed his attention to 
other uses of the commodity. He assisted in dem- 
onstrating at San Francisco and Oakland the first 
practical uses of electricity for public lighting pur- 
poses ; also assisted in demonstrating the use of the 
telephone in Sacramento. In 1882 Mr. Hall came 
to Seattle and for a year and a half was in the 
employ of the Puget Sound Telegraph Company. 
He then returned to San Francisco and for a num- 
ber of years was connected with the Central and 
Southern Pacific railroads. In 1889 Mr. Hall re- 
turned to Washington and for six years was with 
the Postal people at Shelton. He was then trans- 
ferred to Snohomish as local manager and soon 
after reaching here he established his furniture 
business. 

In San Francisco in 1883 Mr. Hall married Miss 
Lucia K. Denayer, who died during her husband's 
residence at Shelton. Three children were born 
to this union, of whom one only. Miss Lucia E. 
Hall, survives. At Seattle in 1903 Mr. Hall was 
again married, his bride being Miss Edith Raisbeck, 
a native of New York, whose parents came from 
Germany and are now residents of Seattle. To this 
union two children have been born, Phyllis Lurana 
and Mary Edythe. In fraternal circles Mr. Hall is 
a member of the Masons, in which he has the chap- 
ter degrees, of the Modern Woodmen, of the For- 
esters of America, of the Eagles, of the Royal 
Neighbors, of the Knights of Pythias, of the Wood- 
men of the World and of the Order of Telegraph- 
ers, in each of which organizations he is active. In 



politics he is a Republican and is a student of all 
important local and national questions. Mr. Hall 
is a man of much public spirit and of action in all 
that he undertakes, with the social qualities which 
surround a man with friends in all walks of life. 



THEODORE JUTZIK, farmer and market 
gardener, a mile and a half north of Snohomish, 
furnishes in his career since coming to the United 
States an illustration of the rapid strides possible 
to a man who applies himself with energy to his 
work and makes the most of his opportunities. Mr. 
Jutzik was born in Germany July 19, 1863, the son 
of Martin and Mariana Jutzik, farmer folk of the 
Fatherland. Orphaned when a lad, young Jutzik 
obtained a limited education because he was so early 
thrown on his own resources. He learned black- 
smithing as a youth, which stood him in good stead 
later in life. When twenty-one years of age he 
found himself in Chicago, newly arrived from Ham- 
burg and with a cash capital of three cents. The 
pledging of his watch enabled him to obtain food 
and lodging until he secured employment. Three 
months of work on a railroad increased Mr. Jut- 
zik's capital to $75, and with this start he went to 
Omaha, Nebraska, where he secured employment 
at his trade of blacksmith, and he continued at the 
forge for a number of months afterward. He then 
obtained work as riveter in the construction of the 
long bridge over the Missouri at Omaha. In 1883 
Mr. Jutzik came to Lewiston, Idaho, where he re- 
mained for a short time before going to work at 
riveting on the O. R. & N. bridge over the Snake 
river at Riparia. When this work was completed 
Mr. Jutzik came to Seattle and purchased a res- 
taurant in the management of which he passed a 
year and a half. After a short period of work in a 
boiler shop in Seattle, he came to Snohomish in 
1885 and engaged in farming. Five years later he 
bought his present place and he has since lived 
there. Mr. Jutzik has only eleven acres of land, but 
the soil is very fertile, with a productiveness suf- 
ficient to engage one man's attention to care for the 
intensified growths it puts forth. The farm has 
an orchard in bearing and the fruit output is consid- 
erable. The market gardening is the chief feature 
during the spring and summer months. In poli- 
tics Mr. Jutzik is a Republican and in fraternal 
circles a member of the Sons of Hermann. Mr. 
Jutzik is highly respected in the community and 
stands well among his business associates. 



H. A. JULSON, residing three and a half miles 
north of Snohomish, is one of the energetic agricul- 
turists of the county and a young man of high 
repute in the community. He was born in La- 
Crosse county, Wisconsin, in January of 1864, the 
son of Syvert and Lena (Strand) julson, natives 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



of Norway, who came to the United States in 1853 
and after residing for a time in the Badger state 
became farmers in Monona county, Iowa, in 1871. 
It was in the latter state that H. A. Julson received 
his education. When not attending school he 
worked on his father's place assisting him. In 1881 
the young man left home and commenced to do for 
himself, taking up a preemption claim in Kansas, 
on which he remained one year. He then went to 
Colorado for a year and engaged in various lines of 
work. Returning to Iowa, Mr. Julson remained but 
a year before coming to the Puget sound country. 
He worked on a farm near Stanwood until 1897, 
when he joined in the rush for gold to the Klondike. 
He passed two years at Dawson and then joined the 
stampede to the sandy beach of Cape Nome, where 
he remained until 1904. Returning then to Sno- 
homish, he purchased his present farm of 149 
acres, partly improved, and having a splendid 
orchard. Mr. Julson's brother, Adolph, is asso- 
ciated with him and they are finishing the work of 
bringing the entire tract of land under cultivation. 
In addition to the brother named, Mr. Julson has 
three brothers — Edgar and Samuel, in Colorado, 
and Edwin, in South Dakota ; also two sisters, 
Julia, in Iowa, and Lena, in Colorado. In politics 
Mr. Julson is a Democrat ; in fraternal affiliation, 
an Odd Fellow. He is recognized as one of the 
energetic men of the community, a man of achieve- 
ment in any line of work he undertakes, popular 
among his associates, industrious and conservative. 



JOHN W. NELSON, whose farm lies three 
miles northwest of the city of Snohomish, is one 
of the more recent arrivals in the community, but in 
the short time he has been engaged in farming here 
he has gained for himself a reputation as a man 
of forceful character and resourcefulness. Mr. Nel- 
son was born in Harrison county, Missouri, April 
31, 1868, one of the eight children of Robert and 
Nancy (Coleman) Nelson, natives of Kentucky who 
went to Missouri in 1816. The elder Nelson had 
been a brickmaker, but after settling in Missouri 
became a farmer, though at times he returned to 
brick making. He served as a member of the Sixth 
Missouri cavalry throughout the greater part of the 
Civil War. He passed away in the Soldiers' Home 
at Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1890. Mrs. Nelson 
is still living and makes her home with the subject 
of this biography. She is the mother of the follow- 
ing children besides John W. : James M., Thomas 
W., Mrs. Eliza McGee, Mrs. Josephine Darnell, 
Margaret Ford of Bethany, Missouri, and Mrs. 
Nora Petty, the last named being a resident of 
Everett. Besides these our subject has a half 
brother and sister. John W. Nelson received his 
education in the' schools of Bethany, Missouri, and 
at the age of twenty-two left home to do for him- 
self. He followed various occupations in Missouri 



until 1900, when he left his native state and came 
to the shores of Puget sound. For two 3'ears he 
worked at farming near Snohomish, but in' 1902 he 
went to Montana, from which state he returned two 
years later to Snohomish, where he purchased his 
present place. In politics Mr. Nelson is a Demo- 
crat, though not an aspirant to public office. He 
is a young man of varied attainments, popular in 
the community where he is making his home and 
wherever he is known. 



COLBY J. SHAW, president of the Advance 
Shingle Company, whose mill is located five miles 
south of Snohomish and a half mile from Cathcart 
station, is one of the progressive young business 
men of Snohomish county. Much of his life has 
been passed in connection with the lumbering in- 
dustry, with all the details of which he is thoroughly 
familiar. Mr. Shaw was born in Carlton county, 
province of New Brunswick, January 4, 1875, the 
son of Alexander and Elsie (Giberson) Shaw. The 
elder Shaw was a lumberman and a farmer in his 
home province. He came to Snohomish in 1893 
and died seven years later. Mrs. Shaw is still liv- 
ing and is now a resident of Snohomish, the mother 
of eight children : George W., Donald H., Lee, 
Colby J., Mrs. D. M. Nevers, Mrs. George O. Shaw, 
Mrs. E. A. Cooper and Mrs. D. A. Ford. Colby 
J. Shaw received his education in the New Bruns- 
wick schools, and until coming to Washington' 
was associated with his father in the lumber mills 
and on the farm. After coming to Snohomish Mr. 
Shaw engaged for a time in draying and trans- 
ferring. Since coming here he has also followed 
railroading to some extent and has worked along 
various lines. In 1901 Mr. Shaw became one of 
the incorporators of the Advance Shingle company, 
of which he is president. The other officers of the 
company are J. E. Shaw, vice president, and D. A. 
Ford, secretary and treasurer. The mill has a 
daily capacity of 85,000, the most of its output 
being marketed in Nebraska and other eastern 
states. The business is increasing and already the 
company is planning the erection of an additional 
mill. Colby J. Shaw is the business man of the 
establishment and looks after all matters of detail. 
In politics he is non-partisan. In fact Mr. Shaw's 
characteristics are such that he owes affiliation to 
no party, sect or creed, claiming the right to act in 
any given circumstance as the impulses of his judg- 
ment and integrity decree. He is a man of ability 
and honor and is one of the leading figures in the 
business world of Snohomish county. 



EDGAR J. SHAW, vice president of the Ad- 
vance Shingle company, one of the leading shingle 
manufacturing establishments in Snohomish coun- 
ty, has been a factor in the business life of this 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



community a comparatively short time, but in the 
few years in which he has been connected with the 
shingle industry here he has placed himself in a po- 
sition of importance and respect. Mr. Shaw was 
born in Carlton county, in the gulf province of New 
Brunswick, in April of 1861, the son of John F. 
and Harriet V. Shaw. The elder Shaw was en- 
gaged in farming and also to some extent in the 
lumbering business of New Brunswick up to the 
time of his death in 1864. Mrs. Shaw came to 
Snohomish county in 1898 and is now living with 
her son, having attained tlie advanced age of four 
score years. Edgar J- Shaw received his educa- 
tion in the schools of his native province and early 
learned the necessity of hard work. Orphaned at 
the age of five years, he was without the advice or 
example of a father. He worked at farming and 
at lumbering in his native province until he came 
to Washington, since which time he has been iden- 
tified with the fortunes of the corporation of which 
he is vice president. The company operates a mill 
near Cathcart, live miles south of the city of Snoho- 
mish, which has a daily capacity of 85,000 shingles. 
The major part of the output of the establishment 
finds ready market in the states of the middle west. 
In fraternal circles Mr. Shaw is a member of the 
Woodmen of the World. In politics Mr. Shaw is 
a Republican, though not very active in party mat- 
ters. He is a man of excellent business qualifica- 
tions and enjoys the esteem and respect of all with 
whom he comes in contact. 



PETER BROWN, a prominent stock man of 
Snohomish county, has been the architect of his 
own fortunes. Early thrown on his own resources 
for a livelihood, his career has been that of a self- 
made man. He was born in Canada, about forty 
miles southeast of Montreal, in March of 1839, the 
son of Charles and Aurelie (Yeryell) Brown. The 
father was born in Ireland, but came to Canada 
when a young man and became a school teacher 
and farmer. He subsequently removed his family 
to Cleveland, Ohio, subsequent to the time when his 
son Peter commenced life on his own account. It 
is one of the strange incidents of life in this cos- 
mopolitan country that the son has never been able 
to gain any information of any member of the 
family since the removal to Cleveland. 

Being the oldest of a family of twelve children, 
Peter Brown was compelled when very young to 
make his own way. At nineteen he was engaged 
in buying and selling shingles. He continued in 
this business for two years, and it was during this 
period that he lost track of the remainder of his 
family. Mr. Brown lived in the country contiguous 
to the Great Lakes for two years, and in 1865 lo- 
cated in Grand Rapids, Wisconsin, which city was 
then but a small village. For three years he worked 
in the woods of that state, eventually dropping his 



connection with the lumber business to engage in 
farming and stock raising. Though he had heavy 
investments at Grand Rapids he passed through 
the season of financial distress in the panic of 1873 
safely and become one of the most prominent stock- 
men in Wood county, Wisconsin. He continued in 
this line of activity there until his removal to Snoho- 
mish county in 1889, and he still owns 380 acres of 
valuable land near Grand Rapids. His Snohomish 
county property consists of his residence in the 
city of Snohomish and his stock ranch some two 
miles east of the city. 

In January of 18T5 Mr. Brown married Miss 
Eglephyre Briere, a native of eastern Canada and 
daughter of Marcel and Cclina (Germain) Briere. 
Mr. Briere is still living at the age of eighty-nine, 
his home being in Grand Rapids, Wisconsin, but 
Mrs. Briere died in 1870. Mrs. Brown received 
her education in Canada and taught school there 
prior to her marriage. She and Mr. Brown are 
communicants of the Catholic church. They are 
liighly respected in the neighborhood in which they 
live and among all those in the county with whom 
they have been associated either socially or in busi- 
ness relations. 



GEORGE BAKEMAN, liveryman of Snoho- 
mish, is one of the energetic and public spirited 
citizens of his home city. He has been actively en- 
gaged in business there for the greater part of the 
time since 1883 and is well known throughout the 
county. Mr. Bakeman was born in Wisconsin on 
the second day of January, 1859, the son of John 
and Louise (Bartels) Bakeman, natives of Ger- 
many, who came to the United States in youth and 
passed much of their lives in Wisconsin, but moved 
to Washington in 1885. They are now residing 
about a mile south of Snohomish. George Bake- 
man attended school in Wisconsin until, at the age 
of fourteen, he went to work as a clerk in a general 
store at Peshtigo, where he remained for three 
years. For a number of subsequent years he worked 
in various lines, in 1883 coming to Snohomish. The 
following year he was appointed deputy postmaster 
of his home city and he served in that capacity for 
fourteen months. Mr. Bakeman then identified 
himself with the logging business as engineer and 
foreman in the camps, one summer being in charge 
of one of Blackman Brothers' logging ventures. In 
1889 he purchased a farm near Monroe but sold out 
two years later, having purchased the undertaking 
establishment of his brother in Snohomish. In 
1897 his brother bought back the business and 
George Bakeman went to Everett and opened an 
undertaking establishment in that city. Eighteen 
months later he disposed of the business and went to 
Alaska, remaining in the northland' for two years. 
He returned to Snohomish in 1900 and for the sub- 
sequent five years operated engines in various log- 




GOTTLIEB ROTH 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



ging camps. In April, 1905, he opened a livery 
business, to which he has since given his attention. 
Mr. Bakeman was trained for undertaking in the 
Eureka College of Embalming at San Francisco 
and in the Champion College of Cincinnati, holding 
a diploma from each of these institutions. 

In October, 1886, Mr. Bakeman married Miss 
Elizabeth Short, daughter of Charles and Ellen 
Short, who are among Snohomish county's earliest 
pioneers. Mr. Short was born in Missouri and 
•crossed the plains to California in the early fifties, 
later coming to Washington where he followed min- 
ing, as he had done in California. He was one of 
the men who helped cut the first road through Cady 
pass. His death occurred in this county in 1895. 
Mrs. Bakeman was born in Snohomish county, 
Christmas Day, 1864, and received her education 
in the local schools. To this union si.x children 
have been born, three of whom are living, Han- 
nah, Charles and Leah, and three deceased, Archi- 
bald, Robert and Mary. Politically, Mr. Bakeman 
is a Democrat. In fraternal circles he is a member 
of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, of the Knights of 
the Maccabees and of the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen. P>om 1896 to 1898 Mr. Bakeman served 
as coroner and since that time he has served several 
terms as deputy. He is a wideawake man, a citizen 
of public spirit, interested in everything which per- 
tains to the welfare of the community, and suc- 
cessful in business. 



WILLIAM BROWN, chief of police of Snoho- 
mish, has been on Puget sound for nearly thirty 
years, during much of which time he has been con- 
nected with the lumber milling industry in various 
capacities. Mr. Brown was born in Bradford coun- 
ty. Pennsylvania, in March of 1850, the eighth of 
the eleven children of Mason and Harriett (Young) 
Brown. The elder Brown was a Pennsylvanian of 
Scotch ancestry. He was a farmer, and died in 
1884. Mrs. Brown was born in Germany, but came 
to this country with her parents when only six years 
of age. Soon after reaching America, and while 
they were not yet enroute to their destination in 
Pennsylvania, her parents died of cholera. Mrs. 
Brown and a brother were taken charge of in a 
Quaker family. William Brown received his edu- 
cation in the common schools of Pennsylvania, re- 
maining at home on tlie farm until he was seven- 
teen. At that age he entered the lumber woods of 
the Keystone state and followed the calling of log- 
ger and lumberman for nine years, coming in 1877 
to Washington territory. Mr. Brown reached Port 
Townsend in May of that year, but passed on to 
Port Ludlow, where he spent the summer. The 
following winter was passed at mill work in Port 
Aladison. In March he was on Whidby island, re- 
maining there at work in a logging camp until De- 
cember, when he went to Port Discovery bay, where 



he worked at logging and in the lumber business 
for a year and a half. In the fall of 1880 Mr. Brown 
came to Mukilteo and for three years and a half 
worked in the logging camps of Blackman, Howard 
& Co. At the close of this term he removed to 
Whidby island for a time, but in 1888 he came with 
his family to Snohomish. A year later he was ap- 
pointed night police officer, serving in that capacity 
until in. the spring of 1891 he was made marshal 
of the city, which position he held for five years and 
a half. Mining excitement at Monte Cristo run- 
ning quite high at this time, Mr. Brown went to the 
diggings for two seasons, which were followed by 
a residence of a year and a half in Idaho. In 1900 
Mr. Brown returned to Snohomish county and for 
two seasons was engaged in mining at Monte Cristo, 
returning in the fall of 1902 to his old position of 
city marshal, in which he gives the public excellent 
satisfaction, especially in ridding the town of the 
hobo classes. 

In 1876, at Emporium, Pennsylvania, Mr. Brown 
married Miss Mary A. Duell, daughter of Harris 
and Mary (Smith) Duell, both natives of the Key- 
stone state, where Mr. Duell was a farmer and 
lumber man in the early days. Mrs. Brown was 
born at Driftwood, Cameron county, Pennsylvania, 
in 1859, and received her education there. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Brown have been born four children : 
Alonzo C, who is a resident of Granite Falls ; Mrs. 
Maud Keifer, who is living in West Seattle ; Harris, 
a resident of San Francisco, and Cleora, a graduate 
of the Snohomish high school and a young lady of 
rare musical talent. She is preparing herself to 
be an instructor of vocal and instrumental tech- 
nique. In politics Mr. Brown is a Republican. He 
has served for a number of years as a deputy sheriff 
and also as constable. In fraternal circles he is a 
member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and of 
the Order of Washington. The family are at- 
tendants on the Presbyterian church. Mr. Brown's 
property consists of mining interests in Sultan Ba- 
sin, and city lots. Mr. Brown is a very capable of- 
ficer of the law, and as a citizen ranks high in the 
community. 



GOTTLIEB ROTH is among the successful 
and substantial business men of Snohomish, a dealer 
in liquors and the proprietor of a well-known es- 
tablishment. He was born in Dundenheim, Amt 
Lahr, Baden, Germany. November 15, 1854, the son 
of Daniel and Maria 'Ursula (Wurth) Roth. The 
elder Roth was by calling a farmer, but in later 
years was a government game warden, and city 
field supervisor, owned by citizens of the town. 
Mrs. Roth died when Gottlieb was only one year 
old, and of her the son has no recollection. The 
elder Roth survived until 1891. Gottlieb Roth re- 
ceived his education in the Fatherland and worked 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



in connection with his father until twenty-two years 
of age when he came to the United States, going 
direct to Des Moines, Iowa, in the vicinity of which 
city he worked for a year and a half as a farm hand. 
He then removed to Colorado and for the six years 
following 1878 rode the cattle ranges of the Cen- 
tennial state. Mr. Roth returned to Iowa in 1882 
and soon ofter opened a liquor store at Dexter, in 
Dallas county. The passage of the prohibition law 
outlawed his business, and until 1887 he passed his 
time in various occupations, then went to Cheyenne, 
Wyoming, in 1887, and engaged in work for Gover- 
nor Warren, now Senator Warren. He remained 
in that state for a year only, going to Omaha, Ne- 
braska, where he worked as a bartender until in 
the closing months of 1889 he came to the Puget 
sound country and located at Snohomish, where he 
established his present business. 

In the summer of 1891 Mr. Roth married Miss 
Tillie Koch, a native of Germany. Mr. and Mrs. 
Roth have an adopted soft, Stanley (Lamb) Roth, 
born July 21, 1891, son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas 
Lamb. The mother's maiden name was Francis 
Koch. In politics Mr. Roth is a Republican. In 
fraternal circles he is a member of the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows and of the Fraternal Order 
of Eagles, in both of which orders he is very popu- 
lar. As a citizen Mr. Roth is noted for his public 
spirit and for his support of men and measures of 
benefit to the communitv. 



SAMUEL VESTAL. Prominent among the 
successful business men of Snohomish county and 
esteemed as a man of integrity and worth, is the 
well known pioneer whose life history is the theme 
of this article. The confidence won by years of fair 
dealing and by faithfulness in the discharge of 
duties in municipal and state offices found expres- 
sion in the last election when Mr. Vestal was sum- 
moned by the franchises of the people to the respon- 
sible position of county auditor, and by his effi- 
ciency, earnestness, and conscientious care he is 
abundantly justifying the confidence reposed in him. 
Like many other men who have contributed greatly 
in their several lines to the development of the West, 
Mr. Vestal is a native of Ohio, the date of his 
birth being November IG, 1844. His father, Sam- 
uel, was born in North Carolina in 1796, but was 
only two years old when he was taken by his par- 
ents to Ohio, becoming a very early pioneer of that 
state. The mother of our' subject, Edith (Bal- 
lard) Vestal, was likewise a pioneer of Ohio, having 
been taken there from the commonwealth of her 
nativity, Tennessee, when she was still a baby. She 
was born in 1803 and died in 1877, having out- 
lived her husband a year. 

Mr. Vestal, of this article, remained on the par- 
ental farm until nineteen, attending the local public 
school during term time and notwithstanding the 



fact that schools of the Buckeye state were not then 
what they are to-day, acquiring a very good edu- 
cation. Upon leaving the parental roof he taught 
for a year, then followed farming until 1872, in 
April of which year he pushed out, as his parents 
had done before him, to civilization's borderland. 
Locating in Kalama, Washington, he taught school 
there till 1876, but desiring an occupation of more 
permanency and with larger possibilities than peda- 
gogy has in a frontier community, he embarked in 
the mercantile business in Kalama. He continued 
to be one of the successful merchants of that town 
until May, 1883, when he sold out, moved to Sno- 
homish and began casting about for an opening 
there. In October following he opened a general 
merchandise store in the capital city of Snohomish 
county, where his home still is and where he con- 
tinued business for twenty-one consecutive years. 
Shortly after closing out his mercantile establish- 
ment he was, as heretofore stated, elected county 
auditor and the duties of that office are engaging 
his attention at this writing. A leader in public af- 
fairs as in business, he has left an indelible imprint 
upon county and state. The honor and responsibil- 
ity of membership in the first legislature of Wash- 
ington, after her star had been added to the flag, 
were his, and for three years thereafter he served 
as a member of that body. He has served in the 
municipal council of his home city, and for eight 
years was a member of the school board. In polit- 
ical faith and allegiance he is a Republican ; in fra- 
ternal connection a Mason and a Workman ; in re- 
ligion, a Congregationalist. 

Mr. Vestal was married in Portland, Oregon, in 
1877, the lady being Miss Harriet Martin. Her fa- 
ther, Norman Martin, was a native of Scotland, 
who came to America as a carpenter in the employ 
of the Hudson's Bay Company. He crossed the 
plains to Oregon in 1843, settled in Washington 
county, that state, and remained there continuously 
until his death in 1880, participating in the interest- 
ing events which constitute the early history of Ore- 
gon and also in the later development of his home 
county. Mrs. Vestal's mother Julia (Bridgefarmer) 
Martin, was a native of Kentucky and a pioneer of 
Oregon of the year 1847. She passed away in 1872. 
Mrs. Vestal was born in\\'ashington county, Ore- 
gon, in 1852. She was educated in the justly cele- 
brated pioneer college. Pacific Lhiiversity, at For- 
est Grove, and at the age of eighteen began teach- 
ing, which profession she followed at intervals for 
several years. She and Mr. Vestal are parents of 
the following children : Lucy, Norman C. and Web- 
ley M., born in Kalama; Edith, Viola, Irving Bal- 
lard, Marie and Julia, in Snohomish. 



HANS JOHNSON, a resident of South Sno- 
homish, is one of the public spirited citizens as well 
as properous business men of his community, a 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



867 



man who stands well in the estimation of his neigh- 
bors and whose support can be depended on for any 
measure calculated to benefit the general good. Mr. 
Johnson was born on the island of Bornholm, Den- 
mark, in February of 1856, second of seven chil- 
dren of John P. and Maria Christina (Peel) John- 
son, natives of Denmark, where the elder Johnson 
is still following the occupation of a shoemaker. 
Hans Johnson received his education in the Danish 
schools, leaving his native land for the United States 
when twenty years of age. Soon after his arrival 
in New York he obtained employment as a farm 
hand and for the four subsequent years alternated 
between farming and factory work in the Empire 
state. In 1880 he joined the stream of immigrants 
who were then coming to Snohomish county. He 
chose the settlement at Snohomish as his headquar- 
ters and commenced the work of every pioneer, 
clearing the timber from the land that crops might 
be produced. Seven years after he came here he 
purchased eighty acres of land where South Snoho- 
mish has since arisen. Mr. Johnson's land was 
covered with giant trees and the work of clearing 
was a heavy task. Continued effort has trans- 
formed the place into one of the fine farms of the 
county, having an orchard of unusual bearing qual- 
ities and an extensive dairy, as well as producing 
general farm crops. 

Before leaving Denmark, in February of 1876, 
Mr. Johnson married Miss Laura Larson, a native 
of Denmark, born January 4, 1852. Her parents 
passed away shortly after she had crossed the At- 
lantic. To Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have been born 
six children, who bear the names of Louis, William, 
Anna, Frank, Lottie and Myrtle. In political views 
Air. Johnson is broad and liberal, with a general 
leaning toward the Republicans. He has served as 
road supervisor for two terms and is credited with 
having given the people complete satisfaction. Mr. 
Johnson is deeply interested in educational matters 
and is one of the staunch supporters of the public 
school system. In fraternal circles he is an Odd 
Fellow, a Rebekah and a member of the American 
Yoemen. As a pioneer of the Snohomish country 
Mr. Johnson was recognized as a hard worker and 
a man of great energy, which reputation he retains 
to the present time. Liberal in his views of men 
and measures, successful in business, he is one of 
the influential residents of Snohomish. 



JOHN FI. SHADINGER, dairyman and farmer 
of South Snohomish, though a resident of this sec- 
tion but a few years, has already won recognition 
as a man of energy and force. His home was for- 
merly widely known as the John Ford place, one 
of the modern and valuable estates in the county, 
which, in the hands of Mr. Shadinger, has lost 
nothing of its fame as an excellent producer and an 
attractive farmstead. Mr. Shadinger was born in 



Indiana April 1, 1855, the son of Howard and 
Mary A. (Cox) Shadinger. The father is a Penn- 
sylvanian of German extraction, while the mother 
is a native of Ohio. In the fall of 1855, a few 
months after the birth of the subject of this biogra- 
phy, the Shadingers removed to Dakota county, 
Minnesota, and it was here that John H. received 
his primary education. In later years he took a 
course in the high school in Northfield. In 1877 the 
family removed from Dakota county to Sibley coun- 
ty, where soon after arrival John H. Shadinger 
bought a piece of land adjoining that of his father. 
In 188-1: the son assumed the management of the 
properties of himself and father, the latter retiring 
from active life to reside at Glencoe. In 1898 the 
Sibley county farms were sold and Mr. Shadinger 
bought an eighty-acre farm near Glencoe. Stories 
of the equable climate of Washington having reached 
him, Mr. Shadinger decided to make his escape 
from the severe winters of Minnesota, and he came 
to Snohomish county in 1903, purchasing his pres- 
ent farm soon after arrival. In the fall of 1903 
Mr. Shadinger's parents also came to Washington 
and they are now residents of Snohomish. 

December 11, 1884, Mr. Shadinger married Miss 
Hattie E. Stocking, a native of McLeod county, 
Minnesota, daughter of B. F. and Mary F. (Buley) 
Stocking. Mr. Stocking was a farmer who also 
had a wide reputation in his home country as an 
expert apiarist. He and Mrs. Stocking are now 
residents of Snohomish, having come in the fall 
of 1903. To Mr. and Mrs. Shadinger have been 
born five children : Gail B., A. C, Max H., Greta 
May and Mary Gertrude, the last named of whom 
is now dead. In politics Mr. Shadinger is a Re- 
publican, though not active in the party councils ; 
in fraternal affiliation he is a member of the An- 
cient Order of United Workmen and of the De- 
gree of Honor, and in religion the family are Metho- 
dists. They and their home are very popular, the 
house being a pleasant, modern one, and its in- 
mates people of refinement and culture. Mr. Shad- 
inger has been successful in all his ventures, and 
is a man of conservative judgment and of estab- 
lished ability and integrity. 



ABEL JOHNSON, farmer, whose land lies a 
little to the south of Snohomish, is one of the 
pioneers of this county, having come here in 1877 
to make a home for himself in the deep forests. Mr. 
Johnson was born in Sweden in October of 1844, 
the second of the four children of John and Carrie 
Johnson, farmer folk who passed their entire lives 
in the old country. Abel Johnson received his edu- 
cation in the Swedish schools and later in life in 
the schools of Minnesota. He remained at home 
until he had attained his majority, and then passed 
three years in Norway. In 1869 he came to the 
United States and settled in Minnesota where he 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



followed various avocations until 1874. In that 
year he came to the Puget sound country, stopping 
first at Port Townsend and later at Port Discovery. 
At the latter place he worked in a mill for two years, 
leaving to take up a homestead in Whatcom county. 
He abandoned the place and in 1876 went to Seattle 
and worked for two years. He then came to Snoho- 
mish and filed a preemption on the place he has 
since occupied. Heavy timber constituted the chief 
characteristic of Mr. Johnson's holdings when he 
first took possession and there are still remaining 
some of the giant cedars which measure sixty-four 
feet in circumference. He has cleared and placed 
under cultivation about seventy acres. It has been 
his method to work for others when possible to 
leave his own place without interfering with its 
progress. 

In 1876 in Seattle Mr. Johnson married Miss 
Mary Goregeson, a Norwegian by birth, who came 
alone to the United States in 1873. I'o Mr. and 
Mrs. Johnson have been born five children : Charles 
G., a carpenter by occupation ; Lottie A., a graduate 
of the Snohomish high school and for three years 
a teacher in the schools of her home city; Edith, 
a student in the Snohomish high school, where she 
is preparing herself for the profession of teacher ; 
Arthur, now a high school student, and Olga, the 
youngest of the family. In fraternal circles Mr. 
Johnson is an Odd Fellow of the Encampment de- 
grees. In church affiliations, he is a Presbyterian, 
being now a member of the board of trustees. The 
Johnson farm contains 13-1 acres, a part of which 
is devoted to cattle raising, there being now upon 
it a herd of forty of the Jersey grades. Mr. John- 
son is one of the most popular and respected men 
of the community, a conservative man and a citi- 
zen of the best type. 



JOHN W. SILL, residing two miles south of 
Snohomish, is one of the well-known men in this 
section of the county, having been a resident here 
since 1877. He was born in Monroe county, Ohio, 
in December of 1847, the first of eleven children of 
Michel and Susan (Rake) Sill. The elder Sill 
was a native of Pennsylvania, but in early life re- 
moved to Ohio and later to Iowa. He was a pioneer 
of Snohomish county ; his death occurred at Sil- 
vana in 1900. John W. Sill received his education 
in the schools of Iowa, whither he went with his 
parents when but six years old. He remained at 
home until twenty and then for two years rented a 
farm on his own responsibility. He continued as 
an Iowa farmer until 1877, when he came to Snoho- 
mish county and leased a farm two miles north of 
Stanwood. He lived on this place for eight years, 
in the meantime buying some adjoining land, in all, 
residing there for six months more than a quarter 
of a century. Soon after coming to Stanwood Mr. 
Sill, in company with his brother, Jasper, opened 



a meat market in the town. After two years of 
partnership Mr. Sill purchased the interest of his 
iDrother and operated the shop until 1902, when he 
sold the business. 

The following year he came to Snohomish and 
bought his present farm of 115 acres, which he 
has improved extensively until it is one of the fine 
upland farms of the county. 

In Cedar county, Iowa, Mr. Sill married Miss 
Lucinda Switzer, daughter of Michel and Susan 
Switzer, natives of Pennsylvania who passed the 
greater part of their lives in Iowa, farming. Mr. 
Switzer late in life came to Washington, dying in 
Stanwood. Mrs. Sill was born in the Keystone 
state, but went to Iowa when quite young and was 
educated there. Three children have been born 
to Mr. and Mrs. Sill : William, Mrs. Daisy McCall, 
a resident of the vicinity of Snohomish, and Mrs. 
Bertha Newcomb, who is living in Stanwood. In 
politics Mr. Sill is a Democrat ; in fraternal circles, 
a Mason. He is one of the substantial men of the 
county, possessing sterling qualities of character, 
and a highly enviable reputation for public spirit 
and keen interest in the affairs of the community. 



FLOYD M. LARIMER is one of the native 
sons of Snohomish county who is fast gaining a 
reputation as a successful farmer of her soil. Mr. 
Larimer was associated with his father up to the 
time of the latter's death, and since that time has 
taken the management of the home place, carrying 
it on in a manner which indicates that the mantle 
of the father has not fallen on unworthy shoulders. 
The father, William ^\'ilson Larimer, was born in 
Wabash county, Indiana, in 1839, but when eight 
years old was taken by his parents to Iowa. Rlr. 
Larimer was a farmer all his life, except the three 
years he served in the union army during the Civil 
War. In the spring of 1861 Mr. Larimer enlisted 
in Company I of the First Nebraska infantry and 
saw service at Shiloh and Fort Donelson, and in 
other engagements of Grant's army in its task of 
opening up the Mississippi. On being mustered out 
at Omaha, Mr. Larimer returned to his Iowa farm, 
where he remained until in 1872 he came to Seat- 
tle and for two years followed the trade of carpen- 
ter. In 1871 he came to Snohomish county and 
homesteaded a piece of land, later adding forty 
acres by purchase. Mr. Larimer died in Seattle in 
January 1902. Mrs. Minnie (Alerwin) Larimer is 
a native of Ohio, where she received her education. 
She taught school in the Buckeye state for a num- 
ber of years and was teaching school in Iowa when, 
in 1867. she was married to Mr. Larimer. Floyd 
M. Larimer is her only living child. He was born 
June 1st, 1880. He obtained his education in the 
Snohomish schools and received his farm trainmg 
under the tutelage of his father, since whose death 




GEORGE WALKER 



J 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



the young man has successfully managed the es- 
tate.' 

In June, 1903, at Seattle, Mr. Larimer married 
Miss Pauline Bound, daughter of Joseph and Mar- 
garet (Hammer) Bound, natives of Wales who 
came to Washington in 1888 and are now living 
near Snohomish. Mrs. Larimer was born in Wales 
in 1883. She received her education in Snohomish. 
Mr. and Mrs. Larimer have one child, William J., 
Vi'ho was born on the home farm in April 3rd, 1904. 
In politics Mr. Larimer is a Republican. The farm 
is one of ihe fine places of Snohomish county, sixty 
ol its seventy-five acres being under cultivation. The 
buildings are large and of modern construction. 
Cattle are the chief stock on the place ; there are 
twenty head. Mr. Larimer is one of the bright 
young men of the community, thoroughly reliable 
and of great promise. 



JACOB A. MUDGETT, until recently one of 
Snohomish coimty's prosperous farmers, on land 
two miles west of Snohomish on the north bank 
of the river and on the line of the Snohomish & 
Everett electric railway, was born at Lynn, Massa- 
chusetts, in the summer of 1867, the son of Isaac 
and Ellen (Little) Mudgett, both of whom were 
bom in Maine, members of families that date back 
to colonial days and have connections throughout 
New England at the present time. The elder Mud- 
gett served in the Union army during the Civil War 
and after he came to Snohomish was one of the 
leading spirits in instituting a post of the Grand 
Army of the Republic at this place. May 12, 1883, 
the Mudgetts through the influence of John Little, 
one of the oldest settlers, came to Snohomish, the 
father taking a soldier's homestead, in the vicinity 
of that town. For a time Mr. Mudgett operated a 
shoe store in the city, and he was also connected 
with the shingle industry, having one of the first 
mills of that character in the county. In his later 
years his sons were associated with him in busi- 
ness and on the farm. He died in 1893, but Mrs. 
Mudgett survives, a resident of Tacoma at present. 
Jacob A. Mudgett received his primary education 
in the old Bay State but, having come to Snohomish 
when fifteen years of age, he completed his studies 
by a course in the business college there. He at 
once engaged with his father in various lines of 
activity, and since the latter's death farming has 
been his chief occupation until very recently, but 
he has sold his farm and site on the Everett-Sno- 
homish car line. In the meantime he has taken a 
logging contract. 

In Whatcom on the 23d of July, 1897, Mr. Mud- 
gett married Miss Kittie Taylor, a native of Illi- 
nois and daughter of Allan and Mary (Rhoads) 
Taylor. The father was born in Green County, 
Illinois, in 1849, came to the Puget sound country 
with his family in September, 1887, and bought 



land near Lynden, where he continued to farm 
until March, 1905. He then moved to Skagit 
county and purchased a farm near La Conner, 
where he and the family still reside. Mrs. Taylor 
was born in Jersey County, Illinois, in 1853. Mr. 
and Mrs. Mudgett have two children, Easton L. 
and Geneva E. Mr. Mudgett is one of the pio- 
neers of the county, a man of extensive acquaint- 
ance, a farmer of ability and a citizen of high stand- 
ing in the community. John Little, grandfather of 
our subject, was one of the earliest pioneers of 
Snohomish county, having come about 1863. He 
settled a mile southwest of where Snohomish City 
now is. taking up three hundred and twenty acres' 
on the south side of the river, with one mile of 
water- front. He was born in Newcastle, Maine, 
Februarv 5, 1813, and died at Snohomish, March 
23, 1889. 



GEORGE WALKER, whose home lies two 
miles west of the city of Snohomish, is one of the 
venerable men of the Puget Sound country, hav- 
ing lived here continuously for over forty years. 
Mr. Walker was born in Portland, Maine, May 23, 
1823, the son of Benjamin and Sarah (Veasy) 
Walker, both of whom were natives of the Pine 
Tree state and of English extraction. The Ameri- 
can branch of the Walker family antedates the 
American Revolution and its branches are to be 
found throughout New England and the Atlantic 
states. When George Walker was a lad he was 
sent to Natick, Massachusetts, where he received 
a part of his education, the schools of his home 
state being primitive. At Natick young Walker 
lived with an uncle who was proprietor of a paper 
mill, and this business became thoroughly familiar 
to the young man. He remained at Natick until 
he was twenty-seven years of age, then started 
for the gold diggings of California, traveling 
around the Horn. For three years he followed 
placer mining in Eldorado county, then he took 
up a claim on which he made many improvements 
and was doing extremely well when he was forced 
to abandon the claim because of the discovery that 
it was a part of an old Spanish grant and that the 
title was therefore defective. Mr. Walker came 
to Puget sound in 1855 and went to work for the 
Port Madison mill for a time, later taking up fish- 
ing as an occupation. He soon came to Snohomish 
county and located on unsurveyed land just south 
of the present city. He later disposed of this land 
and in 1861 filed on a homestead. A preemption 
subsequently taken gave him a total of three 
hundred and twenty acres, on some part of 
which Mr. Walker has lived continuously for 
more than two score years. When he came 
to what is now Snohomish county there were 
only three settlers in it, Frank Dolan, John 
Cochrane and a sailor whose name has passed out 



872 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



of Mr. Walker's memory. Mr. Walker was on 
friendly terms with the red men, whose language 
he spoke fluently. Hunting and fishing occupied 
the greater part of the time of the Indians, but they 
were also employed in cutting wharf timbers and 
floating them down to the sound for shipment in 
sailing vessels bound for San Francisco. The 
whites generally were compelled to live the same 
manner as the Indians. For nearly a year Mr. 
Walker had on potatoes and subsisted almost 
wholly on fish and game. With the first crop of 
potatoes added to the bill of fare, they "lived high," 
to use Mr. Walker's own expression. When the 
first court was established at Seattle, Mr. Walker 
was drawn on the jury. The traveler in those days 
had to carry his own bedding and provisions and 
the trip to Seattle was by no means a pleasure jour- 
ney ; indeed at one time provisions ran so low that 
dried peas were the only edibles obtainable. The 
return trip to Snohomish was made by canoe in 
three days. 

Mr. Walker married one of the women of the 
friendly Pilchuck tribe, with which he was ever on 
the most friendly terms. Mrs. Walker, whose 
maiden name was Betsy Dyer, has been an e.xcel- 
lent helpmeet all through life, and especially amid 
the hardships in the pioneer days was of great as- 
sistance. Seven children have been born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Walker: Anson, Igar, Leonard, Hulda, 
Mahala, Edward and Efifie. The family has re- 
ceived an excellent education and its members are 
among the most highly respected in the community. 
Mr. Walker held the office of county treasurer in 
territorial days and recalls that at one time the 
finances of the county were represented by $7 on 
hand. Mr. Walker has never used eyeglasses, but 
his vision is as penetrating as that of persons who 
have seen not one-quarter of the years that he has. 
In recent years he has lived a retired life, and has 
sold off much of his farm land in small tracts, some 
of it bringing as high as three hundred dol- 
lars per acre. His farm now contains about 
fifty acres, and is a very valuable piece of 
property, all under cultivation and with an ex- 
cellent orchard. In spite of the vicissitudes of 
the early years of the Snohomish country, life 
has dealt gently with Mr. and Mrs. Walker, 
and the venerable man and his faithful wife, now 
in the evening of their lives, are contemplating 
with pleasure a past replete with interesting ex- 
periences, such as can never be repeated in the 
lives of the rising generation. Mr. and Mrs. 
Walker are of the few remaining landmarks of an 
age when Puget sound was new to the white man 
and to civilization. 



homish, is one of the pioneers of Snohomish county, 
having come here in 1878. His life has been a 
busy one, and in its span Mr. Mallett has been en- 
gaged in numerous lines of activity. He was born 
in Lee, Penobscot County, Maine, in September of 
1855, the son of Joseph and Mary (Ware) Mallett, 
who were also natives of the Pine Tree state. The 
elder Mallett was engaged in lumbering and in 
milling the greater part of his life. Mrs. Mallett 
died in 1890, the mother of three children, Gerish, 
Albert and Joseph. The elder Mallett passed away 
when Joseph Mallett was but four years of age. 
The lad received an excellent education in the com- 
mon schools of his native state and also in the nor- 
mal school. He worked at various occupations as 
a youth and at the age of twenty left the rigorous 
climate of his native state for the Pacific slope, 
traveling over the Union Pacific to San Francisco. 
After a short time in the California capital, in 1876 
he came to the Puget sound country and for a year 
worked in the woods near Tacoma. The follow- 
ing year was passed at work in a saw-mill at Port 
Gamble. It was in 1878 that he came to Snohomish 
county, his first work here being in the logging and 
lumbering lines. After two years of this kind of 
work, Mr. Mallett was employed in the Cathcart 
Hotel, where he remained for a year, then the sub- 
sequent years until 1888 were passed in logging on 
his own account. In the year mentioned he opened 
the Penobscot Hotel in Snohomish, which he con- 
ducted successfully for a period of three years. In 
1891 Mr. Mallett purchased a farm just north of 
the city, but soon sold it to Charles Lawry, return- 
ing to the city to open a saloon, restaurant and 
opera house. He continued in this line for two 
years, then having exchanged town property for 
the valuable estate he now occupies on Blackman 
lake, he removed to the latter and he has since re- 
sided on the farm. 

In 1883 at Snohomish Mr. Mallett married Miss 
Julia E. Jones, a native of Delaware and daughter 
of John and Leah (Jones) Jones. Mr. Jones died 
when his daughter was but a child. The mother is 
still living, a resident of Everett. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Mallett have been born two children, Ella J. and 
Ruth C. In politics Mr. Mallett is a Democrat, 
though an admirer of President Roosevelt, but he 
is not generally active in affairs political. Mr. Mal- 
lett is one of the leading and most popular men of 
the community, highly respected and esteemed by 
those who know him best. 



JOSEPH MALLETT, whose farm lies one 
mile and a half northward from the city of Sno- 



GARMT DANHOF, now one of the progres- 
sive agriculturists of Snohomish county, was, only 
a few years ago, merely a part of the military ma- 
chinery of the government of Holland. He served 
in the army and by meritorious conduct and ap- 
proved service received promotion and then, un- 
able longer to withstand the limitations of an 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



oligarchy, purchased his release from the service 
in order that he might become a free citizen of the 
United States. Mr. Danhof was born at Nieder- 
land in December of 1872, one of five children of 
Garmt and Witske Danhof, both of whom lived 
and died in Holland. Young Danhof attended the 
common schools of his native place until eleven 
years old when he was thrown entirely upon his 
own resources. For seven years he worked at 
farming, utilizing spare moments in reading, and 
in this way acquiring an excellent education. When 
eighteen years of age he entered the field artillery 
of the army of Holland and thereafter for three 
years he served with merit, receiving promotion to 
the mounted police. He had served four and a 
half years in this capacity when he determined to 
leave Holland, come to the United States and build 
a home. The military service of his native land 
seemed irksome to him, and when the opportunity 
presented itself Mr. Danhof purchased his release 
from the service by paying another man $150 to 
serve out the remainder of his six-year term. He 
came to the United States in 1899 and settled in 
Paterson, New Jersey, where he remained two 
months, leaving there to go to Grand Rapids, Mich- 
igan. In the latter city he was employed for four- 
teen months in the gas works. In 1901 he came 
to Seattle, where for nearly a year he was employed 
by the gas company in its factory. He then came 
to Snohomish, and he has since been engaged in 
farming and dairying. His present home lies one 
mile south of the city of Snohomish, where he 
leases a farm. He is also the owner of a fifty-acre 
farm of well improved land five miles south of the 
city. 

Just prior to leaving Holland, Mr. Danhof mar- 
ried Miss Maria Bussema, daughter of Carl and 
Elizabeth (Campen) Bussema, farmer folk of Hol- 
land. Mr. Bussema died when Mrs. Danhof was 
but three months old. To Mr. and Mrs. Danhof 
have been born six children : Witske, Elizabeth, 
Jantje, Maria, Garmt and Carl. Mr. and Mrs. 
Danhof are members of the Christian church ; in 
politics the former is non-partisan. He is at pres- 
ent pursuing diversified farming, paying, however, 
considerable attention to dairying, possessing thirty 
head of stock. Success has crowned his efforts in 
the country of his adoption and with it has come 
in abundant measure the kindly regard of neigh- 
bors and acquaintances. 



CHARLES L. HILL, one of the newcomers to 
the ranks of Snohomish county agriculturists and 
horticulturists, is a man of varied experiences. He 
was born in Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois, in 
September of 1857, one of the seven children of 
Amos and Cordelia (Arnold) Hill. The elder Hill 
was a native of Crawford County, Pennsylvania, 



who went to the Sucker state in the 'forties and 
was there during the Mormon troubles when Leader 
Smith was killed and the Latter Day Saints were 
driven out of the state. Mr. Hill invented a 
wooden pump and was engaged in manufacturing 
pumps at Galesburg until in 1868 fire for the sec- 
ond time destroyed his factory, causing heavy 
losses. Mr. Hill then went to Livingston County, 
Missouri, and for eight years thereafter was en- 
gaged in farming. In 1886 he went to the Black 
Hills and located at Sun Dance in stock raising. 
He continued at this business until his death in 
1893, caused by a vicious stallion. Mrs. Hill, a na- 
tive of Maine but of French extraction, is living 
with a daughter in New Mexico. Her children 
are: Mrs. Mary E. Merrill, Rapid City, South 
Dakota; Charles L., of Snohomish; Mrs. Carrie 
Hamilton, of Everett; Mrs. Cora Moore, of Den- 
ver, Colorado ; Frank A., postmaster at Raton, New 
Mexico, and a veteran of the Spanish-American 
War, having served as a sharpshooter in the First 
Volunteer cavalry, familiarly known as Roosevelt's 
Rough Riders ; Mrs. Grace Brennan, of New Mex- 
ico ; and Edna, a graduate of the Galesburg Con- 
servatory of Music. Charles L. Hill, aside from a 
short time passed in the common schools of Gales- 
burg, had few opportunities for the acquisition of 
learning but as the years have passed by he has 
taken advantage of reading and intelligent obser- 
vation to accumulate a vast fund of information 
concerning men and things. His boyhood days 
were passed for the greater part on a Missouri 
farm. In 1882 he went to Rapid City, South Da- 
kota, and entered upon the life of the cowboy of 
the plains. During the twenty-two years Mr. Hill 
rode the stock ranges of Dakota and Wyoming he 
had many experiences, becoming an expert with 
the lariat, and in all that pertained to the handling 
of range stock. Of buffalo and antelope hunting 
he had his share. He was at the Pine Ridge Indian 
agency during the uprising of the Sioux. He came 
to Snohomish in 190-1 and purchased his present 
farm, lying three-quarters of a mile north of the 
corporation limits of the city, where he is engaged 
in diversified farming and fruit culture. 

In November of 1889, while living in Wyoming, 
Mr. Hill married Miss Mattie Stone, a native of 
Colorado and daughter of Lew and Maggie Stone, 
Ohioans who became farmers in Colorado South 
Dakota. To Mr. and Mrs. Hill have been born 
two children, Harvey L. and Inez. Mr. Hill is a 
member of the Knights of Pythias, while Mrs. Hill 
belongs to its auxiliary, the Degree of Honor and 
both are communicants in the Baptist church. In 
politics Mr. Hill is a Republican and an ardent ad- 
mirer of President Roosevelt. He is respected and 
popular in his home community, as a man of ex- 
cellent qualities of mind and heart. 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



WILLIAM DEERING, living two and a half 
miles north of the city of Snohomish, is one of the 
first settlers of this county, having come here in 
1874 when there were only a few white families 
in the territory now embraced within the county 
limits. Mr. Deering was born in Aroostook County, 
Maine, in February, 1847, the third of the twelve 
children of William and Sarah (Sawyer) Deering, 
who passed their entire lives in the farming and 
lumbering industries of the Pine Tree state. The 
elder Deering passed away in 1895 and his wife 
two years later, each after having attained the age 
of four score years. Of their children five are now 
residents of Snohomish county: George B., Wil- 
liam, Edwin L., Mrs. Fred V. Foss and Mrs. Edith 
Sprague. William Deering received a common 
school education in his native state. At the out- 
break of the Civil War he enlisted in the Fifteenth 
Maine infantry and served two years in the opera- 
tions around Richmond and in the early campaigns 
in the South. Upon being mustered out Mr. Deer- 
ing returned to his native state and engaged in 
work in the woods until 1868 when he removed 
to Pennsylvania and later to Wisconsin, in both 
states logging in the lumber sections. In 1874 he 
came to Washington, and he carried on lumbering 
operations here until fifteen years ago when he met 
with an accident which has crippled him for life. 
He then purchased a tract of one hundred and 
twenty acres of land where he now lives, to which 
he has since added thirty acres more. The im- 
provements were most meager when Mr. Deering 
took possession of the place, the chief feature being 
a "shake" cabin. Mr. Deering now has fifteen 
acres under plow and twenty-five in pasture. He 
devotes his attention to dairying and hog raising. 
His twenty head of cattle are mostly Jerseys and 
his thirty-three head of hogs are of the Berkshire 
and Poland China breeds. 

In 1881 Mr. Deering married Miss Delia Elwell, 
daughter of Tamlin and Sarah (Watson) Elwell, 
of whom mention is elsewhere made in this volume. 
He was married a second time eleven years ago, 
his present wife having been Miss Georgianna 
Cram, a native of Maine whose parents passed 
away when she was a child. By his first marriage 
Mr. Deering has two children, Tarn and Ulma, the 
former of whom is attending the Snohomish high 
school, the latter of whom is at home. In fraternal 
circles Mr. Deering is a Mason, a charter member 
of Snohomish lodge, and a member of the Grand 
Army of the Republic. In politics he is a Repub- 
lican, taking an active part in party affairs. He 
has served one term as coroner. In religious per- 
suasion he is a Baptist. Mr. Deering is a man of 
sterling manhood, highly respected in his commu- 
nity. 



ANDREW J. FLORANCE, though a resident 
of Snohomish county but a few years, has already 
established himself in the confidence and esteem 
of the community as a man of sterling character 
and attainments. He was born in Penetanguishene, 
Simcoe County, Ontario, early in 1853, the fourth 
of the sixteen children, (eleven of whom are still 
living), of James and Jessie (Wood) Florance, The 
elder Florance was born in Manchester, England, 
the son of a soldier in the British East Indian army 
for twenty-one years who late in life received land 
from the government in recognition of his services. 
He is now a resident of Bellingham, Whatcom 
county, and is seventy years of age. Mrs. Jessie 
Florance was born in India, where she grew to 
womanhood. It is related of her that when a child 
she tamed a venomous snake which was kept about 
the Wood home as a plaything and curiosity. Mrs. 
Florance is still living, having attained the age of 
sixty-nine. Andrew J. Florance was taken by his 
parents to Chippewa County, Michigan, when but 
a lad. At twelve years of age he commenced the 
activities of life as chore boy on board the lake 
steamer, Antelope, which was sunk before he com- 
pleted his first voyage. For a number of years 
afterward he was on the old City of Owen Sound. 
During his service on the Great Lakes he steadily 
advanced until when he abandoned the work he 
was a second engineer. The seventeen years fol- 
lowing his quitting of the lakes were passed as 
an engineer for the saw-mill of the Hall-Munson 
Company of Bay Mills county. He left that firm 
on the first day of December, 1900, and came to 
Washington, settling at Machias, where, on a pre- 
vious visit, he had purchased ten acres of land. He 
has since added five acres and is devoting himself 
to raising poultry, garden produce and fruit, also 
carrying on a small dairy establisment. Mr. Flor- 
ance still owns four lots and a house in Brimley, 
]\Iichigan. 

In March, 1891, Mr. Florance married Miss 
Martha Noble Bole, daughter of Richard and Mar- 
tha (Noble) Bole. The mother dying when Mar- 
tha was an infant, she was adopted by her grand- 
parents, John and Mary Noble, was raised by them 
and until her marriage was known by the name 
of Noble. The father is still living, a resident of 
Michigan, to which state he removed from Simcoe, 
Ontario, the birthplace of Mrs. Florance. Mr. and 
Mrs. Florance have one child, Dottie Hester, born 
October 30, 1896. In fraternal circles Mr. Flor- 
ance is an Odd Fellow and a member of the Knights 
of the Maccabees, Mrs. Florance being a member 
of the woman's auxiliaries of those orders. In 
politics Mr. Florance is a Democrat and in re- 
ligious persuasion an Episcopalian. He is one of 
the worthy citizens of Snohomish county, a man 
of genial qualities and worthy principles. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



875 



THOMAS N. RICHARDS, to whom belongs 
the honor of having been one of the early pioneers 
of the Sound country, resides two and one-half 
miles southeast of Snohomish on the Monroe road. 
He was born in Devonshire, England, December 21, 
1847. His father, Thomas Richards, was a well 
known merchant in England for many years, and 
ran a livery establishment in connection with his 
merchandise. Esther (Parker) Richards, the 
mother, was also of English nativity. Like most 
young people, Thomas Richards secured his edu- 
cation in the common schools, and at an early age 
began contributing to his own support. His first 
position was that of toll gate keeper in Berkshire, 
which he held for a year, and then followed various 
occupations for a time. Thrilled by the thought 
of a life spent on the sea, he went as an appren- 
tice on a merchant sailing vessel when but a boy of 
fourteen, but not finding it quite as he had antici- 
pated, he returned to his home the following year. 
Two years afterward he joined Her Majesty's ser- 
vice, and remained in the ranks for six years, serv- 
ing four years of that time in India. To visit the 
land across the waters, rich in natural resources 
and abounding in splendid openings for industrious 
men. had long been a cherished plan, and in 18G9. 
finding himself in position to carry it out, he sailed 
for the United States, crossed the Isthmus of Pan- 
ama, and came to Washington, via San Francisco. 
Locating on Whidby island, he purchased land 
near Coupeville, and there he spent almost thirty 
years of liis life, developing the country and la}-- 
ing the foundation for the civilization of today. 
Years of toil brought their own satisfying reward, 
and when in 1899 he left his ranch and settled in 
Snohomish county, he had the pleasure of leaving 
behind him convincing proof of his ceaseless toil. 
He is still engaged in agricultural pursuits, devot- 
ing especial attention to dairying. 

The marriage of Mr. Richards and Miss Ruby 
Burce, of Maine, was celebrated in Seattle, Decem- 
ber 18, 18S0. Mrs. Richards is the daughter of 
John and Ada Burce, both of whom were born in 
Maine. Filled with patriotism Mr. Burce enlisted 
for the Civil War, and served four years in the 
Ninth Maine volunteers. He was stricken with 
fever while before Richmond and died in a short 
time. The mother now resides in Whatcom county. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Richards sixteen children have 
been born, all but two of whom are still living. 
Having been brought up in the Episcopal faith 
Mr. Richards naturally inclines to that denomina- 
tion, while his wife is a devoted member of the 
Methodist church. In politics he is a Democrat. 
During his long residence in this state Mr. Rich- 
ards has been prominently identified with its his- 
tory, and has contributed materially to its growth 
and prosperity. He is widely known, particularly 
in the western part of the state, and is highly 



esteemed both for his upright character and his 
splendid record as a pioneer. 



THOMAS J. FINNIGAN, one of the thrifty 
and industrious farmers of Snohomish county, re- 
sides one and one-half miles southeast of Snohom- 
ish, on his fine one-hundred-acre farm. He was 
born in Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, April 
14, 1859, the son of Patrick'and Mary (Galegher) 
Finnigan. The father, leaving his native land, Ire- 
land, in early life, settled in Pennsylvania, where 
he still lives, and for many years worked in the 
anthracite coal regions. The mother was born 
there, and spent her entire life within the boun- 
daries of the state, dying in 18C5. He being bereft 
of a mother's fostering care when but a child of 
six, Thomas J. Finnigan's education was sadly neg- 
lected, a few short months covering the entire 
time spent by him in the school room. That 
although handicapped by this lack of training he 
has made a splendid success of life is due to his 
keen powers of observation and his insatiable thirst 
for knowledge. At an age when other boys were 
busy with their tops, marbles and balls, his childish 
hands were toiling down in the dark, damp coal 
mines of his native state. He was thus employed 
until he had passed his seventeenth birthday, and 
so well had he performed the duties that fell to 
his lot that he had won the approval of his employ- 
ers. Leaving home at that age he found a posi- 
tion in the coal mines of Indiana, and he worked 
there for some time, until he had sufficient funds 
to start in business for himself, then selecting Bra- 
zil, Indiana, as a desirable location, he opened a 
grocery store which he conducted for a number 
of years, his natural ability enabling him to man- 
age the business successfully. In 1889, he was 
seized with a desire to visit the Northwest, so dis- 
posed of his stock, and at once set out for Puget 
sound. Arriving there in due course of time, he 
went on to New Castle, W^ashington, and spent 
the following three years farming. He then de- 
cided to avail himself of the privilege of home- 
steading a claim, and in 1892 filed on land on the 
west bank of Woods Creek, where he made his 
home for several years afterward. Going then to 
the Monte Christo mining district he there resumed 
his boyhood occupation and remained so employed 
until 1900, at which time he came to Snohomish 
county, and in 1903 he purchased the property he 
now owns. 

Mr. Finnigan and Miss Mary A. Lord were 
married in Brazil, Indiana, October 16, 1882. Mrs. 
Finnigan was born in Indiana as were also her 
parents, William and Lydia (Kane) Lord, who 
now resiae in Clay County, Indiana, where the 
father is a well known agriculturist. Mr. and Mrs. 
Finnigan have four children: Geneva M., a suc- 
cessful teacher in the schools of Monroe, Washing- 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



ton; Margaret I., Lawrence L. and Gilbert L. Mr. 
Finnigan has three sisters residing in his native 
state. In politics he is independent, identifying 
himself with no political party, but casting his bal- 
lot in each instance for the man whom he believes 
will best serve the highest interests of the people. 
Because of his life long regret that he could not 
have had the benefits of a liberal education, Mr. 
Finnigan has always been deeply concerned about 
the advantages afforded his children, and has been 
instrumental in securing excellent schools in this 
locality. Both he and his estitnable wife are held 
in the highest esteem in the coinmunity in which 
they live. Their home is a social center where 
all are made welcome and royally entertained. 



MITCHEL LORD, a prominent agriculturist 
residing three miles south of Snohomish, Washing- 
ton, was born September 15, 1846, in Canada, sixty 
miles from Quebec. His ancestors, escaping from 
a vessel wrecked on the Saint Lawrence river, 
found a home in Canada on the Atlantic coast, and 
thus became identified with the history of this con- 
tinent. Nissett Lord, his father, was a well known 
farmer until his death in 1875; the mother, Sera- 
phine Lord, died in 1857. Naturally of a studious 
turn of mind, Mitchel Lord acquired an excellent 
practical education in the schools of his native 
country, and was thus well equipped for a success- 
ful career. Leaving home at the age of twenty, 
he crossed the border and settled in New York. 
After farming for a year, he decided to seek an 
opening in Cleveland, Ohio, so went there, and 
found temporary employment in the ship yards. 
The following three years were spent in the lum- 
ber regions of Michigan, whither he had gone in 
search of a desirable location. But he was con- 
vinced that the Northwest afforded greater oppor- 
tunities for advancement to young men who were 
willing to work, so he left the East in 1870, going 
over the Union Pacific railroad to San Francisco, 
and thence by boat to Puget sound. After arriv- 
ing at his destination he spent several months in 
the lumber camps near Port Gamble, and then re- 
moved to Lowell, Washington, where he remained 
until 1879, in which year he purchased his first 
real estate, — eighty acres situated three miles south- 
east of Snohomish. In 1884, he took as a home- 
stead claim, the fine ranch on which he now lives. 
As one of the pioneers of this locality, he endured 
all the hardships and dangers inseparably con- 
nected with life in a new, undeveloped country, 
toiling early and late to clear his land and fit it for 
cultivation, meanwhile assisting in opening up 
roads and preparing for the civilization that was 
to follow. To have been one of those brave, daunt- 
less men who labored so unselfishly for the good 
of future generations, is an honor of which any 
man might well be proud. 



Mr. Lord and Miss Kate Babcock, a native of 
Buchanan County, Missouri, were mai'ried in Se- 
attle, May 12, 1879. She is the daughter of Ben- 
jamin and Sarah (Porter) Babcock, the father a 
native of Maine, the mother, of Missouri. The 
father, a mill man, died in 1873 in Missouri. The 
mother, who was afterwards married to J. A. Davis,, 
moved to Snohomish County, Washington, in 1875, 
and lived there until her death in 1883. Mrs. Lord 
came to Snohomish county with her mother in 
1875, and saw real pioneer times, having helped 
carry supplies in on her back to the ranch on the 
west of the marsh, southwest of Snohomish. Eight 
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lord : 
Fred, Albert C, Lottie, Cecil B., Emery M., Floyd 
E., Maude E., and Nola M. One son, Emery M., 
enlisted in the United States navy, and is now on 
the United States flagship, "Ohio," where he is 
already winning an enviable reputation for ability 
and skill. Mr. Lord has been prominently identi- 
fied with the Masonic fraternity since 1876. His 
political beliefs are in accord with the doctrines 
of the Republican party, to which he has given 
his life-long support. His property holdings con- 
sist of two hundred and ten acres of fertile land, 
of which one hundred acres are in excellent cul- 
tivation. While devoting his attention largely to 
dairying, he also raises horses, sheep and hogs of 
a superior quality. His beautiful home, a model of 
architectural skill, is built on a terraced elevation 
overlooking the lovely valley of the Snohomish 
river, and is by far the most imposing residence 
in the county. The grounds around it are carefully 
laid out and kept in exquisite order, evidencing the 
taste and wealth of the owner. It is a picture of 
rural loveliness that, once seen, can never be for- 
gotten. Surrounded by all these unmistakable evi- 
dences of the prosperity that has crowned years of 
unceasing toil he recalls the early days of struggle 
and is able fully to appreciate the luxury of to-day. 
A man of sterling worth he commands the confi- 
dence and respect of the entire community. 



ABRAHAM PEDEN, to whom belongs the 
unique distinction of being a veteran of the Mex- 
ican War and also an honored pioneer of the 
Northwest, is now residing on his fine farm located 
three miles southeast of Snohomish on the Mon- 
roe road. He was born in Ohio, October 17, 1838. 
His father, Joseph Peden, was a Virginian by birth, 
and for many years was engaged in the milling 
business, retiring, however, some years before his 
death in 1864. The mother, Margaret (Burres) 
Peden, a native of Maryland, traced her ancestry 
back to a distinguished Scotch family that settled 
on the Atlantic coast very soon after the landing 
of the Pilgrims. Her death occurred in 1850. 
After acquiring his education in the common 
schools of the Buckeye state, Abraham Peden 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



found employment at home until 1847 when he en- 
listed in the Second Ohio Regiment, Company C, 
Vohmteer Infantry at the opening of the Mexican 
war. During his thirteen months of service he par- 
ticipated in many of the leading battles of the war, 
and altiiough only a boy of nineteen, distinguished 
himself as a brave soldier. Returning to his home 
he remained there several years, and then, thrilled 
by the tales of the fabulous wealth abounding in 
the gold districts of California, he went thither 
in 1853, via the Isthmus of Panama. Having 
searched the golden sands of Eldorado county for 
three years with little success, he then went to the 
placer mines on the -Salmon river, and remained 
thirteen years, after which he decided to change 
his occupation. Determining to seek an opening 
in the vast, undeveloped regions of the Xorthwest, 
lie came to Washington in isiji), and after working 
a year at various occupations purchased the prop- 
erty he now owns, and took up agricultural pur- 
suits. That he has been very successful is readily 
believed by any one visiting his splendid one hun- 
dred and thirty-acre ranch on which is built a 
cozy, convenient house, modern in every respect. 
In addition to this he owns another farm one-half 
mile distant, consisting of forty-three acres. 

Mr. Peden has been twice married. Miss Edna 
Martin of Ohio first becoming his wife. She was 
drowned in Ebey slough in July, 1870, three years 
after their marriage. He and his present wife, for- 
merly Miss Madalene Turner, were wedded in Sno- 
homish, in July, 1897. Mrs. Peden"s parents died 
many years ago in Sweden, her native land. Mr. 
Peden is a loyal worker in the ranks of the Repub- 
lican party but has, personally, no political aspira- 
tions. A broad minded, public spirited man he has 
been instrumental in the growth and development 
of the county throughout the long years of his res- 
idence, cheerfully giving of his time and means 
to every public enterprise. 



WILLIAM MORGAN, engaged in diversified 
farming in the valley of the Snohomish, has for 
more than twenty years now been actively identi- 
fied with its development with profit to the com- 
munity as well as to himself. A member of the 
well known Morgan family, he is the eldest .^on of 
Morgan Morgan Sr. and Hannah (Williams) Mor- 
gan, a biographical sketch of whom appears else- 
where in these pages. The elder Morgan, whose 
native country is Wales, came to Snohomish county 
a year before his son William and is one of the 
honored citizens of the county on account of his 
personal qualities and the zeal he has manifested 
in forwarding the best interests of his section. 
Mrs. Morgan, the mother, is dea^l. William Mor- 
gan was born in Cwnillynfell, Wales, April 10. 
1865. There he grew to manhood in the great cial 



mining regions, attending the common schools, and 
acquiring a practical knowledge of mining and 
agriculture. At the age of twenty-one' he left the 
family homestead to make his own way, first work- 
ing on surrounding farms. In 1885, upon the de- 
parture of his father and his brothers Morgan and 
Charles for the United States to found ? new 
home, William returned to look after the family 
and business matters, which occupied his attention 
for several months. Six months after the departure 
of his father, his inother died, and as a result of 
this sad event he hastened the closing up of busi- 
ness matters and before the expiration of the year 
was en route to the LTnited States with the rest of 
the family, to rejoin his father at Snohomish. Near 
there the family located and at once began the 
establishment of the new American home. Wil- 
liam and his brother, Mor_gan, bought one hundred 
and sixty acres of semi wild land, paying fifty dol- 
lars an acre. A little later they divided this place 
and William purchased an additional forty acres, 
to this subsequently adding another tract of twenty 
acres given him by his father. In 1893 he and his 
brother Morgan established a saw-mill, but the 
ownership quickly passed into the hands of the 
younger brother, William returning to his farm. 
Two years ago, in 1904, he sold sixty acres for 
six thousand dollars, which left him a place of 
eighty-five acres to which he is now devoting his 
whole time and skill. When he arrived in the val- 
ley, although it contained a considerable popula- 
tion, the main portion of it was still wild with but 
few if any roads worthy the name. 

Miss Hannah Daniels, the daughter of David 
and Anna Daniels, residents of Paradise valley, 
King county, became the bride of Mr. Morgan in 
September, 1898. Her parents, also, are natives 
of Wales, born during the middle 'forties. They 
came to America in early life and Mrs. Morgan 
was born in Wisconsin, in 1874. Later the family 
removed to Kansas, where considerable of her edu- 
cation was received. Two children have blessed 
the union of Mr. and Mrs. Morgan: Ethel, born 
February 37, 1901; and Mabel, September 4, 1903 ; 
both upon the Snohomish valley homestead. The 
family's religious affiliations are with the Congre- 
gational church, and Mr. Morgan is an active Re- 
publican. He has served his precinct as road super- 
visor. Of his eighty-five acres, half are rich bot- 
tom land, and all of it is well improved and sup- 
plied with comfortable buildings. Although still 
engaged in dairying to some extent, Mr. Morgan 
disposed of his large dairy interests when he sold 
part of his place in 1904. At that time he sold ten 
cows for sixty-five dollars each and the remainder 
for a sum but little less. Prosperous in his agri- 
cultural busmess, and impelled by a progressive 
spirit he has been a force in the upbuilding of the 
community and county, the highest respect and 



878 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



esteem of whose citizens he enjoys in abundant 
measure. 



MORGAN M. MORGAN.— Among the pio- 
neers of the great Snohomish valley, men who en- 
tered it during its earliest stages of development, 
kept step with the rapid march of its wonderful 
progress, and who are today active in its business 
and social life, must be included the subject of 
this biographical review. The fact that he belongs 
to the well known Morgan family, being the sec- 
ond son of Morgan Morgan, a separate sketch of 
whom appears also in this work, gives him further 
prominence. Born in Wales, also the birthplace 
of his father, February 27, 1867, he comes from 
ancient Welsh stock, his mother being also of that 
nationality. Morgan Jr. was reared on the farm, 
attending the schools of the community, and as- 
sisting at home until he reached the age of eighteen. 
That year marked a memorable epoch in his life. 
His father, brother Charles and himself, left the 
old home that year, 1885, to seek the richer oppor- 
tunities and freer life of western America, intend- 
ing to send for the remaining members of the fam- 
ily as soon as established. Coming to the Pacific 
coast, the three located first at Newcastle, King 
county, drawn thither by old acquaintances at work 
in the mines there. In January, 1886, they came 
to Snohomish county, where, the following April, 
they received the sad news that the devoted wife 
and mother had passed away, an event which only 
hastened the departure of the other children for 
the United States. Upon reaching Snohomish the 
father at once iought one hundred and sixty acres 
of deeded land and the work of home-building was 
begun. There were then no roads worthy the 
name and really only very poor trails. Six years 
later, Morgan jr. took a preemption claim nearby, 
which he added to his share of a quarter section 
previously purchased by his brother William and 
himself. In 1893 these brothers erected a saw-mill 
in the vicinity, the first one thereabouts, which 
soon passed into the sole possession of Morgan 
M. Morgan. This plant he operated successfully 
imtil 1901, when he sold out. He had also been 
engaged in farming, and since that date he has 
been giving his entire attention to his farming and 
business interests, which are of considerable mag- 
nitude. 

Mr. Morgan and Miss Marie Detering were 
united in marriage December 3, 1896. Mrs. Mor- 
gan is of German descent, born in Germany, April 
30, 1871, the daughter of Frederick and Henrietta 
(Dickman) Detering, both of whom are now dead. 
They came to Snohomish county in 1879 and set- 
tled near Monroe, among the early- pioneers of 
that section, so that Mrs. Morgan received most 
of her education and rearing within the confines 
of Snohomish county. Three children have been 



bom to Mr. and Mrs. Morgan : Kenneth, Sep- 
tember 33, 1897; Willard, May 30, 1900; and Gil- 
bert, March 19, 1904. The family belongs to the 
Congregational church. Politically, Mr. Morgan 
is a liberal Republican. He has served his pre- 
cinct at different times as justice of the peace and 
constable. His estate embraces two hundred and 
fifty acres of rich valley land, and city property 
in Everett and Monroe, besides which Mrs. Mor- 
gan possesses a fifty-five acre farm near Monroe. 
Their home, three miles southwest of Snohomish, 
is prettily located, very comfortable and permeated 
by an atmosphere of hospitality and progressive- 
ness. Mr. Morgan is justly ranked among the 
leading citizens of the valley, esteemed for his per- 
sonal qualities and respected by all. 



WILBERT F. EDDY, living one mile and a 
half west of Snohomish, is one of the pioneers of 
this section of the county, having first come here 
to work in a logging camp thirty-four years ago. 
Though some of the intervening years have been 
passed by him in other sections of the Pacific 
Northwest, the greater portion of his life since 
coming to the Puget sound country has been spent 
in Snohomish county. Mr. Eddy was born in Ed- 
dington, Maine, August 14, 1847, the fourth of 
six children of Timothy and Mary J. (Roe) Eddy, 
both of whom were natives of the Pine Tree state. 
They were descended from English stock. Tim- 
othy Eddy died in his native state in 1878. Wil- 
bert F. Eddy was born on his father's farm and 
received his education in the schools of the neigh- 
borhood. He remained with his parents until six- 
teen years of age, then enlisted in Company A of 
the Thirty-First Maine Volunteers ; and he served 
through the latter part of the Civil War with that 
command. Upon being mustered out at Bangor, 
Maine, he returned to the farm. In 1873, soon 
after his marriage, Mr. Eddy came to the Pacific 
Northwest. He chose Snohomish county for his 
place of residence and for three years worked in 
a logging camp, where Mrs. Eddy was also em- 
ployed as cook. Mr. Eddy was noted in those days 
as one of the most expert choppers. Six months 
of the year 1875 were passed in San Francisco. 
On his return from California Mr. Eddy went to 
Walla Walla and for four years was engaged in 
contracting to furnish ties to the Northern Pacific 
railroad for use in the construction of its trans- 
continental line. He returned to Snohomish 
county in 1879 and for a number of years fol- 
lowed the life of the woodsman, at times hiring 
out to others and at times engaging in business 
on his own account. In 1883 he took a homestead 
near Hartford, but four years later he sold out 
and moved to Snohomish, where he purchased a 
number of city lots and built dwellings, leasing the 
properties as soon as they were completed. In 





HENRY SPURRELL 



JOSEPH MARTELL 





ULRICK R. ERICKSON 



HERMAN MICHEELS 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



1894 he purchased his present place of twelve acres 
and he has since devoted himself assiduously to 
its improvement. It is one of the fine country 
estates in the county, modern and complete in every 
detail. The six room house and the buildings have 
been constructed with care, and the place "is con- 
sidered a model small American farm. 

March 19, 1870, in Bradley, Maine, Mr. Eddy 
married Miss Charlotte Osgood, daughter of Jo- 
seph and Mary Osgood, both of whom were na- 
tives of the Pine Tree state. Mr. and Mrs. Eddy 
came across the continent soon after their mar- 
riage. In fraternal circles Mr. "Eddy is a Mason 
and a member of the Grand Army; in politics he 
is a Republican, but does not alwavs consider him- 
self bound to support candidates of his party. He 
and Mrs. Eddy are among the honored pioneers 
of the county and in the years of their residence 
here have done much to develop its resources, and 
to aid in its general progress. Thev are popular 
and highly respected by all who are honored with 
their acquaintance or friendship. 



HENRY SPURRELL is an early settler of 
Snohomish county and one of the pioneers of the 
city of Snohomish. When Mr. Spurrell first came 
to this part of the country, settlers were few and 
hamlets fewer. In the forty years during which 
Mr. Spurrell has been active in Snohomish county, 
he has seen the community grow and has been 
himself a factor in creating that growth. He was 
born in England early in the year February 2, 
1843, the son of William Spurrell, who was born 
near Portsmouth and followed the trade of barber 
during his entire life. Henry Spurrell's mother 
died when he was six years old, and of her the son 
has little memory. His school days were few, but 
in the course of a long and active fife he has picked 
up a large store of information and is one of the 
well posted citizens of the county. At thirteen 
years of age he commenced life in the British Navy. 
During the seven and a half years he was engaged 
m this branch of Her Majesty's service, young 
Spurrell visited nearly every portion of the trav- 
eled seas and called at all the ports of the world 
which were of importance. In 1SG3 while in the 
harbor of Victoria, British Columbia, Mr. Spur- 
rell left the service and at once made his way to 
Utsalady and for three years worked in logging 
camps on Camano Island. In 186G Mr. Spurrell 
came to Snohomish and passed the next succeed- 
ing two years in J. Berry's logging camp. During 
this time he purchased of an earlier settler hi's 
right to a piece of land comprising one hundred and 
fifty acres and located a half mile west of the site 
of the present city of Snohomish, and filed a pre- 
emption. The land was covered with heavv tim- 
ber, but Mr. Spurrell had cleared twelve acres of 
It before selling it in 1870. He then went further 



up the river and took up a homestead of one hun- 
dred and sixty acres of land. Mr. Spurrell lived 
here for twelve years and cleared and put under 
cultivation half of his land. He leased the place 
in 1886 and removed with his family to the city 
in order that his children might have the benefit 
of a school education. In the following year he 
opened a lumber yard, the first one in the city of 
Snohomish, and continued in the lumber business 
for thirteen years, selling out in 1900. Mr. Spur- 
rell then bought the oldest furniture store in the 
place and has continued in that business to the 
present time. 

In Seattle in 1874 Mr. Spurrell married Miss 
Sarah Martin, a native of England who had come 
to the Puget sound country to be with a brother. 
Upon her marriage Mrs. Spurrell moved to the 
Snohomish river country and taught the first 
school in that section of the county. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Spurrell have been bom five children : Harry 
F., now in the shingle business at Monroe; Amy 
A., living at home; William M., at home; Mrs. 
Grace C. Jones, wife of the Pacific Express' Com- 
pany's agent at Everett ; and Ivy, a student in the 
University at Seattle. In politics Mr. Spurrell 
IS a Republican. He has served a term in the city 
council and is now a member of the school board. 
In fraternal circles he is an Odd Fellow, a Re- 
bekah, a Mason, a Maccabee and a member of the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen. The family 
is Episcopal in its adherence. In addition to his 
mercantile establishment Mr. Spurrell owns con- 
siderable property in Snohomish. He is success- 
ful in business and highly esteemed as a man and 
as a citizen. 



JOSEPH MARTELL is one of the well known 
business men of the city of Snohomish, where he 
has a well stocked store of paints, varnishes, wall 
paper and builders' supplies. He also enjoys a 
reputation as an artistic painter and decorator, 
having learned his trade in the thorough-going 
system in vogue among craftsmen in England. Mr. 
Martell was born in Somerset Countv, England 
January 26, 1862, the youngest of a family of 
twelve children, six boys and six girls. The 'par- 
ents were Frederick and Anne (Watkins) Martell, 
lineal descendants of Huguenots who fied from 
France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes 
and settled on English soil. The Martell genealogy 
can be traced back to the Thirteenth centurv. The 
elder Martell was a hotel keeper at Weston-super- 
Mare, a well known resort on Bristol channel, 
where he conducted business successfully until 
1888 after which time he retired. His death oc- 
curred in 1898 at Southampton in the home of his 
son where he was visiting. The mother of our 
subject died in the fall of 1890 at her home in, 
England. Joseph Martell received his education 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



in the grammar school of Weston-super-Mare and 
by the time he had attained his majority he had 
mastered the trade of painter and decorator. When 
twenty-one he left England and came to Halifax, 
Nova Scotia, where he remained but a short time. 
He then went to Andover, New Brunswick, and 
worked at farming for about two years. Mr. Mar- 
tell for six years at various times worked at his 
trade in Aroostook County, Maine. In 1888 he 
returned to England for a four months' visit to 
the place of his nativity. On leaving England he 
came direct to Snohomish, Washington, where he 
has since resided. 

In May of 1889 at Vancouver, British Colum- 
bia, Mr. Martell married Miss Alice Clements, a 
native of Devonshire, England. Mrs. Martell died 
in 1891. leaving one child, Frederick, who is liv- 
ing with his father. In September of 1895 Mr. 
Martell married Miss Alice McKinley at Snohom- 
ish. The present Mrs. Martell is a native of Prince 
Edward's island in the gulf of St. Lawrence, where 
her father, a tailor by trade, passed away. Mrs. 
Martell came with her mother to Snohomish in 
1892. To Mr. and Mrs. Martell have been born 
three children : an infant, deceased, Annie and Clif- 
ford. Mr. Martell and his wife are members of 
the Baptist church, people of the sterling qualities 
of mind and heart which attract friends. In poli- 
tics Mr. Martell is a Republican. He takes a 
livelv interest in questions of local importandfe. 
Mr. Martell is- an enthusiast on the matter of the 
resources of Snohomish county and says that in 
all his travels he has never seen a country its 
equal in the matter of climate, natural advantages 
and present opportunities. 



HERMAN MICHEELS. farmer, one mile 
south of Snohomish, is one of the men who has 
been able by dint of hard work and economical 
management of his affairs to raise himself from 
the position of day laborer to the proprietorship of 
a fine piece of farm property in the vicinty of one 
of the large communities of the county. This he 
has done within a very few years and solely by 
his own endeavor. Mr. Micheels was bom in 
Germany in the summer of 1855, the tenth of a 
family of eleven children. Michel and Ernestina 
(Zuldorf) Micheels were German peasant folk who 
never left their native land. Herman Micheels ob- 
tained his education in the common schools of 
Germany and remained at home until he had at- 
tained his majority. When he was fifteen years of 
age, owing to the death of his father, he shouldered 
the responsibilty of caring for his mother and main- 
taining the home fireside. In 1880 Mr. Micheels 
came to the United States and settled in Wisconsin, 
obtaining work with a lumber company at Afenom- 
onie. He remained there eleven years, leaving to 
come to Washington. For four years he worked 



as a laborer in the city, but in 1895 he rented a 
farm east of town and operated it for four years. 
In 1899 he purchased his present farm of ninety- 
six acres, forty of which were then under cultiva- 
tion. Mr. Micheels has cleared twenty more and 
erected a fine house and large barns. 

In 187(1 while yet living in Germany, Mr. Mich- 
eels married Miss Ernestine Hine, a native of Ger- 
many in 1S5-.' and daughter of William and Louise 
( Kopnok ) Hine, who were peasant folk. Eight 
children have been Ijorn to Mr. and Mrs. Micheels: 
Mrs. Annie Deday, a resident of Granite Falls ; 
Mrs. Amelia Dickson, living at Monroe ; Albert, a 
resident of Snohomish; Mrs. Tilda Wolf, of Mon- 
roe ; Martha, William, Augusta and Daisy. In 
fraternal circles Mr. Micheels is a Modern Wood- 
man. In church affiliations he is a Lutheran. In 
politics he is a Republican and an active party 
worker. He has forty-one head of Jersey stock. 
One of Mr. Micheels' chief characteristics is ability 
to work, another one being ability to make the 
most of the results of his labor. He is one of the 
sterling citizens of the community, a man enjoying 
the highest respect of its people. 



ULRICK R. ERICKSON, a popular merchant 
tailor of Snohomish, is one of the men who believe 
that Snohomish county is a good place for a young 
man who thoroughly understands his business and 
is ready to apply himself to make the most of the 
possibilities lying before him. Mr. Erickson came 
to the Puget Sound country as a journeyman, and 
he is now the proprietor of a successful establish- 
ment. Mr. Erickson was born in Sweden Sept. 
29, 1866, the fourth of five children of Ulrick R. 
and Christina Erickson. The elder Erickson was 
a builder and contractor in the old country, where 
both he and his wife lived and died. Young Erick- 
son obtained his education in the Swedish schools, 
but closed his formal educational training when 
fourteen years of age to become an apprentice to 
the tailoring trade. A number of years were passed 
in an establishment in Stockholm where the young 
man thoroughly learned all branches of his trade. 
In 1893 he "decided to leave the land of his birth 
and on the 12th day of July of that year came to 
Tacoma. The subsequent six and a half years 
were passed in work at his trade in that city, and 
in 1899 he came to the city of Snohomish and en- 
tered the employ of a tailoring establishment. Three 
years later he purchased the entire interest of Wil- 
liam Heintz, and since that time has himself been 
sole proprietor of one of the most modern and up- 
to-date establishments of its kind in the entire 
county. His excellent and high-class workmanship 
recommends him, and his business is on the in- 
crease. 

In 1887, while still living in Sweden Mr. Erick- 
son married Miss Christina Wickman, a native of 




CHARLES S. VAIL 




ACME BUSINESS COLLEGE. EVERK' 
Carolyn Pack in, Conductor 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



885 



Sweden, whose parents are still living in that coun- 
try, the father being a painter by occupation. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Erickson have been born five chil- 
dren: Hulda E., Ulrick, Carl S., Ellen and Elsie. 
In political views Mr. Erickson is a liberal, being 
bound by no party ties which obligate him to sup- 
port nominees whom he may deem unworthy of 
his ballot. His chief interest lies in the direction 
of the management and the betterment of the public 
schools. In fraternal circles he is a member of the 
Foresters of America, of the Modern Woodmen of 
America and of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, 
while Mrs. Erickson is a member of the Royal 
Neighbors of America. As a business man, Mr. 
Erickson is enterprising and successful. He is 
popular with all classes of people, a man of intelli- 
gence and business ability, respected by all with 
whom he comes in contact. 



CHARLIE S. VAIL, whose home. Glen Cot- 
tage, on the north bank of the Snohomish, is num- 
bered among the picturesque places of Snohomish 
county, is one of the representative young men of 
the community. He was born in Wayne county, in 
central New York, in the fall of 18G7, the son of 
William B. and Rose Etta (Burlingham) Vail, 
natives respectively of Massachusetts and the Em- 
pire state, descended from colonial stock of Scotch 
and English ancestry. The elder Vail died in New 
York in 190-t ; the mother is living with her son, 
the subject of this biography. Mr. Vail received 
his education in the common schools of Wayne 
county, but at the age of fourteen was thrown upon 
his own resources for a livelihood. His first work 
was on the Erie canal. In 1883 he went to Michi- 
gan and worked in the woods for one season, but 
he soon returned to New York, and he followed 
farming there until 1887, when he went once more 
to Michigan and engaged in hunting and trapping. 
For a number of years Mr. Vail moved about and 
followed various lines of activity at Grand Rapids, 
Michigan ; at Crystal Lake, Illinois, and in different 
parts of Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of 
Michigan, finally reaching St. Paul where he en- 
tered the construction department of the Great 
Northern railway, being sent to Montana. Most 
of the year 1892 he passed in Spokane, but that 
fall he came to Snohomish county where he es- 
tablished and is still engaged in operating a salmon 
fishery. In 1898 Mr. Vail enlisted in Company 
B of the Independent Washington volunteers and 
served at garrison duty at Vancouver barracks 
during the absence of the regulars. He is now a 
member of Company K of the Second Washington 
regiment of the National Guard. He has one living 
brother, George H. Living brothers and sisters 
of Mrs. Rose Etta Vail, Mr. Vail's mother, are: 
William, Selden B., and Edna Jane. Mrs. Vail's 
great grandmother was Sarah Hyde, one of the 



supposed heirs of the famous Hyde estate, so long 
in the English chancery courts. Mr. Vail is a 
Republican in politics, though not especially active, 
and in fraternal affiliation is a member of the I. O. 
O. F., in which he is a past grand, and senior war- 
den of the Encampment, the Rebekahs, the For- 
esters, the Eagles and the Order of Ben Hur. He 
is a young man of excellent business ability, very 
successful in his chosen line of endeavor. 



THE ACME BUSINESS COLLEGE, the old- 
est and largest commercial school in Snohomish 
county, was established by Miss Carolyne Patchin 
in the fall of 19(10, and since then has been con- 
tinuously under her management. 

Miss Patchin is exceptionally well qualified for 
this line of work, as she has had much experience 
as a teacher in the public schools of Grand Rapids, 
Michigan, and other cities, and has also had an 
extensive business practice, obtained from directing 
a large stenographic office in Minneapolis, Min- 
nesota. This work brought her into contact with 
the foremost business and professional people of 
that city, particularly those connected with law and 
lumber. The experience thus obtained by her in 
these lines of work is of particular value in her 
present position, as in Snohomish county the de- 
mand for stenographers arises largely from those 
engaged in the lumber business and in the practice 
of law. Miss Patchin possesses that rare, but high- 
ly valuable combination, a thorough knowledge of 
theory and principle, and a working knowledge 
obtained from the actual business field. The Com- 
mercial Department is under the very efficient man- 
agement of Mr. R. P. Wood, who, besides having 
enjoyed a liberal education, has had many years 
of high-class experience with important firms, both 
in the East and West, and thus can bring the light 
of practical knowledge to bear on the intricacies of 
theory. 

In business college work it is coming to be a 
recognized axiom, that mere text-book or theoreti- 
cal teachers are of little or no value in a field as 
practical as that of commercial education. The 
success of the Acme Business College is largely the 
result of a due comprehension of this important 
fact. Practical teachers using the best methods, 
and giving a maximum of personal attention to 
their students are bound to succeed, not only from 
their standpoint, but also from that of the pupils. 
Nothing is left undone that is possible for the 
teachers to do in trying to fit the students to be 
of real help to their employers, and not mere salary 
drawers. 

The western spirit of determination to succeed 
in spite of all difficulties has always been shown 
in the management of this school. From a very 
few pupils in 1900 it has won its place at the top, 
and is now a well-attended, flourishing institution. 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



At the time of its removal from the Greenberg 
block, owing to the increase in number of students, 
its present quarters were re-decorated and furn- 
ished throughout, and to-day the rooms and equip- 
ment are unsurpassed by any other college on the 
Sound. The rooms were originally designed for 
and used by the Everett High school, and therefore 
are especially adapted for school purposes, being 
large, well-lighted and airy, and commanding a 
magnificent view of the Sound. In order to keep 
fully abreast of the times, eight new Remington 
typewriters have been recently added to the type- 
writing department. At the present time, the Acme 
Business College is the only school in this territory 
equipped with the latest models, thus giving to its 
pupils a knowledge of the most modern attach- 
ments, and the advantage of being able to turn out 
the finest work. 

The Pitmanic systems of shorthand — the Mun- 
son, Graham and Pitman — are taught by the prin- 
cipal, who has personal supervision of the Sten- 
ographic Department. Touch typewriting is taught 
by a new and original method, clearly set forth in 
a text-book compiled and published by Miss 
Patchin, which has met with the most gratifying 
success, and has been favorably commented on by 
experts in that line. Evenness of touch and beau- 
tiful work result from the use of this method. This 
text-book is really a self-teacher. Short courses 
are not recommended as the business world has no 
use for half-fledged assistants. 

The introductory and intermediate instruction 
in the Commercial Department is mainly imparted 
through the famous Sadler-Rowe Budget System 
and allied text-books, with some important changes 
suggested by business practice. The final course 
consists of thorough drills in the lumber business, 
with the especial aim of giving ample practice in 
modern columnar accounting, covering the technical 
knowledge of underweights and overweights, esti- 
mated freights, etc. The book-keeping instruction 
also includes practice in all the prominent lines of 
business. 

It will be understood from what has been said 
that the desire of the management of the Acme 
Business College is to be the best school for pupils 
who wish to be the best. About two-thirds of the 
stenographers of Everett are graduates 'of this Col- 
lege, and there are many others in Seattle and 
other cities. While, in common with the other 
high-class and reliable institutions, it has consist- 
ently taken the stand that positions cannot be guar- 
anteed to students, yet, owing to its good reputa- 
tion with business men, it has experienced very 
little trouble in placing all its graduates. 

Both Miss Patchin and Mr. Wood have been 
for several years Snohomish county residents, and 
are thoroughly convinced of the magnificent future 
before Everett and the county at large. With 



headquarters in Everett, they are in a fine position 
to cater to the commercial educational needs of all 
Snohomish county people and those to whom 
Everett is easily accessible. This is the pioneer 
business school in the county. It has been through 
"hard times" "like the rest of us," but is now look- 
ing forward to the good times in store for the far 
Northwest. 



WILLIAM G. SWALWELL, president of the 
Swalwell Land & Trust Company, is one of the 
founders of the city of Everett to which site he 
came in 1889. No man has taken a more active or 
effective part in the upbuilding of the city. The 
wise system of industrial economics which has been 
brought to bear in the development of Everett has 
challenged uniform admiration, for while there has 
been steady advancement along material lines there 
has been an entire absence of that inflation of 
values and that erratic "booming" without founda- 
tion which have in the past proven the death knell 
to many western localities. Here, under the guid- 
ance and co-operation of such men as Mr. Swalwell, 
progress has been made continuously and along 
safe lines, and in the healthful growth and advance- 
ment of the city, Mr. Swalwell has been a most 
important factor. 

A native of Canada, William G. Swalwell was 
born in Portage du Fort, on the Ottawa river, in 
1859. His father, George Swalwell, was born in 
the province of Ottawa, and his mother was a 
native of Scotland, who was brought to America 
during her infancy. In 1889 George Swalwell 
removed with his family to Washington and en- 
gaged in buying and selling real estate on his own 
account. He built the first Methodist house of 
worship erected in Everett and was a devoted mem- 
ber of that pioneer society, serving it also as an 
ofificer. He was married in Canada to Isabel Duff, 
and they became the parents of seven children, all 
of whom are residents of Everett: William G., 
the subject of this sketch ; Wellington A., secretary 
of the Swalwell Land, Loan & Trust Company ; A. 
W. and W. F., who are engaged in the real estate 
business ; R. E., who is with the Swalwell Paper 
Company; J. E., who is in the jewelry business; 
and J. A., cashier of the First National bank. The 
father died in June, 1901, at the age of sixty-seven 
years, but Mrs. Swalwell is still living. 

In the public schools of Canada William G. 
Swalwell secured his school training and afterward 
engaged in general merchandising for nine years. 
He had previously made a visit to California and 
Puget sound, in 1887, and, believing that unusually 
favorable opportunities awaited the business man 
of energy in this section of the country, he decided 
to immigrate. As soon as he could make arrange- 
ments he removed his family to Tacoma, where he 
immediately engaged in the real estate business. A 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



887 



year later he met Wyatt J. Rucker, also a new- 
comer to the sound, and together they decided to 
come to Port Gardner bay and take land. When 
Mr. Swalwell came to his homestead claim the land 
was covered with a growth of timber so dense that 
the trees on all sides touched the little cabin which 
he erected. Here his wife lived three months be- 
fore she saw a woman, so wild was the country at 
that time, but within an incredibly short period a 
great transformation was wrought in this section. 
Mr. Swalwell cleared his land, cutting 10.000 rail- 
road ties from his forty-acre homestead. He pur- 
chased the land between his homestead and the 
river and in September, 1891, platted it as Swal- 
well's First Addition to the City of Everett, anti- 
cipating the Colby-Hoyt s\aidicate, and thus giving 
the present metropolis its real inception, as nar- 
rated at length in the general chapters of this work. 
A little later he platted the homestead into the 
Second Addition. He built the McCabe block that 
same fall, graded and planked Hewitt avenue at a 
cost of about $15,000, and erected the Swalwell 
block, a three-story pressed brick structure, the 
first fine block in the town and still one of the city's 
best structures. In this latter block the First Na- 
tional bank was located until 1900. 

In 1893 ]\Ir. Swalwell organized the First Na- 
tional Bank of Everett, became its president, and 
afterward acquired the stock of other? so that he 
was its sole owner. He held this until I'.hii. wlien 
the bank was consolidated with the Everett Xa- 
tional, forming the present institution with deposits 
in excess of a million and a quarter dollars. ETpon 
this merger being effected, Mr. Swalwell resigned 
as president, not wishing to be hampered with the 
arduous duties, but retained his directorship on 
the board, which thus profits by his wise counsel 
and experience. He now devotes his time exclu- 
sively to the Swalwell Land, Loan & Trust Com- 
pany, which has been incorporated. The stock is held 
exclusively by himself and wife. Mr. Swalwell has 
erected many frame and brick business blocks and 
about fifty residences, his own being built in the 
year 1893 on the old homestead tract. In con- 
nection with other business pursuits, he is also 
president of the Mitchell Land & Improvement 
Company, and is among the heaviest realty holders 
in the city. 

Mr. Swalwell was married in Canada, Septem- 
bbr 17, 1884, to Miss Effie Fowler, a daughter of 
the Rev. Hiram Fowler. To this union four chil- 
dren have been born: Herbert G., who is attend- 
ing Whitworth College at Tacoma; Melvin F., 
Vivien and Winifred, at home. Mrs. Swalwell is 
a devoted member of the Methodist church, whose 
services the family attend. Mr. Swalwell is one 
of the trustees of the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation and of the Everett Public Library, and is a 
■director of the local Chamber of Commerce. He 



has ever been prominent in the last named organi- 
zation, which has done so much to promote the 
growth of the city. In its early days, Mr. Swalwell 
served as a member of the city's first council and 
on its pioneer school board. In politics he is a 
stalwart Republican, and fraternally, is a chapter 
Mason and affiliated with the B. P. O. E. Unusual 
and deserved success has crowned his endeavors in 
the business world and to-day he stands among the 
leading capitalists of this section of the state, who 
owe their advancement to their own efforts. His 
labors, moreover, have been of marked value to 
the community in promoting growth, stability and 
real progress, and as a distinguished and honored 
citizen he is deserving of a prominent place among 
these annals. 



THOMAS E. HEADLEE, mayor of Everett, 
now serving his second term as the official head 
of that municipality, is making a record for honest, 
wholesome, business-like administration that is not 
only highly creditable to himself but worthy of 
the progressive metropolis on Port Gardner bay. 
A lawyer by profession, ex-auditor of the county, 
at present chief clerk and head book-keeper of the 
Clark-Nickerson Lumber Company, in touch with 
both labor and capital, he is peculiarly fitted for his_ 
exalted position, a fact quite apparent to his fellow" 
citizens. Mr. Headlee is a son of E. Headlee, a 
native of Ohio, who came west to Iowa when a 
young man and there engaged in agricultural pur- 
suits. In 1890 he removed to Snohomish county 
and here resided, an esteemed citizen, until his 
death four years later. Mrs. Headlee, the mother 
of Thomas E., bore the maiden name of Harriet 
Humes, and is a sister of Judge Humes, ex-mayor 
of Seattle. She was born in Indiana and when a 
little girl went with her parents to Iowa, where 
she was educated and where her marriage took 
place. The children of this union, now living, are : 
Francis M., of Arizona, one of Snohomish county's 
pioneer lawyers, who preceded the rest of his family 
west, a man of marked ability, widely known and 
respected : Alice, the wife of Charles T. Smith, 
Granite Falls ; James W., Everett ; the subject of 
this review ; Etta, wife of Fred S. Anderson, ex- 
mayor of Snohomish ; and Elsie, now Mrs. E. W. 
Mathewson of Everett, also Sarah, wife of C. H. 
Lamprey, of Snohomish. George T. and Charles 
W. are deceased. 

Thomas E. Headlee was born at W'hat-cheer, 
Iowa, September 1, 1867. He attended the public 
school and later a local business college, meanwhile 
assisting his father on the farm. Until 1890 he 
made his home with his parents, but in that year 
joined Francis M. at Snohomish, determined to 
seek his fortune in the great Northwest. Entering 
his brother's office, the young man read law during 
the ensuing three years and in 1893 was admitted 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



to the bar. Following his admittance the brothers 
formed a partnership and for a year practised to- 
gether in Snohomish City. Then the junior mem- 
ber of the firm took charge of the Anderson shingle 
mill at Granite Falls, one of the pioneer mills in 
that section. He had served as deputy county audi- 
tor five months in 1891, under George C. Ruft, 
resigning to better pursue his studies, so that in 
1896, when the Democratic party was seeking a 
competent man to nominate for auditor, Mr. Head- 
lee was considered well qualified and given the 
place. He was elected in 1896 and re-elected in 
1898, leaving behind a most creditable record as a 
public ofiicer. Upon the expiration of his last 
term, he accepted a position with the Clark-Nicker- 
son Lumber Company, one of the largest on the 
sound, and has remained with that corporation ever 
since. In December, 1903, he was again called into 
public service, this time to serve as mayor of Ever- 
ett, being elected on the Democratic ticket. A re- 
election in 190-1 evidenced the people's faith in him. 
Mr. Headlee and Miss May Foss, the daughter 
of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Foss, of Snohomish, were 
united in marriage March 23, 1896. Mrs. Headlee 
was born in Snohomish, her parents being early 
pioneers of this county. A biographical review of 
the Foss family appears elsewhere in these records. 
Mr. and Mrs. Headlee's three children are Audrey, 
aged nine ; Thomas E., Jr., seven years old ; and 
Fred F., one year old. Mr. and Mrs. Headlee are 
well known in Everett's social circles, and in fra- 
ternal life Mr. Headlee is identified with the Wood- 
men and the Redmen. Mayor Headlee has for 
many years past contributed freely and ably to the 
general progress of his home city and county, serv- 
ing faithfully and efficiently as a public official, 
zealously promoting the business interests with 
which he is connected, and by his many sterling 
personal qualities reaching an honorable position 
among his fellow men. 



HENRY HEWITT, JR.— Notwithstanding the 
animus which some men feel or afifect to feel to- 
ward men of great wealth, there is, and must al- 
ways be, a deep seated respect in the breasts of 
men in general for the conspicuously successful in 
that species of conflict in which all must, perforce, 
engage and in which so few have the qualifications 
to wage a wining warfare. Courage, steadfastness 
of purpose, heroism in meeting disappointments 
and discouragements, marvelous capacity for labor, 
genius for details, splendid generalship, broad 
knowledge of men and things and all but prophetic 
foresight — who does not admire these qualities? 
and yet which of these qualities is lacking in any 
of the commanding geniuses of finance? Certainly 
all have been manifested in the career of Henry 
Hewitt, Jr., who with no special advantages to begin 
with has climbed to the top round of the ladder 



of industrial success, at times proving himself the 
peer or even the superior of some of the best 
known financiers of the American Union. 

Mr. Hewitt is a native of England, born in 
Lancashire in 1840, the son of Henry and Mary 
(Proctor) Hewitt. His father, who was born in 
England in 1819, came to America in 1839, located 
in Racine, Wisconsin, and engaged in contracting. 
Later he moved to Chicago and became one of the 
original contractors on the Illinois & Mississippi 
canal, whence the pursuit of his business finally 
led him to Kaukauna, Wisconsin, which city was 
his headquarters for two decades. During all this 
time he was engaged in large construction enter- 
prises, among them being the canal from the Missis- 
sippi river to Green Bay, a government undertak- 
ing of great magnitude. In later life he removed to 
Menasha, Wisconsin, and built the government lock 
there. He also became the principal owner of two 
banks, the First National of Neenah and the First 
National of Menasha. In the work at Chicago, 
mentioned above, he was simply a subcontractor. 
The failure of the original contractors left him with 
many obligations and with nothing to meet them 
but his reserve resources, accumulated in other' 
ventures, but he honestly paid every dollar of this 
indebtedness, although it left him penniless. Such 
were his splendid abilities, however, that he soon 
recovered himself and at the time of his demise in 
1901 he was a very wealthy man. In all his opera- 
tions he had able assistance from his wife, our sub- 
ject's mother, who not only acted as his secretary 
but shared with him, in a measure, the manage- 
ment of his extensive enterprises. She too was 
possessed of unusual abilities and rare good judg- 
ment in industrial matters. She was a native of 
England, born in 1821, the daughter of an exten- 
sive agriculturist of that country. 

Henry Hewitt, Jr., with whom this article is more 
directly concerned, was but an infant when brought 
by his parents to America. After receiving the 
usual public school training, he spent a short term 
in Lawrence university, at Appleton, Wisconsin, 
and later he spent a few months in a Chicago busi- 
ness college, but he never completed a course in 
any institution. He began the active duties of life 
at sixteen as his father's assistant, learning, at that 
early age, the important lesson of how to direct 
and control men. Two years later he had his first 
experience in the lumber business, his father having 
fitted him out with teams, etc., and launched him 
in the industry for himself on Wolf river, Wis- 
consin. From that day to the present he has been 
interested in this line of endeavor on a constantly 
enlarging scale. At the early age of twenty, he 
took a contract to build a lock and dam at Portage 
City, Wisconsin, the consideration for his work 
being a grant of land from the Fox River & Wis- 
consin Improvement Company. The contract, a 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



large one, was carried through with the help of 
his father and the land secured, and- thus he came 
into possession of his first realty ; thus was he 
started in a career of land accumulation which has 
resulted in his acquiring thousands of acres in dif- 
ferent states. j\Ir. Hewitt was busy with his gov- 
ernment contract when the war broke out so could 
not participate in person, but he sent a substitute, 
and his father having also sent one for him without 
his knowledge, he was doubly represented in the 
war for the Union. After the close of that struggle 
the father and son together started a bank, and of 
this institution the younger Hewitt was cashier for 
the ensuing fifteen years. All this time he dictated 
the policy of the bank; that his management was 
wise, his judgment good, is abundantly evident 
from the fact that in the decade and a half the 
losses from bad loans amounted to only three hun- 
dred dollars and this sum was lost in a compromise 
settlement. Mr. Hewitt's energies were too great 
to find scope for their activity in one line of en- 
deavor, so he carried on a lumbering business in 
addition to his banking, and also augmented his 
fortune by judicious speculation; indeed it was at 
this time that he scored one of his greatest suc- 
cesses. His father, fearing a panic, advised a sale 
of their land holdings at a sacrifice, but he could 
see no grounds for apprehension, so he not only 
held onto his own lands but bought his father's 
also. His judgment proved correct and one of the 
longest strides in his pathway to phenomenal suc- 
cess was made. After that time he was not asso- 
ciated with the elder Hewitt except in the bank. 
He continued his land buying policy, securing forty 
thousand acres in Arkansas, thirty thousand of 
which he still retains, twelve hundred acres in 
Chautauqua county, Kansas, four thousand in Mi^-- 
souri, three or four thousand near the iron mines 
of Duluth, and eight thousand in the iron fields of 
Michigan, upon which are two paying mines and 
others in process of development. 

When Mr. Hewitt decided to come west in 1888 
he sold some $380,000 worth of pine lands in Wis- 
consin and northern Michigan that he might have 
plenty of capital to operate with. Visiting Arizona 
and Alexico, he built a smelter at Xogales, on the 
American side of the line, designed to reduce ore 
shipped across the border, but a change in the duty 
on lead made the plant unprofitable, so he closed it 
down after having run it a year, though he still 
owns it. He then went to San Francisco, and 
.thence into the red wood districts, where he made 
the discovery that the people were using more 
Puget sound fir than they were of the timber which 
grew at their own doors. This determined him to 
come to Washingffln. After examining the Gray's 
harbor country. Port Gamer bay and the timber 
resources of Pierce county, he decided to locate at 
Tacoma, thinking that would be the central point. 



There he associated himself with Col. C. W. Griggs, 
A. G. Foster, the ex-senator, and C. H. Jones, a 
brother-in-law and a lumberman from Michigan, 
for the purpose of buying vast estates from the 
Northern Pacific Company. They acquired eighty 
thousand acres of timber lands in the vicinity of 
Tacoma and elsewhere in the Sound country, 
erected a large mill at Tacoma and began operations. 
They now have two mills with a combined output of 
500,000 feet per day. x\t this time Mr. Hewitt heard 
of the timber resources of the Snohomish river 
and came in person to investigate, hiring Indians 
to take him over the ground. The result was the 
purchase by him of four hundred million feet of 
timber, but his visit also had a very important inci- 
dental result, important not alone to himself but 
to the country in general. While he was opening 
up the river and arranging for a boom site his at- 
tention was attracted by the advantages of the land 
upon which Everett now stands for town building 
purposes ; he investigated it thoroughly and began 
buying it. Now about this time Charles L. Colby, 
principal owner of the Wisconsin Central Railroad 
and interested with John D. Rockefeller in building 
the Chicago Terminal road, together with Angus 
McDougail, the celebrated inventor and promoter 
of the whaleback type of vessel, were on the sound, 
looking for a site for their proposed whaleback- 
building establishment. They had about completed 
arrangements with the citizens of Anacortes for 
the location of the plant' there, but Mr. Hewitt 
took advantage of an invitation to accompany them 
on a trip to Alaska to argue the advantages of his 
newly discovered town site. On this Alaska trip, 
besides the gentlemen mentioned were Henry C. 
Davis, private secretar}' to President Oakes of the 
Northern I^cific Railroad, and John Plummer. 

Mr. Hewitt believes that his presentation of the 
wonderful advantages of both river and bay and 
tile excellent wharf facilities, etc., besides his state- 
merits that the public-spirited owners of the land, 
Messrs. Rucker, Swalwell, Smith and others, would 
give half their holdings as a bonus, had much to do 
with their ultimately choosing Everett as the site 
of their operations. The outcome was an agree- 
ment that all should investigate the situation and if 
found as Mr. Hewitt said that funds should be 
placed subject to his check with which to buy up 
the site, establish mills, inaugurate enterprises, etc. 
He was authorized to spend not to exceed $800,000, 
but in the expenditure of that sum was left abso- 
lutely to his own judgment. He immediately made 
a bargain with Rucker, Friday and Swalwell for 
half their holdings, eight hundred acres. They 
gave four hundred and Hewitt, as agent for his 
company, purchased about two hundred more. He 
then made a bargain with E. D. Smith for a large 
part of his lands in the vicinity of Lowell, securing 
altogether over six thousand acres. They then 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



commenced to lay out the town, clearing off the 
lands, building roads, etc. The Smith property 
was secured under an agreement that a paper mill 
should be built, and machinery for the mill, the 
barge works and the nail factory were all ordered 
and brought around the Horn in the Whaleback 
Wetmore. The buildings were all up ready for the 
machinery when she arrived in port. He then gave 
sites for several shingle and saw-mills and built 
a large mill of their own, the Pioneer, at a site 
more appropriate for a light house than a saw-mill, 
the idea being to begin building a bulkhead, which, 
it was expected, would eventually result in harbor 
improvements. A town of six thousand people 
immediately sprang into existence, with six banks, 
hotels, factories, schools, churches, etc. Sites for 
all the churches were donated by the company. Then 
came the panic of 1893 which almost wrecked the 
enterprise. As a natural result of the depression 
disputes arose among the members of the com- 
pany, who disagreed as to the best means of stem- 
ming the adverse financial tide. The eastern part- 
ners wanted to bond the town for $1,500,000 with 
which to proceed with the work, and did go so far 
as to print the bonds and have them signed by the 
vice-president, but Mr. Hewitt would not agree to 
this ; his plan was to quit spending money and 
simply hold onto what they had until the hard 
times were over. The disputes eventuated in threats 
on the part of the eastern men of lawsuits, bank- 
ruptcy proceedings, etc., and even accusations 
against Mr. Hewitt of having used company funds 
for his own benefit. He had invested forty-eight 
thousand dollars of his own money in the enter- 
prise, together with all his salary, and he was still 
indebted to the company in the sum of $150,000, so' 
they had a chance to do him serious damage, if 
they wished, by closing down on him. He was, 
however, fully equal to the occasion. Ultimately 
they called him to New York for a conference. 
Before responding to their invitation, he organized 
the Hewitt Land Company, deeded most of his land 
holdings to it, and gave stock in the corporation 
to his creditors, of whom he had many in Tacoma 
and elsewhere at this time; then he went to the 
conference. After a two weeks' stay in New York 
he returned west with all the charges against him 
withdrawn and armed with still greater powers of 
management than ever before. He had had a long 
conference with Rockefeller which resulted at 
length in the assumption on the part of that finan- 
cier and his associates of all Mr. Hewitt's out- 
standing obligations in exchange for his paper mill 
and factory stock. They also gave him, in this 
deal, some lands and mortgages and about four- 
teen thousand dollars in cash, stipulating that he 
should remain in charge of the work in Everett 
and should continue his two banks. He maintained 
his mills and banks in Everett all through the hard 



time and did what he could for the upholding and 
progress of the town, but since the return of pros- 
perity he has closed out many of his interests there, 
not on account of any lack of faith in its future, 
but because of the insistent demands of his other 
undertakings. He has since purchased a billion 
feet of timber on the coast from British Columbia 
to California, has paid every dollar he owed both 
east and west and has the Hewitt Land Company 
in his family, also owns the Hewitt Investment 
Company and other highly valuable holdings, upon 
which there is not one dollar of indebtedness. He 
is owner of a one-fourth interest in the St. Paul, 
Tacoma Lumber Company, which is free from in- 
debtedness, and owns property worth more than 
$7,000,000. Of this company he was treasurer for 
fifteen years, resigning at last because of lack of 
time to attend to the duties of the office. 

In Menasha, Wisconsin, about 1870, Mr. Hewitt 
married Miss Rocena L. Jones, whose father, 
Daniel, a native of Vermont, born about 1814, was 
for years a prominent manufacturer of wagon ma- 
terials. He is living at present in Appleton, Wis- 
consin. Mrs. Hewitt's mother, Clarissa L. (Hib- 
bard) Jones, was born in Vermont about 1820 and 
died about 1872. Mr. and Mrs. Hewitt are parents 
of five children, namely, William, now in the lum- 
ber business in King county and doing well ; John, 
a very valuable assistant to his father in his ex- 
tensive operations ; Henry, just out of college, in- 
terested in the saw-mill of the Hewitt-Lee Lumber 
Company on Lake Washington ; J\Irs. Clara Lee, 
and Mary, the last mentioned still at home. The 
family adhere to the Congregational church, and 
in politics Mr. Hewitt is a Republican, although of 
the independent type. In reference to his marvel- 
ous success in the accumulation of wealth it is but 
fair to add that while the increase of property 
values has helped him as it must help every man 
who deals extensively and judiciously in realty, he 
has wi'ii lii.^ \\a\- not by stock gambling or by or- 
ganiziii'^- liu>is <ir other questionable combinations 
of capital, but essentially by carrying through legi- 
timate enterprises on a large scale ; that his suc- 
cess has therefore been the success of the countries 
in which he has operated and he is entitled to the 
credit of having been a public benefactor in the 
direction of contributing immeasurably to indus- 
trial progress. He has been the means of bringing 
ten millions of dollars to the state of Washington. 



"SAMUEL HENRY PILES. Republican, of 
Seattle, was born on a farm in Livingston county, 
Kentucky, December 28, IS.-iS. and was educated 
at private schools at Smithland. in his native state. 
After being admitted to the bar he started for the 
West, and in 1882 located in the Territory of Wash- 
ington ; opened a law office in Snohomish, Wash- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



ington, in 1883; in 1886 moved for a short time to 
Spokane, Washington, and later in the same year 
to Seattle, where he has ever since resided and 
practiced law ; in 1887-1889 was assistant prose- 
cuting attorney for the district composed of King, 
Kitsap, and Snohomish counties ; in 1888-89 was 
city attorney of Seattle. These are the only offices 
that Mr. Piles ever filled or sought until his election 
to the United States senate. In 1895 he was ap- 
pointed general counsel of the Oregon Improve- 
ment Company, and when that company was reor- 
ganized by the formation of the Pacific Coast Com- 
pany he was made general counsel of the latter 
company, holding this position until his election to 
the senate. He has taken an active interest in Re- 
publican politics in the territory and state of Wash- 
ington for the past twenty years ; was elected Janu- 
ary 28, 1905, to the United States senate, to suc- 
ceed Hon. A. G. Foster, and took his seat March 
4th following. His term of office will expire 
March 3, 1911." 

Such is the brief outline of Senator Piles' career 
preserved in the records of the United States sen- 
ate. It gives no hint of the sustained struggle by 
which the man fought his way from obscurity and 
poverty to one of the highest positions of trust 
within the grasp of the aspiring American. Thor- 
oughly in love with his profession, he stuck to the 
law with all diligence until he had gained a place 
in the front rank among the jurists of the state of 
Washington, and until the invitation was received 
to come up higher. Eldridge Morse, the man who 
first was wont to appear against him in Snohomish 
county as opposing counsel in the trial of causes, 
once remarked to the writer that the success of 
"Sammy" Piles was honestly won and richly 
merited. 

Mr. Piles' father and mother were pioneers of 
the state of Kentucky. His father was a slave- 
holder when the war broke out, but did not believe 
in the institution of slavery. He inherited his 
slaves from his parents. Senator Piles, has two 
brothers and two sisters ; one brother, Hugh, is a 
merchant at Fulton. Kentucky ; the other. Matt., 
until recently a resident of Olympia, Washington, 
is at present engaged in business in .\laska. One 
sister is the wife of W. Henry Yandell, of Seattle, 
Washington, and the other of Judge John R. Winn, 
of Juneau. Alaska. Mr. Piles was married on 
September 15, 1891, at Henderson, Kentucky, to 
Miss Mary E. Barnard, whose father and mother 
were also pioneers of Kentucky. He is the father of 
three children — two sons and a daughter. Although 
Senator Piles is deeply attached to Seattle, where 
his home now is, he cherishes towards the city and 
county of Snohomish feelings of positive and un- 
swerving affection. ?iIore than twenty-three years 
ago he entered that community and cast his for- 
tunes with those hardy pioneers, many of whom 



were to become powerful and influential citizens 
of the future state of Washington. Some of those 
men were at that time struggling for day's wages 
in logging camps in Snohomish county. They were 
young boys, full of fun and freak, and they be- 
came greatly attached to the briefless, penniless 
young lawyer who had come to make his home 
among them. The friendships then formed were 
never to be broken ; and it is perhaps worth more 
than passing mention that among Mr. Piles' warm- 
est and most zealous supporters in his contest for 
the senatorship were some of those old-time boys 
from the logging camps, who, in the meantime, had 
grown to be strong and influential citizens of the 
state. They knew all about Sam. Piles' early strug- 
gles; they remembered him when he landed, "flat 
broke," at Stanwood, and took a job as clerk in 
Jack Irving's store at $30.00 per month, and they 
recall with a feeling of pride the fall of 1883, when 
the young lawyer, after having earned money 
enough through his clerkship, moved to Snohomish 
and opened an office there, in which the furniture 
consisted of a smooth board for a desk, a three- 
legged stove, a chair and a drug-box presented by 
Lot. Wilbur, pioneer druggist of Snohomish coun- 
ty, as a token of goodwill, from which humble be- 
ginning young Piles built up the largest law prac- 
tice in the county. Those who knew Sam. Piles in 
those days do not need to be told now that he 
looks back most tenderly to his first home in the 
territory of Washington ; that he has a feeling of 
gentle and sentimental attachment for the county 
and its people, to whom he will always consider 
himself greatly indebted, and for whom he has the 
desire to do all he can in the exalted position with 
which the state of Washington has honored him. 
He has frequently been heard to say in public 
speeches, that he is more indebted to the people of 
Snohomish county for the success which has at- 
tended his efforts in life than to any other people ; 
for there, in his early youth and hardest struggles, 
he was aided and encouraged beyond his deserts 
by the people of that county. 



JOHN E. ^IcMAXUS was born in Philadel- 
phia. Pennsylvania, July 21, 1850, a son of John 
McManus, who was also born in the Keystone 
state and who was of Scotch-Irish descent, his 
people settling in Pennsylvania about 1780. John 
McJiIanus, the father, was a merchant and manu- 
facturer of prominence in his community ; for sev- 
eral years he was largely engaged in the manu- 
facturer of leather, but also devoted considerable 
attention to mercantile pursuits. He was nom- 
inated for congress in the first congressional district 
of Pennsylvania (afterwards represented by Hon. 
Samuel J. Randall) by the Democratic party, but 
declined to run because of his great admiration for 
Abraham Lincoln. He had the distinguished honor 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



of being one of the hundred men chosen to guard 
the person of Mr. Lincohi at his first inauguration. 
Mr. McManus, Sr., was united in marriage to Miss 
Mary A. Moran, who was Hkewise born in the 
Keystone state and who was of German-Irish ex^ 
traction, her ancestors having settled in Pennsyl- 
vania in 1763. Her grandfather was one of the 
soldiers in the War of the Revolution who foughf 
for American independence, and her brother, the 
Hon. Benjamin ]\Ioran, was for twenty years secre- 
tary of the legation at London, while subsequently 
he was appointed and served as minister to Portu- 
gal. He won distinction in diplomatic circles and 
belonged to a family noted for the number of its 
members who were prominent in military and poli- 
tical life. To John and Mary (Moran) McManus 
were born six sons and three daughters, all of 
whom passed away in childhood, with the excep- 
tion of John E. McManus of Seattle, and his two 
sisters, now living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 
The father died in 1875 at the age of seventy-three 
years and the mother at the age of seventy years, 
in 1889. 

John E. McManus was educated in the public 
schools of Philadelphia, and completed the high 
school course by graduation on the 11th of July, 
1867, when he was 16 years of age. He then 
entered the government printing office at Washing- 
ton, D. C, remaining only a short time on account 
of ill health, when he engaged with a government 
surveying corps, that he might benefit by the out- 
door life. With this corps he went to Colorado, 
Arizona and New Mexico, after which he returned 
to the Indian Territory and engaged in surveying 
the Chickasaw Indian Reservation, and the section 
that now comprises Oklahoma. In 1871 he returned 
to Philadelphia and was engaged in newspaper 
work for several years, being successfully employed 
in the offices of the Press, Times and Record ; dur- 
ing all of this period Mr. McManus was also inter- 
ested in mining in Colorado and Arizona, and has 
maintained his interests in mining property to the 
present time. In 1881 he returned to Colorado, but 
remained for only a brief period when he took up 
his abode in his native city and was engaged on the 
staff of the Record until 1889, when he came to 
Washington and located at Tacoma. There he en- 
gaged in the real estate business and also published 
The Weekly Record, which was afterwards sold 
to the Real Estate Record Company of Tacoma. 
He was also manager of The Daily Globe of Taco- 
ma for some time. In 1891 Mr. McManus went 
to Everett and became heavily interested in the 
Mitchell Land & Improvement Company, which at 
that time controlled large property interests there. 
While living in Everett he was also president of 
the Bank of Everett, and established and was the 
principal owner of The Everett Herald. In 1898 
Mr. McManus removed to Seattle, where he has 



been engaged in the mining business continuously 
ever since. 

In 1871, John E. McManus was appointed 
United States Commissioner for the Western Dis- 
trict of Arkansas, and sat as a committing magis- 
trate for the district embraced in the Indian Terri- 
tory. In 1892 he was elected to the state senate of 
Washington, serving for four years in the third 
and fourth sessions of the general assembly, having 
the distinction of being the first Democratic sena- 
tor elected from Snohomish county. He was ap- 
pointed in 1895 by Governor McGraw, as trustee 
for the Western Washington Hospital for the In- 
sane for a period of six years, but after serving for 
two years resigned in order to accept the appoint- 
ment as United States Mineral Land Commis- 
sioner for the .Idaho district. This appointment 
came in May, 1896, and he served until the change 
in administration. 

In Philadelphia, in January, 1876, Mr. Mc- 
Manus was married to Miss Harriet Cope Martin, 
a daughter of John W. and Henrietta S. (Thomas) 
Martin, who were born in Philadelphia as was their 
daughter. They belonged to old Quaker families 
and the town of Martinsville, now a part of the 
city of Philadelphia, was named in honor of the 
paternal ancestor of Mrs. McManus, whose family 
was also represented in the Colonial army during 
the War of the Revolution. While still residing 
in his native city, Mr. McManus was elected a 
member of the Board of School Control for a term 
of four years and served for two years, resigning in 
1888. To him and his wife have been born three 
children: John B., who was born in Philadelphia 
twenty-eight years ago and is now associated with 
his father in mining in old Mexico; William T., 
twenty years of age ; and Elizabeth S., who was 
the eldest and died in infancy. Mr. McManus is 
a member of several scientific institutions and is 
also a Mason, being a member of St. John's Lodge 
No. 9 of Seattle, Washington. 



REV. WILLIAM G. JONES.— Prominent 
among the earnest and enthusiastic proclaimersof 
the gospel message in western Washington and no 
less prominent in business circles since the re- 
sponsibility of handling a vast estate has been 
placed upon his shoulders, the learned and able 
clergyman whose life record it is here our task to 
outline is certainly deserving of rank among the 
strong, efficient, progressive men of the state, the 
men upon whom it must depend for leadership in 
the moral and industrial struggles through which 
it must surely pass in the days that are to come. 
Like many others who have attained some degree 
of eminence among their fellows, Mr. Jones is en- 
tirely a self-made man. The call of the higher 
things which came to him in boyhood did not go 
unanswered because of his poverty, but he at once 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



897 



began the struggle to make the most of himself 
in spite of difficulties and it is probably safe to 
assume that his later life has illustrated to him 
and to those who know him "the uses of adversity, 
which like a toad, ugly and venomous, hath yet a 
precious jewel in his head." 

Mr. Jones is a native of east Tennessee, born 
March 20, 1864. His father, Hiram Jones, a na- 
tive of North Carolina, born in 1825, was by occu- 
pation a farmer, one of the sturdiest of that hon- 
ored class, a man respected and admired by those 
who knew him intimately for his strong Christian 
character and his sterling virtues. He died in 1898. 
Sarah (Musgrave) Jones, the mother, was likewise 
admired in her circle of acquaintances for her un- 
ostentatious piety, while the members of her family 
knew of the unwavering faith which gave direction 
and depth to the current of her life. She was born 
in Tennessee in 1827 and died in 1877. It will 
therefore be seen that William G. Jones began life 
with one valuable asset, the advantage of a good 
heredity. He took his first steps in tl-re pursuit of 
knowledge in the district school established in his 
neighborhood, which he attended intermittently un- 
til seventeen, going then to Oak Hill academy in 
Virginia. There he prepared himself to enter the 
teaching profession, and for one .vear he taught, 
carefully husbanding the resources accruing from 
this work that he might go on with his own educa- 
tion. For a short time afterward he was a student 
in the Globe Academy of North Carolina, then he 
entered Wake Forest academy in the same state, in 
which he was a student for the ensuing two and 
a half years. Inasmuch as his worldly wealth at 
the time of his entrance into this institution con- 
sisted of seven dollars and he was compelled to 
work his way through as best he could, it is not 
greatly surprising that he was a little in debt when 
he left. To earn money with which to pay what 
he owed and get a start he came out, in February, 
1888, to the territory of Washington, where he first 
took up the work of the Christian ministry, be- 
coming pastor of the First Baptist church of What- 
com. In September of that same year, he was 
enabled, through the kindly aid of Robert Knipe, 
of Seattle, to return east for the further pursuit 
of his studies, and by 1890 he was a graduate of 
Brown university, at Providence, Rhode Island. 
But he wisely determined to take a theological 
course also and at once matriculated in Newton 
seminary, from which he received a degree in 1893. 
While in the seminary he had organized a Baptist 
congregation in Boston, building for them what is 
known as the Center Street Baptist church, and he 
continued to be pastor of this until 1898. In that 
year he accepted a call to the pastorate of the First 
Baptist church, of Everett, which he served very 
acceptably until 1903, then resigning. Later he be- 
came pastor of what is now known as the Immanuel 



Baptist church, of Seattle, in which he is still labor- 
ing with marked success. Another responsibility, 
one for which his previous experience had not so 
well fitted him but to which his native talents are 
proving abundantly adequate, came to him on the 
demise of his father-in-law. Dexter Horton, of 
Seattle, who left property worth many hundreds of 
thousands of dollars to be cared for by him and 
the other heirs. Indeed he is now manager of the 
entire estate, which, since the demise of Mr. Hor- 
ton, has been placed in the hands of a corporation 
created for the purpose of handling it, of which 
corporation he is president. 

In August, 1890, Mr. Jones married Miss Net- 
tie H. Horton, daughter of Dexter Horton, the 
celebrated banker of Seattle, whose name is familiar 
to almost everyone who has ever lived in the state 
of Washington. Born in New York in 1826, he 
moved thence as a young man to Illinois, whence 
in 1852 he came to Portland, Oregon, traveling by 
team. In the spring of 1853 he located in Seattle, 
then a small village, and during the ensuing year 
he worked in a saw-mill, then he opened a general 
merchandise store and later he established the pio- 
neer banking institution of the state, which is still 
doing business bearing his name. At the time of 
his demise Mr. Horton was more than a million- 
aire, but he was still richer in the esteem and re- 
gard of the pioneers and later comers to Washing- 
ton than in material wealth, no well known busi- 
ness man standing higher than he in the confidence 
and good will of the people generally. In his will 
no one was forgotten who should be remembered 
and many charitable institutions received generous 
bequests. It is worthy of record in this connection, 
as illustrating the changes which have taken place 
in Seattle since Mr. Horton first saw it that at one 
time he bought the site of the Alaska building for 
fifty dollars and the site of the New York block, 
with a substantial frame building thereon, for a 
thousand dollars. Mrs. Jones was born on the 
ground upon which the latter structure stands in 
1863. She and Mr. Jones have had two children, 
of whom Myrtle, aged fourteen, is still living. 

Mr. Jones is said by those who know him inti- 
mately to be a man of remarkable personality, large- 
hearted, generous and in all respects broad gauged 
— gigantic in heart and mind, and possessed in a 
remarkable degree of that most winning quality, the 
ability to take a kindly interest in the sorrows and 
trials of others. In Everett he is remembered kind- 
ly by a host of friends, and his visits to the pulpit 
of the Baptist church of that city always call out 
a large number who are not now in the habit of 
attendinsf there. 



A. F. HEIDE.— Perhaps one of the most 
highly accomplished and successful architects that 
ever practiced his profession in Snohomish county 



898 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



is A. F. Heide, whose office is now in the Wash- 
ington building in Seattle. He was born in Alton, 
Illinois, in 1862, the son of Henry and Hermina 
(Suess) Heide, both natives of Germany, born in 
the years 1826 and 1831: respectively, and both 
residents at present of Alton, Illinois. The father 
came to America upon reaching the age of twenty- 
one and for years afterward was in the mercantile 
business, following it until advancing age occasioned 
his retirement. 

The subject of this article, who is the third of 
the seven cliildren of his parents, acquired his pre- 
liminary education in the public and high schools 
of his native town, then, at the early age of seven- 
teen, began as an apprentice the study of the pro- 
fession to which all his later years have been de- 
voted. Afterward, in Chicago, he took instruction 
in architecture from private teachers for four or 
five years. Going to Los Angeles, California, in 
1886, he spent three years there in the employ of 
a firm of architects, filling the double position of 
foreman in the detail department and superintend- 
ent of construction, but in 1889 he journeyed north- 
ward to Tacoma, where the ensuing three years 
were spent in an office of his own. During his stay 
there it fell to his lot to superintend the architec- 
ture of the Tacoma theatre. The intimate connec- 
tion of Mr. Heide with Snohoniish county began 
in 1892 when he moved to the then rapidly grow- 
ing town of Everett just in time to take a leading 
part in the building boom. He was the Everett 
Improvement Company's chosen architect for all 
its most difficult work, and the planning of almost 
all the large buildings in Everett erected at that 
time and since was the labor of his well trained 
and original mind. His abilities gained a splendid 
recognition from the great state of Washington, 
which called upon him to prepare the ])Ians for its 
state buildings to be erected at the St. Louis and 
Portland fairs. In the year 19(i1 Mr. Heide be- 
came associated in business with Emil de Neuf, a 
Seattle architect, and in the fall of 190.5, he, too, 
moved to Seattle to take up the work with his 
partner there. He is still a resident of the Queen 
City, in which he is achieving a splendid profes- 
sional success, a goodly share of the architectural 
work arising out of the city's rapid growth coming 
to the office of Mr. Heide and his partner. 

In 1886 Mr. Heide married Agnes F. Hauser, 
daughter of John Hauser of Godfrey, Illinois. Mr. 
and Mrs. Heide are parents of five children, all of 
whom are living. The family own a beautiful home 
on Rucker avenue, Everett. In fraternal affilia- 
tion, Mr. Heide is a member of the time-honored 
Masonic order and of the Benevolent and Protective 
Order of Elks. He is not a little proud of the fact 
that his splendid professional success has been won 
hy fair and honorable means, that he has conquered 
life thus far with worthy weapons, and that while 



winning a place in the front rank of an exacting: 
and difficult calling he has also won and retained a 
high reputation for integrity and moral rectitude. 



ALEXANDER KEAY. now serving his second' 
term as city treasurer of Everett, has been identi- 
fied conspicuously with the growth of Port Gard- 
ner's metropolis from the fall of 1891 when Swal- 
well's first addition was thrown open to the army 
of people congregated to begin the work of build- 
ing a great city. Mr. Keay was born at Blairgourie, 
Perthshire, Scotland, February 1. 18G2. His father, 
.Mexander Keay, a Highlander, was a native of 
Perthshire, also, who lived and died in his native 
land. He was a farmer, one of the prominent men' 
of his section and politically influential in the Lib- 
eral party. His death occurred in 1889 at the age 
of sixty-three. Catherine (Eraser) Keay, the moth- 
er of Alexander Keay, still living on the old home- 
stead, is a Lowlander, born in 1831. Her father 
was a prominent farmer of his district and to-day 
the family owns a valuable estate of more than 
1,000 acres, considered an unusual holding in Scot- 
land. The subject of this sketch received his edu- 
cation in the parish schools of Gleushee and at the 
age of eighteen began to make his own way in the 
world. His first work was as shipping clerk in the 
office of Kummond Luke & Company, Dundee, 
whose employ he entered in 1880. With this firm 
he remained four years, during which he decided 
to follow book-keeping as a profession and in the 
succeeding years held various positions in that 
capacity in both Scotland and America. In 1889 he 
came to Canada, locating at Vancouver, British 
Columbia. He visited Seattle and other points on 
the sound, but did not cross the border until 1890. 
A year later, in the fall of 1891 he accepted a posi- 
tion with Geddes & Hall, managers of the River- 
side wharf in the budding city of Everett, and sub- 
sequently he himself leased the wharf from W. G. 
Swalwell and conducted a hay, grain and feed store 
in connection with it. So it was that he saw Ever- 
ett's pioneer days, witnessing the leveling of forest 
and jungle on the beautiful peninsula and the grad- 
ual building of the present substantial, growing city 
upon the site. Mr. Keay became secretary-treasurer 
of the McGhie Dressed Beef Company in 1900 and 
held that position until his election as city treas- 
urer in the fall of 1904. So well did he serve the 
city that he was again called to the treasurer's of- 
fice in December, 1905, and in that important 
capacity is making a record for fidelity, integrity 
and thoroughness which is winning for him golden 
opinions. 

Miss Amy McGhie. the daughter of Samuel and 
Sarah (Snook) McGhie, was united in marriage to 
Mr. Keay in 1896. Samuel McGhie, a native of 
Scotland, born in 1828, is still living, his home be- 
ing at Superior, Wisconsin. He became one of On-- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



tario's early pioneers and during his active life was 
engaged in farming. Sarah Snook was born in 
England in 1834 and when a child accompanied 
her parents to Ontario, where her father followed 
farming. Mrs. Keay was born at Elmwood, On- 
tario. She came with her brothers, Norval and 
John McGhie, to Everett in 1893, they founding 
the McGhie Dressed Beef Company, one of the 
large meat firms of this section of Puget sound. 
Two children have been born to the union of Mr. 
and Mrs. Keay: .Alexander Norval, June, 1897; 
and William McGhie, December, 1905. Mr. Keay 
is affiliated with the B. P. O. E.. K. of P., W. O. 
W. and the Tribe of Ben Hur ; Mrs. Keay belongs 
to the Presbyterian church. Mr. Keay is one of the 
influential men of his party, the Republican, as he 
is in the public life of the community in which he 
has lived so many years. The Keay home at the 
corner of Norton avenue and Thirty-second street 
is among the most inviting, hospitable homes in the 
city rendered the more attractive by the sterling 
personal qualities of the owners and hosts. 



HON. JOHN C. DENNEY, who recently re- 
tired from the superior court bench of Snohomish 
county after an aggregate service of ten years, 
extending over a period fraught with litigation of 
more than ordinary importance, Ijears the distinc- 
tion of being one of the ablest jurists in the state. 
His long judicial service has been an honorable one 
in every particular, marked by eminently fair deci- 
sions covering a wide range and commanding not 
only the approval of the bar but winning him the 
confidence of the general public. 

The founder of the American branch of the 
Denney family was John Denney, the great-grand- 
father of Judge Denney. This ancestor came to 
America in colonial times and fought three years 
with the liberty-loving colonists to throw off the 
English \-oke. After the Revolution he settled in 
Pennsylvania, first following his trade, that of a 
tailor, then engaging extensively in the tannery 
business and in the manufacture of flour. He was 
a man of inarked ability and great energy, whose 
fitness for leadership was so generally recognized 
that he represented Green County, Pennsylvania, in 
the legislature for eighteen \ears. His son, also 
named John, was a successful farmer and stock- 
man. John Denney the third, father of Judge Den- 
ney, was born in Green County, Pennsylvania, but 
was taken by his parents to Ohio while still in child- 
hood, the family settling in Carroll county. He 
became one of the pioneers of Delaware county and 
pursued farming, stockraising and other lines of 
business with great success during his entire life. 
In ISfi.T he left Ohio for Iowa, remained there un- 
til 18(>9 ; he then moved to Indiana, where his home 
remained until his death in 1889. He was a Whig 
in politics, and though actively interested in public 



affairs, never consented to be a candidate for office. 
His wife bore the maiden name of Sarah Taylor 
and was of English birth, born in Manchester in 
1817. She came with her parents to America 
when only fourteen years old, Troy, New York, 
becoming her home. Her father was a manufac- 
turer of cotton and woolen goods. She was mar- 
ried to John Denney in Carroll County, Ohio. Her 
death occurred at Valparaiso, Indiana, in 1903. The 
father, John Denney, passed away at the age of 
seventy-seven. 

John C. Denney was born November 18, 1852, 
in Delaware County, Ohio. He received his early 
education in the common schools of Ohio and In- 
diana, later attended high school and finished his 
literary education at the Northern Indiana Normal 
school. Upon leaving that institution he at once 
began the study of law at Newcastle, Indiana, pur- 
suing his studies in the office of a friend, until ad- 
mission to the bar in 1878. From Indiana he then 
removed to Rooks County, Kansas, and hung out his 
shingle at Stockton, which was his home for ten 
years. He left a lucrative, established practice there 
to seek the greater opportunities offered young men 
by the rapidly developing Northwest, locating in 
July, 1888, at Snohomish, then the county seat. 
The law firm of Humes, Headlee & Denney was 
soon organized, one of the strongest in this section 
and one of the leading firms on Puget sound in 
those days. The senior member, Mr. Humes, was 
shortly called to the bench of King county, and in 
March, 1891, Mr. Denney himself was appointed 
superior judge of Snohomish county by Governor 
Ferry, occasioned by the organization of a new 
judicial district. In 1892 Judge Denney was elected 
by his fellow citizens to serve a full term, retiring 
with an enviable record January 1, 1897. The fa- 
mous county seat contest between Everett and Sno- 
homish was waged in the courts during this term 
of office, calling for an unusual nicety of judgment 
in its adjudication. The firm of Denney & Hulbert, 
the junior partner being Robert A. Hulbert. prac- 
ticed during the next four years or until January, 
1901, when Judge Denney was again called to the 
Snohomish county bench, over which he presided 
four years with his usual satisfaction. Since re- 
suming private life he has been associated with 
Judge Emory, their offices being in Everett. Their 
clientage is one of the largest in this section, be- 
speaking in strong terms the strength of the firm. 
Judge Denney is also interested to some extent in 
the development of the mineral resources of the 
Cascades. 

The marriage of Miss Harriet M. McNeeley to 
Judge Denney was solemnized December 31, 1879, 
at Stockton, Kansas. Her father was a native of 
the Buckeye state, who followed farming there 
until his death. Her mother, whose maiden name 
was Nancv Lawr\-, was also a native of Ohio. Mrs. 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



Denney was born September 20, 1861, in Tuskaros 
County, Ohio. Three children have blessed the 
union of Judge and Mrs. Denney : Arthur A., born 
September 21, 1881 ; Robert G., September 5, 1889; 
and Charles G., September IT, 1900. Both Mr. and 
Mrs. Denney are affiliated with the Masonic order, 
while the Judge is also connected with the Knights 
of Pythias, the Maccabees and the B. P. O. E. Mrs. 
Denney is a member of the Methodist church, which 
he attends and supports, and she is identified promi- 
nently with the leading women's clubs of the city. 
The Denney home on Colby avenue is one of the 
handsome residences of Everett and is the social 
center of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances 
drawn thither by the genial, broadly sympathetic 
qualities and the culture of its hospitable owners. 
The Judge is not only one of the foremost citizens 
of his county and section of the state to-day, hon- 
ored repeatedly by one of the most important public 
positions that a man can hold and doing honor to 
it, but he is a pioneer lawyer of this region to whom 
success has come because of integrity, native abil- 
ity and a love for the profession of his choice. 



HON. ALBERT W. McINTIRE, ninth gov- 
ernor of the state of Colorado, now and for several 
years past a citizen of Washington, prominently 
identified with the mining interests of the Cascade 
range, was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. Janu- 
ary 15, 1853, and comes of distinguished American 
ancestry. His father, Joseph Phillips Mclntire, was 
of Scotch descent anciently, while the mother, Isa- 
bella A. (Wills) Mclntire, traced her lineage back 
to the ^Vill> family of Cornwall, England. The 
first of the Mclntires to cross the Atlantic came to 
this continent with Lord Baltimore in the seven- 
teenth century and assisted in the establishment of 
the colony which later became Maryland. When 
the time came for the little federation of colonies 
to break away from the mother country and set 
up an independent government, the Mclntires cast 
their fortunes with the patriots and became as zeal- 
ous in behalf of their own government as they had 
been when subjects of England's kings and queens. 
In Heitman's Historical Register of Officers of the 
Continental Army, Thomas Mclntire, great-grand- 
father of Albert W. of this biography, is listed as 
entering the Third Pennsylvania Battalion, January 
8, 1776, as an ensign. The same year he was 
wounded, taken prisoner, and after being held 
nearly a year, was exchanged. He immediately 
became a lieutenant in an independent Pennsyl- 
vania company and served as its captain from 
March 8, 1779, to his discharge in May, 1782, Cap- 
tain Thomas Mclntire was repeatedly commended 
for his bravery and his military successes against 
the Wyandots in western Pennsylvania and the 
confederated' savages in the Wyoming valley of 
eastern Pennsylvania, in letters of Colonel Brod- 



head, in command at Fort Pitt (site of Pittsburg), 
to General Washington, which are preserved in the 
archives of Pennsylvania, The great-grandfather 
of Albert W. Mclntire on the maternal side of the 
house, Joseph Phillips, served in the War of the 
Revolution successively as major, lieutenant- 
colonel, and colonel of New Jersey Militia from 
June, 1776, until August, 1780. The Wills family 
was established in America by James Wills, who 
came over with his five sons in 1790 from Belfast, 
Ireland, after retiring from business as a linen 
manufacturer. His son, James Wills, Jr., a grad- 
uate of Jefferson College, class of 1805, and at the 
time of his death at the age of thirty-three, state's 
attorney of Allegheny County (Pittsburg), Penn- 
sylvania, was the grandfather of Albert W, Mc- 
lntire. 

Joseph Phillips Mclntire was born December 
1, 1820, at Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, and in that 
state spent his entire life, which he devoted to 
industrial pursuits with notable success. He early 
entered the mining business and was one of the 
prominent early coal operators in the Pittsburg dis- 
trict. He died in 1894 at the age of seventy-four. 
Mrs. Mclntire, mother of Albert W., was a native 
of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, born May 1, 1818. She 
attained to a venerable age, living until February 
8, 1903, her death occurring while residing in St. 
Louis, Missouri, with one of her children. Brought 
up in the strictest sect of Calvinism, she was never- 
theless broad and liberal in her religious views, 
teaching her children .that character and conduct 
and service were the safest passports to happiness 
in this world and the next. With an unusual bent 
toward scientific reading and a more thorough edu- 
cation than usual for women in those days, she 
was an inspiration and a guide to her son's early 
studies and all his after life. 

Thus richly cmlnwed, mentally and physically, 
and carrying in his blood the zeal, originality and 
fervid love for America's peculiar institutions which 
are the heritage of every true born American 
youth, Albert W, Mclntire began life very auspi- 
ciously in his home city. After finishing his pri- 
mary education in the public schools he prepared 
for college at Newell's Institute, in Pittsburg, and 
entered Yale in the fall of 1869. Four years later, 
with the class of 1873, he received his degree of A. 
B. and at once entered the law school from which 
he was graduated in 1875, receiving the degree 
of L,L.B., and the same June was admitted to 
the bar of the supreme court of Connecticut. The 
following November, having been admitted to the 
Pennsylvania bar, he commenced practising in 
Pittsburg which continued to be his home until 
December, 1876, That year he came west to Den- 
ver, Colorado. Although the capital city of a 
brand-new state, Denver in 1876 was little more 
than an overgrown stock town, bearing but slight 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



903 



resemblance to the present magnificent metropolis, 
noted throughout the world for its symmetry, 
beauty and stability. Making Denver his head- 
quarters during the next few years he traveled 
extensively, hunting, fishing and prospecting, over 
the then wild, dangerous region of western Colo- 
rado. In 1878 he became interested in mining by 
purchase of a fractional part of the Little Chief 
mine on Fryer Hill, Leadville, then in the initial 
stage of its wonderful career as a mining camp. 
He was highly successful in this venture, the Lit- 
tle Chief proving one of the heavy dividend pay- 
ers of the earlier period. In this connection it may 
be mentioned that he took a special course at the 
Sheffield Scientific School in 1879-80, and has been 
frequently engaged in mining since, chiefly in Colo- 
rado and Mexico. 

In 1880 he became a resident of the San Luis 
valley in the southern part of Colorado, there en- 
gaging on an extensive scale in the stock business. 
His ranch was situated near the towns of La Jara 
and Alamosa, and contained the historic site of the 
stockade built by Lieutenant Zebulon M. Pike, U. 
S. A., in 1806, when he was captured by Spanish 
troops and carried off to Mexico. In the San Luis 
valley, though a very young man, Mr. JMcIntire 
was soon accorded a welcome by his American 
and Mexican fellow citizens, and it was there his 
powers of leadership were first strongly manifested. 
As foreman of a grand jury composed of Ameri- 
cans, Mormons and Mexicans, the young ranchman 
broke a long reign of lawlessness on the border be- 
tween Colorado and New Mexico, by securing the 
indictment in 1882 of twenty-six criminals of the 
worst type. Because of the peculiar racial condi- 
tions existing at the time in that section of the 
■state, the work of this grand jury was really a 
notable one and indicated a high degree of cour- 
age on the part of the jury's members, and had 
the result of making life and property safe in that 
region ever afterward. The residents of Conejos 
county elected their lawyer-ranchman judge of the 
county court in 1883 by a unanimous vote, he being 
named for the position by both Republican and 
Democratic parties without opposition to his can- 
didacy, and at the age of thirty he took his place 
on the bench. In 1886. upon the expiration of his 
term, he refused re-election and formed a law part- 
nership at Alamosa, participating in the trial of a 
number of locally important cases. 

The next call to public service came to Judge 
Mclntire in 1889, when he was appointed to ad- 
judicate the water rights of the San Luis valley, 
consisting of four counties. His work in this 
connection showed such marked ability and fair- 
ness that it won him legal honors. After two years 
of continuous hearings with more than two thou- 
sand witnesses, he prepared a decision affecting 
title to water rights in which there were three hun- 



dred and seventy-one separate decrees, allotting 
water to irrigate thousands of farms, and which 
declared existing state statutes unconstitutional. 
The state's most eminent lawyers and every other 
special judge engaged in the work differed from 
Judge Mclntire and the litigation was carried up 
to the highest courts at enormous expense. Ten 
years later the supreme court sustained the original 
decree of Judge Mclntire, reversing numerous 
cases throughout the state. Governor Routt in 
1891 appointed him judge of the Twelfth Judicial 
District. It is worth noting that during his period 
of service on the bench in only one case was a de- 
cision of his reversed by a higher court, and in no 
instance was his interpretation of the constitution 
ever successfully questioned. His decisions are 
marked by unusual simplicity in reading correctly 
the basic principles of constitutional law, by clear- 
ness and conciseness in statement, and level-headed 
reasoning. His temperament is judicial rather than 
argumentative and to this fact perhaps must be 
ascribed more than to anything else his success on 
the bench and in the executive positions he has 
occupied. 

As the campaign of 1894 approached, the Re- 
publicans of Colorado turned to Judge Mclntire 
as their candidate for governor, despite the asser- 
tions of the latter th^t he would not accept the 
nomination if accorded him because he preferred 
the bench and his ranch, if he should decide to con- 
tinue in public life upon the conclusion of his term. 
Perhaps the reasons why the public's, call at last 
forced him to surrender to its will are most clearly 
set forth in the following editorial mention which 
appeared in the Denver Republican iniiiiciliatcly fol- 
lowing his nomination by acclamati.m fnr '_;rivcrnor 
by the Republicans in .September. IS!) I : "The se- 
lection of Judge Mclntire was espbaally well con- 
sidered. He is an educated, well-lialanced, prac- 
tical man upon whose escutcheon there is no blot. 
His ability is uncjuestioned and his character above 
reproach. He is not a hack politician nor a crank, 
and at this juncture such a selection is especially 
opportune.'' Still another press comment by one 
of the leading papers of southern Colorado, the 
Alamosa Independent, printed after the nomination, 
indicates very clearly the standing of the judge 
among the people with whom he had been asso- 
ciated continuously since 1880. Speaking of Judge 
Mclntire, the Independent says: "He is especially 
qualified by reason of his eminent fitness, his educa- 
tion, his honesty, his freedom from all forms of 
prejudice, his Americanism, his morality, his firm- 
ness which is tempered by a kind and manly na- 
ture. And above all, a character which knows no 
stain. These are attributes which mold and make 
this man and fit him for the highest office within 
the gift of the people.'' 

Judge Mclntire was elected sixteenth governor 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



of Colorado in November, 1894, by the largest ma- 
jority ever given a candidate in that state for the 
chief executive office, the vote being: Mclntire, 
93,503 ; David H. Waite, Populist, 74,894. By the 
former's election a reign of Populism in its radical 
form was ended. This campaign also marked the 
entrance of women into state politics. At the be- 
ginning of his administration. Governor Mclntire 
announced to the legislative leaders that they must 
not appropriate an amount in excess of the reve- 
nues of the state unless they intended to pass over 
his veto and further, he personally revised the es- 
timates made, cutting down their figures to meet 
his own views. The result of this sensible policy 
was that at the close of his term the outgoing 
handed over to the new administration a balance 
of fifty thousand dollars after having met all ex- 
ipenses, a record unequalled in the history of Colo- 
rado. In April, 1895, Governor Mclntire was 
called upon to adjust the difficulties arising from 
the lynching of several Italians by miners at Wal- 
senburg, and so creditably did he handle this com- 
plication that he perhaps averted trouble between 
the United States and Italy and received the per- 
sonal thanks of the Italian minister, besides com- 
mendatory mention in President Cleveland's last 
message. About a year later Colorado was sud- 
denly thrown into an intense and dangerous ex- 
citement by reason of the great Leadville strike. 
Dynamite was used by the strikers with appalling 
effect at the Robert Emmett and the Coronado 
mines and a reign of terror in the district was in- 
stituted. In response to a call. Governor Mclntire 
ordered the militia to the scene, and inaugurated 
a. policy of handling such situations that won for 
him golden opinions throughout the country, espe- 
cially did it fit the peculiar conditions existing in 
a state where the struggle between capital and labor 
had been exceedingly bitter. By supporting the 
civil authorities with troops, not supplanting ; by 
the maintenance of law and order at any cost ; by 
firmly setting his power against the bull-pen scheme 
of controlling men, by refusing to allow the depor- 
tation of American citizens, and by his tactful, ju- 
dicious, but firm stand between the warring fac- 
tions, he finally forced a peaceful settlement and 
established a peace between capital and labor at 
Leadville which has to this day remained unbroken. 
In Denver, he broke the power of the local ring of 
politicians, and in fact throughout the entire period 
of those two years filled with trouble and unhappi- 
ness all over the country, he steered the ship of 
state with courage, skill and a conscientious re- 
gard for his obligations to the public, though fought 
at almost every turn by designing politicians. Even 
the Rocky Mountain News, a bitter political enemy, 
commended him highly for the reforms he in.sti- 
tuted in that city, and the press generally ultimately 
conceded his ability and absolute fearlessness in 



standing for what he considered right and best. 
His state papers were universally commended by 
the press as models of clearness, conciseness and 
grasp. The dominating principle that appears to 
have guided Governor Mclntire's administration, 
as in fact one of his most noticeable traits of char- 
acter, is his deep seated judicial temperament, not 
weakened by an exaggerated sense of technical de- 
tails but founded upon a broad, practical love of 
justice. Upon entering office in 1895, he an- 
nounced that he did not desire a re-election and 
would not accept a re-nomination. To this reso- 
lution he remained steadfast. 

At the close of his administration in 1897, find- 
ing his health impaired by close confinement and 
overwork, the Governor sought its restoration by 
his favorite remedy, life out of doors. He spent 
the next two years principally in the mining re- 
gions of Colorado, Arizona, southern California 
and Mexico. Having lived at high altitudes for 
nearly a quarter of a century, he decided to try 
sea-level. New Haven and other points on the At- 
lantic coast, and finally Cleveland being visited. 
For a time Cleveland promised so well that he took 
up the practice of his profession there, being ad- 
mitted to the Ohio bar and becoming partner, for 
a time, of C. N. Sheldon, Esq., one of the leading 
personal injury lawyers of that state. After about 
a year of exacting work in the preparation and 
trial of cases with marked success but with the ac- 
companying confinement and strain, a warning 
collapse at the close of a long trial led to a vaca- 
tion in the Sault Ste. Marie and Lake Superior 
region, and finally to a migration to Washington. 
Puget sound appealed so strongly to him and 
agreed with him so well that in December, 1900, 
he located in Everett, and that city has since been 
his home. Since taking up his permanent residence 
here, he has interested himself deeply in the devel- 
opment of the mineral resources of the Cascade 
rang, particularly in the development of exten- 
sive copper lodes on Foss river, and has par- 
ticipated modestly in the general upbuilding of 
the community. The Foss River Consolidated 
Copper Company, of which he is president and 
general manager and of whose stock he owns 
a controlling interest, owns important mineral 
property in King county. As an illustration 
of his characteristic progressiveness, it is note- 
worthy that the governor found leisure to spend 
nearly three months of the winter of 1906 in spe- 
cial study in geology and mining at the well 
equipped school of mines of the University of 
Washington. As a member of the Everett Cham- 
ber of Commerce, Governor Mclntire is on occa- 
sion an active worker, while from his able pen 
have issued many valuable articles on the mineral 
resources of the Cascades and occasionally on 
timely topics of local importance. He is in the 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



very prime of life, and as a man of thorough trnin- 
ing, broad knowledge and sympathies, extended 
experience and eminence in pubHc Hfe, he has b°en 
cordially welcomed to the shores of the North 
Pacific and accorded a befitting position and an 
opportunity to contribute to the development of 
Washington as he has contributed to Colorado's 
welfare. 

Governor Mclntire was elected a member of the 
American Bar Association in 1895. While serving 
as vice president and director of the First National 
Bank of Alamosa. Colorado, in 1892, he delivered 
an address before the State Bankers' Association, 
which was published nationally. He also served 
as receiver and editor of the Alamosa Journal, 
Conejos county, for a time, one of the influential 
country journals of the state of Colorado Fra- 
ternally, he is affiliated with the Blue Lodge, Royal 
Arch Chapter, and the Commandery of Knights 
Templars of Everett, and with the Mystic Shrine 
■of Denver. His political activities now are con- 
fined to a quiet but discriminating support of the 
party to which he has given life-long service. 

Albert Washington Mclntire and Florence, 
daughter of William Sydney Johnson, of New Ha- 
ven, Connecticut, were united in marriage, July 
16, 1873. To this union two children were born:; 
Joseph Phillips, December 1. 1874; and Elizabeth 
M., who died January 15, 1887. Jo.seph P. Mc- 
lntire is a resident of Colorado, where he is at 
present part owner and manager of the old Mc- 
lntire stock ranch near Alamosa. Two sisters of 
'Governor Mclntire are also living: ]Mrs. J- L. 
Dillinger, of Pittsburg; and Mrs. J. Dooley, of St. 
Louis, Missouri. Governor Mclntire was united 
in marriage January 26, 1899, to Ida Noves Beaver, 
M.D., of Denver. 



DR. IDA NOYES McINTIRE was born at 
Providence, Rhode Island, April 28, 1859, and is 
a daughter of Alfred and Lucina Noyes. Alfred 
Noyes came of the noted Noyes family, founded 
in New England in 1634 by Rev. James and Rev. 
Nicholas Noyes, two brothers, distinguished clergy- 
men who landed in Newburyport, Masiachusetts, 
in that year, coming over in the ship Mary and 
John from Wiltshire, England. James Noyes, the 
progenitor of Alfred, was among the seven founders 
of Yale College. Both grandfathers of Alfred 
Noyes, Daniel Noyes, of Pembroke, New Hamp- 
shire, and John Chamberlain, of Cavendish, Ver- 
mont, served in the Revolutionary War. 

Dr. Ida Noyes Mclntire finished her primary 
education in the High school in Detroit, Michigan, 
and entered the University of Michigan, class of 
'81, taking the Latin-Scientific course, intending 
to prepare herself for journalistic work. It was 
during this period she became interested ni the 
study of medicine. Her vacations were spent in 



the office of the Christian-Herald, in Detroit, get- 
ting a practical training for journalism. At the 
close of her work in the university, she engaged 
in teaching in the public schools of Detroit, and 
for five years continued teaching, and studying 
medicine, having matriculated in Michigan Med- 
ical College, located in Detroit, and being a fre- 
quent contributor to current literature. During 
the winter of 1883-4 she traveled through the 
south, visiting famous battlefields and other places 
of special interest, and also the West Indies and 
the Bahama islands, writing sketches of travel 
which appeared in the Michigan Christian Herald 
and the Michigan Farmer. 

At the close of this period she was married to 
Mr. B. N. Beaver, since deceased, and resided for 
three years in Dayton, Ohio, where she became 
associate editor of the Dayton Daily Herald for 
a period of one year. It was while there that ihe 
was elected state recording secretary of the Ohio 
W. C. T. U., and in connection with that work 
was sent to various parts of the state to deliver 
public addresses. She was instrumental in found- 
ing a flourishing home for working women, seiv- 
ing as its secretary and treasurer for two years, 
and was one of the three women who foimded rhe 
"Bethany Home," a refuge for repentant and rut- 
cast women. She was for one year a student at 
the Union Theological Seminary at Dayton, Ohio, 
and carried oflf the highest marks in Greek and 
Hebrew. In the fall of 1887 she accepted a posi- 
tion as matron and preceptress at Midland College, 
Atchison, Kansas, and completed the work so suc- 
cessfully that the following June she was unani- 
mously re-elected at an increased salary for the 
ensuing year. She had determined, however, to 
become a practising physician so regretfully sev- 
ered her connection with Midland College and en- 
tered the Woman's Hospital Medical College in 
Chicago, a department of Northwestern Univetsity, 
of Evanston, Illinois, where :.hc received the de- 
gree of M.D. in March. 1891. After serving a 
few months as interne in the Woman's Hospital, 
she went west and began the practice of medicine 
in Denver, Colorado. Here she soon built up a 
large practice and the following seven years were 
filled with busy activities. In 1894 she went to 
New York City for post graduate work for which 
she received in due course a diploma from the post 
graduate school, having done special work in sur- 
gery and diseases of women. In 1895 she went 
abroad for study and travel in Europe. In the 
early part of that year she was appointed a mem- 
ber of the state Board of Charities and Corrections 
of Colorado and in this connection was sent to 
inspect state insane hospitals in Ohio and Michi- 
gan ; and also a member of the state Board of Par- 
dons, at that time the first and only woman in the 
world to hold that position. She went as a dele- 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



gate to the International W. C. T. U. convention 
held in London, June, 1895, and to the International 
Prison Congress, held in Paris the same year. In 
1896-97 she served as president of the medical 
board of the State Industrial School and was also 
on the staff of the Deaconess Hospital. Failing 
health compelled her to leave Denver in 1898 and 
seek a lower altitude. The following year she' was 
married to Ex-Governor Mclntire of Colorado, and 
for nearly two years resided in Cleveland, Ohio, 
but finding the climate unfriendly, in 1901, she 
came to Everett, Washington, where she has re- 
sided ever since. Dr. Alclntire has continued in 
active practice of medicine and in 1905 again went 
to Europe to travel and study and a much needed 
rest. For some time she conducted a private hos- 
pital which she built in Everett, but now devotes 
her entire time to taking care of the practice her 
skill has established. Dr. Mclntire makes a spe- 
cialty of diseases of women and surgery, and owing 
to her long residence in Colorado, famous as a 
health resort, and also to the fact that she has trav- 
eled extensively, she now numbers her patients in 
every quarter of the globe. She is a woman of un- 
usual force of character, highly gifted, and a close 
student, to whom success has come almost wholly 
by reason of sheer merit and iron tenacity of pur- 
pose, yet withal a woman of the broadest views 
and sympathies, known for her innumerable chari- 
ties. Marked culture, generous hospitality and a 
democratic spirit make the Mclntire home on 
South Colby avenue a favorite gathering place for 
friends and associates to whom such privileges are 
extended by Governor Mclntire and his most 
estimable wife. 



NICHOLAS RUDEBECK, one nf the nmst 
successful mining and real estate brnkc r^ .m I'lii^et 
sound, has been identified with the niihuililing of 
Snohomish county for the past decade and a half, 
though during that period his field of operations 
has by no means been confined to this particular 
district. Coming here at a time when the sound 
country was just entering upon its present remark- 
able era of development, he ably and zealously 
grasped the opportunities afforded men of his pe- 
culiar qualifications and has made the most of them. 

Mr. Rudebeck is of German descent and was 
born November 6, 1855, in the state of Schleswig- 
Holstein at Christianfelt, Germany, to the union 
of Claus Rudebeck and Christiana Klipliff. The 
father, too, was a native of Schleswig-Holstein, and 
was a starch manufacturer of prominence. He was 
born in 1813 and died at the age of fifty-one with- 
out ever leaving Germany. Mrs. Rudebeck claimed 
Holland as her birthplace, the year of her birth 
being 1817. In the spring of 1873, Nicholas Rude- 
beck, the subject of this article, crossed the Atlantic 
to seek his fortune in the great republic, locating 



at Maquoketa, Iowa, after having obtained a fair 
education in the public schools of his native coun- 
try. He immediately engaged in railroading at 
Maquoketa, following this line of activity six years, 
or until 1878, when he went to Kansas and took 
up farming in Rooks county, having taken a home- 
stead. He also opened a general mercantile store 
and real estate office at Plainville, meeting with 
good success in both lines. Kansas was his home 
until the spring of 1891. At that time he took up 
his residence at Snohomish, Washington, entering 
the real estate business, to which he has since de- 
voted most of his attention. He served as state 
executive commissioner at the Trans-Mississippi 
and International Exposition at Omaha and in 1901 
was appointed superintendent of Washington's 
mining exhibit at the Pan-American Exposition at 
Buffalo. The next year Mr. Rudebeck removed 
to Cleveland, Ohio, where he opened offices for 
the purpose of promoting the mining interests of 
Snohomish county. For three years he maintained 
these offices with excellent success, then returned 
to Snohomish county, re-opening his present real 
estate and mining offices in the city of Everett. 

Mr. Rudebeck and Miss Rachel Amelia Moon 
were united in marriage in Rooks County, Kansas, 
.A.ugust IS. 187S. She is the daughter of Thomas 
Moon, a native of Devonshire, England, born in 
1823. He came to America when only eleven years 
old, taking up his home in Guelph, Canada, where 
as a young man he engaged in farming. Subse- 
quently he removed to New Jersey, where his 
death occurred in 1865. He was a soldier in the 
Civil War, serving in the Union army, and was 
confined in the famous Confederate prison at An- 
dersonville nine months. In all he served three 
years under the colors. Mrs. Moon bore the 
maiden name of Anna Eliza Steele and was born 
in the Quaker City, in 1839, the older of the two 
children~of James' and Rachel (Hight) Steele, 
Pennsylvanians. James Steele was a shipbuilder. 
Mrs. Rudebeck was born at Everton, Canada, 
August, 1861. Eight children have blessed the 
home of Mr. and Mrs. Rudebeck, namely: Anna 
Eliza, born June 18, 1879; Minnie May, February 
1, 1883: Nellie Viola, February 13, 1881; Thomas 
Henrv, November 6, 1886; Christiana, June 6, 
1888 ; Rachel Amelia, May 3, 1890 ; Florence Elva, 
March 13, 1893; Nicholas Alvin, July 1, 1894; all 
are living. Mr. Rudebeck is affiliated with the 
Lutheran church, while his wife is a Methodist. 
Politically he is a lifelong Republican who has 
been content to cast his ballot without hope of 
party reward. 

The business interests of Mr. Rudebeck are 
varied and not confined to any one section. He is 
the owner of one of Everett's fine business blocks 
in which tract are ten lots, a handsome residence 
on Summit avenue, the townsite of the celebrated 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



town of Monte Cristo, the famous Sauk lode prop- 
erty adjoining the O. & B. mine in that camp and 
a controlling- interest in the Nonpareil group, join- 
ing the Sunset Copper Company's claims on the 
east. He was one of the incorporators of that com- 
pany. Upon the Nonpareil property he has spent 
about twenty thousand dollars to date in extensive 
development work. Recently he assisted in the in- 
corporation of the Monarch Realty & Investment 
Company, of Tacoma, of which he is the general 
manager at the present time. Thus it will be seen 
that Mr. Rudebeck is among the most aggressive 
and enthusiastic business men of this section of 
the state, filled with unfaltering confidence in its 
resources and backing up his opinions in a most 
substantial way. Others may have blazed the path- 
way into Snohomish county, but to the few pioneer 
business men of the type to which Mr. Rudebeck 
belongs who have sought out and promoted the de- 
velopment of the resources opened by those hardy 
frontiersmen are due unqualified praise and re- 
spect, a debt of gratitude by a prosperous, con- 
tented people. 



HARRY L. OLDFIELD, president and man- 
ager of the Snohomish County Abstract Co., with 
offices at 2925 Wetmore avenue, Everett, has been 
identified with the city's commercial interests for 
the past twelve years. During this time he has 
progressed step by step to his present position of 
stability and influence among his associates, mod- 
estly yet generously contributing his share toward 
the upbuilding of a great county and a great city. 
Of English descent, he was born in England in 
1868, the son of Charles and Susan (Little) Old- 
field. The senior Oldfield was born in 1838 and 
during his life followed agricultural pursuits in the 
old country. Mrs. Oldfield, the mother of Harry 
L., a year younger than her husband, survives him 
and still resides in England. The subject of this 
review was educated in English private schools. 
In 1882, while still a boy, he crossed the Atlantic 
to seek his fortunes in the new world and located 
first in Tennessee. Thence he turned westward to 
Missouri, Colorado and Idaho, following different 
lines of work, until eventually in 1892, he reached 
Seattle. There he was employed as a stenographer, 
in law and railroad offices for two years, coming to 
Everett in 1894 to accept a position with the Ev- 
erett Land Company. This concern was the orig- 
inal promoter of Everett and to be associated with 
it in a business way meant to be thoroughly con- 
versant with the early history of the sturdy young 
city springing up on Port (jardner bay in those 
early years. Mr. Oldfield later resigned to accept 
work in the general offices of the Everett & Monte 
Cristo Railroad Company, organized and operated 
by the same interests which launched Everett into 
the world. In 1899 he entered business for him- 



self, purchasing the abstract business of S. S. Gar- 
diner, and conducting it alone for a year. At the 
end of that time he associated himself with E. A. 
Strong in purchasing the business of the Snohomish 
County Abstract Company, and under their man- 
agement the new enterprise flourished, and grew to 
its present large proportions. Recently Mr. Old- 
field acquired his partner's interests, so that now 
he is sole owner. He has built up a reputation for 
reliability that is not only a most valuable commer- 
cial asset of such a profession but also a source of 
intense satisfaction to those who have followed his 
successful career. 

Mr. Oldfield and Miss Emma Melvin were united 
in marriage at Everett in 1897. She, too, is a na- 
tive of England, and is the daughter of W. T. and 
Isabelle (Willis) Melvin. Mr. and Mrs. Melvin 
are now residents of Everett, the former having 
retired from his life occupation, that of a farmer. 
To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Oldfield, two chil- 
dren have been born, Charles Willis in 1903, and 
Frances Elizabeth in 1905, both of whom are living. 
Fraternally, Mr. Oldfield is affiliated with the 
Knights of Pythias, and the Royal Arcanum ; Mrs. 
Oldfield is prominent in city club work, belonging 
to the Women's Book club, of which she served 
as president two years. Politically, he is a Repub- 
lican. Both Mr. and Mrs. Oldfield are esteemed 
residents of the community, while in business cir- 
cles he is regarded as one of the county's forceful 
men to whom success has justly come. 



JOHN FINLEY BENDER (deceased). Many 
of the Northwest's early pioneers and leaders to 
whom credit is due for establishing its present sub- 
stantial, prosperous industries have passed away. 
A grateful people cheerfully acknowledge their in- 
debtedness to these pathfinders and state builders; 
the appreciative, truth seeking historian will write 
their names and deeds upon imperishable records; 
but the highest reward must come from the bourne 
beyond, the true abiding place of justice in all 
things. The subject of this biographical review, 
whose death occurred in March, 1905, was among 
these pioneer leaders. He was born at Fort Wayne, 
Indiana, September 4, 1841, one of the children 
of David and Lydia (Tanney) Bender. David 
Bender was a Pennsylvanian, and by occupation, a 
farmer most of his life. He was born in 1803 and 
died at Walla Walla, Washington, in 1881, being 
one of the early settlers of Washington Territory. 
His wife, whose death occurred in Minnesota in 
1853 at the age of forty-five, was born in Balti- 
more, Maryland, in 1808. She was related to 
Thomas Edison, the great inventor, and also to 
Miller and Aultman. John Finley Bender was edu- 
cated in the common schools of Indiana and re- 
mained on the farm until nineteen years of age. 
At the outbreak of the Civil War he joined the 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



Union forces, enlisting in the fall of 1861 in an 
Indiana regiment. Upon the expiration of his 
three years' term, he re-enlisted this time identify- 
ing himself with the First Nebraska Cavalry and 
with this command remained until the close of the 
war. Throughout the long, bloody struggle he 
fought valiantly on many famous battlefields, sacri- 
ficing his all that the Stars and Stripes might float 
over a united, invincible nation, and many a camp- 
fire he entertained with stories of his varied war 
experiences. After peace had been declared and 
the troops mustered out, he engaged in farming 
and stock raising in Montana, Washington and 
Oregon, settling in the last named state in 1873 
after his removal from Montana Territory. Thus 
he became one of the early settlers of the Pacific 
coast and during the succeeding thirty-three years 
of his residence here contributed much toward the 
subjugation of the wilderness and the development 
of its rich resources. In 1890 he became interested 
in mining in the Cascade and Olympic mountains, 
left the old home in Oregon and located, in 1891. 
at Silverton, Snohomish county, a newly estab- 
lished camp on the headwaters of the Stillaguamish 
river. He was actively identified with the promo- 
tion of thi.s well known district and was among 
the locators of the now noted Bonanza Queen 
group of copper properties, which was sold irTigOl 
for one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Mr. 
Bender made a close and scientific study of miner- 
alogy, absorbing his knowledge thoroughly, and in 
"his quiet, unostentatious way won the confidence 
and esteem of all who knew him in either a busi- 
ness or a social way. Mr. Bender was united in 
marriage in 1874, while residing in Oregon, to 
Mrs. Charlotte C. Anderson, of Knappa. She had 
a son and a daughter, born to her former mar- 
riage. 

One child, William Emmett. born January 19, 
1875, in Oregon, came to the union of Mr. and 
Mrs. Bender. He is now a resident of Everett, 
one of the city's well-known business men, and is 
the sole executor and principal heir of his father's 
estate. Mr. Bender is the owner of many valuable 
pieces of Everett property and possesses a beauti- 
ful home on North Rucker avenue. October 19, 
1896, he was married to Miss Norene W. Colvin, 
at Knappa, Oregon. She is a native daughter of 
Oregon, born at Portland in 1876, and in that state 
• was reared and educated. One child has blessed 
the marriage, Roy Locke Bender, a sturdy little 
■chap, the pride of the household. 

Fraternally, John F. Bender was prominent in 
the IMasonic order and was also affiliated with the 
Knights of Pythias. William Emmett Bender is 
a Woodman of the World. The most valuable her- 
itage left by the immediate founder of this family 
to his son and grandson is the influences of a 
.strong, brave, honorable character, a wholesome 



life, and the memory of one who gave generously 
and unselfishly to the perpetuation and the upbuild- 
ing of his country. 



JOHN H. HILTON, among the city of Ever- 
ett's foremost citizens, has to his credit a long ca- 
reer of usefulness and profit in their broadest 
sense, so much of which has been lived on the 
shores of Puget sound that his name must be per- 
manently engraved upon the historical records of 
this section. He is a pioneer among pioneers, in- 
timately concerned in the growth of Northwestern 
Washington in general and particularly identified 
with the upbuilding of Snohomish county. 

Of Colonial American and Scotch descent, John 
H. Hilton was born at St. Albans, Somerset 
County, Maine, September 1, 1845, the son of Na- 
thaniel Hilton, a prominent lumberman and land- 
holder of that section. The elder Hilton was a 
native of the Pine Tree state also, born in 1814 
in Skowhegan county to pioneers of that northern 
commonwealth. When a young man he crossed 
the border into Canada and made a fortune lum- 
bering in the heavy forests of Nova Scotia. While 
so engaged he and Miss Jane Doak of that prov- 
ince were united in marriage. She was born at 
Mariamache, Nova Scotia, in 1817, the daughter 
of Scotch parents. Her life, which terminated in 
1857, was marked by a most devout Christian 
spirit, endearing her to all with svhom she was as- 
sociated. Nathaniel Hilton passed away in 1849, 
while residing in his native state. The boyhood 
of John H., the subject of this review, was marked 
by severe misfortunes and a hard, grinding strug- 
gle for existence. Losing his father when only four 
years old and his mother seven years later, the 
family scattered and being forced to win his own 
way, the mettle of the lad was indeed tried. But 
he proved equal to the occasion, thus demonstrat- 
ing the inherent powers and qualities that later in 
life became so noticeable. He worked his way 
through the public schools and in 1861, when Lin- 
coln's call for troops came, enlisted first in the 
Fourteenth Maine and later in the Twenty-second 
but each time was unable to get his guardian's con- 
sent to enter the army. Finally, in 186.'^, he left 
home, or rather Maine, and went by the Nicaragua 
route to seek his fortune in California. After a 
year spent in the redwood forests, the indomitable 
youth came to Puget sound and located on Whidby 
island. A brother, R. D. Hilton, was logging there 
with oxen at the time (there being no horses in 
the country) and John H. endeavored to secure 
work with him in the camp. He was advised to 
go to Port Gamble and secure employment in the 
mills, being told that he would only be in the way 
in the camp. His experience in the mills on the 
Penobscot river, however, led him to avoid such 
employment. For a time he met only with dis- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



couragement, no one being inclined to be of real 
assistance to him. His strong nature then asserted 
itself and he ceased to ask favors of any one. A 
little later he entered the employ of Brown & Fos- 
ter, on Brown's bay, just below Mukilteo, one of 
the county's oldest camps, and" soon became one 
of the most efficient woodsmen in the country. In 
1865 he went up the Snohomish river to Foster's 
slough, where he heard the news of Lincoln's as- 
sassination. In the fall of 18()5 camp was moved 
midway between Mukilteo and Everett and there 
lie celebrated his twenty-first birthday with a for- 
tune of one thousand and four hundred dollars to 
his credit. Shortly afterward he decided to go to 
Frisco and made the trip by canoe, stage and 
steamer, via Seattle, Olympia and Portland. For 
.a year he mined in Plumas County, California, then 
spent another year in Sonoma county redwood for- 
ests. The year 1860 saw him stranded at Frisco, 
but undismayed b\- his reverses. .\t Pope & Tab- 
let's old dock he engaged passage on the old bark 
Miland for Port Gamble. As soon as he could he 
made his way back to Snohomish county and ob- 
tained work with Charlie McLain at his camp on 
the Pilchuck, for whom he worked until early 
spring. 

Then he drove logs on the Pilchuck river with 
Alex Ross, George Robinson, and a man named 
Pullen, — all expert loggers. As an incident of this 
season Mr. Hilton relates that after breaking a 
jam in the river, the four mounted the tangled 
raft and rode it to the next jam, his three com- 
panions each in their turn being dumped into the 
river for a cold bath, while he escaped. Finding 
that the financial condition of the camp was not 
what he had supposed it to be Mr. Hilton gathered 
together his "crowtracks," tied his belongings into 
a bundle and went to Cadyville. Here he was en- 
tertained by Mr. and Mrs. E. C. Ferguson pre- 
paratory to his departure for Port Gamble. After 
purchasing $100 worth of supplies from Mr. Fergu- 
son (which did not include "silk stockings," paper 
collars or kid gloves) he went to the E. D. Smith 
camp near Port Gamble, where Marysville is now 
built. After a season spent here he located at 
Lowell. He was successful in all his ventures and 
soon had one thousand dollars to his credit. With 
a portion of this he invested in what afterwards 
became valuable tide lands, in Seattle. 

However, in 1870 he had taken a pre-emption 
claim on Holmes' Harbor, which it was at that 
time thought would be the terminus of the North- 
ern Pacific railroad, engineers being actually at 
work on the plats. In 1872 he took a homestead 
on the Everett peninsula, coming down the river 
in a canoe with a frying pan and coffee pot as his 
housekeeping equipment. At that time his only 
neighbor was a man named King, who was men- 
tally deranged. Keen foresight was demonstrated 



in this move on the part of the young pioneer, for, 
aside from the intrinsic value of the land for tim- 
ber and agricultural purposes, he believed it would 
some day be the site of a great city. In 1890 his 
prediction was verified, for Henry Hewitt, Jr., of- 
fered him twenty-five thousand dollars for the 
homestead and was refused. After taking his 
claims Mr. Hilton engaged in several lines of ac- 
tivity, one being the establishment of a butcher 
shop at Snohomish in 1875, which two years later 
developed into a general merchandise house. He 
sold out in 1883 to Comegys & Vestal, well known 
pioneers. This business he started with merely a 
credit line of goods valued at one hundred and ten 
dollars and during his ownership the enterprise 
netted him twenty thousand dollars approximately. 
A trip to Oakland, and San Francisco followed, 
then another trip to Maine, after which he re- 
turned to the sound and engaged in buying and 
selling land and stock and improving farms. In 
1890 he removed to Seattle, built a residence there 
and made that city his home three years, since 
which he has resided in the city of Everett. He 
still retains the greater portion of his old home- 
stead, deals extensively in real estate including tide 
lands, and is heavily interested in various other 
enterprises at different points on the sound. 

The old "Blue Eagle" building, at Snohomish, 
one of the county's noted pioneer structures, was 
the scene of Mr. Hilton's wedding, December 7, 
1873, the bride being Miss Susie Harriet Elwell. 
Royal Haskell performed the ceremony in the 
presence of Mr. and Mrs. E. C. Ferguson, the 
bride's parents and family and brother, R. D. Hil- 
ton, the oldest and most highly esteemed pioneers 
in this region. Miss Elwell was the daughter of 
John and Eliza (Crosby) Elwell, early pioneers of 
Snohomish, a sketch of whose lives will be found 
in that of Tamlin Elwell's elsewhere in this volume. 
Mrs. Hilton was born in Northfield, Maine, Decem- 
ber 16, 1850. She departed this life March 5, 1902, 
leaving behind her the memory and influence of a 
devoted, unselfish life. Of the five children born 
to this union three are deceased, John H., Martie 
E. and Claude H., who died in infancy. One 
daughter, Mrs. Lena Loomis, resides in Denver, 
Colorado, and one son, Bailey G., is a resident of 
Everett. Mrs. Hilton was a member of the Bap- 
tist church, which Mr. Hilton also attends. He 
is affiliated with the B. P. O. E. and the K. of P.. 
and politically is a lifelong Republican, active but 
not aspiring. It is given to comparatively few to 
lead such a full life as has Mr. Hilton and, more 
especially, to have made the most of the rich op- 
portunities he so bravely sought in the wild, iso- 
lated Northwest of his time. His career on Puget 
sound spans the period of this region's wonderful 
development from a mere commercial outpost of 
the westermost west into one of the most progres- 



910 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



sive, industrious, goodly states in all the union, and 
in this transformation he has taken an active and 
influential part. 



THE EVERETT LIBRARY, Aliss Gretchen 
Hathaway, Librarian. L"p to the time the board 
of trustees of the Everett library applied to Mr. 
Carnegie for a library building, the library had 
consisted of no more than two thousand and one 
hundred volumes, housed in a small three-room 
building; now it possesses some six thousand and 
five hundred volumes — with more to come — and is 
at home in its handsome new quarters. Due credit 
should be given, however, to the two thousand and 
one hundred volume library, product of the energy 
and enterprise of the Woman's Book club. Through 
their efforts the library had been started four years 
before with nine hundred volumes, along the most 
approved library lines, was made free, and main- 
tained by the city; and thus was able to expand 
to its present dimensions without difficulty and 
without radical changes. 

Mr. Carnegie responded favorably to the appli- 
cation of the trustees, offering the city twenty-five 
thousand dollars, subject to the usual conditions, 
ten per cent, maintenance fund and site. The Im- 
provement Company gave the city two lots in a 
desirable location for this purpose. Not less than 
four lots being considered necessary for the build- 
ing to be erected, two more lots were given by the 
Swahvell Land Co. and the Union Trust Co. These 
latter being in different parts of the city, were, with 
the building and lot occupied, exchanged for two 
lots adjoining those given by the Improvement 
Company. The city council cheerfully voted the 
necessary maintenance fund. 

On account of various delays incident to the se- 
curing of the site and other matters, plans were 
not called for .until the beginning of last year. The 
firm of Heide & DeNeuf furnished the plans. It 
might be well to own here, that at this time, we 
were aided greatly by the advice and suggestions 
of Mr. Smith of the Seattle library. 

Plans were approved and the contract let by 
the board in April, 1904. Work was begun imme- 
diately and the building pushed through as rapidly 
as possible, resulting in its standing ready for oc- 
cupancy on the first of January, 1905. 

Some delay was again encountered in securing 
the furnishings, which did not arrive until May 
1st. In consequence of the number of new books 
to be accessioned, the formal opening occurred on 
July 1, 1905. As Mr. Carnegie allows his gift to 
be expended, if desired, for building and furnish- 
ings, the trustees so disbursed the twenty-five thou- 
sand dollars — this sum covering all the expenses 
of building and furnishing. 

The substantial building, one story and a base- 
ment, is of cream-colored brick. The basement 



contains an auditorium, seating some three hun- 
dred people, a newspaper and periodical room, fur- 
nace and unpacking rooms, janitors' closet, etc. 
The room termed "auditorium," can be readily 
turned into a stack room, having a capacity of 
fifteen thousand volumes. On the main floor is a 
small vestibule opening into the delivery hall, on 
the right of which — in the sunniest and most cheer- 
ful corner of the building — is the children's room. 
On the left and of equal size, is the general read- 
ing and reference room, back of that a small refer- 
ence and study room, and the woman's parlor. On 
the right corresponding to these rooms are the li- 
brarian's office and the work room, the latter con- 
necting with the stack room. The stack is that 
termed radiating — radiating from the delivery desk 
in the rear of the main hall — in this manner per- 
mitting the control of the library by one person 
at the delivery desk. The stack room has a ca- 
pacity of fifteen thousand volumes, and is open to 
the public as are all the shelves. The building is 
so arranged, however, that the stack can be closed 
at any time, if desired. In other rooms on the 
main floor there is capacity for six thousand vol- 
umes more. This can be raised some thousands by 
the addition of shelving for which there is ample 
room. 

All wood work in the building is finished in 
dark green. The walls and ceilings are in pale 
shades of green and apricot. The furniture, in- 
cluding newspaper and periodical racks, dictionary 
stands, and trays, is of heavy oak, finished in dull 
green; and the stacks are steel, of the most ap- 
proved design, also in the prevailing green. This, 
together with the gilt of the electric fixtures, makes 
an effective color scheme and is much admired. 
The building is heated by a hot-water plant, and 
is well lighted. The six thousand and five hun- 
dred volumes comprising the liijrary are of a gen- 
eral character, more strength being shown in liter- 
ature perhaps, though considerable attention has 
been given to history, and to the mechanic arts, 
which are in much demand in this locality. There 
is also a complete subject and dictionary card cata- 
log of these volumes. 

" Through the efforts of the trustees, and the 
generosity of the public as represented by the gov- 
erning board of the Everett Hospital, an institu- 
tion about to become extinct, the library was made 
recipient of a gift of five thousand dollars, the pro- 
ceeds of their property, for the purchase of new 
books. This gift, coming to us in March of this 
year, was most timely and most acceptable, and 
the library has benefited accordingly. 

The librarian, Miss Gretchen 1 latliawav, has as- 
assistants Miss Jessie Judd and Miss I'jiiily Sum- 
ner. The trustees of the institution are F. H. 
Brownell, president, Ellen I. Thayer, secretary. S. 
M. Kennedy, Robert Moody, and W. G. SwahvelL 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



911 



A yearly appropriation of $"-?,500 has been made by 
the city for the proper conducting of the hbrary. 
It ranks sixth in size and in the number of vol- 
umes for circulation (in the state) and is one of the 
best managed libraries in Washington. 



JOHN SPENCER, retired, a well known citi- 
zen of Everett, during his twenty years' residence 
in Snohomish county has acquired an enviable rep- 
utation as a successful, scientific agriculturist of 
unusual ability, and not only in that line of activ- 
ity but in others has he won a high position. He 
was born in Lancashire, England, January 13, 
1S32, the scion of an ancient Lancashire house. 
Hugh Spencer, his father, was born in Lancashire 
about the year 1780. He followed farming early 
in life, but later managed a coal company and sub- 
sequently engaged in the mercantile business at 
W'igan. Mrs. Elizabeth (Jonson) Spencer, the 
mother of John Spencer, was also a native of Lan- 
cashire, born in 1784; her father was a Scottish 
farmer. At the age of seven John Spencer went 
to work in the coal mines, receiving most of his 
education in the practical school of experience. 
When only fifteen years old he became a regular 
miner and followed this occupation in England im- 
til 1862, when he bade adieu to the British Isles 
and set his face toward the western continent. Lo- 
cating near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, he at once 
resumed mining, remaining there until 1SG6. Then 
he removed to Monongia, near Boone, Iowa, five 
miles from Booneborough, where Mr. Spencer 
spent a year mining, from Iowa he then removed 
to Point O'Rocks, Wyoming, accepting a position 
as manager of the mines at that point. This was 
during the construction of the LTnion Pacific rail- 
road across the continent. A year later he took 
up his residence in Washington County. Xeliraska. 
and engaged in farming, raising grain principallv. 
In Nebraska Mr. Spencer secured his first real suli- 
stantial foothold in business, devoting his attention 
zealously to mastering the farming industry, tak- 
ing a leading part in his community's public af- 
fairs and otherwise deeply interesting himself. 
However, the Northwest appealed irresistibly to 
him because of its fertility and its genial climate, 
so in 1886 he left the pla'ins of Nebraska for the 
forest covered valley of the Snohomish, settling 
in section ten, on Steamboat slough. The excel- 
lence of his farming methods and his marked prac- 
ticality at once won success for him in the new 
field of endeavor. Since 1886 he has been a con- 
tinuous resident of the county, and, though still 
owning a tract of one hundred and sixty-five acres 
of valuable land near Everett, is at present living 
in that city. 

Mr. Spencer and Sarah Ann Atherton, the 
daughter of William and Mary (Yates) Atherton, 
were united in marriage in England, December 11, 



1S57. The Athertons, too, are natives of Lanca- 
shire, the father born in 1808, the mother a year 
later. William Atherton passed away in 1897 at 
the advanced age of ninety-one. Mrs. Atherton 
died young. Mrs. Spencer was born in Lanca- 
shire, May 7, 1838. She is the mother of thirteen 
children, the first two of whom were bom in Eng- 
land. Only four of this large family are living, 
all residents of Snohomish county: John William, 
born October 9, 1862; Mrs. Mary Clasby, July 
30, 1868 ; Thomas, February 14, 1877 ; and Stephen 
Franklin, November 23, 1880. Both ]\Ir. and Mrs. 
Spencer are members of the Methodist church, and 
among the founders of the Marysville and Everett 
churches of that denomination. He is affiliated 
with one fraternity, the Masonic, being one of rhe 
charter members of Peninsular lodge, Everett. 

In public life Mr. Spencer took a prominent 
part while residing in Nebraska, where he v\'as one 
of the leaders in the Republican party. He served 
three terms as supervisor of Sheridan township, 
being chosen chairman of the board each term, and 
was township assessor five years. He is now an 
ardent Prohibitionist, though with declining years 
he has been forced to take a less active interest in 
public life as well as in business affairs. 



HENRY O. SILER, professional timber cruiser 
with headquarters at present at Everett, though his 
business in connection with the big saw-mill at Port 
Blakely, has been connected with the logging and 
lumber business ever since he came to Snohomish 
county. He was born in North Carolina in 1862, 
the fourth of ten children of Albert and Josie 
fChipman) Siler. The elder Siler was also a na- 
tive of the Old North state and lived there all his 
life, passing away in 1904. Mrs. Siler was born in 
New York but passed the greater part of her life 
in North Carolina. Henry O. Siler received liis 
education in the common schools of his native state 
and remained on his father's farm until nineteen 
years of age. He then passed three years in the 
lumber business, leaving it to enter into partner- 
ship with his father in a general store near Frank- 
lin, in his native state. This business was con- 
ducted for three years. In 1886 ]\Ir. Siler came 
to Washington and settled on a squatter's right in 
Cowlitz county. Here he remained about a )'ear 
when he sold his right and came to Snohomish 
county working in the logging camps in the vicin- 
ity of Lowell on the Snohomish river. In 1889 
he commenced logging on his own account, b'.it 
soon located on the north fork of the Stillaguamish, 
where he took a squatter's right to one hundred 
and sixty acres of timber land. As soon as the 
land was surveyed Mr. Siler filed a timber claim-. 
In 1892 he also filed on a homestead, residing ori 
that land for five years. During this period he 
had engaged in logging operations and continued 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



so to do until in 1897 he sold both his timber and 
homestead claims and bought one hundred and 
sixty-three acres of land near Cicero, thirty of 
which were cleared. Mr. Siler has cleared forty 
acres in addition, having lived on the place for 
three years. In 1898 he began work which ulti- 
mately induced him to remove to Everett, where 
he has a home on Hoyt avenue. Since that time 
he has been occupied in buying timber and cruis- 
ing for others. For the last three years he has been 
steadily in the employ of the Port Clakely Mill 
Company, the largest concern of the kind in the 
world. Mr. Siler's especial duty is looking after 
tlie timber interests of this gigantic establishment. 
In December, 1891, at Oso Mr. Siler married 
Miss Clara Aldridge. daughter of William and 
Maria (Robinson) Aldridge. Mr. .\ldridge was 
born on a Tennessee farm but when a lad was 
taken to Indiana, from which state in later years 
he went to Kansas. In 1887 Mr. .\ldridge came 
to Snohomish cnunty and settled on the Stilia- 
guamish at ( >s(i. whure he died in 1903. Mrs. .Ald- 
ridge is a native of Indiana and is now living at Oso. 
Mrs. Siler is a native of the Hoosier state, but re- 
ceived her education in Kansas. She has three sisters 
who are school teachers in this state. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Siler have been born four children : Minnie, 
James, Charles and Josie. In politics Mr. Siler is a 
Democrat. In fraternal circles lie is a member of the 
Masonic order, being a Mystic Shriner, of the Elks 
and of the iNIodern Woodmen of .America. Mr. 
Siler is the owner of four hundred acres of land, 
seventy of which are under cultivation, the re- 
mainder being timber land. He is a breeder of 
Hereford cattle, having fifty head of that kind of 
beef creatures. Mr. Siler is one of the men in 
whose judgment people place confidence, a man of 
great powers of observation, a gentleman from 
instinct and a business man by training and self- 
education. 



LEROY PARKER, of Lowell, comes of one of 
Washington's oldest families and has himself been 
a resident of the Evergreen state more or less con- 
tinuously for fifty-four \ears, antedating the life 
of even the territory itself by nearl\- a year. No 
less a pioneer in every sense of the word is his 
estimable wife who was numbered among Seattle's 
population in 1861, when that city was but a vil- 
lage, and who has contributed willingly and fully 
her share toward the winning of the West. This 
historical record would indeed be incomplete with- 
out this sketch of their lives, for in addition to 
being pioneers of this section of Puget sound, Mr. 
Parker is a .Snohomish pioneer of '73. 

Leroy Parker was born in 1811, while the fam- 
ily were residents of Indiana. His father, David 
Parker, a millwright by trade, was a native of 
Maine, born in 1814. He left the Pine Tree state 



in 1836, journeying west to Indiana, which was 
his home until 1851. Then he resided a year in 
Illinois, farming there, until he decided to join the 
immigration just setting in to Oregon. To him, as 
to most people in those days, that faraway land, 
was fascinating simply because of the myster\' en- 
shrouding it and because of the eloquence it in- 
spired in tho.se who returned to tell of its wonder- 
ful climate, its boundless forests, its fertile valleys 
and its magnificent rivers and sounds. The dan- 
gers and hardships of the two thousand-mile over- 
land trail were not belittled, but what cared the 
American, man or woman, of that frontier age. for 
what to this generation seems like an almost un- 
surmountable obstacle ? The family of David Par- 
ker joined the emigrant train that left the Mis- 
sissippi in the spring of 1852 and in the fall, worn 
and weary, their clothes threadbare and torn, thirst- 
ing for pure water and even hungering, but with 
undaunted spirits and a joy known only to the 
conquering frontiersman, David Parker, his brave 
wife and heroic little children reached the "Prom- 
ised land," settling in Clark county, opposite the 
mouth of the Sandy river. The boy Leroy was 
thus initiated into a life on the Pacific coast fron- 
tier, when yet a lad of tender years. The Parkers 
engaged in farming and its allied pursuits as did 
most of the earliest settlers, though later the father 
gave his attention to milling, being well equipped 
to follow that business. Subsequently he removed 
to King county and there, at the venerable age of 
eighty-five, the brave old pioneer passed to his 
reward beyond. Emeline (Burgess) Parker, his 
wife, who shared with him the long, hard frontier 
life, laid down her burdens in 1894, passing away 
in King county, also. She was a native of Maine. 
Lerov Parker, reaching the frontier when .still 
young and finding no schools to attend, was de- 
prived of further educational privileges for several 
years, but later attended school at Vancouver. Upon 
completing his education he engaged in freighting- 
between Vancouver and Lewiston, Idaho, then went 
into the mines of eastern Oregon, after which he 
took up mill work. He built a small quartz stamp 
mill on the Snake river in 1872 and 1873, and in 
the fall of the latter year came to Snohomish 
county. Here he first busied himself at cutting 
shingles on Ebey slough, then entered the employ 
of E. D. Smith, the pioneer lumberman of Lowell. 
In the summer of 18^4 he removed to King county, 
locating at Renton. and there was employed in 
building mills and operating them for others until 
1891. when he returned to Snohomish to take up 
his permanent abode. He settled at Lowell, which 
is still his home. Until 1893 he was employed in 
saw-mill work, since which time he has devoted 
himself exclusively to his trade, that of a mill- 
wright, with great success. 

]\Iiss Louisa D. Smith, a native of London, Eng- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



land, the daughter of James Smith, was united in 
marriage to Leroy Parker in the old Accidental 
Hotel, at Seattle in 1875. James Smith, of Eng- 
lish ancestry, was born at Edinburgh, Scotland, in 
1834. He came to America in 1862, settling first in 
Vancouver, British Columbia, which was his home 
two years. He then crossed the sound to the 
United States, locating in the thrifty little town 
of Seattle, King county. Mr. Smith attained to 
considerable wealth by his keen business ability 
and foresight and for many years was one of the 
managers of a very large estate. At the time he 
came to Seattle the Indians were very troublesome 
to the little settlement of whites congregated on 
the site of the present great city and many a day 
was spent in deadly fear of attacks by the red men. 
It is interesting to note in passing that at that time 
the smaller pieces of silver currency were not in 
use in this section of the United States ; indeed, 
money of any kind was scarce. Mrs. Deborah 
(Cartwright) Smith, the mother of Mrs. Parker, 
was a native of England, born in 1832. Her father 
was a millwright. Mrs. Parker was born in 1838 
and was thus only four \ears old when she came 
to America and a mere child when brought to Pa- 
get sound. She remembers old Chief Seattle, Chief 
Tecumseh, Princess .\ngeline and other noted In- 
dians of this section. Within the scope of her 
memory too was the appearance of the Liza .\nder- 
son, Elida and others of the sound's first steamers. 
All of the meat used in those early days by Seattle's 
inhabitants was brought from Georgetown in 
canoes. Mrs. Parker attended school in the old 
Yesler courthouse which was a square frame build- 
ing about twenty-two by fourteen feet in size, which 
was the town's sole school-house. The Denney and 
Horton families were well known to the Smiths 
when they were all engaged in pushing forward 
the future metropolis of the sound. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Parker eight children have been born, all of 
whom are living: Mrs. Leila I. Brown, Addie A., 
Frank H., Bert L., Chester A., Howard J., Jean 
C. and Vivian G. The family home is a comfort- 
able one. occupying a sightly position overlooking 
the Snohomish river and valley, and in its reigns 
the true spirit of hospitality and sincerity which 
makes it so welcome a gathering place for friends 
and acquaintances. Mrs. Parker is affiliated with 
the Order of Pendo. In his political views Mr. 
Parker is a Democrat and has been during his whole 
life. True pioneers of the West, and of this sec- 
tion particularly, they have not only watched the 
wonderful development of Washington from its 
beginning, but have ])artaken in its upbuilding to a 
greater extent than falls to the lot of many and 
are now enjoying the inevitable reward, esteemed 
by all with whom they are associated. 



JOHN FRANCIS ANGEVINE.— Among the- 
highly successful and widely known lumbermen of 
the Puget sound region upon whose activities the 
prosperity of this rich section for the most part 
depends, is the citizen of Everett whose name gives 
title to this biographical sketch. For sixteen years- 
he has operated extensively up and down the shores 
of the sound and may be regarded as a pioneer in. 
Skagit and Snohomish counties whose population 
and development were sixteen years ago but a small' 
proportion of what they are to-day. 

The subject of this review comes from a state 
world-famed for its lumbermen, Maine, He was 
born at Bath, February 13, 1858, the son of Joseph 
and Margaret (Eagle) Angevine. the former a na- 
tive of Nova .Scotia, the latter, of Ireland. Joseph 
Angevine was born in 1832 and until his retirement 
from an active business life was engaged in ship- 
building and farming. He is one of the leading 
citizens in the Maine community which is now his 
home. A brother served throughout the Civil War 
and was wounded in that conflict. His mother's 
brother also served through the Civil \N'ar. Bel- 
fast, Ireland, is the birthplace of Margaret (Eagle) 
Angevine. She was born in 1841 and at the age 
of ten crossed the ocean to Bath, Maine. During 
the voyage her mother died and was buried at sea. 
The father followed his trade, that of a blacksmith, 
until his death. .\ maternal aunt of John F. .A^nge- 
vine, her husband and their six children were mas- 
sacred by the Indians during the uprising in Min- 
nesota right after the close of the Civil War. After 
receiving an education in the common schools, John 
Francis Angevine took up the butcher's trade and 
was so engaged for seven years, meeting with good 
success in his business. He came to the Northwest 
in 1889, first locating in Salem, Oregon. After 
spending a year there he came north to Puget 
sound, locating in Skagit county temporarily. The 
first year he conducted a meat market at Anacortes, 
then removed to the booming town of Everett, just 
established on the stump ridden, marshy peninsula 
between the Snohomish river and Port Gardner 
bay. He immediately entered the lumber business 
in the growing little city and was successful from 
the start. Since that date he has maintained his 
home in the "City of Smokestacks,'' utilizing it as 
a base of operations and contributing materially to 
the upbuilding of the community. He has estab- 
lished camps at Sequina bay, Clallam county : Bay 
View, Skagit county ; Green Lake, Snohomish 
county ; and on the lower Snoqualmie river ; all of 
which are enterprises of considerable size and still 
owned and managed by their founder. The main- 
tenance of these camps means much to the different 
communities in which they are situated and to the 
hundreds of mill employes who are engaged in 
transforming the raw product into lumber, shingles 
and lath. .As a pioneer of Everett, Mr. Angevine 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



can relate many intere iting reniiniscenses of- those 
early days when one needed rubber boots. or a boat 
to go from Riverside to Bayside. The story of why 
Mr. Angevine came west clearly exemplifies the 
truth of the saying that "^ single stone may turn 
a, river." Immediately after marriage he went to 
Boston, intending to buy lots and locate in that 
metropolis of the Bay state. However, the real 
estate man with whom he was dealing, thinking he 
had Mr. Angevine safely in his grasp, raised the 
price $200. This so provoked the latter that on 
seeing a large poster advertising "Cut Rates to San 
Francisco, "he and his wife immediately decided to 
come west without having ever seriously considered 
such plans before. Nor has Mr. Angevine ever had 
occasion to regret that quick decision which so sud- 
denly and clearly crystallized his opinions of the 
east and his desires. 

At Boston, Massachusetts, in June, 1889, Miss 
Rachel Tuttle, a native of the Nova Scotian penin- 
sula, born in 1861, became the bride of John Francis 
Angevine. Her father, James Tuttle, and her 
mother, Ellen (Cox) Tuttle, were both born in that 
province of eastern Canada, the former in 1815, the 
latter in 1822. James Tuttle was a farmer of sub- 
stantial position ; he passed away in 1890. Mrs. 
Tuttle is still living, residing with Mr. Angevine in 
Everett, and although far advanced in years is hale 
and hearty in the mellow sunset of life. One son, 
Lorin, born in skagit county, June, 1891, is the 
only child of Mr. and Mrs. Angevine. Mrs. Ange- 
vine is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church 
and is affiliated with the Ladies of the Maccabees. 
Politically, Mr. Angevine is a life-long Republican. 
His present position of influence in the community 
has been obtained through meritorious endeavors 
in the business world and the recognition of his 
obligations and responsibilitir-; as a (-iii7en. As a 
pioneer he underwent the \ii i — iiiuK s common to 
those who pass through that jicii'mI m a commu- 
nity's life and as a present day citizen he is recog- 
nized as a force in the local business world. 



BERT JAY BRUSH, the popular, widely 
known Everett photographer has established a repu- 
tation as ^n artist of rare talent that niioht well be 
the envy of any member of his prot\-.-iMn r.n Piiget 
sound. Many of the finest illustration'^ in this work 
came from his studio and give ample testimony of 
his skill. Mr. Brush comes of a family known for 
its artistic abilities, his father, James A. Brush, 
being at the present time a successful photographer 
in the city of Minneapolis. The elder Brush was 
born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1846. Mrs. Alice 
(Sprague) Brush, the mother of the subject of this 
biography, is also a native of Detroit, born in 1847. 
Her father, now retired from active business pur- 
suits, was a stove manufacturer in the Peninsula 
state. The beautiful "City of the Straits" became the 



birthplace of Bert Jay Brush in 1870, but as the 
family soon removed to Minneapolis, he received 
his education in the public schools of that northern 
city. Later he attended business college, thus fit- 
ting himself thoroughly for the practical side of 
life. Upon leaving the latter institution he went 
on the road as a traveling salesman for Douglas & 
Stewart, Cedar Rapids, manufacturers of cereal 
foods, remaining so engaged for two years. At the 
end of that time he entered his father's studio and 
applied himself to mastering the business he now 
follows. After two years of training he opened a 
studio in southern Rlinnesota, which he conducted 
successfully three years, leaving there in 1003 to 
establish his present studio in Everett, deeming the 
western field a broader and more satisfying one. 
His business has increased steadily from time to 
time in a most gratif_ving manner, necessitating the 
enlargement of his quarters, and quite recently lead- 
ing him to purchase the Westfall, formerly the Bart 
& Caritwell, studio at 2801 Wetmore avenue, which 
he now occupies. This purchase consolidated two 
of the strongest studios in this section of the sound, 
the Bart & Cantwell scenic plates being a noted col- 
lection. 

Mr. Brush and Miss Alice Isabelle Moore were 
united in marriage at Minneapolis in 1891. Her 
father, Theodore L. ]\Ioore, born in 1850, and 
formerly a car repairer by trade, is still living in 
Minneapolis; her mother, Sarah E. (Jones) Moore, 
was born in New York state in 1850 and is the 
daughter of a farmer. Mrs. Brush is a native of 
Winona, Minnesota, born in 1873, at a time when 
that city was still in its earliest days. Two children 
have blessed the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Brush: 
Ethel, born in 1892, and Hazel, born two years 
later, both of whom are attending the Everett 
schools. Fraternally, Mr. Brush is connected with 
the Modern Woodmen, Woodmen of the World and 
the U. of F. ; Mrs. Brush is a member of the Wom- 
en of Woodcraft. In political matters, Mr. Brush 
has always taken his stand with the Republican 
partv, though he is liberal in all his views. He is 
thoroughly devoted to his work and to him has 
come a deserved success, while his genial, sub- 
stantial personal qualities have won to him a host 
of loyal, admiring friends and well-wishers. 



HENRY FRIDAY.— Few families are as well 
known or as prominent in the history of Everett as 
the one of which the subject of this sketch is a 
member. From the earliest beginnings of the city 
more than fifteen years ago down to the present 
day the Fridays have been actively interested in 
promoting Everett's welfare and growth and the 
names of Henrv Friday and his estimable, talented 
wife, Mrs. Electa Friday, will ever be linked with 
the storv of this community's progress. Henry 
Friday was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, April 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



915 



17, 1859, of German parentage, the son of Fred J. 
and Mary Elizabeth (Joost) Friday. The paternal 
ancestor was born in Germany, in 1820, and immi- 
grated to America about 1851, settling in Milwau- 
kee. He was a miller by trade and erected a mill 
in that metropolis which he operated until 1867, 
when he sold out and removed to Hartford, in the 
same state, and was there actively engaged in busi- 
ness until his death in 1887. Mrs. Friday was born 
in Germany also in 1823, the daughter of a mer- 
chant ; she passed away in 1902 at a ripe age. 
Henry Friday received his early education in the 
public schools of Hartford. He further prepared 
for a business life by taking a course in a business 
college at Milwaukee, and after finishing there ac- 
cepted a position as clerk in a general merchandise 
house in that city. He was nineteen years of age 
at this time and had been reared on a farm. Soon, 
however, he took up railroad work and a little 
later went on thci road as a traveling salesman for 
an implement house, being so engaged for five 
years. Owing to a severe attack of inflammatory 
rheumatism he finally resigned and went back to 
the old homestead near Hartford on which he spent 
about two years. In 1893 he came west to Everett 
and engaged in buying and selling real estate and 
building houses, several of which he still owns to- 
gether with many others he has since erected. He 
has dealt extensively in city property since his 
advent into the community. In 1896 he was elected 
secretary of the Board of Education of school dis- 
trict No. 2, and until December, 1902, filled this 
responsible position continually, in itself the best 
token of his fidelity to the trust and to his abilities. 
Mr. Friday has also served two years as council- 
man from the second ward, further indicating his 
public spirit and the position he holds among his 
fellow townsmen. Since 1902 he has given his 
■attention entirely to looking after his private busi- 
ness interests. Politically he is a Republican, 
zealously devoted to his party's interests, and is at 
present serving as the second ward's member of 
the county central committee. Mrs. Friday holds 
an appointment as deputy sheriff, made necessary 
by reason of her caring for certain classes of pa- 
tients at the hospital mentioned further along in 
this review. Mr. Friday is prominent in the 
Masonic fraternity, being a Knight Templar and 
a Mystic Shriner, besides belonging to the Eastern 
Star of which his wife is also a member; she is also 
affiliated with the Daughters of Isis. He also be- 
longs to the Odd Fellows and was the third man 
to sign the charter roll of Everett Lodge No. 3, B. 
P. O. E. Both Mr. and Mrs. Friday are adherents 
of the Episcopal church. 

Mr. Friday and Miss Electa Rossman, the 
daughter of George C. and Lydia (Mowry) Ross- 
man were united in marriage in 1884. Her father 
was one of the most influential citizens of his sec- 



tion of the state, owning much property, conduct- 
ing a bank, operating mills, farms, etc. He was 
born in 1811 in New York state and with his brother 
became the founders of Hartford, Wisconsin, origi- 
nally called Rossman's Mills. His father was a 
soldier in the War of 1812 and Mrs. Friday has 
in her possession many papers of parchment signed 
by James K. Polk as president when Wisconsin 
was a territory. George C. Rossman passed away 
in 1859. Lydia Mowry was also a native of New- 
York, born in 1836. She died in 1879. Mrs. Fri- 
day was born at Hartford in 1856. After obtaining 
a thorough education in the public schools, the am- 
bitious young woman matriculated at Hahnemann 
Medical College, Chicago, from which she received 
her degree in 1878. Two years after her arrival 
in Everett, or in 1895, she was appointed by the 
board of lady managers of the old Everett Hospital 
superintendent and general manager and while so 
engaged established Everett's first training school 
for nurses, graduating the first class ever grad- 
uated in Everett in September, 1898. She resigned 
her position with the hospital in 1900, and in 1904 
again took charge of the Everett Hospital upon 
her own responsibility, conducting it with marked 
success until October, of that year, the building at 
that time being sold to the Bethania High school 
corporation. Mrs. Friday, however, immediately 
removed her business into the present commodious, 
modern quarters it now occupies on Hoyt avenue, 
these buildings having been erected and equipped 
by herself especially for the purpose. There are 
four buildings, the main hospital, the maternity hos- 
pital, the training school for nurses and the home 
of Mr. Friday and herself. It is one of the largest 
and best equipped private institutions on the lower 
sound, and the largest in Snohomish county. Mrs. 
Friday has exceptional executive ability and by her 
thorough methods and courteous treatment has 
placed her institution upon a most substantial basis. 
It is interesting to note that this property stands 
upon the old Friday homestead, a claim taken by 
Frank P. Friday in the later 'eighties at the time 
the Ruckers and Swalwells settled on the peninsula. 
Both Mr. and Mrs. Friday have long since won the 
respect and esteem of the community at large and 
because of their genial, unselfish personal qualities 
are blessed with innumerable friends and regarded 
as influential citizens of the county. 



EARNEST A. NICKERSON. vice-president, 
manager and treasurer of the Mukilteo Lumber 
Company, operating the largest mill in Snohomish 
county and inferior in size and equipment to none 
on Puget sound,' may deservedly be classed as 
among the leaders in the development of this sec- 
tion. While others have sought out the country, 
established civilization upon its borders and to some 



916 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



extent laid bare its wonderful resources, a no less 
honorable, and highly beneficial work in pioneer 
industrial development has been done by the type 
of men to which he whose name heads this sketch 
belongs. The Nickersons are of Scotch descent, 
though by reason of long residence in America, 
fully entitled to be known as Americans. Thomas 
Nickerson, the father of Earnest A. of this review, 
is a native of Maine, born in 1826, and is living in 
retirement in Los Angeles, California, after a long 
life unusually well filled with broad activities. He 
is one of Minnesota's pioneer lumbermen who arose 
to a high place among his associates in that indus- 
try. His wife, Dora (Nickerson) Nickerson, passed 
away at Elk River, Minnesota, in 1895. She, too, 
was born in Maine in 1830, and was the daughter of 
a sea captain. 

Earnest A. Nickerson was born in 1868 and is 
a native son of the most northerly of the great trio 
of lumber states, Minnesota, in which he was reared 
and educated. After finishing the public schools 
he matriculated at the University of Minnesota, 
and as a member of the class of '91 received his 
B. S. degree. Immediately he entered the lumber 
business in Minnesota and was thus engaged until 
he came to Puget sound in 1900 and, in association 
with Governor Clough, of Minnesota, built the 
Clark-Nickerson mill at Everett. This plant, which 
is still being operated, is one of the largest on the 
sound and one of Everett's main industries. Two 
years ago, however, Mr. Nickerson organized the 
Mukilteo Lumber Company whose plant is situated 
on the sound five miles south of Everett. A full 
mention of this mammoth plant is made elsewhere 
in this volume, so that it is unnecessary to re- 
iterate the details here. It may be said in passing 
that this mill has a capacity of 200,000 feet of lum- 
ber every ten hours, besides an enormous amount of 
bi-products, and employs a small army of men, being 
practically the life of Mukilteo. 

The marriage of Miss Minnie R. Rexford, the 
daughter of Edwin W. and Alzuma Rexford, to 
Mr. Nickerson was solemnized in Minnesota in 
1893. Mr. Rexford and his wife are Canadians, 
born in 1837 and 1847 respectively, and are at pres- 
ent residing with their son-in-law and daughter in 
Everett. Mrs. Nickerson is a native of Minnesota 
and was a member of Mr. Nickerson's class in the 
University of Minnesota. While attending that in- 
stitution he became affiliated with the Delta-Kapa- 
Epsilon fraternity and she with the Kappa-Alpha- 
Theta, another Greek letter society, these being the 
only fraternal orders with which they are connected. 
Two children. Marjorie and Randolph, have been 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Nickerson. The family home 
on Rucker avenue is one of the handsomest and 
sightliest in the city and no less richly endowed 
with culture and a warm hospitality that draws and 
holds friends. 



Politically, Mr. Nickerson is a Republican and 
always has been. His broad-guaged views in pub- 
lic and private matters, keen, thorough grasp of 
business affairs generally and of the lumber indus- 
try in particular, and his democratic bearing com- 
bined with his recognized integrity make him a 
young man of force in the community, respected and 
popular to a degree seldom accorded men occupying- 
his position in life. 



JOHN E. STONE, of the firm of Westland & 
Stone, real estate, insurance and investment agents, 
Everett, among Snohomish county's leading and 
most conservative agencies, is a native of Canada,, 
born in York county, Ontario, July 17, 1861. His 
ancestry is distinguished on both sides of the house. 
Henry Stone, the father, was born in the province 
of Ontario in 1821, of Pennsylvania Dutch stock, 
one of his fore-fathers having been a signer of the 
Declaration of Independence in 1776. Mrs. Edith 
(Brown) Stone, mother of John E., was also bom 
in Canada. Her American ancestors originally 
came over from England, where the family was an 
eminent one. She is still living in Canada, surviv- 
ing her husband who passed away in 1900. After 
finishing the public schools and taking a course at 
the Rockwood Academy, in his native county, John 
E. Stone entered his father's office. The elder Stone 
was at that time and had been for many years 
county clerk. In 1879 the young Canadian went to 
Detroit, Michigan, where he entered the offices of 
the Michigan Central railroad as a telegrapher. 
Later he arose to the post of train dispatcher. Af- 
ter two and a half years' service he returned to 
Canada and engaged in the general merchandise 
business at Tottenham, Ontario, his old home. There 
he resided until 1888 in which year he sold out and 
came west to Vancouver. There he accepted a 
position with the Canadian Pacific, as general store- 
keeper. However, before entering upon his duties 
he crossed the border into Washington Territory 
on a visit to relatives in Snohomish and so pleased 
was he with the country and opportunities offered 
that he determined to remain. During the first 
eight months of his residence in this county he was 
with the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad 
Company at Snohomish. Then he resigned to be- 
come cashier of the Lumberman's Bank, of Snoho- 
mish. Subsequently he resigned as cashier of this 
institution, having acquired a considerable body of 
land at Sultrm and there in 1890, erected the first 
sawmill or wood manufacturing plant east of Snoho- 
mish. This was before the Great Northern system 
came through the valley. He overated this saw- 
mill until the disastrous flood of 1894 destroyed it 
and left him stranded. He then became Great North- 
ern agent at Sultan and shortly afterward was pro- 
moted to the train dispatcher's office at Leaven- 
worth. After serving in the capacity of dispatcher 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



for some time he was appointed general ticket and 
freight agent at Everett and this position he was 
fining with marked capability at the time of his re- 
tirement in 1901 for the purpose of forming his 
present business partnership with A. J. Westland. 
In addition to the large agency business this firm 
transacts annually, Mr. Stone has substantial per- 
sonal interests in realty on Puget sound. He is a 
firm believer in a future for the sound and for 
Everett whose greatness is but barely discerned to- 
day ; in fact his whole career in this section proves 
his faith to be steadfast and every year sees his 
judgment verified. 

Mr. Stone and Miss Jessie Wingard, daughter 
of I. and Catharine (Laverock) Wingard, were 
united in marriage at Tottenham, Ontario, Decem- 
ber 27, 1889. Mrs. Stone was born in Morris, near 
Montreal, and finished her education in the noted 
Ladies' Wesleyan College, at Whitby, Ontario. 
Three children have been born to this union : Cath- 
erine Laverock, William Edward and Jessie Edith. 
The family are Presbyterians. 

Fraternally, Mr. Stone is affiliated with the Ma- 
sons, Odd Fellows, Elks and Modern Woodmen of 
America. He is an active Democrat, influential in 
the local councils of his party. In 1903 he was the 
Democratic nominee for mayor of Everett, an hon- 
orary nomination in view of the party being in the 
minority. As one of the county's pioneer business 
men he has assisted in laying the foundation for the 
community's present stability at personal self-sacri- 
fice, and to-day is numbered among the city of 
Everett's public-spirited, aggressive and successful 
business men. 



FREDERICK K. BAKER, of the widely known 
Ferry-Baker Lumber Company, Everett, one ot the 
most aggressive and prosperous concerns of its 
kind on the sound, naturally occupies a substantial 
position of influence in the lumber trade of the 
Northwest. No one of his associates in the lumber 
industry is more cognizant than he of the unex- 
celled opportunities offered by the wonderful forests 
of this section taken in connection with its shipping 
and marketing facilities, and the success he has at- 
tained since his advent here is conclusive proof that 
he has risen to those opportunities with a rapidity 
and an ability indicative of his power in the business 
world. 

Fleming, New York, is the birthplace of Freder- 
ick K. Baker, the date being 1861. His father, 
Elijah P. r.aker, a physician by profession, was a 
native of the iMiipire state also, born at Owasco. He 
died in 189;! at the age of seventy-four years after 
a long, useful career in the humanitarian work to 
which he devoted his life. Elizabeth (Spingler) 
Baker, the mother of Frederick K. Baker of this 
review, was born in Weedsport, New York; she 



passed away in 1862, while still a young woman. 
Frederick K. received his early education in the 
Cayuga Lake Academy, at Aurora, New York, one 
of the leading institutions of its character in that 
section of the country, and upon leaving it took 
up his first independent work in life, that of teach- 
ing. When twenty years old he went to New York 
City, where he entered the Mercantile National Bank 
as a clerk. A year and a half later he resigned to 
accept a position with the Fourth National Bank 
of Grand Rapids, Michigan, in which he eventually 
arose to the assistant cashiership. However, bank- 
ing appealed to him more strongly as a fine course 
of training than as an occupation for one without 
large means, so in 1888 he resigned from the Fourth 
National and entered the lumber business at Me- 
nominee, Michigan, to which industry he has since 
devoted his energies. He came to Everett, Wash- 
ington, in 1901, at that time taking charge of the 
Rice Lumber Company's interests, since succeeded 
by Mr. Baker's own company, of which he is now 
one of the principal owners. He gives his personal 
attention to the management of the large institu- 
tion, to which no doubt much of its success is due. 

Mr. Baker was united in marriage to Miss 
Lynne Edie, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1886. 
She is a native of the Peninsula state, born at 
Lowell, to the union of James Orton Edie and 
Laura (Gaskill) Edie, the latter of whom passed 
away in 1883. Dr. Edie is stiH residing in Grand 
Rapids, where he is a practicing physician. Three 
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Baker, 
Elizabeth, Katherine and Dorothy, all of whom re- 
side at the family home in Everett. 

Fraternally, Mr. Baker is affiliated with the Ma- 
sonic order in which he has taken all except the 
33rd degree. He is also a member of the Society 
of the Sons of the Revolution, four of his ancestors 
having fought in that memorable conflict. While a 
resident of Menominee his keen public spirit and 
characteristic energy led him to take an active in- 
terest in public affairs, as the result of which he 
was elected an alderman and later president of the 
city council. In 1898 he was nominated by his 
party, the Republican, as state senator for the Thir- 
tieth district, and was elected, serving one term in 
the legislature of Michigan. He declined a re- 
nomination as his business interests had been re- 
moved to the west. For six years he was chairman 
of the Republican county committee of Menominee 
county and he also served on the state central com- 
mittee. He was recognized as an able man by his 
party and no doubt would have been given still 
higher honors by his fellow citizens had he remained 
in Michigan longer. He is recognized in Snoho- 
mish county as no less able a man along whatever 
line his activities lead him, and is deservedly popu- 
lar and esteemed, the kind of man who is a distinct 
force in his community. 



918 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



WILLIAM RUTHERFORD PRATT, proprie- 
tor of Pratt's Cash Pharmacy, one of the oldest 
estabhshed business, houses in the city of Everett, 
has won an enviable standing in his profession, and 
substantial commercial success during his fifteen 
years of residence in Snohomish county. He has 
witnessed the entire growth of the city of Everett, 
partaking personally in its progress, and was for 
years prior to his removal to Port Gardner bay, 
identified with the business interests of Snohomish 
City. 

The subject of this biographical sketch comes of 
Colonial American stock and was born at Syracuse, 
New York, in 1S54. His father, Amasa Pratt, was 
born at Waddington, the same state, in 1821, and 
was the son of a Revolutionary patriot who attained 
honorable distinction in that conflict. Amasa Pratt 
was a farmer and followed that line of activity with 
success during a long, useful life, which terminated 
in 1887. Mrs. Marintha (Goodrich) Pratt, the 
mother of William R. of this article, is a native of 
Florence, New York, born in 1824, of pioneer 
American ancestry also. She resides with her son 
in Everett. William R. Pratt was educated in the 
public schools of Syracuse, attending until eighteen 
years of age. Upon finishing his school work, he 
entered the employ of C. W. Snow & Company, 
druggists, of Syracuse, and in that house acquired 
his primary knowledge of the profession of phar- 
macy. After four years of service with that firm 
he resigned to broaden his experience with other 
houses and thus worked in different parts of the 
state. Eventually he became manager of a drug 
house in Jacksonville, Florida, remaining in that 
store until 1884, when he returned to Syracuse and 
opened an establishment on his own responsibilty. 
That city was his home and the scene of success- 
ful labors until 1891, when the call to the Pacific 
Northwest became so strong that he could not re- 
sist but sold his business and started. He located 
at Snohomish City, where he entered the employ of 
the well known pioneer druggist. Lot Wilbur. With 
Mr. Wilbur he remained three years or until 1894, 
when he came to the thriving little town of Everett 
and assumed the management of the Pioneer Drug 
Store, owned by G. W. Swalwell. A year later 
Mr. Pratt opened a store of his own at the corner 
of Hewitt and Maple avenues and later removed to 
his present central location, 1811 Hewitt avenue, 
corner of College Lane, in the heart of the city. Mr. 
Pratt on resuming his own business in 1895, adopt- 
ed the cash system which was at that time unique 
in Everett, and so successful did it prove that he 
has ever since retained it. He owns his business 
realty. 

Miss Augusta Nutting of Syracuse was united 
in marriage to Mr. Pratt at Syracuse, New York, 
in 1888. She passed away in April, 1897, leaving 
an infant son, Howard G., who survived his mother 



not quite nine years, his untimely death occurring 
February 3, 1906. Mr. Pratt was again married in 
1903, this time Miss Tirza Randall, of Everett, be- 
coming his bride. She was born in Adams, New 
York, m 1855, of pioneer American parentage, and 
while yet a little child was left an orphan. Mrs. 
Pratt has been united with the Presbyterian church 
since the second year of its establishment here, and 
participated in all of its early struggles. Fraternal- 
ly, Mr. Pratt is a Knight Templar of the Masonic 
order, and also afiiliated with the A. O. U. W. As 
a public spirited citizen he has always been known 
for his ardent interest in the welfare of the com- 
munity at large, and in the early days of Everett 
frequently "ran with the machine'' to help the fire 
laddies get their man-hauled apparatus to the scene 
of danger when the business center of the city was a 
collection of one-story wooden shacks. Correct 
principles, persistence in carrying out plans, cour- 
age strong enough to back up his convictions, and 
good executive ability explain his business success 
and the esteem in which he is held by his fellow 
citizens as well as by his fellow pharmacists. In the 
affairs of the Washington State Pharmaceutical As- 
sociation he has long taken an active interest, being 
retained year after year upon the Executive Board, 
and last year occupied the chair of president of the 
association. He certainlv is an American. 



JAMES MERCER VERNON, postmaster of 
Everett, was born on the 5th of June, 1849, in Zanes- 
ville, Ohio, and is a son of Samuel and Eliza Ann 
(Mercer) Vernon, of whose five children the sub- 
ject of this review is the eldest. The father was a 
native of Ohio and came of an old family that was 
represented in the American army during the 
Revolutionary War by the great-grandfather of 
James M. Vernon. He was of English descent, but 
when the colonists attempted to throw off the yoke 
of British oppression he espoused the cause of in- 
dependence and fought for the establishment of the 
republic. Samuel Vernon was a farmer by voca- 
tion. He died in 1891 at the advanced age of 
eighty-one years, while his wife passed away in 
1870 at the age of fifty-one years. She, too, was of 
English stock and belonged to a colonial American 
family. Her children numbered five: Charles, 
Newton, and Washington, deceased; Elizabeth, the 
wife of J. W. Kemp, a resident of Zanesville, Ohio; 
and James Mercer. 

In taking up the personal history of James M. 
Vernon the life record of one who is widely and 
favorably known in Snohomish county is presented 
to our readers. He began his education under the 
instruction of a private tutor and thus continued 
his studies until 1866, when he matriculated in the 
Ohio Wesleyan L^niversity, entering ths class of 
1871. After leaving school he became connected 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



919 



with journalistic work and in 1874-5 was a reporter 
on the Pittsburg Gazette, pubhshed at Pittsburg, 
Pennsylvania. Later he became financial and com- 
mercial editor of the Pittsburg Dispatch acting in 
that capacity from 18T5 to 1877. In the latter year 
he become editor of the Wilmington Journal, Ohio, 
and continued to publish that paper with success 
until 1881. He has ever been a man deeply inter- 
ested in general progress and improvement, and 
while connected with the papers in the east he put 
forth every effort in his power to advance the wel- 
fare of the communities with which he was asso- 
ciated. Political questions have always been of the 
deepest interest to him, as he realized that upon 
their rejection or adoption depends the weal or woe 
of the nation. He became a very active and promi- 
nent worker in political ranks in Ohio and served 
as a member of the state central committee of the 
Republican party in 1882-3. He was also influ- 
ential and active along other lines, and in 1883-4 
served as president of the Southwestern Ohio Press 
Association. From 1884 until 1887 he was presi- 
dent and general manager of the Commercial Print- 
ing Company at Chattanooga, Tennessee, and dur- 
ing that time was also editor-in-chief of the Daily 
Commercial. From 1887 until 1889 he was a mem- 
ber of the editorial staff of the Chattanooga Daily 
Times and from 1889 until 1891 he was the editor 
of the Herald at Fort Payne, Alabama. In 1890 he 
was unanimously nominated for the office of secre- 
tary of state of Alabama. Late in 1891, when the 
village of Everett was yet rising house by house 
out of the wilderness and on the bayside were only 
three or four little buildings, Mr. Vernon came to 
the North Pacific coast as editor of the Everett 
Times, one of the city's pioneer newspapers. With 
this journal's fortunes he was connected until 1900, 
publishing a paper creditable alike to its editor and 
to the city. It became the champion of many meas- 
ures of progress, reform and improvement, and its 
influence was far-reaching and beneficial. Mr. Ver- 
non was also the vice-president of the Washington 
State Press Association in 1893-4, and during his 
connection with this organization did much to ad- 
vance the interests of those who are representatives 
in Washington of the great fields of journalism. In 
1894-5 he was chairman of the executive committee 
and was then elected its president, serving during 
the year. 1896. In 1896 he was once more chosen 
chairman o-f the executive committee, serving until 
1898, and again he was elected chairman in 1900. 

On the 14th of April. 1875, the marriage of 
James M. \'ernon and Miss Helena Bertha Tudor 
was solemnized. She was a native of Ohio, and a 
daughter of John and Caroline (Asher) Tudor, both 
of whom were natives of the Buckeye state and rep- 
resentatives of old English families descended from 
the house of Tudor, long one of the reigning houses 
of Great Britain. After the familv was established 



in America, however, its members became sympa- 
thizers in the cause of independence and fought 
against the cross of St. George when summoned to 
do so. Two children came to the union of Mr. and 
Mrs. Vernon : Leroy Tudor, now the Washington 
correspondent for the Chicago Daily News ; and 
James Mercer, attending school at present. On the 
5th of April, 1899, the devoted wife and mother 
was called to her final rest. She was an earnest 
Christian woman and rendered effective aid in 
church work up to the time of her demise, and her 
many excellent qualities occasioned her death to be 
deeply regretted by all who knew her. Mr. Vernon 
was married a second time, February 1, 1905, at 
Everett, his bride being Miss J. Eleanor Murray, one 
of the city's highly esteemed residents. 

Fraternally, Mr. Vernon is connected with the 
B. P. O. E. and the I. O. O. F. ; he is also a mem- 
ber of the Phi Gamma Delta, a national Greek let- 
ter society. In politics he has even been an earnest 
Republican, unfaltering in his allegiance to the par- 
ty, and continued to refuse to become a candidate 
for any office until his appointment as postmaster. 
He was made postmaster by President McKinley 
on the 3rd of June, 1898, and was re-appointed by 
President Roosevelt June 7, 1903, and again in 1906, 
so that he is now serving his third term. Mr. Ver- 
non takes an active interest in the moral develop- 
ment of the community, holding membership in the 
Episcopal church, in the forwarding of whose 
growth he has rendered effective service. Socially, 
his many genial, loyal traits of character combined 
with the culture of a college-bred man have lifted 
him to a position of prominence among his fellows, 
while his word is considered as good as his' bond. 
His career has been one of honor and value to the 
communities in which he has lived and in turn he 
has been honored with the unqualified confidence 
and regard of his intimate associates. 



ROBERT A. HULBERT, United States Com- 
missioner, local counsel for the Northern Pacific, 
and general practitioner, has won recognition as 
one of the ablest members of his profession in this 
section of the state, and because of his long resi- 
dence on the sound possesses an unusually wide ac- 
quaintance. He is, in fact, a product of western 
Washington, born, reared, educated on the shores 
of Puget sound, and has here attained whatever of 
success has come to him. 

Ansel and Lucinda (Cottle) Hulbert, the par- 
ents of Robert A. Hulbert, are both descended from 
colonial American families. Ansel Hulbert was born 
near Toronto, Canada, August 16, 1835, while his 
parents were temporarily residents of that province, 
enroute from Pennsylvania to Michigan. He grew 
to maturity in the Peninsula state, then sought the 
Kansas frontier, on which he lived for many years 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



preceding 1860, and where he was married August 
5, 1857. In 1860 the young couple joined the im- 
migration westward to the Pacific Northwest, mak- 
ing the long journey with ox teams and enduring 
the usual hardships of the period. They settled first 
at Portland, later came north into Washington Ter- 
ritory, locating near Seattle when it was still a 
small village, then removed to California, residing 
temporarily at dififerent points along the coast until 
about the "first of October, 1873, when Mr. Hul- 
bert came to Snohomish county to make a perma- 
nent home. He filed on land near Snohomish City, 
then frequently called Cadyville, and engaged in 
farming, stock raising and lumbering. He was once 
called to serve his county as probate judge and for 
a time in recent years served under federal appoint- 
ment as superintendent of the Washington Forest 
Reserve. Since 1897 the hardy old pioneer, com- 
pelled to retire from active business life, has been a 
resident of Everett. Mrs. Hulbert, who was born 
in Morgan county, Kentucky, February 19, 1842, 
is the daughter and grand daughter of Kentuckians. 
The Cottles lived in the famous Licking river val- 
ley, near Mammoth Cave, and she was reared in an 
atmosphere of danger and heroism. Her parents 
removed to the Kansas border when she was but ten 
years old, and there, as a girl, she learned with 
men to face death often and fearlessly. The deadly 
rifle was her plaything and often, very often, she 
slept with it under her pillow, ready for instant use 
in defending herself or those about her. Of the 
eight children of this union, seven are living : Wil- 
liam M., Mrs. Ella Boswell, Robert A., Mrs. Lizzie 
Noland, and Charles, at Everett ; Harry, at Ana- 
cortes ; and Adrian, in California. William M., 
Charles and Harry are engaged in the lumber busi- 
ness, the first named being one of the largest opera- 
tors in the state. 

Robert A. Hulbert was born in Seattle, March 
10, 1864. He attended the public schools and, after 
graduation, matriculated at the University of Wash- 
ington, Seattle, taking a mixed course. While at- 
tending the university he definitely decided to enter 
the legal profession, and at once began his prepara- 
tion. At the age of twenty he secured access to 
a first-class law library and under the direction of 
its owners took up the prescribed courses of read- 
ing. During the succeeding few years the young 
law student pursued his studies as regularly as pos- 
sible, toward the close placing himself under the di- 
rect instruction of an able firm. In the fall of 1892, 
however, just prior to applying for admittance to 
the bar, Mr. Hulbert was nominated by the Re- 
publicans of Snohomish county for the office of 
county clerk, and after a vigorous campaign against 
his Fusionist opponent, was elected. So well did he 
fill the position that he was re-elected in 1894. That 
year, while serving as county clerk and clerk of the 
superior court, he was admitted to the bar. Janu- 



ary 1, 1897, his second term of office having ex- 
pired, Mr. Hulbert commenced the practice of his 
profession as a partner of Hon. John C. Denny. This 
partnership was dissolved five years later by election 
of Mr. Denny to the superior court bench in this 
district, since which time Mr. Hulbert has practiced 
alone. Besides having one of the largest general 
clienteles in this section and in the railroad work 
referred to, he is counsel for many of the leading 
corporations of Snohomish county. In addition, Mr. 
Hulbert is associated with his brother William M. 
Hulbert in the lumber business. Fraternally, Robert 
A. Hulbert is affiliated with the I. O. O. F., Knights 
of Pythias and the B. P. O. E., and is prominent in 
the general social life around him. His home for 
many years has been in the city of Everett, with 
whose growth and progress he has been identified 
in many important ways since its beginnings almost, 
rendering valuable service from time to time as 
called upon. The older of his children, Vivian Hul- 
bert, is at present attending school in Tacoma ; the 
younger, Mildred, is enrolled in the Everett schools. 
Devoted to and eminently successful in his profes- 
sion, a man of diverse talents and strong, genial 
personality, Mr. Hulbert may be classed among the 
foremost men of western Washington's second gen- 
eration. 



ALFRED DENSMORE, expert log scaler with 
headquarters in Room 29, Wisconsin block, Everett, 
and one of this section's pioneer lumbermen, is a 
native of Hauts county. Nova Scotia, born April 11, 
1856. His father and mother, Alexander and Eliza- 
beth (McCouUough) Densmore, were likewise na- 
tives of that province, and the former was a farmer 
by occupation. He died in 1902, at the advanced 
age of seventy-eight, but Mrs. Densmore still lives, 
though now full four score. She is the mother of 
nine children of whom the subject of this review is 
the fifth child. 

As soon as Alfred Densmore had acquired the 
customary common school education and assisted 
for a few years on his father's farm, he determined 
to give his attention to the lumber business, and at 
the early age of nineteen went to Portland, Maine, 
to begin his career. He spent one summer there, 
then migrated to Oscota, Michigan, from which 
point he entered the woods. After logging in Michi- 
gan for seven years he determined to accept Horace 
Greeley's advice to go west and grow up with the 
country so he set out for the sound, arriving in 
Seattle October 20, 1883. The Queen City was his 
headquarters for a few months after which he went 
to Mount Vernon to log for Millet & McKay and 
he operated in Skagit county for about two years, 
going thence to Lowell where he spent one winter. 
His next field of activity was the Stillaguamish 
river and his next employer Jasper Sill. He recalls 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



the fact that on July 1st of the year 1887 Mr. Sill's 
crew put 144,000 feet of logs into the water with an 
ox team, a record which has probably never been 
-beaten in the sound basin. After managing their 
camp, which was situated two miles above Silvana, 
for a year, he left it to take charge of the camp of 
William McGee, three miles above the present town 
of Arlington. He spent one summer in this posi- 
tion, then logged on his own account for three 
years on the same stream, after which he started the 
first hotel in Haller City. A year later he sold this 
business, went to the Stillaguamish and became sell- 
ing agent for the different loggers on the river, 
scaling and disposing of their entire output for them 
on a contract basis. He gave his energies to this 
work for a period of fourteen years prior to Sep- 
tember, 1904, in which month he established an of- 
fice in Everett. His business now is scaling logs 
for different firms at so much per thousand feet, 
and so many are the demands upon his time that 
he is rushed with work continually. He says that 
his work for the year 1905 will consist of the scal- 
ing of 275 million feet, while the logs that have 
been scaled by him during all the years of his resi- 
dence in Snohomish county would aggregate over 
a billion feet, board measure. 

Mr. Densmore is a thrifty, energetic man. Ever 
since he left his home a beardless youth of nineteen 
summers, perhaps even before, he has lived the 
strenuous life, and being a man of good judgment, 
he has naturally achieved a success commensurate 
with his efforts. Once only has he rela.xed from 
strenuous endeavor, and this was in 1901 when he 
made a three weeks' visit to his old home in Canada. 
He has accumulated enough of this world's wealth 
to keep him in comfort the remainder of his days 
•and it is his intention soon to retire. He is an active 
Mason, being a member of the blue lodge at Stan- 
wood and the Shrine in Tacoma ; he also belongs 
to the B. P. O. E. in Everett and to the Hoo Hoos. 
In politics as in all else he is independent. 



GUY C. ALSTON, was born in Halifax county. 
North Carolina, the 7th of February, 1866. He 
received his early education in his native state. In 
1892 he went to Chicago to take a position with the 
"World's Columbia Exposition, which position he re- 
tained throughout the world's fair. In 1894 he 
took charge of Field Columbia Museum Guards, 
which position he held for four years. In 1893 Mr. 
Alston married Miss Bertha Barton of Evansville, 
Indiana, and they have one child, John Francis, 
born July 28, 1903. Mrs. Alston's parents were of 
English birth, but were brought to America in in- 
fancy. Her mother was of poetic taste, and wrote 
many poems, a number of which were published, 
and are still extant. 

Mr. Alston's father, John Crowell Alston ; grand- 



father, John Alston; great-grandfather, John 
Joseph Alston, and great-great-grandfather, Gid- 
deon Alston, were all born in Halifax county, North 
Carolina, the first one of whom settled in North 
Carolina in 1694. 

Guy C. Alston studied law in Chicago under 
E. C. Westwood, was admitted to the bar, and in 
1901 came to the state of Washington, located at 
Everett, Snohomish county, and assumed the prac- 
tice of his profession, where he has been engaged in 
active practice ever since. He is the junior mem- 
ber of the law firm of Hathaway & Alston. 



WILLIAM COLUMBUS COX, M. D. Com- 
ing to the city of Everett at the time of its incep- 
tion in 1891 with firm determination to stand by 
the newly projected metropolis until its future suc- 
cess should be fully assured, Dr. Cox has not only 
followed the community's varying fortunes un- 
swervingly, with profit to himself and his fellow 
citizens, but he has also, during those fifteen years, 
established a reputation as a successful practitioner. 
He belongs to that type of professional men whose 
period of close technical study does not end with 
the bestowal of their degree, but who keep abreast 
of the times and seek constantly though conserva- 
tively to use the invaluable knowledge brought to 
light by the latest discoveries. His clientele, large 
and thoroughly representative, is the best evidence 
of his skill. 

Dr. Cox was born September 20, 1858, in Flinty 
Branch, Mitchell county, North Carolina, and is 
the eldest son and second child of Samuel W. and 
Cynthia (Blalock) Cox. The Cox family is of 
English and German lineage but of old American 
colonial stock. The father of Dr. Cox was born in 
North Carolina also. He was a farmer by occupa- 
tion and in the year 1873 left the Atlantic to seek a 
home in the far west. He arrived that year in 
Walla Walla, Washington, and after spending twen- 
ty years as a pioneer of this state passed away in 
1893 at the age of sixty-six, having been born 
August 2, 1827. His wife was also a native of 
Mitchell county. North Carolina, born December 31, 
1837, the daughter of a Southern farmer and 
planter. She belonged to an old American family, 
and was of German and English descent. Mrs. Cox 
was a sister of Dr. N. G. Blalock, who has been for 
many years a distinguished physician of the North- 
west, was graduated by the Jefferson Medical Col- 
lege at Philadelphia in the class of 1861, and for a 
third of a century has been a medical practitioner at 
Walla Walla, prominent in his profession and in 
the general life of his section of the state. The 
mother of Dr. Cox passed away in 1867 when only 
twenty-nine years of age and while the family still 
resided in North Carolina, four daughters and two 
sons surviving her : Addie, now the wife of George 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



Rasmus, a resident of Walla Walla; William C. ; 
Mrs. Huldah, the wife of S. S. Parris, living near 
Athena, Oregon ; Nelson D., of Walla Walla, Wash- 
ington ; Ura, the wife of Dr. J. P. Price, of Nez 
Perce, Idaho ; and Yicta, who is the wife of Thomas 
Yoe, of Dayton, Washington. 

William Columbus Co.x was a youth of fifteen 
when he accompanied his father to Walla Walla in 
1873. In that city he continued his education in 
the public schools, pursuing his studies until nine- 
teen years of age, then worked upon his uncle's 
farm until 1882, In the fall of that year, having 
determined to devote his life to his noble calling, 
he matriculated in the Jefferson Medical College of 
Philadelphia, the alma mater of his distinguished 
uncle, from which he was graduated on the comple- 
tion of a thorough course, April 2, 1885, receiving 
the degree of M. D. Thus equipped for his chosen 
profession, he returned to Walla Walla, where he 
engaged in the practice of medicine in connection 
with his uncle. Dr. Blalock. This relation was main- 
tained until April, 1886, at which time Dr. Cox re- 
moved to Genesee, Idaho, where he remained in 
active practice five years. On the 6th of July, 1891, 
he came to Everett, opened an office and in that 
city has since continued to practice without inter- 
mission. When he arrived, there was in reality no 
city or even town of Everett, merely a collection of 
people awaiting the final survey and platting of the 
land, knowing that a great commercial center was 
projected by wealthy and aggressive capitalists. It 
was not until September of 1891 that the first plat 
was thrown open for sale by W. G. Swalwell, but 
after that event the boom broke with all the in- 
tensity common to such occurrences. Dr. Cox came 
early, worked hard and skillfully and as a resuh has 
won unusual success. Besides giving his attention 
to a large general practice, he is serving as the lo- 
cal surgeon for the Great Northern Railroad Com- 
pany, the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, and 
the Everett Railway, Light & Power Company. 

On the 4th of March, 1888, Dr. Cox was united 
in marriage to Miss Grace Jain, a native of Wis- 
consin and a daughter of Louis and Adelia Jain, of 
Genesee, Idaho. "She died on the 10th of October, 
1891, after a happy married life of a little more 
than three years. The second marriage of the Doc- 
tor was solemnized November 1, 1894, his bride 
being Harriet G. McFarland, a native of Maine, and 
the daughter of Captain Robert and Georgia Berry 
(Harrington) McFarland, both natives of Maine 
and among Everett's earliest pioneers. Captain Mc- 
Farland lias been a sea-faring man all his life on 
both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, has served in 
many prominent government positions of trust and 
high responsibility at home and abroad and is one 
of Everett's distinguished citizens. During the Civil 
War he commanded vessels engaged in furnishing 
supplies to the Union navy and army and narrowly 



escaped capture or death many times. The home 
of Dr. and Mrs. Cox is one of the city's most hos- 
pitable homes and social centers. 

Ever recognized as a leader. Dr. Cox has been 
elected to various positions of public trust and has 
always been found most loyal to his duty and the 
confidence thus reposed in him. In 1890 he was 
chosen mayor of Genesee, Idaho, serving for one 
year, and in 1894 he was elected a member of the 
Everett council. The following year, 1895, he was 
nominated and elected mayor of the city and served 
through the succeeding year. In 1900 he was ap- 
pointed a member of the state board of medical ex- 
aminers and acted in that position for three years. 
His political support has always been given the 
Democratic party. Fraternally, he is connected 
with the Masons, Knights of Pythias, Improved Or- 
der of Red Men, the B. P. O. E. and the Odd Fel- 
lows. He also holds membership with various or- 
ganizations tending to promote medical knowledge 
and the efiiciency of practitioners. At present he is 
a member of the Snohomish County Medical So- 
ciety, and is affiliated with the Washington State 
Medical Society, the American Medical Association,, 
the International Association of Railway Surgeons 
and the American Academy of Railway Surgeons. 
His unfailing courtesy, genial nature and broad 
sympathies have won for him a goodly host of 
friends and admirers and in a profession where 
merit alone is recognized as just cause for promo- 
tion he has attained a most worthy and honorable 
place. Professionally and socially. Doctor Cox 
stands to-day as one of the leading citizens of 
Everett and this section of Puget sound. 



DR. HENRY P. HOWARD, among the suc- 
cessful physicians of the city of Everett, in fact, 
one of the leaders of his profession in Snohomish 
county, is a native of Prince Edward's Island, born 
in 1865. His father, John Howard, and his mother, 
Elizabeth (Balderson) Howard, were likewise na- 
tives of that well known island province, both born 
in 1835 and descendants of pioneer families. The 
elder Howard followed farming until his death, 
which occurred in 1881. Mrs. Howard survived 
her husband until 1895. Both the Howard and 
Balderson families came to Prince Edward's Island 
when it was sparsely settled and contributed liber- 
ally to its development. Henry Pope Howard, the 
subject of this sketch, attended the public schools 
of the island until he was prepared to enter college. 
He then entered the University of Pennsylvania 
from which he received his degree with the class of 
'93. After finishing school he came west to the 
Pacific coast in search of a suitable location and at 
that time visited Snohomish and other points on 
Puget Sound, though he finally settled in eastern 
Oregon. There he practiced successfully five years^ 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



or until 1897, when he returned to Pennsylvania 
and took a graduate course at Philadelphia. Thus, 

more thoroughly equipped than ever to follow his 
chosen profession, Doctor Howard came west again 
in 1898 and made his permanent location in Everett, 
believing in the future of the little city and the sur- 
rounding country. Nor has he been disappointed, 
as Snohomish county has taken truly wonderful 
strides in growth during the past seven years. By 
his skill and careful attention to business Doctor 
Howard has built up an extensive practice covermg 
all portions of the county and has obtained an hon- 
orable place in his profession. His offices are in 
the Colby block on Hewitt avenue. Fraternally, 
Doctor Howard is connected with the Knights of 
Pythias and the Odd Fellows. Politically, he has 
always been a Republican. 

The marriage of Doctor Howard and Miss 
Grace Ross, of Prince Edward's Island, was sol- 
emnized in 1892. Her father, Malcolm Ross, a 
Scotchman, came to Canada with his parents when 
a child, upon reaching manhood, he entered the 
Baptist ministry and was following that profession 
on the island when his death occurred in 1895 at 
the ripe old age of eighty-four. Mrs. Ross was a 
native of Nova Scotia ; she passed away in 1887. 
Mrs. Howard was born on Prince Edward's Island 
and there reared to womanhood. Of the two chil- 
dren born to the marriage of Doctor and Mrs. How- 
ard, only one, Doris, born in 1902, is living. 



CHARLES J. KIRN, the successful young 
fruit merchant and confectioner of Everett, during 
the four years he has been engaged in business in 
the "City of Smokestacks" has won recognition be- 
cause of his keen capabilities and strength of char- 
acter. Starting with a small stand, he has in this 
period so increased his business that to-day the 
Kirn establishment occupies two large stores on 
Hewitt avenue in the very heart of the city, at 1614 
and 1723 Hewitt avenue, respectively. The founder 
of this enterprise was born June 10, 1873, in 
Brooklyn, New York, within sight and sound of 
the nation's greatest commercial center. His father, 
William F. Kirn, was born in Wittenberg, Ger- 
many, in 1839, coming to America when a young 
man. From New York he went to Mmnesota, at 
the same time changing his business, that of con- 
ducting an oyster parlor, for market gardening, in 
which he was quite successful. He came west to 
Washington in 1905, locating in Puyallup, in which 
district he is at present engaged in fruit raising. 
The mother of Charles J. Kirn is also a German, 
born in Wittenberg in 1811, and bore the maiden 
name of Minnie Gaisberg. At the age of seven she 
was brought to the United States by her parents, 
who first took up their abode in Brooklyn. The 
Gaisbergs are well known in Washington, D. C, 



where a brother of Mrs. Kirn was employed in the 
national capitol for twenty-seven years previous to 
his death. Charles J. Kirn, of this biography, re- 
ceived his education in the public schools of Red 
Wing, Minnesota. While attending school, with 
characteristic energy, he utilized all his spare time 
after school and on Saturdays helping his father, 
thus acquiring a substantial foundation of practical 
knowledge. At the age of twenty-one he entered a 
clothing house, where he remained five years, or 
until failing health compelled him to retire alto- 
gether from active labor. In 1902 with his sister he 
came to Everett and opened a small fruit stand. 
By courteous treatment of the trade and strict at- 
tention to business the little firm prospered and out 
of it has grown the largest establishment of its 
kind in the city. Kirn's "Palace of Sweets" is 
noted for the quality and style of its goods, the 
artistic appearance of the store and the excellence 
of its service. 

Mr. Kirn enlisted in Company G, Thirteenth 
Minnesota \'olunteers, at the outbreak of the Span- 
ish-American War. This regiment was sent to 
Manila and participated in the Philippine cam- 
paigns of 1898 and 1899. Fraternally he is affili- 
ated with the Woodmen of the World ; he is also a 
member of the Everett Chamber of Commerce. 
Politically, he is an adherent of the Republican 
party. For a young man who has had to depend 
almost solely upon his own efforts, he has won a 
commendable success thus far in life and deserves 
to be known, as he is, as one of the city's rising 
young business men, straightforward, capable and 
aggressive in all he undertakes. 



HERBERT DOUGLAS WESTBROOK (de- 
ceased). — Upon the death of him whose name 
forms the caption of this biographical review, as 
the result of sudden heart failure while rowing in 
rough water ofT Whidbey Island, July 9, 1905, the 
Everett Morning Tribune said editorially : "Ev- 
erett will miss Herbert D. Westbrook. Unselfish, 
clean, frank, truthful and unostentatious, filled with 
the love of nature and his fellow man, he was above 
the ordinary mortal." This is a fitting prelude to 
this necessarily brief sketch of one of Everett's 
pioneer business men. 

Herbert Douglas Westbrook was a native of 
Jackson county, Iowa, born September 30, 1852, 
the son of Robert and Louisa (Baldwin) West- 
brook. Both parents have passed away, the mother 
when Herbert D. was eighteen years of age, the 
father in recent years. Herbert D. received his 
early education in the schools of his district, later 
attending school at Sabula and graduating at 
Saginaw, Michigan. Not being very strong, he 
was obliged to leave school at an earlier age than 
he desired. Shortly afterward he took up the 



924 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



painter's and decorator's trade, which he followed 
during the remainder of his life with marked suc- 
cess. He commenced contracting on his own re- 
sponsibility at the age of eighteen while residmg 
in Iowa. Later he went to Nebraska, Michigan, 
Colorado and other central states, ever achieving 
success. He was employed by the B. & M. R. R. 
Co., lettering their cars, thus scattering the evi- 
dences of his skill all over the United States. In 
1879, he went to Bay City, Michigan, where he was 
employed in the offices and yards of Seth McLean 
& Son, a large lumber and salt establishment. After 
two years with this concern, he returned to his 
former occupation, locating at Nebraska City. 
From that time until 1889 he remained in Nebraska, 
then came lo the Pacific Northwest, settling in 
Seattle. From there he went to Anacortes during 
the famous boom at that place, investing to some 
extent, but not liking the prospect, returned to Seat- 
tle. When the first rumors of the founding of a 
city on Port Gardner Bay reached the ears of Mr. 
W'estbrook he hurried to the spot, and among the 
earliest pitched his tent and before long had more 
to do than he could well attend to. For months he 
was unable to build, so hard was he pressed for 
time. In the fall of 1891 there were hundreds of 
people on the site without houses or substantial 
buildings, and in the spring following there were 
thousands in hardly better condition. Little shacks 
were erected as boarding houses, which now serve 
as woodsheds. Mr. Westbrook was unusually suc- 
cessful in his chosen occupation, establishing a 
reputation as a skilled workman which marked him 
as a thorough man in whatever he undertook. His 
untimely death was mourned as a personal loss by 
all who knew him, for his unselfishness, his broad 
sympathies and his sincere integrity were the most 
prominent qualities of the man. He was a devoted, 
true sportsman and it was while engaged in this 
diversion that his life was cut short. Mr. West- 
brook was affiliated with but one fraternal order, 
the Woodmen of the World, was a liberal in his po- 
litical views and embraced no particular religious 
creed. 

Miss Carrie Brush, the daughter of John and 
Lucy M. (Parker) Brush, became the bride of Mr. 
Westbrook May 20, 1879, while both were residents 
of Iowa, the ceremony being performed at Lyons. 
John Brush, born at Cambridge, Vermont, in Feb- 
ruary, 1832, of colonial ancestry, is a farmer by 
occupation and is still a resident of that state. Mrs. 
Brush, born July 6, 1833, in the Green Mountain 
state also, is also living, the Brush home being in 
sight of the old family homestead. She was a tail- 
oress in the days before machines came into use, 
and won high commendation for her skill. Mrs. 
Westbrook was born in Cambridge, Vermont, 
March 25, 1858. She came to Everett with her 
husband in the early days of its history, sharing 



with him the hardships and rough life of those days. 
She opened what is thought to have been the first 
dressmaking establishment here, and made the 
gown worn by Everett's first high-school graduate. 
She still maintains this dressmaking establishment, 
it now being connected with the Grand Leader Dry 
Goods Company's large store. Her fine womanly 
qualities and courageous assumption of responsi- 
bilities have won for her the golden opinions of a 
host of friends and acquaintances and to them her 
present prosperity is most pleasant. To the union 
of Mr. and Mrs. Westbrook two children were 
born : Seth C, born in Nebraska City, November 
19, 1881 ; and Lucy Louisa, born July 6, 1891, who 
died in infancy. Seth C, having completed his edu- 
cation in the Everett schools, has taken up his 
father's work with a skill and an energy that be- 
token a promising future for him in this line of 
endeavor if he pursues it. Mrs. Westbrook is af- 
filiated with the Fraternal Union of America. The 
W'estbrooks own a comfortable home at 3222 
Rockefeller avenue, whose atmosphere of hospital- 
ity is widely known to all acquainted with the fam- 



PETER ANDERSEN, of the firm of Ander- 
sen Brothers, shingle manufacturers, is one of the 
men who succeed because of their energy and their 
ability to make the most of the possibilities lying 
before them. Within a very few years Mr. An- 
dersen has established himself as one of the leading 
shingle manufacturers of the county of Snohomish 
and one of its most progressive business men. Mr. 
Andersen was born in Denmark in the summer of 
1869, one of the four children of Ludwig and Mary 
(Hartvigsen) Andersen, also natives of Denmark. 
The elder Andersen came to the United States with 
his family in 1879 and settled in Eureka, Green- 
wood county, Kansas, where he became a farmer 
and brick manufacturer. Peter Andersen received 
his education in the common and high schools of 
Kansas and early indicated a liking and aptitude for 
mechanical work and study. In 1898 he was at- 
tracted to the Pacific slope as a field for his me- 
chanical skill and knowledge. He had been in Cali- 
fornia only a short time when the war with Spain 
broke out, and he enlisted in the Eighth California 
infantry, expecting to see service in the Philippines, 
but his command was assigned to garrison duty at 
Fort Vancouver, so it was in Washington that his 
term of service was passed. He received his hon- 
orable discharge in Alarch of 1899 and at once re- 
turned to California, in which state he remained 
but a short time, however. Before the close of 1899 
he was chief engineer in the mill of the Bucuda 
Lumber Company in Thurston county, Washington. 
The following year he came to Everett and ac- 
cepted the master mechanicship in the Everett 
smelter, a position which he continued to fill ac- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



925 



ceptably for four years. In the fall of 1904 in com- 
pany with his brothers, Louis and Andrew, Mr. 
Andersen erected the shingle mill located on the 
Snohomish river a mile and a half east of Lowell. 
The mill is of modern construction and is equipped 
with the best and most up-to-date machinery ob- 
tainable. It has a capacity of 50,000 shingles a 
day and gives employment to from ten to fifteen 
men. 

November 38, 1904, Mr. Andersen married Miss 
Anna Simm, a native of Norway, in which country 
her parents are still living, the father being en- 
gaged in farming. In politics Mr. Andersen is a 
Republican. In fraternal circles he is well known, 
being a member of the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, of the Ancient Order of United Work- 
men and of the Order of Ben Hur. When Mr. 
Andersen came to Washington he had no capital ex- 
cept his head and his hands, yet he has won a 
worthy success and he believes that the same oppor- 
tunities are still open to any young man of alertness 
and stamina. He is a progressive and liberal man, 
favorably known to all whom he has social or busi- 
ness dealings, and a real contributor to the upbtiild- 
ing of Snohomish county. 



JOSEPH DAVISON, to whom belongs the 
distinction of having been the pioneer settler on the 
banks of Lake Stevens, was born April 7, 1845, at 
Oxbury, Ontario, which was also the birthplace of 
his parents, Edward and Margaret (Longkey) 
Davison. The father in addition to farming spent 
much time on the Long Sault river, and was 
drowned in its waters when but thirty years old. 
He took great pride in recalling that his father had 
actively participated in the famous battle of Water- 
loo in l815, and that he lived to the remarkable 
age of 110 years. 

Of a family of six children Joseph Davison is 
the second. His father died soon after he had 
passed his fourth birthday, and he was but seven- 
teen at the time he began supporting himself by 
working in the woods of his native country. In 
1871 he went to Eau Claire, Wisconsin, remaining 
there several years, during two of which he was 
employed by the Price Lumber Company. His 
residence in Washington dates from 1880, at which 
time he came to Snohomish, then a tiny settlement 
composed of a few houses, a postoffice and store. 
He filed on the 160-acre homestead on which he 
lived until recently in 1885, and made that his home 
while working in the woods. To reach his home- 
stead he paddled up the Pilchuck river in a canoe, 
packed his goods over a trail to Lake Stevens, and 
made the rest of the journey up the lake in a dug- 
out. It was small wonder that he was the first 
white man to make a home in this wilderness, for 
the difficuhies of reaching it were sufficient to dis- 



courage a less resolute and fearless homeseeker. 
The following year he cut a road, and soon other 
settlers were attracted to this fertile region. The 
trip to Snohomish and return occupied an entire 
day. Five years after coming here he was instru- 
mental in establishing the first school, and was one 
of its first directors. He still retains his interest 
in education, realizing how fundamental it is to the 
growth and progress of any community. 

Mr. Davison was married in 1866 to Margaret 
Foubair, who died seven years later. In 1884 he 
was again married, Annie Dubuque, of Minnesota, 
then becoming his wife. Her parents were pioneer 
settlers on the Pilchuck river. She has three 
brothers living in Snohomish. Five children have 
been born to Mr. and Mrs. Davison: Mrs. Ida 
Russell, of Maple Falls, Washington; Joseph W., 
Leia, Dora and Russell, all at home. In politics 
Mr. Davison is independent, preferring to vote for 
the man instead of the party. He and his family 
are identified with the Catholic church. In 1898 he 
made a trip to Dawson, Alaska, and he remained 
nearly two years, during which time the only money 
he made was from the sale of moose, a cow and 
calf, that netted him $700. Mr. Davison brought 
120 acres of his farm into excellent condition, and 
before he sold out was devoting the greater share 
of his time to dairying, making a specialty of Red 
Poll cattle. A beautiful home, built on an eleva- 
tion fronting the lake, testifies to his thoughtful 
consideration for the pleasure and happiness of his 
family, and gave substantial token of the success- 
that had crowned his efforts, but on September 7, 
1905, he sold this property and moved to Everett, 
where he left his family, going himself to the Sask- 
atchewan district. There he bought two sections of 
land and will begin farming in the spring of 1906. 



HAROLD W. ILLMAN, one of the well 
loiown stockmen of Snohomish county, resides on 
his fine ranch, situated eight miles northeast of 
Everett, on Lake Stevens. He was born in Onon- 
daga county. New York, May 15, 1843. His 
father, William Illman, a native of England, immi- 
grated to New York, and established the first cop- 
per and steel engraving house in the United States. 
The original firm was Illman & Son, Oxford 
Street, London, S. V. D., England. He is now liv- 
ing at Sultan, Washington, at the advanced age of 
ninety. He also opened a branch house in Phila- 
delphia. The Philadelphia house, which still exists, 
was under his personal supervision until 1884. 
Martha (Adams) Illman, the maternal ancestor, 
was a, native of Massachusetts. Her death, at the 
age of forty-two, occurred in 1868. Harold W. Ill- 
man attended the schools of Pennsylvania in his 
boyhood, but completed his education in the 
Georgetown University, of Washington, D. C. He 



936 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



then mastered the art of bank note engraving, and 
spent nearly seven years, with his father, at this 
employment. He subsequently was employed as 
engraver for the Canadian and United States gov- 
ernments, and made his home in various cities. In 
1883 he left Washington, D. C, coming to Seattle 
via San Francisco and Victoria, in the old steam- 
ship George W. Elder. Seattle was then boasting 
of her 4,000 inhabitants. He remained there but a 
few days, coming thence to Snohomish and on to 
Sultan.' At the latter point he took up a homestead 
of 160 acres, which could be reached only by a 
thirty-five mile trip up the river in a canoe. Sno- 
homish was the nearest town where mail could be 
received and supplies purchased. For four years 
the river was the only means of transportation. In 
1890. after selhng his claim, Mr. Illman came to 
Lake Stevens and built the first saw mill on the 
lake. He was getting substantially started in this 
enterprise when the financial depression of 1893 
paralyzed business throughout the country, and 
caused the loss of this property together with a 
large amount of lumber that he had taken from a 
several hundred tract of land of which he had be- 
come the owner some years previous to this time. 
The farm was all he saved from the wreck of his 
fortune, and he moved on it without sufficient 
means to purchase even a sack of flour. Un- 
daunted, however, by his heavy losses, he set him- 
self resolutely to the task of farming for profit. 
Three years later he branched out into fancy stock 
raising, and is now the possessor of some unusually 
fine thoroughbred Jersey cattle, among which is to 
be found Pet's Melia Ann't King, a registered bull. 
Me is also a poultry fancier, breeding barred and 
(vhite Plymouth Rocks. At the Yakima state fair 
in 1904 his birds won the first and second prizes. 
Being naturally very fond of dogs, his kennel of 
thoroughbred Collies is his special pride and de- 
light. He has recently purchased a dog bred from 
the winner of the first prize at the Saint Louis Fair 
of 1905. 

Mr. Illman and Catharine A. Gage were united 
in marriage August 18, 1864. Airs. Illman is a na- 
tive of Ogdensburg, N. Y., the daughter of Ste- 
phen and Margaret (Briggs) Gage. Her father, a 
commission merchant, was born in New Hampshire 
May 8, 1806, and died in 1890. The mother, a na- 
tive of New York, was born November 6, 1810 ; 
her death occurred in 1886. Mrs. Illman was one 
of the first white women to find a home at Sultan, 
and she is therefore very familiar with the trials 
and deprivations incident to pioneer life. Four 
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Illman, 
as follows : Mrs. Mabel Missimer and Mrs. Mar- 
garet Eldridge, both of Everett ; Grace, born Au- 
gust 10, 1868, died Julv 10, 1878 ; Olive, born July 
24, 1882, drowned in Lake Stevens, July 11, 1894. 
Mr. Illman is a member of the Masonic fraternity. 



having joined while residing in Ottawa, Canada. 
He IS a loyal Republican, and always takes an ac- 
tive part in political matters, serving as county 
commissioner in 1886. For the convenience of his 
community Mr. Illman holds a notary public's com- 
mission. The Congregational church claims him 
and his wife as adherents to her doctrines. He and 
his estimable wife are among the most popular 
members of the community, and their home is one 
of charming hospitality. During the years of his 
residence here Mr. Illman has come to be recog- 
nized as one of the county's influential citizens, one 
whose character is above reproach. Broadly in- 
telligent, refined and courteous, he holds as friends 
all who are in any way associated with him. 



GILBERT H. MALKSON, a prosperous far- 
mer residing six miles east and two north of Ev- 
erett, on Lake Stevens, was born in Topsfield, 
Washington county, Maine, September 19, 1853. 
He is the son of William V. Malkson, a native of 
New Brunswick, born in 1819. His parents, well 
known pioneers of Maine, cut the first road leading 
from the Saint John river to that state. Marjorie 
(Regan) Malkson, the mother, was born in New 
Brunswick in 1824, and died in 1896. Her hus- 
band's death occurred two years later. By dili- 
gently improving the opportunities afforded by the 
common schools of his native state, Gilbert H. 
Malkson acquired a good education before he was 
fourteen years old. He then worked with his father 
on the farm, becoming thoroughly familiar with 
the various departments of the work. After pass- 
ing his twenty-second birthday he went to Massa- 
chusetts and remained two years, then in 1877 he 
located in the Black Hills of Dakota, where he 
mined and prospected for four years. Going thence 
to Perry creek in east Kootenay, he, with seven 
others, formed the Perry Creek Mining Company, 
to locate and develop placer ground, but the under- 
taking proved a failure, causing the loss of all Mr. 
Malkson had been able to accumulate in the previ- 
ous years. He went thence to Sand Point, Idaho, 
in 1883, and there he took the contract for supply- 
ing a portion of the piles used in constructing the 
Northern Pacific railroad bridge over Lake Pend 
d'Oreille. He also furnished ties for the same 
companv, being engaged in contracting for two 
years. His fortunes having been thus retrieved in 
a measure, he then returned to the Black Hills, 
where he was engaged in the cattle business from 
1884 to 1890. That region about 1890 was visited 
by a terrible drought. Times were very hard and 
business of all kinds suffered, hence Mr. Malkson 
decided to remove to Los Angeles, California. 
After an extended visit there, he brought his wife, 
in the spring of 1891, to Snohomish, and at once 
embarked in the restaurant business, to which he 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



devoted his energies for the ensuing six years. 
During this time he purcliased the farm he now 
owns, employing men to work on it while he was 
living in town. Six years ago he moved onto it. 
and with the exception of a nineteen-month's resi- 
dence in town, he has made it his home continu- 
ously since that time. He has five acres in fruit, 
and is making a specialty of horticulture. He has 
twenty acres cleared and in cultivation, and thirty 
in timber. 

Mr. Malkson was married in Los Angeles, 
California, January 5, 1891, to Aftnie Champion, a 
native of Brenbrook, Ontario, who spent the first 
six 3-ears of her life there, then came to the United 
States, making her home in turn in Indiana, Dakota 
and California, prior to her marriage. She is the 
daughter of William and Annie Champion.. The 
father, a native of England, is now residing near 
Edmonton, Alberta; the mother died in Los Ange- 
les, California. Five children have been born to 
Mr. and Mrs. Malkson: Earl G., Bennie, H., Maud, 
Bertha and Rufus. Mr. Malkson is independent in 
political affairs. The cause of education appeals 
strongly to him, and he is one of the most progres- 
sive members of the local school board. He is also 
road supervisor, an enterprising and industrious 
farmer, and a loyal, upright citizen, he holds the 
esteem and respect of his fellow men. 



JACOB ROBINET, one of the well known 
farmers residing three-quarters of a mile from 
Hartford, on the picturesque banks of Lake Ste- 
vens, was born in Luxemberg, Germany, in June, 
1857. His father, Anton Robinet, also a farmer, 
died in Germany in 1885, at the age of sixty-si.x. 
The mother, Elizabeth (Grofif) Robinet, died in 
that country, which was also the land of her birth. 
Our subject speiit his boyhood on his father's farm 
and attended the common schools of his native 
country. Desiring to avail himself of the greater 
opportunities that the United States afiforded to 
young men, he came in 1884, locating first at Iron 
Mountain, Michigan, where he worked in the 
woods four years. His residence in the state of 
Washington dates from 1888. After stopping two 
weeks in Seattle, he proceeded to Snohomish, then 
only a little settlement, and made that his head- 
quarters while working for Eugene Smith, who at 
that time owned the most extensive lumbering inter- 
ests of any man in the county. In order to reach 
Lake Stevens, where the timber was being cleared 
off, it was necessary to go by way of Marysville, 
as there was no road from Machias. In 1890 Mr. 
Robinet took up the forty-acre homestead on which 
he now lives, and at once began preparing it for 
culitivation. As there was no road to the lake, and 
only the poorest kind of a trail, he, with the other 
settlers in that region, began very soon to build a 



highway. For several years they averaged two 
weeks a season in this work of making and im- 
proving the roads. In 189-1 he assisted in organiz- 
ing the first school held here. During the first few 
years of his residence Mr. Robinet worked in the 
woods in the summer, and spent the winter season 
in improving his land. He now owns a neat, taste- 
ful home, and intends to devote his entire time to 
fruit raising. 

Mr. Robinet and Miss Anna N. Tinker were 
united in marriage in March, 1901. Mrs. Robinet, 
a native of Angola, Steuben county, Indiana, is a 
daughter of distinguished parents. Her father, Asa 
M. Tinker, was born in xA-shtabula county, Ohio, in 
1827, moved to Indiana in the early days, and be- 
came an horoned pioneer of that state. In later life 
he made his home in Michigan, and he died in 
Harrison in 1900. As he held the office of post- 
master at the time of the Civil War he was exempt 
from the service he would so gladly have rendered 
his country. He is remembered by his acquaint- 
ances as a lawyer of unusual ability, who at one 
time was prosecuting attorney for five counties. He 
retired from active practice in the legal profession 
with a record of which any man might well be 
proud. Orcina W. (Parish) Tinker, the mother, 
who now lives with her daughter, Mrs. Robinet, is 
also a native of the Buckeye state, born in Lorraine 
county in 1837. Her father was one of the first 
trustees of Oberlin College. Possessed of remark- 
able mental endowments, she began teaching when 
but fourteen years of age, this special privilege 
having been granted to her owing to her father's 
decease the previous year. Bringing to her work 
not only a trained intellect, but also a peculiar apti- 
tude for imparting knowledge to others, she rapidly 
won success in her chosen profession. She has a 
sister aged sixty-five, who for the past twenty years 
has taught in the same room in the Angola high 
school in Indiana. Mrs. Robinet was herself a 
teacher for several years, and is a lady of ability, 
fitted to grace any position in life. She and her 
husband are both identified with the Yeoman fra- 
ternity, while in religious faith they are Episco- 
palians. Mr. Robinet is a loyal member of the Re- 
publican party. He is known as a thrifty, industri- 
ous man, of upright character, and is respected by 
the entire community. 



LEWIS J. JONES, one of the younger element 
of successful Snohomish county farmers, resides 
six miles east of Everett and three and a half miles 
south of Snohomish on the rural mail delivery route 
from Everett. Mr. Jones was born in Wales in 
March, 1878, the son of John D. and Catherine 
(Davis) Jones, both of whom were born in the 
southern part of Wales. The elder Jones was a 
miner and farmer who crossed the Atlantic in 1870 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



and for two years mined coal in Pennsylvania. He 
then went to Patagonia, South America, and re- 
mained there two years, returning to Wales for the 
ensuing seven years. In 1882 he was again in 
Pennsylvania, engaged in mining. Two years later 
he came to the Puget sound country and settled on 
120 acres of land three and a half miles southwest 
of Snohomish, on which Lewis J. Jones is now liv- 
ing. The elder Jones has since added 140 acres to 
his holdings. He makes his home with his children 
in this county. Mrs. Jones was the mother of ten 
children, four of whom died in Wales of black 
fever. Lewis J. Jones attended the public schools 
of King county, leaving when fifteen years old to 
work with his father in the Blue Canyon coal mines 
of Whatcom county. Two years were passed in 
this work, when father and son returned to the farm 
in Snohomish county. The young man passed the 
following two years on the ranch and then put in 
six months mining. In the fall of 1899 he went to 
Seattle and worked in the shops of Moran Bros., 
operating a crane for eight months. At Nome Mr. 
Jones passed eighteen months at gold mining. In 
1902 in company with his brother, Reese, Mr. Jones 
took a ten-year lease of his father's farm, in the 
operation of which he has since been engaged. 

On the old homestead, in 1903, Mr. Jones mar- 
ried Miss Mary J. Morgan, daughter of Reese and 
Gwen (Samuel) Morgan, natives of Wales, who 
are now living in Mackay, King county. Mrs. 
Jones was born in Pennsylvania in 1882 and re- 
ceived her education in the Keystone state. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Jones one son has been born, Reese J. In 
fraternal circles Mr. Jones is a member of the 
Knights of Pythias ; in religion he is a Congrega- 
tionalist. Mr. Jones is carrying on diversified farm- 
ing, but goes in quite extensively for stock raising, 
having thirty-one head of cattle, thirty sheep and 
fifteen hogs, besides horses for working the place. 



PETER NELSON, now engaged in farming 
four and a half miles southeast of Everett, is one 
of Snohomish county's well known citizens, who 
has been identified in a business way with the prog- 
ress of Puget sound for a quarter of a century. 
Born in Denmark, in 1857, Mr. Nelson is the 
fourth of ten children of Neils and Catherine (Jen- 
sen) Nelson, both of whom lived and died in Den- 
mark. Peter received his education in the Danish 
schools and when old enough learned the butcher's 
trade. At twenty-two he came to the United States 
and immediately settled on a farm near Northfield, 
Minnesota. A year later he returned to his trade 
in a shop at Northfield. In 1883 he set his face 
toward the Pacific coast, locating first in Seattle, 
where he entered the shop of John G. Gardner. 
Mr. Nelson continued in business there for six 
years, one of which he passed as proprietor of his 



own shop, selling out his Seattle interests in 1889 
to go to Whatcom. There he conducted a shop 
two years, selling out to locate at Sedro-Woolley, 
where he opened a shop and a lumber yard, the 
yard being the first established in that town. Sedro- 
Woolley was his home until 1893, when he went 
to the new city of Everett to open the Monte Cnsto 
market, which he conducted successfully seven 
years, or until 1900. In that year he retired from, 
business to engage in agricultural pursuits upon his 
present farm. 

Miss Annie, daughter of William Kock, of Sil- 
vana, was married to Mr. Nelson at Everett in 
1896. A sketch of her family appears elsewhere 
in this work. Mrs. Nelson was born at Silvana in 
1879, and was reared and educated within the 
borders of the county. Three children have been, 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Nelson : Thomas, Dorothy 
and Frederick. Religiously, the family are Pres- 
byterians and in politics Mr. Nelson is a Repub- 
lican. During his residence in Sedro-Woolley, he 
served a term as councilman of the city. The home 
farm consists of fifteen acres, well improved and 
stocked, in addition to which he owns forty-seven' 
acres of land in Skagit county. Thrifty and ener- 
getic, controlled by high principles, he commands 
the respect and esteem of the community. 



JOHN STECHER, whose farm lies five miles 
southeast of Everett, is one of the successful farm- 
ers of this county who cast his fortunes with those 
of Snohomish county in the early eighties. He was 
born in Austria December 11, 1856, one of the 
seven children of Antone and Teresa Stecher, na- 
tives of Austria, who never left that country. After 
attending the common schools at home, John' 
Stecher learned the trade of a mason, and he fol- 
lowed that craft in his native land until, at twenty- 
three, he came to the United States. For a time 
after his arrival on the new continent Mr. Stecher 
followed his trade. In 1880 he came to Grant 
county, Oregon, and the following autumn en- 
gaged in sheep ranching. In the spring of 1884 he 
sold out his interests in Oregon and came to Sno- 
homish county, purchasing IGO acres of land a half 
mile south of Lowell and at the same time pre- 
empting forty acres more. Here he lived until 
1890, when he bought his present place. A little 
later Mr. Stecher rented a farm on Snohomish 
marsh and farmed there for two years. The next 
two years found him operating land leased from his 
brother, Frank, and at the close of that term he 
removed to his present place, where he has fifty- 
two acres of land under cultivation. 

At Port Townsend, in 1885, Mr. Stecher mar- 
ried Miss Annie Koch, daughter of John Koch, a 
native of Germany, now a resident of this county. 
Mrs. Stecher was born in Germany on Christmas 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



day of 1864. She received her education in the 
schools of the old country, but came to Snohomish 
county in 1884. To this union have been born six 
children, all natives of Snohomish county : Frank, 
John (deceased), Agnes, Annie, Otto and Paul. 
In politics Mr. Stecher is a Republican and the 
family belongs to the Catholic church. Mr. Stecher 
is in well-to-do circumstances, owning fifty-seven 
acres of land, well stocked, chiefly with cattle. He 
is one of the industrious men of the county, and en- 
joys an enviable reputation both as a citizen and as 
an agriculturalist. He has discharged the duties of 
the office of road overseer in his district, but aside 
from that has aspired to or held no political office. 



EUGENE D. SMITH.— Among the pioneers 
of Snohomish county who have been forceful in its 
industrial development from the earliest days to the 
present — leaders in fact in that development — none, 
perhaps, is deserving of a higher place than the 
man whose life history is the theme of this article. 
Coming to the county when its wealth of natural 
resources was as yet untouched, he had the percep- 
tion and experience to appreciate the advantages 
offered, and to him belongs the honor of being the 
first to engage, in a methodical and permanent 
manner, in the logging business, giving inception 
to the master industry of the county, the industry 
which has cleared its farms, built its cities, sup- 
ported its people and made it a county of mills. 
And it has not been in this alone that he has con- 
tributed to the general welfare. In political mat- 
ters, also, he has been a force, and in the official 
records of the early days his name is of frequent 
occurrence, showing that the county profited, dur- 
ing the molding period as well as later, by his in- 
terest in public matters and the wisdom of his 
counsels. In later days, when wealth had come to 
him as a reward of well directed effort, it was al- 
ways bestowed liberally upon enterprises of gen- 
eral benefit, the Everett town building scheme, the 
Monte Cristo railroad and numerous other projects 
profiting by his bounty, some of them to a greater 
extent than is generally supposed. He has cer- 
tainly marched in the foremost rank of the pro- 
gressive men of the sound country. 

Mr. Smith was born in Columbia, Maine, April 
30, 1837. His father, John D. Smith, was likewise 
a native of Maine, born in 1802, and for years was 
a ship-builder in the Pine Tree state, and in Boston, 
Massachusetts. He was one of the best mechanics 
in all that country, also a prominent militiaman. 
He died in 1845. Mrs. Louisa (Barney) Smith, 
the mother of our subject, was born in Loubeck, 
Maine, and died in Iowa at the age of seventy-eight 
years. She was of Scotch descent, and her father 
was a veteran of the War of 1812. Both she and 
her husband were members of prominent pioneer 



families of Washington county, Maine. Left 
fatherless when eight years old, the Mr. Smith of 
this review was denied many of the educational 
advantages which other boys in his part of the 
country enjoyed, but being of an adventurous dis- 
position he soon made up for his iack of book learn- 
ing by taking lessons in the school of experience. 
At fourteen he went to sea, and the ensuing six 
years were spent as a sailor, mostly along the New 
England coast, though he made a few trips to for- 
eign ports, and was on the Mediterranean at the 
time of the Crimean war. His last voyage was to 
the head of the Adriatic sea. In 1858, being at that 
time twenty-one years old, he came to Port Gamble 
by way of the isthmus, arriving in September, hav- 
ing escaped without injury in a wreck on the 
Panama road. From that date until 1862 he 
worked industriously in logging camps around Port 
Gamble, learning thoroughly the business in which 
he was afterward to become a shining light. He 
then went to the Caribou mines, but unfortunately 
for him as it seemed at the time and very for- 
tunately for the development of Snohomish county ,^ 
his career there was cut short by mountain fever 
and he was compelled to flee for his life to Vic- 
toria. In the fall of 1862, he purchased an interest 
in the logging outfit of a man named Otis Wilson, 
and together they started to log on Brown's bay, 
just north of where Edmonds now is. The next 
summer they came to Lowell, preceding all others 
of their occupation to the river, and they operated 
there together until 1865, when Mr. Smith sold to 
his partner and again turned his attention toward 
mining. He went to the Boise basin, Bannock 
City and other Idaho camps, also participating in 
the' Coeur D'Alene rush of 1865. His prospecting 
and mining trips did not prove profitable, and he 
was obliged to go to work as an employe, but after 
laboring" a short time in Walla Walla came once 
more to Lowell, and soon succeeded in making an- 
other start in logging on his own account. His ef- 
forts were rewarded by abundant success. At one 
time he had three camps in active operation, em- 
ploying seventy-five men, and indeed for a while 
there were 150 names on his pay-roll. He logged 
extensively for years on Ebey slough, clearing the 
timber oft the sites of Marysville, Lowell and other 
towns and putting many millions of feet into the 
water. 

In 1870 Mr. Smith built a log chute two thou- 
sand feet long on a hill at Lowell, expending in the 
enterprise about five thousand dollars. The same 
year he started a store at Lowell, the first in the 
town, and from that on it was his ambition to build 
a little city there. He put in a hotel about 1874, 
and in 1889 a saw mill costing sixty thousand dol- 
lars, with a capacity of 75.000 feet of lumber per 
diem, and machinery for the production of lath, 
shingles, etc. It burned in 1895. Starting with a 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



homestead and pre-emption, both of which he im- 
proved, clearing, ditching and putting into cultiva- 
tion seventy-five acres, he added to his holdings 
as time went on until he was the owner of five thou- 
sand acres of timber, stump and farming land, all 
but sixteen hundred acres of it situated on the Ev- 
erett peninsula, the rest on Ebey slough. When 
Everett was founded he sold the promoters twelve 
hundred acres at a reasonable price in order to 
permit the town building to progress, and donated 
five hundred more conditioned upon the building of 
factories, smelter, railroads, etc. 

After spending thirty years in the logging busi- 
ness, Mr. Smith retired from it in 1890, and since 
his mill burned down in 1895 he has withdrawn 
from the more strenuous activities of life, devoting 
himself to looking after his property interests. For 
these he was once oiTered $300,000 by Henry 
Hewitt, Jr., of Tacoma, but he has since lost heavily 
by fire and on account of the hard times, though he 
still retains a fine home at Lowell, an interest in 
the site of that town and some Everett property. 
He also enjoys the consciousness of having accom- 
plished several worthy undertakings in a worthy 
manner, won a success in the industrial world of 
which many more favored men to begin with would 
be proud, contributed immeasurably to the progress 
and development of his home county and left an in- 
delible impress upon its history. One of his enter- 
prises which did not succeed financially was the 
building, in the early eighties, of a telegraph line 
from Mukilteo to Snohomish, via Lowell. 

June 5, 1869, Mr. Smith married Margaret B. 
Getchell, a native of Marshfield, Maine, born Jan- 
uary 4, 1840. Her father, George Stillman Getchell, 
was born in Machias, Maine, to which town his 
family had come from the Green Mountain state at 
an early day. He died in Maine at the age of 
eighty-five. During his lifetime he followed agri- 
culture as a business. Her mother, Taphenes 
(Longfellow) Getchell, was likewise a native of 
Machias, and came of old colonial stock. She had 
the distinction of being a cousin of the noted Henry 
W. Longfellow, so well known in American litera- 
ture. She died within five days of the same time 
as her husband, aged eighty-three. Mrs. Smith 
lived in the Pine Tree state until twenty-nine, then 
started for the West, via the isthmus, which she 
crossed alone, met Mr. Smith at San Francisco and 
was married to him theje, accompanying him to his 
home in Snohomish county. For the first six 
months of her residence here she had only one 
white neighbor of her own sex, a Mrs. Dr. Smith, 
who lived on the tide lands near Marysville. There 
were four white women at Snohomish, twelve miles 
up the river. The children of her union with Mr. 
Smith are: Lowell E., born at Lowell, April 5, 
IB??, now a steamboat man at Everett ; John D., 
born May 11, 1878, a contractor living at home ; 



Phene L., October 28, 1880, a graduate of the state 
university, now teaching German and history in 
the high school at Snohomish; Cyrus W., April 11, 
1883, died in babyhood. Mr. Smith has one brother, 
George D., in business at Snohomish and one, John, 
a building contractor at Norwood, Massachusetts, 
also one sister, Mrs. Josephine E. Friars, at Hazel- 
son, Iowa. Mrs. Smith's brothers and sisters are 
Martin and Joseph in Snohomish county ; Horace, 
Oscar, Hannah and Anna, in Maine ; Antoinette, in 
New Hampshire, and Laura in Missouri. 

In politics Mr. Smith is a Republican. He has 
served as county commissioner by appointment 
and election, has been justice of the peace, was 
postmaster at Lowell for twenty-one years, served 
on the first provisional council of Everett and for 
years was either director or clerk of the local school 
district, besides holding various other offices of 
trust. In fraternal affiliations he is a Master Mason 
and a Workman. His views on educational and re- 
ligious matters are very liberal, as they are on most 
other things, and he has never acknowledged allegi- 
ance to anv creed. 



ALVAH H. B. JORDAN, chairman of the 
board of county commissioners of Snohomish 
county, vice-president of the Everett Pulp & Paper 
Company, and superintendent of its enormous mills 
at Lowell, occupies a position of considerable con- 
sequence to the community at large and one of 
state importance. He has not resided on the Pa- 
cific coast as many years as have a large number 
of his associates, but during this period he has 
come into unusually close touch with its business 
activities and has gained the highest confidence of 
its people. 

Mr. Jordan is the son of Eben Jordan, a native 
of Auburn, Maine, who was for many years a 
prominent dry goods merchant of Boston, Massa- 
chusetts. Mrs. Ellen E. (Bedell) Jordan, the 
mother of the subject of this sketch, was also a na- 
tive of the Pine Tree state. Of the two children 
born to this union, one is a daughter, the other 
Alvah H. B., whose birthplace was Boston. He 
was born September 23, 1865. His education was 
obtained in the excellent public schools of that 
noted center of learning. Upon his graduation 
from high school at the age of fifteen, the young 
man entered the employ of Kendall Barrows & 
Company, woolen importers of Boston, working in 
their offices, but at the end of six years' service 
with this firm, he determined to learn the paper 
business and with that end in view at once accepted 
a position with the Champlain Paper Company, 
Willsborough, Essex county. New York. Appli- 
cation and study, combined perhaps with a natural 
aptitude for the business, brought its rich rewards, 
for during the four years he was with this company 




^^k^-^^^c^^^C 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



935' 



he mastered the details of the industry so thor- 
oughly that he finally reached the superintendency 
of the mills. In 1891, however, he resigned as su- 
perintendent of the Champlain mills to assume 
charge of the Clarion mills at Johnsonburg, Elk 
county, Pennsylvania, and with this concern, the 
New York & Pennsylvania Company, he remained 
until 1896. That year marks his removal to the 
Pacific Northwest and his entrance into the life of 
Snohomish county. He came direct to Everett as 
superintendent of the Everett Pulp & Paper Com- 
pany's mills, in which capacity he is still engaged. 
It is since Mr. Jordan has become identified with 
this company, operating the largest paper mills in 
the Northwest, that the business has reached its 
immense proportions, supplying demands that 
come from all over the country, especially from the 
western part. Probably no industry in the city of 
Everett has been operated as continuously as these 
paper mills, and with its hundreds of employees 
and the no inconsiderable amount of commerce 
arising from the handling of its products, the 
Everett Paper & Pulp Company is indeed an im- 
portant factor in not only the welfare of Everett 
but of the whole county. More extended refer- 
ence to these mills will be found elsewhere in this 
work. 

Mr. Jordan 'is a Republican, influential in the 
councils of his party, and upon that ticket in 1904 
was elected county commissioner from the third 
district. When the board was organized, he be- 
came its chairman and still fills this responsible 
office. With true public spirit he has assumed fur- 
ther public duties in his community, being also 
chairman of the Lowell board of education. In 
fraternal circles he is well known, holding mem- 
bership in the B. P. O. E., Everett lodge, and the 
Masonic order, having attained the thirty-second 
degree in the latter. In addition to his paper mill 
interests, Mr. Jordan is also a director in the First 
National bank of Everett. He is one of the real 
leaders in the upbuilding of Snohomish county, a 
thorough believer in the great future that awaits 
Puget sound, a man of broad views, powerful exec- 
utive abilities and withal possessing the confidence 
of all with whom he comes in contact. 



^ WILLIE EASTMAN CHASE, of Lowell, 
Washington, is prominently identified with what 
perhaps may be regarded as Snohomish county's 
leading industry, the lumber business, the branch 
to which he is devoting his best abilities and ener- 
gies being the furnishing of raw material. For 
twelve years he has been thus engaged with 
marked success, denuding the hills and bench lands 
of their magnificent timber and materially contrib- 
uting to the development of a new country and to 
the prosperity of its people. A product of the New 



England states, born at East Charleston, Vermont, 
November 5, 1870, he comes from a land of strong 
men and women, notably strong in every way, and 
is of good old colonial American stock. Charles 
H. Chase, the father, also a native of Vermont, his 
birthplace being Charleston, was born in 1842. 
Early in life he learned the mason's trade and at 
one time managed the hotel in Charleston, but 
most of his life has been spent in farming. He is 
still living near the old homestead. For many 
years Mr. Chase served as organist in the village 
church, being of a decidedly musical turn. Mrs. 
Chase, his wife, was Orissa Eastman before her 
marriage, the daughter of a Vermont farmer, who 
passed away in his forty-sixth year. She was born 
at Sutton, in that state, January 23, 1852, and is 
also living. The subject of this review received his 
educational instruction in the public schools of his 
native state. At the age of seventeen he com- 
menced assisting his father on the farm, and in 
this way spent the next three years of his life, or 
until he arrived at legal age. With the passing 
of this milestone, however, he left the family roof 
tree to make his own way in the world, first enter- 
ing the grocery business nearby. The next year, 
1892, he joined the army of young Americans 
pushing into the West, coming to Lowell. The 
great paper mills there were then being opened 
and he at once secured employment in them, re- 
maining in that line of work two years. In the 
meantime he had been casting about for a better 
opportunity to get ahead, with the result that he 
selected the logging business and into this he 
plunged with such energy and determination that 
he forged ahead rapidly and is to-day reaping the 
rewards of worthy, painstaking efforts and in- 
vincible courage in overcoming obstacles and dififi- 
culties that arise to impede the progress of all suc- 
cessful men. 

Miss Alice M. Harmon, a native of Vermont 
also, descended from a noted family of that state, 
was united in marriage to Willie E. Chase in 1892. 
Her father, Stephen J\I. Harmon, was born at Bux- 
ton Centre, Maine, April 1, 1844, and came to Ver- 
mont when a young man. Although he had just 
been married, when the call came for volunteers, 
he nobly responded, enlisting in Company K, 
Thirty-fifth Regiment, Massachusetts, January 27, 
1863, serving throughout the remainder of the 
long, bloody struggle and making the memorable 
march with Sherman to the sea. His regiment was 
present at nineteen battles and participated actively 
in seventeen of that number, engaging in some of 
the heaviest fighting in the war. With his com- 
rades Mr. Harmon was mustered out August 11, 
1865. After the war he returned to his family in 
Vermont and for several years was employed as a 
fireman on the Grand Trunk railroad. Later he 
engaged at his trade, that of a carpenter, and to 



936 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



building and contracting has since devoted most 
of his time. Roxana E. (Stevens) Harmon, the 
mother of Mrs. Chase, was born at Island Pond, 
Vermont, August (i, 1847, and is a daughter of 
Susana Aldrich Stevens, one of the most notable 
personages in the pioneer history of Essex county, 
\'ermont. This distinguished woman was left a 
w'idow early in life with a family of five children to 
rear. With admirable courage she undertook the 
management of her farm and business affairs and 
met with unusual success in the difficult task 
shifted to her shoulders by the unkindly turn of 
fortune. Three of her sons enlisted in the Union 
army at the outbreak of the war, of whom only 
one came back. When she passed away in 1903 
at the venerable age of eighty-five, she was 
mourned as one of the best loved and most dis- 
tinguished citizens of the community, a woman of 
rare worth. Both Mr. and Mrs. Harmon are still 
living, residing at Island Pond. Island Pond is the 
birthplace of Mrs. Chase, the date of this event 
being February 12, 1869. She was educated in the 
public schools of her home community and upon 
finishing engaged in teaching. Subsequently she 
devoted her attention to dressmaking, being thus 
occupied until her marriage. Five children have 
been born to this union, of whom one is deceased. 
The living are : Elton W., born August 14, 1896 ; 
Vernita I., born April 27, 1900; Hovvard E., Octo- 
ber 7, 1902; and Robert W., February 7, 1904. 
Both Mr. and Mrs. Chase are well known in local 
fraternal circles, he being afifiliated with the Ma- 
sons, Odd Fellows, and the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen, and she with the Eastern Star 
'"hapter, the Degree of Honor and the Women's 
Relief Corps; she is also a member of the Epis- 
copal church. The Chase home is one of the finest 
modern dwellings in Lowell, the center of a wide 
social circle, and the gathering place of a host of 
loyal friends and genial acquaintances. As one of 
the younger generation of pioneers in the work of 
opening and developing the resources of the Puget 
sound country, a business man of ability, and a 
public spirited citizen, Mr. Chase is justly recog- 
nized as one of the substantial and rising men of 
Snohomish county. 



MARTIN GETCHELL, retired lumberman, 
residing now in the city of Lowell, has spent nearly 
fifty years in the Puget sound region, and of this 
long period more than forty years have been passed 
in Snohomish county. Comparatively few men in 
the county to-day possess such a record as this, 
coupled with which is the additional record of a 
career of usefulness and integrity. 

Martin Getchell is one of Maine's hardy, stal- 
wart sons, a descendant of colonial American stock. 
His father, George Stillman Getchell, was bor-n at 
Machias, Maine, September 22, 1803, and in that 



vicinity engaged successfully in lumbering and 
farming, passed all the years allotted him, his 
death occurring December 6, 1888. Mrs. Taphenes 
(Longfellow) Getchell, the mother of Martin Get- 
chell, was also a native of Machias, born February 
12, 1805. Her father was an American patriot, 
who served throughout the War of 1812. Mrs. 
Taphenes Getchell died December 1, 1888, five days 
before her husband passed away. The subject of 
this sketch was born at Marshfield, March 15, 1832, 
the oldest boy in a family of nine children. His- 
educational training was such as he could obtain 
during a few months each year until he reached the 
age of fifteen, when he commenced assisting his 
father in the woods. Maine continued to be his 
home until 1857, in which year he arrived on Puget 
sound after a long, dangerous trip from the other 
side of the continent. The great forests of this in- 
land sea had been the principal attraction, to this 
young lumberman, and upon arrival in Jeiiferson 
county he at once plunged into the logging industry, 
then in its early morning of development. He par- 
ticipated in the Eraser river rush of 1858. His 
stay lengthened into a six years' residence, during 
a part of which time he logged in Snohomish 
county, helping to clear of timber the townsite of 
Snohomish, the Sinclair and Ferguson lands. He 
then returned to Maine for his family, having de- 
termined to locate permanently in Washington. 
Upon his return, Mr. Getchell came to Snohomish 
county and located upon the marsh just across the 
river from the spot where the city of Lowell was 
afterward built. He remembers when three houses 
constituted Snohomish City and transportation was 
almost wholly by canoes. At that time there were 
only three large boats running on the sound. He 
erected the first warehouse in Snohomish City, 
building it with rough logs. He also remembers 
when 160 acres lying immediately north of James 
street, Seattle, could be purchased for $500-. Mr. 
Getchell applied himself industriously and skilfully 
to the lumber business in Snohomish county with 
successful results in the years that followed his 
settlement. Through panic and prosperity, dis- 
heartened by low prices and encouraged by high 
ones, facing hardship and privation, he labored 
ceaselessly and uniformly, ever contributing to the 
material progress of his county, until at last ad- 
vancing age forced him to surrender the greater 
part of his business activities to younger men. 
About fifteen years ago he purchased a place at 
Lowell, and upon it erected his present comfortable 
residence. He also owns sixty-five acres of rich 
marsh land across the river from the town. 

Miss Olive L. Ireland was united in marriage to 
Mr. Getchell in East Machias, Maine, May 6, 1853. 
She lost her parents by death when but a child, and 
was reared by friends who adopted her. Skohegan, 
Maine, is her birthplace, and December 14, 1832,. 




MR. AND MRS. MARTIN GETCHELL 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



the date. The family consisted of four children, 
all of whom except Mrs. Getchell are now dead. 
Five children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Getchell, namely : Mrs. Medora Porter, who lives 
at Mount Vernon, Skagit county : Mrs. Zella B. 
Lawry, the wife of a Monroe banker, who resides 
near Snohomish, and Everett M., a citizen of Ev- 
erett. Two daughters are deceased — Edna P. and 
Daisy T. Mrs. Getchell is a member of the Con- 
gregational church and is connected with the De- 
gree of Honor and Rebekah lodges, while Mr. 
Getchell is affiliated with the A. O. U. W., and in 
politics is a Republican. One of the pleasant events 
in the lives of this esteemed couple was the cele- 
bration, in May, 1903, of their golden wedding, a 
celebration arranged by the A. O. U. W., Odd Fel- 
lows, Relief Corps, Degree of Honor and Pioneers 
of Snohomish County, unitedly. It was an elabo- 
rate social event, eloquent in its expression of 
kindly feelings of the members of these various or- 
ganizations toward Mr. and Mrs. Getchell. The 
presents bestowed were many and valuable. 

In the past half century Mr. Getchell has wit- 
nessed in the Northwest one of the most remark- 
able developments ever chronicled in our national 
history. Not only has he witnessed it at close range, 
but he has been privileged to participate actively in 
it, to the mutual advantage of himself and his fel- 
low citizens. 



TERRESSER B. DREW, residing in the city 
of Lowell, is among the pioneer women of Sno- 
homish county who have endured the hardships 
incident to the settlement of a new country and are 
therefore deserving of special mention in this work. 
If possible, the lives of these heroic frontier women 
were lonelier, more desolate, than those of the men, 
for the sphere of the former is narrower and their 
number generally fewer along the border. Though 
briefer accounts appear concerning the lives of 
pioneer women than of those of the sterner sex, 
nevertheless recognition of their hardihood and 
sterling qualities has been fully as prompt and as 
complete. The subject of this review was born in 
Eastport, Maine. April 30, 1832, the daughter of 
John and Frances (Chandler) Lingley, of an old 
American family, and the latter of English descent. 
The father was born in New York state, about 1780, 
a member of a well-known colonial family. He 
went to Maine when a young man and there en- 
gaged in general merchandising, which he pursued 
until his death at St. Johns, New Brunswick, in 
1855. Mrs. Lingley, too, passed away at St. Johns. 
Terresser B. Lingley grew to young womanhood 
in Eastport, Maine, there receiving a good educa- 
tion in the public schools and otherwise preparing 
herself for life's stern duties. At Machias, Maine, 
November 5, 1853, she married Captain Augustine 
Drew, who was born at Marshfield, Maine, May 28, 



1829, and was there reared and educated. At the 
age of nineteen he commenced his maritime career, 
soon rising to a captaincy. For twenty-five years 
he commanded vessels sailing from the port of 
Machias to New York, Florida and the West Indies. 
However, in 1879 he retired from the quarter deck, 
came to Snohomish county and took a homestead 
near the present city of Lowell. To the improve- 
ment and cultivation of this place he devoted the 
remainder of his life, passing away at Lowell, July 
15, 1890. By his sterling, manly qualities and geni- 
ality. Captain Drew won the respect and esteem of 
his fellow pioneers, in whose general welfare he 
ever took a deep and abiding interest, and his d'e- 
mise was mourned as a distinct loss to the com- 
munity in which he labored. Two years after he 
came West, Mrs. Drew joined him. When she 
came this region was a wild, undeveloped country, 
with only a semi-weekly mail service by boat from 
Seattle. Lowell consisted of one store and a soli- 
tary hotel, both conducted and owned by E. D. 
Smith, who was also postmaster. Upon her hus- 
band's death, Mrs. Drew and her two sons, Oscar 
and Leavitt, aged twenty-five and seventeen re- 
spectively, resolutely continued to operate the farm 
until it was sold, the greater portion of it being 
purchased in 1892 at fifty dollars an acre by Everett 
townsite promoters. Since that time Mrs. Drew 
has been living in retirement at her comfortable 
home in Lowell, passing her declining years in 
peace and plenty, well earned by a long, useful life. 
She is affiliated with three fraternal orders — the 
Rebekahs, the Women of Woodcraft and the 
Women's Relief Corps, her brother William having 
served as a soldier in the Civil War. To the mar- 
riage of Captain and Mrs. Drew seven children 
were born : Oscar, who w^as killed accidentally in 
Alaskan mines in 1894; Sarah, whose death oc- 
curred in 1903 ; Anna, living in Augusta, Maine ; 
Emily and Nettie, residing in Seattle, both married : 
Leavitt, killed by accident in Montana, April 18, 
1905 ; and Laura, married, whose home is in San 
Francisco. Both sons were members of the I. O. 
O. F. Of the Lingley family, only ^Nlrs. Drew, 
next to the youngest child, and William, are still 
living. Honored and esteemed by her neighbors 
and a wide circle of loyal friends, rich in those 
qualities of mind and heart which endear her to all 
and make her life a useful, unselfish one, Mrs. Drew 
is as influential in her sphere as was her estimable 
husband in his. 



FRED SMITH, whose fine farm lies two miles 
east of Lowell, is one of the self-made native sons 
of the Puget sound country. Starting with noth- 
ing, he has now an excellent piece of land, which 
he is rapidly converting into a modern dairy farm. 
Mr. Smith was born at Port Discovery in 1868. 
His mother died when he was very young, and his- 



940 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



father became lost to him years ago. The lad ob- 
tained his education in the schools of Washington. 
When sixteen years of age he came to Snohomish 
county with a family named Roberts, with whom he 
made his home until twenty years old, when he 
started to fight life's battle on his own account. 
These early days were full of excitement and life 
was surrounded on all sides by pioneer conditions. 
The Roberts' goods and supplies were moved up 
the river in a canoe, thence into a slough and finally 
landed at the house from a ditch. The stoitk was 
driven over trails through the woods and generally 
the supplies were packed in on the back. There 
were then no schools, no churches, no stores, no 
postoftices. Mr. Smith lived on the place for foui 
years, during the greater part of which the fanr'n 
lived nearer the town. 

In the fall of 1885 Mr. Smith had his hardest ex- 
perience. He had gone to bed as usual, not in the 
least suspecting that before morning he would be 
roused to face a strenuous situation. At 2 o'clock 
he w^as awakened by a commotion emanating from 
the cattle and stock. He arose and found that the 
river had arisen to such a height that the whole 
farm was flooded except a knoll on which the stock 
had taken refuge. The fence was torn down to 
allow the cattle to make their escape. Immediately 
the frightened animals stampeded and Mr. Smith 
was nearly nni dnwn. The stock was finally rounded 
up in the Inft of the barn, after five hours of hard 
work, often in water up to the armpits. At twenty 
years of age Mr. Smith engaged in work on the 
neighboring ranches and in the woods. In 1893 he 
acquired an interest in seventy-two acres of land 
where he now lives, the remainder at that time being 
owned by J. H. Mack, whose interests Mr. Smith 
subsequently obtained. The land was all in brush, 
but by dint of hard work he has since cle.ared fifty 
acres and paid off a mortgage of $1,500. He is 
now devoting his attention mainly to dairying, keep- 
ing twenty-four head of stock at the present time. 
He is breeding Jerseys, and plans ultimately to en- 
gage in dairying exclusively. 

"in September, 1900, Mr. Smith married Miss 
Sarah Ouimby, a native of Snohomish county and 
daughter of Benjamin F. and Mary Quimby, old- 
time residents of the county, both of whom are now 
dead. The father was born in Maine and followed 
the sea for years. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith have 
been born two children, Grace and Bernard Ralph. 
In politics Mr. Smith is a Republican. He has just 
commenced to reap the results of the former years 
of severe and ardent struggle with Nature in clear- 
ing his land and getting it into shape for cultivation, 
and has every prospect of still greater prosperity to 
come. 

IVER JOHNSON, one of the Snohomish val- 
ley's prominent pioneer dairymen and stockraisers. 



residing two miles east of Lowell, to which he came 
years before inception was given to the present city 
of Everett, is a typical representative of the sturdy 
Norwegian race, born in the old country in 18-13. 
His father, Ole Klaven, who took his name from 
the old family homestead, was a farmer by occupa- 
tion. He passed away in Norway in 1850 at the 
age of forty-five. His wife, Seneva (Honveken) 
Klaven, also a native of Norway, died in 1903 at 
the unusual age of ninety-five. The subject of this 
sketch is the third child of this union, there being 
three girls and two boys in the family. He worked 
at home on the farm until thirteen years old, then 
commenced working on his own responsibility on 
various neighboring farms and following the sea. 
In ISGG he crossed the ocean to the United States 
and at once entered the pineries of Wisconsin, at 
that time one of the most active lumber regions in 
the W'orld. Five years he worked in the woods of 
the Badger state, then crossed the plains to the 
present site of Fort Sill, Oklahoma. This govern- 
ment outpost had been laid out only two years pre- 
viously down in the very heart of the Indian coun- 
try, and for two years he worked on the construc- 
tion of the fort. At the end of this period he went 
to Jewell county, Kansas, and took a pre-emption 
claim. Upon this he proved up later and there re- 
sided eleven years. In Kansas Mr. Johnson pros- 
pered, acquiring three farms. During this period 
he made several trips to the Pacific coast, visiting 
California, Oregon and Washington, and as a re- 
sult finally decided to locate on Puget sound. Re- 
turning home, he disposed of his land and stock and 
returned to the sound, landing at Mukilteo in 1887, 
Thence he came up the Snohomish river by boat 
and bought a portion of his present place, which at 
that time was in its wild state, without house or 
clearing. With courage and industry he com- 
menced raising stock, farming on a small scale and 
getting his land into better condition, but for many 
years it was slow, discouraging work. Fortunately 
he had some money, so that he was not obliged to 
work for others to obtain a living, and gradually 
he developed his farm. At first he purchased all 
supplies in Snohomish. Now Mr. Johnson has a 
splendid 200-acre farm, substantial, fertile, and well 
stocked, all indicative of the thrifty character of its 
owner and his skill. His stock herd consists of 
about thirty-five head. 

Mr. Johnson was united in marriage to Caroline 
Alderman, a native of \\'isconsin, at Chicago, in 
1871. She is the daughter of Walter and Gunel 
(Berg) Alderman, the father of German birth, the 
mother of Norwegian descent. To this marriage 
four children have been born : Sarah and William, 
'living at home ; Julia, married ; and Freddia, who 
was accidentally drowned in the Snohomish river 
in 1894, at the age of ten. 

Fraternally, Mr. Johnson is affiliated with the 



BIOGR.\PHICAL 



Odd Fellows, belonging to the Lowell lodge. His 
political connections are with the Republican party, 
with which he has always been identified. His love 
for the fatherland has never grown cold in all the 
years that he has been absent, and in May, 1906, he 
leaves to attend the coronation ceremonies incident 
to the placing of Haakon VII., Norway's newly 
elected king, upon the throne. This will of course 
be an event of worldwide importance. As a pio- 
neer of Snohomish county, Mr. Johnson has borne 
his share of hardships and now deserves to reap the 
rewards that are coming to him, in addition to 
whicli he holds the esteem and confidence of his 
fellow citizens. 



ISAAC ASBERY. — Among the foremost, pro- 
gressive business men of Marysville stands Isaac 
Asbery, of the well-known hardware firm of Smith 
& Asbery. He is a native of Indiana, born Febru- 
ary 13, 1852, in Park county. His parents, Will- 
iam and Margaret (Richards) Asbery, were born 
in Kentucky, the date of the father's birth being 
1815. The father was a descendant of early pio- 
neers of that state. He moved with his parents to 
Indiana in 1828, assisting in clearing up a home- 
stead, and there his death occurred when he had 
reached the age of sixty-six. The mother, in her 
eighty-third year, is now living in Indiana. She is 
the mother of four children. Isaac Asbery received 
his education in the common schools of his native 
state, and meanwhile picked up the butcher trade, 
his father being at that time engaged in the busi- 
ness. At the age of eighteen he rented his father's 
farm and operated it for fourteen years, or until 
1884, when he went to Coos county, Oregon, and 
farmed for several years. He located, in the spring 
of 1888, at Olympia, Washington, remaining there 
till I-'cbruary of the next year, when, having pur- 
chased twenty acres of land situated two and one- 
half miles north of Marysville, from James Come- 
ford in the fall of 1888, he moved his family on it. 
It was then densely covered with timber which he 
cleared off, seeding the tract to grass. Four years 
later, in 1893, he moved to the southern part of 
California, making that his home for a year, at the 
end of that time returning to Indiana. He owned a 
grocery and meat shop in that state for several 
years, but in 1898 again took up his residence in 
Washington. After farming on his ranch for two 
seasons, he moved to Marysville, he and Fred Smith 
purchasing the hardware business previously owned 
by Edmund Smith. 

Mr. Asbery was married in Park county, Indi- 
ana, in 1872, to Miss Josephine Akers, the daugh- 
ter of Joel and Mary (Angell) Akers, both natives 
of Virginia. Her father lived for some years in 
Indiana, going from that state to Kansas in 1876 ; 
his home is now at Pomona, Kansas. The mother 



was the descendant of a well known famil}' that 
owned large numbers of slaves in colonial days. 
Mrs. Asbery is also a Virginian, born October 11,. 
1852. She acquired an excellent education in the 
schools of her native state. Four children have 
been born to this union : Sanford T., born in Indi- 
ana, now living in Marysville; Mrs. Ethel M. Wil- 
cox, whose husband is a well known clerk for 
Metzer & Wildes, of Everett, also born in In- 
diana, and two children, twins, who died in 
infancy. Mr. Asbery is prominent in the Ma- 
sonic fraternity ; he is also a communicant of the 
Baptist church, and in the position of clerk gives 
to its various interests the same careful attention 
which he bestows on his personal affairs. He is a 
member of the Republican party, but has never 
sought any political preferment. By serving his 
patrons courteously and with due thought as to their 
needs, while adhering strictly to high principles, 
Air. Asbery is building up a fine trade, and estab- 
lishing an enviable reputation for the firm. As a 
man of unquestioned business ability, his opinion 
concerning any public enterprise carries great 
weight and few residents of Marysville have con- 
tributed more largely to the upbuilding of the town 
than has this honored citizen. 



FREDERICK SMITH, of the well-known 
hardware firm of Smith & Asbery, of Marysville, is 
one of the most enterprising and practical business 
men to be found in Snohomish county. A native of 
Yorkshire, England, the date of his birth was June 
3, 1865. His father, Edmund Smith, was born in 
England in 1817, and after acquiring a thorough 
education was married in that country. Immigrat- 
ing to the United States, he settled in Oskaloosa, 
Iowa, and farmed until the spring of 1883. He 
then moved to Washington Territory, purchasing 
160 acres of land from Dennis Brigham, the ranch 
comprising a portion of the site of Everett. In 
1890 he sold this property to Rucker Brothers, who 
first laid out the town of Everett. That year he 
opened a hardware store in Marysville, the first in 
the town, and was thus the pioneer in that line of 
business. Ten years later he sold out to his son and 
Isaac Asbery, who have continued the enterprise 
which he had so firmly established. Locating in 
Montesano, Washington, he started a bakery, and 
is now devoting his entire attention to it. His wife, 
Jane (Johnson) Smith, is also of English nativity. 
To this union five children were born, Frederick 
being the oldest. He acquired a thorough educa- 
tion in the schools of Iowa, whither his parents 
had moved during his childhood. He was eighteen 
when the family found a home in Washington. 
Working on the ranch with his father until he 
reached his majority, he then studied telegraphy, 
his first position being in the office of the Paciffc 



942 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



Postal Telegraph and Cable company at Bothell, 
King county. So carefully and conscientiously did 
he discharge his duties that the company retained 
him for a period of nine years. After a three 
months' vacation he accepted the management of 
the Sunset Telephone and Telegraph Company at 
Mount Vernon, and a year later was transferred by 
the company to Whatcom. The following year he 
was stationed at Seattle, remaining there until 1900, 
when he and Mr. Asbery formed a partnership and 
purchased the hardware business of Mr. Smith's 
father. 

Mr. Smith was married at Bothell, September 
23, 1890, to Frances Felmly, a native of Missouri, 
born in 1870. Her father, Andrew J. Felmly, also 
a Missourian, born at Lathem, became a resident of 
Washington in 1883, and is now living at Seattle. 
Mrs. Smith received a careful education in the 
schools of that city. She and Mr. Smith have one 
child, Jennie W., born at Bothell. August 1, 1891. 
Politically. Mr. Smith is a loyal Republican, and as 
a member of the city council he has manifested his 
public spirit by taking an active interest in the af- 
fairs of the town. In the Odd Fellows' fraternity 
he is a past grand. Mrs. Smith is a prominent 
Rebecca, is a past grand, and has been honored by 
being chosen to represent the lodge. In addition 
to his interest in the hardware business, Mr. Smith 
owns some valuable city property. He is a keen, 
alert business man. devoting his splendid talents to 
his rapidly increasing trade. His well known in- 
tegrity of character and his genial personality have, 
won for him an enviable position among his asso- 
ciates. 



FRANK L. BARTLETT, one of Marysville's 
well-known merchants, was born near Lone Rock, 
Wisconsin, September 2, 18G2. His father, John 
Bartlett, was a native of Vermont. Moving to 
Wisconsin in the early days, he was one of the hon- 
ored pioneers of that state. He later made his 
home at Lansing, Minnesota, and engaged in the 
mercantile business for several years, then sold out, 
continuing, however, to reside there till his death. 
Martha Bartlett, the mother, was born and mar- 
ried in the state of Vermont, and was of English 
descent ; she was the mother of six children. Frank 
L. Bartlett spent his early years in the schools of 
Wisconsin and Minnesota, acquiring a practical 
education, of which he was to make such good use 
in after years. At the age of fourteen he began 
working out on the neighboring farms and was thus 
employed for six years. In the spring of 1886 he 
went to California, finding an opening in a general 
merchandise store at National City, where he 
where he worked as clerk for two years. He later 
returned to Minnesota, but after an eight-months" 
residence decided that California suited him better, 



so went to Los Angeles, working there the next 
fourteen months. In 1890 he went to Seattle, to 
investigate the conditions existing in the great 
northwest country, and at the end of two months 
thus spent came to Marysville. He at once ac- 
cepted a position as clerk in the store owned by 
Mark Swinnerton, proving so valuable to his em- 
ployer that he was retained for five years. Having 
established a reputation for energy and good busi- 
ness judgment, he was tendered the position of 
manager of the hardware establishment of Edmund 
Smith, which he accepted, and was thus employed 
until the spring of 1898, when he purchased the 
general merchandise store owned by Tatham 
Brothers. To this business he has since devoted 
his entire time, and has had the pleasure of seeing 
it grow year by year under his wise and careful 
management. 

At Marysville, in 1895, Mr. Bartlett and Mrs. 
Amelia Fox were united in marriage. Her father, 
George Shafifer, was born in Germany. Coming to 
the L'nited States in early manhood, he located in 
Indiana, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits. 
His death occurred in that state many years ago. 
Mrs. Bartlett was born in Indiana in 18(J4, and there 
received her education. She was left an orphan in 
childhood. Her first marriage was to John Fox, 
of Indiana, and to this union one child, Ruth, was 
born. Her husband's death occurred in Marysville. 
The following children have been born, in Marys- 
ville, to Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett : Rex, Carl J., Millie 
M., Iris L., and Frank L. Mr. Bartlett is a firm 
believer in the doctrines of the Democratic party, 
which he supports in every possible way. He may 
justly be termed a self-made man, his career afford- 
ing an excellent illustration of what an ambitious, 
energetic young man can accomplish. 



THOMAS D. DAVIES, one of the well known 
residents of Marysville, residing three and one-half 
miles northeast of town, on Kellogg Marsh, was 
born in South Wales, September 10, 18G1. His 
parents, David and Sarah (Williams) Davies, were 
also natives of Wales. The father, born in 1815, 
followed farming till his death, in 1882. The 
mother is still living in that country, at the age of 
eighty. Thomas D. Davies, one of eight children, 
when a mere boy of ten years, began working in 
a coal mine. Later he secured a scanty education 
in the common schools, again entering the mines 
at the age of thirteen. He was thus employed until, 
in 1881, he left home, immigrating to the United 
States, locating first in Colorado, and a year later 
in Pennsylvania. After mining in the latter state a 
year, he came to Washington in August, 1883, set- 
tling at Newcastle. At the end of his fourth year 
of residence in this state he made a visit to his na- 
tive country and also England, returning to Wash- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



943 



ington with his bride. He stopped in Franklin a 
few months, and then, in January, 1889, proceeded 
to Marysville, where five years prior to this he had 
purchased eighty acres, and had also taken up a 
homestead near the town. Of the eighty-acre tract 
of land, sixty acres were in the marsh districts, all 
heavily timbered with cedar. It was here in this 
wilderness that he and his brave young wife made 
their permanent home. All the supplies were packed 
in for some years, until a road could be made out 
of the rude trail that was the only means of reaching 
the ranch. There were only five white women in all 
that region at that early date, and it was not until 
1896 that settlement became general. 

Mr. Davies w-as married in 1887 to Ann Reese, 
torn in Wales in 1864 ; her death occurred in 1896. 
In June, 1904, Mr. Davies was again married, his 
Tjride this time being Hannah Jensen, a native of 
Denmark. Her father, Rasmus Jensen, having 
died, she and her mother came to the United States, 
finding a home in Minnesota, where the mother 
<iied some years later. In his political belief Mr. 
Davies is independent. He and his estimable wife 
are identified with the Congregational church. The 
subject of education is one that appeals very 
strongly to Mr. Davies, and as clerk and director 
he has rendered valuable service to the cause during 
his long years of service. He believes it to be one 
of the most important factors in our national 
growth and prosperity. He is an energetic, pro- 
gressive man, and it was largely through his in- 
strumentality that the rural free delivery and the 
farmers' telephone service were secured for this 
section. He, with eleven other farmers, built the 
telephone line from Marysville. Mr. Davies is rec- 
ognized as one of the successful agriculturists of 
this locality. He now has fifty acres of his farm in 
a fine state of cultivation, devoting it principally to 
mixed farming. His old home having been de- 
stroyed by fire in 1904, he has replaced it by a fine 
ten-room house, modern in all its appointments, 
and lighted with acetylene gas. As a man of in- 
dustry and correct principles, he holds the respect 
and confidence of his fellow citizens. 



CHARLES A. ANDERSON, who resides near 
Marysville, Washington, is one of the well known 
farmers of this section. Born February 1, 1863, in 
Sweden, he is the son of Adolph and Mary (An- 
derson) Anderson, both of whom are still living in 
the land of their nativity, the father being seventy- 
five years old. The boyhood of Charles A. Ander- 
son did not differ from that of most of his com- 
panions. He acquired his education in the common 
schools, and at the age of twenty-three left home to 
"begin his career. He worked on farms and in the 
"woods for some time, but, anxious to avail himself 
of the larger opportunities to be found in the coun- 



try across the ocean, he finally immigrated to the 
United States in 1888, where he first located in 
Illinois on a farm. Going thence to San Francisco 
he found employment in the redwood camps of 
Sonoma county, remaining two years. He then 
went to Seattle, and on to Snohomish, working for 
a year in the latter place. February 16, 1893, he 
came to Marysville, arriving in time to witness the 
remarkable snow fall of that year, when the ground 
on the level was covered to the depth of four feet. 
The following year he purchased twenty acres, all 
heavily timbered, and has made it his permanent 
home since that time. To clear and get it in shape 
for cultivation would have seemed a discouraging 
task to many men, but Mr. Anderson belonged to 
that class of hardy pioneers who found pleasure in 
surmounting difficulties. He now has his farm in 
an excellent condition, devoting it principally to the 
dairy industry, in which he is very successful. He 
markets the product in Everett. 

Mr. Anderson was married in 189'2 to Hilda 
Hanson, a native of Sweden, who came alone to 
this country. She is the daughter of Hans and 
Johanna Hanson. The mother died April 26, 1905 ; 
the father still lives in Sweden. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Anderson one child has been born, Agnes, the date 
of her birth being September 11, 1894. She died 
May 13, 1903. In political belief Mr. Anderson 
adheres to Republican principles, but has never 
taken an active part in politics. He and his wife are 
prominently identified with the Lutheran church. He 
is a practical and successful farmer, progressive 
in his ideas, whose undertakings are prospered be- 
cause of the careful attention which he gives to 
anything that claims his interest. As a well in- 
formed and public-spirited citizen he is relied on to 
further the interests of town and county. During 
the twelve years of his residence here he has wit- 
nessed great changes in the surrounding country, 
and has rejoiced in the growth and development 
everywhere apparent. His energy, ambition and 
strict integrity have won for him the esteem of all 
who are associated with him in either business or 
social relationships. 



OLE O. MOSKELAND.— It is a noticeable 
fact that many of the successful agriculturists of 
Snohomish country are of foreign birth, as is the 
one whose name initiates this biography. He was 
born in Norway, July 7, 1862, the son of Ole and 
Anna (Oleson) Christianson, who are still living in 
the land of their nativity, Norway. The father 
has reached the age of seventy ; the mother is one 
year his senior. To this union eight children have 
been born, the subject of this sketch being the sec- 
ond child. Ole O. Moskeland spent his early \-ears 
at home, acquiring an education and assisting his 
father in the support of the younger members of 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



the family. At the age of sixteen he went to sea, 
remaining on the water the following ten years, 
during which he made two trips to Norway from 
the port of New York City. He then studied me- 
chanical engineering in New York, coming to 
Washington in 1890, when he had completed the 
course and secured a license. After a short stay in 
Seattle, he went to La Conner, making his head- 
quarters there for four years, during which time he 
worked in the woods and on the farms of that lo- 
cality. Later, he and a brother settled near Marys- 
ville, leasing a 200-acre farm on Kellogg Marsh. 
The land was nearly all covered with timber. In 
the next six years they succeeded in clearing off 
one hundred acres. At the expiration of the lease 
Mr. Moskeland purchased sixty-five acres of tim- 
ber land, Nvhich he has transformed into the fine 
farm on which he now resides. He has cleared 
forty acres in the five years since he became owner 
of the property, and now has twelve acres in crops. 
He devotes special attention to dairying, and is 
already winning a large measure of success along 
this line, possessing an excellent herd of cattle. 

Mr. Moskeland was married April 23, 1898, to. 
Mrs. Janette TurnbuU, a native of England. She 
came to the LTnited States in 1887 with her first 
husband. Her parents. John and Mary Storar, are 
both deceased. Four children have been born to 
Mr. and Mrs. Moskeland— John O., Albert S., who 
is deceased, Anna M,, and Edward. Mr. Moske- 
land is a member of the American Order of United 
Workmen. He is a finii licliever in the doctrines of 
the Republican iiart\. altlinngh he has never cared 
to take an active part in political matters. The 
family are well known members of the Lutheran 
church. One of the thrifty and industrious citizens 
of Marysvilie, Mr. Moskeland is respected by his 
many acquaintances and esteemed by his associates. 



LARS C. NILSON (deceased).— Few resi- 
dents of Marysvilie, Washington, could claim a 
larger circle of sincere friends than this honored 
pioneer, whose death, occurring January 23, 1903, 
was the occasion of profound sorrow throughout 
the entire community. 

Born in Sweden, November 7, 1855, to parents 
also of Swedish nativity, both of whom are now 
deceased, he received his education in the schools 
of that country, later assisting his father in the 
work of the farm. Thereby he became familiar 
with the details of that occupation, and laid the 
foundation for the sturdy manhood which was to 
follow, while establishing those habits of industry 
and energy that were to be the marked characteris- 
tics of the man. Many of his countrymen had im-. 
migrated to the United States, there finding larger 
openings than were afforded in their own country, 
and, following their example, Mr. Nilson came to 



Washington in 1887, arriving in Marysvilie, August 
10th. That year he took a homestead of 160 acres, 
situated four and one-half miles northeast of town, 
on Kellogg Marsh. It was all heavily timbered, and 
could be reached only by a trail, thus necessitating 
the packing of all supplies. The ranch affording no- 
adequate means of support for his family during 
the first ten years, he worked out wherever he could 
find employment, and in the meantime toiled at all 
hours to clear his land. There were only a few set- 
tlers in this district at that early date, but others 
came in the course of the next few years. 

Mr. Nilson was married in 1876 to Nettie An- 
derson, the daughter of Anders and Mary (Mun- 
son) Anderson, both of whom died in their native 
land — Norway. Bravely enduring the hardships 
and risking the dangers of pioneer life, Mrs. Nilson 
stood by her husband's side, banishing the loneli- 
ness by her sweet, womanly presence, and affording 
the inspiration which only a true wife can bestow. 
With only three other white women in all that com- 
munity at the time when it first became her home, 
there must often have been hours during the en- 
forced absence of her husband when Mrs. Nilson 
longed for the companionship of other days, but 
no complaining word escaped her lips as she min- 
istered to the needs of her family, preparing a 
tempting meal from the all too scant supplies avail- 
able in that wilderness. Settlement having become 
more general in these last few years, life had just 
begun to grow less strenuous when her life-long 
companion fell by her side. With the rare courage 
so characteristic of her nature, Mrs. Nilson assumed 
the responsibilities from which a loving heart had 
previously relieved her, and with the aid of her fam- 
ily has managed the farm. At the time of his death 
Mr. Nilson had twelve acres under plow, twenty- 
five in pasture, and was devoting most of his at- 
tention to dairying. Six children were born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Nilson : Mrs. Hilda Meyers, of Marys- 
vilie, whose husband is the well-known shoe mer- 
chant : Fred, Ida, Gusta, Adolph, and Christina. 
Mr. Nilson was a loyal Republican, always giving 
the party his undivided support, although he never 
aspired to any political office. He was a faithful 
and devoted member of the Lutheran church, in 
which his presence and support are now sadly 
missed. A kind, thoughtful husband and father, 
a loyal and trusted friend and neighbor, and an en- 
terprising and public spirited citizen, Mr. Nilson 
left behind him a memory that will not grow dim 
as the years slip away. 



PETER PAULSON, one of the thrifty, Indus- 
trious young farmers of Marysvilie, Washington,, 
resides five miles north of town on the Big Marsh. 
He was born in Norway September 6, 1870. His par- 
ents, Paul and Tobine Paulson, also natives of Nor- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



945- 



way, are both deceased, the father passing away in 
1897 at the age of seventy. Leaving home when nine- 
teen years old, Peter Paulson sailed for the United 
States, convinced that here were to be found su- 
perior advantages for a young man of steady, in- 
dustrious habits. After stopping in Seattle for a 
short time, he came on to La Conner and spent the 
summer of 1SS9 on a farm. Later he located at 
Marysville where he worked on farms and in the 
woods till 1897, at which time he rented the Hogan 
farm on Kellogg Marsh for a period of five years. 
So successfully did he manage his affairs that the 
year previous to the expiration of the lease he was 
in a position to purchase the 180 acres of land that 
now constitute his farm. There were at that time 
only five acres of it cleared and that was covered 
with stumps, but he now has twenty acres in culti- 
vation and eighty acres in condition to furnish pas- 
ture. He devotes the greater share of his attention 
to dairying, keeping a fine herd of cattle, and he- 
cause of his thorough knowledge of the industry 
and careful attention to its many requirements, is 
rapidly winning success. Last year on part of his 
farm he raised three crops of hay, a fact which 
evidences the wonderful fertdity of the land. 

On July 4, 1896, Mr. Paulson and Mary Larson 
were united in marriage at Seattle. Mrs. Paulson 
is also a native of Norway, born January 1, 18G6. 
Immigrating to the United States, she first made 
her home in Iowa, coming to Marysville in 1893. 
Her father, Lars Larson, is deceased, but her 
mother, Anne Larson, lives in Norway. Three 
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Paulson : 
An infant, Paul, deceased ; Paul, Adolph and Mil- 
lard. Mr. Paulson is active in fraternal circles, be- 
ing a member of the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen and the Foresters of America. He loy- 
ally supports the Republican party, although for 
himself he has never sought any political office. He 
and his family are identified with the Lutheran 
church. Earnest, ambitious and untiring in his 
zeal to make a success of life, he justly merits the 
prosperity that he now enjoys. Coming to this 
country in debt for a part of his fare, he is now sur- 
rounded by evidences of what he has been able to 
accumulate by his own unaided efforts, and he has 
good cause to congratulate himself on deciding to 
make this his home. 



LUDWIG A. HOVIK, a well-to-do farmer re- 
siding five miles north of Marysville, on the Big 
Marsh, was born in Norway, April 8, 185G. His 
parents, Andrew D. and Anna (Andersdatter) 
Hovik, both natives of Norway, are still living 
there, the father aged seventy-five, the mother, sev- 
enty-eight. The second of a family of ten children, 
Ludwig A. Hovik began early in life to support 
himself. His father was a contractor and builder, 
and as there was little along that line that a boy of 



thirteen could do, he hired out to a farmer and 
fisherman, who in addition to exacting an unusual 
amount of work, treated him most cruelly, and gave 
him for the first year's labor but two pairs of 
wooden shoes and a suit of clothes. The following 
year he found employment as a shepherd. Return- 
ing home, he spent six months fishing for his 
father, after which he worked on a farm for two- 
years. Going later to the city of Bergen, he re- 
mained there thirteen years, nine of which were 
spent in a gas establishment, he being employed as 
fireman. The first three years of his residence there 
he worked in a brewery. In 1886 he left his native 
land, sailing for the L^nited States where so many of 
his countrymen had found homes, located at Red- 
wing, Minnesota, and worked for a time there on a 
farm, afterward going to Kenyon. There he found' 
employment on the railroad. Having eventually 
decided to visit the Northwest, he came to Stan- 
wood, Washington, where he remained two months, 
going thence to Everett. He soon had charge of a 
crew of men and was engaged in dyking for the 
Everett Improvement Company. So faithfully did 
he discharge his duties that he was retained for 
four years. On coming to that locality he took up 
a small island embracing nineteen acres, which he 
later sold. The ensuing two years he worked on 
the docks, and assisted in building the first and 
only whaleback steamship ever constructed in Ev- 
erett- or on the Pacific coast. By wise and careful 
management, he was able to purchase the eighty- 
acre farm on which he now resides. Very little 
had been done on it in the way of improvements 
when he bought it, so that its present condition is 
due solely to the thrift and energy of the owner, 
who now has ten acres in cultivation, and sixty in 
pasture. He is especially interested in dairying. 

Mr. Hovik was married in Norway in 1877 to 
Johanna Johnson, also a native of that country, 
whose parents died there. She has a brother liv- 
ing in Washington. Nine children have been born 
to this union, as follows : Andrew and Mrs. Inga 
Rowley, living at Marysville ; Ingolf, Alfred, Louis, 
Janie, Agnes, Edward and Harold. Mr. Hovik is a 
loyal Republican. He held the office of road super- 
visor for a time, but aside from that has never ac- 
cepted any position of trust, except membership on 
the local school board. By eight years of service in 
that body he has attested his interest in the cause of 
education and his willingness to promote the same 
to the extent of his ability, even by discharging the 
duties of a salariless and usually thankless office. 
An earnest, conscientious man, he enjoys the esteem 
and confidence of those who know him, the good- 
will of all. He and his family adhere to the 
Lutheran church. 



ISAAC HARTER.— Among the thrifty and in- 
dustrious agriculturists of Marysville, Washington^ 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



is numbered Isaac Harter, who resides six miles 
north of town. He is of English nativity, born in 
Lancashire, April 6, 1851. His parents, Isaac and 
Mary (Greenhalgh) Harter, were also born in 
England. The father, born in January, 1820, is 
still living; the mother died in 1859. The present 
wise laws relative to child labor had not been en- 
acted in that country, hence at the age of six years 
Isaac Harter began to work in the mines. It was 
a life full of hardships and dangers, but the child- 
ish hands toiled faithfully at their tasks, and the 
boy soon became known for his industry. Thus 
the years slipped by and he grew to manhood amid 
these unwholesome surroundings. Some idea of 
the existing conditions may be formed from the 
fact that at that time the average wages paid a man 
was from two shillings and six pence to three shil- 
lings a day. On that meager sum Mr. Harter man- 
aged to support a family for a number of years, 
while at the same time adding yearly to the fund 
which was to purchase transportation to the United 
States. To reach this favored country with its 
abundant opportunities and its rich reward for 
earnest toil was a cherished hope that was realized 
in September, 1881, when he and his family found 
a home in Iowa. After mining in Lucas county for 
five years, he immigrated to Tacoma, Washington, 
and remained there three months. On December 
11, 1886, he filed on the IGO-acre claim on which he 
now resides. The nearest trail was three miles 
away, and Marysville, where the store and postoffice 
were located, was six miles away. So dense was the 
forest that it was impossible to see objects but a 
rod away, and in order to reach the school house 
his children were obliged to make their way through 
the brush two miles. The first dwelling place, a 
rude cabin, is still standing. He had an income of 
ten dollars per month from property in Iowa, and 
this, with what he could earn from doing odd jobs, 
constituted his entire means of support during those 
first years while he was clearing his land and get- 
ting it in condition to cultivate. He now has four- 
teen acres in crops, and fifty in pasture. He de- 
votes much attention to dairying. Recalling the 
early years so full of hardships and the limitations 
necessitated by small means, he is able to appre- 
ciate to the fullest extent the prosperity that now 
crowns his efforts. His present home is finished in 
cedar which he himself spHt and carried out of the 
woods. 

Mr. Harter was married in England March 33, 
1873, to Jane Marsden. Her parents, David and 
Helen Marsden, are deceased. Her other relatives 
are living in England, her native country, where 
she was born in Fabruary, 1847. Mr. and Mrs. 
Harter have four children : Mrs. Mary E. Bryan, 
of Marysville; Mrs. Elizabeth Kennedy, of Stim- 
son's Crossing; John and Herbert, at home. Mr. 
Harter is independent in political matters, and now 



holds the office of justice of the peace. In religious 
belief he is a Spiritualist. Since locating here he 
has been away from home but one winter, which 
was spent in the Black Diamond mine near Seattle. 
Two years ago he went to Bellingham for a short 
time, that being the longest trip he has taken in 
the last nineteen years. His success as an agricul- 
turist is due to the fact that he has given his farm 
such careful personal attention, instead of delegat- 
ing the responsibility to others. He is recognized 
as a man of energy and thrift, and holds the respect 
of his fellow citizens. 



ARTHUR M. WESTOVER, the well known 
agriculturist residing six miles north of Marysville, 
on the Big Marsh, is a native of Dalhousie, Nova 
Scotia. He was born in May, 18G3, the son of 
Daniel and Lucy (Silver) Westover, who were also 
born in that country. The father, born in 1833, 
followed farming and shipbuilding till his death in 
1871. The mother is now living in Seattle, at the 
age of eighty-three. Arthur M. Westover, one of 
a family of eight children, acquired his education 
in the schools of New Brunswick, whither his par- 
ents had moved when he was seven years old. Later 
he learned the carpenter trade, and was thus en- 
gaged prior to coming West. Leaving home when 
nineteen years of age, he went to Chicago, and re- 
mained there seven years. In 1888 he came to 
Seattle and made that his home for some time. 
While living there with his mother, he took up the 
homestead claim on which he now lives. All the 
supplies used by himself and the few other settlers 
in that region were brought from Marysville. A 
boat running to Seattle made tri-weekly trips at 
that time. The first schoolhouse was built the year 
after he came. There was then no trail extending 
to his land, the nearest one being a mile aawy. To- 
day three railroads run within three miles of his 
farm, and another will doubtless soon be con- 
structed. He avers that the sweetest music that 
ever greeted his ears was the whistle of the first 
Northern Pacific engine that passed his ranch. Of 
the one hundred and sixty acres constituting his 
original claim, he now has thirty-five in excellent 
cultivation, and twenty in pasture, and devotes his 
attention to diversified farming, believing that to 
be the most satisfactory. He has a large herd of 
cattle, and the usual number of other domestic ani- 
mals found on a well managed farm ; also has a 
splendid modern home, with hot and cold water, 
and lighted with acetylene gas. 

Mr. Westover was married in 1895 to Maud 
Avery, a native of Michigan, whom he met while 
living in Chicago. She is the daughter of Delbert 
and Celinda Avery, well known pioneers of Mich- 
igan, the latter of whom is still living. Mr. and 
Mrs. Westover have one child, Delbert D., aged 
seven years. Mr. Westover loyally adheres to Re- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



publican doctrines, but has never had any desire to 
tc prominent in political matters. He and his fam- 
ily attend the Episcopal church. He is a thought- 
ful, intelligent man, and is justly considered one of 
the most influential members of the community. 
The respect and honor so freely accorded him by 
liis fellow citizens is a tribute to his many sterling 
qualities. 



LOUIS AXDERSOX, residing a mile and a 
Iialf southwest of Edgecomb and six and a half 
miles north of Marysville, is among the well known 
pioneer farmers of that section of Snohomish 
county, having hved there for nineteen years. He is 
•one of Sweden's native sons, born April 2G, IS.S-I, 
the fifth child of Anders Swanson and Mary (Mun- 
son) Swanson. The father, a stonemason by trade, 
was born in Sweden in 1815, descended from one 
of the oldest families in the country, and passed 
away in 1900 after a useful life. The mother died 
in 1896 at the age of si.xty-nine, after rearing a 
iamily of seven children, four boys and three girls. 
The subject of this review attended school and 
-worked with his father on the farm until twenty- 
tliree years old. His brother. Peter, had come to 
the United States some time before this, and in ]87'8 
Louis Anderson and Paul Poison crossed the ocean 
to join their relatives in the Pacific Northwest. 
The Poisons, originally from Loholm, Sweden, are 
among the oldest and most honored pioneers of 
Skagit county, and with this family Mr. Anderson 
was well acquainted in the old country. He went 
to work at general labor for the first two years of 
his residence in Washington, then a sparsely settled 
territory, after which he went to the cascades of the 
Columbia, Oregon, and managed a stone quarry for 
•the government during the construction of the 
Cascade locks. At times he had sevent}--five men 
tmder him. After seven years of this responsible 
Avork, or in 18ST, Mr. Anderson resigned to en- 
gage in farming on Kellogg Marsh, Snohomish 
county, buying 150 acres for this purpose. The 
country was then wild and trails prevailed instead 
of roads. All supplies had to be packed in to the 
community by horse or on one's back, so rough 
was it at that time. Four years later he sold the 
place for which he had paid $750 at an advance of 
nearly $6,000, or for $6,-500, though he had spent 
much time and money on it. With the proceeds Mr. 
Anderson invested in his present place, which then 
■consisted of one hundred and sixty acres, of which 
■only three were cleared. Since that time he has 
sold forty acres, but still has left one of the finest 
marsh farms in the community, and is constantly 
improving it. Mr. Anderson keeps a small, select 
licrd of dairy cows. 

The marriage of Mr. Anderson and Matilda 
Swenson, the daughter of - Swen Pehrson, was 
solemnized at Seattle November 4, 1887, and 



marked the close of a romance which had begun 
years before in Sweden, Mrs. Anderson crossing 
the ocean to join him. Mr. Pehrson is still living 
in Sweden, aged eighty-seven years. The mother 
died when Mrs. Anderson was but seven years old. 
After passing through the vicissitudes and hard- 
ships of pioneer life to the rewards that followed, 
Mrs. Anderson was called to the future life April 
22, 1905, mourned as a personal loss by all who 
knew her. To this marriage five children were 
born, all of whom are living: William, Anton, 
Bettie, Lottie and Lawrence. The family are af- 
filiated with the Lutheran church. Politically, Mr. 
Anderson is a Republican, and attends the caucuses 
and conventions of his party regularly. He is a 
director of his school district, on whose board he 
has served seven years, and is an ardent advocata 
of good roads, clean, honest government and other 
public measures that will benefit the country. He 
is one of the forceful citizens of his community and 
countv. 



WILLIAM H. WESTO\'ER. operating and 
owning one of the finest farms in the fertile sec- 
tion lying between Edgecomb and Marysville, Sno- 
homish county, is one of the original pioneers of the 
Big Marsh to which he came in 1884. Since that 
date he has devoted his best abilities and energies 
to the upbuilding and development of this portion 
of the sound country with not only substantial 
financial results but -also with credit to his public 
spirit and unselfish endeavors to promote the gen- 
eral good. 

Of German descent on the paternal and English 
on the maternal side, William H. Westover was 
born on the Nova Scotian peninsula, Canada, April 
15, 1855, the son of Daniel and Lucy (Silver) 
Westover. The elder Westover, who followed 
shipbuilding and farming, was also a native of 
Canada, born in 1823. His grandfather came to the 
United States from Germany during the eighteenth 
century and served with the American patriots in 
the Revolutionary War. After that conflict the. 
family settled in Canada. Daniel Westover passed 
away in 1871. Mrs. Westover, the mother of Will- 
iam H., is living in Seattle in her eighty-fourth 
year. Of six boys and two girls constituting her 
family, the subject of this sketch is second in age. 
He worked with his father and attended school in 
Nova Scotia until twenty-one years old, at that age 
taking up life's responsibilities alone. He was first 
employed seven years in the great saw mills at St. 
Johns, New Brunswick, at the conclusion of which 
service he went to Wisconsin. Three years passed 
in the pineries of that state. In 188-t Mr. Westover 
determined to come to the Pacific coast and ac- 
cordingly made his way across the continent to 
Seattle. Thence he came direct by boat (there 
were then no railroads) to Marysville, a little trad- 



948 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



ing village near the mouth of the Snohomish river 
at that time, and in company with other hardy 
spirits — Seymour Shoultez, Charles Murph)^, John 
W' . Dalgleish and one or two others — blazed a trail 
through the Big Marsh, buried deeply in the forest 
north of Marysville. There all took land. These 
men were truly pioneers in every sense of the word, 
dauntless in their courage, optimistic in their hopes, 
and willing in the sacrifices they made toward the 
development of the county. For many years Mr. 
Westover was obliged to work out for others to 
obtain a start, but gradually his clearing grew, the 
water was drained and considerable produce re- 
warded his annual toil. During the second year of 
his residence, Blackman Brothers established a log- 
ging camp between his place and Marysville, and 
. for them lie worked a short time. He also spent a 
period in the coal mines at New Castle, King 
county, l)ut ]iractically since then he has devoted his 
entire energies to his place with substantial results. 
His land is of the very best quality, consisting of 
one hundred and fifty-two acres, of which eighty 
are cleared (an unusually large amount for this 
region), \\hicli raises a fine grade of oats and hay. 
He also maintains a dairy herd and considerable 
other stock. Mr. Westover has served as a school 
director of his district, and assisted in building the 
first schoolhouse erected in the community, cedar 
"shakes" being used in its construction. Politically, 
he is a Republican. 

In 1893 Mrs. Celinda Avery, a native of Mich- 
igan, who came with her parents to Washington in 
1892, was united in marriage to Mr. Westover. 
Her mother still resides with her on the farm. Mrs. 
Westover is a member of the Baptist church. Both 
Mr. and Mrs. Westover are esteemed by all who 
know them and honored as pioneers of the commu- 
nity of which they form so substantial a part. 



PETER GRAVELLE, for the past thirty years 
a resident of Mukilteo, and among the earliest pio- 
neers of Snohomish county, is of French Canadian 
descent, a race that has produced frontiersmen so 
lavishly, and that for courage and ability to make 
its way in a new country has probably no superior. 
History's pages are filled with records of their 
valiant deeds and daring explorations into wild 
regions and in the far west they have generally 
laid the foundations of white settlement, largely due 
to their connection with the old fur companies. The 
subject of this sketch was born in Canada February 
17, 1830, and is the son of Charles Gravelle, who 
died in 1894, and Jennie (Rabbeau) Gravelle, also 
dead. Peter Gravelle was denied the privilege of 
attending school, but by reason of extensive read- 
ing and careful observation he is nevertheless an 
educated man and speaks English, French and three 
or four Indian languages fluently. He left home 
early, roved far and wide throughout the great un- 



settled western country, eventually reaching Puget 
sound, and followed varied lines of activity to make 
a living. His first visit to Snohomish county was 
in ISGT, when he made a short stay at the little post 
of Mukilteo, founded only a few years previously 
by Frost & Fowler. However, Mr. Gravelle did 
not decide to settle permanently in Snohomish 
county until ten years later, or in 1877. Then he 
took up his residence at Mukilteo, which has since 
been his home. As he was one of the first white 
men to make permanent settlement at that point and 
has remained steadfastly by the town so many years, 
he is entitled to be called one of the founders of the 
place. He built a house, set out fruit trees, planted 
garden and conducted a large trade with the In- 
dians for many years, also hunting and fishing ex- 
tensively all along the shore. Quite well he re- 
members when the only communication between 
this point and the outside world was through boats 
from \'ictoria, and often not more than one trip a 
year was made directly between that city and Aluk- 
ilteo. Mr. Gravelle was united in marriage to a 
native woman, who passed away several years ago. 
He assisted in laying the foundation of the present 
prosperous, progressive Snohomish county, endur- 
ing hardships and contributing the better part of his 
life til the cause of civilization and for these serv- 
ices to mankind he is deserving of substantial recog- 
nition in this history and his name is justly enrolled 
among the honored, esteemed pioneers of this sec- 
tion. 



JAjMES BRADY. — Among the most prominent 
citizens of Edmonds, Washington, is numbered the 
one whose name gives caption to this biography, 
James Brady, the popular mayor of the town, who 
succeeded himself at the last election. He needs nO' 
introduction to the readers of this history, as by 
reason of his long and successful career as a pro- 
fessor and superintendent of schools in the various 
towns and cities of Washington his name has be- 
come widely known. Born in Rio, Columbia 
county, Wisconsin, September 7, 1857, he is the son 
of John and Rosa (Nuggent) Brady, who were 
both natives of county Cavan, Ireland. The father 
spent his life as a farmer ; the mother, in caring for 
her husband and family. James Brady early in life 
gave evidence of a studious nature and after acquir- 
ing a rudimentary education in the common schools,, 
completed his education by a course in the Wiscon- 
sin State University, being gra'duated in the class 
of 1882. Going to Minnesota he there took up the 
profession which was to claim so many years of his 
life. Natural aptitude and thorough training hav- 
ing fitted him for this calling, he very soon at- 
tracted the attention of the older educators of the 
state, and became known as one of the talented 
young men of Houston county. For two years, 
prior to coming West, he held the office of county 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



949 



superintendent there, and established for himself 
an enviable reputation. In 1888 he made his first 
visit to the coast, locating in Seattle, then enjoying 
its first boom. Deciding to embark in the real es- 
tate business, Mr. Brady opened an office there, 
which he paid a man $100 to vacate, but, convinced 
after a year's experience that his former profession 
yielded a greater amount of satisfaction, he re- 
turned to it, and spent a number of years in King 
and Kitsap counties. Later he accepted the prin- 
cipalship of the schools of Edmonds, a position 
which he retained for seven years. During this 
time he spent his leisure hours in the study of law, 
and was admitted to the bar, but has never followed 
it as a profession. While residing in Edmonds he 
was actively identified with the municipal life of the 
city, serving one year as city clerk, and the ensuing 
year as city attorney. Elected a principal of the 
Everett schools, he removed thence and made that 
city his home for two years, when he resigned that 
he might engage in business in Edmonds, forming 
a partnership with his brother, he opened a shingle 
mill of sixty thousand capacity in 1901, and since 
that time has devoted his attention almost exclu- 
sively to building up the enterprise, meeting with 
gratifying success. 

The marriage of JMr. Brady and j\Iiss Mar- 
guerite Zenncr took place in 1888. They came West 
on their wedding trip, finding a home on the beauti- 
ful shores of Puget sound. Mrs. Brady is the 
daughter of Peter and Mary Zenner, both of whom 
are deceased. Her father was for many years a 
Avell known farmer in the state of her nativity — 
Minnesota. 

Mr. Brady is prominent in the councils of the 
Democratic party, and has always sought most 
earnestly to maintain the dignity of the party. In 

1900 he was prevailed on to be a candidate for the 
ofiice of secretary of state under Rogers. That he 
was defeated was a matter of profund regret not 
only in the ranks of his own party, but among a 
large number of voters in the other parties who 
recognized his special fitness for that position. In 

1901 he became mayor of Edmonds, and so faith- 
fully and ably did he discharge the duties devolving 
on him that at the expiration of his term he was re- 
elected. Fraternally he is' identified with the Ma- 
sons and the Ancient Order of L^nited Workmen. 
As a broad-minded, public-spirited citizen, Mr. 
Brady has ointributed materially to the welfare of 
the city which now claims him as one of her hon- 
ored residents. 



JAMES W. CURRIE, a widely known lum- 
berman of Washington, now residing three-fourths 
of a mile north of Edmonds, \\'ashington, is a na- 
tive of Canada, born in Northumberland county, 
New Brunswick, July 25, 1836. He is the son of 



Hugh and ^lary (Walsh) Currie, both of whom 
died many years ago. The father was born in 
Glasgow, Scotland ; the mother, in New Brunswick. 
Of a family of eleven children, James W. is the 
fourth, and is now the oldest surviving member. 
He has a brother living in Shelton, Washington. 
\'ery meager were the educational advantages with- 
in the reach of Mr. Currie, and he was obliged to 
leave school when he had but barely mastered the 
alphabet. His subsequent career illustrates the fact 
so frequently noted that the stern struggle with ad- 
verse circumstances in early life often develops the 
strongest characters and insures the largest meas- 
ure of success in mature years. Leaving home at 
the age of twenty-three, he engaged in logging till 
he left his native country in 1860, and located in 
Alaine. There he followed the same line of activity 
for some time, going thence to Michigan, where he 
accepted the position of superintendent of the ex- 
tensive logging interests ow-ned by Whitney & 
Remick, of Detroit. Being thoroughly familiar 
with the details of the business, he discharged his 
duties in such a satisfactory manner that he was 
retained for thirteen years, at the end of which time 
the work in that location was completed. After log- 
ging for himself for a few years he decided to in- 
vestigate the lumber regions of the northwest, and 
came to W'ashington in 1875, making the trip via 
San Francisco. Seattle had not then a foot of side- 
walk, and gave no promise of the marvelous growth 
which recent years have witnessed. He remained 
there six months, and then returned to Michigan, 
where he resided until 1883. Again seeking a lo- 
cation in Washington, he, in partnership with An- 
derson, White and McDonald, formed the Satsop 
Railroad Company, which was the first company in 
the state to introduce logging by horse power. He 
was elected manager of the company, retaining this 
position until at the end of two years' work in Shel- 
ton, Washington, he sold his interest to his partners. 
His residence in Edmonds dates from this time, 
1888, when he first settled here, pursuing his former 
occupation, lumbering, and also milling. For two 
years he was superintendent for the well-known 
firm of Masher & McDonald. He continued in the 
business for several years after severing his con- 
nection wuth that firm, but in later years disposed 
of his mill and logging outfits. 

The marriage of Mr. Currie and Miss Matilda 
Teabo occurred in 1865. Mrs. Currie, a native of 
Detroit, Michigan, is of French descent. Mr. and 
Mrs. Currie have one child, Charles, born in Febru- 
ary, 1885. Fraternally. Mr. Currie is well known, 
holding membership in the Ancient Order of LTnited 
Workmen, and the Hoo Hoos lodge. The Demo- 
cratic party claims him as a loyal supporter, al- 
though he has never cared to participate actively in 
political matters, nor to accept any official honor. 
He and his family are prominent members of the 



950 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



Catholic church. Mr. Currie's splendid business 
abilities have won for him a large measure of pros- 
perity which he is well fitted to enjoy. By his fel- 
low citizens he is justly considered one of the 
strong, influential members of the community. 



CHARLES P. PETERSON.— It is a fact fre- 
quently observed, that many of the successful men 
of this country, in all walks of life, claini some for- 
eign country as their birthplace. Such is true of 
Charles P. Peterson, whose biography we are 
pleaded to give a place in this history. He was 
born in Sweden, February 9, 18G0, to the union of 
Gust P. and Carolina (Erickson) Peterson, who 
still reside in the fatherland. The father was born 
in 1849, the mother in 1850. Of their three chil- 
dren Charles P. is the eldest. His two sisters reside 
in their native land. Like most young men of that 
period, young Peterson acquired his education in 
the common schools, and spent his vacations on his 
father's farm, becoming practically familiar with 
the diversified work, and laying the foundation for 
the sturdy manhood that was to follow. The land 
across the ocean with its wonderful opportunities 
for winning fame and fortune became the home of 
Mr. Peterson when he had reached his twenty- 
fourth year. He spent the first year and a half in 
Steuben county. New York, near Buflalo, working 
on a farm. Going thence to Muskegon, Michigan, 
he worked in the mills for three years, carefully 
hoarding his wages until he had sufficient to pur- 
chase transportation to Washington, which had 
been the goal of his ambition from the time he 
severed home ties and sailed for New York. He 
reached Seattle on a memorable day for the States, 
it being the time when her history as a state had its 
beginning. Coming on to Edmonds, he proceeded 
at once to find employment in the woods and mills 
of that locality, impelled by the longing to be able 
to make a home for the brave young wife whom he 
had left in Michigan. Toiling earlv and late he 
accomnlished his purpose, and during the years that 
bavo intervened has h^d the satisfaction of reaping 
the fruits of his years of strenuous labor. In 1897 
he became identified with the firm of Johnson, John- 
son & Anderson, in the manufacture of shingles, 
purchasing an interest in the business which was 
conducted by a stock company. In 1903. it was in- 
corporated under the name of the Edmonds' Shingle 
Company, officered as follows : Charles P. Peter- 
son, president ; C. Johnson, treasurer ; Chris Ander- 
son, trustee : C. Erxston, secretary. This mill has 
a daily capacity of 50,000. Few firms in this part 
of the state are doing a more extensive business 
than is this one, which rests on a splendid financial 
basis. That its present standing is largely due to 
Mr. Peterson's zeal and careful supervision, is a 
fact that his native modesty might render him un- 



willing to acknowledge, but one, nevertheless, that 
others readily grant. 

Mr. Peterson and Miss Mary Johnson were 
united in marriage, July 5, 1886. Mr. and Mrs. 
Peterson grew to manhood and womanhood in 
the old country in homes separated by less than 
seven miles, and never had known of each others' 
existence until they met in Michigan, where they 
were married. Mrs. Peterson's mother still lives 
in Sweden ; the father is deceased. Three children, 
have been born to the Peterson's, Walter E., Olga, 
and Gladys A. In fraternal circles Mr. Peterson 
is well known, being a member of the Odd Fellows 
and the Foresters of America. His political be- 
liefs are embodied in the principles of the Repub- 
lican party, which claims his loyal support, and his- 
unwearied efforts. During nine years of continued 
service on the city council of Edmonds, Mr. Peter- 
son has won for himself the distinction of being one 
of the most enterprising and progressive citizens 
of that thrifty little city and has materially con- 
tributed to the general welfare of the entire com- 
munity. Both Mr. and Mrs. Peterson are influ- 
ential in church circles, the former being a member 
of the Lutheran church : the latter, of the Metho- 
dist. A keen, practical business man, a loyal, ener- 
getic citizen, a kind husband, father and friend, 
Mr. Peterson is worthy of the confidence reposed in 
him bv his fellow men. 



F. H. DARLING, editor and one of the owners 
of the Edmonds Review, published weekly at that 
thrifty business center of southern Snohomish coun- 
ty, was born in New York state September 8, 1854, 
of New England stock. His father. Elijah Darling, 
a chemist by profession, was a native of Massachu- 
setts, the son of Scotch parents. He died in that 
state in 185G. The mother of F. H. Darling, Mrs. 
Nancy E. (Stiles) Darling, was born in New York 
state in 1824, and there obtained a thorough edu- 
cation. In 185G she crossed the continent to the 
new state of California, becoming one of its early 
white women pioneers and among the earliest 
teachers in the gold fields. There she was later 
united in marriage to E. B. Cooper. In 1861 they 
removed to Nevada, where she taught in the Aurora 
schools and of that city her husband served for 
some time as mayor. Mrs. Cooper, at the ad- 
vanced age of eighty-two, well preserved and en- 
joying the many blessings that come of a long life, 
well spent, is now living at Alameda, California. 

The subject of this sketch received his primary 
education in the public schools of San Francisco 
after which he matriculated in the University of 
California, class of '7G. When twenty years of age, 
having completed his preparation, he engaged in 
teaching, a profession which he pursued with 
marked success in different portions of the state 
during the next ten years. As rapidly as possible 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



he secured the higher state diplomas for excellence 
in teaching, until he finally possessed the highest 
recognition the state could give. In 1881 Mr. Darl- 
ing entered the Customs service, being appointed 
as chief inspector at Port Costa, a position which 
he filled for five years. San Francisco then be- 
came his home for three years, or until 1888 when 
he came north to Washington Territory, locating at 
Edmonds. A year later he was appointed as a mem- 
ber of the board of education in which capacity he 
served two years. For fully twenty-five years past 
he has been connected in various way with news- 
paper work, for a time writing for the San Fran- 
cisco Chronicle. Thus, it was only natural that he 
should have entered newspaper work at Edmonds, 
when the opportunity was presented and he was 
urged to take it up by those who recognized his 
talents. The Review had been established August 
1, 1904, by Richard Bushell Jr., a minister's son, 
but after conducting it six months, or until Janu- 
ary 1, 1905, he sold out to Mr. Darling and Mrs. 
T. M. B. Hanna. Mr. Darling immediately as- 
sumed charge of the editorial department while she 
assumed the business management, and together they 
are issuing one of the brightest, ablest weeklies on 
the sound. Edmonds is fortunate in possessing the 
Review, and it is unquestionably a strong factor in 
promoting the development of the community. Mrs. 
Hanna is ably demonstrating a business woman's 
ability in a line of endeavor not often occupied by 
women. Talented, public-spirited and progressive, 
Mr. Darling is a man of recognized influence among 
his fellows as also one of Edmonds' pioneers. 



ALLEN M. YOST, who is numbered among the 
most successful and progressive business men of 
Edmonds, Washington, was born January 19, 185G, 
in Northampton county, Pennsylvania. His parents, 
Daniel and Elizabeth (Dechler) Yost, also born in 
his native state, were of German descent, and be- 
queathed to him the thrift, energy, and indomitable 
will that have played so important a part in his 
career, enabling him to overcome every barrier. The 
father was a well known builder and contractor ; 
the mother, a typical German wife and mother, de- 
voted to her family and friends. Both are deceased. 
They were the parents of two sons, Allen M. and 
James W.. the latter now a resident of Everett. 
After acquiring an education in the schools of Penn- 
sylvania, Allen M. Yost learned his father's trade, 
following it for a number of years during which he 
accumulated a bank account amounting to $6,000. 
Deciding to engage in agricultural pursuits, he went 
to Kansas, purchased a farm, and for two years 
bent every energy to the work in hand. He found, 
however, as so many others have, that the best laid 
plans sometimes fail to materialize. The first year 
of his residence there his growing crops which gave 
evidence of such careful attention, were utterlv de- 



stroyed by the devastating hail storms that some- 
times visit that state. The following spring he 
went through the same round of preparation for an 
abundant harvest, undismayed by his former ex- 
perience. For a time all went well, and that he 
would retrieve the losses of the previous year 
seemed almost an assured fact. But again he was 
doomed to disappointment. Over the waving corn 
and grain fields swept the hot, desolating winds, 
replacing the verdant freshness with dry, withered 
stalks that told, at a glance, of another year's wasted 
labor. To realize that the carefully hoarded earn- 
ings of years have been entirely swept away through 
no fault of his own, is a supreme test of any man's 
character. Unlike many, however, who, under 
these circumstances, succumb to disappointment and 
spend the remainder of life simply drifting, Mr. 
Yost was but nerved to greater effort, assured that 
sooner or later the tide must turn. Resolved to 
seek an opening in the northwest, he came to Ed- 
monds in 1890, and resumed his former trade. Two 
years later he began contracting for timber and 
shingle bolts in that locality, and having again made 
a start in business, the future assumed a brighter 
outlook. In 1894 he rented a mill located in the 
woods, and after operating it for a few months was 
in position to purchase and move it to the water 
front. He still owns this property, but is now plan- 
ning to soon tear down the mill and erect a larger 
one that will accommodate his ever increasing trade. 
Since embarking in the lumber business in this state 
he has been visited by fire but once, when a kiln 
within ten feet of the mill burned. Notwithstand- 
ing the fact that a bucket brigade was the only 
means of protecting the mill, with the timely aid 
of his friends he succeeded in saving the building. 

Mr. Yost was married in Pennsylvania in 1875, 
before he had reached the age of twenty, his bride 
being Miss Amanda C. Roth, also of Pennsylvania. 
She is the daughter of John Roth, who died many 
years ago. Her mother, formerly Miss Hinkle, died 
in 1900, at the age of eighty. Both parents were 
of German ancestry. Mr. and Mrs. Yost's nine 
children, all residents of Edmonds, are as follows : 
Daniel M., Joseph S., John E., Carrie Estelle, Elsie, 
Jacob, Edward, George, and Samuel. The sons 
all assist the father in the mill, and share in its 
earnings. In political persuasion he is a Socialist, 
believing that the hour has come for a more just 
and equitable distribution of property and labor, 
and being a man of strong convictions, he takes 
a deep interest in the questions of the day, throwing 
the weight of his influence and personality on the 
side which he deems right. He has served one 
term as mayor of Edmonds, and has several times 
been a member of the city council. Educational 
matters have also claimed his attention, and as a 
school director he has been of practical assistance 
in securing good advantages for the youth of the 



952 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



community. He is identified with the Ancient Order 
of American Workmen, and is known as one of the 
strong men of that fraternity. A man of wealth 
and influence, broad minded and public spirited, he 
holds an honored position among his fellow citizens. 



LOUIS P. ARP. Among the sturdy pioneers 
of Edmonds, Washington, who have been permit- 
ted to witness the growth of this busy, energetic 
town, is numbered the one whose name initiates 
this biography. Born in Denmark, September 2, 
1865, he is the son of William and Sophie (Chris- 
tianson) Arp. He was but thirteen when he crossed 
the water and found a home in Omaha, Nebraska. 
His father's death occurred in Denmark, in 1903, 
after he had passed his seventy-second birthda)-. 
The mother, aged sixty-eight, still makes her home 
there. Louis P. Arp acquired his education in the 
schools of Nebraska, making the most of the limited 
opportunities afforded him. The fourth of a family 
of thirteen children, he assumed life's responsibili- 
ties at an early age, being only thirteen years old 
when he found a home with his uncle and began 
working in a clothing store. Several years later 
he took up railroading, on the Burlington system, 
and so valuable an employee did he prove himself 
to be that he was advanced to the position of bridge 
foreman, remaining with the company for five years. 
He then decided to follow the advice of Horace 
Greeley, "Go west, young man," and at once started 
for Seattle, Washington. After a brief stay there 
he came to Edmonds, arriving here March, 18S8. 
Two houses and a store comprised the town at that 
remote date, and the only team in town was a yoke 
of oxen owned by G. Brackett. In the following 
May Mr. Arp took up a homestead three miles 
northeast of the present site of the town. It was 
all densely covered with timber, and to a less reso- 
lute and energetic settler the task of clearing and 
getting it in condition for cultivation would have 
seemed a formidable one, but Mr. Arp had been so 
favorably impressed with the climate that he was 
willing to endure hardships and privations. With 
rare insight he predicted the rapid growth that 
would take place when the advantages of this lo- 
cality became more generally known, and has lived 
to see his judgment vindicated. For the first two 
years he spent a part of his time in the employ of 
the Puget sound and Grays' Harbor railroad, as 
bridge builder, — working his claim during the win- 
ter months. Thus year by year he toiled on, and 
now has a fine piece of property which he rents, 
while he and his family reside in town. For a 
number of years prior to leaving the ranch he cut 
and hauled shingle bolts. In 1900 he purchased an 
acre of land in town, moving his family hither in 
hopes that a change and the freedom from the 
manifold duties of farm life would prove beneficial 



to his wife's health which had been gradually fail- 
ing. Here he has a cosy home, surrounded by a 
fine little orchard. Very soon after coming to town 
he accepted a position with the Western Shingle 
Company, and for four years prior to February, 
1905, was engineer of their plant. At that time 
he became a member of the firm, purchasing an in- 
terest in the mill which now has a daily capacity of 
120,000. 

In April, 1897, the marriage of Mr. Arp and 
Miss Maud Depeu was celebrated. Mrs. Arp, a 
native of Hart, Michigan, came west with her par- 
ents, H. W. and Nellie (Black) Depeu, who now 
reside in Okanogan county, Washington. Mr. and 
Mrs. Arp have two children, Alpha and Neva. Mr. 
Arp is a prominent member of the Odd Fellows 
lodge. Number 90, of Edmonds, and almost every 
year since 1895 has been honored by being elected 
as a delegate to the Grand Lodge. Both he and 
his estimable wife are identified with the Rebekahs. 
In political belief he adheres to the doctrines of the 
Republican party, always taking an active part in 
its councils, and advancing the cause in every hon- 
orable way. He is now serving his second term 
as city councilman, and had previously held the po- 
sition of road supervisor for three years. This 
latter work claimed him as a voluntary toiler in the 
early days when he assisted in opening up the first 
roads in this locality. The first school was also 
established largely through his influence. Thus, 
from the time he first came to this part of the 
county to the present date he has been constantly 
contributing to the growth and welfare of the town, 
and has therefore won for himself the abiding re- 
spect and esteem of all who have been in any way 
associated with him. Although not a memlaer of 
the Congregational church which claims Mrs. Arp 
as a devoted worker, Mr. Arp contributes liberally 
to the support of its various departments. 



HIRAM H. BURLESON, a well known agri- 
culturalist residing four miles east of Edmonds, 
Washington, is one of her honored pioneers. He 
was born in Potter county, Pennsylvania, October 
3, 1855. His father, Chester Burleson, a native of 
New York, born in 1818, was the direct descendant 
of 'Revolutionary stock. His death occurred in 
Pennsylvania in 1899. Laura (Kyle) Burleson, the 
maternal ancestor, born in 1835, was also a Penn- 
sylvanian. She died September 6, 1892, after a life 
of devotion to husband and children. Hiram H. 
Burleson is the second of a family of ten. He has 
two sisters residing in Washington. As a boy he 
attended the common schools, there acquiring his 
education. Possessed of unusual strength and abili- 
ty for one of his years, he drove oxen on his father's 
farm before he was twelve years old. Having 
attained his majority he started out for himself, 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



renting farms and also working in the woods when 
opportunities presented themselves. Influenced by 
the reports of the wonderful fertility of Washing- 
ton soil, and the manifold natural advantages of the 
state, he decided to investigate the country, and in 
March, 1887, went to Seattle. A few months later 
he came to Edmonds, and located the homestead 
he still owns. The four rude dwellings which then 
comprised the town were occupied by the fi|Ve 
families that had braved the wilderness to find a 
home in the west. In a few months he built a tiny 
cabin on his claim and hither over a rough trail 
he brought his family to the little home that awaited 
their coming. The necessary supplies he packed on 
his back. Almost three years elapsed before a road 
reached his land, and that the occasion might be 
duly celebrated, the family indulged in the luxury 
of a cook stove. He was obliged to seek employ- 
ment in the lumber camps during the first years 
of his residence that his family might be provided 
w'ith the needful food and clothes, and many a time 
during his enforced absence the brave wife herself 
packed in supplies. For her there must have been 
many lonely hours when she longed for the com- 
panionship of other days, but she, too, was in- 
spired by the noble spirit of self-sacrifice, and no 
complaining word fell from her lips. Her nearest 
neighbor lived two miles away, and the calls ex- 
changed between them were few and far between, 
for both led strenuous lives that left little time for 
social intercourse. To clear of? the heavy timber 
that covered his land required years of toil. After 
disposing of a portion of the claim, he now owns 
fifty acres, ten of which are in cultivation. He 
makes a specialty of raising berries, and cultivates 
such fine varieties that the demand far exceeds the 
supply. The proposed interurban railroad will 
cross the corner of his land, and when completed 
will add greatly to his comfort. 

Mr. Burleson was married September 21, 1882, 
to Miss Delia Bartholomew, who is a native of 
Pennsylvania. Her parents, Ira and Julia (Chand- 
ler) Bartholomew, both born in New York, are 
now living in Edmonds, the father in his eighty- 
fifth year ; the mother, in her seventieth. Mr. and 
Mrs. Burleson have four children as follows : Ed- 
ward W., Grace, Lillian and Harriette. The son, 
a young man of much promise, has just fitted him- 
self to take up a university course. Although a 
loyal Democrat, Mr. Burleson has never taken an 
active part in political matters, and has never cared 
to hold office. The subject of education has always 
"been one of deep interest to him, and he, with three 
neighbors, secured for this community its first edu- 
cational advantages. He is one of the most promi- 
nent members of the Free Methodist church, always 
found in his place at the public services. His pro- 
fession and daily life being in harmony, he com- 
mands the unbounded confidence of his many ac- 



quaintances. Surrounded by the many comforts 
and luxuries that are theirs to-day, Mr. and Mrs. 
Burleson recall those early years so full of the 
deprivations incident to pioneer life, and by reason 
of the contrast are able to appreciate the changed con- 
ditions that years of arduous labor have wrought. 



SAMUEL HOLMES, whose identification with 
the history of Edmonds, Washington, dates from 
the year 1887, is one of the most prominent 
pioneers of the county. He is a native of Marshall 
county, Illinois, born June 25, 1853. His paternal 
ancestor, Samuel Holmes, was born in 1818, and 
was of English descent. Settling in Illinois in early 
life, he became one of the well known lawyers of 
that state. His death occurred December 13, 1902. 
Sarah (White) Holmes, the mother, was born on 
Albemarle sound, Currituck county. North Carolina, 
in 1830. When but a child of five years she was 
brought by her parents to Illinois, the journey being 
made with a team. She died in 1865, leaving four 
children to mourn the loss of a wise and devoted 
mother. Samuel Holmes acquired his rudimentary 
education in the schools of his native state, sup- 
plementing this by a course at the private college 
at Henry, Illinois. He then attended Law's Vet- 
erinary College, from which he was graduated at 
the early age of seventeen. Although so young in 
years he at once began practicing, and for several 
years also had charge of his father's livery barn. 
At the age of twenty-three he left the old home, 
going to Harrison county, Iowa, and there follow- 
ing his profession. In 1877 he embarked in the 
butcher business as a side line, a step that proved 
unwise, and before the expiration of the year he 
found himself financially embarrassed. Closing out 
his interests there he moved to Woodbine in 1878, 
and with a capital of thirty-four dollars invested in 
a meat shop, he made his second business venture. 
Profiting by his former experience he gradually 
increased his stock and in the course of a few years 
was conducting a general market business, buying 
and shipping stock often by the train load. So 
closely did he apply himself to the ever increasing 
demands of his business that in 1886 his health 
gave way, and a change of occupation was impera- 
tive. He sold out all his interests and at once 
started for the Pacific coast, believing that an entire 
change of climate would hasten his recovery. After 
visiting Portland, Oregon, for a few weeks, he 
went to Seattle, thence to Tacoma, remaining in 
each city but a short time. Coming on to Ed- 
monds he found a home with the hospitable Mr. 
George Brackett, who kindly offered to share his 
tiny home with Mr. and Mrs. Holmes until they 
were able to locate a claim and build a cabin for 
themselves. By January 11, of the following year. 
Mr. Holmes had so far recovered his health that 
he moved on his homestead, which was all in heavy 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



timber, and in a few days erected a cabin, a tent 
serving as a shelter until this was completed. The 
first night spent on the claim was one long to be 
remembered. Wearied by the journey over the 
rough trail, in spite of cold and discomfort, Mr. 
Holmes and wife had just fallen asleep when they 
were surprised from their dreams by the approach 
of an immense cougar which came seeking shelter 
from the fierce snow storm raging in the forest. 
Convinced that his welcome was exceedingly doubt- 
ful he retired speedily, and never repeated liis call. 
Year by year the forest has given way to the in- 
vincible energy of this hardy pioneer, and he now 
has eighteen acres under plow, and an additional 
forty acres in pasture. He is largely interested in 
dairying, has a fine herd of thoroughbred Jersey 
cattle, and operates the Deer Ridge Creamery. He 
also breeds Durock-Jersey hogs, and is recognized 
as an authority on matters relating to stock in gen- 
eral. 

Mr. Holmes was married in 188.5 to Miss Anna 
E. Towne, a native of Minnesota. She is the daugh- 
ter of Salem Towne, who was born in Connecticut. 
When she was but a child he moved his family 
to Iowa and there spent the remainder of his life. 
Eliza Towne, the mother, was born in Ireland, 
although her parents were of Scotch descent. She 
was a physician, and for many years practiced her 
profession, meeting with gratifying success. She 
died in Bandero, Texas, in 1889, while there on a 
visit. Mrs. Holmes enjoyed the best of educational 
advantages, having been graduated with honor from 
Tabor College, Iowa. She is also a gifted musi- 
cian, and previous to her marriage had a large 
class of students. Four children have been born 
to Mr. and IMrs. Holmes, as follows: J\Irs. Mae 
Pearl Sweet, whose husband is now holding a claim 
in Prosser, Washington, but soon to return to Ed- 
monds ; Guy S., Anna, and Fred. Inheriting from 
both parents many admirable gifts of mind and 
heart, it is a family of whom any father and mother 
might well be proud. Fraternally Mr. Holmes is 
identified with the Odd Fellows lodge. Number 405, 
at Woodbine, Iowa. His political beliefs are in 
harmony with the Democratic platform, and he is 
one of the most active workers in the ranks of his 
party. He has twice held the office of deputy as- 
sessor. Mr. Holmes is planning, in the near future, 
to desert the present cosy comfortable home and 
erect an elegant new residence near the new inter- 
urban line that runs only a quarter of a mile from 
his house. The situation is one of remarkable 
beauty, being on the divide between the sound and 
Lake Washington, and commanding a view of both. 
In addition to meeting the manifold demands made 
on his time by his extensive farm, dairy and stock 
interests, Mr. Holmes has practiced his profession 
ever since stock was brought into this locality, and 
his reputation as a skillful practitioner has ex- 



tended far beyond the boundaries of his home coun- 
ty. Few men in the county have a wider circle of 
acquaintance than has Mr. Holmes, and that he is 
held in the highest esteem is a guarantee of his. 
upright, manly character. 



CHRIS WILSTED, a successful horticulturist 
residing one and one-fourth miles north of Ed- 
monds, Washington, was born in Denmark, April 
28, 1856. He is the son of Christ N. and Margaret 
Wilsted, who spent their lives in their native land, 
Denmark. The father, a butcher and farmer, died 
in 1894, at the age of seventy-eight. The mother's 
death occurred in 1899, when she was in her eighty- 
third year. There were nine children in the family, 
Chris being the sixth child. Two brothers, Nels 
Sorsensen and Nels Fisker, live in the state of Wash- 
ington. A sister is residing in South America. Chris 
Wilsted enjoyed the benefits of a common school 
education, and remained at home till he had passed 
his twentieth birthday. He then determined to^ 
cross the ocean and find a home in the United States 
where the possibilities for making a fortune were 
far greater than in the fatherland. Reaching the 
land of promise, he settled first in Minnesota, and 
worked on farms for four years, during which he 
made a careful study of the new conditions sur- 
rounding him, and acquired a greater familiarity 
with the English language. He then went to Oma- 
ha, Nebraska, there engaging in teaming for sev- 
eral years. Having for sometime been desirous of 
locating in California, he went thither in 1884, but 
found it far below his expectations, and after a 
two-months' stay, started for Washington. Ar- 
riving in Seattle he worked there a few weeks, 
coming thence to Edmonds, which was then prac- 
tically a wilderness. Only three families had set- 
tled here then, and boats touched the landing only 
when they carried passengers who wished to stop. 
After he had travelled over a great deal of terri- 
tory in the vain search for a satisfactory location 
and spent the $200 that was the sum of his capital, 
he returned to Edmonds and worked out for a year. 
He then located a claim on which he resided until 
in 1891 he sold all but twenty acres of it, retaining 
the latter as a home. In 1898 he leased the proper- 
ty where he now lives, and has devoted his entire 
attention to raising fruit and vegetables. He has 
a fine eight-acre orchard, and by a careful and thor- 
ough study of the requirements of the various fruits, 
he is able to produce superior qualities of the same 
that command the highest market price. 

Chris Wilsted and Miss Anna Anderson were 
united in marriage in 1885. Mrs. Wilsted, a na- 
tive of Denmark, came to the United States on the 
same vessel that carried her future husband. Eight 
children have been born to this union, Andrew, 
Chris N., Fred, Theodore, Holgar, Anna, Elsa and 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Otto. The family is yet an unbroken one, as all 
the children are at home. In political matters Mr. 
Wilsted occupies an independent position, casting 
his ballot in each instance for the man whom he 
deems most capable of filling the office, irrespective 
of the party by whom he is nominated. He is 
deeply interested in educational movements, and 
it was largely on account of his tireless energy and 
enthusiasm that the first school was established in 
the locality where he took up his first claim. Sur- 
rounded to-day by all the modern comforts and con- 
veniences of life, Mr. Wilsted recalls those early 
years when he packed all his supplies in on his 
back, making a trail as he went. Throughout all 
the trying experiences of those pioneer days, one 
friend, Mr. G. Brackett, stood by his side, render- 
ing invaluable assistance. It is but fitting that such 
a man as Mr. Wilsted should be held in the highest 
respect by his friends and neighbors, who have wit- 
nessed his mastery over adverse circumstances, and 
who now rejoice in his present prosperity. 



RICHARD L. OAKE, manager of the Western 
Shingle Company at Edmonds, Washington, was 
born in Jackson county, Iowa, November 6, 1867. 
He is the son of W. Royal and Mary (Barrick) 
Oake, both natives of England, who are spending 
their declining years in Iowa, where the father set- 
tled in early life. He recently celebrated his sixty- 
third birthday; his wife is two years his junior. Of 
their six children, four are living, Richard L., being 
their first born. As a boy he attended the com- 
mon schools of his native state, evincing such a 
fondness for study that he later entered the high 
school, and completed the course at the age of 
fourteen. Having decided very early in life to take 
up railroading, he at that age entered the employ 
of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy as call boy, and 
although so young, won rapid promotion because 
of his faithfulness and ability. Six years later when 
he gave up the road he was occupying the position 
as fireman. Returning home, he remained there a 
year, and then started for the west. In 1887 he 
came to Washington for the first time, locating in 
Castle Rock, where he found employment as a 
sawyer in a shingle mill. He retained this position 
until 1897 when he determined to seek his fortune 
in the gold fields of Alaska. The hidden treasures 
eluded his eager search, so after prospecting for a 
time he secured a position on the Yukon and White 
Pass railroad, which, however, he soon gave up, 
and came to Edmonds. Three months later he pur- 
chased an interest in a mill located on the Willapa 
river, in Pacific county, and for three years devoted 
his attention exclusively to milling. Selling out his 
interest at the end of that time, he moved to Sum- 
mit, Chehalis county, and made that his home for 
a year. During this time he biiilt a mill near Cash- 



mere, forming a partnership with F. W. Smith 
and Mr. Gates of Ballard. The business was con- 
ducted under the firm name of Fred W. Smith & 
Company. On returning a second time to Ed- 
monds, Mr. Oake bought an interest in the Western 
Shingle Company, of which he became secretary 
and manager. The company is now incorporated, 
with a capital stock of $10.5(10, the par value of the 
shares being $100. The president is C. M. Johnson, 
a well known resident of the town. This firm owns 
one of the largest plants of its kind in this locality, 
having a daily capacity of 125,000. 

Mr. Oake was married in January, 1893, to Miss 
Marie Erben, of Iowa. Her parents, William and 
Sophie Erben, still live in her native state. Mr. 
and Mrs. Oake have two children, Raymond, born 
November 25, 1893, and Hazel, born March 25, 
1895. Mr. Oake is an influential member of the 
Modern Woodmen of America. Politically, he ad- 
heres to the doctrines of the Republican party, but 
has never had any desire to hold office. He and 
his family attend the Congregational church. Mr. 
Oake is fulfilling the bright promises of his boy- 
hood, for although still a young man, he displays 
remarkable business acumen, and is rapidly win- 
ning an enviable success in the business to which 
he is devoting the best energies of his life. His 
upright principles and sterling worth are apparent 
to all who are associated with him. and command 
lasting respect. 



ALBERT E. HILL. Among the thriving in- 
dustries of Edmonds, Washington, is that conducted 
by Albert Hill, the well known florist, whose biogra- 
phy we are pleaseil to give a place in this history. 
He was born in Rock Island, Illinois, September 
6, 1850. He is the adopted son of James and Mary 
Hill, w'ho were both natives of England. The for- 
mer, born in Herefordshire, immigrated to Illinois, 
and later, founded the town of Hillsdale, where for 
many years he was a prominent merchant. He and 
his wife died many years ago. Albert Hill secured 
an excellent education in the schools of Blooming- 
ton, Illinois, and after completing his high school 
course followed his natural bent which lay along 
mechanical lines. While still a boy he entered the 
employ of the Chicago & .Alton railroad, and having 
mastered the machinist trade, became an engineer. 
At the age of twenty-four he accepted a position 
on the Chicago, Milwaukee & Saint Paul road, oc- 
cupying the right hand side of the cab until 1894, 
when he gave up a passenger run to locate in the 
west. He retired from the road with a reputation 
of which any man might- justly be proud. Having 
invested his salary in Chicago real estate while 
railroading, he had accumulated valuable property. 
Locating in Seattle, Washington, on coming west, 
he engaged in the wood and coal business for ten 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



months, when he was offered a price far in advance 
of that which he had paid, and considered it the 
part of wisdom to sell. He then embarked in the 
real estate business, handling city property in 
Everett and Edmonds, and also some farm lands 
in the adjacent localities. He met with flattering 
success, but notwithstanding this fact he closed out 
his business in 1904, that he might locate perma- 
nently in Edmonds. In deciding "on his future line 
of activity, it occurred to him that here was a fine 
opening for a greenhouse and conservatory, and 
he at once proceeded to investigate the conditions. 
He was soon convinced of the feasibility of the 
project and in the course of a few months had es- 
tablished himself in business. He has 8,000 square 
feet under glass at the present time, and will con- 
tinue to add more as his trade increases. In the 
near future he will also raise hot house vegetables 
for which there is an ever increasing demand. He 
already has what is pronounced the largest business 
of the kind in the county, and that under his skill- 
ful management it will rapidly increase in the next 
few years is an assured fact. 

The marriage of Mr. Hill and Miss Sarah J. 
Clapp occurred in 1871. Mrs. Hill, who was born 
in her husband's native city, is the daughter of 
John and Elizabeth Clapp, both natives of Ohio. 
They are now spending their declining years with 
this loved daughter. The father is in his eighty- 
fourth year ; the mother, in her seventy-ninth. In 
political belief Mr. Hill is independent, allying him- 
self with no particular party. Although frequently 
asked to allow his name to come before the public 
as a candidate, he persistently refuses to even con- 
sider the matter. He and his wife are Spiritualists. 
Not only is Mr. Hill a man of unquestioned busi- 
ness ability, but he also possesses a pleasing per- 
sonality that insures goodwill and renders him popu- 
lar among his fellow men. In the promotion of 
every public enterprise his influence is always 
sought, and his judgment is relied on in the dis- 
cussion of all public measures. He thus contrib- 
utes materially to the welfare of the town, and is 
known as one of her strong, influential men. 



OLE C. SORENSEN, a prosperous and well 
known business man of Edmonds, Washington, was 
born in Norway, March 8, 1863, to the union of 
Erik and Maren (Hansen) Sorensen. The father 
was a skillful blacksmith in his native country till 
his death in 1890, the mother still lives there in her 
seventy-first year. Of her nine children three have 
found a home in the United States. The second- 
child, Ole C. Sorensen, received a careful and thor- 
ough education in the common and military schools 
of Norway. He remained at home till twenty 
years of age, then, having decided to seek his for- 
tune in America, he left the fatherland with bright 
dreams of the success that awaited him across the 



waters. He spent the first six years in Minnesota, 
working at whatever he found to do. Learning of 
the opportunities offered to industrious young men 
in the undeveloped lands of the northwest, he went 
to Seattle where he worked for a few months, and 
then came on to the present site of Edmonds. Here 
he found employment at his trade, blacksmithing, 
in the various logging camps of the vicinity. By 
carefully hoarding his earnings he was able in a 
few years to open a shop for himself which en- 
gaged his attention for the following nine years. In 
1900 he invested in a sawmill at Richmond Beach, 
but soon disposed of it and built the shingle mill 
he now owns at Echo Lake, three miles from Ed- 
monds. This plant has a daily capacity of 65,000. 
Inheriting the thrift and industry so characteristic 
of the Norwegian people, Mr. Sorensen has met 
with well deserved prosperity since settling in Ed- 
monds, owning now, besides his business interests, 
a beautiful residence in town. 

Mr. Sorensen was married in 1887 to Miss Anna 
M. Thoreson, also a native of Norway. She came 
to Minnesota with her parents, Thore and Maria 
Thoreson. Mrs. Sorensen is a devoted mother to 
their three children, Ralph H., Otto N., and Edna 
Marie. Fraternally, Mr. Sorensen is identified with 
the Odd Fellows and the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen. He adheres to the doctrines of no po- 
litical party, believing that he best discharges the 
responsibilities of American citizenship when he 
votes for the most capable man irrespective of his 
party affiliations. Although deeply interested in 
the municipal welfare of the town, he persistently 
refuses to hold office. When elected a member of 
the city council by those who knew his worth and 
intelligence, he at once tendered his resignation. A 
keen, practical business man ; a loyal and intelligent 
citizen ; and withal a gentleman of modest and re- 
tiring nature, Mr. Sorensen is held in the highest 
esteem by the entire community. He represents a 
class of foreigners whom America is delighted to 
welcome to her shores, knowing that they will con- 
tribute to her advancement, and perpetuate her pe- 
culiar institutions. 



CAPTAIN WILLIAM H. HAMLIN, retired, 
is among the prominent and honored pioneer citi- 
zens of Snohomish county and of his home city, 
Edmonds, of which he is one of the founders. His 
life has been filled with beneficent activity, devoted 
to the promotion of shipping interests and the de- 
velopment of the communitv of which he has been 
a resident so many years. Born in New York state, 
September 20, 1828, of good American descent on 
both paternal and maternal sides of the house, the 
subject of this review is the fifth child of ten that 
blessed the marriage of Romanta and Almira 
(Burnaham) Hamlin. The father was also a native 
of the Empire state, whose forefathers settled in 




:APT. WILLIAM H. HAMLIN 



GEORGE BRACKETT 





JOHN M. ROBBINS 



CHARLES HARRIMAN 



BIOGIL\PHICAL 



Massachusetts about 1758, and who himself was 
born in 1800. He was a farmer and lumberman by 
occupation and was engaged in the Michigan 
pineries when his death occurred in 1844. Almira 
Burnaham-Hamlin was born in New York state, 
and was there married ; her death occurred in Michi- 
gan, twenty-seven days before that of her husband. 
William H. Hamlin received his common school 
education in the states of New York and Pennsyl- 
vania. When fifteen years old he went to Michi- 
gan with his father. Only a year later fever laid 
its grip upon the family as the result of which both 
the father and mother died. The children there- 
upon returned to New York relatives, and thence 
William H. went to Pennsylvania. For two years 
he was in a delicate state of health. At the age of 
eighteen he entered the grocery of his brother-in- 
law, conducted it six months, then engaged in 
operating a boat on the extension of the Erie canal. 
Six months later he purchased a half interest in 
another boat and for a year hauled pig iron, coal 
and lime rock with good financial success. He then 
purchased the interest of his partner, sold the boat 
and went to Meadeville, Pennsylvania, where he 
purchased a half interest in a passenger boat. Of 
this canal boat he was captain for seven years, carry- 
ing passengers from Erie to the Ohio river. Fol- 
lowing this venture Captain Hamlin built a boat at 
Beaver Falls for use on the Illinois canal, took it 
down the Ohio river to its destination, and op- 
erated it until 1861. That winter he went to Daven- 
port, Iowa, thence came back to ]\Iason county, 
Illinois, where he engaged in grain buying, still re- 
taining his steamboat interests on the Illinois and 
Mississippi rivers. Mason county remained his 
home until 1876, during which he followed con- 
tinuously grain buying and shipping. In the fall of 
that year he came west to W^ashington Territory, 
taking up his residence in Seattle. The next spring 
he bought a small boat for use in carrying on a 
general jobbing business on Lake Washington, and 
was thus occupied three years. Following this he 
brought his boat to the sound, lengthened the hull 
and commenced running between Port Madison and 
Seattle, also doing considerable towing. Those were 
days when the shipping of Puget sound was in its 
infancy and greater contrast can hardly be imagined 
than to compare the little vessels of that period 
with the present monarchs of the sea, the Minne- 
sota and Dakota ; yet they paved the way for the 
present fleet of modern boats. After seven years 
of activity on the sound, Captain Hamlin retired 
to a pre-emption claim, now a part of the Edmonds 
town site, upon which he had filed about 1881, and 
there he has since resided. There were fifty-two 
and a half acres in this claim and in addition to 
that tract he purchased an adjoining tract of sev- 
enty-nine acres, and later another piece of forty 
acres. Of this place he has sold one hundred and 



six and one half acres to a Seattle syndicate for 
$21,300. He now has thirteen acres left and there 
makes his home. 

Captain Hamlin and Emily Driggs, of Port- 
land, New York, were united in marriage in 1849. 
Of this union there is one child living, James W. 
Hamlin, a well-known vessel captain of Seattle, 
who was born in 1856. He is one of the widely 
acquainted sea-faring men of Puget sound, upon 
which he has operated boats for many years. Cap- 
tain Hamlin was again married at Seattle in 1880, 
his bride being Mrs. Marie Zindars, the widow of 
Harry Zindars, both of whom were among Seat- 
tle's earliest pioneers. Two children were born to 
the union of Mr. and Mrs. Zindars, Edward and 
Emily. Edward, who bears his stepfather's name, 
is now one of the Queen City's business men, while 
his sister, who died at Seattle in 1898, was the wife 
of William Lentz. Mrs. Hamlin passed away in 
1900. 

Politically, Captain Hamlin is a Republican, and 
that he is highly regarded by his fellow citizens 
who know him best, men of all parties, is evidenced 
by the fact that he was elected second mayor of 
Edmonds, and by the further fact that he has served 
on the council nearly continuously since the city's 
organization. Fraternally, he is an Odd Fellow 
and a Mason of high degree, being a Knight Tem- 
plar. Captain Hamlin has reached a position in 
life which is attained by comparatively few, and 
now in his declining years after a long, useful life 
of varied attainments, he enjoys the crowning bless- 
ing of possessing the confidence, respect and good 
will of his fellow men and women. 



GEORGE BRACKETT of Edmonds, is the 
founder of that thrifty little municipality, one of its 
leading business men and an esteemed pioneer citi- 
zen of Snohomish county of which he has been a 
resident since 1876. He comes of both Yankee 
and Canadian stock, being the son of Daniel and 
Mary (Connell) Brackett, and was born in lower 
Canada early in the summer of 1842. The father 
was a native of Portland, Maine, of American 
descent, and by occupation was a lumberman 
throughout his life. Most of it was spent in the 
Pine Tree state, but for a time he resided in the 
valley of the Restigouche, Canada, and the later 
years of his life were spent in the woods of Wis- 
consin, where his death occurred in 1885. Mrs. 
Brackett was a native of New Brunswick. She 
survived her husband only two years, passing away 
in Wisconsin also, the mother of twenty children. 
Of these six are living: William, Jane, George, 
Mary, Abraham and Ellen ; the deceased are : 
James, Nancy, Daniel, Solomon, Johanna, Elijah, 
Thomas, Josiah, Eliza and John, Jennie, Daven- 
port and two who died in infancy. George, the 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



subject of this review, lived at home with his par- 
ents until nineteen years old, having very little op- 
portunity to obtain the thorough education he de- 
sired. (Jn leaving home, he went to Maine, entered 
the woods, and followed lumbering for four years, 
or until 1865, when he removed to Wisconsin, the 
vast forests of that state first beginning to attract 
general attention at that time. The next four years 
he spent in the Badger state, engaged principally in 
managing camps. In 1SG9 he came to the North- 
west to exploit the vast timber resources of Puget 
sound, locating first at Seattle. At that time the 
present metropolis was a town of about one thou- 
sand people and boasted a single small brick build- 
ing. Since that time Mr. Brackett has been inti- 
mately connected with the lumber business of this 
part of the country and with its progress in general, 
though some four years ago he retired from many 
of his former lines of activity. 

It was in 1876 that he bought 147 acres of land 
at the site of Edmonds, and commenced logging 
thereon, with a view to transforming the tract into 
a farm later. Several years elapsed before the de- 
mand came for a business center at this favored 
point along the shore, but it came, and in response 
Mr. Brackett platted the town of Edmonds. He 
also erected the first mill in the town, building it 
in 1889. After operating it for three years he 
leased it, and three months later the plant was de- 
stroyed by fire, entailing upon its owner a loss of 
many thousands of dollars. At every stage in the 
town's development its founder has been at the 
front, working with tireless energy and marked 
skill for the advancement of the community, as will 
be seen by referring to the history of Edmonds 
elsewhere in this work. Of his original holdings, 
Mr. Brackett has now disposed of all but a twenty- 
acre tract and various smaller parcels of land. 
Upon his twenty acres, highly improved with 
orchards, gardens and a commodious dwelling, and 
commanding a magnificent view of Admiralty In- 
let and its environs, he is now living, managing his 
property interests and farming on a small scale. 
His hospitable home reflects the congenial tastes 
and sterling qualities of mind and heart of its 
owner and host, drawing around him a wide circle 
of friends and well wishers. 



JOHN M. ROBBINS, an honored pioneer of 
Snohomish county, who came here in 1878, is now 
residing near Marysville, three and one-half miles 
northeast of town, on Kellogg Marsh. He is a na- 
tive of Indiana, born May 27, 1857, the son of 
Richard and Jane (Larimer) Robbins. His father, 
born in Ohio in August, 1833, is now a resident of 
Marvsville. The mother was a Pennsylvanian by 
liirth. John M. Robbins is the second of a family 
of twelve children, nine of whom are living. Dili- 



gently improving the opportunities afforded by the 
common schools, he acquired an excellent education 
and at the age of twenty he began life for himself. 
The family having moved to Kansas by team, 
where they settled in Wilson county, he spent the 
following winter at home, attending school. In 
May, 1878, he started for Puget sound, in com- 
pany with D. F. Sexton. The trip, made with a 
mule team, lasted five months. The Bannock In- 
dians were then on the war path, so that it was a 
journey fraught with danger, but fortunately they 
did not encounter the savages. Mr. Robbins was 
employed the first winter in sawing cord wood and 
in working in a saw mill. The next spring he pre- 
empted 120 acres on the Skykomish river, near 
where Monroe is now located, which he sold some 
years later at the time he decided to move to Cali- 
fornia. After some two years' residence in Yolo 
county he returned to Washington, in 1882, accom- 
panied by a brother. They worked in the woods 
that winter, and in the spring leased a farm for two 
years. In March, 1887, he filed on the eighty-acre 
farm on which he now lives. Not an ax had 
touched this splendid growth of forest; no whistle 
save that of a steamboat had penetrated the vast 
solitude. Roads were unknown luxuries. Mail 
reached the little settlement of Marysville but once 
a week. Mr. Robbins now has forty acres cleared 
and in cultivation, and after long years of toil and 
privation is enjoying the prosperity that has 
crowned his later years. 

February 11, 1886, Mr. Robbins and Addie 
Allen were united in marriage. Mrs. Robbins was 
born in Texas in September, 1856. To her belongs 
the distinction of having been the first white woman 
to find a home on Kellogg Marsh. Her death oc- 
curred in 1890. In June, 1893, Mr. Robbins was 
married to Lennie Teeple, a native of Canada, who 
came with her father to this county fifteen years 
ago. He has two children, Jessie and Alice, born 
to his first union. Although a loyal member of the 
Republican party, he has never had any political 
aspirations. As a broad-minded, intelligent man, 
and an active and energetic citizen, to this worthy 
pioneer is accorded the respect and admiration of 
the eritire community. In February, 1906, Mr. 
Robbins accepted the superintendency of the county 
farm near Monroe, to which he has moved, leasing 
his farm near Marysville to his brother Herbert. 



CHARLES F. HARRIMAN, who resides two 
miles south of Monroe, Washington, is numbered 
among the prominent agriculturists of the Tualco 
valley. His father, Charles Harriman, born in 
Maine, September 27, 1829, to the union of 
Joab and Jeanette (Hedge) Harriman, was the 
direct descendent of a distinguished New Eng- 
land family. On leaving his home in Maine, 





CHARLES F. HANSON 



MRS. CHARLES F. HANSON 





PE'l'IOIt lirNliKUSON 



MRS. PETER OI'NDERSON 





HORACE A. GREGORY 



MRS. HORACE A. GREGORY 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



the elder Charles Harriman went to the woods 
of northern Minnesota and engaged in lumber- 
ing there for a year and a half. Learning of the 
wonderful fortunes that had been made in the gold 
iields of California, he crossed the intervening 
states in 1852, and located there, fondly anticipating 
the glittering gold that was soon to be his. After 
eleven years of prospecting and mining, with varied 
success, he concluded to abandon the pursuit, and 
Jiaving carefully considered the advantages of many 
localities, finally decided to seek a home in the 
Northwest. He reached Puget sound in June, 
1864, and in November of that year took up a pre- 
emption claim of 160 acres in Tualco valley, also a 
homestead adjoining this, using later his timber 
right. He thus acquired a large amount of land, 
and became one of the most distinguished pioneers 
of this region. He was prominent in the political 
life of that day ; was honored by being elected 
county commissioner several years, and a member 
of the territorial legislature in 1873 on the Demo- 
cratic ticket. He also held many precinct offices, 
discharging his duties with uniform faithfulness 
and ability. His death in the spring of 190.5 occa- 
sioned profound sorrow throughout the country, 
as his many sterling \4rtues had endeared him to 
all. His wife, Elizabeth Harriman, passed away in 
1899. Charles F. Harriman, the son, was born in 
the beautiful valley of Tualco, May 16, 1868. He 
received his education in the common schools of 
Snohomish county, meanwhile assisting his father 
on the farm, and later working in the woods for a 
time. On the death of his father, he inherited the 
fine farm where he resides, and is now devoting his 
entire attention to general farming and dairying. 
He is thoroughly familiar with every detail of the 
■work, and is known as an energetic, wide-awake 
farmer, one who keeps in touch with the current 
thought and investigation along that line. Two 
brothers, Caspar and Horace, reside near by, while 
three sisters are also living in the county ; Mrs. 
Lizzie Hyde, Mrs. Emma Creshiel, and Mrs. Ella 
Tucker. 

Mr. Harriman was married December 23, 1893, 
to Adeline Jimicum, a native of the Pacific coast, 
born in 1875. The seven children born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Harriman were as follows: An infant (de- 
ceased), Ray, Agnes (deceased), June, Ardy, Lena 
and Herman. Mr. Harriman is influential in the 
ranks of the Democratic party, serving its interests 
in every possible way. He is a typical Westerner, 
keen, practical, energetic in his business affairs, 
frank, generous and hospitable in his social inter- 
course with his fellow men. 



PETER GUNDERSON.— Among the men 
who have steadily worked their way from poverty 
to affluence in Snohomish county, coming within 
its bounds in pioneer days and toiling steadily with 



brain and brawn in an effort to subdue the land and 
render its riches available to man, the worthy pio- 
neer, Peter Gunderson, is deserving of a prominent 
place. Not ambitious for political preferment or 
personal aggrandizement, he belongs to the honest 
toiling class, who are the real strength and the 
proudest boast of any community. Coming to the 
Stanwood country in the middle 'seventies when 
land of good quality could be had for from ten to 
fifteen dollars per acre, he has seen the same lands 
advance until they are now worth fifteen times that 
sum. He has had his full share of profit from this 
advance, and is entitled to a full share of the credit 
for helping to bring it about through his contribu- 
tions to the general progress. 

Mr. Gunderson was born in Norway, August 
2C, 1846, the son of Gudman Gunderson, who also 
was a native of Norway, born June 15, 1814, but 
who came to America with his family in 1866. He. 
lived in Minnesota a year, then went to South Da- 
kota, where he farmed until his demise in 1888. 
Our subject's mother, Johanna (Peterson) Gunder- 
son, was born in Norway June 29, 1815, and died in 
South Dakota in 1895. ' 

The Mr. Gunderson of this article lived with 
his parents until he reached the age of twenty-two, 
then, in 1868. worked for farmers. He was thus 
employed and in farming on his own account in 
South Dakota until 1876, in which year he came to 
Snohomish county. Purchasing eighty acres of the 
place of which he is proprietor, three miles north 
of Stanwood, he began in good earnest the strug- 
gle for a competency. The land had been partly 
diked and he completed the process as soon as pos- 
sible. To his original property sixty acres more 
have been added, and the whole have been cleared, 
diked and brought to a high state of cultivation. 
While Mr. Gunderson gives most of his attention 
to hay and oat raising, frequently harvesting one 
hundred bushels to the acre on the average of the 
latter crop, he is a believer in diversified farming 
and keeps fifteen dairy cows besides other cattle, 
fifty head of sheep and a few hogs and horses. He 
has every reason to be, and is, well satisfied with 
the Stillaguamish country. His appreciation of 
its worth was, he says, heightened by a three-month 
visit to his old home land, which he made some 
eight years ago. While it is true that such men as 
he would get along well wherever their lot might 
be cast, it is also true that he owes to the resources 
of the Stanwood country, as well as to his own 
energy and good judgment, the fact that he is the 
owner of 140 aCres of bottom land worth over two 
hundred dollars per acre. He has in addition one 
hundred acres of land on Eby Island, in the 3900- 
acre tract now being dyked that it may be put in 
cultivation ; also some lots in Everett, and a dwell- 
ing in Mount Vernon, where he ^;q)ects to make his 
home. 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



In the state of Minnesota in 1868 Mr. Gunder- 
son married Miss Betsy Larsen, daughter of Linus 
Larsen, a native of Norway, who eventually came 
to Minnesota and passed away there some ten years 
ago. Her mother was also a native of Norway, 
and she also died in Minnesota. Mrs. Gunderson 
was born on Independence Day, 1846. She and 
:Mr. Gunderson had the following children, namely : 
Julia C. Lund, now dead; Mrs. Paulina B. Brant, 
Henry, Bertram, Mrs. Josephine M. Dahlgren, 
Mrs. Marie Holte, Marta Ovenell, Elmer, Emma, 
George and Ella E., living. The family belongs to 
the Lutheran church, and in politics Mr. Gunder- 
son is a Republican. 



HORACE A. GREGORY, one of the promi- 
nent citizens of Granite Falls, Washington, was 
born in Steuben County, New York, August 16, 
1841. His father, Horace G. Gregory, was a native 
of Delaware County, New York, born in 1805. 
Coming to Illinois in 1847 he farmed for eight 
years, then went to Iowa, remaining till 1869, at 
which time he located in Rock county, Minnesota, 
and he made that his home for the remainder of his 
life. He died in 1871. Sarah (Vernold) Gregory, 
the mother, was also a New Yorker, the date of her 
birth being 1809. Her death occurred in Iowa in 
J 887. She was the mother of nine children, eight 
of whom grew to maturity, and six of whom still 
live. Horace A. Gregory was the sixth child. He 
has two brothers living in Washington, J. C. Greg- 
ory, of Newport, and E. S. Gregory, of Everett. Mr. 
Gregory acquired his education in the common 
schools. He moved with his parents to Illinois be- 
fore there was a railroad in the state. When he paid 
his first visit to Chicago that city had a population 
of 3,000, and had yet to build its first dock. When 
the family migrated to Iowa, he went thither also, 
and he was residing there at the breaking out of the 
Civil War. He was one of five brothers who re- 
sponded to the call of their country, enlisting in 
July, 1861, in Company B., Seventh Iowa Infantry, 
but one brother died before being mustered into serv- 
ice. Mr. Gregory's first engagement was at Bel- 
mont. He was twice wounded during the battle, 
and was held a prisoner for seven days during 
which time his wounds were not even bathed. As 
a result of his injuries he was mustered out in 1863, 
but as soon as he was able to perform garrison duty 
he reenlisted as sergeant in Company E, Forty- 
Seventh Iowa Volunteers, and he served from that 
time until the expiration of his term of enlistment. 
He still carries Southern lead in his shoulder. Going, 
after leaving the army, to Rock County, Minnesota, 
which at that time had but five families residing 
within its boundaries, he lived there five years, and 



at Louverne learned the printer's trade. In Octobeiv 
1874, he started for Seattle, Washington, going by 
way of San Francisco and Victoria, British Colum- 
bia, the trip lasting three weeks. He proceeded at 
once to Snohomish, then composed of seven houses,, 
a store, hotel and saloon. The nearest mill was at 
LTtslady. He located a homestead three miles nortli 
of town, to which he was obliged to build a road, 
but the next few years were spent mostly in work- 
ing out at whatever he could find to do, while he was 
holding his claim. He moved up the Snoqualmie 
river in 1887, and a year later settled at Hartford, 
purchasing land near the latter town. He made that 
his home for twelve years, coming thence to Granite 
Falls, his present home. He assisted in building the 
first school house in the town in 1893. Since set- 
tling here he has not been engaged in the strenuous 
activities of life. 

Mr. Gregory was married in 1864 to Mary J. 
Fleenor, of Indiana, who was born May 31, 1847, 
the daughter of Nicholas and Sarah (Calor) Flee- 
nor. Her father, born in Virginia June 17, 1811,. 
was a well known pioneer of both Iowa and Indiana. 
He died in 1896. His father, a slave holder in the 
South, was driven to seek a home in Indiana on ac- 
count of his Republican views. The Civil War cost 
him the lives of two sons. The mother was a Vir- 
ginian, born September 6, 1815. After a lifetime of 
devotion to husband and family she died July 27, 
1886. She was the mother of eleven children, Mrs. 
Gregory being the fifth, and the oldest of those now 
living. Mr. and Mrs. Gregory have two children. 
Grant and Frank, who are both married and living 
with their families at home. They own and operate 
a bolt camp, and also manage the ranch, having all 
things in common. That the home and all the busi- 
ness affairs are conducted in a perfectly satisfactory 
and harmonious manner is a delicate tribute to the 
character of the various members of the family 
whose tact and consideration for each other make 
possible such a happy arrangement. Mr. Gregory is 
a member of the William Hall Post, Number 107, 
of the Grand Army, and is also identified with the 
Masonic fraternity. He is a loyal and enthusiastic 
Republican, always taking an active part in political 
affairs. In 1870 he was one of the three commis- 
sioners who organized Rock County, ]Minnesota. He 
was elected chairman of the board of commission- 
ers, also was clerk of the district court. He also 
held this latter position in Snohomish county, being 
elected clerk of the first district court that convened 
in 1876, with Judge Lewis in the chair. He re- 
tained this position five years. The ofiice of county 
auditor was his in 1882, but after holding it one year 
he resigned. During his long residence in Snoho- 
mish County he has been forceful in promoting its 
growth and development, contributing largely to its 




HENRY MENZEL 



,iE()R(..I': MKXZEL 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



967 



prosperity. He set up and helped print the first 
paper in the county, The Northern Star, of which 
Eldridge Morse was the editor. He has witnessed 
many hard times in the early days, but considers 
that 1876 was the most trying period known to the 
Northwest, surpassing even the panic of 1893. Mr. 
Gregory's one diversion in the last fifteen years has 
been bear hunting, in which he has had remarkable 
success, but he is now debarred from this sport be- 
cause of paralysis. He laughingly challenges any 
man in the county to count bear scalps with him, 
having thirty-five to his credit. Throughout his 
long, busy, eventful life his one controlling principle 
has been the Golden Rule, and the hosts of friends 
he has made in these years all gladly bear witness 
that he has adherred closely to its lofty teachings. 



CHARLES F. HANSON, whose farm lies two 
miles in a northerly direction from Stanwood, is 
one of the large farm operators of Snohomish 
county, and has been eminently successful since 
coming here, nearly twenty years ago. Energy, 
tact and business judgment are the qualities which 
have been prominent among the characteristics of 
Mr. Hanson. He was born in Portland, Maine, in 
the summer of 1862, the'second of the ten children 
of James M. and Emeline (Whitney) Hanson. 
The elder Hanson followed farming all his life, 
with the exception of the time he passed as a sol- 
dier in the Civil War and a few months in the 
mercantile business just previous to his death. 
Until 1886 he lived in the Pine Tree state, save 
three years of service in the Union army as a pri- 
vate of the Twenty-Fifth Maine infantry. In the 
year named he came to Snohomish county and 
leased the place which is now owned by his son, 
Charles. He operated this farm until 1899, when 
He sold out his stock and moved to Redlands, Cali- 
fornia, where he embarked in the grocery business. 
He was attacked by pneumonia and died in 1900. 
Mrs. Hanson, also a native of Elaine, died in 1903 
while residing with her son George, near Mount 
Vernon. The children of this union surviving 
are: George, Charles, Eliza, Emma, Frank and 
Mary. 

Charles F. Hanson attended the common schools 
of his native state until he reached the age of six- 
teen, but remained with his parents until he had 
attained his majority. For the subsequent four 
years he worked at farming. He came to Snoho- 
mish county in 1887 and for three years operated 
large farms near Florence, under lease, making 
oats his principal crop and raising as many as 7,000 
sacks per year. In 1890 he removed to his present 
place near Stanwood, and leased a farm of 330 
acres, later purchasing 160 acres north of his 



present home. He Operates both places, 480 acres 
in all. 

In 1897 at Stanwood Mr. Hanson married Miss 
Grace Fowler, a native of Sonoma county, Cali- 
fornia, born April 8, 1872, the daughter of White- 
head and Emeline (Peckenpaugh) Fowler. Mr. 
Fowler was born on Long Island, New York, in 
1S33, and was a harness maker by trade. He went 
to California in 1852, remaining there for forty 
years. Coming to Snohomish county in 1892, he 
resided near Port Susan until his death, in the late 
autumn of 1902. Mrs. Fowler was born in Illi- 
nois in 1841, and accompanied her parents to So- 
noma county, California, in 1853, remaining with 
them until her marriage. She is now a resident of 
Bellingham, Whatcom county, making her home 
with a daughter. Her six children, all living, are: 
Alice, Warren, Laura, Ellen, Grace and Charles. 
Mrs. Hanson received her education in California 
and lived with her parents until marriage. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Hanson have been born two children : 
Donald, December 11, 1899, and Audrey, May 20, 
1902. In politics Mr. Hanson is a Republican ; in 
lodge circles a member of the Ancient Order of 
L^nited Workmen and the Fraternal Union of 
America. The family is affiliated with the Metho- 
dist church. Mr. Hanson's farm of 160 acres, the 
land which he owns, is improved bottom land and 
diked. It is said to be worth not less than $200 an 
acre. Aside from his extensive business as grower 
of oats and other farm products, Mr. Hanson is 
deeply engaged in the dairy and live stock business, 
having forty-two head in his dairy herd, forty head 
of stock cattle, twenty head of horses and colts and 
thirty-five head of hogs. He owns a J. I. Case 
threshing machine and also a baler. He is one of 
the substantial business men of the community, re- 
spected for his qualities of mind and heart and 
honored as the possessor of a sterling manhood. 



HON. O. B. IVERSON, now of Olympia, 
Washington, formerly of Stanwood, and among 
that section's notable pioneer leaders to whom 
Snohomish county will ever owe a debt of grati- 
tude for public services, is a native of Norway. 
He was born September 14, 1845, on an estate 
known as Borsheim, Ulvik Hardanger. In 1857 his 
parents immigrated to Big Canoe, Winneshiek 
county, Iowa, the lad of twelve accompanying them 
to the new home selected across the sea. The next 
few years he spent as did most boys of his age and 
circumstances, rapidly acquiring a knowledge of 
and a love for America's peculiar institutions, and 
laying firm the foundations for his future useful- 
ness. The month of September, 1862, witnessed 
his enlistment in Company D, Sixth Iowa Cavalry, 
for a term of three years, or until the end of the 
war. To the intense disgust of this regiment, it 



968 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



was sent to protect the Dakota and Montana fron- 
tiers from Indian ravages, remaining on such duty 
until mustered out in September, 1865. 

Returning to his home on the Big Canoe, Iowa, 
Mr. Iverson resumed the pursuits of peace with as 
much ardor and faithfuhiess as he had displayed in 
taking up the sword for the preservation of the 
Union and the protection of the frontier settle- 
ments. Not only did he labor with renewed ear- 
nestness and optimism as a single unit of the re- 
public for which he had fought and sacrificed so 
generously, but he became a leader of acknowl- 
edged force and fervent patriotism among his fel- 
lows. 

After marriage in 1866, he settled upon a farm 
which he purchased in Iowa. His first crop was 
destroyed by a hailstorm, leaving him nearly 
bankrupt, but with characteristic fortitude and per- 
severance, he packed his few belongings and with 
a yoke of steers to haul them, set out for the north- 
ern frontier. At the end of a three hundred-mile 
journey across the plains he took as a homestead 
land upon which East Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 
now stands. He assisted in organizing Minnehaha 
county in 1869, and was elected to and served in 
the territorial legislature during the years 1869-70. 
He also served as the first treasurer and probate 
judge of Minnehaha county and was appointed 
clerk of the United States District court. While 
residing in Sioux Falls, Mr. Iverson opened a 
farm, built and operated a saw mill, burned lime, 
practiced law, surveyed government land, held 
court and collected taxes, in addition to his more 
ambitious public services, thus demonstrating his 
intense energy, varied abilities and undoubted ca- 
pacity for leadership. He was appointed commis- 
sioner of immigration in the year 187-i and as such 
made a trip to Europe, visiting his old home. It 
was on this trip that he found Peter Leque and in- 
duced him to come to Dakota, whence he later re- 
moved to Stanwood. The year 1874 was a grass- 
hopper year, and, as in the case of many others, 
Mr. Iverson's confidence in Dakota was so seriously 
shaken by the disaster that he decided to once again 
go in quest of a more congenial home. Puget sound 
attracted his attention so strongly that in January, 
1875, he started for the Pacific, reaching Olympia, 
March 10th. 

Writing recently in the Washington Posten re- 
garding conditions obtaining on the sound at that 
period, Mr. Iverson gives some interesting and 
graphic information. Indeed, he is a writer of 
ability whose articles have attracted wide notice 
and upon which the editors of this history have 
drawn generously for information concerning the 
settlement and growth of Snohomish county. 
"When I first saw the enchanting shores of Puget 
sound," writes Mr. Iverson, "Seattle was a saw- 
dust village with about 5,000 inhabitants. The 



whole merchandise of the town did not equal the 
stock of two of its houses to-day. Tocamo was un- 
born. Steilacoom, which has not been subject to 
change, was a place of importance. Whatcom and 
Fairhaven were diagrams on the map and a mem- 
ory. Olympia was the capital and not much else. 
Snohomish county had perhaps a little more than 
500 inhabitants. Everett's inhabitants were Ned 
Cromer and his telegraph instruments. The only 
reliable transportation between Seattle and Belling- 
ham Bay was by dugout, run by squaw power. 
Time required for the trip, about a week. Sno- 
homish county had less than twenty miles of wagon 
road and perhaps ten wagons. The only reliable 
transportation facilities the pioneer had were his 
own broad back, unless perchance he owned a 
canoe and a squaw. Few of the Norse pioneers 
were owners of the last named class of transporta- 
tion. In fact, when speaking of our early Norse 
settlers mention of that method might altogether 
have been left out of account. But they had the 
backbone. * * * Those who believe that the 
pioneer is, and must be, as a result of the strenuous 
life he leads, a pure and simple materialist, are in 
error. On the contrary, he is generally an idealist 
of the purest type. He loves his surroundings, his 
work and his friends with an intensity little under- 
stood within the precincts_ of alleged civilization. 
He will risk his comfort and even risk his life for 
a friend ; yes, even for a stranger ; v^^ith less hesita- 
tion than a city man would lend his friend a dollar. 
The pioneer is hospitable, honorable, energetic, en- 
terprising and public-spirited. He is a hero and a 
gentleman." 

Again, Mr. Iverson writes : "Soon after my 
arrival I joined a surveying party and landed at 
Genterville (now Stanwood). With this survey I 
went over the greater portion of the Stillaguamish 
valley. The country looked good to me. I advised 
a number of my friends to come and take land — 
which they did. The advice was good (I could 
always advise others better than myself)." As a 
matter of fact, Mr. Iverson is credited with being 
the chief leader in the movement of Scandinavians 
toward this select section of Snohomish county 
which followed the survey. Certain it is that he 
induced scores to locate there and was unusually 
active in bringing the Stillaguamish valley into 
public notice. Together with N. P. Leque, Nils 
Eide and A. Danielson, Mr. Iverson bought the 
island now known as Leque's Island, diked it and 
opened farms, which are notable monuments to the 
foresight, zeal and courage of those men. In 1876- 
77, Mr. Iverson and E. C. Ferguson represented 
Snohomish county in the territorial legislature. 
As a delegate, the former attended many territorial 
conventions in those early years, when Washing- 
ton's political parties were "in the bornin'," and 
mould was being given to the commonwealth's fu- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



ture career. Olympia became his home in 1883, 
and there ht followed business pursuits success- 
fully until his removal to Whatcom in 1884, where 
he engaged in surveying and engineer work for the 
government, railroads and the general public. He 
pursued his profession as a citizen of Whatcom un- 
til 18;tl, then took up his abode in Seattle. During 
the years 1892 and 1893 he served as draughts- 
man in the United States Surveyor General's office 
at Olympia, and in 1894 and 'l895 was superin- 
tendent of the Queen City Mining Company, llie 
following two years he passed at the old St'anwood 
home in taking a much-needed rest. Again, in 
1899, Mr. Iverson entered the Surveyor General's 
office at Olympia as a draughtsman, and this re- 
sponsible position he still holds. He is identified 
with George H. Thomas Post No. 5, of which he 
is commander. 

In March, 186G, :\Iaria Danielson became the 
wife of Mr. Iverson. To this union fourteen chil- 
dren have been born, of whom seven are living: 
Bertha, wife of the late Peter Leque of Stanwood ; 
Frank, Edward, Ida, Anna, Martha and Ella. The 
family home is at Olympia, and there, as in bygone 
years at Sioux Falls, Stanwood, Whatcom and 
Seattle, the gallant Norse veteran, faithful official 
and pioneer leader is to-day accorded the befitting 
position to which he has attained by manlv effort 
and by reason of his rich endowments of heart and 
mind. 



TRUITT K. ROBE, of the well known Robe, 
Menzell Lumber Company of Granite Falls, was 
born in Cass County, Missouri, January 16, 1869. 
His father, William R. Robe, was a native of 
Adams County, Ohio, the date of his birth being 
1827. Responding to the call of his country, he ac- 
tively participated in the Civil War, and while serv- 
ing in Missouri became convinced that it would be a 
desirable state in which to live. At the close of the 
war he therefore moved his family there. Nine 
years' experience with grasshoppers, drought and 
hail storms with which the agriculturist in "that lo- 
cality has to contend, caused him to return to the 
Buckeye state, where he made his home until the ill 
health of his wife necessitated a change of climate. 
Coming to the Pacific coast in 1886, he settled in 
Auburn. Washington. The mild, genial climate 
having effected a complete cure, he decided to re- 
main in the state. He moved to Granite Falls in 
1893, where he and his estimable wife are still re- 
siding. She, too, is a native of Ohio, and was for- 
merly Miss Mary J. Bowen. She is a descendant of a 
well known Revolutionary family. 

Truitt K. Robe might justly be proud of his an- 
cestry. The Robe family, originally from Scotland, 
settled in Massachusetts in the early days, and was 



prominently identified with the famous Boston Tea 
Party. Two members of the family were Revolu- 
tionary heroes. Soon after the close of that war, 
the family divided, one branch locating in Mary- 
land, the other, of which Truitt Robe is a direct de- 
scendant, in West Virginia. As so frequently hap- 
pens, the two branches failed to keep in close touch, 
and in the lapse of years became lost to each other! 
The best known member of the Maryland branch is 
Major Robe of Fort Vancouver. During the con- 
struction of the Monte Cristo railroad Truitt Robe 
met the Major's son who was the civil engineer in 
charge of the work. They soon discovered their 
relationship, being led to compare notes and trace it 
on account of the close family resemblance existing 
between them, a resemblance which was so pro- 
nounced that strangers noticed and commented on 
it. This is remarkable in view of the fact that the 
two branches of the family had been separate for 
more than one hundred years. Mr. Robe's great- 
grandfather was at one time a wealthy Virginia 
slave owner. He was a man of great strength of 
character, and when he realized the injustice of the 
existing system voluntarily freed his slaves number- 
ing nearly one hundred, although he knew his action 
would render him bankrupt. His son, William, re- 
surveyed several counties in Southern Ohio pre- 
viously held by old colonial estates, and in this way 
acquired many small tracts of land. While en- 
gaged in this work he was also actively interested 
in the underground railroad system by which large 
numbers of runaway slaves were conveyed to Can- 
ada, and thus given their freedom. Immediately 
after the Civil War he turned over all his small 
land holding to the freed slaves. Among the earn- 
est, faithful women who have spent years in study- 
ing the problem of educating the negro, will ever be 
numbered Mary M. Robe, an aunt of Truitt Robe. 
She was at one time principal of the academv at 
North Liberty, Ohio, but resigned this position to 
found the Camp Nelson school for negroes located 
near Lexington, Kentucky. For twenty years she 
devoted her rare gifts of mind and heart to this 
work, delegating her responsibilities to others onlv 
three years ago, after she had passed her sixty- 
fourth birthday. 

Having acquired his elementary education in the 
common schools of Ohio, Truitt Robe completed his 
training in the North Liberty Academy. He was 
seventeen years of age when his parents became 
residents of Auburn, Washington, and at this time 
young Robe was teaching in the public schools of 
Manchester, Ohio. His first position in this state 
was in a store owned by M. H. Conners. After he 
had clerked in the store a few months his father 
rented a hop farm, and the son gave up his position 
to assist in the care of it. After remaining at home 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



till 1889 he and a brother, A. Campbell Robe, to- 
gether with E. M. Stevens went to Marysville, and 
embarked in the shingle business. Nine months 
later the Robe brothers sold their interest to the 
other partner. Truitt then contracted for the Seattle 
and International railroad for a time. In the spring 
of 1891 he entered the employ of Mark Swinnerton, 
of Marysville, and so satisfactorily did he serve his 
employer that in the fall of that year he was given 
charge of the branch house then opened at Granite 
Falls. This was the first store built in the town. 
During the summer he located a homestead in 
what is now known as the town of Robe. Later he 
sold his claim, but he continued to manage the 
store until it changed hands in 1892. He had pre- 
viously purchased forty acres of land and platted 
the original town-site of Granite Falls. Mr. Robe 
also secured a claim just east of town, owning it for 
five years, when he sold out and opened a grocery 
store. A year and a half later, having disposed of 
this business, he with C. P. Last and W. H. Hard- 
ing built a saw-mill in the town. After operating it 
a few months, he sold his interest to his partners, 
and built a mill for himself. In a short time his old 
firm went out of business, and he purchased their 
machinery. In moving it to his mill he met with a 
serious accident that made him an invalid for a year, 
and caused him to take his present partner, Mr. 
Menzell, into the business. Prosperity has crowned 
their united efforts, the firm now having net assets 
amountnig to $65,000. A saw-mill and planing mill, 
together with 30,000,000 feet of timber constitute 
the holdings. The firm is now about to have a rail- 
road built to the mill, expecting in the near future to 
extend it across the divide to the Sultan Basin, and 
thus open up a valuable timber and mining district. 
Two donkey engines are required to handle the ex- 
tensive logging business carried on in connection 
with the mills. Prior to the coming of Mr. Robe to 
this locality in 1890, no timber had been cut in the 
triangle formed bv the Pilchuck and the south fork 
of the Stillaguamish rivers, between Arlington and 
Machias. To him belongs the distinction of having 
built the first house constructed with sawed lumber 
in the town of Granite Falls. 

Mr. Robe and Miss Ella D. Turner were united 
in marriage November 25, 1891. Mrs. Robe is 
herself a pioneer of the Northwest, having driven 
across the plains from Kansas to Walla Walla in 
1880, when her parents found a home in Washing- 
ton. Two vears later the family moved by wagon 
to Seattle. She is the daughter of William M. and 
Martha E. (Hendren) Turner, distinguished pion- 
eers of Granite Falls, whose sketch appears else- 
where in this volume. Mr. and Mrs. Robe have 
two children, Mildren A., born November 12, 1895, 
and Doris M., May 28, 1897. Mr. Robe is a loyal 



supporter of the Republican party, is a member ot 
the central committee, being a delegate from this 
precinct, but has never sought political preferment. 
His family attend the Congregational church. A 
man of broad intelligence and splendid business 
capabilities, Mr. Robe, although still a young man, 
has achieved a measure of success which is the envy 
of many an older man. He is already one of the 
influential men of the community, holding the confi- 
dence and respect of all who are in any way asso- 
ciated with him. 



HENRY MENZEL, vice president and assist- 
ant manager of the Robe-Menzel Lumber Com- 
pany Inc., Granite Falls, has been prominently iden- 
tified with the milling interests of Snohomish county 
for several years past. Not only is he a leading 
business man to-day but he is a pioneer of the sec- 
tion in whose development he is playing so import- 
ant a part. Bom in Hanover, Germany, ]\Iarch 31, 
1869, he is the son of George and Lena (Dorman) 
Menzel, also natives of Germany. George Menzel 
was born in 1831, followed railroad work in Ger- 
many and there passed away in 1879, his death re- 
sulting from lockjaw brought on by a broken leg. 
At, the time of his decease he was roadmaster. Mrs. 
Menzel. the mother, was born in 1839; she died in 
1874. From the age of six until he was fourteen, 
Henry, the subject of this sketch, attended school, 
then secured employment as a farm hand. This kind 
of work occupied him until he was sixteen, when he 
joined his brother George in the United States, hav- 
ing meanwhile assisted the latter to get away. Henry 
landed in New York City September 1-i, 1885, with 
a railroad ticket for Minneapolis and with but ten 
cents in his pocket, a stranger in a strange land, 
hundreds of miles from his nearest relative or 
friend. From many viewpoints the outlook was 
not a happy one, but the young emigrant appreciated 
the richness of the boundless opportunities around 
him and with characteristic energy reached out to 
grasp them. Upon his arrivel in Minnesota, he en- 
gaged in farming, being thus employed there two 
years. In 1887, he again turned westward, reaching 
Tacoma, Washington, October 15th, with an empty 
pocketbook, but filled with confidence and hope of 
better things before him in the great Northwest. Nor 
was he to be disappointed. At Tacoma he spent the 
first year in the employ of the Tacoma Mill Com- 
pany.' Then he visited Stockton, California, farm- 
ing 'and driving a delivery team during his stay in 
the Golden state. He finally returned Northward to 
Washington in December 1893, and immediately 
proceeded to the Pilchuck valley which he had visit- 
ed previous to his California trip and in which he- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



971 



had filed on a claim. In the same vicinity as that of 
his abandoned claim, he took another and at once 
began the work of developing it into a farm. Five 
years were spent in this arduous task, during which, 
he experienced all the obstacles and difficulties and 
hardships that have fallen to tlie lot of the Puget 
sound pioneer, at last proving up on the place. He 
then accepted employment as foreman in the bolt 
camp of Theurer & Hembridge, and a little later left 
that firm to go with Shaffer Brothers. From 1898 
to 1901 he was thus employed, gaining an experience 
that soon proved invaluable to him, for in 1901 he 
formed a partnership with Truitt K. Robe, also of 
Granite Falls. This firm erected a small mill on the 
Pilchuck. a mile Southeast of town and acquired 
nearby timber lands. Success almost immediately 
crowned their endeavors and soon thev were com'- 
pelled to increase the capacity of their' plant. One 
miprovement has followed another until at present 
this mill is one of the best equipped in the county 
and manufactures nearly everything in the lumber 
line, even scroll work and other fine wood products. 
The company does its own logging, which gives it 
an immense advantage over other concerns^not so 
situated. This mill and related propertv stands as 
a monument to the untiring energv, progress and 
busmess abilities of Messrs. Robe and Menzel, for 
virtually the)- commenced at the extreme foot of the 
ladder and in less than half a decade have built up 
one of the most substantial enterprises in this section 
of the state, a business whose influence is marked in 
the community at large. 

Mr. Menzel was married January 13, 1895, on 
the Pilchuck, to Miss :\Iaria Carpenter, the daughter 
of Ira and Samantha Arabella (Holden) Carpenter, 
the former a native of New York state, the latter of 
Tennessee. Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter crossed the 
plains by wagon from Missouri to Washington in 
1880. The mother died September 1, 1893. Mr. 
Carpenter is still living at the age of seventv-six up- 
on the old place in the Pilchuck vallev. Mrs. Men- 
zel was born August 5, 1876, and crossed the plains 
with her parents. After her mother's death she as- 
sumed the cares of the household and continued to 
look after them until called to a home of her own, 
obtaining meanwhile a good education. She is the 
youngest in a family of four children. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Menzel three children have been born : Walter 
H.. Inez E. and Josephine C. Mr. Menzel has ac- 
quired a five-acre tract just outside of the corporate 
limits of Granite Falls and upon this sightly place 
will soon erect a handsome residence. 

Fraternally, Mr. Menzel is affiliated with the 
Code of Honor, while his wife is a member of the 
Women of Woodcraft fraternity. His political views 
are Socialistic, though of a broad, liberal spirit. 
In fact Mr. Menzel is of that porgressive. broad 



minded type of German Americans whose integrity 
persistency and thrift are so noticeable and so val- 
uable a contribution to our national growth. 



GEORGE MENZEL, of the well known Robe- 
Menzel Lumber Company, Granite Falls, one of the 
most progressive firms operating in the county, is 
not only active in the business life of the commun- 
ity in which he resides, but he is also among its real 
pioneers. He invaded the upper Pilchuck valley 
nearly two decades ago while it was the domain of 
the trapper, barely penetrated as yet by the daring 
homesteader or logger and with a zeal and a cour- 
age worthy of the rewards which they have brought 
has labored long and earnestly in the development 
of that rich region. Of German nativity and an- 
cestry he was born in Springe, March 11," 186G, the 
son of George and Lena (Dorman) Menzel. The 
elder Alenzel was a railroad contractor and road- 
master and spent his entire life in the old country, 
his death occurring in 1879, after a long, useful ca- 
leer. Mrs. Menzel was born in 1839; she passed 
away in 187-1:. George Menzel attended the common 
schools of his native land, working out at night in 
order to do so, until he was fifteen years of age. He 
then was compelled to leave school entirely and so 
engaged as a farm hand in the neighborhood. In 
1884, at the age of eighteen, he determined to seek 
a new home across the ocean and accordingly came 
to the United States, eventually reaching Minne- 
apolis with only two dollars in his pocket. His first 
employment here was on Minnesota Jarms, though 
in 1885 he acquired 160 acres and commenced its 
cultivation, at the same time assisting in supporting 
himself by working on railroad construction work. 
After two years thus spent he worked for a time 
in the harvest fields of North Dakota, then came 
over the Northern Pacific to the Cascade mountains 
and entered the construction department, helping to 
build the main line to the sound. He arrived in Ta- 
coma in January, 1887, immediately entering the 
saw-mill of Hanson & Company. Tliis was his first 
experience in the lumber business. Nine months 
later, in September, 1887, he came to Snohomish and 
thence up the Pilchuck river twenty miles, where he 
filed on a claim. His nearest neighbor was tw^o miles 
away. Roads there were none and in his communi- 
ty not even trails. However, he and a few neigh- 
bors built a trail a mile long, connecting with an- 
other which led to Snohomish. These hardy fron- 
tiersmen paid a cent and a half a pound to have sup- 
plies hauled by horses fifteen miles and then packed 
the stuff in on their backs, a most arduous task. 
Once Mr. Menzel packed in, with the assistance of 
another man, a No. 8 cook stove, a back-breaking 



572 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



load, but a necessary one if they would enjoy the 
comforts and conveniences of such an accessory to 
their rude cabins. For four months Mr. Menzel did 
not have a potato to eat, so scarce was that vege- 
table, and the land was not in condition to cultivate. 
He engaged in trapping for beaver, otter and mink, 
selling the furs for what he could get, and mean- 
while doing all he could toward clearing the land. 
In the summer of 1888 he went to Tacoma and with 
the proceeds of several months' hard work for the 
Tacoma Mill Company purchased supplies with 
which to spend the winter on his claim. Unfor- 
tunately, in burning off the land, the fire caught his 
cabin and destroyed it and the greater portion of all 
he had, even his clothing and tools. This was a se- 
vere blow, but undaunted he again returned to Ta- 
coma and earned money with which to replace the 
lost supplies and goods. In 1880 he purchased two 
sheep, a cow and two steers, which were thought to 
be a considerable number of stock to bring up the 
Pilchuck. Mr. Menzel devoted himself tirelessly to 
his ranch until 1897, cutting shingle bolts now and 
then to replenish his low funds, but in 1897 he com- 
menced to team considerably for others in addition 
to farming, continuing in this way until 1903. In 
those early years he served the district as road su- 
pervisor and as school director, helping to build the 
first school-house in Granite Falls, donating his 
labor. He also assisted in putting up the school- 
house in the district formed on the Pilchuck. He 
and his borthers, Henry and William, built a mile 
and a half of road and donated it to the county. In 
1902 Mr. Menzel commenced to take the shingle 
bolts off eighty acres of his land and was occupied 
two years in this undertaking, a fact hardly credible 
to those unacquainted with Puget sound. Truitt K. 
Robe, Henry and George Menzel united in 1904 in 
organizing the Robe-Menzel Lumber Company, 
which operates a fine, modern plant southeast of 
Granite Falls and logs off its own lands. A railroad 
spur is now being built to reach this mill. Mr. Men- 
zel united with the Congregational church at Maple 
Hill in 1894, but has since withdrawn from member- 
ship in it. Politically, he is an active, ardent Social- 
ist, thoroughly devoted to their principles, having 
joined that party in 1899. He has served as county 
committeeman, secretary of the local committee, and 
delegate to four state conventions. In 1902 he was 
nominated on the Socialist ticket for county com- 
missioner from his district. He is one of the public 
spirited citizens of his community, ever ready to lend 
a hand to any worthy enterprise, never shirking his 
responsibilities, and commandng the utmost confi- 
dence and esteem of his fellow men. The old home- 
stead he retains, which alone is a monument to his 
energy, faithfulness, courage and resistless de- 
termination to accomplish whatever he undertakes. 



PETER LEQUE (deceased).— The closing 
days of November of the year 1905 were ren- 
dered gloomy all over the county of Snoho- 
mish, in particular and the sound country in 
general by • the accidental death of the well 
known Peter Leque, of Stanwood, who by dili- 
gence in business, faithfulness in the discharge 
of public trusts, efficiency in everything he un- 
dertook, unquestioned integrity and inborn gen- 
tlemanliness, had always held a prominent place in 
the esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens. 
Born in Norway, January 2, 18G4, he had in him all 
the strong qualities for which the sturdy Norse 
race is noted, while residence in the United States 
since boyhood gave him a knowledge of American 
institutions and American ideas which is impos- 
sible to many of his countrymen. The less favored 
Norwegians therefore looked upon him as a leader 
and friend, reposing the utmost confidence in his 
judgment, knowing always that from him they were 
sure of what Roosevelt calls a "square deal."' His 
American neighbors respected him no less highly, 
confided in him no less implicitly. Only a few days 
before his death, the editor of the county paper 
established in his home town told the writer that 
Peter Leque might have almost any office in the 
gift of this state that he would signify a desire for. 

When nine years old, Mr. Leque came to Da- 
kota and two years later he established a residence 
in the Puget sound country. Having completed 
his common school training in Snohomish county, 
he attended the territorial university at Seattle and 
Union academy in Olympia, leaving the latter in- 
stitution at the age of nineteen. He had given some 
attention to surveying in the higher schools and 
shortly after leaving them he took up that line of 
work with O. B. Iverson, United States deputy 
survryor. l*'nr the ensuing two years he was in 
cliargc (if field work on government surveys, but on 
reaching his majority he took a claim on tlie Nook- 
sack river, where Lawrence now is. Having made 
final proof three years later, he bought a farm near 
Stanwood and engaged energetically in its subjuga- 
tion and cultivation. The ensuing year (1888) he 
was elected county surveyor, for he had never aban- 
doned entirely the practice of liis profession. This 
was his first county office, but from that time on 
public affairs claimed a considerable share of his 
attention. In 1892 he was the choice of the people 
for assessor. His labors in the discharge of the 
duties of that office were truly herculean, for he 
took upon himself the task of making plats of all 
the land in the county and substituting the present 
scientific method of assessing for the old, unsci- 
entific and unsatisfactory one. Perhaps this was 
his most noteworthy contribution to the good of 
Snohomish county. In 1894 he was elected auditor 
and two years later he received the unanimous 
nomination of the Republican party for the same 





^^"^^OCj^^^/ 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



office, but, like the rest of his party, went down in 
the fusion landslide of that year, not, however, 
without the satisfaction of having received a larger 
vote than any other man on his ticket. 

The duties of his various county offices had re- 
quired the presence of Mr. Leque in Snohomish, 
but upon his retirement from the auditorship he 
moved back to Stanwood and engaged in opening 
up and developing farms. One place on Camano 
island and several around Stanwood benefited 
greatly by his operations, and at the time of his 
death he was comfortably located on a farm of 140 
acres, all diked and in cultivation, on the river just 
out of Stanwood. Air. Leque was president of the 
Stanwood Hardware Company, which was organ- 
ized by him in 1903, and vice-president of the Bank 
of Stanwood, of which, also, he was an organizer. 
A life of strenuous endeavor and a rare ability to 
see and to seize opportunities as they presented 
themselves enabled Mr. Leque to achieve an envi- 
able financial success, but the best heritage he leaves 
behind is the record of a useful life, of public trusts 
executed with faithfulness, and of an unsullied 
reputation. 

In 1886 Mr. Leque married Miss Bertha, daugh- 
ter of O. B. Iverson, a well known pioneer of the 
Stillaguamish country, now a resident of Olympia. 



ARTHUR E. HALL, postmaster of Stanwood, 
is a bright, energetic young man of that city and 
one who knows the needs and possibilities of the 
hustling town. He is serving his second term in the 
postoffice, his reappointment being an indication of 
his executive ability and integrity. Mr. Hall was 
born in Taylorsville, Illinois, early in the year 1877, 
the last of the nine children of Erastus A. and Mary 
J. (Clark) Hall. The elder HalL was born in 
Michigan, in which state his parents were pioneers, 
became a mechanic and moved to Illinois in 18G4.' 
He served six months in the Civil War. Illinois 
was his home until 188-1, in which year he removed 
to Kansas, and in 1891 he came to Florence, mov- 
ing thence a year later to Stanwood, where he is 
still living. Mrs. Hall, though born in Indiana, 
was educated in Michigan and grew up there. She 
followed the fortunes of her husband and died in 
Stanwood in 1903. 

Arthur E. Hall, of this review, received his 
education in the schools of Kansas and Snohomish 
county. In 1898 he opened a hay and grain busi- 
ness in Stanwood and operated it successfully for 
a year afterward, then devoted the proceeds to 
completing his education by a business college 
course in Seattle. One year he passed as street- 
car conductor in that city, then in the fall of 1900 
he returned to Stanwood and received an appoint- 
ment as postmaster. President Roosevelt reap- 



pointed him so he is sure of having years yet to 
serve. 

In 1904 at Mount Vernon, Skagit county, Mr. 
Hall married Miss Freda E. Pape, a native of Kan- 
sas, born in 1886. She received her education at 
Vashon College, near Tacoma. At the time of her 
marriage she was only seventeen years of age. One 
child was born to the union, Geraldine, born at 
Stanwood, May 4, 1905. In politics Mr. Hall is a 
Republican, and in church affiliations the family 
are Episcopalian. He is a young man of ability and 
integrity, energetic, popular and respected by the 
entire community. 



DANIEL O. PEARSON, mayor of the city of 
Stanwood, and its pioneer merchant, is perhaps 
more justly entitled to be called the founder of the 
present Stanwood than any one else, for he named 
the place, established its first store and first served 
as its postmaster. Born in the great manufactur- 
ing city of Lowell, Massachusetts, April, 1846, he 
is the son of Daniel Pearson, a native of Syracuse, 
New York. The elder Pearson was a merchant, 
who left the East for Puget sound in 1864. He 
became one of Whidbey Island's pioneers, settling 
on its west side, and served sixteen years as keeper 
of the old lighthouse which stood on the site of the 
present Fort Casey. He passed away in 1898 at 
the goodly age of four score years. Mrs. Susan 
(Brown) Pearson, the mother of Daniel O., was a 
native of the Green Mountain state. Her death 
occurred in 1890 in her seventy-third year. Of her 
six children only two survive, Mrs. Flora Engles, 
wife of W. B. Engles of Whidbey Island, and 
Mayor Pearson. Daniel O. Pearson received a lib- 
eral education, being graduated from the Lowell 
high school. After his father came West in 1864, 
he had charge of his store two years, then he sold 
out and followed his father West, reaching the 
island in December, 1865. In the summer of 1864 
the young man enlisted in the Union Army, joining 
the Sixth Massachusetts and serving on the Po- 
tomac from July 7th to October 20, 1864. After 
coming to Whidbey Island, Mr. Pearson followed 
farming until 1877, when he crossed over to the 
mainland for the purpose of opening a store. At 
that time there was a settlement at Stanwood con- 
sisting of a saloon, a postoffice, a logging camp 
bunk house and one private dwelling, the last men- 
tioned being the property of Henry Oliver, who 
had taken a homestead there. The postoffice was 
called Centerville. Mr. Pearson immediately 
bought a small tract along the river bank, estab- 
lished his store and assumed charge of the post- 
office. Now the name Centerville is a common one 
in all parts of the country. Mr. Pearson favored 
something more original, so requested the postoffice 



976 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



department to change the name, suggesting Stan- 
wood, the maiden name of his wife. The sugges- 
tion was adopted and about the first of the year 
1878 the change went into effect, meeting with gen- 
eral satisfaction. Mr. Pearson served as post- 
master until 1893, when his successor was ap- 
pointed, the administration of President Cleveland 
bringing about the change. It is interesting to 
note that the old town of Centerville stood several 
hundred yards down the river from Mr. Pearson's 
store. His first trade was with the farmers who 
had crossed from the island in 1872-3 and settled 
on land in the vicinity, and with the Indians, then 
quite numerous. From this small beginning Mr. 
Pearson's business grew to such proportions that 
he held property valued at $100,000 when the panic 
of 1893 came. When his creditors pressed him he 
sought to recover himself by selling a farm on the 
La Conner flats that he had taken as a homestead 
in previous years, but to no avail. He became 
practically bankrupt, with everything in the way of 
obligations liquidated, however. He continued in 
business but the profits were meagre, his estab- 
lishment being kept up almost entirely by an out- 
side income until the return of prosperity. In 1889 
he built his present store, but this commodious 
building has now become inadequate and will soon 
be retired in favor of a handsome new structure on 
Market street, the main street of Stanwood. Stan- 
wood was incorporated in 1903 and at the special 
election following Mr. Pearson was chosen as the 
city's first mayor. 

Mr. Pearson and Miss Clara Stanwood, of 
Massachusetts, were united in marriage on Whid- 
bey Island in 1868, she having crossed the conti- 
nent to become the bride of the young man who was 
seeking his fortune along the westermost frontier. 
They had known each other from childhood in the 
Old Bay state. She was born in 1818, the daugh- 
ter of William E. and Rachel (Page) Stanwood. 
When a child she lost her mother and after the 
latter's death lived with her father until he went to 
California in 1850, her grandmother then rearing 
her to young womanhood. Seven children have 
been born to Mayor and Mrs. Pearson, of whom 
two are dead ; the others are : Guy, of Seattle ; 
Eva; Fred, living in Tacoma; D. Carl, the first 
white child born in Stanwood after the re-christen- 
ing of the place, ex-county auditor of Island county 
and editor of the Coupeville newspaper; and 
Rachel, who lives at home. Mayor Pearson is a 
member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen 
and of the Grand Army of the Republic. He is 
an active member of the Republican party, and has 
served as county central committeeman. In 1890 
he was nominated without solicitation for repre- 
sentative to the legislature, went through the cam- 
paign without taking the stump in his own behalf, 
and was beaten by only four votes. In addition to 



his business and realty interests in Stanwood and 
vicinity, Mr. Pearson has property in Coupeville 

and Seattle. 



PETER HAR\'EY, of Stanwood, owner of 
the water power plant of the town, is one of the 
pioneers of tiiat section of Snohomish county and 
has participated in its upbuilding, watching its 
growth from the days when there were no settlers 
in that whole region. Mr. Harvey was born in 
Chili, in 1855, the son of Johnson and Nancy Har- 
vey, both of whom were natives of Chili, but the 
father was of English descent. When eleven years 
of age, in 1866, young Harvey started out for him- 
self, working at various things, and finally becom- 
ing steward on a vessel. At seventeen years of age 
he was in San Francisco and in that year, 1873, he 
came to Snohomish county and went to work in 
logging camps, which line of activity he followed 
for seven years. No settlers were in this part of 
the county when Mr. Harvey first came. Messrs. 
Carr and Kellogg had put in a part of a dike and 
had taken up land, which was afterward sold to 
Mr. Oliver. Robert Freeman, Mr. Goodrich and 
^Ir. Perkins had but recently arrived where Stan- 
wood now stands. When Mr. Harvey became 
twenty-one years of age he took up a homestead a 
mile from Stanwood and proved up on it, but later 
sold it. At the end of his seven years' logging ex- 
perience, Mr. Harvey engaged in business for him- 
self, taking off logs and selling them to the mills. 
He continued at this work at intervals until 1903, 
in the meantime handling other lines of business 
also. In 1880 he rented "The Pioneer" hotel and 
operated it for the ensuing five years. It was the 
first hotel in Stanwood and had been erected by 
Freeman & Carlin. He also ran a saloon for a time 
in Seattle, beginning in 1903, and at the same time 
engaged in the business in Stanwood, but he has 
sold this out recently. One of Mr. Harvey's busi- 
ness ventures was the acquisition of the water 
power plant, which he still owns and continues to 
operate. 

In November of 1903 Mr. Harvey married Miss 
Katie Cherrytree, a native of Chicago, and they 
have one child, Lewis, born in 1903. Aside from 
his business building in Stanwood and a block of 
land in connection therewith, Mr. Harvey owns 
residence property in Seattle. He is well to do, an 
enterprising man, a public-spirited citizen, and en- 
joys the distinction which always goes with pio- 
neership in the development of a country. 



IVER JOHNSON, a worthy son of the land 
which has furnished so many progressive and force- 
ful men to the Stillaguamish country, and an hon- 




CM^<^±^lZD 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



ored pioneer of Washington, now manager of the 
Stanwood Hardware Company, Incorporated, was 
born in Norway in the year 1848, the son of John 
and Maryet (Furness) Hangen, both of whom 
spent their Hves in that far-away northern land. 
After acquiring a common school education in the 
local public schools and under private tutors, Mr. 
Johnson learned the shoemaker's trade, also taking 
some lessons in industry and in farming at the 
parental home. It early became his ambition to 
seek the larger advantages offered by the new 
world, and to that end he took a few lessons in the 
English language. At the early age of twenty he 
landed in Dakota, where he farmed for seven years, 
after which he came to Washington, settling at 
Port Gamble. He worked there two years and a 
half, then returned to Dakota for the lady of his 
choice, with whom he soon took up his residence 
in Snohomish county. In the fall of 1878 he se- 
cured some railroad land, and later he filed a pre- 
emption claim to a place near Silvana, where his 
home was for a number of years afterward. He 
also opened a store in the town and during the ad- 
ministration of President Hayes served as post- 
master there. Eventually selling his business to 
L. P. Elvrum, he removed to Stanwood, where for 
five years he was a clerk in the employ of D. O. 
Pearson, a position which he resigned in 1895 to 
become deputy auditor under Peter Leque at Sno- 
homish. Two years later he resumed his farming 
operations at Silvana, but these were interferred 
with somewhat during and after 1898 by his dis- 
charge of the duties of county commissioner, to 
which office he was that year elected. He served 
four years. He became a resident of Stanwood 
October 1, 1902, at that time purchasing an inter- 
est in the Stanwood Hardware Company, of which 
he now has entire charge. 

Mr. Johnson and Martha Hougan were united 
in marriage in Dakota in 1878. Mrs. Johnson died 
four years after her marriage. Like her parents, 
Benjamin and Maria Hougan, she was a native of 
Norway: the date of her birth was 1854. Her 
father died in Dakota, but her mother still resides 
there. Mr. Johnson's second marriage occurred in 
Silvana, Washington, the lady being Miss Maria 
Funk. She was born in Denmark in 1868, but hav- 
ing come to the United States when eleven years 
years old, received most of her education in the 
schools of Wisconsin. Her parents, Rasmus and 
Kirsten (Hanson) Funk, were also natives of Den- 
mark. The father is now deceased, but the mother 
lives at Silvana. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have six 
children, all of whom were born in Snohomish 
county, namely : Richard, February 24, 1889 ; 
Myron. March 14, 1890; Isabell, September 9, 
1893; Josephine, August 9, 1898; Jack, April 30, 
1900; Philip, January 8. 1902. Mr. Johnson at- 
tends the Lutheran church, and is an active Repub- 



lican, always advancing his party's interests by 
every worthy means. His part in the municipal 
life of the town of Stanwood has been one of great 
importance, as he was one of the organizers, and 
an enthusiastic member of the city council. Pos- 
sessing the unbounded confidence of all with whom 
he is in any way associated, Mr. Johnson is a man 
of wide influence. He owns a fine eighty-acre farm, 
sixty acres of which he cultivates, his two special- 
ties being hay and stock. 



ANDREW B. KLAEBOE.— Exhaustiveness 
in mastering the details of his chosen profession, 
concentration of his energies, conscientiousness and 
care in all that he does — these are the qualities 
which have made the subject of this review success- 
ful in business in an unusual degree, while these 
same qualities, combined with a cordial, obliging 
disposition, have won him an abiding place in the 
esteem and regard of the people of the Stanwood 
country among whom he has lived for many years. 
A native of Norway, land of industry and thrift, 
he acquired his education and learned his profession 
with European thoroughness and he has since de- 
voted himself to its practice with assiduity and zeal, 
at the same time so managing the commercial side 
of the profession as to win a competency for him- 
self. 

Our subject's parents, Ole and Ragnhild Klae- 
boe, both spent their entire lives in Norway, where 
Mr. Klaeboe enjoyed the advantages not alone of 
the public schools but of the college in Christiania. 
He began the study of drugs at fourteen. In 1884, 
when he had reached the age of twenty-four years, 
he migrated to America, the land of promise to 
Europeans, and for six months after his arrival he 
clerked in a drug store in Baldwin, St. Croix 
county, Wisconsin. His next position was that of 
manager of the business of the well known Henry 
Thompson in Portland, North Dakota, with whom 
he remained a year, thereupon becoming manager 
for the firm of Roberts & Anderson in the same 
town. He remained with them until 1888, when a 
desire for still larger opportunities impelled him 
to the new territory of Washington, and it was then 
that his residence in Stanwood began, for he had 
soon started there the pioneer drug store of the 
place and the second in all Snohomish, Lot Wil- 
bur's at Snohomish being the first. He continued 
in business in Stanwood uninterruptedly until 1896, 
in which year the Alaska fever seized him and he 
went to Juneau to establish the celebrated Occi- 
dental Pharmacy, which business he maintained 
three years, or until the great Yukon rush was over, 
whereupon he returned to Stanwood, organized the 
Klaeboe Drug Company, and once more engaged 
in the practice of pharmacy in that town. Besides 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



his excellent business there, he has five buildings 
in Stanwood, which he rents, as well as many valu- 
able interests in other parts of Washington and in 
Alaska. 

In the state of Washington, in the year 1889, 
Mr. Ivlaeboe married Miss Sarah Jacobson, who 
was born in Norway in 1860, and .was educated in 
the public schools there, but came thence to Wash- 
ington in 1888. Their children are as follows : 
Ragna Marie, born March 17, 1890 ; Olga Jose- 
phine, August 21, 1893 ; John, November 20, 1894, 
and Sigrid Amanda, October 11, 1896, all in Stan- 
wood. Fraternally, Mr. Klaeboe is a Mason and a 
Workman ; in religious persuasion he is a Lutheran, 
and in politics independent, voting for whatever 
party seems most likely to reform abuses. He is 
energetic, wide awake, progressive and public- 
spirited, and none stands higher than he in the 
esteem and regard of the people of the Stillaguam- 
ish valley, a people who have known him for years 
and whose confidence in him has never been shaken 
through any act of his. An unequivocal expression 
of their faith in him was given in December, 1905, 
when they elected him mayor by a larger majority 
than was ever before given to any candidate for 
that office. 

A word about the European connections of Mr. 
Klaeboe is in place in this brief article. Members 
of the original family are to be found in many dif- 
ferent parts of Norway, Northern Germany and 
Denmark, the last mentioned country being the 
original home of the Klaeboes. The Norwegian 
branch moved to Norway from Denmark in 1667. 
A list of all its members, generation after genera- 
tion, since the sixteenth century, is now in the pos- 
session of Mr. Kraeboe. While it includes force- 
ful men of former times, the generation now living 
and the one immediately preceding it have been 
especially noted for the number of brilliant leaders 
of thought they have furnished. Bishop Anthon 
Christian Bang, the present bishop of the diocese 
of Christiania, and admittedly the foremost man 
in the Lutheran church to-day, is a second cousin 
of our subject. When he was a little past thirty the 
University of Christiania paid tribute to his splen- 
did talents and accomplishments by creating for 
him a chair of church history and ancient lan- 
guages. No less noted is the late John Klaeboe, 
an uncle of Andrew B. of this article, famed for his 
brilliant writings and his accomplishments as a 
linguist. Our subject's oldest brother, Ivar, who 
lives on the paternal estate in northern Norway, is 
a farmer and proprietor of an extensive fish busi- 
ness. He is very widely known over northern Eu- 
rope, being a conspicuous figure in politics and 
economics. Another brother, H. B. Klaeboe, ranks 
among the leading clergymen of Christiania, while 
another, Peder Klaeboe, a graduate of Christiania 
University, is a professor in a college in his native 



land. Andrew B., the youngest of the four broth- 
ers, is the only member of the family so far who- 
has decided to try his fortunes in America. 



DANIEL McEACHERAN, M. D., like many 
other sturdy and substantial citizens of the differ- 
ent communities of the American republic, has in 
his veins the blood of the Scotch race, a race hon- 
ored throughout the world for its stalwart char- 
acter, thrifty habits and great ability. His father, 
Archibald, and his mother, Agnes (Stewart) Mc- 
Eacheran, were both natives of Scotland, born in 
1819 and 1827, respectively. Both migrated to 
Canada in early life, and it was there that they were 
married. The former, a farmer by occupation, is 
still living on the British side of the line; the latter 
died there in 1869, leaving ten children, of whom 
Daniel is the seventh in order of birth. 

After completing the courses oft'ered in both the 
common and high schools of his native province. 
Dr. McEacheran followed teaching as a profession 
for a few years, then, at the age of twenty-three 
(he was born June 25, 1860), he went to Ann 
Arbor, Michigan, and entered the medical depart- 
ment of the state university located there. In 1886 
he was graduated with the degree of M. D., and 
the following fall he opened an office at Mayville, 
North Dakota, for the practice of medicine and sur- 
gery. After spending two years there he moved to 
St. Paul, Minnesota, which was the scene of his 
professional labors until 1889, in which year he 
came to Stanwood. Here he practiced uninter- 
ruptedly until 1894, then for three years he was a 
practitioner of the healing art in Fosston, Minne- 
sota, but in 1898 he once more took up his abode in 
Stanwood, where he has ever since lived. 

In the town of Stanwood, in 1892, Dr. Mc- 
Eacheran married Bertha M., daughter of the well 
known pioneer, D. O. Pearson. She died in 1896, 
leaving one child, Donald, born August 27, 1894. 
On the 29th of August, 1903, Dr. McEacheran was 
again married, the lady being Mabelle E. Hatch, 
daughter of Frank M. and Imogine Hatch, natives 
of Maine. The father, a mechanic, lived in Kan- 
sas for a time, but came from that state to Wash- 
ington 'in 1890, and died here March 14, 1906. The 
mother is still living, her home at present being in 
the vicinity of Fir. Skagit county. Mrs. McEach- 
eran is a native of Osborn, Kansas, born in 1882, 
but acquired her education in the schools of Seat- 
tle and Edmonds. In politics Dr. McEacheran is 
a Republican, but his time is so completely taken 
up with the duties of his profession that he is not 
specially active, except to perform his duties as a 
good citizen. He is a man of sterling worth, 
respected alike by the other members of his profes- 
sion and by his fellow citizens generally. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



981 



ANDREW TACKSTROM, harness merchant 
of Stanwood, has built up a good business in this 
thriving town in the decade and a half he has been 
a resident here. He was born in Sweden in 1851, 
the fifth of the nine children of John H. and 
Christina Trackstrom, both of whom spent their 
entire lives in their native land. The father was a 
sawyer by occupation. Andrew received his educa- 
tion in the common schools of Sweden, and at the 
age of thirteen w,as apprenticed to the trade of 
shoemaker. He worked at the bench for four years 
as a learner, then for four more 3'ears as a jour- 
neyman. When he attained his majority he opened 
a shop of his own and he continued in business there 
until he came to the United States in 1881. On ar- 
riving in this country he put in six months at his 
trade in Chicago, but in 1S8S went to Nebraska and 
engaged in work on a ranch. He afterward fol- 
lowed railroad work for a couple of years in Ne- 
braska, then was transferred to Colorado, where he 
remained for a year and a half. He then returned 
to Nebraska and at Creston opened a shop and 
operated it with success for five years, at the end of 
which period he removed to Madison and opened a 
shop there. After a year and a half he determined 
to leave Nebraska and come to Washington. He 
settled in Stanwood and has remained there ever 
since. At first he worked at making and repairing 
shoes, giving his whole time to that, but in 1898 he 
opened a harness shop in connection with the shoe 
business and he has since continued to operate both 
these lines. In 1896 Mr. Tackstrom was appointed 
postmaster by the late President McKinley, and he 
served for two years thereafter, resigning with the 
intention of going to Nome, Alaska, but circum- 
stances altered his plans and he remained in the 
city, continuing in the shoe and harness business 
up to the present time. 

In IsM, before leaving Sweden, Mr. Tackstrom 
married Miss Hannah Olson, daughter of Ole Ole- 
son, who lived and died in the old country. Mrs. 
Tackstrom was born in 1819 and was educated for 
the profession of teacher, taking courses in the 
common and high schools, and finishing in the nor- 
mal school. She commenced teaching when nine- 
teen years of age and taught for several years. 
Mrs. Tackstrom died in Stanwood in 1899. She 
was the mother of four children, two born in Swe- 
den and two in Nebraska. Hannah, the first born, 
died when four years old, while the youngest two, 
Mabel and Nellie, have died in Stanwood. The 
only living child, Oscar, who was educated in Ne- 
braska, went to Alaska in 1900, and is still there, 
employed by a transportation company. In fra- 
ternal circles Mr. Tackstrom is a member of the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen. He attends 
the Mission church. In pohtics he is a Republican 
and, elected by that party, he is now serving his 
second term as member of the citv council. He is 



one of the prosperous men of the city, deservedly 
popular and influential. 



BEN WILLARD, furniture dealer and under- 
taker at Stanwood, is one of the leading men in the 
commercial interests of his home town, with an 
enviable reputation for business ability and probity. 
Mr. Willard was born in Denmark in 1851, the son 
of Christ and Christina (Christenson) Willard. 
The father was an Englishman by birth. Both Mr. 
and Mrs. Willard are dead, the former passing 
away just before the son was born. Young Will- 
ard attended the Danish schools as a lad and in 
1871 came to the United States and settled in Wis- 
consin at farm work. In 1875 he went to Michigan 
and thereafter he followed lumbering in the woods 
for about three years, after which he went to Chi- 
cago and worked two years in a book store. He 
then returned to Michigan for a time, but ultimately 
went to Iowa, where for five years he took charge 
of a farm for a Lutheran clergyman. In 1885 Mr. 
Willard came to Washington territory and settled 
at Utsalady, in the mills of which town he worked 
for a couple of years, coming then to Stanwood, 
where for five years he worked as a farm laborer. 
Dairying attracted him and he was engaged in that 
line on his own account at Stanwood for eight 
years. He also took charge of the wharf in Stan- 
wood ten years ago. In 1890 he closed up his 
dairy business and in company with B. Lien en- 
gaged in the furniture business, an undertaking es- 
tablishment being run in connection therewith. The 
partnership continued one year, at the end of which 
time Mr. Willard bought out Mr. Lien, and he has 
since operated the business alone. 

In 1884 in Story county, Iowa, Mr. Willard mar- 
ried Miss Margaret Skorpen, daughter of Sorn H. 
and Katherina Skorpen. The mother died in this 
state, but the father, a mechanic, is still living in 
Iowa. Mrs. Willard was born in Norway and re- 
ceived her education there, coming to Iowa when 
she was twenty years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Will- 
ard have six children : Christine, born in Iowa in 
1885, a graduate of the Whatcom Normal School, 
and a teacher by profession ; Sophia, Anna, Mattie, 
Alf and Bennie, all of whom but the first were born 
after the parents had left Iowa. In politics Mr. 
Willard is a Democrat, and he is a Lutheran in 
church relations. Aside from his mercantile busi- 
ness he has an interest in the telephone company. 
He is an enterprising inan, of ripe experience and 
of force of character, and he is highly respected by 
all members of the community. 



WILLIAM CONNERS, the popular proprietor 
of the Palace hotel in Stanwood, of which city he 
is one of the most energetic and public-spirited; 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



citizens, was born in Maine, on the 2d of August, 
1862, the second of the five children of John and 
Phoebe (Kelley) Conners. Of these the former 
was a woodsman by occupation. He came to Wash- 
ington territory in 1862, and for two years was en- 
gaged in driving team at Port Gamble, then he re- 
turned to the Pine Tree state, from which, however, 
he came once more to Washington in 18?5, once 
more accepting employment at Port Gamble. He 
died at the home of his son, William, in 1904. The 
mother of our subject was born in Maine, and 
passed her entire life in that state. 

William Conners, of this article, attended the 
local schools of his native commonwealth until he 
reached the age of fifteen, then yielding to his long- 
ing for a life on the ocean wave, he went to sea 
and thereafter until 1881 he was employed con- 
tinuously on vessels plying between Atlantic coast 
ports. The same adventurous spirit which had 
made him desire the life of a sailor then led him to 
the "wild and woolly" West, and in the fall of 1881 
he became a resident of the Queen City of Wash- 
ington. Shortly after his arrival he accepted em- 
ployment in the woods of Snohomish county, and 
in 1882 he established headquarters at Stanwood, 
from which point he has operated almost continu- 
ously since, though for four years from 1897 he 
"was engaged in mining in the Klondyke region. 
On his return in 1901 he bought the Hotel Gilpat- 
ric, in Stanwood, which he has since operated un- 
der the name of the Palace hotel. It has become, 
under his skillful, energetic management, one of 
the most popular stopping places of the Puget 
sound country, the Stanwood home of most of the 
traveling men who make that point. 

In 1881 in the town of Stanwood, Mr. Conners 
married Miss Martha Hewitt, whose parents, Will- 
iam and Susan (Ellsworth) Hewitt, drove from 
Iowa to Washington in 1881 and are now residents 
of Idaho. Mrs. Conners was born in Iowa in 1866 
and received her education there, but at the age of 
eighteen came westward, accompanying her parents 
on the transcontinental trip by team just referred 
to. She died in Stanwood in 1896, leaving four 
children, namely : Mrs. Grue Logan, now in Idaho ; 
Ernest, Lindy and Arthur. 

In Seattle in 1902 Mr. Conners was again mar- 
ried, the lady being Miss Cora, daughter of Thomas 
and Eliza (Aubrey) MiUiorn. Her father, who in 
■early life followed wheelwrighting in Virginia, 
-crossed the plains to California in 1849 and fol- 
lowed mining in the Golden state for a time, then 
look up a donation claim in Lane county, Oregon, 
on a part of which Junction City now stands. For 
a number of years afterward he worked at his trade 
there, but being now seventy-seven years old, he 
is living in quiet retirement at Junction City. Mrs. 
Conners was born in Oregon and was educated in 
the excellent public schools of that state. In poli- 



tics Mr. Conners is a Republican, but he has never 
manifested an ambition for personal preferment at 
the hands of his party, though he has always taken 
an interest in its doings and welfare and watched, 
as a good citizen should, over matters of public 
concern. 



FRANCIS H. HANCOCK (deceased) was 
one of the pioneers of Puget sound, a man of the 
highest integrity. He was of the old school of 
Christian gentlemen who carried their principles 
into their work and who never worked without 
principle. Though a resident of Stanwood at the 
time of his death and a pioneer of this part of the 
state, Mr. Hancock began life in Mrginia. He was 
born on May Day of 1826, the son of Justice and 
Harriette (Smith) Hancock, well known in their 
day and generatioii. They were the parents of six 
children, Daniel, Mary, Martha, Samuel, Allan and 
Francis. The parents died when Francis was very 
young. He received his education in his native 
state and lived there until 1857, when, at the age 
of thirty-one years, he removed to Missouri, where 
he remained as a farmer until coming to Whidby 
Island in 1862. The trip was made across the 
plains by ox-team and the Hancock wagon was one 
of a train of seven which banded together and ac- 
complished the long and tedious journey between 
May 6th and November 11th. Mr. and Mrs. Han- 
cock passed their first winter in Crockett's cabin 
and took up a homestead on the island where they 
lived a short time. They then moved to the Stilla- 
guamish flats and lived there until, in 1892, Mr. 
Hancock retired from active business life and re- 
moved to Stanwood, where he passed the remainder 
of his days. When Mr. Hancock settled on the 
flats the practice of diking the land had not been 
commenced there, but he went to work at once and 
soon had his entire holdings of 160 acres under 
dike. 

In 1853, before leaving Virginia, Mr. Hancock 
married Miss Hester A. Hewett, the ceremony be- 
ing performed on the 27th of July. Mrs. Han- 
cock's parents were Henry and Jemima (Howard) 
Hancock, native Virginians and parents of ten 
children, three of whom, James, Ellen and Bolin, 
have passed away. The living are Hezekiah, Mrs. 
Hancock, Auslum, Ambrose, Elizabeth, Alice and 
George. Mrs. Hancock was born on the 19th of 
March, 1834, and lived with her parents until her 
marriage, receiving her education in the schools of 
the Old Dominion. To Mr. and Mrs. Hancock 
were born nine children, three of whom have died, 
Mary J., Frank, and Oden. The living are : Mrs. 
Annie Libby, Mrs. Martha Scott, Samuel H., John 
T., Charles E., and Richard. In politics Mr. Han- 
cock was a Democrat. He was a Methodist in 
church affiliations and a faithful member, as is also 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



985 



Mrs. Hancock. The home farm consists of 160 
acres of bottom laifd on the Stillaguamish and two 
acres in Stanwood with a seven- room cottage. 

Concerning the death of Mr. Hancock, a pio- 
neer of the Pacific coast who settled here forty- 
two years ago, the following is appended from the 
Stanwood Tidings in its issue of February 5, 1904: 
"It is with feelings of the deepest regret that we 
record the passing away on Thursday, February 4, 
1904, at 9:50 p. m., of one of Stanwood"s best 
known and honored citizens, Mr. Francis H. Han- 
cock, at the ripe age of seventy-eight years. Mr. 
Hancock's illness was comparatively of short dura- 
tion, but from the first but little hope was enter- 
tained that he would recover on account of his 
advanced age. For days the Hancock home was 
flooded with anxious inquiries from friends and 
neighbors, but the answer was always discouraging, 
and on Thursday evening he drew his last breath. 
Death came peacefully to him who had lived a long 
and beautiful Christian life. Always jovial and 
happy, his jokes and stories of his experiences, and 
reminiscences of early days on the coast, made him 
a prime favorite with old and young alike. Francis 
H. Hancock was born in Bedford county, \'irginia, 
May 1, ]S'?(). He came from an old and distin- 
guished family of that state, his grandfather. Col- 
onel Samuel Hancock, having fought with distinc- 
tion in the Revolutionary War. On July 27, 1853, 
he married Hester A. Hewett, a lady of excellent 
family, being a direct descendant of Lord Walden, 
an luiglish nobleman, and also a relative of General 
Stonewall Jackson. Four years after their mar- 
riage, ]So7, they moved to Missouri, where they 
lived for five years. In the }-ear 18G5, jNIr. Han- 
cock, having imbibed the spirit of "Westward, ho!' 
decided to push further into that wonderland so 
full of rich promise to one who possessed so en- 
tirely as he did that unconquerable, optimistic, un- 
dying S]Mrit that does things, and knows no such 
thing as defeat, and so on the 5th day of May he 
began that arduous journey across desert and plain, 
mountains and streams, to the faraway 'Oregon 
country.' After a long six months of hardships in- 
cident to the journey across the plains, following 
trails and pdorly marked roads through a country 
infested with a treacherous and bloodthirsty race, 
they finally landed at their destination, Whidby Isl- 
and, on tile 11th day of November, IS&i. Here 
they resided for eight years, and then they moved 
to the Stillaguamish flats, where they lived con- 
tinuously until 1892, when they moved to Stan- 
wood, where they have resided ever since. During 
these years Mr. Hancock gathered together a com- 
fortable fortune and during the declining years of 
his life was able to take life easy, and in a com- 
fortable home in Stanwood lived happily with his 
wife and granddaughter, Edna. He leaves, be- 
sides a wife, six children : Mrs. Anna Libby, Mrs. 



Martha Scott, Samuel Hancock, John Hancock, 
Charles Hancock, Richard Hancock, and Frank 
Hancock, all of whom reside in and around Stan- 
wood, and who, together with their families, were 
present at his bedside during his last moments. 
The funeral services were held in the Methodist 
church at Stanwood, Sunday morning following 
his death, and were conducted by Rev. E. B. Reese, 
the pastor." 

Jilrs. Hancock passed away in February, 1906, 



REV. HELGE M. TJERNAGEL, pastor of 
the Lutheran church at Stanwood, is one of the 
forces for good in the community, bringing to his 
work as clergyman the ripe scholarship of a colle- 
gian and an understanding of human nature ob- 
tained by contact with men of the hustling busi- 
ness world. Although Mr. Tjernagel has been in 
Stanwood but a comparatively short time, he had. 
made for himself a niche in the community from 
which emanates a quiet but none the less effective 
influence over his fellow men. Mr. Tjernagel was 
born in Iowa, May 23, 1871, one of the seven chil- 
dren of Ole A. and Martha (Anderson) Tjernagel,. 
natives of Norway, who came to the United States 
early in life. The elder Tjernagel settled in Illi- 
nois in 1856 and remained there engaged in farm- 
ing for nine years, going then to Iowa, where he 
is still living. Mrs. Tjernagel came to Illinois 
when twelve years of age, and passed her life un- 
til marriage with her parents. One of her daugh- 
ters, Bertha, died, and her seven living children 
are as follows : Lewis J., Peter G., Nehemias, 
Martin O., Gustave A., Helge M., and Bertha C, 
the last mentioned bearing the name of her de- 
ceased elder sister. Helge M. Tjernagel, on the 
completion of the Iowa common school course, en- 
tered Luther college at Decorah, Iowa, at the age 
of seventeen, having in mind at that time a career 
as a clergyman. He completed the course in six 
years, then taught school for two years at Albert 
Lea, Minnesota. In 1899 he entered the Lutheran 
Theological Seminary at Hamlin, from which he 
was graduated in 1902. He came to Stanwood in 
March of that year and took charge of the church, 
succeeding Rev. L. E. Foss, now of Everett. 

In June of 1904, Mr. Tjernagel married Miss 
Anna Brue, daughter of Andrew J. and Helena 
(Berge) Brue, natives of Norway, who came to 
the United States in 1872 and six years later re- 
moved from Minnesota to Snohomish county, 
where they have since lived. Mrs. Tjernagel was 
born in Stanwood in 1882 and received her early 
education in the public schools of her native town, 
later completing her studies at the Pacific Lutheran 
Academy at Tacoma. Mr. and Mrs. Tjernagel 
have one child, Olaf A., born in Stanwood on the 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



7th of June, 1905. In his pohtical views Mr. Tjer- 
nagel is a Repubhcan. Since assuming the work of 
leader of the Stanwood Lutheran church, Mr. 
Tjernagel has impressed himself on the spiritual 
life of the community in general, proving himself a 
strong man in his work. His gifts of mind and 
heart are such that he enters into the religious life 
of his home city with a fervor and power which 
makes him one of the strongest influences for good 
that the city has known. He is beloved by the mem- 
bers of his flock and is admired and esteemed by 
those who are not in common with him on relig- 
ious and denominational matters — a man of quiet 
aggressiveness, of pronounced views on moral 
questions and of broad culture and refinement. 



GARDNER GOODRICH, farmer, stock raiser, 
dairyman and fruit grower southeast of Stanwood, 
is one of the grand pioneer characters of the entire 
Pacific Northwest, a man forceful in his dealings 
with the Indians in the early days, one with large 
sympathy with the natives, but of the sterling stutf 
from which the men must be made who win the 
wild for civilization. His life story is that of an 
extraordinary and remarkable man, spanning as it 
does a continent in its embrace, and more than the 
average number of years allotted to man. Mr. 
Goodrich was born in Canaan, Maine, February 38, 
1833. His father, Orin Goodrich, was also a native 
of Canaan and died in Maine in 1903 at the age of 
ninety-three years. His father, Samuel, grand- 
father of our subject, served in the Revolutionary 
War. Mrs. Lydia (Thurston) Goodrich was born 
in Maine, the daughter of a Revolutionary army 
patriot, and died at seventy-three years of age, the 
mother of seven children, of whom but three are 
living, Gardner and two brothers of his in Maine. 
When but twelve years of age, Gardner Goodrich 
started out for himself, running away from home 
and taking to work in the woods up the Kennebec 
river. For eight years he lived this life, but in 
1853 he came to California via New York and the 
Isthmus of Panama, walking across the latter. In 
California young Goodrich commenced mining in 
Butte county, working for $6 and $7 a day on the 
Feather river. He eventually started out prospect- 
ing for himself and made plenty of money which, 
like that of many an old fashioned miner, went as 
quickly as it came. In 1858 Mr. Goodrich joined 
in the rush for the Fraser river diggings, but got 
no further than A'ictoria, where he and his partner, 
James Perkins, found thousands anxious to get out 
of the country. The partners then took the old 
schooner Jeanette for Utsalady, arriving practically 
penniless, as were hundreds of others rushing oi.it 
from the Fraser country. Into the logging camps 
they went and soon Mr. Goodrich commenced log- 



ging on his own account. In 1864 the partners 
commenced logging operations about two miles 
north of where Stanwood has since grown up, and 
at the same time took up squatters' claims, by that 
act becoming the two original settlers on the lower 
Stillaguamish river. At about the same time five 
families came in, John Silver, George Nevils, Harry 
Marshall, Willard Sly and Daniel Marvin, all but 
the last named having native wives. It is interest- 
ing to record that Mrs. Marvin, the first white 
woman in the section, is still living at Stanwood. 
Untravelable woods covered the land and not a trail 
led through the dark and tangled forest. The men 
had to go to Coupeville for their supplies, making 
one trip in the spring and another in the fall. At 
times, owing to unfavorable winds, they had to 
remain on the beach for a week before they could 
cross the straits, and at such times they had to 
depend on clams and fish for their subsistence. 
Air. Goodrich was fortunate in having $1,500, 
which had been paid him for his logging work and 
lie was enabled to live on that while he cleared his 
land and prepared it for producing crops. His first 
crops were vegetables and corn, which he furnished 
at good prices to the men in the logging camps. 

Mr. Goodrich is possessed of a memory which 
has brought down to the present time much of value 
to the historian and of interest to the present-day 
resident of Snohomish county. In 1858 the over- 
flow from the Fraser river country, dropped a 
number of white prospectors into the valley of the 
Stillaguamish river. The arrival of the whites 
roused the opposition of the Indians, and one party 
was fired on by the natives and fled for safety 
across the Utsalady. In was in 18G1 that Mr. Good- 
rich took to himself a native wife, Polly by name, 
whose father was a medicine man who fell into 
disfavor with his tribe and was murdered by them 
in bed with his wife, both being killed by the same 
shot. Polly was raised by a chief. She had two 
sisters who also married white men. Because he 
had taken to himself an Indian wife, the natives did 
not molest Mr. Goodrich and allowed him to settle 
on his land, his present place, on which they had 
refused settlement to other whites. Perhaps also 
there was another reason, towit : that he had settled 
there and proposed to stay there, by force if neces- 
sary. The spot had been a red man's burial place, 
and the bodies of the dead remained in canoes placed 
in trees above high water mark. Mr. Goodrich 
notified the Indians to remove their dead and gave 
them three days in which to do the work. They 
told him that he did not dare touch the dead, and 
the staunch old pioneer replied that it was only 
the living that he had cause to fear. The Indians 
declined to remove their dead and the white man 
did it for them. He got spruce logs and burned 
the dried bodies; the others he consigned to the 
river. Two days were consumed in this weird work. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



After this had been done three canoe loads of In- 
dians, thirty red men to a canoe, came down the 
river, and pay for ravaging the city of their dead 
was demanded. The answer of Mr. Goodrich con- 
sisted in his going to the house for his gun and 
knife. While he was gone his native wife told the 
Indians that he was a "bad Boston man" and would 
kill them all if they did not go away. The ninety 
red men were just disappearing around a bend up 
the river when Mr. Goodrich arrived on the bank 
with his arms, ready to defend his title to the land. 
Mrs. Polly Goodrich died in October of 1871 leav- 
ing two children : Mrs. Lydia Lock, wife of J. 
Lock of Bryant, who recently sold out his interests 
in shingle mills for $90,000; and Llewellyn Good- 
rich, who lives at Florence. 

In 1879 Mr. Goodrich married another Indian 
Avoman, a native of the Skagit river country, named 
Jennie. She was a reservation Indian and her mar- 
riage to Mr. Goodrich was the signal for trouble. 
The Indian agent and fifteen armed red men came 
to the Goodrich home to return her to her people. 
Demand was made for her, but her husband firmly 
declined. Mrs. Goodrich took refuge in the house 
and locked the door. Under orders of the agent 
the Indians made an attempt to break open the 
building, but the stern pioneer guarded the door. 
He had always stood for his rights and the red men 
finally came to understand that his orders were to 
be respected, so when he told them to get away, 
they retired. This was the last trouble Mr. Good- 
rich ever had with the natives. His marriage to 
the Indian girl was soon after solemnized accord- 
ing to the laws and rites of the whites, silencing all 
quibbles on the part of the agent. To this union have 
been born four children, three of whom are living, 
all well educated : Orin, who has interests in mines 
at Roosevelt, Idaho, and Mary and Ira, who are 
living at home. 

According to Mr. Goodrich the first house 
erected on the site of Stanwood was built in 1877 
by James Caldin and Robert Freeman, and the car- 
penters employed there had to come down to Mr. 
Goodrich's place for their board. The building was 
used as a saloon. A man named Folton had taken 
tip the land where old Centerville had stood across 
the river from Stanwood, in the fall of 186.5. John 
Gould bought his right in 1866 and kept powder, 
shot and groceries for sale. Two years later he 
sold out to George Kyle, and then the name of Cen- 
terville was given the place, the mail being brought 
by boat from Utsalady, nine miles away. Later 
John Briggs bought Mr. Kyle's store and farm, 
and in turn sold it to Charles Anderson, who still 
retains the farm. 

Mr. Goodrich has continued to remain here since 
lie first located as a squatter. The family has been 
raised under the best of influences. The father was 
director of school district No. 3 for twenty years, 



and has always been an influential factor for the 
education of the young of the community. His chil- 
dren have received the best schooling afforded and 
are among the most intelligent of the younger set 
of people. The young men are exemplary, using 
neither tobacco nor liquor, enjoying the highest re- 
spect of their fellows. The home farm has 100 
acres and could be sold at any time for $15,000, but 
the old place has so many memories that Gardner 
Goodrich will never sell it. It supports one of the 
oldest and best orchards in the community, and is 
'a resort for excursionists in the summer time. In 
his farm work Mr. Goodrich raises hay, oats and 
vegetables. His dairy herd consists of seventeen 
cows and the milk is separated at home and taken 
to a creamery in which Mr. Goodrich owns an in- 
terest. In politics Mr. Goodrich is a Republican 
and has been since the days when, as he expresses 
it, "Buchanan almost robbed the country." He has 
never been active in politics only as it became mixed 
up in the educational affairs of the community. Mr. 
Goodrich is still a man not to be tampered with 
with iiiijiunity and the caller of the present day in- 
stincti\ely feels a forceful something about this 
man, wliich explains his great power over the In- 
dians in the brave davs of old. 



NELS P. LEQUE, a prosperous and influential 
farmer residing one-fourth of a mile south of Stan- 
wood, was born in Norway, in 1848, his parents 
being Peter and Sigri (Reiseter) Leque, both na- 
tives of Norway. He was the youngest of six chil- 
dren. After attending the common schools, he com- 
pleted his education by a course in one of the nor- 
mal schools, of the country. So diligently did he 
apply himself that at the age of eighteen he was 
ready to and did accept a position as a teacher. At 
the close of the second year of professional work, 
he decided to immigrate to the United States, of 
whose wonderful advantages he had so often heard, 
and in the spring of 1868 he settled in Dakota ter- 
ritory, becoming one of the pioneers of that coun- 
try. He took up a homestead, remaining on it for 
seven years, at the end of which time he came to 
Washington. After remaining on McNeal's island 
for a few months, he went to Henderson's bay near 
Steilacoom, and worked in the woods, taking out 
ship knees for a time. Early in 1876 he rented a 
farm north of Stanwood, and that fall in company 
with O. B. Iverson, Nels Eide and A. Donelson, 
he purchased 320 acres on what is now known as 
Leque island, situated just south of Stanwood. The 
partnership has since been dissolved, Mr. Leque 
now owing more than half of the island that bears 
his name. He has constructed dikes, and now has 
the land in a fine state of cultivation. It was orig- 
inally filled with drift wood both above and beneath. 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



the suriace as it had been tide land, and the task of 
clearing and getting it in its present splendid shape 
was an undertaking that would have seemed im- 
possible to a less resolute and industrious man. His 
principal products are oats and hay, but he has a 
fine dairy of forty head of thoroughbred Holstein 
cattle. His residence is neat and commodious, and 
like the entire ranch, gives evidence of thrift and 
energy. 

Mr. Leque was married in Norway in 1868 to 
Maria Lindebrake, the daughter of Gert and Mar- 
tha (Hjeltness) Lindebreake, both of whom spent 
their entire lives in Norway. Mrs. Leque was born 
there in 1848, and received her education in the 
common schools. Three days after their marriage 
she and Mr. Leque started for the United States, 
-^rather an extended wedding trip at that date. The 
following children have been born to this union : 
Mrs. Sigri E. Land, born in Dakota, April 19. 1869, 
now livin,^- in Island county; Alfred, October 9, 
]s7s. in ^\'ashington, now also residing in Island 
county; Annie, wife of Rev. O. J. Ordal, December 
25, 1882, in Washington; Hannah, in 1887, Martin, 
January 1, 1890, and Nels, February 8, 1893. Mr. 
Leque is a prominent member of the Lutheran 
church, and in politics a Republican. From 1887 
to 1889 he served with credit to himself as one of 
the board of county commissioners, and he has ever 
manifested an active interest in the affairs of Snoho- 
mish county, but being a man of liberal learning and 
a teacher he has naturally given most attention to 
the cause of education. During his many years of 
service on the school board he has contributed not 
a little to the efficiency of the local schools. To the 
industrial progress of his section also he has con- 
tributed his full share, the work which lay nearest 
his hand being always done with energy and thor- 
oughness during all the thirty years of his resi- 
dence on Leque island. He and his estimable wife 
have the abiding confidence and respect of the en- 
tire community in which they live and their full 
share of the honor due always to worthy pioneers. 



OLE E. EIDE. Among the well-to-do agri- 
culturalists of Stanw-ood is found the one whose 
name gives caption to this biography. He was born 
February 7, 1864, in Norway, the native land also 
of his parents, Eric and Ingeborg (Iverson) Eide, 
both of whom are deceased, the mother's death oc- 
curring in 190:3. The youngest of a family of seven 
children, Ole E. Eide acquired his education in the 
common schools, and at the age of sixteen left home 
to become a sailor. Immigrating to the United 
States in 1887, he located in Washington, and was 
employed in turn by Lon Larson, Nels Ovenell and 
Peter Leque. Later, after working for a time in a 
logging camp, he leased his uncle's farm for three 



years. At the expiration of the lease he moved to 
Bryant and invested in land, which he farmed for 
three years, then returning to assume the man- 
agement of his uncle's farm, of which he became 
owner in 1904. Two years previous he-jhad pur- 
chased forty-nine acres adjoining this property. He 
now holds 105 acres, of which sixty-nine are in ex- 
cellent cultivation. His chief products are oats 
and hay, but he owns a large dairy, and devotes 
much attention to that branch of farming. 

Mr. Eide was married April 16, 1892, to Christa 
Wald, born May 24, 1869, in Norway, in which 
country she was educated. She came to the United 
States in 1890. The following children have been 
born to this union, all natives of Snohomish county : 
Erick, January 18, 1893; Iven, April 10, 1895; 
Ingeborg, December 16, 1897; Anna O., February 
22, 1899 ; Martha O., January 25, 1901 ; Christina, 
April 4, 1903. Mr. Eide and his family are faith- 
ful attendants at the Lutheran church, and Mr. Eide 
is a loyal Republican. He has been road supervisor 
for two years. Known throughout the community 
as a thrifty, industrious man, who has reached his 
present prosperous condition by his own unaided 
efforts, he holds the respect of all who are acquainted 
with him. 



OLE S. MATTERAND, one of the honored 
pioneers of the Stanwood country, is, like many 
others who have contributed very largely to the in- 
dustrial development of that favored portion of 
Snohomish county, a native of Norway, born Julj 
10, 1847, the son of Syver and Karew (Olsen) 
Matterand. The former died in his Scandanaviau' 
home in 1896, but the latter still lives there, thougli 
now about eighty-eight years old. She is the mo- 
ther of twelve children of whom Ole S. is fourth. 

Our subject received a common school educa- 
tion in his native land, also learned blacksmithing 
and received many valuable lessons both in the art 
of farming and in sustained industry on the par- 
ental farm, where he remained until nineteen years 
old. LTpon reaching the age of twenty-one he de- 
cided to follow the example set him by many of his 
ambitious countrymen and come to the new world, 
the land of opportunity and plenty. His first per- 
manent abiding place in the United States was Chi- 
cago and his first employment was that of a steve- 
dore, but he did not remain at that arduous work 
long for in July 1868, he accepted employment in 
the Wisconsin forests as a logger. That fall he 
entered the service of the Union Pacific Railroad 
Company, which stationed him at Green Rivera- 
Wyoming. Taking up the work of a prospector in 
the spring of 1869, he went in turn to Arizona, 
Utah, Nevada and California, and in the winter of 
1870 was devoted to carpentering in San Francisco. 
He came to Washington in the spring of 1871^ 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



worked for a time in a logging camp at Port Gam- 
ble, then returned to San Francisco, where he re- 
mained a short time, going thence to Sacramento 
and spending the winter of 1873 there, engaged in 
boiler making. The ensuing summer was spent at 
work in the woods in California. In 1875 he started 
upon an extended trip through Europe lasting two 
years. Independence day, 1877, found him once 
more in Seattle, and the next fall he came to Stan- 
wood flats, took a pre-emption just across the river 
from Stanwood and began diking and clearing the 
same. He has been thus engaged ever since, and as 
a reward for his great labor, now has a fine produc- 
tive and highly valuable farm. At present he is 
cultivating about eighty-five acres. He gives some 
attention to the rearing of Durham cattle, keeping 
a herd of about thirty head in his pastures always. 
In Norway, in the year 1876 Mr. Matterand 
married Emelis I. Gaaken, who was born in that 
country May IS, 1854, the daughter of Isaac and 
OIlie (Olsen) Johnson, both now deceased. She 
acquired a common school education in the public 
schools of her fatherland, also learned the trade of 
a glove maker there, but her industrial career was 
cut short by her marriage at the age of twenty- 
two. The following children have been born to 
this union, namely, Clara, a native of Norway, now 
the matron in Dr. Allen's hospital ; Mrs. Maggie 
C. Mailer ; Mrs. Sophia G. Joergensen, whose hus- 
band is the well known bookkeeper in the Union 
store and who is also herself a bookkeeper ; Haton 
O., at home; Simon, deceased; Amel, Peter M., 
Ruth and Aaron, all of whom but the first two were 
born in Washington. The family adhere to the 
Seventh Day Adventist church, and Mr. Matterand 
is a loyal member of the Republican party. While 
he enjoys the abundance which has come to him as 
a reward for long years of strenuous endeavor, it 
is also his privilege to enjoy that grander meed of 
well spent years the esteem and honor of those who 
have known him since pioneer days and of those 
whose acquaintance is of more recent inception. 



REV. CHRISTIAN JOERGENSON, for many 
3'ears one of the widely known ministers of the 
Lutheran church in the Northwest, now resides on 
his extensive farm near Stanwood. He was born 
in Parish of Land, Norway, in 1847, the son of 
Joergen and Bertha (Swenson) Peterson, both of 
whom spent their entire lives in their native coun- 
try, Norway. Christian Joergenson spent his boy- 
hood years in acquiring an education in the com- 
mon schools, and at the age of fourteen was con- 
firmed. Six years later he crossed the ocean to 
find a home in the United States, and after a brief 
stay in Illinois went to Wisconsin in 1868, remain- 
ing one year. Going thence to Decorah, Iowa, he 



entered the Lutheran college, from which he was 
graduated six years later. He took his theological 
course in Saint Louis, completing it in 1878. Thus 
equipped for his lif« work, he was sent by the 
synod of his church as an assistant to the regular 
pastor at Stanwood, Washington, who also had 
charge of the work throughout the western part of 
this state and western Oregon. Soon after, the 
regular pastor being called to a church in Idaho, 
Rev. Joergenson was appointed to fill the vacancy. 
The following fourteen years were thus employed 
in caring for the interests of this wide field. Only 
those who have had experience in pioneer work 
of this kind can understand the arduous demands 
made upon time and strength, and the many trials 
and hardships encountered. Having taken a home- 
stead near Stanwood in the 'eighties, he found re- 
laxation from the mental strain of his profession 
in the pursuit of agriculture. Leaving behind him 
a record for faithfulness and fidelity to the sacred 
work to which he has devoted so many years of 
his life, he has now retired from the ministry, and 
intends spending his remaining years in the quiet 
walks of life. 

Mr. Joergenson was married in Dane county, 
Wisconsin, September 18, 1878, to Christine Field, 
the daughter of John Field, a well known Lutheran 
minister who for many years prior to his death was 
stationed at Black Earth, Wisconsin. Mrs. Joer- 
genson was born in Norway May 1, 1858, and came 
with her parents to the United States when but 
two years old. After receiving a common and high 
school education in the schools of Wisconsin, she 
took a course in the Lutheran University at De- 
corah, Iowa. Nine children have been born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Joergenson as follows : Johan, Gustad, 
Petrine, Herman, Hannah, Maria, Berthe, Axel and 
Adolph. In political belief, Mr. Joergenson is a 
Populist, and loyally abides by his convictions at 
whatever cost. His is the type of manhood that 
insures the stability and strength of our govern- 
ment. Naturally a leader of men, it was largely 
through his influence that the Stanwood Co-opera- 
tive Creamery Association was formed, of which 
association he was the first president. He was also 
instrumental in opening the People's Union Store 
and Butcher Shop at Stanwood. In 1896 he was 
elected county commissioner, for a two 3'ear term. 
His holdings consist of a 175-acre farm where he 
resides, and 320 acres of unimproved land in Snoho- 
mish county. He is largely interested in the dairy 
industry. JJroadly intelligent, possessed of the ster- 
ling qualities of mind and heart that irresistibly 
draw and hold men, Mr. Joergenson is one of the 
most influential members of the community. 



HENRY C. ANDERSON. Among the sons of 
the Northland who have won distinguished success 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



in the new world by persevering industry and dili- 
gence Henry C. Anderson is certainly to be as- 
signed a not inconspicuous place, for which with 
simple weapons he has conquered life so far, win- 
ning in the industrial sphere a success which many 
men, more favored by fortune to start with, would 
be proud to have achieved. Born in Norway in 
1865, he was brought by his mother to Wisconsin 
when he was but a year old, his father having died 
in the homeland. As soon as he had acquired a 
good common school education he went to work 
on the parental farm and he continued in this em- 
ployment until 1885, when he moved to Kansas, 
thence to Texas and from that state to Colorado, 
remaining in the different commonwealths men- 
tioned for two years. Coming to Stanwood in 1887, 
he spent a couple of years at work in sawmills and 
on the farm of N. P.'Leque, but in the fall of 1889 
he moved to Seattle to accept a clerkship in a com- 
mission house. He was thus employed for a period 
of two years, at the end of which time he returned 
to Stanwood, and took up the occupation of farm- 
ing and for several years thereafter he was num- 
bered among the thrifty agriculturalists of that re- 
gion. In 1895, however, he resolved to seek the 
smiles of Dame Fortune in the far north, so moved 
to Fort Cudahy, Alaska, where the ensuing twelve- 
month was spent in the employ of the North Ameri- 
can Transportation & Trading Company. He then 
moved to the Klondike mining district, remaining 
until 1897. The next year early in the spring on 
the ice with a dog team he went in again, taking 
with him all the private mail for the North Ameri- 
can Transportation & Trading Company, and he 
has since made a couple of trips in and out of that 
far away mining district. It is a pleasure to record 
that his labors and privations in Alaska did not go 
imrewarded as have those of many another fortune 
seeker there, but on the contrary he was able 
to bring out a considerable sum of money 
with him. 

In 1898 Mr. Anderson purchased his present 
home of four hundred acres near Stanwood, and of 
this he has since cleared and brought under the 
plow about a fourth part. He is giving attention 
to the rearing of high grade Durham cattle for 
beef, being the owner at this writing of 150 head 
of these splendid animals. 

In August, 1904, in company with the late Peter 
Leque, S. A. Thompson, Alfred Densmore, W. C. 
Brokaw, and Francis Girard, Mr. Anderson organ- 
ized the Bank of Stanwood, of which institution he 
has ever since been president. Under the capable 
management of him and his worthy associates it 
has already established an enviable reputation as one 
of the solid and progressive institutions of its kind 
in the state. While Mr. Anderson has admittedly 
been fortunate in his Alaska ventures his success 
in the world of industry and finance is but the 



logical outcome of well laid plans, well directed 
industry and unconquerable persistence, and with 
it has come the respect always commanded by those 
who prove their worth in the stem struggle of 
life. 



ERLEND LARSON, whose farm is three quar- 
ters of a mile southeast of Stanwood, is one of the 
pleasantest men to meet, genial, a hard worker, 
energetic and successful in running his bachelor 
farm. He was born in Norway in 1858, the seventh • 
of the eleven children of Lars and Magnhild (Ras- 
mussen) Larson, natives of the land of fjords who 
never left there. Mrs. Larson lived until 1899. Fr- 
iend Larson received his education in the old coun- 
try, remaining there with his parents until he was 
nineteen years of age. At that time he left home 
for the sea and he followed its fortunes for the en- 
suing seven years. In 1886 he came to the United 
States, settled in Minnesota and farmed there for a 
year. The subsequent two and a half years were 
passed in farming in Wisconsin, but in the spring 
of 1889 he came to Washington and for a year after 
his arrival he worked at various occupations in and 
around Gray's Harbor. He then took a contract for 
putting in railroad culverts between Montesano and 
Aberdeen. On completion of this work, which Cov- 
ered about sixteen miles of the road, he went to 
Seattle and remained until 1893, when he bought 
land near Milltown in Skagit county. He was there 
for ten years and cleared part of his land, but in 
1903 he moved onto his present place of ten acres. 
He is doing a general farming business, living alone 
on the farm much of the time with only his stock 
and his work for companions. He has eleven head 
of cattle. He says that he does not find it lone- 
some, as he is constantly occupied with his business, 
but he receives visitors with kindliness and welcome. 
While his fami is not large and he is not ambitious 
to become one of. the magnates in agricultural cir- 
cles, he is liked by all, popular and recognized as a 
man of energy and, sterling worth. In politics he is 
a Republican and in religion a Lutheran. 



JOHN C. HANSFN, farmer near Stanwood, is 
a Scandinavian-American citizen who, after becom- 
ing an expert in the trade of cabinet maker in the 
old country, late in life turned his attention to agri- 
culture in the new land and has been successful in 
his more recent line of activity. Mr. Hansen was 
born in Norway in 1838, the son of Hans and 
Seuvana Johnson. The father lived and died in the 
old country, but the mother came to the United 
States and passed the closing years of her life in 
Minnesota. Young Hansen attended the commoa 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



schools of Norway until he was sixteen years of 
age, when he was apprenticed to the trade of cabinet 
maker, in learning which handicraft hi passed four 
and a half years. The next two and a half years 
were spent at his trade in the city of Bergen. In 
1861 he went to Hougeusind and for twenty years 
operated a shop on his own account. In 1881 he 
closed this out, came to the United States and com- 
menced farming in Grant county, Minnesota. Six 
years were passed there, then he came to Washing- 
ton and preempted a piece of land in Snohomish 
county. Until 1901 he lived on this land, but in 
that year he sold out and purchased his present place 
of ten acres on the outskirts of Stanwood, where he 
has since resided. 

In 1862, while living in Norway, JMr. Hansen 
married Miss Helen S. Hamilton, daughter of Mr. 
Hermanson, a shoemaker of Bergen, where Mrs. 
Hansen was born in 1837 and where she grew up 
and obtained her education. Eleven children have 
iDeen born to Mr. and Mrs. Hansen, four of whom 
are living : Hans H., Mrs. Kittie Holsey, of Snoho- 
mish county ; John C. and Gilbert. In politics Mr. 
Hansen is a Republican, and the family is affiliated 
■with the Lutheran church. Mr. Hansen is a popu- 
lar, energetic man, enjoying the respect and confi- 
dence of the community. 



GEORGE T. OVENELL. Several times in the 
liistorical portion of this work reference has been 
made to Thomas Ovenell, as a pioneer of the 
pioneers in the Stillaguamish valley and as one 
prominently identified with the history of Snoho- 
mish county. The young man whose life record is 
the theme of this article is a worthy son of that dis- 
tinguished citizen and is faithfully carrying forward 
the work which his father so well began. An edu- 
cated, bright, progressive young man, he has al- 
ready won for himself an honored place in the in- 
dustrial life of the community and in the confidence 
and regard of those with whom he is associated 
either in business or socially. His father, a native 
of England, born in 1836, left his home when twelve 
years old and crossed the sea to California, in which 
state he was engaged in mining, during the olden, 
golden days of 'forty-nine. In 1850 he went to 
Nova Scotia, where he remained a short time, com- 
ing thence to Whidby island, Washington, in 1851, 
There he took one of the first homesteads ever lo- 
cated in that country, and there he married Miss 
Marcia Kelley, who bore him two children. In 
1874 he came to the Stanwood country, and iden- 
tified himself with the pioneer developments there, 
as already stated. He was one of the prominent 
farmers of the valley until 1884, when he died 
in California. None of the pioneer men of the 
Stillaguamish was more popular than he and none 



is remembered with greater feelings of kindliness 
at this date. In 1876 he again married, the lady 
being Carrie M. Crane, a native of Ohio, of the 
truest American blood, for she could trace her an- 
cestry back to those who came over in the May- 
flower. A highly educated lady, and by profession 
a school teacher, she became identified with the 
cause of education in Snohomish county during 
its pioneer days, presiding over the Florence school 
throughout its second term. She is now a resident of 
Seattle. 

Our subject, George T. Ovenell, was born in 
Stanwood July 2, 1877. He acquired his education 
in the common schools of Colorado, also in the 
state university located at Denver, and in 1895 took 
a special course in bookkeeping there. Returning 
to Stanwood in 1896, he has since followed farm- 
ing in that vicinity continuously, except that he was 
in Alaska a couple of years during the gold excite- 
ment. The place where he is now living was se- 
cured by his father in October, 1883, at which time 
only about a third of it was under cultivation, the 
rest having since been cleared and subjected to the 
plow. It consists of one hundred acres of excellent 
land, well located, and brought by judicious and 
skillful tillage to a high degree of productivity. Like 
many other up-to-date farmers of the lower Stilla- 
guamish, Mr. Ovenell is making a specialty of dairy- 
ing and dairy cattle, though not to the exclusion of 
other forms of agriculture. His herd at present 
numbers thirty-five. 

In the town of Stanwood, in October, 1901, Mr. 
Ovenell married Miss Martha Gunderson, a native 
of Stanwood, born October 26, 1879. She is a 
daughter of the well known pioneer of the country, 
Peter Gunderson. She and Mr. Ovenell are par- 
ents of two children, namely, Theodore, born De- 
cember 31, 1902, and Winifred, February 21, 1904, 
both in Stanwood. In politics Mr. Ovenell is a 
Republican, in fraternal affiliations a Woodman of 
the World and a blue lodge Mason. Mrs. Ovenell 
adheres to the Lutheran church. 



ALBERT S. HOW^ARD. The challenge whicli 
the excellent timber of the Puget sound country 
ofifered to industry has received many takers, not 
the least energetic and successful among whom is 
the man with whose life record this article pur- 
poses to deal. A pioneer in the shingle industry of 
the county and among the early sawmill men who 
established themselves and their industry on the 
eastern side of the sound, he has continued for 
many years to contribute his share toward the proc- 
ess of preparing for the uses of man the stately 
firs and cedars which characterize this part of the 
state, concomitantly bringing to the country some 
of the wealth of other regions to eastward and 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



withal adding his mite toward the general develop- 
ment. 

Mr. Howard was born in North Carolina, De- 
cember 16, 1861. His father, Laffayette Howard, 
spent his entire life in that state, passing away in 
1902, and his grandfather w^as one of the early 
pioneers of the same commonwealth. The mother 
of our' subject, Mary (Wikle) Howard, was like- 
wise a daughter of North Carolina and a member 
of a worthy pioneer family. She died there in 1904. 

After acquiring the customary common school 
education and enjoying the benefit of a two year 
course in a high school, Mr. Howard spent a couple 
of years in practical pedagogy, after which he 
worked in a general store for six months. March 
17, 1884, he a'dopted the slogan of "Westward Ho" 
and a little later he reached Seattle, where he re- 
mained a short time. Going thence to Edison, Ska- 
git county, he took a piece of land where the town 
of Bow now is, but though he made that his head- 
quarters for several years, he did not give his at- 
tention to agriculture ; indeed he worked four years 
in taking out hemlock bark. In 1886 he built a 
shingle mill on that place, the first, as he thinks, 
in Skagit county. This he operated one year. In 
1887 he built a sawmill in the same locality, which 
mill he continued to operate until 1896, feeding it 
with logs which he himself took from land in the 
vicinity of Bow and in other parts of the county. 
In 1896 he moved his plant to Milltown and en- 
larged it materially, also opened a logging camp at 
Sedro-Woolley. The mill was run under the firm 
name of Howard & Butler. In 1899, Mr. Howard 
came to Stanwood and established there a sawmill, 
and the operation of this has engaged his energies 
ever since. In 1903 he took in D. G. Bennie, and 
the two incorporated under the firm name of the 
Stanwood Lumber Company, of which Air. Howard 
is president and manager and Mr. Bennie secretary 
and treasurer. 

In Prairie, Skagit county, in 1888, Mr. Howard 
married Miss Hattie F., daughter of Amariah and 
Mary E. (Heck) Kalloch. The father, a native of 
Maine, came to Washington in 1883, settled at 
Prairie and engaged in farming there. He died in 
Seattle in 1889. The mother was born in Kansas 
and died in that state. Kansas is also the birth- 
place of Mrs. Howard, and February 19, 1869, the 
date of her advent upon the stage of this life. She 
was, however, educated in San Francisco, to which 
city she accompanied her parents while still a small 
girl. The children of her union with Mr. Howard 
are Lela, Nina, Frank, Maud, Fred, Ida, Mabel, 
Helen, and an unnamed baby. Mr. Howard is a 
public spirited man, ready always to bear his share 
of the public burdens and at present expressing his 
interest in the cause of education by serving as 
school clerk. In politics he is a Democrat; in fra- 
ternal affiliation an Odd Fellow. He is a past grand 



in the order and he and his wife are both Rebekahs, 
while the latter is also a member of the Degree of 
Honor. 



ALONZO LINCOLN WILLHITE is one of 
the self-made men of Snohomish county. By 
shrewdness in investment and by hard work he has- 
gathered a competence in the Puget sound coun- 
try. He was born in Missouri in the early summer 
of 1865, the son of Conaway and Louisa Jane 
(Chandler) Willhite, natives of Tennessee. The 
elder Willhite was born in 1826 and lived until 
1895, leading a life of more than the usual activity. 
When nine years of age he was taken to Iowa, 
where he lived until twenty years old, then he 
enlisted as a private for the Alexican war and 
fought under General Winfield Scott through the 
entire trouble with Alexico. After the peace treaty 
was signed Mr. Willhite went to the gold mines 
of Cahfornia in 1819. Naturally a speculator, he 
went East and returned with a large band of cattle, 
which he had driven across the plains, and sold 
them in California at a good profit. In 1853 Mr. 
Willhite returned East and became a farmer in 
Missouri until the breaking out of the Civil War. 
He enlisted as a private in the Lhiion army and 
served throughout the war. On his return he was 
commissioned captain in the Seventeenth Missouri 
militia and upon his discharge went back to his 
farm, remaining there until his death. Besides our 
subject, the living children of Mr. Willhite are: 
Lillian. Alta M., Dollie V., Claudius Grant, Thomas 
Sherman and Clyde Harrison. Their mother is 
still living in the old Missouri home. 

Alonzo L. Willhite, of this article, was educated 
in the schools of Alissouri and took courses in two- 
of the colleges of his native state when a youth. 
In after years he returned and took a business col- 
lege course at Chillicothe. Leaving his parents 
when twenty-two years of age, he came West with 
a good record for successful teaching in his native- 
state. He arrived in Washington in 1888 and 
spent his first si.x months in Colfax. Coming to 
Stanv.ood in 1889, he worked at farming and in 
logging camps in the vicinity of that town until 
Deceniber, 1894, when he returned to Missouri ta 
take a course in a business college there. Upon 
completing this he embarked in the hardware busi- 
ness, and operated a store successfully until 1896, 
selling then to engage in farming. A year was 
thus spent, then he returned to Snohomish county, 
where he had bought, previous to going back to 
Missouri, a tract of eight acres situated near Stan- 
wood. To this he added fifty-five acres adjoining 
his own land, secured by purchase, and to the cul- 
tivation of his excellent sixty-three-acre farm he 
has devoted himself with assiduity ever since. He 
has one of the finest places of its size in the famed 
Stanwood country, well cultivated and prolific. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



with a handsomely furnished six-room modern 
house upon it. In addition to his farming oper- 
ations, Mr. Willhite is giving much attention to 
handling real estate securities, in which he has con- 
siderable money invested. The fact that he has ac- 
cumulated the capital with which to purchase mort- 
gages is itself a very high tribute to his frugality 
and thrift as well as his constructive ability as a 
business man. 

In 1897, while in Missouri, Mr. Willhite mar- 
ried Miss Nellie Moser, daughter of Frederick 
Moser, who came from Germany, settled in Mis- 
souri and remained there till his death in 187-1. 
The mother, Mrs. Katherina (Watson) Moser, a 
native of Canada, died in Springfield, Missouri, in 
the Centemiial year. Left an orphan at an early 
age, Mrs. ^Villhite lived with a ]\Irs. Kelly as foster 
mother until fifteen, when she took up her resi- 
dence in the home of an uncle, with whom she re- 
mained until her marriage. She is an unusually 
well educated lady, having taken a course in the 
well known Drury college in ^lissouri. She and 
her family adhere to or are communicants in the 
Christian church. Fraternally Mr. Willhite is an 
active Mason, being secretary at present of his 
home lodge : in politics he is a Republican. His 
proved abilities as an agriculturist and business 
man and his integrity and fairness in all his deal- 
ings have won him the respect and esteem of all 
the residents of his communitv. 



ANDREW J. BRUE— The citizens of any com- 
munity, state or nation, who form its real strength, 
its real backbone, are not the professional classes, 
nor the manipulators of stocks and bonds, nor the 
politicians, nor the men whose names are most in 
the public ear, but rather those sturdy toilers, un- 
known to fame, who apply brain and brawn vigor- 
ously to the making of industrial history, the con- 
quest and appropriation of natural resources, the 
making of two blades of grass to grow where one 
grew before. Such a man is Andrew J. Brue, who is 
engaged in farming and the dairy business a mile 
north of Stanwood. Like multitudes of others of 
the same worthy class, he is a son of Norway. He 
was born in 1833, one of the four children of^John 
and Annie (Drage) Brue, both of whom were like- 
wise natives of the land of fjords and died there 
many years ago. Mr. Brue has two living brothers. 
He lived with his parents until he had reached the 
age of twenty, when he commenced life for him- 
self as a sailor on a trading vessel along the Nor- 
wegian coast. After being thus engaged for many 
years he came, in 187"3, to Uncle Sam's domain, lo- 
cating first in Alinnesota, where he worked at farm- 
ing and at the carpenter's bench for four years. 
Coming then to Snohomish county, he operated 
farms under leasehold for four vears longer, meet- 



ing with good success in his ventures, but naturally 
he desired something more permanent and to be de- 
pended on than leased land, so he purchased, as 
soon as he saw his way clear to do so, an eighty- 
acre tract near Stanwood. Upon this he has ever 
since lived, though he has sold twenty acres of his 
original purchase and is now farming only sixty 
acres. In addition to his home place Mr. Brue is 
the owner of thirty acres of very desirable bottom 
land. He is somewhat interested in the dairy busi- 
ness, keeping a few head of milch cows and owning 
some stock in the co-operative creamery at Stan- 
wood. He also has an interest in the co-operative 
store there. Since coming to this country he has 
had occasion to use the skill acquired in earlier life 
on the decks of Norwegian craft, for for five years 
he sailed the waters of Puget sound as master of his 
own vessel. 

In his home land of Norway in 1868, Mr. Brue 
married Miss Helen, daughter of Thomas and Hoer- 
berg (LTglehus) Berge, who have long since died in 
their native country. Mrs. Brue has one brother, 
Ole. and two sisters, Annie and Molena. She was 
born in 1838 and lived at home in Norway until her 
marriage. She and Mr. Brue have five living chil- 
dren, namely, John, Thomas, Elias, Ole and Annie, 
who, with their parents adhere to the Lutheran 
church. In politics Mr. Brue is a Republican, but 
further than to keep posted on matters at issue, local 
and general, and to vote intelligently upon them, 
takes little active part in governmental affairs, 
though he acted at one time as deputy county as- 
sessor. Though a plain citizen, he is recognized as 
a man of business acumen, and enjoys in abundant 
measure the esteem and confidence of those who 
know him most intimatelv. 



FRANK L. CONNERS is a successful farm 
operator in the Stanwood district of Snohomish 
county, owning one hundred and twenty acres of 
high land of excellent agricultural quality a short 
distance east of town and also a five-acre plat just 
outside the city limits, on which he makes his 
home. Mr. Conners is a native of Washington 
County, Maine, born in 1868. His father, John Con- 
ners, was also a native of the Pine Tree state and 
lived there until 1875, when he came to the Puget 
sound country and located on the Stanwood flats. 
By occupation he was a teamster until his retire- 
ment ten years ago. He died in March of 1904. 
Mrs. Phoebe (Kelley) Conners was also a native of 
Washington County, Maine, and died in that state 
in 1875,. the mother of six children, of whom the liv- 
ing are John, William, Frank L. and Gertrude. 
Frank L. Conners attended the Maine schools, but 
after his mother's death, which occurred when he 
was seven years old, he lived with an uncle until he 
was fourteen. He then came to Washington and 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



joined his father at Stanwood, living with him until 
1887, in which year he married and entered upon an 
independent career as a general farmer, in which 
line of activity he has been markedly successful. 

On Christmas day of 1887 Mr. Conners mar- 
ried Miss Cora Wheeler, daughter of Frank Wheel- 
er, a native of Ohio and a wagon-maker by trade. 
Mr. Wheeler enlisted in the Twelfth Ohio Volun- 
teers at the first call of President Lincoln for troops 
but was discharged several months later because of 
disability. He died in 1868. Mrs. Margaret 
(Evans) Wheeler was born in Ohio. After the 
death of her parents, when she was quite young, she 
lived with an aunt until her marriage. She is still 
living in Indiana. Mrs. Conners was born June 24, 
1867, in the city of Cincinnati and lived with rel- 
atives until her marriage. Four children have been 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Conners: Edna in 1888; 
Olive in 1891 ; Orilla in 1893, and Frankie in 1898. 
Since 1895 Mr. Conners has served as road super- 
visor of district No. 1. In politics he is a Repub- 
lican, in religion Methodist, while Mrs. Conners ad- 
heres to the Baptist faith. Mr. Conners has pros- 
pered in his farming ventures and his home plot and 
his farm land are both valuable pieces of property. 
He is a man of force of character and of energy and 
enjoys the respect of the entire community. 



STEFFEN FLOE is one of the substantial 
Scandinavian-American farmers of the Stanwood 
section of Skagit county, also one of the pioneers of 
the vicinity, having come to this county in 1885. 
He was born in Norway August 8, 1831. one of the 
six children of Iver and Brita (Skaar) Floe, neither 
of whom ever left their native land. The father, 
born in 1806, lived the life of the Norwegian farmer 
until 1874, when death claimed him ; the mother was 
born in 1810 and died in 1895. The living children 
of that union, aside from Steffen, are Mrs. Agnes 
Jacobson and Lewis and Martha Floe. Steffen re- 
mained with his parents until he was fifteen years 
old, then commenced the struggle of life on his own 
account, making his home with those at the old 
farm for eight more years, however. When twenty- 
three years of age he entered the Norwegian army 
and for four years thereafter he served as one of 
the life guards' of King Carl XV., the period of this 
service being embraced between the years 1855 and 
1859. Having in early life learned something of 
farming, on his return from the army, Mr. Floe 
commenced again the pursuit of agriculture and he 
continued therein until in 1865 he left his native 
land on the very day on which President Abraham 
Lincoln was assassinated by Wilkes Booth. Mr. 
Floe settled in Minnesota, where he remained at 
farming for a space of fifteen j-ears. The subse- 
quent five years were passed at farming in Iowa ; 
then in 1885 Mr. Floe came to Stanwood, Washing- 



ton. He purchased a small place in Highland and 
lived there for two years. In 1887 he bought his 
present place of sixty acres, about a mile distant 
from town in a southeasterly direction. The land 
was not cleared of its timber and Mr. Floe worked 
at carpentering for a number of years until he had 
gained a start in agriculture. He has now forty 
acres cleared, with a ten-room house erected on the 
premises, and is actively engaged in raising oats and 
hay, operating a dairy and raising live stock. 

Mr. Floe has been twice married. In 1861 he 
was united in wedlock to Miss Brita Sanvik, daugh- 
ter of Tolen and Clina Sanvik, natives of Norway,, 
who were the parents of three children. Mrs. Floe 
was born in 1841 and passed away in Minnesota, 
after becoming the mother of seven children, of 
whom four survive : Iver, Olina, Brita and Bertha. 
In 1874, while still a resident of Minnesota, Mr- 
Floe married Miss Laura Erdahl, whose parents,. 
Martin and Marie (Grenfor) Erdahl, passed their 
.entire lives in Norway, leaving four other children: 
Brita,. Rasmus, Marie and Elizabeth. Mrs. Floe 
came to the United States in February of 1874, when 
twenty-two years of age, making the voyage alone. 
She went to Minnesota and was married there in 
the year of her arrival in America. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Floe have been born eleven children, the sur- 
I viving ones being Martin, Mary, Charles, Anna, 
Steflfen, Josephine. Emma, Lewis and Ida. In 
politics Mr. Floe is a Republican, while in church 
adherence he is, with his wife and the members of 
his family, a Lutheran. On his sixty-acre farm, 
two-thirds of which is cleared and under cultivation, 
Mr. Floe maintains fourteen head of dairy cows, an 
equal number of stock cattle, and other live stock. 
He enjoys a reputation in his home community and 
in other parts of the county for the highest integrity 
and industry. 



CHRIS HANSEN, whose farm lies two miles 
east of Cedarhome, is one of the successful men of 
this community and one who enjoys the respect and 
well wishes of his friends and neighbors. Genial 
and affable, he has many friends. Mr. Hansen was^ 
born in Denmark on the first day of November, 
1853, the second of the four children of Rasmus 
and Anne Marie (Christiansen) Hansen, farmer 
folk, who passed their lives in the Danish kingdom, 
the father dying thirty years ago and the mother 
surviving until two years ago. Mr. Hansen has two 
brothers, Hans and George, and one sister, Mrs. 
Bertha Moore. Mr. Hansen lived in Denmark 
until he had attained his majority. In 1873 he came 
to the United States and settled in Connecticut, 
where he worked at farming for a year and a half. 
At the end of that time he crossed the continent to 
California and he remained in that state for five 
years afterward, working at various occupations. 
Coming to Snohomish County, Washington, in 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



1890, he purchased his present place. For the first 
few years of his residence in this country, Mr. Han- 
sen made it a custom to go to Seattle and work for a 
brother several months each year. He now has 
half of his place of twenty acres under cultivation 
and is doing a general farming business. In politics 
Mr. Hansen is a Republican ; in lodge circles a mem- 
ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and 
his church affiliations arc with the Lutherans. He 
has never married, has no one dependent upon him 
and, as a result, is not forced to a life of hard 
work or of great endeavor. He is one of the good 
citizens of the community, wide awake and abreast 
of the times. 



LEVI LEVISON, living two miles east of 
Cedarhome, has resided upon his present farm since 
he took it in 1888 as a preemption. Previous to his 
advent into Snohomish county he had been engaged 
in farming in the middle western states. Born in 
Norway May 15, 1848, he is one of the four 
children of Levi and Marit (Gulickson) Levison. 
The elder Levison was a shoemaker by trade, who 
came to the United States in 18C9, and here lived 
until his death in 190:^ ; Mrs. Levison is now a resi- 
dent of Wisconsin. The children in the family are 
Mrs. Jennie Warren, Gulick, Mary, and Levi of 
this review. He attended school in Norway and 
worked with his parents until 18G9, when, having 
attained his legal majority, he immigrated to the 
American republic, settling eventually in the Badger 
state. The first eighteen months he spent at work 
on farms in that state, then he went to Illinois, where 
he worked three years. In 1874 he pushed west- 
ward to Nebraska, traveling by team, and in that 
frontier state he operated farms during the suc- 
ceeding nine years. Devastating cyclones at last 
discouraged him so that he returned to Illinois, ex- 
pecting to make a visit there, but the visit length- 
ened into a four years' stay, at the end of which he 
removed to the Pacific Northwest, taking up his pre- 
emption claim near Cedarhome. 

In 1874, while living in Illinois, Mr. Levison was 
united in marriage to Miss Turgon Kittelson, daugh- 
ter of Kittel and Marie (Christopherson) Stabach. 
The father was a blacksmith who came from Nor- 
way in 18.50, when fifty 3'ears old, in a sailing ves- 
sel, seven weeks being consumed in the trans- 
Atlantic voyage. He settled in Illinois, where his 
death occurred two years later. Mrs. Stabach sur- 
vived until 1884. Two children besides Mrs. Levi- 
son are living, namely, Ingebar and Thurston Kit- 
telson. Mrs. Levison was born in Norway June 4, 
1S3G, and came to the L^nited States with her par- 
ents, living with them until the death of her father, 
after which she was employed in various occupa- 
tions until her marriage. Three children have been 
born to the union. Kittel, Tosten G. and Levi, the 
last named of whom is deceased. In political mat- 



ters, Mr. Levison takes his stand with the Repub- 
lican party. He has filled several minor offices, hav- 
ing been a constable in Nebraska and .road super- 
visor in Washington. The home farm now con- 
sists of eighty acres, half the original claim, on 
which Mr. Levison carries on a general farming 
and live-stock business. One of the substantial citi- 
zens of the community, he is active in promoting 
the development of the rich region in which he has 
cast his lot. 



PETER H. LANGSAV is one of the energetic 
and wide-awake farmers of the Cedarhome section 
of Snohomish county, his farm lying one mile to the 
north of town. Here he has been doing a success- 
ful farming, dairy and poultry business for several 
years. He was born in Norway early in the year 
1854, the son of Hans and Christiana (Neilson) 
Hanson, both of whom passed away in the old coun- 
try about thirty years ago. Mr. Hanson was a car- 
penter and builder by trade. His other children 
are Mrs. Anna Nelson, Hans E., Nels and Nellie. 
Peter H. Langsav remained at the old home until 
he was nineteen years of age, when, on the death of 
his parents, he commenced to work for himself at 
the trade of carpenter. He continued at this work 
for ten years, then came to the United States, locat- 
ing in Portland, Oregon, in 1882. He remained 
there for seven years, working at the carpenter 
trade, but in 1889 came to Snohomish County, 
Washington, and purchased his present farm. He 
operated it for seven years, then having determined 
to try his fortune in Alaska, went to the northern 
country, via Seattle. Mr. Langsav remained in 
Alaska but four months, however, during whicli 
time he worked at his trade. On his return he 
worked at his trade for a time in Seattle, later en- 
gaging in the hotel business at Ballard. In 1900 he 
gave up running the hotel and returned to his Ce- 
darhome farm, where he has since remained. 

In 1887, while living in Portland, Mr. Langsav 
married l\Iiss Betsy Lunda, daughter of Ingebrit and 
Marta (Halvorson) Lunda, farmer folk of Norway. 
Her mother, who is still living, has four children be- 
sides Mrs. Langsav, Christopher, Halver, Carl and 
Thea. Mrs. Langsav was born in Norway in Janu- 
ary, 1856, and lived with her parents until reaching 
the age of twenty-five years, when she came to the 
United States and thereafter she fought out the 
industrial battle for herself until her marriage. In 
politics Mr. Langsav leans toward Socialism. Twen- 
ty of the fifty-two acres constituting his farm are 
now cleared and under cultivation. His dairy herd 
consists of seven cows, and he also has eight head 
of other neat cattle. 



WILLIAM B. MOORE— It is, indeed, regret- 
able that no modern Virgil has appeared to sing in 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



immortal verse of the heroic deeds and heroic suf- 
ferings of the people who braved the dangers of 
boundless plain and snowy, forbidding, misty 
mountain, traveling in caravans, camping under the 
open canopy of heaven at night, fording streams, 
gxiarding families and property from the onslaughts 
of predatory savages, dreading much but pausing 
for nothing, obedient always to that westward mov- 
ing impulse which has been a controlling passion 
with the Anglo-Saxon race. The actors in this epic 
of the West were men of deeds, not of words. They 
have left few records of those eventful days when 
they were grouped into organized towns and vil- 
lages, but villages of canvas and villages on wheels, 
villages whose sites were always a little further 
west each day than on the day preceding. They 
have, however, written their history all over the 
face of the country itself. Empires founded, wealth 
unearthed, resources developed, civilization's do- 
main extended, a broad land subdued, cities built, 
homes established — these are the abiding monu- 
ments to the memory of the men who crossed the 
plains, and it may be that enough details of their 
experience have come down to our day or enough 
may be gathered from those of the argonauts who 
still survive to furnish some romancer of the future 
with inspiration and a theme. 

A typical representative of the class which in 
those days became nomads of the desert that they 
might become builders of empires is William B. 
Moore, to whom the call of the West came when he 
was less than twenty-two. He had earned a log 
school-house education in his Michigan home by 
walking three miles to school, had had four years' 
experience in railroad work, starting in at seventy- 
five cents a day and increasing his stipend by dili- 
gent application, and had returned to his birthplace, 
the great metropolis of theEmpire state. While 
there he met a brother who had just returned from 
California, and the stories told of the wild free life 
on the sunset slope soon fired his adventurous spirit. 
On the 10th of April of the following year he set 
out with horses for the trans-continental trip. He 
had but two to start with, but in Iowa he purchased 
a third. In Ogden, Utah, one of these was stolen 
and in Thousand Spring Valley he lost another, so 
he substituted oxen and pushed on. In Carson 
valley, Nevada, one of his oxen succumbed and the 
rest of the trip was made behind a pair of horses. 
Arriving in the land of promise on the 20th of Au- 
gust he at once began digging for gold, but in De- 
cember following he determined to rejoin a brother 
in Portland, who was then in the volunteer service 
against the hostile Indians. After remaining with 
him till the fall of 185G, he went once more to Cali- 
fornia and he spent the winter in the Shasta dis- 
trict, at work in the mines. The summer of 1858 
found him en route to the Eraser river country, the 
fever having seized him as it did thousands of 
others. The trip was made by the schooner Osceola 



to Whatcom; thence on foot to the Eraser river, 
provisions being transported on the backs of ponies, 
for which a trail had to be cut. Einding the pros- 
pects there discouraging he continued his journey 
northward to the vicinity of the Caribou country, but 
as provisions were getting low he was compelled to 
beat a retreat back to Eort Yale. There he accepted 
employment in a saw-mill, at eighty dollars a month, 
and later, below that place, he got out some large 
timbers for boat purposes, at which he made three 
hundred dollars in five days. When the cold weather 
came in December he joined a party for a return to 
civilization and it was on this outward trip that he 
passed through some of the most trying of all his 
pioneer experiences. While he and his companions 
were descending the river in a canoe, following a 
narrow channel between banks of ice, they came 
upon an ice-bound vessel deserted. Eurther down 
they came upon another ice-locked vessel, in which 
were about three hundred persons, the passengers 
from both vessels, almost destitute of provisions and 
about to starve. The men in the canoe and those in 
the vessel soon concluded to strike out post haste for 
the nearest point at which succor could be secured, 
and for three days they pushed on, enduring in- 
credible hardships, struggling against Nature's 
barriers to progress, insufficiently clad and without 
food. Fifty-eight perished by the wayside, the first 
to succumb being the husband of the one woman 
who was in the company. Assisted and favored in 
every way possible by the gallant miners, she made 
the forty-mile trip in safety. 

Erom the Eraser river Mr. Moore came to Vic- 
toria by the steamer Otter, and there he remained 
a short time engaged in getting out timber for a saw- 
mill, but he soon was once more on Puget sound, em- 
ployed as a logger by Captain Thorndike of Port 
Ludlow. He was there about a year, then, in the 
spring of 1860 began driving oxen in the woods at 
Port Discovery, whence four months later he went 
to Utsalady. 'Purchasing an outfit there, he em- 
barked in logging on his own account in Holmes 
harbor, and he was thus engaged till the spring of 
1865, when he became identified with the Stanwood 
country. 

It will be seen that Mr. Moore is one of the very 
earliest pioneers of the Stillaguamish valley, and 
that he was one of the most forceful is evident from 
the fact that within one year after his arrival he had 
diked in one hundred and sixty acres of tide marsh 
land. Eor more than a decade he ran a logging 
camp in the vicinity, getting out great numbers of 
spars for vessels; indeed, he says that he has sup- 
plied this class of timber to every civilized nationon 
the entire earth. He has the distinction of having 
put in the first skid road in the Puget sound country, 
in which the skids were arranged across the road, 
thus contributing much to the ease with which 
timber might be gotten out of the woods. 

While all this logging was in progress, Mr. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Moore, with wonderful energy, was pushing agri- 
cultural developments also. He invested in the rich 
tide marsh of the valley until he was at one time 
the owner of five hundred and forty acres, much 
of which he cleared, diked and prepared for cultiva- 
tion, but he has since sold it ofT until he now has 
only eighty acres of the original place. He is en- 
gaged in general farming, but makes a specialty of 
high-grade cattle and horses. 

Of the family to which Mr. Moore belongs it 
Tnay be said that his father, James Moore, was born 
in Diiblin, Ireland, about the year 1800, came over 
to Boston, Massachusetts, while a youth and spent 
a year there, then going to New York, where he em- 
barked in the general merchandise business and 
where he married. In 1834 he went to Detroit, 
Michigan, by steamer, the trip lasting three weeks. 
He located on government land some eight or nine 
miles from the city of Detroit and three miles from 
his nearest neighbor, and the remainder of his days 
were passed there. His death occurred in 1871. 
Alice (Marsh) Moore, mother of our subject, was 
l)orn in England about 1800, and was educated 
there, but came to New York as a young woman. 
She died August 13, 1872. Mr. Moore is himself a 
native of the Empire state, born April 10, 1833. 

On the 13th of August, 1872, Mr. Moore mar- 
ried Miss Lavinia, daughter of George and Agnes 
(Eaton) Gage, both of whom were natives of the 
north of Ireland, and both of whom died in Skagit 
City, Washington, to which they had come in 1871. 
Mr. Gage had spent much of his life in Canada, en- 
gaged in farming. Mrs. Moore was born in the 
Dominion, October 7, 1843, and was educated in the 
excellent public schools there established. She and 
Mr. Moore are parents of the following children : 
Lillie M., born June 13, 1873, now Mrs. James 
Keenan ; George, February 22, 187.5 ; William T. B., 
October 7, 1877 ; Anna Alice, July 22, 1879, now 
wife of Ed. McKean, and Mary J.,'AIarch 10, 1881, 
-now Mrs. Joseph Ford. In fraternal affiliation Mr. 
Moore is a Mason ; in politics a Republican. He 
had the honor of serving as county commissioner for 
two years from 18()6, thus leaving his impress upon 
the early political history of his section. A typical 
pioneer, he has, well developed, all the best char- 
acteristics of that honored class, self-reliance, in- 
dustry, resourcefulness and a great versatility of 
talent. He has, from the earliest days, been one 
of the progressive forces of his community and de- 
serves rank among the men who have been promi- 
nent in making Snohomish countv what it is. 



PETER OLSEX. dairy farmer, a mile and a 
half north of Cedarhome. has made a name for him- 
self in the community as an energetic man of con- 
siderable independence of thought and freedom of 
action. Mr. Olsen is a native of Denmark, born in 



1851. His parents were Ole and Metta (Carlsen) 
Nelsen, both of whom died when he was an infant. 
The father was a weaver by occupation. Three 
other sons of Mr. Melson are living, Carl, Hans and 
Xels. .After the death of his parents Peter Olsen 
was cared for by an uncle until he had attained the 
age of fourteen, then he left his foster father's home 
for Copenhagen, where he worked as a laborer until 
he was twenty-five. He then shipped as a sailor 
and followed the sea for three years. In 1882 he 
came to the I'nited States, locating in New Jersey. 
After three years of work in that state, Mr. Olsen 
went to Nebraska, where he remained until 1887. 
During these years he had been working for others, 
but on coming to Snohomish county in 1888 he pur- 
chased his present farm and at once commenced to 
operate it. In 1897 he caught the fever for Alaskan 
gold and passed the subsequent three years in the 
far North, returning in 1900. His e.xperiences in 
the North were not fascinating or very remuner- 
ative. At the time Mr. Olsen purchased his place 
only seven of the eighty acres had been cleared, but 
now he has si.xteen under cultivation, and much of 
the remainder in condition to furnish pasture for his 
stock. 

In 1883, in New York, Mr. Olsen married Miss 
Christiana Olsen, like himself a native of Denmark, 
the daughter of John Olsen. The year of her birth 
is 1856. .She remained with her parents in the old 
country until coming to the United States in 1882. 
In political views Mr. Olsen is a Socialist ; in frat- 
ernal connection a member of the Danish Brother- 
hood. Mr. Olsen at present has ten head of dairy 
cows and six head of stock cattle. 



ANDREW B. MICKELSON, a farmer two 
and a half miles north of Cedarhome, is one of the 
interesting characters of this section of Snohomish 
county. He has lived on his homestead, taken up in 
1881, leading the life of a bachelor and observing 
the aiifairs of the great world outside with very little 
excitement. Mr. Mickelson comes of a family of 
long life, and though himself past the half-century 
mark of existence is hale and hearty. He was born 
in Norway December 6, 1849, the youngest of six 
children of Mickel and Anne (Davidson) Hansen. 
The father was born in 1807 and was still living 
when, five years ago, his Puget sound son last heard 
from him. His father, the grandfather of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, lived to the remarkable age of 
ninety-nine years. Mrs. Hansen, born in 1806, was 
also living when her son received his last communi- 
cation from his native land. The children of this re- 
markable couple, in addition to Andrew, are Lars, 
Corinne, Hans, Peter and Annie. Mr. Mickelson 
attended school until he was fifteen years of age, 
though he says that the school was a poor one, and 
he merely obtained the rudiments of an education. 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



Until he was twenty-nine he led a rather desultory 
life, working at odd jobs and doing the best he 
could. In 1878 he came to this country, and after 
passing three years in Minnesota as a farmhand, 
came to the Puget sound country. He spent three 
years in Seattle at work of all kinds ; then, in 1884, 
came to Snohomish county and located on his pres- 
ent place, selecting one hundred and sixty acres as a 
homestead. When Mr. Mickelson first came to the 
vicinity of Cedarhome the forest was in its virgin 
state and means of communication and transporta- 
tion were few. He brought his supplies and house 
furnishings part way by boat, then came some dis- 
tance with pony and sled and finished the journey, 
carrying his belongings on his back. He com- 
menced the work of clearing the place at once, but 
has been in no hurry to strip the ground of its 
wealth of timber. Eight acres have thus far suf- 
ficed for his wants, for he leads the simple life and 
enjoys the solitudes of the woods. In politics he is 
a Republican. He milks two cows and has three 
stock cattle, along with forty head of sheep. He 
is an agreeable man, well liked by those with whom 
he comes in contact, satisfied to live his life in his 
own way without striving after ideals and formal- 
ities concerning which many people vie with each 
other. 



NILS O. EKSTRAN, whose dairy farm lies one 
mile north of Cedarhome, is one of the successful 
farmers of the Cedarhome section of Snohomish 
county. His dairy business is flourishing and he is 
recognized as one of the substantial business men 
of the community. Mr. Ekstran was bom in Swe- 
den in l§5'i, the son of Ole and Nellie (Nelson) 
Ekstran. In his early life the elder Ekstran was in 
the Swedish army for seven years, but later in life 
he became a farmer, and he is still thus engaged in 
the old country. Mrs. Ekstran died in Sweden in 
1899, leaving five children, namely: Nels O., Par- 
melia. John, who is living in Brooklyn: Nellie and 
Mary. Nils O. Ekstran attended the Swedish 
schools until he was fifteen years of age, and made 
his home with his parents until he was twenty-five. 
He worked out for farmers in his home land until 
1881, then came to the United States and located 
in Minnesota, where for two years he was engaged 
as a farmhand. He came to Washington in 1883 
and, after passing three months in Seattle, settled 
in .Skagit county, where he worked out for a year, 
then renting a place for three years. This venture 
was entirely successful, but Mr. Ekstran decided to 
cast his fortunes in with Snohomish county, so 
came to Stanwood in 1888. A year as farm employe 
was followed bv another as operator of a leased 
farm, then, in 1890, he purchased of John Anderson 
his pleasant place of forty acres. He at once com- 
menced to clear the land of its timber and now has 
'twenty acres under cultivation, with the remainder 



in condition for pasture. Soon after obtaining oc- 
cupancy of this land, Mr. Ekstran erected his mod- 
ern seven-room house, in which he has since made 
his home. 

In 1889, at Seattle, Mr. Ekstran married Miss 
Hannah Swanson, daughter of Ben and Cecelia (Ol- 
son) Swanson, natives of Sweden and parents of six 
children — Swan, Bertha, Hannah, Olaf, Lena and 
August. Mrs. Ekstran was born in Sweden in 1866 
and emigrated to the United States when twenty 
years of age, coming directly to Skagit county, 
where she had friends. For three and a half years 
before becoming the bride of Mr. Ekstran she sup- 
ported herself by her own exertions. Six children; 
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Ekstran : Hattie, 
Nellie, Ruth, Edna, Herbert and Hazel. In his 
political relations Mr. Ekstran had allied himself 
with the Populists up to 1904, but since that time 
he has been impressed with the policies of President 
Roosevelt and is now a firm supporter of that ex- 
ecutive. In lodge affiliations he is a member of the 
Knights of the Maccabees and also is in the Swedish 
Methodist Episcopal Insurance Association. The 
family are members of the Methodist church. In 
addition to his home farm, Mr. Ekstran leases twen- 
ty-three acres of bottom land along the Stillaguam- 
ish river. Mr. Ekstran has been very successful 
since branching out for himself, his energy and 
thrift accomplishing much toward establishing him 
as one of the forceful factors of the business com- 
munity. 



WESLEY J. FENLASON, one of the well 
known pioneers of Snohomish county, now residing 
at Florence, was born in Crawford, Maine, Novem- 
ber 6, 1837. His parents, William and Betsey 
(Seavey) Fenalson, were also natives of Maine. 
The father died in 1860, at the age of seventy-eight; 
the mother, in 1859, aged sixty-six. The youngest 
of a family of ten children, Wesley J. Fenlason, re- 
ceived his education in the common schools, leaving 
home at the age of seventeen. He went to Lincoln,. 
Maine, and worked on a farm for four years, until 
on account of his father's failing health he was 
needed at home. After the death of his father he 
continued to farm for several years, and then de- 
cided to find an opening in the Northwest. Leaving- 
the East in 1868 he at length located on Port Susan, 
and in 1875 wrote to his wife, who had remained 
in Maine to sell the farm and join him. After en- 
gaging in the logging business for nine years, he 
then took full charge of a logging camp on the 
Stillaguamish river, owned by James Long. Hav- 
ing sold his property on Port Susan,, he invested irt 
the farm upon which he now resides, whither he 
moved his family. A part of the land was covered 
with stumps, the balance was in timber and tide 
land. At the close of six years spent in the logging- 
camp, he began work on the farm, and now has one 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



hundred and twenty acres in an excellent state of 
cultivation and sixty-eight unimproved. His prin- 
cipal crops are hay and oats. He is extensively in- 
terested in dairying, having a fine herd of fifty-five 
milch cows, Jersey and Holstein, crossed. He also 
has a large number of fine hogs, Chester White and 
Berkshire. Prior to 1898 he made his home on the 
bottom lands of his farm, he having built his house, 
barns and warehouse there. The river devastated 
these low lands, destroying his orchard and render- 
ing it necessary for him to tear down his buildings 
and rebuild on the hill beyond. That involved great 
labor and expense, but he cheerfully met the dis- 
aster, and is now enjoying a large measure of pros- 
perity. 

In 185G, Mr. Fenlason and Mary A. Munson 
were united in the bonds of wedlock. Mrs. Fen- 
lason was born in 1838, the daughter of Jonathan 
and Margaret (Tinker) Munson, both of whom 
were natives of Maine. Her father died in 1887, 
aged eighty-five ; the mother, several years previous, 
at the age of seventy-five. Gladly sharing the toils 
and privations incident to the life of the early set- 
tlers in the desolate wilds of the Northwest, Mrs. 
Fenlason made happy the little home by her sun- 
shiny presence and manifold charms. When re- 
verses came her undaunted faith banished their 
gloom. A devoted wife and mother, a kind, sympath- 
etic neighbor and friend, her death in November, 
1904, threw a shadow over the entire community. 
The following children were born to this happy 
union : Mrs. Ella A. Rowell, of Ellensburg, Wash- 
ington ; David A., of California ; Vine, at home ; 
Mrs. Ida M. Hanson, who with her husband lives at 
the old home ; Mrs. Emma Harrison, of Seattle ; 
Mrs. Lilla B. Holcomb, of Florence. Two others, 
twins, died in early infancy. Mr. Fenlason is a 
prominent Mason. In politics he is independent, 
casting his ballot in each instance for the man, and, 
as for himself, never aspiring to any political office. 
The ]\[ethodist church claims him as a loyal mem- 
ber. A thoughtful, earnest man, broadened by the 
experiences that have befallen him. Mr. Fenlason is 
an influential citizen, honored and respected by his 
fellow men. 



LOUIS I. FLO. whose career is a splendid il- 
htstration of what may be accomplished by a young- 
man possessed of energy, ambition, and sound busi- 
ness principles, was born in Norway October 1, 
184 7-, the son of Ivar and Bertha CErasmusson) 
Stevenson. The parents, both natives of Norway, 
are deceased, the father having died many years 
ago, the mother, in 1895, at the age of ninety. Seven 
children were born to this union, Louis I. Flo being 
the youngest. Like many of the successful men of 
all times, he became self-supporting when a mere 
boy, and thus early developed the sturdy elements 
of character that were to play such an important 



part in his after life. Taking up the work that first 
presented itself, he farmed for five years, acquiring 
his education by diligent use of the opportunities af- 
forded by the common schools. Though his father 
had for years been a successful farmer in Flo, Nor- 
way, it was not long before Louis decided to fit him- 
self for some other occupation.' Choosing the car- 
penter trade, he at once applied himself to master- 
ing its details, and he followed that work for six 
years. Naturally fond of the water and a life of ad- 
venture, he then went to sea, making long voyages to 
distant countries, and sailing almost around the 
world during the eight years thus spent. It was a 
wonderful experience for a young man of an observ- 
ing turn of mind, and influenced his whole subse- 
quent life. Returning to Norway, he was forced to 
serve two years in the army, in accordance with the 
laws of that country. At the expiration of this time 
he came to the United States, locating in Minnesota. 
Undaunted by the fact that he had barely ten dollars 
in his pocket, he soon found employment in the lum- 
bering camps of the neighlxiring state, Wisconsin, 
near Menominee, and remained three years. Going 
thence to Faribault County, Minnesota, he farmed 
two years, and then invested in one hundred and 
sixty acres of land. Two years later he purchased 
another tract, comprising eighty acres. He was thus 
engaged for the following twenty-eight years, at the 
end of which time he disposed of his property and 
came to Florence, Washington. Prior to taking up 
his permanent residence here, he made an extended 
tour through Idaho, Utah. Montana and Washing- 
ton in search of a desirable location. The result of 
his careful study of the conditions found in these 
several states was that he bought one hundred and 
forty acres in Florence, Washington, which he con- 
sidered possessed advantages afforded by no other 
section that he had visited. He now has one hun- 
dred acres of this farm in an excellent state of cul- 
tivation, the balance is in valuable timber. His 
principal products are hay and oats. He also has a 
fine dairy, to which he devotes careful attention. 

Mr. Flo was married September 1, 1S78, to 
Sarah Hansen, a native of Minnesota. Her parents, 
Andrew and Martha (Cjos) Hansen, both born in 
Norway, came to the United States in 1860 on their 
wedding journey and established a home in Min-. 
nesota. The father died in 1900 ; the mother is now 
living with her son, Doctor Otto Hausen, a welF 
known physician of Forest City, Iowa. Thirteen 
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Flo, as 
follows : Mamie, who died in infancy ; Mamie, sec- 
ond, died in 1900, at the age of twenty-one years; 
Mrs. Betsey Peterson, of Faribault County, Min- 
nesota ; Ivar, l).irn August 9, 1884; Andrew,- March, 
23, issc; .Manila, in 1887; Sarah, in 1889; Laura, 
in is;t] : Martha, in 1893; Rasmus died in infancy; 
Ruth, Stephen and Mina. Mr. Flo is a loyal member 
of the Rejuiblican party and he and his family at- 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



tend the Lutheran church. To visit Mr. Flo's splen- 
did farm, thoroughly equipped with all the modern 
appliances for successful work, an estate easily 
worth $20,000, remembering that the sum of his cap- 
ital was at one time a paltry ten dollars, is to be im- 
pressed with his remarkable energy and skillful 
management. His upright character, sterling worth 
and extensive property holdings render him a man 
of great influence in the community. 



LARS P. HANSON, one of the influential citi- 
zens of Florence, Washington, residing one-half 
mile west and an equal distance south of town, was 
born in Norway July 22. 1865. His father, Paul 
Hanson, also a native of Norway, immigrated tc 
the United States in IST^. He became a resident of 
A\'ashington twenty-four years ago. His death oc- 
curred at Florence in, 1900. Mary (Snakweik) 
Hanson, the mother, also a native of Norway, died 
at Florence in 1901, the mother of four children. 
One son. Hans, was killed in Michigan in 1883. and 
a daughter, Elizabeth, died at Florence in 1894. 
Few educational advantages were possible to Lars 
Hanson, who was engaged in helping his father 
clear a place for a home in the dense forests at the 
age when he, if conditions were otherwise, would 
have been in school. Of a bright, inquiring turn 
of mind, however, he in later life made good the loss 
of early training, and received his preparation for 
life's duties in rhe wider school of experience. His 
parents having moved to Washington, he found em- 
ployment in the woods, after working for some time 
on the farm owned by James Long. In 1897 he pur- 
chased seventy-seven acres of land near Florence, 
which he farmed, together with two other pieces of 
property up the river for a period. During the fol- 
lowing years he frequently invested in real estate, 
which he in turn sold. In July, 1904, he became the 
owner of the one hundred and forty-acre farm on 
which he now resides. 

Mr. Hanson and Lena Wald were united in mar- 
riage November 25, 1894. Mrs. Hanson was born 
in Norway, and came West with her sister, now 
the wife of Ole Eide, of Stanwood, Washington. 
Her father is still living in her native country ; the 
mother died before her daughters left home. Five 
children have gladdened the home of Mr. and Mrs. 
Hanson : Inga, Hannah, Peter. Edwin and Oscar. 
Mr. Hanson is a thorough believer in Republican 
principles. Among the minor positions he has held 
is the office of road supervisor. He and his family 
attend the Lutheran church, to which he contributes 
liberally. He has a splendid farm, all under culti- 
vation, the principal products being oats and hay. 
He is also interested in dairying, has a large herd 
of fine cattle, and by careful attention to details re- 
alizes a substantial income from this source alone. 
His beautiful twelve-room house, modern in all its 



appointments, is the finest home to be found in this 
entire locality, and reflects the owner's taste as well 
as his care for the happiness of his wife and family. 
A man of strict integrity and excellent business abil- 
ity, Mr. Hanson enjoys the confidence of all his ac- 
quaintances. 



JOHN B. LEE, one of Stanwood's thrifty, pros- 
perous agriculturists, was born in Ottertail County, 
Minnesota, March 13, 18G9. His father. Berg O. 
Lee, a native of Norway, came to the United States 
in early life and was a resident of Wisconsin at the 
outbreak of the Civil War. He answered his 
adopted country's call for volunteers, and enlisted 
in the Fifteenth Wisconsin regiment. He and his 
wife. Olena (Kraushaus) Lee, also of Norwegian 
birth, are now living with the son whose name 
forms the caption for this article. The father is 
seventy-two years of age ; the mother ten years 
younger. John B. Lee spent his boyhood on the 
farm in Minnesota, acquiring an education and also 
a practical knowledge of farming. In 1887 he came 
West to Tacoma, Washington, remaining four years, 
during which he was employed by the Northern 
F'acific railroad as boiler-maker. Leaving there in 
the early nineties, when the hard times began to be 
felt in all lines of trade, he located in Norman, 
Washington, and leased a farm for a period of eight 
years. For about six months out of the year the 
roads were impassable, thus making the work very 
difficult and unsatisfactory. At the expiration of 
the lease in 1895 he went to Alaska, and was quite 
successful, at one time purchasing the claims on 
Eldorado Creek owned by "Klondike" Anderson. 
He resided in that country till 1898, returning with 
sufficient means to buy the one hundred and thirty- 
three-acre farm on which he now lives. Twenty- 
five acres of this land had been cleared. The fol- 
lowing year he made another trip to the gold fields 
of Alaska, remaining five years. He has since de- 
voted his entire time to the cultivation of his farm, 
has now forty acres under cultivation, devoted to 
diversified farming and dairying. He owns a fine 
herd of Jersey cattle. 

Mr. Lee was married July 1, 1899, to Lillian 
DeVoe, a native of Chicago, Illinois. Her parents, 
both deceased, were of French nativity. Mr. Lee is 
a member of the Fraternal Brotherhood of America. 
Although never taking an active part in political 
matters, he is a loyal supporter of Republicanism. 
The energy, ambition and upright business prin- 
ciples that have won for him his present financial 
success, have also secured the confidence and re- 
spect of his fellow citizens. 



PETER NESS, Whose comfortable estate lies 
one mile southeast of Florence, is one of the well- 




AIR. AXl. MRS, LARS I'. 11ANS(.N ANI. RhSIDE 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



1003 



known farmers of this part c(f the county. He was 
born in Norway September 27, 1846, the son of 
John and Ingobar (I5arosdatter) Peterson, both of 
whom spent their Hves in Norway, their native land. 
Leaving home at the age of twelve, Peter Ness 
foimtl employment as a herder of cattle in the sum- 
mer months, and in the woods during the winter. 
He was cruelly treated by his employer, and allowed 
very few educational advantages, hence he deter- 
mined to seek another opening. Finding employ- 
ment in a flour mill, where his diligent efforts to 
please were appreciated, he remained seven years. 
For a number of years following he was engaged in 
fishing, but knowing that the United States offered 
great inducements to thrifty, energetic young men, 
he immigrated in 1882, locating first in Minneap- 
olis, Minnesota, where he worked in a lumber yard 
six months. He, in company with three others, left 
for Seattle that year. His acquaintances tried in 
every way to discourage him, prophesying dire mis- 
fortune if he located in the "wild and woolly 
west," the only inhabitants of which, according to 
their belief, were thieves and robbers. Disregard- 
ing their well-meant but mistaken counsel, he lo- 
cated at Stanwood, Washington, after a two 
weeks stay in Seattle. A few months later he re- 
moved to Pilchuck, Snohomish county, and took 
a homestead there, which he held for the next 
four years. While a resident of Stanwood he and 
C. Oleson, now in Norway, built the first piledriver 
in the town, and drove the piles used in the con- 
struction of the first boom and wharf built here. 
He took contracts for this kind of work for the 
next three years, then sold out and returned to 
his native country in 1888. Eight months later 
he brought his bride to Stanwood, and soon pur- 
chased fifty-five acres, all densely covered with 
the finest kind of cedar timber, which at that time 
was of no use save to build the rude houses and 
barns, there being no market for it. Clearing a 
small plot of ground, he erected a cabin and at once 
began the arduous undertaking of clearing the 
land. He now has thirty-five acres in cultivation, 
devoting it almost entirely to dairv'ing. 

In 1888 Mr. Ness married Karan Martha Oldstat- 
ter Dybwad, who gladly shared with him the toils 
and privations of those early pioneer days. Her par- 
ents have never visited America. In political belief 
Mr. Ness adheres strictly to Republican doctrines, 
but he has never cared to participate actively in po- 
litical affairs. He and his worthy wife attend the 
Lutheran church. During his extended residence 
here Mr. Ness has been permitted to witness mar- 
velous changes in the surrounding country, and has 
rejoiced to see the "wilderness blossom as the 
rose" under the skillful management of pioneers 
like himself, who believed in the glorious future of 
this wonderful Northwest. 



HALVOR P. HUSBY. Among the hardy pio- 
neers of Snohomish county whose brave endur- 
ance of the manifold hardships and dangers of 
those early days has made possible the splendid 
growth and development of today is found Halvor 
P. Husby, a native of Norway, born in April. 1859, 
His parents, Peter and Magnild Husby, still live 
in Norway, the land of their birth. Mr. Husbv is 
the fifth of a family of eleven children. He spent 
the first twenty-two years of his life on his father's 
farm, acquiring a practical knowledge of the work 
which has claimed so large a share of his atten- 
tion. He then decided to seek an opening in the 
United States, and sailed in 1881. Locating in 
Stoclcton, California, he remained a year and a 
half, coming thence to Stanwood, Washington, in 
the fall of 1882. .'\fter farming and working in 
the woods for a time he took up a homestead con- 
sisting of 160 acres, a mile west of Norman, on 
which he now resides, ./^t that date, 1885, it was all 
densely covered with timber. There were no roads, 
the only means of bringing supplies from Stan- 
wood being by canoe, and mail reached him but 
once a week. Two cows that he brought with 
him when he settled on the claim were nearly 
lost "before reaching their destination. Several 
years elapsed before wagon roads were con- 
structed. Year by year he has been engaged in 
clearing his land, and now has twenty-five acres in 
meadow, and thirty-five in pasture. He is exten- 
sively interested in dairying, has thirty head of 
graded stock, and is a member of the Stanwood 
Co-operative Creamery Company. 

Mr. Husby was married in 1884 to Annie Hal- 
seth, a native of Norway, who in childhood came 
with her parents to the United States. They set- 
tled first in Dakota, but later became residents of 
Silvana, Washington. She having been a lad\' 
of remarkable strength and sweetness of character, 
Mrs. Husby's death in 18fll was the occasion of 
especially profound sorrow in the community. She 
was the mother of three children, Gunder, Peter 
and a baby who died in infancy. Mr. Husby is 
a member of no political party, preferring to vote 
for the man whom he deems best fitted to fill the 
office. He is one of the prosperous and influential 
citizens of the region, possessing the good will 
and respect of all with whom he is associated. 



SIGWARD J. EDSBERG, whose farm of eighty- 
acres lies on the Highland road to Silvana east of 
Stanwood, has been very successful in his opera- 
tions since coming to Snohomish county a decade 
and a half ago. He has cleared two farms in the 
forest, now operates a dairy and is in excellent 
circumstances. Mr. Edsberg was born in Nor- 
way September 22, 1864, the oldest of the s''x 
children of Johnnes and Caroline (Martenson) 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



Edsberg, natives of the land of fjords, who are 
still living in the country of their nativity. Sig- 
ward J. Edsberg remained at home with his par- 
ents until his marriage in 1885. He then, after 
having passed another year in Norway, came to 
the United States with his bride to make a home. 
Their first stop was in Minnesota, where he worked 
at farming for two years, following which he came 
to the Puget sound country and passed two years 
in Seattle, doing contract work in clearing land. 
Mr. Edsberg then came to Snohomish county and 
preempted forty acres of timber land near Bry- 
ant, later homesteading 160 additional acres, on 
which he remained seven years, clearing it for crop 
and pasture. On selling out he purchased eighty 
acres of timbered land, where he now lives. Of 
this tract he has cleared twenty-six acres and on 
it is carrying on a dairy business, with eight cows 
at present constituting his herd. The farm is a 
model one of its kind, comfortable, convenient and 
well equipped. 

In 1885 Mr. Edsberg married Miss Olivia Mar- 
tenson, a native of Norway and the daughter of 
Martin and Sigurd Martenson. The father died 
some five years ago, but the mother is still living 
in Norway. Mrs. Edsberg has three brothers in 
Minnesota, one a merchant, the other two farmers. 
She also has a brother and two sisters in Seattle. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Edsberg have been born six chil- 
dren, all of whom are living at home: Julius, Mar- 
cus, Sophia, Carl, Olga and Sigurd. In politics 
Mr. Edsberg is a Republican, not especially am- 
bitious to hold public office, preferring his home 
life and home effort. The family adheres to the 
Lutheran church. Mr. Edsberg is one of the con- 
servative men of the community, with plenty of 
energy and ability to do hard work. He is highly 
esteemed by all and is one of the substantial busi- 
ness men of the northwestern part of Snohomish 
county, and one who has been prominent in its 
development from a wilderness. 



ANDREW FJERLIE, whose farm lies two and 
a quarter miles west of Norman and adjoining the 
railway, has been in Snohomish county but little 
over a decade, yet he has firmly established himself 
in business and is one of the hustling men of the 
community. Mr. Fjerlie was born in Norway 
March 30, 1872, the second of four children of 
Halvor and Bereth (Bruseth) Fjerlie, natives of 
Norway, who passed away twenty years or more 
a,go. Andrew Fjerlie was reared on a farm and 
early in life learned to work. In spite of having 
heavy duties to attend to he gained a good educa- 
tion in the Norwegian schools, which education 
he has supplemented by extensive reading and ob- 
servation. Farming occupied his attention until 
he left Norway for this country. He had friends 



in Snohomish county and through them he learned 
of the natural advantages of the Puget sound 
country. Coming direct to Stanwood, he at once 
took a contract for cutting shingle bolts and for 
four years thereafter he continued in this general 
line of activity, though frequently varying his work 
by entering the employ of loggers. In 1897 Mr. 
Fjerlie took a contract for cutting cottonwood for 
the paper mill in Everett. He continued at this 
work two years, doing fairly well financially, and 
on the completion of this contract with a brother 
he bought the forty-acre tract where he has since 
lived. Since occupying the place Mr. Fjerlie has 
cleared and slashed twenty acres and erected an 
eight-room house and outbuildings. At present 
he is carrying on dairy farming operations, keeping 
ten head of cows. The brother still retains his 
interest in the land, but devotes himself to the 
carpenter's trade. 

In January. 1903, Mr. Fjerlie married Miss Mary 
Jamne, a native of Norway, who crossed the At- 
lantic alone and after passing two years in Wis- 
consin came to Washington. Her father ,died 
seventeen years ago in the old country ; her mother 
is still Hving there. Mr. and Mrs. Fjerlie have 
one child, Ole Harold, who was born in Silvana in 
December of 1904. In politics Mr. Fjerlie is an 
independent, bound by no party ties; in church ad- 
herence the family is Lutheran. Mr. Fjerlie is con- 
servative in nature, quiet and unassuming, but 
markedly intelligent and a student of men and 
conditions, highly respected in the community for 
his sterling qualities of character. 



REV. PETER ISBERG was born in Norway, 
not far from the celebrated tourist rendezvous, 
Odde, in the district of Hardanger, on the 22d of 
June, 1850. His place of birth was on the "gaard" 
or farm, Isberg, on the shores of the Hardanger 
Fjord, so replete with grand natural scenery. In 
the spring of the year 1867 he begged his grand- 
father, with whom he made his home, to let him 
do as a great many of the young people of his age 
did, find a passage to "The Land of the Free and 
the Home of the Brave." He succeeded in his 
suit and eventually boarded the sailship "Helvetia" 
at Bergen, in the first part of April. After seven 
weeks and four days of tossing about on the At- 
lantic he finallv landed in Quebec. His next des- 
tination was Chickasaw county, Iowa, where an 
uncle, Ole Bulken, had settled before, and by rail 
and steamer the delightful trip was soon made. 
From this time on working for farmers was the 
not unpleasant occupation of Mr. Isberg until the 
fall of the vear 1869, when he entered the Lutheran 
college at Decorah, Iowa. After being five years 
at this college he was sent to a German theological 
seminary at Springfield, Illinois. Thence he went 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



1005 



to Madison, Wisconsin, to attend a Norwegian 
Lutheran seminary. In September, 1878, he was 
-ordained a minister of the' gospel at the Lutheran 
church at La Crosse, Wisconsin. He took up his 
first work at Alpena, Michigan, from which point 
he was called to Perry, Wisconsin, in 1881, and he 
remained there until the spring of 1888, when he 
resigned his position in the church in order to en- 
gage in farming in Fillmore county, Minnesota. 
But at this time the Puget sound country was 
booming and ]\lr. Isberg, having been born on a 
sound or fjord, what was more natural than for him 
to go to another such place and try to make a home 
on its shores? Therefore in the spring in 1889, 
with two companions from Rushford, Minnesota, 
he set out for Seattle, Washington. He bought 
some lots in that city and was engaged in build- 
ing houses on the property when one day he met 
in town his old schoolmate, Rev. Chr. Joergensen, 
who invited him to visit him at his home near Thorn- 
wood. Soon after he took the steamer "Henry 
Bailey," commanded by Captain Denny, for Stan- 
wood, and in due time reached the town and the 
fertile flats that surround it. He was so pleased 
that only for short periods has he been a\»ay from 
it since, his occupation there being mostly build- 
ing houses, boats, scows, etc., which trade he still 
follows. He is a firm believer in the Puget sound 
country, its people, its prospects, its climate and 
its ability to produce not only a good living for 
all but as high a civilization as this or any other 
countrv on the face of the earth can boast. 



OLE O. FJARLIE. one of the Stanwood coun- 
try's progressive farmers, of Norwegian descent, 
has attained to an enviable position in the com- 
munity by reason of his desire to give everybody 
a square deal, and his thrift. He was born in 
Norway in September, 1872, the son of Ole Fjarlie, 
a farmer. The elder Fjarlie died in 1884 at the age 
of sixty-six ; his wife survives him, still living in 
the old country in her sixty-ninth year. Of the six 
children in the family the subject of this sketch is 
the youngest. Very early in life, while yet only 
fourteen years of age, Ole O. was obliged to con- 
tribute to the family's support, remaining at home, 
however, until he was eighteen years old. At that 
time he came to the United States, locating first 
at Utsalady, where he obtained employment in a 
sawmill. A few months later he engaged in farm 
work, then for two years and a half he cut shingle 
bolts by contract. His next step in business was 
to take a homestead in Chehalis county, where he 
remained two years. Coming then north to Nor- 
man, he began logging on the place he now owns. 
About this time a falling tree destroyed his en- 
gine, seriously crippling him in a financial way, but, 
with that natural honesty which characterizes the 



man, he at once disposed of his homestead to pay 
his debts and started all over again. He and his 
brother in 1897 bought 100 acres of timber land, on 
which, however, five acres had been cleared, and 
immediately began its improvement. Now twenty 
acres of it are under the plow and twenty more in 
pasture, the farm being devoted principally to dairy- 
ing. A fine barn, 41 by 72 feet in size, with a wing 
28 by 14 feet, has been erected, also a thirteen- 
room modern dwelling, making the place a com- 
fortable one indeed. Thirty-five head of cattle con- 
stitute the herd kept on the ranch. Politically Mr. 
Fjarlie is a believer in the principles of the People's 
party as originally laid down. He is a man of 
energy and force and is highly esteemed in the 
community. 



EMIL GUNDERSON, of the lower Stilla- 
guamish valley, is one of those far-sighted men who 
have recognized the special fitness of Puget sound 
for intensive agriculture and its branches and he 
has accordingly devoted his energies and skill to 
the dairy and poultry business. For this purpose 
he utilizes twenty acres, lying near the Norman 
settlement. Born in Carver County, Minnesota, in 
November, 1861, he is the son of Norwegian par- 
ents, pioneers of that state. His father, Ostend 
Gunderson, came to the United States when a 
young rnan and gave up the greater part of his 
life to the development of the new country, dying 
at the advanced age of seventy-four ; his widow, 
Mrs. Wallie (Anderson) Gunderson, still survives. 
Emil, second oldest of five children, as a lad at- 
tended the public schools and until he was eighteen 
years of age worked on his father's farm, then took 
a course at the Augsburg seminary, Minneapolis. 
Two courses of study in the high school followed, 
upon the conclusion of which young Gunderson 
chose medicine as his profession ; but he had pur- 
sued its study only a short time when ill health 
overtook him, compelling his retirement from 
school to a vigorous life in the open air. So 
turning to agriculture as the most pleasing field, he 
commenced farming in central Minnesota and be- 
came so interested that for sixteen years he fol- 
lowed that occupation in Ottertail county, during 
ten of which he was with his parents. In 1900, 
however, he sold his Minnesota interests and came. 
to the Pacific slope to establish a new home, settling 
at Norman on his present place. The land is of the 
heaviest character of cedar bottom, especially 
adapted to intensive farming, and regarding it Mr. 
Gunderson says it is worth eight times as much 
as the land he formerly worked in the east. Both 
his dairy and poultry stock are high grade and his 
product of the same class. 

Miss Mary Knutson, a native of Minnesota, be- 
came the bride of Mr. Gunderson May 18, 1888. 
Her parents, Torgor and Mary Knutson, were born 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



in Norway ; the former is now dead, the latter re- 
sides in bttertail County, Minnesota. Mr. and 
Mrs. Gunderson have four children, Ella, Theodore. 
Amanda and Julia. In politics Mr. Gunderson is 
an unswerving Republican, who was prominent 
in his party in Minnesota and is active here. He 
served his community as justice of the peace and 
county assessor while residing in Ottertail county, 
making a highly creditable record in each of these 
offices. Wherever he has lived he has been as- 
corded a position among the leaders of the com- 
munity because of his ability, discretion and ag- 
gressiveness in whatever he undertakes, qualities 
which are still to be contributed to the upbuilding 
of Snohomish county as they have been so gener- 
ously during the past five years. 



OLE NAAS, one of the Stanwood country's 
prosperous oat growers and dairymen, has been 
a resident of that section for more than twenty- 
five years now and has been connected with its de- 
velopment into one of the most celebrated farming 
districts in the northwest. He was born in Nor- 
w.iy April 16, 1852, to the union of Lars and Helen 
(Johnson) Naas, the former of whom during his 
life was a well-to-do farmer of the old country. 
He passed away thirty years ago. Mrs. Naas, the 
mother of Ole Naas, died in Norway in 189(5. The 
subject of this sketch received an education in the 
public schools of his native country and thereafter 
remained at home with his father on the farm until 
twenty-two years of age. In 1876 he joined his 
countrymen setting out to make new homes across 
the sea in the United States and eventually settled 
in Union County, Dakota, and engaged in farming 
on his own account. That was his home for two 
years, after which he resided in different places 
until the fall of 1880, when he was attracted to the 
Stanwood flats by the writings of his countryman, 
C. E. Joergenson. An investigation pleased him 
and he immediately filed on a piece of land near 
where the town of Florence was afterward built. 
The whole region, aside from the salt marshes, was 
at that time covered by a heavy growth of timber, 
a typical Washington jungle that could hardly be 
penetrated. Mr. Naas cleared eight acres of his 
place in the two years he lived there, then sold and 
bought twenty-five acres of James Perkins, the 
old pioneer of the Stillaguamish. This tract was 
also a dense forest and for it Mr. Naas paid thirty 
dollars an acre. He cleared a portion of it, built a 
substantial house and made it his home five years, 
then sold it also to purchase thirty-five acres 
on the flats. This place he has cleared of tim- 
ber and brush, improved with substantial buildings 
and drained, making it one of the fine farms of the 
community. Since Mr. Naas has made it his home 
he has purchased the old Annie Gunderson farm on 



the river for his sons. Besides raising oats and 
hay he maintains a dairy herd of twenty-five select 
cows. 

Mr. Naas was married in South Dakota, in 1880,. 
to Miss Mary Helseth, the daughter of Gunder and 
Karen Helseth. Gunder Helseth was one of Stan- 
wood's early pioneers, having come there from 
LInion County, South Dakota, in 1880. His resi- 
dence in Dakota dated from 1870, when he came 
to the L^nited States from his native country, Nor- 
way. His death occurred in Snohomish county. 
Mrs. Helseth was also born in Norway; she is- 
still living, residing at present near Norman on the 
Stillaguamish. Mrs. Naas was born in Norway in 
1859 and received her education there and in the 
schools of South Dakota. She was married when 
twenty-one. To this union six children have been 
born, all at Stanwood, and all still living. Gunder, 
born in Union County, South Dakota, in 1881 ; 
Helen, in 1883; Obert, in 1886; Malie, in 1888; 
Elmer, in 1890: and Alfred, in 1898. The family 
are members of the Norwegian Lutheran Synod 
church ; politically Mr. Naas is a Republican. In 
all he owns seventy-five acres of valuable farming 
land at the delta of the Stillaguamish, which he is 
farming to the best profit ; indeed, he is regarded 
as one of the most successful farmers in his district. 
By his industry and good management he has at- 
tained a competency in material wealth, while his 
integrity and square dealing have won him the re- 
spect and esteem of his neighbors and associates. 



FRED JENNY, farmer and mill man of Cedar- 
home, Snohomish county, is one of the active and 
successful business man of the community. He has 
been a resident of Snohomish county since he was 
sixteen years old and has made an excellent place 
for himself in the commercial life of his home town. 
He was born in Minnesota, January 28, 1860, the 
son of Jacob and Matilda (Rhodes) Jenny. The 
elder Jenny was a native of Switzerland, a black- 
smith by trade, who came to the United States in 
1844 and located at Herman, Missouri, where he 
followed his trade for six years. In 1850 he 
crossed the plains by ox-team to California, oc- 
cupying six months en route, and he put in six 
years mining there. He then returned to the east 
and located in Minnesota, where he lived until 
coming to Washington in 1877. He had a very 
distinct recollection of the Minnesota massacre of 
1863. On his arrival in the Puget souixl country 
Mr. Jenny rented land on the Samish flats and later 
took up a homestead near Ferndale, where he died 
in 1885. Mrs. Jenny was born in Prussia, but came 
to Minnesota when young. Her father, a pioneer 
of Minnesota, is dead now, as is also her mother, 
though the latter reached the remarkable age of" 
ninety-eight years, dying only very recently. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



loor 



Fred Jenny received his education in the com- 
mon schools of his native state and on coming to 
Washington commenced to work in the logging 
camps, later entering the mills. In 1889, in com- 
pany with his brother-in-law, he built a saw-mill 
at Florence, the first one in that town, and he 
operated it until 189(5, when he sold out. Prior 
to this he had taken up a preemption and a home- 
stead near Florence. These he has since sold. For 
the past two years Mr. Jenny has been foreman of 
the Crescent Lumber Company of Cedarhome. 

In 1890 at Florence Mr. Jenny married Miss 
Jenny B. Haven, daughter of George W. Haven, a 
native of New York, who settled in Michigan in the 
early days, later becoming a pioneer of Nebraska 
and coming to Washington in 1885. He is still 
living in Snohomish county. Mrs. Jenny was born 
in Nebraska, but received her education in Michi- 
gan. She and Mr. Jenny are parents of nine chil- 
dren : Isabel, Clyde, Walter, Rufus, Ollie, Evaline, 
Edna, Frank and an unnamed baby. In fraternal 
circles Mr. Jenny is a member of the Woodmen of 
the World, the Knights of Pythias and of the An- 
cient Order of United Workmen. While with the 
Republicans in politics on general lines, Mr. Jenny 
scans the qualifications of candidates before cast- 
ing his ballot and in all local elections votes for the 
man. He has forty acres of land under cultivation, 
but devotes the most of his attention to his duties 
in the mill. He is a man of energy, conscientious- 
ness and thoroughness in his understanding of 
everything relating to saw-milling and the manu- 
facture of shingles. 



GUSTAF NICKLASON, merchant, mill man 
and postmaster of Cedarhome, has been a resident 
of Snohomish county for nearly thirty years and 
in that time has accumulated a competence. He is 
possessed of a fine quality of executive ability, 
which, coupled with his business foresight and ca- 
pacity, has enabled him to forge to the front in 
the affairs of his community. Mr. Nicklason was 
born in the southern part of Sweden April 10, 18.51, 
the son of Nicholas and Christina Peterson, agri- 
culturists of Sweden, who never left their native 
land. They were the parents of five children, of 
whom the living besides Gustaf are Peter J., Carl 
and Anders. A sister, Sophia, is dead. Mr. Nick- 
lason attended school and made his home with his 
parents until he was eighteen years of age, going 
at that time to Germany, where he passed two 
years on a farm. During this period his atten- 
tion was called to the LTnited States as a field for 
a young man and he determined to come here, but 
spent six months at his old home before crossing 
the Atlantic. In 1872 he found himself in New 
York, where he lingered for a short time before 
going to St. Louis. In the Missouri metropolis he 



obtained employment in a brick-yard, and at that 
work he remained for five years. In 1877 he came 
to La Conner, Skagit county, where he passed the 
following seven years at farming. The next five 
years were spent on the Stanwood flats operating a 
farm. In 1889 Mr. Nicklason came to Cedarhome 
and opened a general store, and eight years ago, in 
company with Carl Walters, he built a mill at this 
place and commenced the manufacture of shingles. 
The enterprise proved successful and two years 
years ago a saw-mill was added to the property, 
which now has a capacity of 80,000 shingles and 
10,000 feet of lumber. It has been in operation 
constantly, the demand for its products being steady 
and in good quantity. 

In 1878 Mr. Nicklason married Miss Christina 
Hanson, daughter of William and Elsa Hanson, 
farmer folk who passed their entire lives in Sweden, 
leaving five children surviving them : Hannah, 
Inga, Christina, Elsa and Nels. Mrs. Nicklason 
was born in 1850, came to the United States in 
1875 alone, and worked in Omaha, Nebraska, until 
her marriage. Seven children have been born to 
Mr. and Mrs. Nicklason: Conrad, August, Mrs. 
Minnie Nelson, Victor, Ethel, Emily and Almeda, 
the last three named being dead. In politics Mr. 
Nicklason is a Republican ; in secret society affilia- 
tions a member of the Concatenated Order of Hoo 
Hoos. In addition to his store at Cedarhome he 
has a four-fifths interest in a store at Milltown. His 
real estate holdings consist of twenty-six acres in 
his home place, with a large, commodious ten-room 
house ; a fifty-acre farm on Brown's slough, and his 
interest in fiOO acres of timber land owned by the 
milling partnership. Mr. Nicklason has had his 
triumphs and reverses but is now on the advan- 
cing wave of prosperity. He is one of the most in- 
fluential men of the Cedarhome community, an 
energetic and intelligent worker in whose judgment 
and motives the people place the highest confi- 
dence. 



DAVID T. MUNSON, one of the honored pio- 
neers of Washington, now residing a quarter of a 
mile west of Florence, was born in Washington 
County, Maine, July 27, 1828. His parents, Jona- 
than and Margaret (Tinker) Munson, were both 
born in Maine. The father died in 1887, the mother 
some years previous at the age of seventy-five. 
The third of a family of nine children, David T. 
Munson acquired his education in the common 
schools, beginning life for himself at the 
age of twenty with pluck, energy and' a 
Puritan ancestry as the sum of his capital. 
He worked in the woods until 1860, at 
which time he went to San Francisco via Panama 
and in a few days started for Puget sound. Lo- 
cating at Port (iJamble, he followed logging for 
thirty years in the adjacent country. In 1888 he 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



purchased the farm he now owns, making it his 
home since that time. Although all heavily tim- 
bered at that early date, he now has it in an excel- 
lent state of cultivation and is devoting it largely to 
dairying. He has also a fine little orchard and 
raises the various fruits that thrive best in this 
climate. When he came to this part of the state 
in 1871 there were only five settlers on the entire 
Stillaguamish river. These were brave, hopeful 
men like himself, who believed in the future of this 
great wilderness and had the patience to toil on 
year after year until their dreams were at least in 
a measure realized. The only means of traversing 
the river were the rude canoes of the Siwash In- 
dians. Mail reached them about once a week. 

Mr. Munson was married in 1858 to Martha A. 
Robinson, born in Maine in 1839. Coming to the 
west soon after their marriage, Mrs. Munson 
gladly shared the hardships and dangers of pio- 
neer life. Her death occurred March 31, 1905, 
and was an occasion of profound sorrow through- 
out the community of which she had been for so 
many years a loved and honored member. Her 
parents, Robert and Nancy (Fox) Robinson, were 
both born in Maine. Two children were born to 
Mr. and Mrs. Munson, Mrs. Anna McNamara of 
Green Lake, Washington, and Mrs. Ida Barron, 
now living at home. Mr. Munson is prominent in 
the Masonic fraternity. Although a lifelong Re- 
publican, he has never desired political preferment, 
but has loyally served his party in the quiet walks 
of life. The respect and honor accorded to Mr. 
Munson is but a fitting tribute to his upright, manly 
character, which has borne the test of these many 
years, fraught with peculiarly trying experiences. 



ale:xander Robertson. Among the 

prominent citizens of Florence, Washington, i-s 
the man whose name gives caption to this review. 
He was born in Ontario July 29, 1843, the son of 
Alexander and Matilda (Simons) Robertson. His 
father, a native of Scotland, born in Paisley in 1795. 
was a merchant and farmer who settled in Canada 
in 1823. During the rebellion of 1837-8 he was a 
captain of cavalry troops, making for himself an 
enviable record as a brave and fearless commander. 
His death occurred in January, 1855. The mother 
of English and German extraction, was born in 
Canada in 1807 and died in August, 1855, leaving 
the memory of a noble life. She was the mother 
of thirteen children. Enjoying the advantages of 
excellent home training, Alexander Robertson spent 
his boyhood at home and acquired a common school 
education. At the age of eighteen he went to Michi- 
gan, and he remained there until the Civil War 
broke out; then, in the full flush of early man- 
hood, fired with patriotic zeal for his adopted coun- 
try in her hour of need, he enlisted in Company 



E, Nineteenth United States infantry, under Cap- 
tain V. Hart. The following five years were full 
of active service, he having been in the battles of 
Pittsburg Landing, Chickamauga, Murfreesboro, 
and many less fan:ous engagements. At the battle 
of Peach Tree Creek he was severely wounded, 
being shot through the neck. Poorly nourished by 
the insufficient rations provided by the govern- 
ment, he was stricken with that terrible disease, 
scurvy, which left him almost blind. He was mus- 
tered out of the service in 1867 and returned to 
Ontario, where he attended school at Hamilton for 
two years. He then accepted a position as teacher 
in the school for the blind in Dunderne Castle, 
Hamilton. On leaving Ontario he located at Fort 
Smith, Arkansas, being there employed as in- 
structor in English in the school established by the 
Lutheran church. The succeeding year he taught 
in the public schools, resigning at the end of that 
time to accept a position in the United States mail 
service from Fort Smith, which he retained four 
and a half years. In 187G he migrated to Cali- 
fornia, and he spent the next three years in farming 
and teaching; but in 1879, having decided to find 
a home in the northwest, he came to the sound, 
stopping at Steilacoom, Washington, to attend a 
teachers' examination held there. Immediately af- 
terward he made the trip from Seattle to Port 
Susan by foot. To him belongs the distinction of 
having been the first male teacher in the schools 
of Florence. That was in 1880. His work there 
proved to be his last in the profession to which he 
had devoted so many years of his life. Pre-emi- 
nently successful in this noble calling, he left behind 
him a record of which any man might well feel 
proud. When he first taught in Snohomish county, 
the Florence district comprised the territory lying 
between the Skagit county line on the north and 
the Tulalip Indian reservation, and extended from 
the sound to the summit of the Cascades, the en- 
tire width of the county, save a small district in the 
vicinity of Stanwood. The enrollment was seven- 
teen, the average attendance sixteen. The entire 
number of school children in the district within a 
radius of five miles was but twenty, of whom only 
four were white children; there were two Indians, 
and the balance were half-breeds. 

After retiring from professional life Mr. Rob- 
ertson followed various pursuits until 187fi, at 
which time he was appointed justice of the peace 
at Port Susan, an ofifice he has filled since that time 
with but one year's vacation. He was appointed 
deputy assessor in 1889, serving four years. In the 
fall of 1889 he was returned as first county repre- 
sentative of Snohomish county under state laws. 
He disposed of land he had settled at Port Susan 
at the expiration of his term as deputy assessor and 
moved to the farm where he now resides. He ac- 
quired this property, consisting of forty-six acres, 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



1009 



in December, 181)2, and now has fifteen acres un- 
der cultivation. He makes a specialty of breeding 
draft horses, principally Percheron stock, ^nd also 
owns a fine thoroughbred Hambletonian-, , He is 
identified with the Odd Fellows and Elks, being 
prominent in both fraternities. In political persua- 
sion he has always been a loyal supporter of the 
Republican party. A man of wide experience and 
observation, possessed of keen mental abilities and 
a charming personality, Mr. Robertson is one of 
the most popular and influential citizens of Flor- 
ence. 



IVER FURNESS, one of the honored pioneers 
of .Snohomish county, now resides one-half mile 
southwest of Norman, Washington. He was bom 
in Norway, August 23, 1834, his parents being 
John and Marret (Sater) Furness. The father, 
born in 1808, was a farmer and civil engineer in 
his native country, Norway, till the time of his 
death in 1868. The mother, also born in 1808, died 
in Norway in 1896. Iver Furness enjoyed unusual 
educational advantages, taking a course in an agri- 
cutural college in addition to a common school 
training. He then entered the military service of 
his country, which required that those drafted must 
remain in the country, though the actual service 
consisted of ninety days the first year and sixty 
days each succeeding year for five years. At the 
expiration of this time he was placed on the re- 
serve list for five years. Having learned the trade 
of a blacksmith in his boyhood, he followed it for 
a number of years. In 1869 he emigrated to South 
Dakota and began work at his trade. Eventually 
accepting the position of blacksmith on the Crow 
Creek Indian reservation, he spent the ensuing five 
years in the employ of the government. He left 
the agency in October, 1876, coming direct to his 
present location, Norman, Washington. He was the 
second man to settle at this point on the Stilla- 
guamish river, and at that time his nearest neigh- 
bor, Severt Breckhus, was five miles away. Unable 
to use a canoe to carry his supplies up the river on 
account of the log jams that blockaded the river, he 
was forced to pack them on his back from Stan- 
wood. He pre-empted 130 acres where he now re- 
sides, bringing his family here as soon as he had 
built a house. Of the hardships and privations of 
those early days in the vast wilderness only those 
who have had a similar experience can have any 
definite idea. It was six years before the loggers 
came to this section. Mr. Furness now has eighty 
acres cleared and in cultivation and is devoting his 
time principally to dairying, having a fine herd of 
cattle. He also has an excellent orchard and is 
very successful in raising fruit. 

Mr. Furness was married July 8, 1858, to Mar- 
ret Veken. born in Norwav, May 12. 1837. Her 
parents, Erick and leldre (Rolf shore) Veken, died 



in their native land, Norway, several years ago. 
Mr. and Mrs. Furness have one son, John, born in 
Norway, July 9, 1860, now one of the prominent 
business men of Everett, operating the creamery, 
cold storage and ice plant of that city. He has 
been thus employed for the past twelve years. Mr. 
Furness is a member of the Lutheran church, and 
liberally supports its various Ijenevolences. Al- 
though for many years a loyal advocate of Republi- 
can principles, he has never cared to take an active 
part in political matters. He is now surrounded 
by evidences of the prosperity that has rewarded 
his years of arduous toil and is able to appreciate 
the conveniences and luxuries which civilization 
has brought to his door. To the brave, hardy pio- 
neers like himself the rising generation owes a 
debt of gratitude which can never be fully paid. 
Mr. Furness is a man whose life and character 
command the respect and admiration of all who 
are associated with him. 



ANDREW CUTHBERT, a prosperous farmer 
residing three-quarters of a mile east of Norman, 
one of Snohomish county's earliest pioneers, was 
bom in Montrose, Scotland, April 19, 1851. His 
parents, David and Elizabeth (Walker) Cuthbert, 
also natives of Scotland, immigrated to the United 
States in 1875, settling in Washington. Six years 
later they returned to Ontario, where they had 
previously resided, and spent the remainder of their 
lives there. Nine children were born to this union,- 
the youngest being Andrew, of this article. ' He 
remained at home till sixteen years of age, then 
became a sailor. Four years later he gave up 
the sea and, having spent a month in Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania, he, with a bfother whom he met 
there, made a visit to their parents in Ontario. 
Learning that another brother had found a home 
in Washington, Mr. Cuthbert came west in October, 
1871, joining him at what is now Stanwood. This 
brother was one of the earliest settlers on the Stilla- 
guamish river. After farming with him a year 
Mr. Cuthbert worked in the woods for a num- 
ber of years. In February, 1885, he purchased 
the land on which he now resides, at that time 
densely covered with timber. Prior to this he had 
sold the claim that he took up on coming to this 
locality. There were no roads, and only a rough 
trail which oxen could follow. The Indians fur- 
nished the only meat the settlers had for many 
months. Mr. Cuthbert was the owner of the first 
mowing machine brought into the Stillaguamish 
river valley, and was one of the first to keep a 
horse. He was employed on the government land 
survey in 1872 and could have had his choice of any 
land on the river, but property now worth from 
$100 to $200 per acre was then deemed worthless 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



and any man who considered the advisibihty of tak- 
ing it lip was pronounced mentally unbalanced. 

Mr. Cuthbert's marriage took place in 1884. 
Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Cuthbert, as follows: Mrs. Alice Sutter of Sauk, 
Skagit county; Mrs. Ellen Clifford of South Da- 
kota, Fred, John, Mary, William and James. Mr. 
Cuthbert is independent in politics, voting for the 
man and not the party. He has his fine twenty-five- 
acre farm all cleared and in cultivation. Dairying 
claims a large share of his attention. Soon after 
locating here he set out an excellent orchard, in- 
tending to devote some of his time to fruit raising, 
but the river has completely destroyed it. He is a 
thrifty, energetic man, whose careful management 
and good judgment have secured for him his 
present financial independence. 



ANDERS ESTBY, whose home is one-fourth 
mile east of Norman, has been prominently identi- 
fied with the development of this region for the past 
twenty years. He was born in Norway September 
2'.), 1835, the son of Bernil and Carrie (Johnson) 
Tngebortson, both natives of the land of the Norse. 
The father, born September 19, 1801, resided in 
that country till he was eighty-one years old, then 
immigrated to Minnesota, his home at the time of 
his death in 1891. The mother spent her entire life 
in the land of her nativity. Leaving home at the 
age of nineteen, Anders Estby worked on neighbor- 
ing farms for six years, then learned the carpen- 
ter's trade. Having decided to seek his fortune in 
the United States, he crossed the ocean in 1866, lo- 
cating in Wisconsin. A year later he took up his 
residence in Goodhue County, Minnesota, moving 
thence to Ottertail county two years later. After 
farming there for seventeen years he went to Ta- 
coma, Washington, on a visit to a married daugh- 
ter living in that town, and was so favorably im- 
pressed with the country that he and his family 
made that city their home in 1886. The following 
year he came to Stanwood and purchased ninety- 
seven acres of land, on which he has resided since 
that time. There were only ten acres of it cleared 
at the time he moved on it. It was impossible to 
reach it by wagon, the river being the only means 
of bringing supplies from Stanwood. A small 
school-house had been built one-half mile away ; 
churches were unknown at that early date. The 
Great Northern railroad has since been constructed 
through his farm. 

Mr. Estby and Oliva Miller were united in the 
bonds of marriage in November, 1864. Mrs. Estby 
was born in Christiania, Norway, and is the daugh- 
ter of Christian and Bertha (Ryerson) Miller, both 
of whom died in their native country, Norway. 
Five children gladdened the home of Mr. and Mrs. 
Estby, as follows: Mrs. Carrie Nelson of Minne- 



apolis, Minnesota; Burnett, now in Alaska; Carl, 
a college graduate, now in the employ of the gov- 
ernment as a civil engineer, with headquarters at 
Everett; Mrs. Patrina DeSousa of Norman, Wash- 
ington, and Mary, who was recently graduated as 
a chemist from the state college at Pullman. Mr. 
Estby is a loyal Republican, although he has never 
cared to participate actively in political affairs. He 
and his family attend the Lutheran Free church. 
Sharing with his children the prosperity which has 
attended his well-directed efforts, Mr. Estby has 
retained but six acres of his farm for his own use, 
and here, surrounded by the conveniences and lux- 
uries made possible by the advancing civilization, 
he and his estimable wife recall the early days, 
fraught with so many trials and hardships, rejoicing 
that they contributed their full share of toil to the 
reclamation of this vast northwestern country. 
Broadly intelligent, possessed of sterling qualities of 
character and charming courtesy, Mr. Estby is a cit- 
izen whom Norman is proud to claim. 



LUDWTG O. STUBB of Norman is one of 
the leading and prosperous citizens of Snohomish 
county, one who has been markedly successful in all 
his business affairs. As a pioneer of Puget sound 
he has done much to develop the natural resources 
of the country, assisting in transforming the heavily 
timbered areas into a district noted for its fine 
agricultural lands. Mr. Stubb is essentially a self- 
made man, having by his self-reliance and native 
ability placed himself in his present position in the 
community. He was born in Norway, the oldest of 
the six children of Ole A. and Gunneld Stubb. The 
elder Stubb came to the United States and settled 
in Michigan in 1865 and brought his family there 
one year later. After a residence of three years in 
the Peninsula state he joined the throng of home- 
seekers which was then opening up the Dakotas 
and lived there for a number of years, finally com- 
ing to Kitsap County, Washington, where he still 
lives at the advanced age of eighty-four years. 
Mrs. Stubb passed away in 1876 while living in Da- 
kota. Ludwig O. Stubb grew up on the Dakota 
farm and attended school in Union county until 
twentv years of age, when he commenced farming 
on his own account. From the very first the young 
man has been successful in all his undertakings, 
indicating the aggressiveness of his nature and 
the accuracy of his commercial instincts. In 1880 
Mr. Stubb moved to Washington and passed a 
year and a half in Kitsap county. The Stillagiiam- 
ish valley was being opened up for settlement and 
development at that time, and on looking the 
ground over Mr. Stubb decided to cast in his for- 
time with northwestern Snohomish county. Soon 
after reaching here he purchased 140 acres of dense 
timber land for farming purposes and engaged ex- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



tensively in the logging business on the Stilla- 
guamish, waiting until the valley should become 
more settled before commencing active farming 
operations. After nine years of logging Mr. Stubb 
sold out and went to work on his own place, and 
now has eighty acres cleared and devoted for the 
most part to dairying, with seventy head of stock 
on the place. When Mr. Stubb commenced to 
work his place there were no draft horses in the 
country and, aside from those in the logging camps, 
there was but one yoke of oxen, that of Iver Fur- 
ness. The river was the highway of traffic and 
commerce in those early days. Mr. Stubb worked 
with patience and foresight and has converted his 
timber tract into one of the fine farming estates of 
the Stillaguamish valley. In addition to his farm 
work he is deeply interested in the zinc deposits 
in the vicinity of Jorden in this county, being presi- 
dent of the Washington Zinc Company, incorpo- 
rated, which owns large deposits and now has sev- 
eral thousand tons of ore ready for the mill. Under 
Mr. Stubb"s administration the company has done 
much development work and is about to erect a mill. 
To this work of mining and the development of the 
company's resources he has brought the same busi- 
ness judgment and executive abilitv which have al- 
ready placed him in the front rank as a successful 
agriculturist. 

In 1S7S Mr. Stubb married Miss Mary Ander- 
son, a native of Norway, who came to the United 
States with her parents and settled in Dakota when 
but a child. Her father and mother came to Stan- 
wood, where the former's death occurred ; the 
mother still survives. Mrs. Stubb's sister Cather- 
ine is the principal of the Stanwood school and her 
brother Andrew is manager of the co-operative 
creamery at Stanwood. Mr. and Mrs. Stubb have 
eleven children : Sampson, the first born, being 
now on a prospecting tour in Siberia; Otto, pursu- 
ing a course in the Washington State college at 
Pullman ; Antone. Elias, Walter, Helena, Ernest, 
Mabel, Louis and Victor. In politics Mr. Stubb is 
a Republican, but he has never aspired to public 
office, though he has consented to serve his com- 
munity as a member of the school board and as 
road supervisor. Pleasant and cordial, but able, 
alert and active in all his transactions, he possesses 
the rare combination of mental characteristics which 
everywhere make for business success, while his 
career as a pioneer indicates that he is endowed 
with the substantial qualities of courage and per- 
-severance so necessary to him who would follow 
the frontier and develop new states. 



IVER BOTTEN. Among the promising 
young sons of Norway who have come to the new 
and rapidly growing state of Washington to grow 
up with the country and contribute their mite to- 



ward the general progress, at the same time work- 
ing out for themselves the highest destiny pos- 
sible to them, not the least promising is the worthy 
merchant whose life record is the theme of this 
article. He is the fourth of the eight children of 
Einer and Marie (Snakvik) Botten, agricultur- 
ists of the land of fjords, which is still their home. 
The date of his birth is September 13, 1872. Re- 
maining in the old home land until he was twenty 
years of age, he received there his educational train- 
ing ; but a stirring ambition for larger and better 
things than were within his grasp in Europe early 
sprang up within him, so as soon as circumstances 
would permit he sailed for the shores of .\merica. 
He paused not in his journeying until he reached 
Stanwood. Being desirous of fitting himself for 
something more remunerative and with a larger 
future to it than manual labor, he gave his sum- 
mers and a f)ortion of the money earned by hard 
work in shingle bolt camps during the winter 
months to the pursuit of higher learning and in 
1897 he completed his training for life's battle by a 
course in a business college in Seattle. He there- 
upon returned to Florence and, in company with 
his brother Peder, opened a general merchandise 
store there, which the brothers together maintained 
for a year and a half, meeting with excellent suc- 
cess in their venture. They then bought out 
Haugen & Company of Silvana, moved their stock 
from Florence, consolidated it with that purchased 
and opened on a large scale. Since that date they 
have given themselves assiduously and uninter- 
ruptedly to building up, maintaining and increasing 
their large trade. Mr. Botten served as assistant 
postmaster under Iver Johnson for two or three 
years, and so satisfactory was his work to the de- 
partment that on the retirement of Mr. Johnson in 
the spring of 1903 he was appointed to take charge 
of the office in place of his quondam employer. The 
date of his commission is April 16, 1903, and he is 
still postmaster at this date. 

June 14, 1899, in Silvana, Washington, Mr. Bot- 
ten married Miss Clara Prestlien. Her father. 
Nels, was a native of Norway, but came to Minne- 
sota as a young man, moving thence to Norman, 
Snohomish county, some twenty years ago. where 
he died on his own farm. Mrs. Botten's mother, 
Sarah (Forgerson) Prestlien, is likewise a native 
of Norway and is now living near Norman. Mrs. 
Botten was born in Minnesota, June 23, 1879. but 
acquired her education in the public school at Nor- 
man. She and Mr. Botten are parents of the fol- 
lowing children. Sylvia N., born in Silvana, April 
22, 1900 ; Einar N., in the same town June 36, 1902 ; 
Carl A., likewise born in Silvana, January 2, 
1904, and Esther J., January 11. 1906. In politics 
Mr. Botten is a Republican and in religion a Free 
Lutheran. He is quite active in the local church, 
being secretary of the organization, while Mrs. 



1012 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



Botten has contributed by her personal efforts to 
the efficiency of the Sunday school. A public-spir- 
ited citizen, willing to lend a hand to any organiza- 
tion which has for its object the general good, Mr. 
Botten is in some measure a leader in his com- 
munity, and the confidence and good will of the 
people with whom he commingles in the affairs 
of life is his at all times. 



RASMUS KNUTSON, one of the well-known 
pioneers of Silvana, Washington, came to this lo- 
cality in 1879. and has been identified with its varied 
interests since that date. He was born in Norway, 
April 10, 1851, the son of Knut and Martha (Carl- 
son) Knutson, both of whom were also of Nor- 
wegian nativity. The father, a farmer, died in 
1867 at the age of sixty-three ; the mother in 1854, 
aged forty-seven. Rasmus Knutson is the youngest 
of a family of six children. Acquiring his education 
in the early years of his life, at the age of sixteen 
he began working for himself. After farming for 
a number of years he decided to sail for the United 
States and in 1879 came direct to Washington, 
where he had a brother who had come the previous 
year. He took up one hundred acres of land, all 
heavily timbered, at once beginning the task of clear- 
ing a spot for a cabin. The nearest postoffice and 
supply station was Stanwood, a distance of twelve 
miles. To bring the necessary supplies by boat was 
a laborious undertaking, as, on account of the im- 
mense log jams in the river, it was necessary to 
unload the boat and supplies and carry them over 
the obstructions three times in the course of the 
trip. Only a few settlers had braved the dangers 
and trials of pioneer life in this section at that time, 
and often these grew disheartened and returned to 
civilization. Settlement did not become general 
till the railroad was begun some twelve years later. 
The first wagons used were rude home-made af- 
fairs, the wheels cut from large fir logs and the 
frame and the axles all made by hand. These were 
drawn by oxen, horses being unknown prior to the 
construction of the railroad. Mr. Knutson has now 
seventy acres cleared and in excellent condition. 
He is chiefly interested in dairying and owns a 
fine herd of cows, besides young stock. In Octo- 
ber, 1904, he rented his farm for a year, taking his 
family to Everett, where he has property, and at 
the present time the farm is in charge of his sons, 
he being engaged in improving his pleasant home 
in Silvana, to which he moved from Everett last 
fall. 

Mr. Knutson and Lora Rorstad were united in 
marriage October It. 1884. Mrs. Kimtson was 
])orn in Norway, the daughter of John and Carrina 
CBjerka) Anderson, both of whom are deceased, 
the father's death occurring April 23, 1902. Nine 
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Knutson : 
Knut. Clara M., John, Minnie, Bertha, Rolf, Louis 



and William, twins, and Nellie. Tlie family at- 
tend the Lutheran church, of which Mr. Knutson 
is a member. In political belief Mr. Knutson is a 
Republican, but has never cared to take an active 
part in politics. Possessed of energy, ambition 
and strict integrity, he is an esteemed citizen of 
Silvana. 



LARS r. CLAUSEN, the genial proprietor of 
the llolel Northern at Silvana, Washington, was 
born in Denmark, January 15, 18G7, where 
his parents still live, his father being a 
shoemaker by trade. He is the oldest of 
a family of nine children. After completing 
the seven-year course in the school as required 
by the laws of that country he engaged in farmmg 
for five years, sailing for the United States at the 
end of that time. Locating in Dakota, he found 
employment on the railroad until 1889, then went 
to Tacoma, Washington. We worked in a brick 
yard for a time there, then for a while took con- 
tracts for clearing land. Going to Fairhaven, Wash- 
ington, he remained there six months, after which 
lie spent one season in the hop fields of Puyallup, 
returning to h^airhavcn to enter the employ of the 
Fairhaven & .Southern railroad. His diligence and 
faithfulness soon secured, for him the position of 
section foreman, and he has been thus engaged ever 
since, being now in the employ of the Great North- 
ern at Silvana. 

Mr. Clausen married, October 26, 1898, Julia 
C. Moe, a native of Norway. Her father, O. M. 
Moe, who was born in Norway October 7, 1848, is 
a shoemaker, and is now following his trade in Sil- 
vana, having come here in 1898. The mother, Annie 
(Torske) Moe, is also of Norwegian nativity, the 
date of her birth being 1855. She is still living, as 
are also per parents, Ncls and Randi Tor.ske. Mrs. 
Clausen is an only child. Three children have been 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Clausen, Maud, Otto S., and 
Lola C. Mr. and Mrs. Clausen are both members 
of the Fraternal Brotherhood of America. Mr. 
Clausen adheres to Republican principles in national 
issues, but prefers to vote an independent ticket in 
county affairs. He owns a neat and tasteful home 
in Silvana, he having purchased a lot and built soon 
after he settled in the town. Possessing the qual- 
ities necessary for successfully handling men, he is 
deservedly popular with those whom he has work- 
ing under him. He is one of the well-known citizens 
of the town, relied on to further the interests of 
the public in every possible way. By careful atten- 
tion to the requirements of the traveling public, the 
hotel under his supcn'ision is acquiring an enviable 
reputation. 



OLANUS and HANS OLSON are two of the 
energetic men of the Silvana section of Snohomish; 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



1013 



county and Iiave each played his part in the develop- 
ment of Silvana and vicinity from a place of virgin 
forest. The brothers were born in Norway, Olan- 
us in 1848 and Hans in 1850, the fifth and "sixth of 
the seven children of Theodore and Bowl (Iverson) 
Olson, natives of Norway. The father came to 
Astoria, Oregon, in lS'i'7, to Stanwood a year later 
and he died there in 1883, but Mrs. OIsoit died in 
the old country. The boys received their education 
in their European home. When Olanus was nine- 
teen years old he came to the United States, accom- 
panied by his brother and a sister, and settled in 
Yankton County, South Dakota, where he took up 
land and farmed for ten years. In the fall of 1877 
he came to Washington, stopping first at Stanwood. 
Early in 1878 he filed on his present home near Sil- 
vana, then but a part of the virgin forest. He suc- 
ceeded in clearing forty acres, but, unfortunately, 
since 1891 thirty acres have been destroyed by rea- 
son of the river's changing its course and washing 
out the land. In 1881 he was joined by his brother 
Hans. 

Hans Olson was born in Norway in 1850 and 
received his education in the Norwegian schools. 
Coming to the United States in 18(18, he rejoined 
his brother in South Dakota. He came to Wash- 
ington in 1881 and for three years thereafter worked 
in various logging camps, then, in 1884, he took the 
contract to carry the mail between Stanwood and 
Stillaguamish. For three years he did excellent 
service in that line. The brothers also ran a board- 
ing-house for freighters and themselves did freight- 
ing to the logging camps until the railroads came in. 
Olanus also worked on the construction of the draw- 
bridge over the Stillaguamish at Silvana. The 
brothers are now proprietors of a dairy farm and 
keep about twenty head of cows. They are ener- 
getic, hard workers, willing to turn their hands to 
any kind of labor, capable, honest, highly esteemed 
and respected in the community. They have the dis- 
tinction of having established, in 1889, the first ferry 
on the Stillaguamish river. It was located near the 
place where the Great Northern crosses at present. 
Thev operated it for three years. 



OSCAR TORSKE— Among the men who arc 
active forces to-day in working out the industrial 
development and winning from primitive condi- 
tions to civilization that refractory but rich country 
known as the Stillaguamish valley, the subject of 
this review is to be given an important place. Like 
other forceful factors in the winning of various 
communities of the West, he is a son of Norway, in 
which land his parents, Nels and Rande (Dalsix)e) 
Torske, were also born, though they, too, are now 
residents of Snohomish county, living with their 
only son, Ocar. 

Our subject was born September 9, 1870. He 



received his educational discipline in the schools of 
his native land, also learned the rope making trade, 
working at it with his father at home. When eight- 
een years old he accompanied the rest of the fam- 
ily to the state of Washington, settling with them in 
the Stillaguamish country, where he worked as a 
farm hand for several years, his first employer being 
Nels Bruseth, with whom he remained a year. He 
is now in the dairy business in the vicinity of Sil- 
vana, keeping a fair-sized herd of cattle on his fine 
farm, which, though not large, is all cultivated, 
yielding bountifully under the influence of thorough 
and skillful tillage. 

In Silvana, Washington, in 1892, Mr. Torske 
married Mrs. Annie .Sorneson, daughter of Michael 
Thobrason, a native of Norway. Mrs. Torske is 
likewise a native of Norway, born in 180(5, and was 
educated in the schools of her fatherland. She 
and her present husband, Mr. Torske, are parents 
of the following children : Nellie, born August 14, 
1893; Reinhard, August IB, 1895, and Morris, Oc- 
tober 13, 1902, all in Silvana. In politics, Mr. 
Torske is a Republican, though of a very inde- 
pendent turn, and in all local elections, where it is 
possible to know the candidates personally, he votes 
for those whom he considers in all respects the best 
qualified. 



SEVERT G. BRECKHUS, a farmer living a 
little over a mile southeast of Silvana, is one of the 
pioneers of this section of Snohomish county and 
has seen the wilderness converted into a prosperous, 
well-developed farming community. He was born 
in Norway in 1830, the son of Gulach and Enger 
(Serveson) Breckhus, both of whom were bom, 
raised and died in the old country. They were par- 
ents of nine children, of who/n the subject hereof is 
third. Scvert G. Breckhus received his education 
in the Norwegian schools. He remained at home 
on his father's farm until he was thirty years old, 
then took up the trade of the carpenter and worked 
at it for five years. In 1863 he came to the United 
States. He worked at this trade in Chicago for 
eleven years, coming then to Stanwood, Snohomish 
county, in August of 1874. He left his family in 
town, came up the river and pre-empted sixty-seven 
acres of land, forest at that time, but since con- 
verted by the labor and efifort of Mr. Breckhus into- 
a finely cultivated farm. He brought his family up 
in 1875, and has since lived there. Mr. Breckhus 
has a brother, Jacob G., in Snohomish county, of 
whom biographical mention is elsewhere made in 
this work. 

In Qiicago in 1866 Mr. Breckhus married Miss 
Louise, daughter of Olif and Lockers Scott, natives 
of Norway, who never left their native land. Mrs. 
Breckhus was born in Norway in 1841 and received 
her education there, coming to the United States in 
1865. She and Mr. Breckhus have three children: 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



John, born in Chicago and now living in Snohomish 
county; Enger, also a native of the Illinois met- 
ropolis and living at home ; and Gilbert O., who is 
at home and in charge of his father's farm and busi- 
ness affairs. 

The last mentioned was born in Snohomish coun- 
ty March 5, 1878, the first white child born on the 
Stillaguamish river. He attended the local schools 
and when nineteen years of age learned the trade 
of butcher, a line which he continued to follow for 
four years. He has also worked in the woods, but 
for the last year has operated his father's farm. At 
-Mount Vernon in the summer of 190-i he married 
Miss Carrie Hatte, daughter of Severt J. and Annie 
Hatte, natives of Norway who, after coming to the 
United .States settled in Dakota but are now living 
near Norman in Snohomish county. Mrs. Breckhus 
was bom in Dakota in 1879 and was educated in 
Snohomish county. The Breckhuses are Repub- 
licans in politics and Lutherans in their church re- 
lations. The farm which Severt G. Breckhus 
slashed out of the original forest is now one of the 
pleasant places of Snohomish county. A small orch- 
ard was early set out and is now in good bearing, 
but attention is paid chiefly to the dairy department, 
thirty head of fine cattle constituting the herd. Mr. 
Breckhus is venerated as one of the early pioneers 
of this section whose life of hard work and fealty 
to principle are monuments to his character in the 
declining years of his active and busy life. The son 
is respected as a man of energy, who is rapidly tak- 
ing the place of his worthy father in the activities of 
life on the place selected by the father and de- 
veloped by his hands. 



CLOUS JACKSON, farmer, whose place lies a 
mile and a half east and a mile and a half south of 
Silvana, is one of the prosperous men of this part of 
Snohomish county and one of the early settlers on 
the upper waters of the Stillaguamish. He was 
born in Sweden in the summer of 1844, the fourth 
of the eight children of Jacob and Stena ( Walgren) 
Jackson, who were natives of Sweden and lived and 
died there. Clous Jackson received the education 
afforded by the common schools of the land of his 
nativity, remaining at home until he became twen- 
ty-one years of age. He then engaged in farming 
for himself until he came to the United States in 
1873. His first location in the new country was at 
Woodstock, Connecticut, where he worked for two 
years. The year 1874 was spent in Indiana at rail- 
road work and then he went to Illinois and engaged 
in ditch work. He next went to Michigan, where 
for two years he followed logging. In July, 1887, 
Mr. Jackson came to Washington and filed on a 
piece of land four miles southeast of Silvana, where 
was then the wildest kind of a wilderness. He 
cleared ten acres, and then sold out, and in 1890 



homesteaded his present place. He has since added 
one hundred and si.xty acres by purchase 
and now has a half section in all. It has 
been Mr. Jackson's policy to sell the saw 
timber off his land, thus realizing financially 
and at the same time taking a step toward getting 
the land in shape for cultivation. In politics Mr. 
Jackson is a Republican, and in religion he adheres 
to the Lutheran church. He is esteemed by his 
neighbors and those who have business dealings 
with him as a man of integrity and of business 
acumen, a man capable of hard work and not afraid 
to apply his capacity. He has the reputation of 
being a shrewd business man, with eyes always 
open to business possibilities. 



HULDO HEVELY, whose farm is three-quar- 
ters of a mile east of Silvana, is one of the pioneers 
of this section of the county, having secured his land 
by purchase in 1879, when it was still virgin forest. 
He has cleared his place and is now extensively en- 
gaged in the dairy and cattle raising business, as 
well as in general farming. Mr. Hevely was born 
in Norway, the youngest of five children of Ole and 
Maret (Salther) Hevely, farmer folk who never 
left their native land. The father died at the ad- 
vanced age of ninety-five years, and the mother 
when Huldo was but a year and a half old. Mr. 
Hevely attended the schools of Norway, remaining 
with his father on the old farm until he was twen- 
ty-four years of age. In 18()9 he came to the United 
.States and settled in Yankton County, South Da- 
kota, taking up a homestead and becoming one of 
the pioneers of that county. After a full decade in 
Dakota Mr. Hevely sold out, came to Washington 
and located in .Stanwood. Almost immediately he 
came to the Silvana country and purchased of Iver 
Johnson eighty-five acres of land which was then in 
brush and timber, but it is all cleared now but nine 
acres, and much of it is in meadow. Then there was 
no road or trail leading to the place ; now it has ex- 
cellent buildings and easy approaches. 

In 1887, while in Dakota, Mr. Hevely married 
Miss Ellen Hogan, daughter of Bengt and Beret 
Hogan. The father was a Dakota pioneer and died 
there, but the mother is still living, though now 
eighty-two years old. Mrs. Hevely was bom in 
Norway and educated there and in Dakota. Twelve 
children have been born to this union : Mrs. 
Martha Hogan, wife of Deputy County Auditor 
John Hogan, living in Everett ; Matilda, a clerk in 
Everett ; Emma, an Everett dressmaker ; Hulda, 
Bertha, Martin, Olena, Manda, Edwin, Edgar, Leon 
and Chester. The family attends the Lutheran 
church. In politics Mr. Hevely is a Prohibitionist, 
and, being public-spirited and interested in the cause 
of popular education, has served as school director 
for a number of years. Eighteen cows at present 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



constittite the producing end of the dairy of Mr. 
Hevely and he also has thirty-six head of stock 
cattle. Mr. Hevely is one of the prosperous and 
progressive men of the comity, public-spirited, intel- 
ligent in all his acts, one of those who count for 
much in the development of any pioneer community. 



FREDERICK W. KOCH is one of the pioneers 
oi the Silvana district, having settled here in the 
late seventies. He has since hewed for himself a 
fine farm out of the woods and has been prosperous 
in all his ventures, one of which was in the hop in- 
-dustry, he being the pioneer hop raiser on this river 
front. He was born in Erfurt, Prussia, in the fall 
of 1849, the son of Frederick A. and Anna (Eckart) 
Koch, both of whom lived and died in Prussia. Mr. 
Koch received his education in the old country, at- 
tending the high school for a time. He remained 
at home until twenty years of age, then came to 
the United -States and settled in Virginia, where he 
taught school and worked at fanning for a number 
■of years. In 1878 he came to Washington. He 
stopped at Seattle for a short time, but, leaving his 
wife with a great-aunt on Whidby island, he soon 
after came to Stanwood and filed on a pre-emption 
claim up the Stillaguamish, which he later turned 
into a homestead, and upon which he has lived ever 
since. When he came up the river the place was 
■covered with forest ; half of it is now in a good state 
of cultivation, while the remainder is more or less 
open forest and adapted to use as pasturage. In 
July of 1878 Mr. Koch moved his family uport the 
place and five years later he produced the first crop 
of hops raised on the Stillaguamish. 

In 1877, in Montgomery County, Virginia, Mr. 
Koch married Miss Lucy E. Barnett, daughter of 
'Thomas Barnett, a Virginia farmer whose parents 
were pioneers of that section of the state. Mrs. 
Koch was born in the old Dominion in 1848 and re- 
ceived her education in a private school. She and 
Air. Koch are parents of four children : Frederick 
A., Mrs. Annie R. Nelson, living near Everett; Mrs. 
Mary Roark, living at Silvana, and Mrs. Augusta 
Bursaw, living in Skagit county. The Kochs are 
Evangelical Lutherans. In politics Mr. Koch is a 
Democrat, but he habitually scans the list of 
nominees to weigh the character of the can- 
didates before casting his ballot. He does 
considerable in the way of dairying, keeping 
at present fifty head of that class of stock. 
He is one of the solid men of the com- 
munity, industrious, careful and conservative, a 
prosperous farmer and a substantial, influential citi- 
zen, one of the class most needed in the new state of 
Washington, where brawn as well as brain is 
necessary for the development of a rich, promising, 
Tjut refractory country. 



JACOB G. BRECKHUS, dairy farmer a little 
over a mile east of Silvana, is one of the solid citi- 
zens of Snohomish county who seized upon a por- 
tion of the primeval forest and converted it into a 
modern farmstead. Mr. Breckhus was born in Nor- 
way in the summer of 1841, the son of Gulach and 
Enger (Serveson) Breckhus, farmer folk of Nor- 
way who never left their native land. As a lad, 
young Breckhus attended the Norwegian schools. 
He remained at home until 1870, then left the land 
of fjords and came to the United States. He first 
settled in Chicago but soon after went to Iowa, 
where he remained seven years. Coming to Wash- 
ington in 1876 he entered the service of his brother, 
Severt G. Breckhus, a sketch of whom appears else- 
where in this volume, and three years later he filed 
on the land which he now occupies as a farm. It 
was then all in woods and brush, but he has it all 
cleared, the greater part being pasture land. Mr. 
Breckhus and his brother have frequently inter- 
changed work since they settled in the Silvana dis- 
trict, each assisting the other to mutual advantage 
whenever possible. 

In 1868, while living in Norway, Mr. Breckhus 
married Miss Gure Jacobson, who died in Decorah, 
Iowa, as also did a child newly born. Mr. Breckhus 
has never remarried and in reality makes his home 
with his brother. Of his original land twenty-four 
acres have been lost to him by the change in the bed 
of the river, the current washing away the soil and 
depositing it elsewhere. Mr. Breckhus has thirty 
head of dairy cattle and devotes his attention chiefly 
to dairying. Those who know Mr. Breckhus note 
at once his kindly and generous nature. He is in 
comfortable circumstances, a successful and pros- 
perous dairyman, enjoying the highest respect and 
esteem of those who know him. 

Circumstances greatly changed since ; has had 
lawsuits and financial losses, etc. 



MARTIN J. FUNK, one of the prosperous 
dairymen and farmers of the Silvana district of 
Snohomish county, is recognized as an energetic, 
forceful man. He has always been active and hard- 
working. He was born in Denmark in 1867, the son 
of Rasmus Funk, a blackksmith by trade, who died 
years ago in his native land. The inother, Mrs. 
Kirsten (Hansen) Funk is also a native of Den- 
mark and the mother of eight children. She is mak- 
ing her home with Martin Funk, who is her fourth 
child. Our subject attended school in Denmark 
until he was eleven years of age, when he was put 
out in charge of a farmer, with whom he remained 
for four and a half years. In the fall of 1882 he 
came to the United States and settled in Wisconsin, 
and for two and a half years thereafter did tearn 
work in connection with a lumber mill. In the 
spring of 1885 Mr. Funk came to Washington, but. 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



after a stay of but two months went to California, 
where he remained for two years, engaged in farm- 
ing, returning then to the Evergreen state. After 
his arrival here he first went to work for William 
McGee, but after a short time gave up logging for 
farming and he followed farm work for six months. 
In 1888 he took up a pre-emption near Arlington, 
at the forks of the Stillaguamish, and he lived there 
for two years and a half, then followed logging for 
eight years. In 1899 he rented the Iver Johnson 
place, near Silvana. where he has since lived. In 
the past few years he has taken up dairying and he 
now has twenty-three head of dairy cattle. In poli- 
tics Mr. Funk is a Republican, in fraternal affiliation 
a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen 
and M. W. A., and in church membership a Luther- 
an. Mr. Funk is one of the respected men of the 
Silvana district, energetic, industrious, level-headed, 
conservative and in prosperous circumstances. 



HALVOR THORSEN, successful farmer two 
and a half miles northeast of Silvana, is a man who 
thinks as well as works and is one of the well-read 
men of the community on all subjects and topics. 
He was born in Norway in the winter of 1853, the 
fifth of nine children of Gunder and Ingre Thorsen. 
farmer folk of the old country. The father passed 
away in the old country, but the mother came to 
Washington and died in Snohomish county. Hal- 
vor Thorsen obtained Jiis education in the schools 
of his native land and commenced to work out there 
when fourteen years of age. This he continued for 
nine years, when he left farming for railroad work, 
which he followed in the old country for several 
years, then taking up fishing. After three years at 
that calling he determined in 1887 to come to the 
United States. Locating in Michigan, he worked in 
the mines there for something over a year, then he 
went to Colorado and engaged in mining in the Cen- 
tennial state. In the spring of 1890 he went to 
Alaska, but remained only a short time. On his 
coming to the Puget sound country, Mr. Thorsen 
put in two years in a logging camp on the Stilla- 
guamish, then he purchased a settler's right to land, 
and on the property thus purchased and pre-empted 
he has made his home since, clearing up about twen- 
ty-five acres of his original purchase and adding 
more land to his holdings. 

In 1890, in this county, Mr. Thorsen married 
Miss Hannah Green, daughter of Tonas Green, a 
Norwegian farmer who came to this country and 
passed away in Michigan. Mrs. Thorsen was born 
in Norway in 1875, but she came to this country 
with her parents when a girl and received her edu- 
cation in the Peninsula state. She and Mr. Thor- 
sen have six children, all born in Snohomish county: 
Carl, Emma, Peter, Mattie, Agnes and Homer. In 
politics Mr. Thorsen is a Socialist, and one of the 



thinking men of his party, well read in all depart- 
ments of modern day thought. He has one hundred 
and eighty acres of land, thirty of which are under 
cultivation, and thirty head of cattle, most of them 
being dairy animals. He also keeps a flock of thirty 
sheep, and horses sufficient for the operation of the 
farm. Mr. Thorsen is an energetic, conservative 
man, industrious and thriftv. 



JOHN BRECKHUS is one of the younger of 
the farmers living in the vicinity of Silvana and is 
also one of the successful men of the community. 
Without violence to truth, he may be called a prod- 
uct of Snohomish county, as he was only two years 
of age when he came here from Chicago with his 
parents. He was born in the metropolis of Illinois 
January 11, 1873, the son of Severt G. Breckhus, 
now one of Snohomish county's prominent citizens, 
a full biography of whom appears elsewhere in this 
work. He obtained his education in the Snohomish 
county schools and when large enough to wield an 
axe or be of assistance to his father in clearing the 
home in the forest country turned to the work with 
a will. When he was seventeen years of age he 
commenced to work for farmers in the vicinity, 
clearing land and assisting in the work of erecting 
homes for others. He remained at this kind of 
pioneer work until 1901, when he went into business 
for himself, taking out shingle bolts. At this ven- 
ture he was successful, and in 1902 purchased with 
the proceeds his own place of fifty-one acres about 
a mile east of Silvana, where he has lived ever since 
acquiring the property. 

In the summer of 1903, at the home of his father, 
Mr. Breckhus married Miss Agnes Tone, daughter 
of Theodore and Bertha Tone, Norwegian farmer 
folk, who are still living in the old country. Mrs. 
Breckhus was bom in Norway and received her 
education in the schools of that country, coming to 
America in 1891 when but nine years of age. She 
and Mr. Breckhus have one child, Severt T., who 
was born September 5, 1904. In church adherence 
Mr. Breckhus is a Lutheran, and in politics a Re- 
publican. Eighteen of his fifty-one acres of land are 
under cultivation and, in addition to horses for oper- 
ating the farm, Mr. Breckhus has seventeen head of 
beef cattle. Though he has but recently commenced 
farming on his own account, Mr. Breckhus has 
proved by his application to work, his management 
and his business foresight that his farm is destined 
to be one of the fine places of Snohomish county. 
He is a hard worker, ever ready to take advantage 
of any opportunity for advancement for himself. 



JOHN LANGSJON, a dairy farmer two miles 
northwest of Silvana, is one of the pioneers of this 
section of Snohomish county, having bought a pre- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



1017 



cmption here in 1887 and developed his place from 
raw marsh land into a fine farm in a high state of 
cultivation. Mr. Langsjon was born in Norway in 
1853, the son of Nels and Caroline Langsjon, who 
have passed their entire lives thus far in the old 
country. John remained with his parents until he 
had attained the age of twenty-four years, when he 
crossed the Atlantic, and in 1877 settled in Minne- 
sota. He rented land and farmed for ten years, sell- 
ing out at the end of that period and coming direct 
to Stanwood, Snohomish county. He made the trip 
up the Stillaguamish in a canoe and purchased the 
pre-emption right to one hundred and sixty acres 
of land which was absolutely unimproved and con- 
sisted largely of marsh and bottom land. Mr. 
Langsjon was on his place, ditching and doing de- 
velopment work, for six years before he had a team 
of horses, oxen being the only work animals ob- 
tainable in this section of the county in those days. 
He has now thirty acres of land in meadow and as 
much more in pasture. His chief work is along the 
line of dairying and stock raising, his live stock num- 
bering fifty head of cattle and four horses. 

In 1877, shortly before coming to the United 
States, Mr. Langsjon married Miss Johanna Knut- 
son, daughter of Knut and Molina Knutson, both of 
whom have passed away. Mr. and Mrs. Langsjon 
have eight children. Nels, who lives in Silvana; 
Conrad J., who lives at Arlington ; Charles, Minnie, 
John, Henry, Cornelius and Hannah L. A. In 
politics IVIr. Langsjon is a Republican, but has never 
sought office ; in church adherence the family is 
Lutheran. Mr. Langsjon is one of the energetic 
farmers of the community, successful as a farmer 
and dairyman, esteemed by the community and of 
good standing among his fellow men. 



JOHANNES LANGSJON is one of the suc- 
cessful dairymen of the lower Stillaguamish valley. 
Coming to this valley in 1893, he has in the time 
which has elapsed since then converted a tract of 
alder bottom land into one of the finest of the 
smaller dairy fanns in the vicinity of Silvana. He 
was born in Norway in 1857, fourth of the five chil- 
dren of Nels and Caroline Langsjon, both of whomi 
are still residing in the old country. Johannes re- 
mained at home until he reached the age of twenty, 
then immigrated to the United States, locating first 
in Minnesota, where he engaged in farming. In 
1893 he joined his brother John at Silvana. Upon 
arrival he purchased ten acres of wild land, prac- 
tically a marsh, which he has reclaimed by hard, 
skillful labor and converted into his present snug, 
valuable little estate. Cultivated intensively, it is 
large enough for one man to handle with profit, and 
in his skilled hands is returning a comfortable liv- 
ing. 

Christine Olson became the bride of Mr. Langs- 



jon in 1883. Her parents, Easton and Ingborg Ol- 
son, came to Minnesota from Norway and in that 
state are living at present at advanced ages, the 
father having been born in 1826, the mother in 1832. 
Having come to Minnesota when only a girl of ten 
years, Mrs. Olson received the greater part of her 
education there. Mr. and Mrs. Langsjon have three 
children — Caroline, Edwin and Nels, all of whom 
are living at home. Politically Mr. Langsjon is- 
identified with the Republican party, in which he is 
an active worker, and the family are attendants of 
the Lutheran church. Thrift, industry and atten- 
tion to details are the keynotes to the success of this 
substantial husbandman, while his sterling character 
commands the utmost respect of those around him. 



LARS LARSEN (deceased) was one of the well 
known pioneers of the Silvana country, and his 
widow is to-day operating with marked success the 
farm which he cut out of the forest wilder- 
ness on South slough in the seventies. Since 
the death of Mr. Larsen, which occurred in 
1893, Mrs. Larsen and her daughters have 
taken charge of the agricultural and dairy 
business and have gained for themselves the 
reputation of being shrewd managers of their af- 
fairs. Mr. Larsen was born in Norway in 1849, the 
first of three children of Lars and Ragnald Larsen, 
farmer folk of Hardanger, Norway. The mother 
died early iij life ; the father remarried, and two sons 
of his second wife, Ole and Iver, are residents of 
the vicinity of Silvana. The elder Larsen continued 
to reside in Norway until his death in 1S89. The 
subject of this biography received a common-school 
education in the old country and came to the LTnited 
.States when twenty-one years of age, settling in 
Iowa, but later went to South Dakota, where he 
lived a short time. Mr. Larsen came to Washington 
in 1876 and worked in the fisheries along the Colum- 
bia river for a number of years. Between seasons 
he came to the Puget sound country and pre-empted 
one hundred and sixty acres of land a mile west of 
where Silvana has since grown up, to which claim 
he removed permanently in 1878. At that time 
settlers were few between the Larsen home and 
Stanwood, where were the nearest store and the 
postoflice. Travel was by canoe on the river, the 
distance being fully eight miles. 

In 1885 Mr. Larsen married Miss Randi Rors- 
tad. a native of Sonmor, Norway, the daughter of 
John and Carina Rorstad, who passed their entire 
lives in the old country, the mother dying many 
years ago, the father living until 1901. Mrs. Larsen 
commenced to make her own way in the world when 
but fourteen years of age. She obtained a good edu- 
cation and taught school for three years before leav- 
ing Norway. On coming to Minnesota she con- 
tinued in school teaching two years, then came to. 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



Silvana, where she had a married sister. Mrs. Lar- 
sen made the trip from Stanwood in an Indian canoe 
as far as Florence, and walked the five miles inter- 
vening between that place and Silvana over the 
roughest kind of trail, progress being impeded by 
brush and fallen timber. Seven years passed after 
Mrs. Larsen took up her home on the present ranch 
before there were any roads leading to it or any 
horses in use in this country. At the time of Mr. 
Larsen's death he had sold eighty acres of his one 
hundred and sixty ; now fifty acres of the remainder 
are under cultivation and devoted to dairying. For 
the five years subsequent to the death of her hus- 
band Mrs. Larsen made butter and shipped it to 
Seattle under circumstances which would have 
daunted a less resolute woman. There were no 
creameries in this part of the country in those days, 
the ranch was isolated by reason of the lack of pass- 
able roads, and Mrs. Larsen had to take her dairy 
products by boat across the slough which lay be- 
tween her home and Silvana. During all these 
years of hard work and planning Mrs. Larsen has 
never forgotten the value of her education, and she 
has done her best to give her daughters good educa- 
tional advantages. The oldest daughter, Clara, is a 
stenographer and also a milliner. The other three, 
Lucy, Ida and Annie, are living with their mother, 
attending school. The Larsen ranch is one of the 
few farms in the state of Washington which are 
managed entirely by women. Mrs. Larsen is a 
woman of remarkable character and has overcome 
obstacles and surmounted difficulties from which 
some men would have shrunk back, defying the lone- 
liness of her situation. She is naturally proud of 
her success, but credits herself with having done but 
her simple duty. She has added considerable to the 
holdings left by her husband, including real estate 
in Everett. Mrs. Larsen's monument is her home, 
and her stewardship of her husband's heritage is 
marked by a zeal and a devotion rarely equaled. 



OLE LARSON, dairy farmer one mile west of 
Silvana. is one of the men who have wrested their 
farms from the grasp of swamp and forest, :in the 
pioneer work being compelled to put up with many 
inconveniences in order that the future might be 
realized. He was born in Norway July 10, ISGG, 
the fifth of the nine children of Lars and Ingeborg 
(Kollenes) Larson, who were Norwegian firmer 
folk. The father died in 1889, but the mother is still 
living, at the age of seventy-four, in the old country. 
Mr. Larson attended school and lived on his father's 
farm until he was eighteen years of age, when he 
crossed the Atlantic to the United States and settled 
in 188S in Wisconsin. After passing two and a 
half years in' the Badger state working as a farm 
hand, Mr. Larson came to Silvana, Washington, 
where his brother Lars was then living. He spent 



some time working on farms for others, but about a 
year after coming to Snohomish county took a pre- 
emption of one hundred and si.xty acres six miles 
from Silvana, on which place he remained for 
eleven years, developing it greatly, then he sold out. 
He had previously purchased forty acres from his 
brother, all but two of which were heavily timbered. 
In those early days trails were the only avenues of 
communication, except the river, and hardships to 
be contended with were many, but Mr. Larson per- 
severed and now has fifty of his fifty-four acres of 
land under crop or in pasture. His farm is en- 
tirely devoted to dairying, at present his herd con- 
sisting of twenty-two cattle, which he purposes to 
increase as rapidly as possible to the full capacity 
of his farm. He has spent one season, that of 1899, 
in Alaska. 

January 24, 1892, Mr. Larson married Miss 
Alarnet Stinson, whose parents were among the 
earliest settlers on the Stillaguamish river, near 
SiKaiKi. Mr'^. I.aisou is a native of Norway, com- 
ing lo tills iMi'iitrv and this county when six years 
old, and in tlii> cnunty receiving her education. Mr. 
and Mrs. Larson have three children: Lillian E., 
Charlotte I. and Nelvin S. In political matters Mr. 
Larson is a Republican of liberal views, and the fam- 
ily adheres to the Lutheran church. Aifable and 
genial, he is one of the popular men of the com- 
munity, successful as a dairyman, and recognized as 
a man of energy and business ability. 



INCEBREGT STENSON. farmer, whose 
place lies a mile and a half south of Silvana, is one 
of the early pioneers of this section of Snohomish 
county, and he well remembers the wild condition 
of affairs when he started in to make a farm in the 
forest of the Stillaguamish valley in the seventies. 
Mr. Stcnson is a native of Norway. He was born 
in 18-1(1, the son of Jens and Mary Stenson, farmer 
people of their native land, who passed away about 
thirty years ago. Ingebregt Stenson attended 
schools and grew up on the old home place remain- 
ing there until death removed his parents. He then 
came to the United States and direct to Snohomish 
county, where he has since lived and where he has 
gathered a competence by his thrift and energy. He 
settled on his present farm soon after reaching here. 
Canoes furnished transportation to Stanwood, seven 
miles away, where was the nearest store at which 
provisions and supplies might be obtained. Stan- 
wood was also the nearest postoffice, and it was a 
number of years before the road was cut through 
between this place and Stanwood. In the early days 
of Mr. Stinson's farming in this county his market 
was a logging camp, located oil land which he owns, 
and there he disposed of such produce as he raised. 
Fle has eighty acres of land under cultivation or fit 
for crop, while the remainder of his one hundred 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



and sixty acres is largely pasture. Mr. Stenson is 
engaged in dairying extensively. 

In 1873, while living in Norway, Mr. Stenson 
married Miss Carrie Stenson, and has seven chil- 
dren : Mrs. Maret Larson, Mary, Martha, Serena, 
John, Emma and Carrie. In politics Mr. Stenson 
is a Republican ; in church affiliations he is a Luther- 
an. Since Mr. Stenson came to the Stillaguamish 
valley there have been many changes. In fact, the 
entire landscape has changed character from a for- 
est to a land of smiling farms and growing fields. 
In this transformation he has played his part and 
reaped his reward. He is in unusually good circum- 
stances financially, one of the solid and substantial 
business men of the community, interested in public 
affairs and respected and honored by all who know 
him. 



ERICK O. ANDERSON, whose dairy- farm is 
situated a quarter mile south of Silvana, is one of 
the men who have seen the country develop from 
dense forests to a rich and influential farming com- 
mrnity. One of the changes which he notes as the 
chief one to his personal experience is the building 
of roads and the improvenient of transportation fa- 
cilities. As he travels to-day from Stanwood he re- 
calls his first trip between that place and Silvana. 
Then it was the roughest kind of a trail imaginable, 
in reality not deserving the dignity of the name. 
Mr. Anderson was born in Norway April 10, 1864, 
the son of Andreas and Annie (Hanson) Anderson, 
both natives of Norway. The elder Anderson came 
to Silvana about ten years ago, but returned to the 
old country in 1903. Mrs. Anderson is still living at 
Silvana. Erick O. Anderson left home when he 
was eighteen years of age and came alone to Stan- 
wood. He soon engaged to work near where Sil- 
vana now is and which was only beginning then. 
His trip was on foot over an almost indistinguish- 
able trail and through heavy forest. For two years he 
worked and carried the mail between Stanwood and 
Oso. via Arlington, and he has the distinction of 
being the first mail carrier on this route. He con- 
tinued to carry the mail abnut four years, when the 
coming of the railroad furnished a competition 
which was fatal to the man carrier's business. An- 
other distinction enjoyed by Mr. Anderson is the 
fact of his liaving been tlie first constable at Silvana. 
During these years Mr. Anderson has taken up a 
timber claim and shortly after he left the mail serv- 
ice he SI iM his timber land and invested in the eighty- 
acre trait wIktc he has since made his home. It 
was ]iea\il\- timbered and much of it had been 
prostrated liy wind, rendering passage over the land 
almost impossible. In the fifteen years he has re- 
sided here. Mr. Anderson has wrought great 
changes and now has fifty acres in crop or in pas- 
ture. He formerly raised beef cattle and hav, but in 



recent years has devoted himself largely to dairy- 
ing and has twenty-five head of cattle. 

Twenty years ago Mr. Anderson married Miss 
Annie Johnson, a native of Norway and the daugh- 
ter of John and Carina Johnson, who never left 
their native land. The mother died when Mrs. An- 
derson was two years of age, and she came to this 
country with a sister. Mr. Johnson passed away in 
1901. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson have nine children: 
Caroline A. H., Andrew, John, Alfred, Edward, 
Annie, Louis, George and Clarence. In politics Mr. 
Anderson is a Republican and has been for three 
years road supervisor of his home district. He at- 
tends the Lutheran church. In the summer of 1904 
Mr. Anderson did contract work in grading roads 
and proved very successful at the venture. He is a 
man well posted on all up-to-date matters, widely 
read and a thoroughly competent man. He has a 
fine farm and a valuable one, and he has made it 
from what was once an almost impenetrable jungle 
of standing and fallen timber. Mr. Anderson is a 
man of great energy and application, of the timber 
without which no substantial fortune can be made. 



STYRKER A. ERICKSON (deceased) was 
one of the very earliest settlers of the Silvana dis- 
trict of Snohomish county, coming here when there 
were but three or four others on this part of the 
Stillaguamish river. In the pioneer days, when 
communication between settlements was slow and 
passage often difficult, Mr. Erickson suffered an 
experience on the bay while returning from LUsa- 
lady to Stanwood which nearly cost him his life and 
produced a lasting effect on his constitution. He 
was rowing across when late in the afternoon he 
was overtaken by a storm of such proportions that 
his boat was swamped. He managed to keep his 
hold on the boat through the entire night, and in 
the morning was rescued by a band of Indians, who 
nursed him for two days before he became strong 
enough to make the trip to Stanwood. The expos- 
ure of that terrible night so undermined an unusual- 
ly strong physical constitution that he never fully 
recovered. Mr. Erickson was born in Norway in 
1844 and passed his early days on a farm with his 
parents. At the age of fifteen he entered the em- 
ploy of a clergyman, doing work about the place 
and driving horses in return for board and educa- 
tion. After three years of this service he learned 
the trade of a cooper and followed that until 1876, 
when he came to the LTnited States. On his arrival 
Mr. Erickson visited the Centennial Exposition at 
Philadelphia and made inquiries about locations. He 
decided to go to Iowa, and in the fall of that year 
commenced to work at his trade in that state. He 
remained there two years, then came to tlie Pacific 
coast, settling at Astoria, Oregon, where he engaged 
in fishing. Soon after reaching Astoria, Mr. Erick- 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



son took a trip to the Puget sound country and lo- 
cated a claim on the Stillaguamish, not far from 
Silvana. Later he made a second trip to the Stilla- 
guamish valley and located the land on which 
the town of Silvana has since grown up. His inter- 
ests in Snohomish county eventually came to de- 
mand so much of his time and attention that he left 
Astoria and settled in this valley permanently. Mrs. 
Erickson, who was born in Norway, her maiden 
name being Bertha Peterson, did not accompany her 
husband when he came to this country, but arrived 
soon after he had commenced to live on the Stilla- 
guamish. Mr. and Mrs. Erickson have one son, 
Peter R., who is living now in Seattle. The elder 
Erickson was a Mason and, upon his death, Novem- 
ber 25, 1904, the members of that organization at 
Everett attended the funeral ceremonies, taking 
charge of the arrangements. Mrs. Erickson is still 
living. 

Peter R. Erickson, only son of Styrker A. Erick- 
son, was born in Norway in 1873 and reared there, 
attending school and living at home in the old coun- 
try until the family came to Snohomish county. 
In 1S97 he left home, going to Seattle, where he 
took up stationary engineering, a trade which he 
followed until the first of the year 1905. At that 
time he took charge of a farm, one of his father's 
original properties in Snohomish county, which lies 
two miles east of Silvana on Pilchuck creek. At 
present he is residing in Seattle, having recently 
traded for a pleasant liome there, but he still retains 
his farm. Mr. Erickson in 1892 married Mrs. Lucy 
Diamond, a native of Sarnia, Ontario, and a daugh- 
ter of Joseph and ^latilda (Bartrand) Dennis. 
When Mrs. Erickson was eight years old her par- 
ents removed to Alpena, Michigan, where they lived 
until they came to the Puget sound country in 1888. 
They are now residing at Monroe, in this county. 
Mr. and Mrs. Erickson have one child, Helen, who 
was born March 28, 1903. In fraternal circles Peter 
R. Erickson is a modern Woodman and an Odd 
Fellow ; in politics an independent. He has no 
church membership, but. like his father before him, 
follows the simple creed expressed in the Golden 
Rule. Highly respected and popular in the com- 
munity, straightforward, progressive, he is sure to 
succeed at anything he undertakes. The Erickson 
family will ever be associated closely with the his- 
tory of the Stillaguamish valley, and especially with 
that of Silvana. 



DELL ROARK. of Silvana, is one of its well- 
known, public-spirited citizens, and in the half 
decade he has been in business there has been very 
successful. He left the work of constructing rail- 
way bridges in order to make a home for himself in 
the Puget sound country, whose climate had proved 
to be very beneficial to the members of his family. 
Mr. Roark was born in Russellville, Cole county, 



Missouri, January 3, 1870, the second of eleven chil- 
dren of William and Ellen (Cole) Roark. The 
elder Roark is a native of Missouri, still fiving there, 
now a retired farmer. The mother was born in 
Scotland of a wealthy family, but since coming to 
the United States has lost track of her relatives, 
not having heard from them in years. Dell Roark 
received a common school education in Missouri, 
securing his start in life when seventeen years of 
age, his first work being that of a bridge builder 
for the Missouri Pacific. He was with that com- 
pany for several years, leaving it to accept a position 
with the Edgemore Bridge Company. Mr. Roark 
remained with this concern for a year and a half, 
then returned to railway bridge construction work, 
going to Colorado, where he was in charge of bridge 
work for the LTnion Pacific and Denver & Rio 
Grande for some time. He then returned to the 
Missouri Pacific and continued with that company 
until 1897, when he came to Seattle and took charge 
of bridge work for the Great Northern, becoming 
foreman of bridge building on the Cascade and 
Coast line division, his particular work being as 
overseer of the raising of heavy Howe truss spans 
to position. In ]900 he resigned his position with 
the Great Northern and opened a liquor store in 
Silvana, which he has conducted ever since. 

In 1896 Mr. Roark married Miss Maggie Mot- 
ter, whom he met while doing railroad bridge work 
at Garnett, Kansas. Mrs. Roark is a native of Ohio, 
as were also her parents. The father died some fif- 
teen years ago ; the mother is still living, a resident 
of Garnett, Kansas. Mr. and Mrs. Roark have one 
child, Gaude, born at Everett in June, 1899. In 
connection with Claude's birth, Mr. Roark tells an 
interesting story of how he was raising a bridge 
near Silvana when a train was ordered to stop there 
by the superintendent of the road, by whom Mr. 
Roark was hustled off to Everett to greet his new- 
born son. Mrs. Roark had been in poor health until 
coming to the Puget sound country, but the climate 
so benefited her that Mr. Roark decided to decline 
an offer he received to go to Salt Lake, Utah, as 
foreman of bridge construction there, and embarked 
in his present business. In fraternal circles Mr. 
Roark is an Odd Fellow and a member of the Frat- 
ernal Brotherhood of America, while Mrs. Roark 
is a member of the Christian church, Mr. Roark 
has a host of friends in Silvana and surrounding 
country. 



ROBERT MAXWELL, now a retired farmer, 
but until the victim of a paralytic stroke early in 
1905 one of the active and energetic men of the 
Trafton section of the Snohomish county, is one 
of the men who feel that Snohomish county is one 
of the best sections of the entire world in which 
man may make a living. The country has been 
good to him -since he commenced operations here 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



in 1890, after having passed through a great deal of 
the activity of life. Mr. Maxwell was born in 
Shelby County, Ohio, in 1836, one of the four chil- 
dren of James and Elizabeth (Countz) jMaxwell. 
The father was a native of \^irginia, who became an 
Ohio farmer early in life, but passed his later years 
in Indiana. Mrs. Maxwell died when Robert was 
but six years of age, and the latter went to live with 
his grandfather, in whose care he remained until 
188-5. In that year he entered the employ of neigh- 
bors as a farm hand and was engaged in that line 
until the Civil War broke out, when he enlisted in 
Company G of the Eleventh Indiana Infantry. He 
remained with that command only three months, 
then enlisting in Company B of the Seventy-second 
Indiana Mounted Infantry, in which he served until 
the close of the war, being a part of the time under 
General George H. Thomas in the Army of the 
Cumberland and participating in the battles of 
Chickamauga, Chattanooga and Lookout Mountain. 
He was also in the engagement at Murfreesboro, in 
the Atlanta campaign, in \\'ilsi:in's raid into Ala- 
bama and in the chase after Jefferson Davis in the 
waning days of the Confederacy. At the close of 
the war Mr. Maxwell returned to farm work in 
Indiana, but in 1873 went to Michigan, where he en- 
tered the lumber mills and remained for twelve 
years. Six years at farming in North Dakota fol- 
lowed, and in 1890 Mr. Maxwell located in Snoho- 
mish county, three-quarters of a mile southeast of 
Trafton on the Arlington road. For eleven years 
he was Trafton's postmaster. He continued active 
fanning operations until he suffered the paralytic 
stroke in 190.5, since which time he has been unable 
to work. Much of his stock and implements he has 
disposed of since that time. 

In the late fall of 1858 Mr. Maxwell married 
Miss Mary Spratt, daughter of Albert Spratt, a 
native of Michigan, and a blacksmith by occupation, 
who died many years ago. Mrs. Maxwell was born 
in 1843 and lived with her parents up to within a 
year of her marriage, having at that time gone to 
Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell have three chil- 
dren, namely : Mrs. Belle Barr. Benton and Henry 
F. In politics Mr. Maxwell is a Republican, and 
fraternally he is a member of Edwin ^I. Stanton 
post, G. A. R., at Arlington. The family is affiliated 
with the Methodist church. Mr. Maxwell is a jovial 
man and has not lost the sunny disposition so fre- 
quently attributed solely to the young, even though 
age and affliction may be thought to have been suf- 
ficient to dispel an optimistic view of men and 
things. In peace and war he has lived a conquering 
life, and he does not propose now to surrender to 
despondency, though affliction has come upon him. 



ALONZO W. SHAFER, the accommodating 
postmaster of Trafton, Washington, a retired mill 
man and one who since 1888 has been active in the 



master industry of the Sound country, is, like many 
others who have assisted in the development of the 
western part of Uncle Sam's domain,' a native of 
Canada, born in the province of Ontario August 20, 
ISiS. His father, who was also born in Canada, the 
date of his advent being 1798, served in the British 
army during the war of 1813, being in political faith 
a United Empire Loyalist. He died in Alichigan, 
whither he had moved later in life, at the age of 
sixty-two. The mother of our subject, Sarah 
(Hood) Shafer, was born in Massachusetts in 1798, 
but having been left an orphan at the tender age of 
four, was taken charge of by relatives, who removed 
her to Canada, where she grew to womanhood. She 
died in 1887, leaving eight sons and daughters, of 
whom Alonzo W., of this article, is the youngest. 
He was brought by his parents to Michigan in early 
boyhood and there acquired a common school edu- 
cation, while also assisting his father in the work 
of the farm. At the age of sixteen he began learn- 
ing the machinist's trade and thereafter, until 1889, 
he followed that line of work assiduously and unin- 
terruptedly, most of the time in saw and shingle 
mills, which he operated under lease. In the year 
mentioned he set out for the grander forests of 
western ^Vashington. His objective point was the 
town of Whatcom, whence he proceeded to Bay 
View, Skagit county, where he worked in a mill for 
a year. During the Anacortes boom he erected a ho- 
tel in that town, which he operated as long as the ex- 
citement lasted, then he built a shingle mill at Fredo- 
nia. This he sold at a later date, only to erect an- 
other at Avon. For two years he successfully ran the 
latter mill, then he disposed of it and went to Friday 
Harbor to fit up a grist mill for a man there. This 
man failed utterly in his payments, so Mr. Shafer 
secured the mill and ran it successfully for about a 
year, making good profits. He next came Arling- 
ton, where he secured a grading contract from the 
builders of the Darrington branch railroad, doing 
well in this undertaking also ; then he bought three 
acres where he now lives and twenty acres a half 
mile further north. December 10, 190"2, he was ap- 
pointed postmaster of Trafton, an office which he 
still holds, and the duties of which he is discharging 
in a manner creditable to himself and highly satis- 
factory to the patrons of the postoffice. He has a 
wide acquaintance throughout the county, and his 
upright character, manifesting itself always in his 
various business transactions, has secured for him 
the confidence of all who know him. In religion Mr. 
Shafer is a Methodist ; in politics a Republican, in- 
terested in public matters, as are all good citizens, 
but not an office-seeker. He was, however, justice 
of the peace in Michigan for a number of years. 

Some twenty-three years ago Mr. Shafer married 
Mrs. Jennie Secord, who, like himself, was a native 
of Canada, and to them have been born two children, 
William .A. and Sarah M., both of whom are living 
at Avon. 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



THOMAS JEFFERSON, residing one-fourtli 
of a mile south of Trafton, was born in Crockett 
County, Tennessee, October 10, 1859. His parents, 
Allan and Mary Jefferson, both died when he was 
an infant, leaving a family of five children, of whom 
he was the third. He was taken by a family named 
Singlton and lived with them till he was eighteen, 
acquiring an education in the common schools and 
at intervals working on the farm. Upon leaving 
Tennessee in 1877, he went to the Willamette valley, 
in Oregon, where, after being employed as a farm 
harld for two years, he rented a farm for himself. A 
year later he migrated to Dayton, Washington, 
making the trip with a team, and there he followed 
teaming as an occupation for some time. Coming 
to Snohomish county eighteen years ago, he 
took the homestead which now constitutes his farm ; 
the trip up the river to it being made in an Indian 
canoe at a cost of ten dollars. The nearest road was 
at Silvana, ten miles away, and it goes without say- 
ing that settlers were few in the locality; indeed, 
settlement did not become at all general until about 
five years later. The nearest store and postofifice 
was at Florence, a distance of fifteen miles. All 
Mr. Jefferson's land being heavily timbered, the task 
of clearing it and putting it in condition to cultivate 
was an arduous one, but he has succeeded in getting 
twenty acres of it under cultivation and an equal 
amount in pasture. He gives his attention principal- 
ly to dairying, though he is a believer in diversified 
far;ning, and practices it to a considerable extent. 

In 1890 Air. Jefferson married Rachel Dennies, 
a native of Nebraska, born near Omaha in 18G9. 
She received a careful education in the schools of 
that state, and later became one of the well-known 
and successful teachers of this locality, in which she 
taught the first term of school ever held. Her 
father, Thomas Dennies, having died when she was 
a child, her mother afterward married Mr. Lykens, 
now deceased. Tlie mother's death occurred at her 
daughter's home in 189?. Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson 
have four children, Frank, Ethel, Flossie and Nellie. 
Mr. Jefferson is an influential member of the Yeo- 
man fraternity, but in politics allies himself to no 
party, preferring to take an independent stand in 
all matters. For the past six years he has been road 
supervisor of liis district. Some time ago a very 
fortunate discovery was made, namely, that there 
was a large deposit of iron on his farm, five distinct 
ledges running half a mile through the ranch, and 
covering from fifteen to twenty acres to a depth of 
six feet. As a result of this discovery he has now 
a standing offer of $8,000 for the entire property, 
consisting of one hundred and fifty-five acres. That 
his well-directed efforts along agricultural lines have 
inet with no greater success is amply explained by 
the fact that all these years he has been endeavoring 
to farm the external surface of a mine. He is a man 
of enviable standing in the coinmimity. and any 
gond fortune that may come to him through the 



discovery of the iron will give pleasure to neighbors 
and acquaintances. 



AARON L. BLAIR, prominent among the mert 
who have been instrumental in the growth and de- 
velopment of Arlington, and, indeed, of the entire 
county of Snohomish, stands Aaron L. Blair, now 
engaged in the real estate, insurance and loan busi- 
ness. He was born in Fountain County, Indiana, 
March 30, 1843, the son of John and Sarah 
(Crystle) Blair. His father, a native of Tennessee, 
was a farmer and shoemaker, who in early man- 
hood settled in Indiana, residing there until 1845 
when he moved to Des Moines county, Iowa. Some 
years later he located in Wapello county. In 1855 
he went to Texas to look at the country and was 
never heard from afterward. It is believed that he 
was killed there. The mother, a Kentuckian by 
birth, made the trip to Indiana on horseback in the 
earlv days, and was married in that state. Her 
death occurred in Iowa in 1856. Aaron L. Blair is 
the youngest of a family of seven children. After 
receiving his education in the schools of Iowa, to 
which state the family had moved while he was a 
child, he left home at the age of thirteen to work on 
neighboring farms. Although hut eighteen years old 
when the Civil War broke out, he eulislcd in Com- 
pany C, Seventh Iowa Cavalry, ami served three 
vears and seven months, receiving his discharge at 
Omaha, Nebraska, in February, ISfiG. Returning 
to Iowa, he resumed farming, following it until 1870 
when he moved to Pleasant Hill, Missouri, and was- 
employed in building a new railroad from Pleasant 
Hill to Lawrence, Kansas. Two years later he went 
back to Iowa, locating in Davis county, and there 
taking contracts to get out ties used in the construc- 
tion of the Burlington and JMilwaukee railroad. At 
the end of six months he again engaged in farming. 
In 1878 he migrated to Neosho county, Kansas, and 
lived in that part of the state for two years. Going 
thence in 1880 to Elk county, he filed on a pre- 
emption daim, located four miles east of Howard, 
which he shortly afterward sold. He then bought 
1(!0 acres from Thomas Chandler upon which he 
lived until 1887, coming to Washington that year. 
September 20th marks the date of his arrival at 
Stanwood. The following February, he loaded two 
canoes with supplies, and came up the Stillaguamish 
river to Oso, but as his wife feared to make the 
trip on account of the various obstructions in the 
river, the family walked from Stanwood. a distance 
of thirtv miles, the journey lasting three days. Their 
home for the first two weeks was in the school house 
at Oso. Mr. Blair then took the family down the 
river, and rented a farm owned by William McPhee 
for one year. Soon he filed on a pre-emption of 
forty acres near the present location of Arlington, 
and this was his home for eighteen months. Uport 
it he erected a substantial house and barn, in the 




JENS THDMSICN 




MAS JIOI'-FKRSON 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



meantime clearing up six acres of land around which 
he built an eight-rail fence. He also set out an 
orchard of fifty trees. In 1890 he purchased eighty 
acres of bottom land southwest of Arlington, and 
that was his home for two years, during which time 
he cleared twenty acres, built a good house and barn, 
and put up fences to surround them. Haller City, 
now known as Arlington, has claimed him a resi- 
dent since ]892, when he assumed charge of the lo- 
cal agency for the Haller City Townsite Company, 
in whose employ he still is. A meat shop was sorely 
needed in the town, and as there was no one else in 
position to establish and operate one, he did so for a 
year and a half, until some one was ready to take the 
business. Tliat is only one of the manifold ways in 
which he has advanced the interests of the town, 
often at an expense to himself of both time and 
means. 

Mr. Blair was married at Floris, Davis county, 
Iowa, in ISGl, to Miss Cynthia A. Morgan, born at 
Pleasant Grove, Iowa, in November, 1842. She re- 
ceived a careful education in the schools of her na- 
tive state. Her father, Abraham Morgan, was born 
in Kentucky. Coming to Washington territory in 
isn:? he settled near Walla Walla, and lived there 
for several years. His death occurred at Lyma, 
Kansas. Mrs. Blair's mother died while she was 
yet an infant. She and Mr. Blair have the follow- 
ing children, namely: Mrs. Cathrine Clumb, born 
in Towa. now living in Alaska ; Mrs. Louisa Neff, 
born in Iowa, now of Everett ; James W., born in 
Missouri : and Walter A., also a native of Iowa, the 
former now in Seattle, the latter in Arlington ; May. 
Aaron and Calvin, deceased, the first two of whom 
were natives of Kansas, the last of Iowa. Mr. Blair 
i<; an active member of the Grand Army of the Re- 
public, and in politics a loyal supporter of Repub- 
licanism. Deeply interested always in political mat- 
ters, local and general, he has been a force to be 
reckoned with in many county campaigns and can- 
didates' for office have learned to value highly his 
support and fear correspondingly his opposition. 
But it is not alone before and during elections that 
ATr. Blair's public spirit has been manifested. One 
of the many ways in which he has contributed to 
the public welfare has been by an open and per- 
sistent advocacy of improvements, especially in the 
line of roads and bridges, and he has to his personal 
credit the opening of a road for four miles out of 
Arlington, in the earlv davs of that town, and the 
starting of the first freight teams, two outfits of 
two yoke each to the wagon, between Stanwood 
and the forks of the Stillaguamish. It was also 
largely through his influence and example that the 
road from Arlington to Kent's Prairie was made 
passable. A man of great force of character, un- 
usual intelligence and persistent optimism, he has 
contributed not a little to the general progress in 
many ways, and at this date there is probably no 
other man in Snohomish countv more widely known. 



more conversant with local conditions or more wide 
awake in watching over the interests of his part 



JENS THOMSEN, one of the men who have 
been identified with the agricultural development of 
the region contiguous to Silvana from its pioneer 
days, and one who is to be credited with having 
contributed not a little toward that development, is 
like many another man who has aided in the con- 
quest of American wild lands, a native of Germany. 
The date of his birth is July 18, 1832. He is the 
sixth of the nine children of Jens and Sanna 
(Carstensen) Thomsen, farmer folk of the Father- 
land, and acquired his education in the excellent 
public schools for which Germany is world-famed. 
Until thirty-six years of age he remained on the 
parental farm, or at least made his home there, 
though he was occupied most of the time after 
reaching man's estate in working for agriculturists 
in the vicinity. 

When at length he left the parental roof he did 
so to try his fortunes in the new land across the 
ocean, the land of promise to Europeans. Locating 
for a time in Burlington, Iowa, he was employed in 
railroad work and in lumber yards there, but 
moved to Illinois later, remaining there until after 
the great Chicago fire of 1871 had done its terrible 
work. He returned to Iowa, however, from which 
state, in 1878, he migrated to the territory of 
Washington, making Stanwood his objective point. 
Those were the days of small things in most parts 
of the .Stillaguamish valley, there being no roads, 
and the only way to get in provisions being to trans- 
port them in canoes and on one's back over indis- 
tinct trails to the pioneer homes in the forest. But 
nothing daunted, Mr. Thomsen struck out boldly 
into the virgin forest near where Silvana now is, 
took a claim and began the battle with trees, turn- 
overs, rubbish and stumps. He assisted in cutting 
the first trail from his home to Silvana and, indeed, 
has done his share toward the general opening up 
of that country. It has rewarded his devotion to it 
and his faith in it quite substantially, for though the 
Sound country may show a man a frowning face, it 
seldom fails to smile eventually upon a persistent 
and worthy wooer. He now has 175 acres of valu- 
able land, eicrhtv of which have been improved, is 
engaged in the dairy business somewhat extensively, 
having a herd of forty head, and is in independent 
circumstances. With dearly bought success in his 
business and a prosperity which was long on the 
road, has come also the respect always due and al- 
ways willingly accorded to men who, defying diffi- 
cultv, accomplish something worthy, even in a 
humble way. Pie is recognized as one of the strong, 
substantial citizens of the Silvana district. In pol- 
itics Mr. Thomsen is a Republican, in religion a 
Lutheran. 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



BERNHARD C. W. SCHLOMAN, the pros- 
perous, well known farmer living at Arlington, is 
one of the earliest pioneers of the upper Stillagua- 
mish country, having come here in 1881, when the 
river was the only highway, and it a badly obstructed 
one. Those were the days when the matter of get- 
ting provisions up river to the settlers was the big- 
gest problem confronting the men who were doing 
the work of turning the forests into farms. Mr. 
Schloman was born in Germany in the summer of 
1854, August 19th, the son of Henry and Mary 
(Wilhelm) Schloman. The latter passed away at 
Arlington, January 31, 1902. The father left Ger- 
many in 1859, when Bcrnhard was but five years of 
■age, and came to the United States, settling in Min- 
nesota where he worked at the blacksmith trade. 
Bernhard Schloman received his education in the 
common schools of Minnesota, later attending the 
normal school, and at the age of twenty-four com- 
menced to teach school. He followed that profes- 
sion for two years, then came to the territory of 
Washington, arriving in 1881. After remaining in 
Seattle for a time, he came up the Stillaguamish, 
and located on a tract of 1G2 acres, on a part of 
which he has ever since made his home. With him 
came his mother, the first white woman to settle on 
the upper river. During the first few years of his 
residence in this part of the country, Mr. Schloman 
found it necessary to devote a part of each year to 
working for others in order to get money for sup- 
plying his house with provisions. The river was 
the only means of egress and ingress to the settle- 
ment and log jams were frequent, so that it cost 
$10 for transporting a canoe load of goods from 
Stanwood. The first cows in this section of the 
county were conveyed up the river on a deck built 
over two canoes lashed together. Stanwood was the 
nearest postoffice until 1887 when Stillaguamish, 
now Silvana, was established, and in 1890 Arling- 
ton was made a postoffice. During these days Mr. 
Schloman was interested in exploring the head 
waters of the Stillaguamish and in company with 
Lord John Robinson penetrated the sources of the 
river far into the mountains, antedating in the ex- 
ploit the party of which Charles Burns was the 
liead. 

In 1887 while residing in Minnesota, Mr. Schlo- 
man married Miss Mary Schwarble, daughter of 
Henry Schwarble, a farmer of the Gopher state. 
Mrs. Schloman died on the Stillaguamish in 1888, 
and nine years later in Spokane Mr. Schloman 
married Miss Emma Stutz-Pfisterer, daughter of 
Conrad Stutz, a tinsmith by profession, who passed 
away in Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Schloman have 
one child, Reuben Bernhard, born September G, 
1899. In politics Mr. Schloman is aligned with the 
Socialists, but he has never sought political pre- 
ferment or public office, though in the days of the 
old Schloman postoffice on the river he served as 
postmaster. Of his hundred-acre tract he has forty 



acres under cultivation, the improvements thereon 
including a six-room house. He keeps at the pres- 
ent time fourteen head of dairy, and forty head of 
stock cattle ; also raises poultry, and other live 
stock. ]\Ir. Schloman is in prosperous circum- 
stances, the proprietor of an excellent farm prop- 
erty and is respected by the entire community in 
which he lives, as one of the pioneers of the Stilla- 
guamish, one of the pathfinders of the wilderness, 
and one of the men who have contributed materially 
toward its subjugation and industrial evolution. 



WILLIAM FOREST OLIVER, M. D.— Sno- 
homish county was blessed even during its pioneer 
days by the presence of a few professional men of 
superior ability and excellent training, conspicuous 
among whom was the scholarly physician whose 
life record is the theme of this article. In the years 
of his residence in the Stillaguamish valley Dr. 
Oliver has been much more than a practitioner of 
medicine. Nature designed him for leadership and 
this quality has been employed by him in promoting 
the reclamation and industrial development of the 
valley and in every movement toward Ijetter things 
for his community and county. Like most men of 
superior native endowments he had the advantage 
of a good heredity. His paternal ancestors, who 
were of Scotch-English stock, came from England 
to Virginia in 1700 and planted a family tree which 
became noted for its wealth and influence, but more 
especially for the persistency with which it fought 
the nation's battles. The great-grandfather of our 
subject. Captain William Oliver, was one of George 
Washington's trusted officers in the war of the Rev- 
olution and had the distinction of having partici- 
pated in the celebrated crossing of the Delaware 
and the battle of Trenton, fought December 25, 
1776. The father of our subject, William L. Oliver, 
was first duty sergeant of Company H, First Indi- 
ana, under General Taylor in the war with Mexico 
and captain of Company E, Thirty-fifth Illinois in 
the war of the Rebellion. Certainly few can boast 
a prouder military record than he, and in civil life 
also he was a man of more than ordinary force, hav- 
ing been prepared for social leadership by a liberal 
educational training in Franklin college, Indiana. 
By profession he was a dentist. He died in Tacoma 
in 1895. Dr. Oliver's mother, Mary A. (Smith) 
Oliver, a native of Marion county, Indiana, born in 
1838, was of Prussian ancestry, her forefathers 
having come from that province very early in the 
eighteenth century. They settled first in Virginia, 
but later a scion of the family tree, the one from 
which she sprung, was planted in Kentucky. She 
died in Indianapolis, Ind., at the age of thirty-five. 

Dr. Oliver was born in Bloomfield, Iowa, August 
8, 1857. Having completed the work of the com- 
mon school near his home in Montgomery county, 
Indiana, he prepared himself for college by a course 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



of four years' duration in Ladoga Seminary. In 
September, 1872, he matriculated at the University 
of Illinois, and four years later he graduated with 
tlie degree of Bachelor of Literature. Three years 
later he was honored with a medical degree from the 
Medical College of Indiana, after graduating from 
which institution he went to Kansas. Locating in 
Elk county, he practiced there five years, but in the 
fall of 1884 the cause of education, in which he was 
•deeply interested, claimed his attention and he ac- 
cepted at the hands of the electors the post of coun- 
ty school superintendent. For four years he dis- 
charged the duties of that office. In the fall of 1889 
Tie came to Washington and upon his arrival he 
filed forthwith on a pre-emption eight miles north- 
east of Arlington on the north fork of the Stilla- 
guamish river. He could only secure a squatter's 
right at the time, so that it took three years to ob- 
tain a patent, but he lived on the land the required 
time, meanwhile practicing medicine among the 
settlers along the river, he being the only physician 
above Stanwood then. The land secured in this 
way he still retains. Upon making final proof he 
opened an office in Arlington where he has ever 
-since resided engaged in the practice of his profes- 
sion, except about a year during which he traveled 
considerably, visiting the Chicago fair. 

In September, 1889, in Montreal, Canada, Dr. 
Oliver married Miss L-ilian M. Best, of Litchfield, 
Illinois, of which city her father, Wesley Best, was 
one of the founders and at one time mayor. He 
moved to Kansas in 188-1 and twenty years later 
died in Howard City, that state. Her mother, Mary 
J. (Whittington) Best, was of English extraction, a 
member of the well known Whittington family so 
widely celebrated throughout all the British posses- 
sions. Mrs. Oliver is a graduate of the Litchfield 
high school, also of the Jacksonville Female Acad- 
emy, of Illinois, and the St. Louis School of Fine 
Arts. She is a painter of no mean ability and an 
art teacher of note. 

In political faith Dr. Oliver is a Republican, in 
fraternal connection a Knight of Pythias. He was 
reared in the religious belief of the Baptist denom- 
ination, but at present is not a member of any 
church. His property interests besides the land on 
the north fork and realty in Arlington, include ten 
acres of water front near Tacoma, the prospective 
value of which is enormous. In all the years of his 
residence in Arlington he has watched over its in- 
terests with almost paternal care and is justly re- 
garded one of the fathers of the town, one of the 
most forceful factors in its past development, one 
of its leading citizens at this date. Even in the 
social life of the town he and his accomplished, cul- 
tured helpmeet are very active participants. 



men of his home town and a leader in the promo- 
tion of all proposed enterprises of benefit to the 
community. His career of but little more than a 
decade in this state has been a highly creditable one 
and his success noteworthy when it is remembered 
that his capital on reaching the sound consisted of 
a good education and an ambition to make the best 
use of it and of his inherent abilities. He was born 
in Pennsboro, West Virginia, March 18, 1873, the 
fifth of the ten children of Jeiiferson and Angelina 
(Cunningham) Marsh, both of whom were like- 
wise West Virginians by birth and members of old 
pioneer families of that state which had come orig- 
inally from Maryland. The mother is still living 
in that commonwealth. The father was of English 
extraction, the mother of Scotch-Irish. 

Calvin L. ATarsh, of this review, acquired an un- 
usually thorough education in the public schools of 
his natal community and in a private academy in 
\^'est Mrginia. On reaching the age of twenty he 
determined to heed Horace Greeley's advice to 
young men and set out for the shores of the Pa- 
cific, where for a few years he followed the pro- 
fession of teaching, his last school being that of Hal- 
ler City, now a part of Arlington. On retiring from 
pedagogical work, he purchased, in the fall of 1894, 
the Arlington Times, and to its upbuilding, and im- 
provement as a compiler of current events and a 
reflector of the life of the community, he has de- 
voted himself ever since with assiduity and zeal and 
not without success. He is also United States land 
commissioner and has been for a number of years. 
He is sole owner of the Times, which is justly re- 
garded as one of the very best weeklies in the coun- 
ty and one of the most influential, also owns a very 
pleasant home in Arlington. 

In 1894. just before he assumed charge of the 
newspaper, Mr. Marsh was married in PuUinan, 
\\'est Virginia, the lady being Miss Lora B., daugh- 
ter of Simon and Ardena (Hall) McDougal. She 
was born in West Virginia, April 14, 1876, was 
educated in the public and normal schools of her 
native state and at seventeen began teaching. She 
and Mr. Marsh are parents of the following chil- 
dren, all born in Arlington: Constance, Paul, Lil- 
ian, Rufus and Doris. In politics Mr. Marsh is a 
Republican; in religion a Alethodist, and in frater- 
nal affiliation a Workman. 



CALVIN L. MARSH, editor of the Arlington 
Times, is one of the aggressive and public spirited 



THOMAS MORAN, a son of the Empire state 
j in whose veins flows the hot blood of the Celtic 
race, an honored veteran of the Civil War and now 
a progressive citizen of the town of Arlington, was 
born m 1847, the son of Patrick and Mary (Morer- 
to) Moran, both natives of Ireland. The father was 
a stone mason by trade who migrated to Xew York 
state early in the 'thirties, moved thence to Wiscon- 
sin in 1855 and followed his trade in Madison, that 
state, until 1872, when death claimed him. Mrs. 



1038 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



Moran was married in Ireland, accompanied her 
husband to this country and hkewise died in Wis- 
consin. She was the mother of ten children, of 
whom our subject is seventh. 

Thomas Moran was eagerly pursuing his studies 
in the Wisconsin schools when the war broke out, 
then a patriotic spirit prompted him to enlist, not- 
withstanding he was only fourteen years old, and 
for the ensuing three years he followed the flag as a 
member of Company G, Twenty-ninth Wisconsin 
Infantry, discharging all his duties with credit to 
himself and making an honorable record, nor did 
he lay down his arms until the last disloyal gun had 
been silenced. He was mustered out of the service 
in Louisiana. Returning home immediately upon 
receiving his discharge, he followed various occupa- 
tions until 1879, when he began a career of railroad 
construction which eventually brought him to the 
Pacific coast. He has been foreman, and superin- 
tendent of construction and has held numerous other 
positions of a similar character. The superintend- 
ency of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern from 
Lake Washington through Arlington to McMurray 
was intrusted to him, and when the road was com- 
pleted, he located at Arlington, built the first hotel 
there and instituted the pioneer hardware store, all 
in the fall of ISOl. The hotel he nin until ISflC. 
when he rented it to another man ; tlu hardware 
business he still conducts. But Mr. Al'iran i> tu, , 
energetic a man to confine his efforts to one line of 
business and can gauge too accurately the future 
not to perceive that land is sure to be valuable in 
the sound country, so he has made it a point to 
acquire extensive realty holdings and to improve 
the same as far as possible. In 1892 he took a home- 
stead on the Pilchuck and since that date he has 
purchased three other ranches, making his holdings 
now aggregate five hundred acres, one hundred of 
which are in cultivation. He is interested to some 
extent in the dairy business, keeping twenty-three 
head of cattle suited to that industry. 

In the state of Iowa in 1882, Mr. Moran married 
Miss Eveline, daughter of Lewis and Mary Sich- 
nian, both natives of Germany and both now living 
in Iowa, engaged in farming. Mrs. Moran was 
born in Iowa in 1861 and received her education in 
the public schools of that state. She and Mr. Moran 
are parents of three children, namely, Jesse T., 
Larena and Elmore. In politics Mr. Moran is a 
Democrat. He carries into his interest in public af- 
fairs something of the same ardor which has made 
him successful in the commercial, agricultural and 
other enterprises he has undertaken, doing what he 
can for the amelioration of general conditions. For 
four years commencing with 1893 he discharged 
with faithfulness and ability the duties of county 
commissioner, and he has given further token of 
his public spirit by accepting the salaryless and 
too often thankless office of school director. He is 
one of the leading men of Arlington, a man of ag- 



gressive, strong character whose influence is al- 
ways on the side of a forward movement, who is 
ever alive to the best interests of community and 
county. Fraternally he is affiliated with the I. O. 
O. F., the Rebekahs, the Elks, the Grand Army of 
the Republic and the Concatenated Order of HoO' 
Hoos : in religion he is a Catholic. 



NILS C. JOHNSON, merchant at Arlington, is 
one of the leading factors in the business community 
of the upper Stillaguamish river settlements, a man. 
of integrity and enterprise. He was born in Sweden 
January 23, 1859, the youngest of seven children of 
John and Ellen (Person) Johnson, who left the old 
country in 1873 and took a homestead in Minne- 
sota, passing the remainder of their days as farmer 
folk in that state. Young Johnson received the 
chief part of his education in the schools of Min- 
nesota, remaining at home on the farm until he was 
twenty-four years of age. His introduction to the 
mercantile business was at Clitherall, Minnesota, 
where he worked in a grocery store for six months 
at $20 per month. Then followed two years as clerk 
in a hardware store and one season in a farm im- 
[ilement store. At a subsequent time Mr. Johnson^ 
1 ecame clerk in a drug store, and immediately be- 
fnir eiiniing to Washington he was connected for 
sMine time with a general store at Battle Lake. Mr. 
Johnson came to .Stanwood in April of 1888 and 
shortly after ascended the river to Norman, 
where he purchased an interest in a general store 
of N. K. Tvete. This partnership was successful 
and the firm of Tvete & Johnson decided to open 
a general store further up the river, so Mr. Tvete 
went to Seattle, purchased the stock and brought 
it up the river in a small steamer. The store was 
opened in May of 1888, the first in this section of 
the county. Mr. Johnson sold out to Mr. Tvete iiv 
IS.QS; and the following spring went to Nome, Alas- 
ka, returning after one summer. A year in Seattle 
followed, and then another summer in Alaska, then, 
in 1903. in company with Gilbert Wick he opened 
the general merchandise store at Arlington which 
ha.*; since been conducted by them. 

At Norman in the summer of 1888 Mr. Johnson- 
married Miss Elise Hagen, daughter of Elif and 
•Sigrud Hagen, natives of Norway, who came to 
Minnesota in 1881 and are now living in the Gopher 
state. Mrs. Johnson was born in Norway in 18(59 
and received her education there and. in Minnesota. 
She and Mr. Johnson are parents of four children, 
namely : Edel, who died when a babe ; Sidney, Ed- 
mond and Helen. In his lodge connections, Mr. 
Johnson is a member of the Ancient Order of 
ITnited Workinen and of the Modern Woodmen of 
America : in politics he is a Republican. He served' 
as postmaster at Arlington for two years during 
the earlv days, also at one time as school clerk of 
district No. IH. In church membership he is a Lu- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



1029 



theran. All his business interests are in Arlington, 
where he is recognized as an able and enterprising 
business man and a citizen of the highest standing. 
The name of Tvete & Johnson will always have a 
place in the annals of the Arlington country, and 
in the memories of the men who were there in 
pioneer days, but while Mr. Johnson then filled a 
more conspicuous place in the community than now, 
■owing to the fewness of settlers and the newness of 
<?verything, he is not less forceful at present in the 
commercial life of Arlington. 



JOSEPH C. BRITTON, proprietor of one of 
the leading hotels of Arlington, is a product of the 
Pacific coast, and with his father was one of the 
pioneers of the Stillaguamish country in the vicinity 
of the junction of the two forks which unite to form 
the main river. Mr. Britton was born in San Jose. 
California, December 21, 18T1, the son of Robert 
iind Barbara Britton. The elder Britton had a very 
interesting career, which opened with his coming to 
the United States from the Emerald Isle when but 
eight years of age to make his home with relatives 
in Pennsylvania. In the Keystone state he lived for 
a. number of years and in the meantime sent for his 
mother who was living in the old country. He was 
working in a woollen mill when the Civil War broke 
out in 1861, and enlisted in the First Pennsylvania 
Infantry, serving one year in that command, then 
being transferred to the navy. In the latter wing 
of the forces of the Union he served three years, 
eleven months and twenty-three days, receiving his 
discharge in ISGfi. Mr. Britton then went to Cal- 
ifornia, later going to Salem, Oregon, where he as- 
sisted in the erection of the first flour mill in the 
Oregon capital. In 1870 he returned to California 
and was married there, remaining until 1882, when 
he came to Washington and filed on a homestead a 
mile and a half below the forks of the Stillagua- 
mish. The country was wild, virgin forest, with 
the river as the only highway of traffic and trans- 
portation, and Mr. Britton assisted in the construc- 
tion of the first trail. Here he lived until 1885, 
when he returned to California for a two years' 
stay. From 1887 until his death in the summer of 
1902 at a Seattle hospital, he was a citizen of Wash- 
ington, respected by all who knew him. Mrs. Brit- 
ton. a native of Germany, crossed the Atlantic ocean 
and the continent of America to California to join 
a sister. While living there she met and married 
Mr. Britton; she is now living in the Golden state. 

Joseph C. Britton received his education in the 
graded schools of San Jose, and came to Snoho- 
mish county w^hen but fifteen years of age. He re- 
mained at home on the farm until nineteen years of 
age when he went to work as cook's helper in a 
logging camp. Six months later he was promoted 
to be chief and in this capacity was engaged in vari- 
ous camps until 1901, when the failing health of his 



father compelled him to assume the responsibility 
of operating the homestead. In 1904 he filed on a 
timber claim in Oregon and also on a homestead in 
Douglas county, Washington. In May of 190.5 Mr. 
Britton opened the White House hotel at Arlington, 
which he is now managing, and has built up a busi- 
ness second to none in that city. 

On the first day of July, 1900, in Seattle, Mr. 
Britton married Miss Winifred B., daughter of Ira 
and Sylvia (Walter) Preston. Mr. Preston is a 
native of Illinois and in his early years followed the 
brick mason's trade. He early moved to Iowa and 
in 1884 to Dakota, where he passed two years on a 
homestead, then sold his right and came to Wash- 
ington, locating at Florence, where he worked at 
his trade. Later he returned to Iowa, then went to 
Nebraska, then returned to Florence, remaining a 
year and a half, then passed up the Stillaguamish 
and after some time spent in a logging camp took 
a preemption three miles southeast of Arlington on 
the Big Bum, where he is still living. Air. IVeston 
has the record of being the first man to freight 
stock for the pioneer store at Arlington, bringing 
the goods up the river in a canoe. Mrs. Britton, a 
native of Iowa, is a woman of general culture, with 
a special faculty for music, and has taught the 
musical art. Mrs. Britton was born in Harrison 
county in 1881, but received her education in the 
schools of Snohomish county, attending the first 
school established at Arlington when that institu- 
tion was in its beginning and there were only five 
white children on the roll. She took her first steps 
in music under her mother's direction, and followed 
up the study until she became an accomplished mu- 
sician and a teacher of ability. In politics, Mr. Brit- 
ton is a Republican ; in fraternal affiliations an Odd 
Fellow, a Workman and a Mason, while his worthy 
helpmeet is a member of the auxiliary orders and 
an active worker in them, frequently occupying the 
chairs and being at present chaplain in the Daugh- 
ters of Rebekah. Mr. Britton is one of the suc- 
cessful citizens of Arlington, public spirited and in 
some respects a leader, esteemed and respected by 
all his neighbors and fellow townspeople. 



JASPER SILL, farmer and merchant of Arling- 
ton and one of the sterling representatives of the 
honored pioneer class, was born in Monroe coun- 
ty, Ohio, in 1848, the second of eleven children of 
Michael and Susan (Rake) Sill. The father was 
a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1819. and by occu- 
pation a farmer. He eventually moved to Ohio and 
in 1853 migrated to Iowa, from which state he came 
to Washington in 1882. He died here in 1897. The 
mother was also a native of the Keystone state but 
was a resident of Ohio when she met and married 
Mr. Sill. She died in Washington in 1900. 

Jasper Sill remained with his parents until 
twenty-eight years of age, receiving the advantages 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



of a common school course, then assisting for years 
his father with the farm work, though for four 
years previous to his separation from the old home 
he operated farms on his own account. In 1872 he 
went to northwestern Kansas, but returned, after a 
season's absence, to resume his farming in Iowa. 
Coming to Washington in 1878, he located in Flor- 
ence in March of that year, and some four years 
later he filed on a homestead up the river and com- 
menced to clear the ground and establish a fami. In 
addition to this he also carried on a considerable 
business in purchasing stock and furnishing meat to 
the various logging camps in the vicinity. In 1883 
he engaged in logging on his own account on the 
Stillaguamish, and he followed that occupation for 
six years, proving up on his homestead in the mean- 
time. He also at one time purchased a general mer- 
chandise business at Florence, which he operated 
successfully for a year, then selling to E. A. Havley, 
who is still in charge of the business. After dis- 
posing of his mercantile establishment, Mr. Sill re- 
moved to Stanwood, and he lived there the ensuing 
twelve months, thereupon returning to Florence 
where another year was Spent. For the two years 
ensuing he operated a farm on Kent's Prairie, then 
he came to Arlington, where, a few years previous, 
he had purchased the land on which he now lives. 
In 1901 he built a fine two-story building in Arling- 
ton and opened in it a feed store, to which later he 
added an agricultural implement department. In the 
latter line he is still engaged, but the feed business 
has been discontinued recently. His realty hold- 
ings besides property in Arlington include 150 
acres of farming land, forty of which are in culti- 
vation, and 460 acres of logged off timber land. 

In Adair county, Iowa, on the 8th of February, 
1876, Mr. Sill married Miss Susie Devine, whose 
father died when she was very young. Her mother, 
Sarah (Odonnell) Devine, a native of Ireland, is 
still living. Mrs. Sill was born in Wisconsin in 
1854, but was educated and passed the greater part 
of her life before coming to Washington in Iowa. 
She and Mr. Sill were parents of five children, two 
of whom, Mason E. and Forest C, have died. The 
living are Jasper F., Leona P. and Marion E. A. In 
politics Mr. Sill is a Democrat, in fraternal afiilia- 
tions a member of the Benevolent and Protective 
Order of Elks. A very active and progressive man 
in business, he has accomplished much in an indus- 
trial way and contributed largely toward the gen- 
eral progress, but some of his ventures have proved 
unfortunate and he has lost a portion of the reward 
of his toil and effort, yet he is no^v in comfortable 
circumstances, notwithstanding, and at the same 
time has the satisfaction of being rich in the esteem 
of his old pioneer neighbors and the later comers 
alike. He is certainly to be classed among the sub- 
stantial and forceful men who are taking a leading 
part in the business life and agricultural develop- 
ment of Arlington and vicinity. 



NELS K. TVETE, Arlington's pioneer mer- 
chant and one of its foremost business men to-day, 
has been inseparably identified with the develop- 
ment of the Stillaguamish valley for nearly twenty 
years now and particularly with the upbuilding of 
his home city. Those sturdy Norse qualities, hardi- 
hood, thrift and perseverance, which have done so 
much toward the reclamation of Snohomish and 
Skagit counties from a tangled wilderness of forest 
and swamp, strongly characterize the subject of this 
review, strengthened by the ability to see and grasp 
an opportunity. 

Born in Norway, July 10, 1854, he is the fourth 
child of Knut Knutson and Annie (Iverson) Knut- 
son, both of whom have passed away, the father at 
the advanced age of eighty- four. As a lad, Nels 
K. attended the common schools of Norway and 
assisted at home until he reached the age of six- 
teen. He then manfully took up his father's work, 
that of a sailor, following the sea until 1873, when 
he sought a broader field for his activities in the 
United States and here, too, he strengthened his 
education by attending school four terms. The Red 
River valley, Minnesota, was his first stopping 
place. After a season in that great wheat belt he 
selected a homestead in the state, upon which he 
lived during the next five years. Then he rented it, 
entering the store of his brotlier at Battle Lake as a 
clerk, with whom he remained six years. In the 
spring of 1887 he pushed westward to Washington 
Territory, visited Stanwood and eventually deter- 
mined to settle in the valley of the Stillaguamish. 
At Norman he opened a general store, at the same 
time becoming its postmaster, and a year later, in 
1888, in partnership with N. C. Johnson, he estab- 
lished another general store further up the valley, 
near the site of Haller City, Mr. Johnson taking 
charge of the latter enterprise. Mr. Tvete sold the 
Norman store in 1890, removing to Haller City to 
give the business there closer attention. With the 
rise of Arlington the store was transferred to that 
site, the year 1895 being the date of the removal, 
prosperity continuing to follow the enterprise. Mr. 
Johnson retired in 1898, his interest being pur- 
chased by Mr. Tvete, in whose name the business 
has since been operated. As the pioneer store, it 
occupies a place of honor among the city's estab- 
lishments, nor has it failed to keep pace with the 
more exacting standards that come with a greater 
development of the community. 

Miss Gurine Ellefson. the daughter of Ellef EI- 
lefson. became the wife of Mr. Tvete in June, 1885. 
while he was a resident of Minnesota. Her parents, 
who are still living in Minnesota, are pioneers of 
that state, emigrating thither from Norway. Mrs. 
Tvete is a native of Norway, born in October, 1865, 
and received her education in the schools of both 
countries. Four children have been born to the 
union: Alfield S., born in Minnesota, March 13. 
1886: Ella, born at Norman, October 30, 1889; 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



1031 



Nina, at Haller City, June 36, 1893 ; and Norman 
R, at Arlington, August 37, 1904. The family are 
members of the Lutheran church. Mr. Tvete is an 
active Republican of liberal views, and is at pres- 
ent a member of the city council. In addition to 
his store interests, he owns 225 acres of rich river 
bottom land, some in cultivation, and occupies as his 
home a highly improved tract of eight acres. Upon 
the type of men to which Mr. Tvete belongs, square- 
dealing, aggressive and industrious, the stamp of 
leadership is placed too plainly to be overlooked by 
the compiler of these biographical records. 



WILLIAM H. FORD, among the leading citi- 
zens of Arlington, Washington, with whose busi- 
ness interests and general progress he has been 
identified for more than a dozen years now, though 
in the very prime of life, is one of the Northwest's 
real pioneers. As such and as a pioneer business 
man of Snohomish county, this biographical review 
is particularly appropriate in this work. Born at 
Springfield, Slissouri, April 5, 1861, he is the son 
of Nimrod and Delphia Ann (Patterson) Ford, 
Tennesseans, of the earliest white stock in that part 
of the south. Nimrod Ford was born in 1830 and 
early in life developed unusual business powers, be- 
coming first a government contractor in stock and 
produce lines. He removed to Missouri in 1861, and 
three years later journeyed by ox team to Montana, 
at that time receiving its first influx of immigra- 
tion. Mr. Ford at once entered the stock business 
and had the distinction of reaching a leading posi- 
tion among the cattlemen of northern Montana, 
owning at one time the largest herd in that section. 
His death occurred there in 1873 ; his widow still 
survives. Upon the bunch grass plains shut in by 
Montana's lofty, rugged mountain ranges, canopied 
by that brilliant blue found only in the higher alti- 
tudes, held in the grip of a rigorous, yet healthy, 
energizing climate, the lad William spent his boy- 
hood years, close to nature and facing the hardships 
common to all frontiersmen. At seven years of age 
he joined the men in the saddle and with them rode 
the ranges continuously until he arrived at the age 
of sixteen. Then, in preparation for the more ex- 
acting responsibilities of life, he entered school in 
Missouri, spending four years in college work, weak 
eyes finally forcing him to return to his hills and 
plains. At once he became a government contrac- 
tor, as had his father, and for a long period fur- 
nished beef, hay and wood to the forts under com- 
mand of General John R. Brooks. At the same time 
he conducted a general merchandise store at Sun 
river, selling out after three years' experience and 
entering the law office of Governor Toole under 
whom he studied two years. A year of practice at 
Sun River followed, after which, in 1886, he en- 
gaged in the general merchandise business at Cal- 



gary, Northwest Territory, Canada. Success 
crowned his six years experience there, but he did 
not care to permanently leave the United States, so 
came to Everett and organized the Ford-Townsend 
Hardware Company. This pioneer concern did 
business on Rucker avenue in 1892, when the pres- 
ent city was merely in its embryonic state, and later 
occupied rooms in the Wisconsin block. However, 
Mr. Ford sold his interests in 1893 and spent six 
months visiting the World's Fair at Chicago and 
his old home in Montana. In February, the 28th 
to be exact, 1894, he again found himself in Snoho- 
mish county, at Arlington, where he bought a 
shingle mill. This he operated himself until 1900, 
then leased it and went to Alaska. Mining and the 
hotel business at Dawson, on the Yukon, occupied 
his attention a year or more, after which he again 
returned to Snohomish county, arriving at Arling- 
ton in October, 1903. In 1899 he had purchased a 
particularly desirable tract of land on the edge of 
the town, half a mile north of the city, which he had 
previously leased two years and on this farm he 
permanently settled in 1903. There are 110 acres 
in the tract, constituting one of the finest places in 
the community. Dairying and the breeding of Jer- 
sey cattle receive the special attention of its owner, 
though his business interests are not by any means 
confined to farming. The dairy herd at present 
consists of Jerseys and Shorthorns. 

Mr. Ford and Miss Kate Peek were united in 
marriage at Sun River, Montana, May 15, 1883. 
She is a native of Michigan, born in 1868, and in 
the Peninsula state received her education. George 
Peek, her father, as also her mother, Almira (Dem- 
mick) Peek, were also born in Michigan. He died 
there many years ago after a successful career as a 
farmer; Rlrs. Peek is still living, a resident of her 
native state. Of the Ford children there are three: 
Guv N., born in Montana, April 20, 1884; Ulrich 
S.,"in Canada, August 16, 1887; and Willie B.. also 
in Canada, August 16, 1889. Mrs. Ford is an Epis- 
copalian in her church affiliations, Mr. Ford, a Con- 
gregationalist. Fratemallv, he is identified with 
the I. O. O. F., the K. of P., the Elks, the I. O. F., 
the K. O. T. M., and the A. O. U. W. 

Always a public-spirited citizen, interested and 
willing to bear his share of responsibility in securing 
good government, he is at present serving his pre- 
cinct as justice of the peace, having been elected on 
the Republican ticket. A keen, conservative busi- 
ness man, progressive in his ideas and aggressive 
in action, of varied and thorough attainments, and 
possessed of social qualities which at once call him 
to the front among his fellows, he is a son of the 
west to whose career his associates may well point 
with pride. 



PETER Fl^NK, one of the leading merchants 
of Arlington, has been very successful since coming 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



to Snohomish county in 1888. He is one of the 
pioneers of the upper Stillaguamish, having taken a 
homestead two miles south of where Arlington now 
is in the days when the country presented nothing 
to the eye except heavy timber. Mr. Funk was 
born in Denmark in the early days of 18G3, the son 
•of Rasmus and Kersten (Hansen) Funk, also na- 
tives of Denmark. The elder Funk, who was a 
.blacksmith, never left the old country, but Mrs. 
Funk is now living with a son near Silvana. Peter 
Funk's early boyhood passed without further inci- 
dent than his attendance at school until he became 
fourteen years of age. Then he engaged in herding 
•cattle and doing farm work, still improving his ed- 
ucation whenever he had the opportunity. In 1881 
he came to the United States and for the first year 
worked on a farm in Brown county, Wisconsin, fol- 
lowing this with four months at school. Mr. Funk 
then passed six months at work in a brick yard 
near Green Bay, leaving that to commence what 
proved to be a four years' service in a planing mill 
in Lincoln county. In 1887 he came to Washing- 
ton. He remained for a time in Seattle before com- 
ing to Stanwood, though his objective point was the 
home of a brother who had preceded him from Den- 
mark and had taken land on the upper Stillagua- 
mish. Mr. Funk commenced at once after reaching 
the river to work in the logging camp of Mr. Mc- 
Phee, but in the fall of 1888 he filed on a piece of 
heavily timbered land two miles south of the pres- 
ent town of Arlington. He lived on this land for 
a year and a half, then bought the homestead right 
of his brother. On the place thus secured he lived 
for fifteen years, during which he cleared part of 
it, but selling out in 1903, he came to Arlington and 
embarked in the hay and feed business, to which 
the following year he added a grocery line, develop- 
ing one of the large mercantile trades of Arlington 
from that beginning. 

In 1891 at .\rlington Mr. Funk married Miss 
Harriet E. Bannister, daughter of Samuel and 
]\Iary E. (Robinson) Bannister, natives of Canada 
who had come to Snohomish county where they are 
still living, ]\Tr. Bannister being a fisherman by oc- 
cupation. Mrs. Funk was born in Michigan in 1873 
and received her education there and in Seattle. 
Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Funk, all of whom are living, namely, Frank, Gil- 
bert and Mary. The family adheres to the Lu- 
theran church, and in politics Mr. Funk is a Re- 
publican, while in fraternal affiliations he is a mem- 
ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of 
the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In addi- 
tion to his mercantile business Mr. Funk owns a 
ten acre tract adjoining the town and residence 
property inside the corporation limits. He is one 
of the typical business men of Arlington, success- 
ful, energetic and progressive, a man of influence 
in the community. 



ALMON J. SUTTLES, for many years a lum- 
berman in various states in the Union, now the gen- 
ial proprietor of the Hotel Royal at Arlington, 
Washington, was born in Monroe county, Michi- 
gan, F"ebruary 14, 1870. His parents, Don P. and 
Sarah (Kinyon) Suttles, are both deceased. The 
father, who was born in Deleware county, New 
York, in 1831, migrated to Michigan at the close of 
the Civil War, settling in Monroe county, and there 
following mechanical pursuits. His death occurred 
at Evart, Michigan, November 30, 1903. The 
mother, also a native of New York, was born in 
Elmira in 1830, and died at Bay City, Michigan, in 
1903. Almon J. Suttles is the youngest of a family 
of nine children. He spent the first fifteen years 
of his life at home, acquiring an education in the 
common schools of his native state, then found em- 
ployment in the lumber camps for several years 
prior to 1889 at which time he came to Washington 
territory. He worked in the woods at Woodenville 
Junction the first year after his arrival, then went 
to Sedro, Skagit county, where he was employed 
by McDonald & Chisholm in their lumber camps 
for a year and a half. Going thence to the Samish 
river district he worked for the Parker Lumber 
Company for two j'cars, and later, after working in 
a camp on the Skagit river for one summer, he lo- 
cated at Arlington, there being in the employ of 
Gifford & Kelley for a season. Going to Wiscon- 
sin in the spring of 1893, he remained there during 
the summer, but in the fall moved to Dakota to 
work in the harvest fields. At the close of the sea- 
son he returned to his former occupation, logging, 
which he still continued to follow when, in 1894, he 
became a resident of Minnesota. After a brief stay 
he moved again to Wisconsin, where were abundant 
opportunities for work in the vast forests. He 
found, however, as so many others have found, 
that there is a charm about life in the West, which, 
when once experienced, can never be wholly for- 
gotten, hence in the spring of 1895 he once more 
wended his way to Arlington. Washington. He 
logged on the Stillaguamish river till the fall of 
189(1. then made another trip to Wisconsin and 
Michigan, where he worked in the woods a couple 
of seasons, going thence to the South for a three 
month's outing. " Returning to Arlington in 1898, 
he spent his time in the woods, until, in October, 
1900, he became proprietor of the Home Bakery. 
After operating this in connection with a restaurant 
for two vears,"he leased the property and for the 
ensuing twelve months he was engaged as cook in 
different lumber camps. He then took a homestead 
in Klickitat county, proving up on it in February, 
190,1, whereupon, becoming once more a resident of 
Arlington, he proceeded to tear down the old 
bakery, erecting on its site a neat two-story hotel, 
modern in its "appointments, known as the Hotel 
Roval. 

'Mr. Suttles was married in Arlington, Septeni- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



ber K, LSSfi. to Mrs. Rosa AI. House, a native of 
Canada, born near Ottawa, and educated in the 
schools of her native country. She walked to Ar- 
lington from Silvana, a distance of fifteen miles bx 
trail — a roup^h one, too — in ISS!). Her father. John 
LaPalm, was born in France, but was brought b_\' 
his parents to Canada when a child, and there spent 
the remainder of his life, his death occurring when 
his daughter was fourteen years old. Rosa M. 
(Yandcn) I.aPalm. the mother, was also of Ca- 
nadian l)irth. and died in the land of her nativity. 
Mrs. Suttles is very proficient in the culinary art, 
and is thus able to render valuable assistance to her 
husband in his present enterprise, which promises 
to be remarkably successful. She is prominently 
identified with the Baptist church and with the Re- 
bekah lodge. Mr. Suttles is also a Rebekah and a 
well known member of the Odd Fellows fraternity. 
In political matters he gives his undivided support 
to the Republican party, believing thoroughly in its 
doctrines. He is an energetic, enterprising young 
man, possessing qualities which will enable him to 
succeed in whatever business claims his attention, 
just such a man as is demanded by the requirements 
of a rich and promising, but as yet only partially 
■developed, country. 



JOHN ELLIXGSEX, the well known lumber- 
man and mill owner residin- at Arlington, Wash- 
ington, was born at AreiKkil. X^rway, November 
27, 1875. His parents, Filing and Susanna (Lyder- 
sen) Fllingscn, were also born in Xorway. The 
father, familiarly known as Captain Flliugsen, fol- 
lowed the sea till his death in IST; ; the mother is 
now living in Snohomish county, whither she im- 
migrated some years after the death of her hus- 
band and married a cousin. Filing Fllingsen. John 
Fllingsen received his early education in the schools 
of his native country, prior to 1887, at wdiich time 
he came with his mother to the United States, lo- 
cating with her in Wisconsin. After attending 
school there a short time, he went, wdien sixteen 
years old, to Seattle, where he found employment 
in a store. Six months later he was taken ill with 
fever, and removed to a hospital, where he was con- 
fined six weeks, or until he w-as able to go to his 
mother's home on the Stillaguamish river. Early in 
ISfin he was employed by Oaks & Anderson in a 
logging camp, and remained with them till late in 
the fall. He assisted his mother in the w^ork of the 
farm that winter, taking up the logging business 
again, however, the next season. In 1894 he opened 
a grocery store at Haller, which was his for two 
years, at the end of which time he sold out and re- 
turned to his former occupation. Purchasing 200 
^cres of timber land on the Stillaguamish, in Jan- 
uary, 1809, he cut shingle bolts for a time, but later 
■disposed of this property, and in 1901, he became a 
member of the Arlington Shingle Company, with 



which he still continues to be actively associated. 
His wide acquaintance throughout the county to- 
gether with his thorough knowledge of the lumber 
trade, renders him a valuable member of the firm. 

Mr. I'Uingsen was married in Seattle in 189(), 
to Ingebor Herge, a native of Iowa, born in 1817. 
Her father, Colben H, Berge, a native of Norway, 
is an honored pioneer of Washington, now living at 
Bryant, Snohomish county. Bertha (Erdahl) 
Rerge, the mother, is also of Norwegian nativity. 
Mr. and Mrs. Fllingsen have two children, both 
born in Snohonush county : Clarence F.. Septem- 
ber 8. 1897 ; and Myrtle S., September 4, 1899. Mr. 
Fllingsen and his family attend the Lutheran 
church. He is a loyal member of the Republican 
party, lending the strength of his influence to fur- 
thering its interests. A keen and practical young 
business man. he has accumulated considerable 
property, owning in addition to his interest in the 
shingle mill, a neat home in town. Just in the prime 
of life, energetic, ambitious, and possessed of those 
traits of character that insure success, he seems to 
have before him a future of usefulness and influ- 
ence. 



DANIEL S. BAKER, one of the early pioneers 
of the upper Stillaguamish river, has seen that coun- 
try develop from the wilderness of the former days 
to the present stage of settlement and civilization. 
(")ne of the first settlers on the north fork, he has 
done his share of the work of transforming a wil- 
derness of trees into homesteads, himself being in 
the forefront of progressive forces. -He was born 
in Maine, February 2->, 1844, with the blood in his 
veins of the hardy people who came from England 
soon after the Mayflower had landed amid Decem- 
ber snows on Plymouth Rock, His father, Nathan 
Baker, was born -June 30, 1808, a descendant of an- 
cestry which settled on the bleak New England 
shores in IfiSO and helped make the Pine Tree state. 
Mrs. Sarah (Smith) Baker, a native of Maine, born 
m 1S'20, was the mother of six children, the subject 
of this biography being the oldest. After attending 
the common schools of his native state, young 
Baker entered Hampden Academy and was pur- 
suing a collegiate course in Bowdoin College at 
P.runswick, Maine, when the Civil War broke out. 
The entire Sophomore class enlisted for the Union 
in the Twentieth Alaine infantry, J. L. Chamberlain, 
president of the college, being chosen lieutenant- 
colonel. After two years and ten months of service 
in that command Air. Baker was transferred to the 
navy, and served with the rank of lieutenant for the 
remainder of the war. Resigning his commission 
in ] 80(3 to accept a billet aboard a merchantman, he 
continued to follow the sea for fifteen years, then, 
in 1881. located in Clark county, Arkansas, as man- 
ager of a saw-mill. Two years later he came io 
Washinsfton and took a homestead near Tacoma, 



1034 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



relinquishing it in 1886. In 1884 Mr. Baker had 
become foreman of the hop yards of Ezra Meeker, 
the pioneer of the hop industry in this state, and 
that time the hop king of Washington. Two years 
of this service were followed by Mr. Baker's se- 
lection of Snohomish county and the Stillaguamish 
valley as the scene of his future operations. In 188G 
he took a homestead some six miles northeast of the 
site of the present town of Arlington, though at 
that time it was a wilderness accessible only by 
canoe from Stanwood and twenty-five miles dis- 
tant by the river route. Seventy acres of the land 
Mr. Baker then took up have been cleared and the 
heavy timber has been removed from the remainder. 
He resided on this place until 1901 when he leased 
it and removed with his family to Arlington. 

In 18G7 Mr. Baker married Miss Melissa Little- 
field, who became the mother of three children, two 
of whom are still living. George, the youngest, 
died in Arlington in 1902, twenty-two years after 
the death of his mother. Mr. Baker in 1893 mar- 
ried Miss Annie Rowley, daughter of William and 
Ann (Morledge) Rowley, natives of England who 
immigrated to the United States and died in In- 
diana. Mrs. Baker was born in Ohio in 1852 during 
the residence in the Buckeye state of her parents. 
She received her education in the schools of Ohio 
and Indiana. In lodge circles Mr. Raker is affilia- 
ted with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
being a charter member of No. 34 at Kent. He is 
also a prominent Mason, having joined that order 
in 1880, and being a past master now and also at 
present master of the blue lodge at Arlington. In 
politics he is a Republican. In 1888 he was chosen 
one of the commissioners of Snohomish county and 
served for a term of two years. In 1892 he was 
made state appraiser of tide lands and for four years 
thereafter he performed the duties of that office. 
When the town of Arlington was incorporated he 
was made a member of the city council, and he has 
ever since served the people of his home town in 
that capacity. Mr. Baker is the owner of 260 acres 
of farm land, 100 of which are under cultivation, 
and at present is making a specialty of raising Dur- 
ham cattle. He is one of those rare characters who 
preserve into the afternoon of life something of the 
freshness and vigor which have always attached to 
the pine forests of his native state. Hale, hearty 
and resonant of the pioneer days, he is also one 
of the wide awake men of the present, active, alert 
and closely in touch with the life and thought of 
the dav. 



JOHN W. MORRIS, while not one of the 
earliest pioneers of Snohomish county, is yet one of 
the men who cut the heavy timber from the ground 
on which the main street of Arlington has since 
been built. A veteran of the Civil War, he had also 
been active in the opening up of the Indian Terri- 



tory before coming to Washington. Mr. Morris 
was born in Kentucky January 28, 1844, the son of 
William and Eva (Carpenter) Morris. The elder 
Morris was born in Lexington, Kentucky, the home 
of the famous Breckinridges, and in the early days 
of the great conflict between the North and the 
South raised a company of Union soldiers and be- 
came its captain. At Independence, Missouri, in the 
campaign against Price, he received a wound from 
the effects of which he died. Mrs. Morris was also 
a native of Kentucky, but after the war removed 
to Illinois and died there. John W. Morris re- 
ceived his education in the common schools of Il- 
linois. When he was. seventeen years of age he 
enlisted in Company D, Ninety-first Illinois Infan- 
try, under Captain Hanna and served with that com- 
mand until it was mustered out in 1864. Mr. Mor- 
ris at once re-entered the service as a member of 
Company K, Twenty-eighth Illinois, under Captain 
John W. Stokes, and served in the campaign on 
the Mexican Ixirder against General Kirby Smith 
until mustered out on the 9th of April, 1866. After 
leaving the army he returned to Illinois and en- 
gaged in farming for one year, in 1869 going to Ne- 
braska and a year later to southern Kansas. While 
in the latter state he helped to lay out the town of 
Peru in Chautauqua county, and participated ac- 
tively in the county seat fights in Chautauqua and 
Elk counties. Those were the days when county 
seats in the middle west were on wheels and easily 
mobile, according to the wishes of the persons in 
charge. In 1874 Mr. Morris engaged in the stock 
business, mostly in a speculative way, on the lands 
of the Cherokee nation in the Indian Territory and 
continued in this line of activity until 1885, when he 
opened a livery stable in Peru, Kansas. This was 
his home until February, 1890, when he came to 
Washington. His first work in the new state was 
clearing timber from the site of the main street of 
Arlington. Very soon after this he took a soldier's 
homestead on Jim creek, where he lived for two 
years, selling out then and purchasing his present 
farm of thirty acres, twenty of which are under cul- 
tivation. This place adjoins Arlington on the 
southeast. 

In 1871 at Peru. Kansas. Mr. Morris married 
Miss Louise Stearns, daughter of Sheldon A. and 
Mary J. Stearns, who came to Linn county in the 
Sunflower state from Iowa. Mr. Stearns is dead, 
but is survived by Mrs. Stearns, now living in 
Whatcom county. Mrs. Morris was born in Penn- 
sylvania. August, 1854, and received her education 
in the schools of Iowa and Kansas. Eight children 
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Morris, namely: 
Ralph, Claude W., Mrs. Mae Murphy, Arthur N., 
Mrs. Katie lies, Earl, Winnie and Queenie. In pol- 
itics Mr. Morris is aligned with the Socialists, but 
aside from acting as deputy sheriff in 1892 and 
1893, has never been an officeholder. In fraternal 
circles he is a Mason and an Odd Fellow, in the 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



1035 



latter order being a past grand; also a member of 
E. M. Stanton Post. He is a man of sterling char- 
acter, respected by all in the community, one of the 
men who leave their imprint on their surroundings, 
alive to all the questions of the hour. 



MATTHEW .M. McCAULLEY, residing two 
and a half miles east of Arlington, Washington, on 
one of the finest farms in the forks region, is a 
pioneer among pioneers, and is deserving of the 
rich rewards he is now reaping after years of un- 
remitting toil and labor. He was born in Madison 
county, Illinois, June IS, 1842. His father, James 
McCaulley, was a native of Kentucky who followed 
mechanical pursuits. He eventually moved to Penn- 
sylvania, residing there for a time and then going 
to Illinois of which state he became one of the earli- 
est pioneers. His death occurred there three months 
before the birth of his son, Matthew. Flora (Fer- 
guson) McCaullc}-. the mother, was born and mar- 
ried in Pennsylvania. 

Left an orphan at the age of two years, Matthew 
M. ?^IcCaulley was taken by an aunt who lived in 
Pennsylvania and he grew to manhood in that state, 
receiving his education in the common schools 
there established. \\'hen sixteen years old he went 
to Oliio where he lived for some time. At the out- 
break of the Civil ^Var, although but a boy of nine- 
teen, he was one of the first to volunteer, enlisting 
in the ]07th Illinois Volunteers. He served 
throughout the entire conflict and was mustered out 
at ^^'ashington Cit)-, in June, 1865. Returning to 
Illinois, he spent a few months, then decided to lo- 
cate in Iowa, so went to Des Moines where he em- 
barked in the hotel business and was thus engaged 
for four years. In 18G9 he migrated to California. 
After dealing in stock there for two years he again 
took lip his residence in Iowa and farmed in that 
state for si.x years, at the end of which time he de- 
cided to come to the Northwest. He reached Stan- 
wood in February, 18T9, intending to take up a 
homestead, but not finding one to his taste he 
worked in a logging camp owned by James Long 
for the following four years, and later rented a 
farm on Camano island. He filed on a homestead 
two and a half miles east of the present city of Ar- 
lington in May, 1883, he being the first man to take 
a claim on the South Fork of the Stillaguamish. 
The land was then covered with a dense growth of 
timber and brush, but of the 209 acres that he now 
owns he has 115 in cultivation. He is devoting the 
greater share of his attention to dairying, keeping a 
herd of fine Jersey cattle, 

Mr. McCaulley was married on Camano island, 
in October, 188C. to Frances L. Davis, a native of 
that island, born in 1863 and educated in the Seattle 
schools. Her father, Reuben J. Davis, who was a 
native of New York state was a mechanic. Cross- 
ing the plains to California, he made that his home 



until 1858, then came to Washington as one of its 
very earliest pioneer white men and here spent the 
remainder of his life. He was among the first white 
men to settle north -of Seattle. Mrs. McCaulley 
died in 1891, mourned as a personal loss by the 
community, leaving the following children: Lena 
B., born on Camano island, now living in Snoho- 
mish county ; James W., Fred and Maud, all of 
whom were born in this county and are living at 
home. In political belief Mr. McCaulley inclines to 
Socialism and in lodge connections is a member of 
the Masonic fraternity; also a member of the G. 
A. R. He is a typical pioneer, possessed of those 
sterling qualities of ambition and tireless energy 
that are requisite in those who would subdue the 
forests and transfonn the wilderness into a garden 
of beauty and fruitfulness. His personal character 
and life are such as to command the esteem of his 
fellow citizens, who respect him not alone for the 
noble part he played in rallying to the support of 
the flag during the dark days of civil strife, but for 
the courage and devotion shown in the later battles 
with adverse conditions in the conquest of natural 
barriers to the enjoyment of nature's blessings. 



JACKSON H. PERSUN, one of the thrifty and 
prosperous farmers of Arlington, Washington, was 
born in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, March 17, 
1858, the son of Elias and Hannah (Moyer) Per- 
sun, who were also natives of that state. His 
father, a farmer, sought the fertile lands of Wash- 
ington in 1889, and died here in February, 1890. 
The mother, to whom nine children have been born, 
is still living in her native state, at the age of seven- 
ty. Jackson Persun spent the first twenty-one years 
of his life at home on his father's farm, acquiring 
his education in the common schools of Pennsyl- 
vania. He became a resident of Washington in 
April, 1888, stopping first at Stanwood. After 
working in the logging camp of Cummings & Jones 
for two years, he filed on a pre-emption on Jim 
creek, a tributary of the south fork of the Stilla- 
guamish river, in the spring of 1889. He made that 
his home for fourteen months, working meanwhile 
in lumber camps. Moving to Arlington in 1891, he 
still followed the same business, his wife going 
with him to the camp where her skill as a cook was 
in great demand. Thus working together during 
the summer months, and when winter came moving- 
to a home in town which they had previously built, 
they spent seven profitable years, but in 1899 he 
al>andoned the occupation that had claimed his at- 
tention for so many years, and went to the gold 
fields of Alaska, where he mined for eighteen 
months. Returning to Arlington in 1901 he pur- 
chased seventy acres of land adjoining the town, 
and has since spent his entire time in farming. 

Mr. Persun was married in Pennsylvania, in 
1885, to Sarah E. Cronkrite, born in New York 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



state in 18.i(>. She is the daughter of John and 
Sarah (I'earson) Cronkrite. also natives of New 
York. The father farmed in Pennsylvania for 
many years before his death ; the mother still re- 
sides in that state. Mrs. Persun received her edu- 
cation in New York, and after being graduated 
from the high school, went to Pennsylvania in which 
state she was a successful teacher prior to her mar- 
riage. Mr. and iXIrs. I'ersun have one child, a 
daughter, R. Lee, born in Pennsylvania, January 
29, 1880, who is now attending the high school at 
Arlington. Mr. Persun is identified with the Odd 
Fellows fraternity, and his wife is an earnest 
worker in the Baptist church. In political belief 
he adheres strictly to Republican principles, and 
lends his influence to the advancement of that 
party's interests. He makes a specialty of dairying, 
and owns a fine herd of Jersey cattle. In addition 
to his excellent farm he is also interested in city 
property to quite an extent. He justly deserves the 
title of a self-made man, as his present financial 
standing is due entirely to his own untiring energy 
and careful management, which qualities combined 
with an upright character, have made him one of 
the respected citizens of Arlington. 



J.\COl'. PETERSON, engaged in general farm- 
ing and dair^'ing a mile west of Arlington, has been 
a resident of this section of the state for the past 
sixteen years, during which he has attained de- 
served success. Born in Norway July 13, 1870, 
he is the son of Peter and Guri (Branstad) Yolden, 
both of whom were natives of that far northern 
country also. The father was a farmer. He passed 
away in 1898 in Norway at the age of seventy-five. 
The mother died in 1900 at an advanced age also. 
Of the four children constituting the family the sub- 
ject of this sketch is the second, two being boys 
and two girls. He attended school and worked on 
the farm with his father and with neighbors until 
twenty years of age. From time to time he heard 
wonderful stories of the opportunities offered young 
men by the United States, and in 1890 crossed the 
sea to investigate personally. After a long, arduous, 
though interesting, journey of thousands of miles 
through a strange country, the young emigrant 
reached Fir, Skagit county, in August. 1890, where 
farhily friends resided, among them being Ole Bor- 
seth and I.. Engen, who had preceded him a year. 
He immediately went to work for Mr. Engen, on 
Avhose farm he remained a year and a half. He 
then took a contract for ditching and draining a 
large slough nearby, after the completion of which 
he cruised timber on the Pilchuck river for a time, 
then engaged in fishing thirteen months at the mouth 
of the Skagit river. At this time he removed to the 
Stillaguamish valley, settling at Silvana and there 
assisting in opening the county road between the 
depot and Elverum's store. Later the young man 



worked a time for Air. Engen and spent several 
months in school perfecting his education before re- 
turning to Silvana to enter the employ of S. Knut- 
son. One summer he cut bolts at Bryant. He 
bought his present farm of thirty-nine acres De- 
cember 22, 1899, after having leased a year near 
Silvana. Mr. Peterson's place shows unmistakable 
signs of thrift and skill in the occupation he is fol- 
lowing and is one of the substantial small farms 
of the valley. 

The marriage of Miss Gyda Husby, daughter of 
Ole K. and Nettie Husby, to ^Ir. Peterson was 
solemnized May 10, 1902. The parents of the bride 
are natives of Norway, who came to the United 
States when \oung people, settling in Minnesota. 
They came to Snohomish county in 1888 and, after 
spending a time near Port Susan, came up the Still- 
aguamish to a point near Arlington and engaged 
in farming. Roth are still living and reside near the 
little city at the forks of the river. Mrs. Peterson 
was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota; March 21, 
1883, and received her education in the schools of 
Snohomish county. One child has blessed the union 
of Mr. and Mrs. Peterson, Ole Johan, born August 
20, 1903. The family are communicants of the 
Lutheran church. Politically Mr. Peterson is af- 
filiated with the Republican party, and is one of its 
conservative members. 



THOMAS JENSEN, whose home lies about 
two and a half miles southeast of Silvana, is one of 
the enterprising farmers of this part of Snohomish 
county, a man of sterling character and of active 
public spirit. He was bom in Germany in 1819, 
the fourth of the nine children of Lawrence and 
Christina Jensen, farmer people of the old countrj-. 
The father died on the home farm, where 
he first saw the light. Thomas Jensen at- 
tended the schools of his native place until 
at the age of sixteen years he was ap- 
prenticed to the trade of carpenter. He served 
three years, then passed one year as journeyman 
in the vicinity of his home, but in 1809 he came to 
the L'nited States, settling in Burlington, Iowa, 
and for several years he alternated between Iowa 
and Louisiana, working at the bench. He also put 
in eighteen months at his trade in California. In 
187 1 he was back again in Burlington, whence he 
made a trip to his old home in Germany. On his 
return he took ship at New York for San Francisco, 
via the isthmus of Panama, and he remained in the 
Golden Gate city until 1878, when he made a trip 
to Seattle. Being highly pleased with the Puget 
sound country, in a short time he returned and lo- 
cated on one hundred and sixty acres in Snohomish 
county, up the Stillaguamish river. He remained 
here for two years, putting the place into shape for 
agriculture in so far as was possible in that time, but 
passed the winter of 1880 in San Francisco, work- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



ins =it 'I'S trade for nioiie\- with which to develop his 
Snohomish county place. This poHcy he pursued 
I'or five years, and at the present time he has about 
ninety acres cleared and under cultivation, one acre 
being in orchard and small fruits. 

In ISSC, at San Francisco, Mr. Jensen married 
Miss Johanna Jens, daughter of Joachim E. and 
Meta C. (Detlefsen) Jens, the former of whom was 
a dyer in Germany, in which country he passed 
away when Mrs. Jensen was twelve years of age. 
Mrs. Jens, though a native of Germany, went to 
Italy in later years and died there. Airs. Jensen 
was born in Germany in September, 1854, and re- 
ceived her education there. Two daughters have 
been born to Mr. and Mrs. Jensen: Dora, in 1887. 
who has passed through the county schools and also 
the school at .-Vrlington. and Martha, in 1888, who 
also received her education in the Snohomish coun- 
ty schools. Both the daughters of Mr. Jensen were 
in the first class to graduate from Island school, 
Xo. 22. In politics Mr. Jensen is a Socialist. Being 
deeply interested in the cause of popular education, 
he has served as a member of the school board. He 
owns •.''»() acres of land, very nearly half of which 
is under culti\ation. also fifty head of cattle, the 
principal part of which are dairy stock. Air. Jensen 
is M-ell known for his public spirit, and is a man of 
energy and acompHshment. successful in his under- 
Inkins's. 



SFARRT EXGRSETH. farmer, three miles 
southeast of Sih-ana. affords in his career in this 
state an illustration of what may be done by a man 
who is willing to work in any line of endeavor and 
advance hiinself to the position of an independent 
agriculturist. The career also illustrates how the 
timber and logging industry of Snohomish countv 
has been the means of affording a start toward 
ownership of property. Mr. Engeseth was born in 
Norway Mav R. 18fi6, the son of Andrew and Annie 
(Hansen) Engeseth. natives of Norway. The 
elder Engeseth came to Washington in 1890 and re- 
mained here for eight years, then returned to the 
old countr\-. where he is still living. Mrs. Engeseth 
has remained in this country and is making her 
home at .Silvana. .Severt Engeseth remained at 
home and attendcfl school until he was twelve vears 
of age. when he engaged in the fisheries as a winter 
occupation, working on his father's farm during 
summer. In 188.'?. when seventeen vears old. he 
came to Washington, traveling from Norway alone, 
to rejoin an uncle at Silvana. He remained with 
the uncle for three years, then, from the vear 188() 
to the year 1889. carried the mail between Silvana 
and Stan wood, working at farming between trips. 
In the spring of 1^90 Mr. Engeseth turned to the 
logging camns and for seven years lived in the 
woods and followed the life of a logger and timber- 
jnan. In 189: he went to the Klondike, where, in 



the fourteen months of his stay, he accumulated a 
handsome sum. On coming out from Alaska j\ir. 
Engeseth returned to Stanwood, whence he soon 
after made a trip to his old home in Norway, re- 
maining there about eight months. Returning in 
May, 1900, he purchased twenty-two acres of land 
which forms part of his present farm and consists 
of as fertile soil as is to be found. Since that time 
he has made his home on the place and has added 
forty acres of timber land to his holdings. 

October 20, 189S, while visiting his old home 
across the Atlantic Mr. Engeseth married Miss 
Sine Hoidal, daughter of Martin and Petrene (Han- 
sen) Hoidal, who are still living in the old country, 
the father being a seafaring man. Mrs. Engeseth 
was born in the old country June 22. 1868. and re- 
ceived her education there. Mr. and Mrs. Engeseth 
have three children: Martin, born February 14, 
1900: Albert, March 2-.'. 1901; Petrene, born'june 
11. 1902, deceased; Anskar, October 1. 1903, and 
Severt, June 29, 190.3. In fraternal circles Air. En- 
geseth is a member of the Alodern Woodmen of 
.\merica : in church afifiliations he is a Lutheran, 
and in politics a Republican. He has served as road 
connnissioner of his district, but has never been an 
oiifice-seeker, and never aspired to any of the higher 
positions of trust in county or state. Twenty-five 
acres of his land is under cultivation and producing 
excellent crops. In live stock, aside from horses for 
operating the farm. Air. Engeseth has twenty-one 
head of cattle of the dairy type. His farming busi- 
ness is prosperous ; his home is one of the pleasant- 
est places in the Silvana district, and his enjoyment 
of material blessings is heightened by the possession 
of a rejiutation for honcstv and integritv. 



JOHN C. LARSON, farmer, three and a half 
miles from Silvana and equally distant from Ar- 
lington, is of the fibre of which men must be made 
who win a new country from nature and adapt it to 
the needs of man. He has livefl on his present 
place since the days when it was covered with for- 
est and has changed it into a fertile farm. .Ability 
to work and patience to accomplish are among Mr. 
Larson's chief characteristics. He was born in 
Norway February 1. 1847, the second of the two 
children of Lars and Ella (Setter) Larson, natives; 
of Norway, born in the early years of the last cen- 
tury. Young Larson attended the common school 
at his home and also the high school, at the age 
of fourteen years .going to work for farmers in his 
neighlwrhood. For twelve years he continued at 
farm work and when twenty-six years old he 
started to learn the trade of carpenter. Soon after 
qualifying himself for work at the bench he en- 
gaged in a shipyard and worked at ship carpentry- 
for two years. In 1S8() Mr. Larson determined to 
come to the L'nited States, and he reached Stan- 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



wood on the last day of May of that year. He then 
passed two months in Skagit county, but returned 
to Snohomish county, stopping for a time in Sil- 
vaiia. In February of 1888 he filed on the place 
which now constitutes his home farm, taking up 
but thirty-two acres. It was covered with a growth 
of cottonwoods, but he has cleared and slashed the 
entire tract and made many improvements on the 
land. 

\A^hile living in Norway Mr. Larson in 1881 
married Miss Engeborg Bruseth, daughter of An- 
dres and Guro (Setter) Bruseth, both of whom 
were born, lived and died in their native land. Mrs. 
Larson was born in 1848 and received her educa- 
tion in the old country. She passed a year and a 
half in Denmark, learning the principles of suc- 
cessful conduct of a creamery establishment. She 
came to Snohomish county with her husband in 
1886 and died here October 21, 1893, leaving two 
living children, three others having died in baby- 
hood. The living are Lars and Guro, both of whom 
were born in Norway. In church membership Mr. 
Larson is a Lutheran ; in politics an adherent to 
the People's party principles. Mr. Larson raises 
cattle, keeping, at this writing, twenty head on his 
home place. He is one of the fine men of his com- 
munity, energetic and of the class which makes for 
the betterment of the neighborhood in which he 
lives. 



ANDREW J. GREEN, farmer, two and a half 
miles west of Arlington, is one of the public-spirited 
citizens and prosperous men of the Stillaguamish 
valley. He was one of the pioneer settlers of the 
section, Mrs. Green being among the very first white 
women to make their homes there. Mr. Green was 
born in Norway in 18.57, the third of seven children 
of Johonos and Ingeborg (Anderson) Green, also 
natives of Norway. The elder Green came to the 
United States in ISSO and died in Michigan. An- 
drew J. Green attended the Norway schools and at 
the age of sixteen took to the sea and followed the 
life of a sailor for six years, during the last two 
of which he held an interest in the vessel in which 
he sailed. - In 1878 Mr. Green came to the United 
States and settled in Wisconsin, where he remained 
for six years. In 1885 he came to Washington and 
for a time made his headquarters at Stillaguamish 
postoffice, now Silvana. engaged in farm work. 
The following year he filed on a piece of wooded 
wilderness which he has since converted into a fine 
farm. When Mr. Green took his wife to live on his 
land she was almost alone so far as the company of 
white women was concerned. Mr. Green has 
cleared and slashed sixty of his eightv-five acres of 
land, the remainder being still in timber. Hay and 
grain form his principal crops, though he also gives 
considerable attention to cattle raising, keeping 
some thirty-four head at this date. 



In 1SS3. while living in Wisconsin, Mr. Green 
married Miss Guro Nelson, daughter of Nels and 
Gi'.ave Nelson, both of whom are still living in Nor- 
way. Mrs. Green was born in 18-58 and received 
her education in the common schools of Norway, 
later coming to the United States and settling in 
Wisconsin. Ten children have been born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Green, of whom one daughter, Clara M., 
died in infancy. The living are Annie G., born in 
Wisconsin, and now operator in the telephone office 
at Arlington ; Jonas P., born in Silvana ; Nels N., 
Anton F., Caroline, Margarette, Amanda C, Albert 
and Bernard. A Lutheran in religion, Mr. Green is 
at present deacon in his home church ; in politics he 
is a Republican. Being a public-spirited man, he 
has ever contributed his share toward the promo- 
tion of the common weal, at one time serving four 
years in the thankless and unremunerative office 
of school director and for two years serving as road 
supervisor. He is one of the substantial, worthy 
men of his community, highly esteemed by those 
with whom he is associated, energetic progressive 
and prosperous. 



JOSEPH KRAETZ, one of the men whose 
abundant labors have contributed to the material 
and industrial development of Snohomish county, is 
a native of Germany, born February 5, 1866. His 
father, Johan, and his mother, Cresyen (Reindl) 
Kraetz, wej-e likewise natives of this land, and their 
remains lie buried there. The former was a baker 
by trade. The Mr. Kraetz of this article attended 
the excellent German schools from the time he first 
became old enough until he was thirteen, then went 
to work in a railroad shop, where he learned the 
trade of a machinist. After thoroughly mastering 
his craft and following it as a journeyman for a 
few years, he put into practice a determination to 
seek his fortune in the new world, and in 1887 he 
took up his abode in the state of Michigan. Only 
four months were spent there, however, then he 
caught the spirit of "Westward, Ho!" and came to 
.Silvana, Washington. Early in 1888 he bought 
forty acres two miles east of town, covered with 
forest, surrounded by forest and without even a 
trail over which to pack provisions. To open a 
passable road and to clear and seed the land was the 
iaV>or of six or seven years, but the task was suc- 
cessfully accomplished and the land thus improved 
furnished Mr. Kraetz a home until 1895, when he 
sold out. For a couple of years afterward he 
farmed a rented place in the vicinity, but in the 
spring of 1898 he purchased a tract of eighty acres 
a short distance southwest of Arlington, unim- 
proved at the time, and once more began the 
struggle with impeding timber and debris. In the 
years which have intervened he has cleared and 
seeded half this land, giving token, by thus opening 
two homes in the heart of dense forests, of his great 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



industry, earnestness of purpose and capacity for 
■hard work. 

In the state of Michigan, in 1893, Mr. Kraetz 
married Miss Annie Dous, whose father, Ferdinand, 
is a native of Germany, and by occupation a coal 
miner. At present he is superintendent of a large 
mine in Michigan, for the owners of which he has 
worked for the past thirty-five years. Mrs. Kraetz's 
mother, Louise (Schultz) Dous, is likewise a native 
of Germany and now a resident of the Peninsula 
state. Born in Ohio in 1875, Mrs. Kraetz grew to 
young womanhood and was educated in that state, 
but moved to Michigan previous to her marriage. 
She and Mr. Kraetz are parents of the following 
children, namely: Louise, Louis, Ernest, Joseph 
and Sophia, all born in Snohomish county. In poli- 
tics Mr. Kraetz is a Democrat and in fraternal af- 
filiations a Woodman of the World. He is looked 
upon as one of the substantial, strong men of his 
part of the county, a man of force and ability and 
in all respects worthy of esteem and confidence. 
Like most farmers in his locality he is considerably 
interested in dairying, keeping twenty head of cattle 
at this time. 



OLE O. REINSETH, whose farm lies about 
•equidistant from Silvana and Arlington, is one of 
the self-made men of Snohomish county. After 
passing many years in the logging camps of the 
Stillaguamish he purchased a tract of forest land 
and commenced the task of rearing himself a home 
in the midst of a dense, forest. Mr. Reinseth was 
born in Norway in the winter of 1861, the second of 
■eight children of Ole and Bret (Ulnvund) Reinseth, 
who are still living in the land of the fjords, where 
the father is a sailor by occupation. Ole O. Rein- 
seth attended the common schools of his native land 
as a lad and remained at home until he was twenty- 
two years old. He came to the United States in 
18Sfi and in the fall of that year appeared on the 
Skagit river, but soon after went to work for Olson 
& McFadden in their logging camp on the Stilla- 
guamish. He remained here fur three years, leav- 
ing to enter upon a four-year term of service in the 
logging camp of O. B. Commons. At the comple- 
tion of this period Mr. Reinseth passed six months 
in the English logging camp, leaving there to take a 
lease of the Iver Johnson farm, near Silvana, which 
he operated with success for four years. In 1894 
Mr. Reinseth was in a position to undertake the 
purchase of a tract of woodland with a view to con- 
verting it into farm land, and he selected thirty-six 
acres midway between Silvana and Arlington. At 
that time not a stick of timber had been removed 
from the heavily wooded tract and there was not a 
sign of an improvement, but three years later Mr. 
Reinseth had cleared a place for his liouse, erected 
his dwelling and outbuildings and moved his family 
thereto. At the present time there are but six acres 



not under cultivation, and Mr. Reinseth has wrought 
the transformation with his own hands and his own 
teams. 

In 1893, in Seattle, Mr. Reinseth married Miss 
Mary Benson, daughter of Berent and Annie (Ros- 
sevold) Benson, natives of Norway, who are still 
living in the old home across the sea. Mrs. Rein- 
seth was born in the old country in 18GS and re- 
ceived her education in the schools there. In 1890 
she came to the United States. She passed some 
time in Minnesota, but afterward came to Tacoma 
and still later to Seattle. Mr. and Mrs. Reinseth 
iiave five living children: Bertha and Annie, born 
at Silvana ; Oberth, Sene and Rena, born on the 
home ranch. Elizabeth, the first child born to them 
on the new ranch, died in infancy, and Arthur 
passed away December 34, 1904. In church con- 
nections the Reinseths are Lutherans, and in poli- 
tics Mr. Reinseth is a Republican, but aside from 
serving two terms as road supervisor, he has given 
no time or attention to office holding. He keeps 
twenty-seven head of dairy cattle and horses suf- 
ficient for operating the farm. He is one of the 
respected citizens of the community, a man who 
combines thrift and energy with business shrewd- 
ness. 



PEDER REINSETH, farmer near Arlington 
is of the thrifty Scandinavian born American citi- 
zens who constitute so large a percentage of the 
population of Snohomish county and who have con- 
tributed so large a share toward the development 
of the native resources of the community. Mr. 
Reinseth was born in Norway February 36, 1873, 
the son of Ole and Bret (Ulnvund) Reinseth, who 
are still residents of Norway, where the father leads 
the life of a sailor. As a lad young Reinseth at- 
tended the schools of Norway, remaining at home 
until nineteen years old. At that age, being at- 
tracted to the United States by reason of the fact 
that he had a brother in this country, he determined 
to emigrate. He joined his brother, Ole O. Rein- 
seth, a biographical sketch of whom appears in this 
work, in Snohomish county in 1889 and soon after 
went to work for the Great Northern Railway Com- 
pany. After passing some time at railroading, Mr. 
Reinseth went into the woods and worked in a log- 
ging camp for four years, at the end of which term 
he engaged in the fishing industry, continuing 
therein for two years. Mr. Reinseth went to Alaska 
in 1899 and that was his place of abode for two 
years more. On his return to Snohomish county he 
purchased his present place of twenty-six acres, 
covered with heavy timber. Eight acres of this 
tract have been cleared and put into cultivation and 
now constitute Mr. Reinseth's home place. Recent- 
ly he has increased his holdings by the purchase of 
twenty acres more adjoining. 

In 1S95, at Silvana, Mr.^ Reinseth married Miss 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



Minnie Peterson, daughter of Giinder and Giiro 
Peterson, natives of Norway who passed their en- 
tire lives in their native land, dying there some 
years ago. Mrs. Peterson was born in Norway in 
187:j and received her education in the Norwegian 
schools, but came to the United States and located 
in the Puget sound country some time previous to 
her marriage. Three children have been born to 
]\lr. aii.l Airs. Reinscth. all of whom are living: 
nil. (K-,la .-nid ( l!oa. Tla- famil\ arc attendants 
ui»in the l.iillicran cinirch. and in ])c>lilical faith .Mr. 
Reinseth is a Republican. He is a hard worker, 
thrifty, energetic, and, though a young man, al- 
ready well on the way to independence, financially. 



HANS THOMSEN, one of the sturdy men 
who have wrought the agricultural development of 
Snohomish county, clearing away the primeval for- 
est and a maze of debris that the land might be pre- 
])areil fur tlu- seed, is a nati\c of ( iermanv, land 
whence s, , many successful tillers of the soil have 
come, land of thrift and industry and force. He is 
the son of ^Mather and Katrina (Jensen) Thomsen, 
likewise natives of Germany, who both passed away 
in their native country after having become the 
parents of seven children, of whom our subject was 
third. Mr. Thoinsen was educated in the famous 
German schools, but being of an aiubitious and ad- 
venturous turn, lie did not remain long in his father- 
land, for ;it the early age of eighteen he was alone 
in a strange lanij. the language of which was un- 
familiar to him, but a land, nevertheless, which held 
o]i])ortimity and plenty for those with the eyes to 
see and hands to grasp the chances that should come 
in their way. He was not entirely alone, however, 
for in the Stillaguamish valley then lived and still 
lives an uncle, and to tis uncle he came. For three 
years he worked for his relative and for others in 
the vicinitv. then he resolved to secure .some land 
for himself, so in TSSI he availed himself of the 
privik-e -. L;enerM„s|\ afforded by I'nele Sam, and 
]3rc-cniptei| a tract of one hundred and t\vent\- acres 
four and a hall miles west of where Arlington now 
is. This he afterward converted into .a homestead. 
Naturally the land was without inipro\ enients of 
any kind when he came into possession of it, and as 
wild as western \\'asIiington forest land could 1>e, 
but he went to work with a will, and as a result 
he now has a large clearing and at least half his 
place in cultivation. The Thomsen farm of the 
present day is in striking contrast, with its com- 
fortable buildings and smiling fields, to the Thom- 
sen place in ISS-j. with its debris and wonderful 
wealth of timber. Thou.gh a .general farmer, Mr. 
Thomsen makes a specialty of the dairy business. 
k'^^ping at the present time thirty-five head of ex- 
cellent animals. 

Tn the year 1889, in Seattle. Washin.gton, Mr. 
'J'homsen married Miss Katherine G. Tietjen, a 



native of Germany, whose parents still live there. 
ISorn in 1864, she grew up in her European home, 
acquiring her education in the common schools of 
the parish, but at the age of eighteen she came ta 
.\merica. She and .Mr. I'honisen are parents of five 
children — .'sena, i<".ls,a. Herman, Tillie and William. 
In fraternal affiliations .Mr. Thomsen is a Workman 
and a member of the Modern Woodmen of .Amer- 
ica ; in politics he is independent. l)ut with a strong 
bias t'lward Socialism, Aside from serving two 
terms on the scliool board, he has never held office 
in the county, nor has he sought to hold office, his 
ambition Ijeing rather for industrial than political 
success. He is a man of ener.gy, with an honorable 
record to his credit, one of tlie sturdy men of the- 
comuumily and respected as such. 



JOHN SCHLOMAN is one of the early 
settlers in the Silvana section of .Snohomish county, 
and though he has not lived continuously in this 
county since he first came in 1 ss 1 , he has passed 
the greater part of the intervening time here. Air. 
.Schloman tried eastern \\'ashington for a time, but 
came back to the western slope of the Cascades and 
resmued life on the Stillaguamish. He was iKjrn 
in Germany in 1S5 1 , but was brought by his parents 
to Alinne.sota when but two years old. His father, 
Henry Schloman, was a blacksmith by trade, but 
on coming to America became one of the pioneer 
farmers of .Minnesota, though during the Civil War 
he returned temporarily to the pursuit of his trade. 
The mother, Mary { Wilhelm) Schloman, also a na- 
tive of Germany, came to Snohomish county irom 
Minnesota after the death of her husband and died 
here w itii lur son, who was the eighth of her nine 
children. John Schloman received his education 
in the common schools of Minnesota. He remained 
on the farm there until 1881, then came to the terri- 
tory of \\'ashin.g-ton, stopping for six months in 
Seattle. In the spring of 1882 Mr. Schloman came 
to .Snohoniisli coniu\ and filed a pre-emption claim 
to one hunilred and sixtv acres near where Silvana 
now is, upon which he eventually proved up and 
about eight acres of which he cleared. Sellin.g out 
at the end of four \ears' residence there, he moved 
to the Palouse country of eastern Washington, 
where he passed a year, then for another year he 
was a resident of Spokane, after which he came 
back to Snohotnish county and bought a piece of 
land near .Arlington. After living there for a time. 
Mr. .Schloman took a homestead near Darrington, 
but. on proving up. sold this and came back to Ar- 
lington, where he lived for the ensuing four or five 
years. In ISdii he moved on to his present place, 
three and a half miles southwest of Arlington and 
four and a half southeast of Silvana, establishing 
a residence there, which continues vmbroken to 
this day. 

At Arlington, in 1890, Mr. Schloman married 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Miss JMeta, daughter of William and Rosa (Flick) 
Spoerhase, the former of whom was born in Ger- 
many, but came to this country with his parents 
when but two years old. He attained the years of 
manhood in Minnesota, becoming a brick mason. 
In 18!»1 he came to Washington and is now livinj;- 
near Arlington. Mrs. Spoerhase, a nati\c nf i )iiin, 
is also still living. Mrs. Schloman was liorn in Min- 
nesota September 6, 1873, and received her educa- 
tion in that state, coming to Washington with her 
]iarents when eighteen years old. She and Air. 
Schloman have two children, Henry and Cosima. 
born November 17, 1891, and May 9, 1S9(), respec- 
tively. In fraternal circles Mr. ScJiloman is a mem- 
ber of the Ancient < Jrck-r nf I'nitcd U'orkmen and 
in pi^litics a Socialist, well infMnnnl on the tenets 
of the men of that economical faith. He has one 
hundred and twenty acres of land, devoted to gen- 
eral farming, and gives some attention to stock, 
having at present a herd of nine cattle. Tliat Mr. 
Schloman has seen much of the world and is well 
informed on all subjects is evident from a casual 
conversation with him. .\n omniverous reader, he 
is fully abreast of the times along all lines of pro- 
gressive thought, lie is highly respected in his 
community as a man of sterling worth and more 
than ordinary abilit\'. 



WILLI. \M H. BUXTEX (deceased) was one 
of the pioneers of the Arlington countrv, highlv re- 
spected by the community. He came here in iS84, 
when the country was virgin forest which knew 
neither axe nor settler, and when provisions had to 
be brought from Stanwood by Indian canoe on the 
river, the water route Ijeing the only one known to 
travel. Mr. Bunten was born in Alexander. Maine, 
July .3], LS29, the son of Andrew and Clare A. 
( Ciiase) Bunten. The father was a native of Scot- 
land, and after coming to .\morica became a school 
teacl-.er and f.irmci- in the Fine Tree state. Mrs. 
Bimten, a n;iii\< .w" Maim-, was a descendant of the 
Mavflower |)il..;iii!is. She ilied at Redwood City, 
California. William H. Bunten received his educa- 
tion in the schools of Maine and even during his 
boyhood days learned the trade of a carpenter. 
Alarried when nineteen years of age, he operated 
his father's farm for several years thereafter, but in 
18().5 went to California, making the trip around the 
Horn. ,\fter three years there, he determined to 
return to Maine, by vessel. He was shipwrecked 
on the Panama coast and had to wait a month 
before the next steamer should touch at the port. 
In the interim he was stricken with isthmian fever, 
which so changed his plans that he returned to 
California, and there resided until his advent to 
Puget sound. The fever caused the ])ermanent loss 
of his hearing. 

In 1880. while living in California, Mr. Bunten 
married Miss Sophia Eichholz, daughter of William 



AI. and Frederika (Kolpin) Eichholz, natives of 
German}\ The father died of typhoid fever when 
thirty-two years of age; his widow survived in the 
old country until 187"2. Mrs. Bunten was born in 
Germany in 185 1 and received her education there. 
When fifteen years of age, she came to Wisconsin, 
whence she crossed the continent to California in 
1880. Five children were born to this union: 
Mrs. Minnie C. King, torn in California in 1881 ; 
Mrs. Clara H. Holing, born in Port Susan, Wash- 
ington, in 1883 ; Bertha, born on the Snohomish 
county ranch in 1886 ; William H., Jr., and Walter 
M., both of whom were born on the present home 
ranch. Mr. Bunten was a lifelong Republican and 
an earnest advocate of the principles of that party. 
The family are attendants of the Evangelical 
church. The farm is operated by Mrs. Bunten and 
her sons, who are very successful as agriculturists. 
Mrs. Bunten retains many memories of the early 
days up the river and frequently contrasts those 
pioneer days with the present ones on the fine ranch 
well stocked with cattle, horses and sheep. The 
heritage left by Mr. Bunten is two-fold — a fine 
ranch which he did much to develop from the dense 
forest, and the memory of an excellent man and 
public-spirited citizen. 



JOACHIM KROGER, whose farm lies two 
miles southwest of Arlington, is one of the success- 
ful and respected German-Americans of Snohomish 
county, where he has resided for nearly twenty 
years. Mr. Kroger is a native of Germany,' born 
May 32, 1853. His parents, Joachim and Annie 
(Dainmon) Kroger, were German farmer folk, who 
passed their entire lives in the old country. The 
son received his education in the German schools 
and remained at home until he was twenty years of 
age. In 1873 he came to the United States and 
settled in Minnesota, where he followed the life 
of a farmer for full fifteen years. In tlie autumn 
of 1888 he came to the Puget Sound country and 
filed on a pre-emption three miles southwest of 
Arlington, upon which he resided two years, then 
sold out and purchased his present place of one 
hundred acres. When Mr. Kroger gained posses- 
sion of the land it was covered with a dense growth 
of brush and big timber and much of it was low 
land, which had to be ditched before it was suitable 
for raising crops. .At present, however, after long 
years of arduous eflfort, he has forty acres of it 
under cultivation and is gradually clearing and fit- 
ting the rest of it for crops. 

In 1878, while living in Minnesota, Mr. Kroger 
married Miss Minnie Hoist, a native of Germany, 
who came to the United States with her parents 
when she was seven years old. Clous ancl Mary 
Hoist were born in Germany but came to Minne- 
sota in the pioneer davs of that state and lived the 
lives of farmer people until overtaken by death. 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Kroger, but the parents were bereft of them by 
death while they were yet in infancy. The family 
church is the Lutheran. In politics Mr. Kroger is 
a Democrat. As a farmer he has been very success- 
ful, but it has been by his own hard, patient efforts 
that he has placed himself in the position of com- 
petence which he occupies today. In addition to 
conducting a general farming business, he raises 
cattle, his herd at present numbering more than 
thirty head. Mr. Kroger has exhibited farsighted- 
ness in his farm work and has converted a tract of 
land which had been passed over by less observant 
people into one of the fine places of the county. 
He is highly respected by the community in which 
he lives and enjoys the reputation of being one of 
the substantial citizens of the Arlington country. 



KNUT O. ROD, successful farmer four miles 
west of Arlington, has been in the Puget sound 
country for fifteen years and during that time has 
placed himself in possession of a competence. Mr. 
Rod was born in Norway June 4th, 186-4, the 
youngest of four children of Ove and Barbo 
(Breck) Rod, fanner folk of Norway. The elder 
Rod is still living in the old country at the ad- 
vanced age of ninety-three years, but the mother 
died four years ago, aged eighty-two. Knut O. 
Rod left home when fifteen years old to do for him- 
self. His first engagement was for six months with 
a farmer, and for his services he received a pair of 
second-hand boots and $3 in cash. These consti- 
tuted Mr. Rod's worldly possessions six months 
after he had embarked in business for himself. He 
followed farming in Norway until he came to the 
United States in 1882 and settled in Story county, 
Iowa, where he worked at farm labor for seven 
years. At the end of that period he came to Wash- 
ington, arriving in Seattle just previous to the big 
fire of 1889. He worked in a brick yard and at 
Alki Point for about four years. In the meantiHlfe, 
however, he had made a trip to Snohomish county 
and in 1890 had pre-empted 160 acres of land eight 
miles from Arlington. On leaving Seattle he came 
here and he lived upon his pre-emption for about 
ten years, then sold out and bought the forty-acre 
tract where he now lives. The land was alder bot- 
tom then ; now thirty acres of it are cleared and in 
crop and pasture. At one time Mr. Rod acquired 
by purchase 160 acres of land near Granite Falls, 
but later sold out to advantage. 

In 1895 Mr. Rod married Miss Martha Thoen, a 
native of Norway, who came to the Puget Sound 
country alone. Her parents are dead. Mr. and 
Mrs. Rod have three children, Annie, Olga and 
Myrtle. In politics Mr. Rod is a Republican and 
in church membership a Lutheran. The principal 
business on Mr. Rod's farm is dairying, for which 
purpose he maintains twenty-two head of cattle. 



Mr. Rod is in good financial circumstances, his 
position in life now being very different from what 
it was when he received his first wages. He is a 
hard worker and of the stuff of which successful 
men are made. 



LORENZ LORENZEN, living four miles west 
of Arlington, is one of the self made men of the 
Stillaguamish valley. Coming here from the old 
country in 1886 with little except his hands and the 
ability to use them to good advantage, he has now 
one of the finest of the small farms in this section 
of Snohomish county. Mr. Lorenzen was born in 
Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, in the spring of 
1860, the third of six children of Hans and Botilla 
(Jensen) Lorenzen, both of whom died when Lor- 
enz was but fifteen years of age, leaving him at that 
age to battle with the world. He followed farm 
work in Germany for several years, then left broth- 
ers and sisters and came across the Atlantic to join 
his cousin, Thomas Jensen, a farmer on the Stilla- 
guamish. Mr. Lorenzen traveled by way of Port- 
land to reach Snohomish county. Soon after ar- 
riving here he commenced to farm, and after two 
years of this occupation purchased an eighty-acre 
tract of timber. He made his home with his cousin, 
and a suggestion of the isolated position of his 
holding may be gained from the fact that save for 
Mrs. Jensen, Mr. Lorenzen did not see a white 
woman for a year after he had located up the river. 
Since settling on his land Mr. Lorenzen has sold 
forty acres and now has thirty-two of the remain- 
ing forty cleared and devoted to the purposes of a 
dairy farm. He has twenty-six head of cattle and 
does an extensive dairy business. As one of the 
pioneers of this section of Snohomish county, he 
has many recollections of intensely interesting hap- 
penings and experiences of the early days before 
settlers began to pour into the valley. Mr. Loren- 
zen during his early days in the Stillaguamish val- 
ley made his home with Mr. and Mrs. Jensen, but 
since becoming proprietor of his own farm, has 
lived upon it. In politics he is independent and he 
has never soueht office. The reputation he has 
won in the community of being a successful, thrifty, 
energetic man who thorou<2:hly understands the 
dairy business is a justly deserved one; his posi- 
tion as one of the substantial citizens of the valley 
is assured ; and as one of the county's hardy pio- 
neers his name will be preserved in the history of 
this region. 



AUGUST LAMMERS, an honored pioneer of 
the Arlington country and one of the leading dairy- 
men of thnt rer^ion, was born in Ohio January 1, 
1855, fourth of the five children of Frederick J., 
and Martha (Teaman) Lammers, both natives of 
Germany. The elder Lammers migrated to New 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



York early in life and for a time was a merchant 
there, but in the fifties he changed his residence to 
Ohio and his business to tilling the soil, which 
occupation he followed until his death. The mother 
of our subject came to the United States when 
twenty years old, was married in New York, moved 
with her husband to the Buckeye state and died 
there. 

August Lammers, of this review, remained un- 
der the parental roof until sixteen, acquiring a 
common school education Snd assisting his father 
on the farm, then for three years he was engaged 
in railroad work. In 1875 he was seized with an 
ambition to try his fortune in the West, so mi- 
grated to the Golden state, in the metropolis of 
which he drove team for a period of three years, 
coming then to Ihe still more promising P'uget 
sound country. His objective point was Stan- 
wood, whence he moved up the Stillaguamish to a 
point three miles east of Silvana to file on a home- 
stead. Needless to say the place was virgin for- 
est, approachable only b)' canoe, presenting diffi- 
culties which might try the courage of the bravest, 
but by working in logging camps and at any other 
jobs he might happen to get and employing his 
spare time in clearing land, he succeeded in getting 
sixty acres in shape for cultivation. He remained 
on this farm until 1903. In 1903 he purchased the 
place on which we now find him, thirty-four acres 
a mile south of Arlington, to the improving and 
cultivation of-which he has been devoting his ener- 
gies since with the same assiduity and ambition 
that characterized his earlier efforts in the county. 
At present he has six or seven acres of this land 
in cultivation. His entire land holdings aggregate 
115 acres, seventy of which are producing crops, 
and he is engaged' extensively in the dairy business, 
a line for which he and his good wife are especially 
adapted by training and experience. They keep 
thirty-five head of cattle of the Holstein and Dur- 
ham breeds, besides a number of other kinds of 
live stock. 

On the Stillaguamish river, in 1891, ]\Ir. Lam- 
mers married Miss Annie Holding, whose parents 
are still living in Norway, where she was born in 
185G. After completing her education and reach- 
ing young womanhood, she came to the United 
States. She has given much attention to practical 
dairying, especially during the early days in Sno- 
homish county, and is considered an authority on 
the subject. Mr. Lammers is also a dairyman of 
note and his abilities in this line were duly recog- 
nized by his neighbors in the same line of business 
M'ho elected him first president of the Arlin^non 
Co-operative Creamery Company. In political faith 
he is a Democrat, in fraternal affiliations a Wood- 
man of the World and in church membership a 
Lutheran, as is also Mrs. Lammers. Though inter- 
ested in political matters and public afifairs gener- 
ally to the extent that good citizenship requires he 



is not what might be called a politician and has 
never sought office, though he has consented to 
hold such minor offices as school director and con- 
stable. His ambition impels him rather in the di- 
rection of industrial achievement, in which' he has 
certainly made a highly creditable record. He is 
one of the prominent men of his community, pro- 
gressive, active and influential and possessed of a 
leputation for integrity and square dealing untar- 
nished by any act of his. 



CARL THOMPSON.— The development of the 
Stillaguamish valley has been due in a very large 
measure to the thrifty sons of Norway who have 
made their homes there, not the least progressive, 
industrious and forceful of whom is Carl Thomp- 
son, whose excellent farm is situated a mile west 
of Arlington. One of the early settlers of the val- 
ley he is also one of its most successful and hon- 
ored citizens at this date, and while still a young 
man he is enjoying the rewards which the rich 
country always has for those who prove themselves 
worthy. He was born March 19, 1865, the son of 
Casper and Ellen Thompson, natives respectively 
of Norway and France, though the former was of 
English extraction. The father came to the United 
States in 1867, settled in Illinois and followed farm- 
ing there awhile, going thence to Minnesota, of 
which state he was a pioneer settler, thence to South 
Dakota, where he took a homestead and timber 
claim. He is now living near Arlington, having 
come to the West in 1904, but his wife died when 
our subject was an infant. 

After acquiring a good education in the common 
schools of Illinois and Minnesota, and assisting his 
father from the time he left school until he was 
twenty, Carl Thompson came out to Washington 
territory, arriving at Stanwood April 21, 1885. He 
went to work forthwith in a local logging camp, 
and continued in the employ of the same firm 
for a period of two years, then going up the 
Stillaguamish, where the ensuing three years 
were passed in the camp of Henry Dewey. 
The ensuing twelvemonth was devoted to log- 
ging for another employer, but in 1891 Mr. 
Thompson decided upon a change of occupation, so 
he purchased eighty acres of heavily timbered land 
a mile west of Arlington, or rather the site of the 
present Arlineton, and began the arduous task of 
clearing up a home in the forest. He never paused 
in his endeavors until every acre was free from the 
impedinof timber; indeed he sought a further field 
for his teeming ambition, purchasing of Peter Funk 
forty-one acres adjoining his own place which he 
has also cleared and put into a fine state of culti- 
vation. He has just added to the value of this 
splendid farm and to the comfort of living upon it 
by erecting a modern twelve-room house. It was 
already furnished with an excellent barn and other 



SNOHOiMISH COL'XTY 



outbuildings. He is engaged in farming on a some- 
wliat extensive scale for this coimtry, where the 
difficulty of clearing land encourages small holdings 
and intensive cultivation of a small acreage. His 
herd consists of one hundred head of excellent 
dairy cattle of the Holstein strain. 

In 18i)l in Seattle. Washin-tnn. .Mr. ThomiAson 
married Miss Caroline. (lan<.^lit(.T of jnhn P. Funk, 
a native of Norway, and sister vi Martin and Peter 
Funk, (if wIkhh hingraphical mention has been 
made elsewhere in this volume. She was born in 
Denmark, but educated mostly in Wisconsin, ha\-- 
ing come to this country when still i|uile nmh;!-. 
To her and i\lr. Thompson have been h irn Inree 
children, namely. Arthur, Flmer and .Myrtle. In 
politics .Mr. Thompson is a Republican, in frater- 
nal aftili,-ui(ins a \Vorkman and in religion a fol- 
lower (if the f.-iinous Alartin Luther. Like most 
iitli'.r jnililic spirited men he has taken his turn in 
str\ing I in tlie scIkihI board. He is deservedly pop- 
ular in liis c(iiiiinunit\- and held in (he highest es- 
teem by all his neiglilKirs wlio consider him a man 
of unstained integrity and honor, worthy of the 
fullest confidence. 



-\XT( )X KR.\FTZ 
working (ienium-Anieri 
tributing to the agricul 
lionn'sh county. h,is to In 
timl-cred farms in tl 



f the thrifty and hard 
rican citizens who are con- 
Itural adx-ancemcnt of Sno- 
lis credit the opening of two 
Still;iguaniish \ai1ev, on one 



ot 



i^1( 



at this 



lui 



ha- 



land w( 



date. Porn in 
for a time the 

public schools 
famous, but cireninsl.uiees forced u]ion him at an 
ear'.v age the slru--le of life. His father. |ohn 
F. Kraetz. a baker liy trade, died wlien our "sub- 
ject was still a lad, leaving the mother, Mrs. Cres- 
/ent ( keiiidl ) Kraetz, with four yoimg children 
ti^ support and educate. She devoted her energies 
zealously to the t.ask and had the .satisfaction of 
living to see them all in a fair way to prosperity 
and comfort. \\'lien .\nton was little more than 
thirteen years old he was ap|)renticed to the baker's 
trade and after two and a half years of scr\-ice he 
was turned out as a competent craftsman. He con- 
tinued to work as a imn-neymau in the bak-eries of 
his native land until July, ISSS, then put into prac- 
tice a resolution to tr_\- his fortunes in the new laud 
across the ocean, nor did he pau-e in hi^ journexini; 
tmtil he had reached Tacoma. W a-!iiiiL;ion. After 
a short residence there he moxed lo Snobouiisli 
county. Soon after his arrival he had purchased 
f "'tv acres of ]ieavil\- timbered land in the up]ie;- 
-Stillaguamish country, to the clearing of whicii for 
cultivation he at once addressed himself with assid- 
uity and determination. The need of su])plies 
forced him to retiu-n to Tacoma and the pursuit of 
his trade, but three months later he was back at his 



clearing, and on the new fann thus wrested irom 
tl'e domain of the forest giants he hved and pros- 
pered until l!lO-2. when he sold it and purchased his 
present place of fifty acres. Much of it has been 
cleared and the remainder is in shape to furnish 
e-\cellent pasture for stock. It is well improved,, 
despite the fact that so few years have elapsed since 
he acquired it. He carries on a general farming 
business, but. like man\- others in the vicinity, 
gixes eonsidei-alile attention lo Uvc stock, keeping- 
tweiitx head of neat cattle at ])resent. 

In' the tow., ol Arlm-ton. in ls!is. Mr. Kraetz. 
married .Miss Ro-a SjioerlLa-e. a n.ative of .\linne- 
-ota, whose iiarenls were < iertnaii born, but came 
lo the (loplier >lale early in lite and were married 
there. Poth are now residents of Arlington. Mrs. 
Kraetz was liorn January •?. 18S1, and was educated 
in the pulilic schools of Minnesota and at Arling- 
ton. ha\iug eonie to the latter place when ten years 
old. She and .Mr. Kraetz have four children, name- 
l\ , .Mela, .\nton. I'.ertha and an infant son named 
Max. In polities Mr. Kraetz ali,L;n> him.self with 
the Socialists and in fratern:il iiiembcrsbip he is a 
W(.iodman of the World. He has never manifested 
any special political ambitions, or desire for per- 
si 'ual preferment of any kind, but evidently contents 
himself with being one of the substantial citizens 
o' his community. He belongs to the great army 
of toilers who are the real strength, the real boast 
of any countr\. the men w li< i produce the wealth 
and the men who oUL;lit t ' recei\-e a larger share 
than Ihev do both of the liK— in-:; winch that wealth. 



I'.R.XF.ST P<)riL, farming near .\rlington. 
has passed a life of unusual activity in ditTerent 
lines of \\<irk and nin\- find.- him-elf a Snohomish 
county agriculturist in comfoi'talile circumstances. 
He was born in ( iermanv Decemlx-r •.'li, 1S.-.',I, the 
son of Ernest and Augusta Pohl. neither of whom 
left their native land and both of whom are now 
dead. The elder Pohl was a teacher by profession. 
( )ur suliject attended the German schools until he 
was fourteen xe.ars of age. then received a billet 
.alioard shi]i and followed the sea for fifteen years. 
during the la^t ti\e of wlurli he was a pilot. Hii 
came lo W.Lshni^^ton in 1 >^s and stopped for a 
tnue in the I'uyalhip valley, then went to the lower 
t oinmbia ri\er and worked on a steamer for a 
numlier of months. In the early part of 1S89 Mr. 
Poh! came for the first time to Snohomish county 
:in(l took ,a homesiea'l in the Stillagnami.sh valley. 
The followiu;^ winter he went to San Francisco 
and enga'^ed as cpiartermaster in the employ of the 
Facihc Steamship Company, remainmg with that 
concern until 1S!C.' in which year he returned to 
Snolu'iiiisb county and re-entered upon his home- 
stead. Selling this in lOOd, he purchased eight)^ 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



1045 



acres of heavily timliered land, forty of which he 
has since cleared and put in shajie for producing 
hay and for grazing. 

In l.SOi at San Francisco Air. Bohl married 
Miss Caroline Reidler. daughter of August Reidler, 
a German farmer who never left his native land. 
Mrs. Bohl was born in Germany in iMiti. and re- 
ceived her education in the scIukiIs of that land. 
She came to the United States in 18i»l and settled 
in San Francisco. Mr. and Airs. Bohl have three 
children : Eliza. Augusta and Lenora. In frater- 
nal affiliations Air. Bohl is a ^'etmian. in politics 
a Republican, and in church niciiilicrship a Luther- 
.an. In his dairy and lixe stuck- l)usiness Air. Bohl 
maintains a herd of thirty . head, consisting of 
Shorthorns and Jerseys. He has recently erected 
a beautiful eight-room house, a fine commodious 
structure and a good ty])e of modern farm house, 
with all conveniences anil iniprovenients possible in 
a rural community. Air, I'ldlil is recognized as a 
man of sterling parts, energetic, thrifty, conserva- 
tice, possessed of a great capacity for hard work, 
and in all respects the kind of man that is needed 
to assist in subduing and developing a rugged coun- 
trv. 



AlAX EITZENBERGER, whnse farm lies five 
miles west of .Arlington and three east of Silvana, 
same to Snohomish county in the eighties, with 
scarcely any means but his physical powers and 
his wealth of determination, to do for himself. He 
has now- one of the pleasaiitest farms in the county 
and is in circumstances which may be rated as well 
to do. .\lr. Eilzenl>erger was born in Germany De- 
cember 4, IS'li, third of the Hvl- children of Joseph 
and ( )ttlie (Shorn) Eitzenberger. both of whom 
lived and died in the old country where the former 
was a merchant. Max Eitzenberger attended ~ the 
German scIkxiIs until he reached the age of four- 
teen, then commenced an apprenticesliip to the cab- 
inet-making trade. After three years he was de- 
clared a competent tradesman. He continued to 
work at cabinet-making until ISsi, when he emi- 
grated to the United States. He passed the first 
summer in this country in the state of Wisconsin, 
then went to Chicago and obtained emplo)'n-ient in 
the shops of the Pullman Palace Car Company, 
He had been there but a short time when the strike 
broke out. so he moved to Colorado, remaining in 
the Centennial state for tw^o years, after which he 
came to \\ ashington, and went to work in the 
Northern Pacific shops at Tacoma. The following 
winter Air. Eitzenberger came to Snohonii.sh coun- 
ty and took a homestead on the Stillaguamish river, 
a heavily timbered tract with no trails leading to it. 
He commenced at once the task of clearing his 
land, living on provisions he carried in on his back, 
and he now has forty acres cleared and under cul- 
tivation or in pasture. 



In 1S88, at Silvana, Air. Eitzenberger married 
Aliss Wally Bartl, daughter of Joban and Kath- 
arina (Lidl) Bartl, both of whom were natives of 
Germany. The father still lives though at the ad- 
vanced age of eighty-five years. Airs. Eitzenberger 
was born in 1853, After being reared and educated 
in the schools of her native land she came, in 1888, 
to the United States, where she married .soon after 
her arrival. She and Air, Eitzenberger are parents 
of two children. Otto and Alax, In political faith 
Air. Eitzenberger is with the Socialist party; in 
religion a Catholic. 



SYL\'ESTER S. STEX'ENS, farmer and stock- 
man of Arlington, has been a resident of Sno- 
hon-iish county since 1889, and in that time he has 
taken a leading place in the social, public and com- 
mercial life of the community, Mr. Stevens is a 
native of Bradford county, Pennsylvania, born in 
1849, the oldest of three children of Philander and 
Hannah (Stiles) Stevens. The elder Stevens, 
though a native of New York, passed the greater 
part of his life as a farmer in Pennsylvania and 
Alichigan. Mrs. Stevens w-as a native of the Key- 
stone state. Sylvester S. attended the common 
schools of Pennsylvania and Michigan until, reach- 
ing the age of eighteen, he embarked in business 
for himself, his first venture being hauling logs 
from the forests to the mills of Alichigan, This 
work he conducted with marked success for ten 
years, during wdiich he also opened a livery stable 
at Lake City and operated a stage line between that 
place and Cadillac, ultimately selling out to enter 
the hotel and livery business in the latter city. 
While a resident of Cadillac Mr, Stevens was 
elected sheriff of Wexford county and served in 
that and Missaukee counties either as sheriff or 
deputy for sixteen years. He came to Washington 
in 1888 and in August of the following year set- 
tled on land on the north fork of the Stillaguamish 
which he filed on as a pre-emption. It was heavily 
timbered when Mr. Stevens took possession, but 
he has cleared about thirty-five acres of it, and put 
it in condition for cultivation. He has an orchard 
of 600 bearing fruit trees. In 1898 Mr. Stevens 
opened a meat market in Arlington, the second in 
the town. He also has a home in Arlington. Fli.s 
realty holdings outside the city consist of 32G acres 
of land, all of which is suitable, when cleared, for 
agricultural purposes and forty acres of which arc 
already in a state of cultivation. 

In i885 while still a resident of Michigan Air. 
Stevens married Aliss Belle, daughter of William 
and Margaret (Buell) Harding, both of whom 
passed the closing years of their lives in the Penin- 
sula state. The father, a native of England, came 
to the United States when a young man and fol-_ 
lowed his trade, house painting, in Ohio and Mich- 
igan until his demise. Mrs. Stevens was born in 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



1873 and was educated and grew to womanhood in 
the commonwealth of her nativity, where, also, she 
was married. She and Mr. Stevens are parents of 
three children, Sidney, Valley and Everett. In pol- 
itics Mr. Stevens is a Republican, deeply interested 
in affairs of public concern, but for himself he has 
never sought office in this county, though as before 
stated he had a long experience in office-holding 
in Michigan. He is looked upon as one of the sub- 
stantial, strong men of his community, awake to 
the best interests of his fellow citizens, always 
ready to do his share toward the promotion of any 
worthy enterprise and open-handed in giving legiti- 
mate assistance to the just cause that requires it. 
In fraternal affiliation he is an Odd Fellow. 



CITRT J. MURPHY.— Among the honored 
pioneers of Snohomish county there are few who, 
like the subject of this article, can claim the Pa- 
cific Northwest as their birthplace, hence few who 
can, in quite the same degree, lay claim to its his- 
tor>' as their heritage, its development as the fru- 
ition of their parents' planting and their own. Born 
in Monmouth, Polk county, Oregon, October 3i), 
1858, the son of sturdy Kentuckians who braved tb.e 
dangers of plain and mountain in obedience to the 
impulse of the race to move westward, he has spent 
his entire life in the Northwest, mostly on the out- 
most fringe of civilization's domain, and in all the 
stern struggles with opposing natural forces he 
has proved himself a worthy son of his worthy 
parents. His father, William, and his mother, Eliz- 
abeth (Roundtree) Murphy, moved from Kentucky 
to Washington by ox-team, spending nearly two 
years in making the journey, as they stopped fre- 
quently en route. They spent the first winter out 
from their native state, the winter of '51-'53, in 
Omaha, Nebraska, proceeding thence to Lewis 
county, this state, where they arrived in 1853, and 
where the ensuing four years of their life were 
spent. Later they made their home in Polk county, 
Oregon, where the father died in 1874, aged fifty- 
eight. He was an American of Americans, his an- 
cestors having established themselves in Baltimore 
as early as 1638. The death of the mother, who 
was a descendant of the Roundtree family so well 
known in Kentucky, occurred in 1889, when she was 
sixty-eight years old. 

Curt J. Murphy, of this review, is the eighth of 
a family of eleven children, seven of whom are liv- 
ing in Oregon. After securing an excellent com- 
mon school education in his native state, he went, 
at the age pf nineteen, to eastern Washington and 
for some time he was a cattle ranger there. He 
recalls the fact that he was in Spokane in 1877 
when the Second Infantry was stationed at that 
point to defend the inhabitants during the Indian 
war, also that he cut the logs used in the erection 
of the first gristmill in that town. In 1879 he left 



the range to accept a position as civil engineer for 
the Northern Pacific railroad, becoming a member 
of the party that located the stampede tunnel, 1881. 
This work brought him to Seattle in 1883, at which 
time the Queen City boasted a population of 7,000 
persons. The same year he came to Stanwood, 
whence he ascended the Stillaguamish to the forks, 
the site of the present Arlington, four miles above 
the tennination of the trail, and there he took the 
homestead which formed his fann and place of res- 
idence for the ensuing fourteen years. This re- 
gion, indefinitely referred to as "above the jam" 
was considered practically worthless, as it was com- 
monly believed that no road would be built to it 
for many years, perhaps not during the lifetime of 
the settlers of that date. But, indifferent to the rid- 
icule heaped upon him and fully convinced that his 
home in the forest must have a bright future, Mr. 
Murphy extended the trail and began operations 
with vigor. He had the satisfaction of seeing nu- 
merous families locating in the same vicinity dur- 
irig the next few months and he states that during 
the five years ensuing the land for sixteen miles 
farther up the river was taken. These early years, 
although full of the trials and hardships incident 
to pioneer life, were not specially unpleasant or dis- 
couraging to Mr. Murphy, reared as he was on the- 
frontier and thoroughly habituated to its strenu- 
ous features. It was six years after he located be- 
fore the first wagon was brought that far up the 
river, and many times it was necessarj' for him to 
carry his supplies on his back. Among other in- 
teresting experiences he recalls that, while on one 
trip up the river for mail, he found on nearing his 
cabin that water was waist deep around it, having 
risen to that height in the short space of time while 
he was traveling only a few hundred feet. The 
flood subsided as quickly as it came, after having 
lasted only about half an hour. He afterward as- 
certained that the cause of the freshet was a huge 
ice jam in the river. 

In 1886 Mr. Murphy was elected the first asses- 
sor of Snohomish county, and the following year 
he took a census which showed that there were 
3,200 people within its bounds. It was through his 
influence that the first political and educational 
meetings were held in his neighborhood, and he has 
distinct recollections of the first school house, a 
structure erected of split cedar logs and floored 
with lumber shipped up the river from LTtsalady 
to the forks, then packed on mules a mile and a 
half to the point where needed. The first teacher 
in the district, he says, was John Condit, a Monnon, 
and there were fourteen names enrolled on the first 
register, only two of them white children. The 
next year, 1886, the sole white pupil was a son of 
L. Mose. In that year logging became one of the 
occupations of the locality, three different camps 
being started, owned by William McGee, Al. Mores 
and Frank Davis respectively. Mr. Murphy has- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



1047 



vivid recollections of the severe flood of 1892, 
which destroyed his home and nearly all his im- 
provements, as well as, in many instances, those of 
his neighbors, inducing a local aggravation of the 
depression which became so widespread and all 
pervading in 1893. Some time ago our subject 
disposed of his homestead and moved into Arling- 
ton, where he invested heavily in real estate, and 
where his talents and sound judginent are now 
being employed to good advantage. He is still an 
agriculturist^ though living and operating within 
the city limits. 

In 1SS5 Mr. Murphy married Miss Agnes Pearl, 
a native of New Brunswick, but practically a prod- 
uct of \\'isconsin, having spent her girlhood and 
been educated there. Her father, Richard, who was 
also a native of New Brunswick, is now deceased, 
but her mother. Margaret (Leonard) Pearl, aged 
eighty-six, a native of Ireland, is still living, a resi- 
dent of Arlington. Mrs. Murphy came here alone 
and made her way in the new state unassisted until 
her marriage. She and Mr. IMurphy have two chil- 
dren, Margaret and Leonard. Mr. Murphy is a 
respected member of the Ancient Order of United 
Workmen and in political faith a Republican. In 
all the years of his residence in the county he has 
been a leader in every movement of general bene- 
fit, manifesting his public spirit whenever oppor- 
tunity offered, and he certainly deserves rank 
among the most forceful of the pioneers. He has 
held several offices besides those already men- 
tioned, among them that of school director for 
eleven years, justice of the peace for six years and 
police judge in Arlington for one year. The fam- 
ily are active workers in the Christian church. 



CHARLES ROTH, a prominent citizen resid- 
ing four miles west and two miles south of Arling- 
ton, Washington, was born June 26, 1867, in Al- 
sace Lorraine, now a part of the German Empire. 
He belongs to a distinguished family tracing its 
ancestry back to the beginning of the fifteenth cen- 
tury^ His father, Victor Roth, was born in 1821, 
and was one of the foremost agriculturists of his 
native town, which had been the home of his fore- 
fathers for generations. His death occurred in 
1871. Magdaline (Clor) Roth, the maternal an- 
cestor, died in 1887 at the age of forty-four, leav- 
ing a family of eight children. She was twice mar- 
ried, Charles Roth being an only child by her first 
husband. Mr. Roth received a liberal education 
in St. Marie's Catholic College at Belfort, France, 
and is able to converse fluently in three languages, 
English, French and German. After completing 
his collegiate course he held a clerkship for four 
and one-half years in the Societe Generale. a bank- 
ing house in France. Immigrating to the United 
States, he located in Ohio, March 10, 1889. and 
spent three years in a business college. For three 



years he was successfully engaged in bookkeeping, 
but farming, the occupation that had claimed his 
attention in early manhood held an irresistible 
charm for him which caused him to abandon all 
other pursuits. Coming to Washington in 1891 he 
purchased 115 acres of land, the farm on which he 
now resides, and has devoted his entire attention 
to it since that time. Only three acres were cleared 
when he became its owner. He now has twelve 
acres under plow, and eight in pasture. For some 
years he has given much attention to dairying, but 
he intends in the near future to devote his time 
particularly to poultry raising, an industry in which 
he has been remad.-ably successful. 

In 189-1 Mr. Roth was united in marriage to 
Josephine Rapp, who was born April 8, 1871, in his 
native town, Isenheim. Her parents, Joseph and 
Cecilia (Lamfort) Rapp, immigrated to Ohio when 
she was but twelve years of age. Later, they lived 
for a time in Kansas, also in Tennessee. In 1901 
they found a home in Washington, settling on a 
farm not far from where their daughter lives. Two 
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Roth, 
Arthur, aged ten, and Lucien, eight. On political 
questions Mr. Roth holds .Socialistic views, believ- 
ing that they embody the highest form of truth 
and justice. Having himself enjoyed unusual edu- 
tional advantage he is deeply interested in the 
cause, and is an active and influential member of 
the local school board. His religious beliefs are 
summed up in the Golden Rule, to which he strictly 
adheres in his business dealings. The culture he 
possesses in such a marked degree bespeaks a noble 
ancestry, and commands the respect and admiration 
of a wide circle of acquaintances. 



MARION GOODING, one of the prosperous 
farmers of the Arlington country, was born near 
Marietta, Ohio, January 12, 1853, the son of Ben- 
jamin and Ruth Anna (Morris) Gooding, also 
natives of the Buckeye state. The father died 
many years ago ; the mother, in 1879, at the age of 
seventy. She was the mother of seven children, of 
whom Marion, whose name forms the caption of 
this biography, was the fourth. He spent his boy- 
hood on his father's farm, and thus acquired a prac- 
tical knowledge of farming. His education was 
secured in the common schools of the state and 
was very meagre, he being able to attend only three 
months each year. At the age of eighteen he went 
to Kansas, and for three years worked at whatever 
he could find to do, in the meantime making two 
trips to Arkansas. He next located at Gold Hill, 
Colorado, where he mined and prospected for seven 
years. After visiting in Kansas for a time, he in 
company with a brother, Harvey, emigrated to east- 
ern Oregon, and there spent the winter. In the 
spring of 1882 he went to Seattle, and thence to 
Stanwood. He took up the claim on which he now 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



resides in the sununer of 1883, making the trip up 
the river with John Z. and Henry Jones, now of 
Ariington. On the return journey Mr. Gooding 
had a narrow escape, as the canoe came in contact 
with a large snag in tlie river and upset. But for 
his presence of mind in clinging to the canoe till 
his mates could rescue him, he would have been 
drowned. The nearest store and postoffice in those 
early times was at Stanwood. In bringing their 
supplies up the river there was one point where a 
log jam. extending a quarter of a mile, made it 
necessary to unload and carry them over the ob- 
struction. Aery frequently, in packing goods on 
his back. ^Ir. Gooding was obliged to put them on 
logs which he "cooned" across the sloughs. Mak- 
ing the trip up the river at one time during the 
rainy season, when the banks were all under water, 
he had the novel experience of cooking 'a meal on 
a cedar -tuiii]>. lii^ stove also serving the purpose 
of a talik'. I licsc are only a few of the trials and 
hardships that this hardy pioneer encountered in 
those early \ears while he was making a home in 
the wilderness, and preparing the way for the com- 
forts and luxuries of to-day. . In tlje fall of 188:1 
settlement in this locality became quite genera!. 
The first school house was built three years later. 
Mr. Gooding has fifty acres in an excellent state of 
cultivation and devotes it principally to hay and 
dairying: he has a fine herd of cattle. 

In November, 189fi, ]\Ir. Gooding and Elmira 
Hurd were united in marriage. Mrs. Hurd is a na- 
tive of New York. Her father died in Nebraska 
some years ago, and since that time her mother, 
now aged seventy-seven, has made her home with 
this daughter. Mr. Gooding is a staunch Repub- 
lican, but has never cared to take an active part in 
political matters. He and his family are identified 
with the Free Metliodist church. Few of the early 
settlers have a more vidid recollection of pioneer 
days than has Mr. Gooding. To hear him relate 
his experiences is both interesting and instructive, 
and renders it much easier to appreciate the con- 
ditions that then existed than to simply read of 
them. During his long residence here he has be- 
come well and favorably known, and holds the re- 
spect and confidence of the entire community 



ROBERT KINXE.AR. postmaster at Edge- 
comb, and member of the firm of Kinnear & Gray, 
operating a shingle mill at that point under the 
name of the Edgecomb Mill Company, is of Scotch 
birth and descent, belonging to a distinguished 
Scottish family. He was born near Edinburgh, 
May 21, 1852,'to the union of John and Elizabeth 
(Bruce) Kinnear. The father, who followed ag- 
ricultural pursuits during his long life, was born 
in 1801, at Cupar, Fife; he passed away in 1871. 
Elizabeth Bruce was also a native of Cupar, born 



in 1806. She was a direct descendant of Rotert 
Bruce, Scotland's famous king, a connection of 
which every Scotch patriot would naturally feel 
proud, the Kinnears being no exception. Mrs. 
Kinnear passed av.^ay in ISTo. Of seven children 
born to this union, the subject of this review is the 
youngest child. He attended school until the age 
of fourteen, when he engaged in learning the black- 
smith trade, serving an a]iprenliccsliip of three 
years. Following; this in- served another term in 
Glasgow, learning; the machinist's trade, tlius thor- 
oughly equipping himself fi:)r mechanical pursuits. 
Having heard stories of the wonderful republic 
which lay across the Atlantic, when he reached his 
majority, the young Scotclnnan determined to cast 
his lot with the new country. He landed on Yankee 
soil the day he was twenty-one. New York state 
was his home during the ensuing fourteen years, 
during which he resided at Rochester, Buffalo, 
Brockport and Batavia, and followed the machin- 
ist's trade, most of the time being with the John- 
son Harvester Cnmpany at Lockport and Batavia. 
He came west to Chicago in 1887 and a year later 
pushed still further westward to Seattle, then just 
blossoming into a city of size. In the Pacific 
Northwest he engaged in work for the Columbia 
&- Puget Sound Railroad Compan}-. as a machinist 
in the shops at Seattle, but nine months later left 
his trade, came to Snohomish county, arriving at 
Snohomish September 15, 1888, and shortly after- 
ward took a homestead a mile and a half east of 
the present town of Edgecomb. That region was 
then in its wild state. Supplies were brought in 
from Stanwood by canoes up the Stillaguamish 
river and then packed across country on the backs 
of the few hardy pioneers ; some supplies were also 
brought in from Marysville by trail. Of five men 
who came to the Edgecomb region together, Mr. 
Kinnear is the only one still left in the community. 
When he settled there he was married and to the 
wilderness he brought his family, all sliaring the 
hardships and privations common to the frontier. 
To the clearing of his homestead Mr. Kinnear 
immediatley devoted his attention, being provided 
with some means fortunately. He was among the 
first settlers on what is known as the "burn," sec- 
tion of the Stillaguamish. Stock-raising early oc- 
cupied considerable of his attention : in fact, to it he 
devoted most of lii- activities until 1903. He served 
as road super\-is. ir inr three years beginning with 
1892 and for seven \ears was deputy field asses- 
sor, thus contributing much to the upbuilding of his 
community in a public way. In 1903. he and John 
A. Grav bought the shingle mill which had been 
established by G. K. Hiatt at Edgecomb alxiut 1893, 
and have since operated it successfully. Its daily 
capacity is 125,000 shingles. Mr. Kinnear secured 
the establishment of Edgecomb postofifice in 1898 
and ever since has served as its postmaster. His 
fellow-citizens have also seen fit to support him as 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



justice of the peace during the past four years, all 
of which public services he has discharged with 
fidelity to his trust. 

The marriage of Mr. Kinnear and I\Iary Don- 
aldson was solemnized at Rochester, New York, 
August 11, 187 T. Her parents, Wiliam and Ann 
(Brodie) Donaldson, were natives of Scotland. 
The father followed the stock business in the old 
country until death in 18-56. The mother came to 
the United States and resided with her daughter, 
Mrs. Kinnear, until her death in August, 1904, at 
the advanced age of eighty-seven. Mrs. Kinnear 
vas born in Perth, Scotland, in 1851. She came 
to the United States in 1869, after having received 
her education in the city of Edinburgh. Mr. and 
Mrs. Kinnear have had two children, both of whom 
passed away in infancy. Fraternally, Air. Kinnear 
is affiliated with the Masonic lodge at Arlington 
and has been a Mason since 1877. He is a staunch 
Republican, chairman of his precinct committee, a 
position he has held for years, and is an active 
attendant at all important caucuses and conventions 
of his party. His property interests are large, 
embracing the old homestead and extensive tracts 
of timber land, in addition to his valuable mill prop- 
erty. Mr. Kinnear is one of Snohomish county's 
industrial leaders and public-spirited citizens whose 
biography is especially appropriate among these 
history records of this section of Washington. 



^ CARL W. OSTRAND, of Edgecomb, is one of 
Snohomish county's pioneer citizens who is pursu- 
ing general farming, stock-raising and dairying 
with marked success, after having devoted long 
years of arduous toil and labor to the clearing up 
of a place in the Puget sound wilderness. A na- 
tive of Sweden, he was born February 23, 1860, to 
the union of Carl and Carrie (Sackris) Ostrand, 
both of whom were also natives of that country. 
The elder Ostrand was a carpenter by trade. He 
was born near Karlmar and died in 1900 at the age 
of sixty-eight years, without having left the old 
country. The mother passed away in 1902 at the 
age of seventy-five years. Of the four children 
that blessed this marriage, the subject of this sketch 
is the second in age. He attended the common 
schools of Sweden and between times herded sheep 
on the range, all the children being obliged to con- 
tribute to the family's support. At the age of 
twelve the lad entered a tailor's shop to learn the 
irade and there spent two years, though he never 
afterwards followed the trade. When fifteen years 
old he commenced working for various farmers in 
the neighborhood and thus spent the ensuing ten 
years. In the meanwhile his brother, John P. had 
come to America and settled in Iowa. So, in 1885, 
when Carl Ostrand began to plan a similar trip to 
the land of opportunities across the waters, he de- 



cided to join this brother. Upon arriving in Iowa 
that year, he engaged in fanning and railroading, 
which he followed for two and a half years, then 
set his face toward the far west and soon found 
himself on the Pacific slope at Seattle. Thence he 
went to Sultan, on the Skykomish river and there 
worked in the mines a short time, after which he 
returned to White river and followed farming until 
January, 1889. At that time he came north to Sno- 
homish county and took as a homestead the place 
he now owns and operates, a portion of which forms 
part of Edgecomb's town site. He came to this wil- 
derness via Stanwood and Stillaguamish, now Sil- 
vana, employing Indians to canoe himself and sup- 
plies up the river as far as possible. The last stage 
of the journey was made afoot, the supplies being 
packed on his back. During the first two years of 
his settlement Mr. Ostrand was obliged to work 
for wages in order to support himself, but at the 
end of that period the railroad was b'uilt, thus af- 
fording him an excellent market for all he could 
raise and admitting of his devoting his entire time 
to the improvement of his homestead. Now it is 
one of the most productive farms in the community 
and under the thrifty management of its owner is 
making rapid strides in value and yearly produc- 
tion. The place consists of 150 acres. 

Mr. Ostrand and Miss Annie Carlson were 
united in marriage at Seattle September 9, 1890. 
She is the daughter of Carl August and Stina Car- 
rie Carlson, both of whom are residing in Sweden 
at present, where also Mrs. Ostrand was born. 
Mrs. Ostrand came from Sweden to Washington, 
a quarter way around the earth, to join the young 
man of her choice who had preceded her to Amer- 
ica. Two children have blessed the union, Carl 
Edward and Selma Man,-. The former has won 
distinction in the county's schools, having been 
pronounced by the superintendent the best scholar 
of his age in the county when he was graduated 
from the eighth grade at the age of fourteen a 
short time ago. The fact was published in the local 
press. Mr. Ostrand has always given much atten- 
tion to school work and has served four years on 
the local board. He has assisted in building three 
school-houses since he came to the county. In fact, 
he is known as a public-spirited citizen of broad 
gauge ideas and sympathies in all that concerns the 
welfare of his fellow men. Politically he is a Re- 
publican. 



JENS G. HELSETH, a prosperous farmer re- 
siding at Jorden, Washington, ten miles southeast 
of Arlington, among the valley's earliest pioneers, 
was born in Norway, November 14, 1855. He is the 
son of Gunder J. Helseth, a native of Norway, 
who immigrated to the United States in 1870, set- 
tling in Dakota. Coming to Stanwood in 1879, he 
was here engaged in farming till his death in the 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



spring of 1884. Margaret (Olsen) Helseth, mother 
of our subject, also a native of Norway, is now- 
living with her son at Jorden, Washington. Jens 
G. Helseth acquired his education in the schools 
of his native country prior to the removal of the 
family to Dakota, in which state he also attended 
school for a time. He had passed his tv^enty-sec- 
ond birthday shortly before he came to Washing- 
ton, to seek his fortune in the great Northwest. 
He came first to Tacoma and was there employed 
by the Northern Pacific railroad for a few months. 
Going thence to Astoria he followed fishing the 
next two years, and in August, 1879, joining the 
United States navy at San Francisco, he served 
three years, during which time he sailed the Japan 
and China seas, stopping at many of the important 
points on the adjacent coasts as a member of the 
U. S. S. Alert's crew. It was a wonderful experi- 
ence for the young man, materially broadening his 
views of life. 

Returning to Stanwood in the fall of 1883, Mr. 
Helseth purchased fifty acres of land, the present 
site of the Norwegian church being part of his 
original ranch. The land was unimproved and it 
required five years of arduous toil to get it ready 
for cultivation. He sold this property in 1887, and 
left the little town which he had assisted to estab- 
lish, to go up the south fork of the Stillaguamish 
and take as a homestead the place on which he has 
resided ever since. Thus he became one of the 
earliest settlers in eastern Snohomish county as 
well as in the western part. Of the one hundred 
and thirty acres he owns, thirty are in a fine state 
of cultivation, the balance being still in heavy 
timber. 

At Stanwood, in 1888. Mr. Helseth and Mar- 
garet Rukke were united in marriage. Mrs. Hel- 
seth was bom in Norway in 1850, and there re- 
ceived her education. She is very deft with her 
needle, and has won quite a reputation for her 
beautiful fancy work, which is the admiration of 
her friends and acquaintances. Her parents, Peter 
and Brunnell Rukke, were both natives of Norway 
and the father died there: the mother is still living 
in the old country. One child has been bom to Mr. 
and Mrs. Helseth, Gunder, a native of Stanwood, 
who is now serving in the navy on board the U. S. 
S. Supply, going to Guam Island. Mr. Helseth, 
well known and influential as a Republican, is now 
central committeeman for his precinct; he has held 
the office of justice of the peace. The family ar^ 
affiliated with the Lutheran church. During all 
the years of his residence in the Stanwood and 
Jorden communities he has been one of the men 
whose influence could be counted upon as on the 
side of every worthy enterprise and whatever, in 
his opinion, was likely to promote the general wel- 
fare. Honest, industrious, frugal and progressive, 
he has the esteem and confidence of all who know 
him intimately. 



ERNST EGGERT, the well-known merchant 
and shingle manufacturer of Getchell, Washing- 
ton, one of the most aggressive and successful bus- 
iness men in northern Snohomish county, has 
fought his way to the front through hardships and 
disappointments, overcoming obstacles with a grim 
perseverance that knew no defeat, and .surmounting 
innumerable difficulties with that energy and abil- 
ity characteristic of our self-made men. Of Ger- 
man descent and nativity, born in Pommern in No^ 
vember, 1844, he brought to his adopted country 
those sterling qualities of thoroughness, fidelity and 
thrift so marked among his countrymen. His 
father, whose name was also Ernst, was born in 
1828, and Anna (Virgin) Eggert, the mother, the 
same year. The elder Eggert passed away in 
1866; Mrs. Eggert is still living in the old coun- 
try. The subject of this review, the second in a 
family of three children, secured his education in 
the pi:blic schools of his native land, after complet- 
ing which he served a three-year apprenticeship 
in a blacksmith shop, receiving no financial recom- 
pense. He then followed his trade uditil 1882, at 
that time commencing a two years' service in the 
regular anny, upon the conclusion of which, in 
1884, he came to the United States. Landing at 
Baltimore, Maryland, September .5th, he proceeded 
thence to Watertown, Wisconsin, and remained 
there some time, then spent six months each in 
Fond du Lac and Merrill, of the same state. On 
March 22, 1888, Mr. Eggert paid his first visit to 
Seattle. Two days later he came north to Marys- 
ville, then a little settlement consisting of a post- 
office, store, saloon and a few dwellings. Follow- 
ing the trail five miles east through the dense for- 
est he reached the present site of Getchell and, 
being favorably impressed with the location and 
prospects, he took up the homestead of which he is 
still the owner. For a year or two he was obliged 
to pad< all his supplies in on his back from Marys- 
ville, there being no road or railroads at that time. 
Moving his family onto the claim the hardy pioneer 
made it his home for two months, and then went 
to Marysville to work as bridge carpenter on the 
old Seattle & Montana railroad. Five months later 
he returned to the ranch, remaining till spring, 
when he found employment in Seattle for a few 
months after the fire had swept over that city. He 
then went to various camps in Snohomish county, 
finding work at his trade, blacksmithing. In 1893 
he opened a shop in Getchell, which he conducted 
for the two years ensuing, then resuming work on 
the farm. In company with four other men, he 
built a shingle mill in 1895, but he had been run- 
ning it only a month when it was destroyed by 
fire and a short time after this the kiln was also 
burned. As he had mortgaged his fami to secure 
money to put into the enterprise, the loss fell very 
heavily upon him, but with characteristic energy he 
at once rebuilt the mill, and redoubling his efforts. 



BIOGR.-\PHICAL 



he was able in 1905 to purchase his partner's share 
in the business, and a year later a mill in Whatcom 
count)'. To-day he owns in addition to his mercan- 
tile establishment, two mills, warehouses, and 3,000 
acres of land, a part of which is improved, the bal- 
ance in timber. 

]\Ir. Eggert was married in August, 1884, to 
Augusta Rohde, also a native of Germany, daugh- 
ter of Julius Rohde, who is now deceased, as is 
also Mrs. Eggert's mother. Mr. and Mrs. Eggert 
have seven children : Max W., now- manager of his 
father's store ; srraduated from a business college at 
Seattle ; Ida, Anna, William, Martha, Heidwig and 
Edward. Although he has but recently passed his 
twentieth birthday, the oldest son displays unusual 
business ability and is already able to relieve his 
father of a great deal of responsibility. Bright, 
energetic, and possessed of pleasing personality, he 
is recognized as one of the most promising young 
men of the community, destined to achieve a large 
measure of success, and become a man of influence 
in the years to come. Mr. Eggert is a member of 
the Sons of Hermann, Lodge No. 7, also of the 
Modern Woodmen of America. In politics he allies 
himself with no party, preferring to vote inde- 
pendently. His interest in educational matters is 
deep and abiding, as may be seen from the fact 
that he assisted in organizing the first school in this 
locality, and for the past fourteen years has b'een 
one of its directors. The family attend the Lu- 
theran church. Surrounded by a wide circle of 
friends and acquaintances who honor him for his 
manly, upright character, Mr. Eggert is enjoying 
to the fullest the prosperity that has attended his 
untiring efforts. 



PETER J. JOHNSON, Getchell's pioneer set- 
tler, at present engaged in agricultuFal pursuits at 
that point, is one of Snohomish county's pathfind- 
ers, who led the vanguard of civilization into the 
district of which he is still a resident. As is true 
of so many of this region's pioneers, he is a native 
of the Scandinavian peninsula, born at Joark, Elfs- 
burgs Lan, Sweden, in April. 1853. His father, 
Jonas Johnson, a miller by trade, was born in Swe- 
den in 1809. He operated flouring mills, saw mills 
and shingle mills until shortly before his death in 
1893. His wife bore the maiden name of Mary 
Johnson, and at the advanced age of eighty-six 
years is still living in the old country. The subject 
ox this review attended the common schools of 
Sweden and worked with his father in the mills 
until twenty-five years old, when he was obliged 
to seek another occupation, the work not agreeing 
with his health. He learned the wagonmaker's 
tnde and followed it in his native land until 1S80. 
Then he joined the tide of immigration setting in 
to the United States and soon found himself at 
New Britain, Connecticut, working as an iron moM- 



er, at Swift & Company's Malleable Iron Works. 
He was employed by that concern six years, his 
final leave taking being due to the inauguration of 
a strike. The same year, 1886, he came west to 
San Francisco, spent a short time there, then came 
to Puget sound. Snohomish county attracted him, 
and with his brother Claes, on the strength of in- 
formation furnished by a surveyor named Ander- 
son whom they met in Seattle, he came to his pres- 
ent place. The trio made the trip together, Ander- 
son assisting in the blazing of a trail into the woods 
from Marysville. A squatter was holding down 
one claim at the desired spot^ but for $110 he wil- 
lingly transferred his claim to Mr. Johnson, who 
took it as a homestead. Practically no improve- 
ments had been made on the place, there were no 
roads for miles around and everything in the way 
of supplies had to be packed on one's back 
from Marj'sville, itself a village of four houses. 
Among the things thus transported through the 
wilds to the little settlement by the brothers was a 
cook stove, which they brought in by sections. For 
weeks at a time they saw no one, except perhaps 
straying Indians. In the spring of 1887 sufficient 
ground had been cleared for die planting of vege- 
tables and when the small crop was gathered the 
potatoes were found to have done especially well. 
Mr. Johnson devoted himself mainly to clearing his 
'and during the next few years, though much of 
his time was spent at various odd jobs which he 
secured and which added welcome amounts to his 
scanty capital. With the inauguration of work on 
the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern and Monte 
Cristo railroads in the vicinity he resumed his old 
trade as a wagonmaker and assisted in building 
both roads. In 1895, with his brother C!ae:, and 
Ernst Eggert. the latter of whom had joiiied the 
Johnsons in 1888, Mr. Johnson of this sketch 
formed a partnership and built a shingle mill at 
Getchell. It was operated by this firm until 1902, 
when by the purchase of Peter J. Johnson's inter- 
ests, Mr. Eggert secured the full ownership of the 
concern. Mr. Johnson at that time removed to 
Seattle and erected a residence on East Green Lake 
Boulevard, which continued to be his home until 
the summer of 1905, w'hen he returned to his farm. 
This place consists of 126 acres, well improved, 
beautifully located and possessing a modern eight- 
room dwelling. Soon Mr. Johnson expects to en- 
gage in the dairv business. He also retains his Se- 
attle property. 

On November 30, 1903, Mr. Johnson was united 
in marriage to Mrs. Carrie Gummerson, also a na- 
tive of Sweden, who came to this country in 1900. 
She is the daughter of Gustavus Vinehart, who re- 
sides with Mr. and Mrs. Johnson. Fraternally, Mr. 
Johnson is affiliated with the K. O. T. M. ; politi- 
cally, he is an active Republican, though not strongly 
partisan. Always a public-spirited citizen, he took 
an active part in the organization of the local. 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



school district and assisted in building the school 
house upon a tract of land donated by his brother 
Claes. This brother, who was a true pioneer and 
an esteemed citizen, passed away in 1895. One 
other brother, John, resides on an adjoining ranch 
to Peter J. Johnson. Mr. Johnson well deserves 
the rewards he is reaping after a life of toil and 
sacrifice on the Washington frontier, and is highly 
esteemed by his neighbors and associates as an hon- 
est, upright man, thrifty in business affairs, and 
public spirited and progressive as a citizen. 



CALVIN L. HASKELL, a prominent resident 
of Old Hartford, Washington, has made this state 
his home for the past thirty-four years, having 
moved with his parents to Snohomish when a boy 
of but twelve years. He was born September IS, 
1859, in Mahaska county, Iowa. His father. Judge 
Royal Haskell, was a native of Vermont, born in 
1834. After living a few years in Indiana, he im- 
migrated to Iowa, making the trip with a team, and 
became one of the well-known pioneers of that 
state. After coming to Washington he held the 
offices of probate judge and justice of the peace for 
many years. He died in Seattle, July 4, 1889. Julia 
(Kinsman) Haskell, the mother, was born in 
Pennsylvania in 1837, and died in Snohomish in 
January, 1886. Calvin L. Haskell is the oldest of 
a family of six children, of whom two brothers, 
Howard and Warren, are living at Monroe, Wash- 
ington, and a sister, in Seattle. His education was 
secured in the common schools of his native state 
prior to 1871, at which time the family moved to 
Snohomish, Washington. Coming from San Fran- 
cisco, via Portland, to Pumphrey's Landing on the 
Columbia river, they there took a stage to Olympia 
and from that point the remainder of tlie journey 
v.'as made by water. At Seattle they were obliged 
to change boats before proceeding to Snohomish, 
and this last part of the trip occupied from six in 
the morning till nine in the evening. E. C. Fer- 
guson was at that time the only business man in 
Snohomish. There being no hotel, his kind-hearted 
wife invited the strangers to her home and made 
them welcome. In the course of a few weeks the 
father purchased a farm from David Sheridan, four 
acres of which were cleared. It was here that Cal- 
vin Haskell grew to manhood, and acquired the hab- 
its of thrift and industry which are still his prom- 
inent characteristics. In 1883 he took up a home- 
stead on the Pilchuck river four miles from 
Machias, which could then be reached only by a 
blazed trail. He and his brother spent a month's 
time with a team in cutting a road over which a 
diav could bring the household goods necessarv 
for furnishing a tiny home for his bride. Almost a 
year elapsed before another settler came to this lo- 
cality. Previous to this the nearest neighbors lived 
at Machias. While in many respects a lonely life, 
it was still full of quiet content and happiness. Mr. 



Haskell assisted in establishing the first school, and 
was a member of the school board for nineteen 
years, but two years ago he asked to be relieved of 
the responsibility he had borne so long and so faith- 
fully. As other homeseekers located there they all 
united their efforts in building roads, and travel 
became much less difficult. While making this his 
home he cleared thirty-five acres, and put them into 
cultivation. In 1903 he abandoned farming, and 
went to Index where he built a mill for Sylvester 
Smith. He then located at Edgecomb, contracting 
for some months. He has recently been appointed 
deputy sheriff, and is discharging the duties of his 
office with characteristic faithfulness and ability. 
In addition to the old homestead, he owns valuable 
property in Snohomish. 

In November, 1883, Mr. Haskell and Mary Greg- 
ory were united in marriage. Mrs. Haskell was 
born in Iowa in 1862. Her parents, Jasper and 
Efifie (Powers) Gregory, natives of New York, 
were pioneer settlers on the Pilchuck river, and 
hence she too, was raised on the frontier. During 
her early married life she ably assisted her husband 
in the arduous task of making a home in the wilder- 
ness, banishing loneliness by her sweet, womanly 
presence. Five children have been born to this 
happy union, Mrs. Agnes Kernan, of Snohomish ; 
Marion, Effie, Layton and Cecil, all of whom but 
the oldest daughter are still under the family roof. 
Air. Haskell is a member of Odd Fellows lodge, 
No. 205, at Index, and also of the Woodmen of the 
World, at Everett. An enthusiastic Republican, he 
has alwaj's taken an active interest in political mat- 
ters, but has never had any desire to seek political 
honors for himself. He is a communicant in the 
Baptist church ; his wife, in the Congregational. He 
is a man whose sterling worth is at once appreciated 
by all who are thrown in contact with him either 
in business or social relations. During the early pio- 
neer days he was often associated with the Indians, 
whose treachery is proverbial, but even they recog- 
nized his manly character, and with but one excep- 
tion, proved true to the trust he reposed in them. 
He is justly considered one of the most popular and 
influential citizens of the county, one whom any 
community might be pleased to claim. 



CHARLES F. McDONALD, the well kmown 
merchant of Hartford, Washington, was born at 
Troy Corners, Oakland County, Michigan, Febru- 
ary 13, 1859. His father, John McDonald, a native 
of Scotland, came to Michigan in boyhood, and was 
engaged in farming when the call for volunteers 
came" in 1861. He enlisted in the Thirteenth Michi- 
gan Infantry, and was killed on the famous battle- 
field of Gettysburg, July 3, 1863. Mary (Fawl) 
McDonald, the mother, was also born in Scotland; 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



she is now living in Detroit, Alichigan, at the age of 
ninety. Of her seven children, Charles F. is the 
sixth. Throughout boyhood his delicate health inter- 
fered seriously with his education, most of which 
he secured after he reached the age of nineteen. He 
iiad previously learned the carpenter's trade but did 
not follow it until some j-ears later. After working 
on various farms for several years, he went to Da- 
kota, in 1881 and began farming for himself. Hail- 
storms having destroyed his crops two years in suc- 
cession, he abandoned the work, and spent the next 
three years at his trade. Eventually deciding to 
seek a home in the Northwest, he migrated to Seat- 
tle in November, 1887. He was employed at his 
trade there for two years, then came to Snohomish 
county. August 17, 1889, and purchased a ranch 
where Hartford is nt)\v located. He then returned 
to Seattle to secure building materials for a hotel. 
In adilitidti to the freight charges he was obliged to 
])ay twenty di illars to have the train held twenty 
minutes wliile the lumber was unloaded on his farm. 
The following year he built a store, and he owned 
and conducted both it and the hotel for seven years, 
during five years of which he was also post-master. 
Closing the hotel he moved the store to Hartford 
Junction, and sold a half-interest to a partner, who 
soon bought out the other half of the business. Mr. 
AfcDonald then moved on his ranch, situated one- 
half mile out of town, and devoted his entire at- 
tention to farming for the ensuing five years. Later, 
his old store having been destroyed by fire, he re- 
built on the same site in 1901, and has since givei 
his best efiforts to building up a large trade. 

Mr. McDonald was married in Dakota, August 4, 
18S4, to Mary Curran, who died December 29^1897, 
leaving a family of four children. On September 
;i(l. 1899, he remarried, Elizabeth Doming this time 
becoming his wife. She is a native of Colfax, Wash- j 
ington. Her parents, Peter and Ida (Smith) Dom- 
ing, were born in Wisconsin. Her father, who now 
lives near Machias. Washington, was one of the 
pioneers in the eastern part of this state. The moth- 
er is deceased. Of Mr. McDonald's five children, 
Eva, Lilly, Jennie, Helen, Alice and Fred, all are 
living except Jennie, who died in 1884, aged four. 
Mr. McDonald is active in fraternal circles, being .i 
member of the Modern Woodmen of America, the 
Yeomen and the Eagles. In political belief he ad- 
heres to Republican principles, and loyally supports 
the party, while in religion he and his family are 
Congregationalists. Unfortunately Mr. McDonald 
has had a great amount of sickness in his family. 
At the time of his first wife's death five of his fam- 
ily were under the doctor's care, and one child spent 
an entire year in the hospital. Notwithstanding the 
great expense thus incurred, Mr. McDonald has 
been able by careful management to meet his obliga- J 



tions and to become firmly established in the mer- 
cantile business. His upright, manly character has 
won for him the respect of his fellow citizens, who 
recognize his sterling worth. 



OSCAR SANDMANN, a prosperous farmer re- 
siding one and one-half miles southwest of Granite 
Falls, was born February 22, 1860, in Baden, Ger- 
many, which was also the birthplace of his parents, 
Simon and Carrie (Walliser) Sandmann. The 
father, a charcoal manufacturer, died in 1862, at the 
age of forty-five. The mother, eight years her hus- 
band's junior, died in 1903. She was the mother of 
four children, three of whom are still living in Ger- 
many. At the early age of seven Oscar Sandmann 
began to support himself by working as chore boy 
on a farm. By diligently improving his limited op- 
portunities he secured his education in the common 
schools. When fourteen years old he entered a saw- 
mill for the purpose of learning the business, spend- 
ing two years during which he received his board as 
compensation. He served in the German army in 
field artillery three years. Having become familiar 
with the various departments of the lumber busi- 
ness, he engaged in it till he immigrated to the 
United States in 1880. He located at Eau Claire, Wis- 
consin, for a year, and then sought an opening in the 
vast northwest with its wonderful resources. He 
went first to Seattle, making the trip via San Fran- 
cisco. After a three-months' stop there he pro- 
ceeded to Snohomish, coming up the river to where 
he now lives. Here he took up a homestead of one 
hundred and sixty acres. Taking his supplies to 
Machias on a wagon, he and a Norwegian friend, 
Ludwig Sandwig, who owned a claim a mile south 
of his. expected to complete the journey with a 
canoe. They loaded supplies and tools and hope- 
fully started on their trip, which proved to be an 
eventful one. Pushing from shore at one o'clock on 
Monday, August 1, 1883, they found a log jam im- 
peding their progress about every ten or twelve rods, 
thus necessitating the unloading of everything and 
carrying supplies and canoe over these obstructions. 
They also encountered numberless sand bars where 
they were obliged to do the same tedious work over 
again. At eight o'clock that night they found they 
had only traversed a mile and a half of the trip. 
Running on a snag in the swift current of the river, 
the canoe upset. His comrade lost even his shoes 
that were in it. They recovered as much as possible 
of the precious freight, but much of it was lost and 
a part of what was found was unfit for use. A shot 
gun and a saw were among the missing tools. Near- 
ly a month later Mr. Sandmann found the former 
by diving for it, but the latter is still missing. Moor- 
ing the canoe, they climbed up on the bank, and 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



decided to wait the coming of another day before 
continuing their pilgrimage. Undismayed by th,: 
Experiences of the previous day, they rose with the 
dawn the following morning and packed the few 
belongings they had rescued, along the bank of the 
river in relay trips. Four days after leaving Ma- 
chias they reached their destination. Mr. Sandmann 
erected a cabin, and then returned to Snohomish 
working in lumber camps while at the same time 
holding his claim. In 1890 he took up his perma- 
nent residence on it, beginning the arduous task of 
clearing the land and putting it in condition to culti- 
vate. Two At-ars later a lumber company from 
Snohomish built a mill on his land. In less than a 
year the enterprise failed completely, thus occasion- 
ing him heavy losses. A Granite Falls company 
having built on the same site some two years later, 
they engaged in business for a time, but soon, how- 
ever, it shared the fate of the former company. 
Later, another firm opened up the business again, 
and made a success of it. In 1001 the Sobey Manu- 
facturing Company purchased the mill, and still own 
and operate it. Mr. Sandmann has now eighty acres 
in cultivation, devoting it principally to dairying and 
stock raising. He has a fine herd of Durham cattle. 
A part of his land is leased to the lumber 
company. He is also largely interested in city prop- 
erty, owning besides his home eight other houses 
which he rents. 

Mr. Sandmann was married September 19, 1899, 
to Annie Rheinhart, a native of Schulenburg, Fay- 
ette County, Texas, where Mr. Sandmann went for 
his wife. Her parents, Andrews and Lena (Becker) 
Rheinhart, have been residents of that town since 
their childhood. Her parents were born in Ger- 
many. They are farmers and stock raisers. Mr. 
and Mrs. Sandmann have two children, Oscar and 
Alvin. Although an active Republican, Mr. Sand- 
mann has never entertained any political aspira- 
tions, and has persistently refused to allow his name 
to come before the public, as a candidate for any 
office. He and his family are identified with the 
Catholic church. As a capable, energetic business 
man he has won a large measure of success. He is 
also a public spirited, enterprising citizen, cheerfully 
contributing time and means to the advancement of 
any enterprise that will prove beneficial to the com- 
munity. It was through his eft'orts that the co- 
operative store was formed in Granite Falls, and this 
is only an example of his keen, practical judgment. 



WILLIAM D. JONES. Among the many men 
of foreign birth who have found in the United States 
a home and the prosperity which they sought, is 
numbered the one whose name initiates this article. 
He was born in Wales Februarv 10, 1872. Flis 



father, David Jones, the well known hotel proprie- 
tor of Hartford, Washington, was born in 1851. 
Margaret (Jones) Jones, the mother, died in 1884, 
at the age of thirty-three. William D. Jones is the 
oldest of seven children. His parents haviiig moved 
to Scranton, Pennsylvania, when he was but five 
years old, he received his education in the common 
schools of that state. He began working in the coal 
breakers at the age of twelve. Three years later he 
decided to find an opening in the great Northwest 
of which he had so often heard and came west, lo- 
cating first in Franklin, Washington, where he re- 
mained eight years. During the next few years 
he drifted from one place to another, residing for a 
time in Wardner, Idaho, in the early 'nineties. He 
then mined in turn in Alberta, Montana, Vancou- 
ver island and Colorado. In 1887 he determined to 
find a permanent home and establish himself in 
business, and after comparing the advantages af- 
forded by the various states which he had visited in 
his travels, selected W^ashington. Subsequent 
events have demonstrated the wisdom of his choice. 
Opening a saloon in Lochsly, he conducted it for 
two years, then removed to Hartford, his present 
home, where he is still engaged in the same busi- 
ness. 

Mr. Jones was married in 1900 to Mattie Wil- 
liams, the daughter of a prominent family in Ken- 
tucky. She herself is a native of Wisconsin. Her 
parents, Benjamin and Ida Gertrude (Hall) Wil- 
liams, were both natives of Kentucky. The father 
died in 1882. The mother, now Mrs. Shackleford, 
is living at Columbia station, near Seattle. One 
child has been bom to Mr. and J\lrs. Jones, Bernice 
G., the date of her birth being August 6, 1901. Mr. 
Jones is very popular in fraternal circles. He is a 
member of the Knights of Pythias, Green River 
lodge, No. 33, of Franklin, Washington, and of the 
Redmen ; also holds a life-membership in the Order 
of Eagles. In politics he adheres to Republican 
principles, loyally supporting the party in every way. 
While he does not seek political preferment for him- 
self, he nevertheless takes an active part in cau- 
cuses and conventions. He is a young man of good 
judgment and practical business ability, destined ap- 
parently to become a man of wealth. 



EDWIN J. LANE, of Lochsly, has been promi- 
nently identified with the progress of Snohomish 
county for the past fifteen years and is to-day one 
of its strong business men and public spirited citi- 
zens. Endowed with unusual executive abilit)', 
backed by ceaseless energy, he is among the leaders 
in the county's development, exploiting its rich re- 
sources in various ways that demonstrate his faith 
in the sound countrw His activities are not con- 




DWIN J. LANE 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



fined to this county, but branch out into other sec- 
tions of the state, indicating a broad grasp of affairs. 
Bom in the latter part of 1863, near Ottawa, 
Canada, Mr. Lane is the youngest of five children 
and the only son of John and Sarah (Worrell) 
Lane. The elder Lane was born in the ancient city 
of Quebec in the year 1820, but settled at Ottawa 
before the Canadian capital had developed into a 
town of any consequence, engaging in the mercan- 
tile business. In 1885 he left Ottawa for Toronto, 
where his death occurred in 1890. Mrs. Lane, a 
native of Bryson, Ontario, passed away forty years 
ago. Edwin J. received his early education in the 
common schools, at nine years of age doing chores 
for his board while attending school. At the age of 
eighteen the young Canadian came west to Lytton, 
British Columbia, where he secured employment as 
a bridge constructor on the Canadian Pacific rail- 
way. He was later transferred to the division along 
the north shore of Lake Superior, then returned to 
Donald, British Columbia, and ultimately accepted a 
position in the bridge department of the Colorado 
Midland, going to the Centennial state in 1886. Two 
and a half years later he resigned to accept similar 
employment with the Denver. Texas & Fort Worth, 
and at the end of this contract went to Leadville. 
There he engaged in logging which interested him 
so much that he decided to seek the greater oppor- 
tunities this industry offered in the forest covered 
Northwest. He reached Seattle in 1889, and for 
the time being engaged in street improvement work 
in company with a partner, the firm being Lane & 
Smart. Some time was also spent in Tacoma, after 
which Mr. Lane came north to Port Gardner in the 
days before the city of Everett was built. Here he 
did some contract work for the Great Xorthern 
Railroad and acquired city property, one parcel of 
which he still occupies with his city home. Since 
the construction of the great paper mill in Everett 
by the Everett Pulp & Paper Company. Air. Lane 
has furnished its raw material from the forests of 
Snohomish county. He is employing seventy-five 
men in his camp near Lochsly, one of the largest in 
the county, equipped with the most modern appli- 
ances for logging. There, also, he has a farm em- 
bracing one thousand one hundred acres, known as 
Woodland Farm, which its owner is developing into 
a model Puget sound ranch. He is making a spe- 
cialty of fancy bred stock, fruit growing, etc. His 
penchant for horses lies in the direction of standard 
bred trotting animals, some of his colts being the 
offspring of McKinney, recognized the world over 
as one of the best stallions in his class. He also has 
some of Zombro's get. Of Holstein cattle Mr. Lane 
possesses a choice bunch, all registered. Four hun- 
dred pure bred I. O. C. hogs comnlete the list of 
stock to be found upon this well known farm. 



Woodland Farm, however, does not comprise all of 
Mr. Lane's agricultural and stock interests for he 
has a large interest in a four hundred-acre irrigated 
tract, six miles from Prosser in Benton county. In 
both these farms he is associated with A. J. Agnew. 
Mr. Lane and Miss Mary O'Reilly, a native of 
Canada also, were united in marriage in 1890. Her 
parents, Patrick and Victoria (Julia) O'Reilly, are 
now residents of Seattle. To Mr. and Mrs. Lane 
four children have been born : Harry, Mary, Bea- 
trice and Catherine. In church membership, Mr. 
Lane is an Episcopalian while his wife is a com- 
municant in the Catholic church. Politically, he is 
a Democrat : fraternally, a member of the Woodmen 
of the World. Mr. Lane is one of the substantial 
men of the state, a man of fine qualities of mind and 
heart, a citizen of public spirit, and a man of marked 
executive ability, as is shown by the success which 
has attended the varied lines of activity to which he 
has devoted himself. 



WILLIAAI A. CLARK, a prominent citizen of 
^lachias, Washington, residing one-half mile north- 
east of town, was born in Winnebago County, Wis- 
consin, December 26, 1853. His father, Silas P. 
Clark, was born in \''ermont June 26, 1824, settled 
in AVisconsin in early life and made that his home 
for many years. Several years after his sons located 
in Washington, he came hither also, and was living 
here at the" time of his death, April 27, 1901. Eliza- 
beth M. (Hunt) Clark, the mother, was a native of 
Mansfield, Ohio, born August 2, 1832. Her death 
occurred December 10, 1900. Of her eight children 
all but one are residents of IMichigan. Owing to his 
father's ill health, A\'illiam A. Clark began to sup- 
port himself when but twelve years of age, finding 
employment in the woods and mills for a time, and 
later sailing on the Great Lakes. In 1877 he came 
to Washington via San Francisco in which city he 
was obliged to wait five days for a boat to carry 
him to the sound. He remained nine days in Seat- 
tle, then proceeded to Snohomish, at that time a 
very small town, and in a week he and his wife were 
hired to go to a logging camp on the Pilchuck. 
Loading all their earthly possessions in a canoe they 
went at once to the camp. Three months later, hav- 
ing located the land on which he now lives, he gave 
up his position and settled on the ranch. In the fall 
of that year. 1877, all the logging camps in Snoho- 
mish county abandoned work, and as a natural re- 
sult the mills were also closed. When Mr. Clark 
took up his residence here his nearest white neigh- 
bors were two miles away. His entire housekeep- 
ing outfit consisted of a cook stove, and even this 
proved to be a formidable burden, for the only way 
to reach his claim was bv the river, which was so 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



full of log jams that even a canoe could scarcely be 
used with safety. Snohomish was the nearst post 
office and base of supplies. The fare from that 
point to Seattle was then four dollars. As it was 
impossible to earn a dollar, times were very hard 
for many of the settlers who had no ready money, 
but fortunately Mr. Clark had sufficient means to 
tide him over the first few months. As soon as pos- 
sible he began clearing his land and now has sixty 
acres in cultivation. He has a large herd of cattle 
and devotes a share of his time and attention to 
dairying. 

Mr. Clark was married July 18, 1875, to Mary 
E. Mills, a native of Wisconsin, the daughter of 
Harper and Elizabeth (Foote) Mills. The mother 
died in Wisconsin ; the father in South Dakota. Two 
children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Clark. 
Myrtle and Opal, now at home, both natives of 
Snohomish county. Although Mr. Clark has been 
for many years a loyal Republican, he has never 
had any political aspirations for himself. He is a 
practical and successful farmer, thoroughly familiar 
with all the departments of the work. Recognizing 
him as a man of integrity whose word is as good as 
his note, his fellow citizens accord him the highest 
respect and honor. 



IRA CARPENTER, the well known and highly 
esteemed pioneer of Carpenter creek, is not alone a 
pioneer of this county, but is among the earliest in 
the Northwest, having come north to Puget sound 
in 18.54. His life has been an eventful one and his 
experience in Oregon and Washington is coincident 
with many of the most important occurrences mark 
ing the history of this section of the West. He was 
liorn at Harmony, Chautauqua County, New York, 
April 18, 1831, the son of Isaac and Mahetta B. 
(Matteson) Carpenter, also New Yorkers. The 
father, who was born February 19, 1793, was a 
farmer and lumberman. He served in the War of 
1818. His death occurred in New York state in 
1858. The mother was born near Troy, February 
9, 1797, and passed away April 9, 1889. Ira Car- 
penter was educated in the common schools of New 
York. He left home when seventeen years old, go- 
ing to Wisconsin, but after spending two years there 
he returned to New York and engaged in work on 
the famous Erie canal. Soon, however, he went to 
sea, and served as steward several months, but final- 
ly disembarked at New Orleans and secured em- 
ployment on the old river steamer Magnolia. Re- 
turning at length to Michigan, through which he 
had passed at an earlier date, he logged one winter, 
then went to Independence, Missouri, and hired out 
to Waldo & McCoy, the men who conducted the 
pony express across the plains to California. Mr. 



Carpenter made one trip, replete with hardships but 
rich in experiences of ad sorts. The journey occu- 
pied five months. Its western terminus was lone 
valley, where Mr. Carpenter left the outfit to go ta 
work in the mines. In the summer of 1854 he went 
to San Francisco, shipped on board the old "Ella 
Frances," and shortly afterward he found himself at 
Port Gamble, then about as isolated a place as there 
was among the northern Pacific ports. Washington 
Territory itself had been in existence only a year. 
After several trips between San Francisco and Port 
Gamble, Mr. Carpenter was cast adrift with his- 
mates on the ocean, helpless and in a wrecked con- 
dition. The craft drifted aimlessly for one hundred 
and five days with its starving, thirsty, poorly clad 
crew, before the crude jury mast and temporary 
sail carried it into the straits and to Port Gamble. 
There the vessel was sold to parties who repaired 
and refitted it and took it back to San Francisco, 
Mr. Carpenter serving as one of the crew down the 
coast. 

June 5, 1855, Mr. Carpenter enlisted, under art 
assumed name, at San Francisco in Company A, 

regiment under Colonel Wright and with the 

command came north to Fort Steilacoom and later to 
Fort X'ancouver, whence he was led by the colonel 
through one of the most memorable campaigns in 
western Indian history the story of which appears 
in this volume. After the war he served as post 
commissary awhile; later he clerked in Captain 
Jordan's office at The Dalles, where, eventually, he 
was appointed assistant packmaster to the Mullan 
Expedition, which surveyed the historic Mullan road 
through Washington, Idaho and Montana. Arriv- 
ing at St. Regis a"fter a difficult, dangerous journey, 
Mr. Carpenter was detailed to go up the Bitter Root 
valley where he spent some time, returning to Camp 
Jordan on the St. Regis one hundred and fifteen 
miles away, by means of snowshoes. Upon his ar- 
rival he found the expedition sorely in want of sup- 
plies. As a result one hundred and thirteen of the 
command started for the settlements, hundreds of 
miles away, ninety-nine walking to Colville and 
fourteen to Walla Walla. Of that last company Mr. 
Carpenter was the only one to get through without 
serious injury from the intense cold. One of the 
others froze to death. The trip was begun in Feb- 
ruary of the year 18G0, in the midst of a very cold, 
stormy winter season. Mr. Carpenter and another 
man left the little company in what is now Idaho, 
intending to get help at the Coeur d'Alene mission, 
and in fording the Coeur d'Alene river the two 
waded naked through slush ice waist deep, carrying 
their clothes and other things in their arms. .A.fter 
innumerable narrow escapes and great hardship 
they reached Walla Walla, where Mr. Carpenter at 
once organized a pack train, at the head of which 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



he went to the rehef of those at Fort Colville, mak- 
ing the trip in sixteen da\'s. 

Mr. Carpenter remained at Colville until the 
middle of May, when, after having failed to agree 
with his commander, he returned to Walla Walla, 
arriving June 3d. Immediately this intrepid fron- 
tiersman headed a party bound for Missouri. After 
a two month trip, uneventful compared with Mr. 
Carpenter's previous ones, the party reached its des- 
tination, and soon Mr. Carpenter had located in 
Howell county, which was his home thereafter until 
1883. He was there married in October, 1861, to 
Miss Samantha A. Holden, a native of Tennessee, 
who came to Missouri in 1856 with her parents, 
Benjamin and Mary A. (Cook) Holden. During 
tlie Civil War General Price ruined Mr. Carpenter's 
farm, taking away everything of value he possessed 
except a yoke of cattle. Shortly afterward he re- 
moved to Illinois temporarily, returning to Howell 
county in 1866, whence in 1883 he drove across the 
plains to Rockford, Spokane County, Washington. 
He tarried there eighteen months, coming then to 
Renton, King county. In July, 1887, the intrepid, 
restless pioneer again sought isolation, taking a 
homestead on Carpenter creek, Snohomish county. 
His nearest neighbor at the time was six miles away 
and the nearest road was at Machias, likewise six 
miles distant. He worked all through the summer 
of 1888 to put through a rough road from Machias, 
and in the fall of that year brought his family up 
the creek to the homestead. This place has since 
been his home and to it he is devoting the remain- 
der of his years improving it and making it as lucra • 
tive and comfortable as possible. Mrs. Carpenter, 
after a long, useful life, passed away September 1, 
1892. leaving four children: Mrs. Ellen Chowning, 
since deceased; Curtis, living near his father; Na- 
than, a resident of M^achias ; and Mrs. Maria Men- 
zel. the wife of the well known Granite Falls pio- 
neer mill owner. Mr. Carpenter mainly by his own 
efforts organized the school district in which he 
lives, and he served as a member of its board many 
years. Politically, he is an independent voter. He 
is known as a public-spirited citizen, interested in 
every progressive movement in his community and 
state, and honored as one of the men who partici- 
pated in foundation laying in the territory. 



York, was born in Allegany county, in 1843. She 
is now living in Granite Falls with her son, DanieJ 
I. In the common schools of Michigan Mr. Car- 
penter received his education. His father having 
immigrated to the West in 1889, he followed in 1892, 
coming to Granite Falls where the elder Carpenter 
had taken up land four and one-half miles east of 
the town. The railroad had not then been built, and 
there was little promise of the wonderful progress 
everywhere apparent to-day. Mr. Carpenter re- 
mained on the farm and in the woods until 1901. 
Renting the ranch which became his on the death of 
his father in 1897, he located in town, and entered 
the employ of the Sobey Mill Company, with whom 
he still remains. He has charge of the river work. 
He is prominent in fraternal circles, being a member 
of the Odd Fellows lodge. No. 191, at Granite Falls, 
and also of the Modern Woodmen of America. A 
loyal supporter of the Democratic party, in Decem- 
ber, 1904, he was elected mayor of Granite Falls 
entering upon his duties January 1, 1905, the second 
mayor the city had elected. He was also a member 
of the first city council. Although still a young 
man. he takes an active and unusually influential 
part in promoting any public enterprise that will 
contribute to the growth and development of this 
section. In religious belief he inclines to the Meth- 
odist church, and supports her various benevolences. 
That he has discharged and will continue to dis- 
charge the duties of his office in a manner worthy 
of emulation is a matter of conviction in the minds 
of those who are intimately acquainted with him, 
and who are thus permitted to know the ability and 
strength of character partially concealed by his quiet, 
unassuming manner. 



DANIEL I. CARPENTER, mayor of Granite 
Falls, was born in Sherman, Wexford County, 
Michigan, March 1, 1874. Plis father, Isaac N. 
Carpenter, was born in Chautauqua County, New 
York, in 1837. He moved to northern Michigan in 
1863, in which state he lived twenty-six years ; his 
death occurred at Granite Falls in 1897. Anna 
(Clark) Carpenter, the mother, also a native of New 



FR.\NK NILES. Among the well known edi- 
tors of Snohomish county is Frank Niles, of the 
Granite Falls Post. He was born in Ellsworth, Min- 
nesota. June 6, 1876. His father, Lucien B. Niles, 
bom in Maine in 1837, went to Minnesota in early 
manhood, and remained there till 1886. engaged in 
farming, logging and hunting. During the Indian 
troubles of the early 'sixties he did scout duty for 
some time. He has been a resident of Washington 
since 1886, when he migrated to Port Townsend. 
Four years later he moved to Snohomish, which was 
I his home until his death, February 3, 1906. Carrie 
(McKusick) Niles, the mother, is also a native of 
Maine, the date of her birth being 1845. She is the 
mother of nine children. Frank Niles acquired his 
education in the schools of Port Townsend and 
Snohomish. At the age of eighteen he began learn- 
ing the printer's trade, working in the office of the 
Snohomish Tribune until 1899. Going thence to 
Index, he accepted a positon on the Index Miner, 



1060 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



retaining it two years. A year later he established 
the Silverton Miner, in which a few months after-, 
ward E. R. Nunamaker purchased a half interest. 
In May, 1903, he and Roy Moore founded the Gran- 
ite Falls Post. The following June he purchased 
the interest owned by Mr. Moore, and he was sole 
proprietor of the paper until August, 1904, when he 
formed a partnership with Roy G. Messner of Gran- 
ite Falls, with whom he is still associated. Having 
bought out Mr. Nunamaker's interest in the Silver- 
ton Miner, he closed this office in January, 1904, 
moving the plant to Granite Falls. Mr. Niles is 
prominent in fraternal circles, being a member of 
the Redmen, at Everett, and an active worker in the 
Good Templars lodge. In political belief he loyally 
supports Republican doctrines, but for himself has 
never sought political preferment. He is recognized 
as a young man of excellent habits and unquestioned 
business ability. He has already established for the 
Post the reputation of being a clean, fearless, ably 
edited publication. That in the years to come it will 
be a still more potent factor in the growth and de- 
velopment of the town is firmly believed by those 
who are best acquainted with Mr. Niles and his 
capable partner. 



ROY G. MESSNER. of the firm of Niles & 
Messner, publishers of the Granite Falls Post, one 
of the progressive journals of Snohomish county, is 
one of that city's rising young men. He is practical- 
ly a product of Granite Falls, having lived there 
since he was two years old, his parents being among 
the earliest pioneers of the region. 

Lewis A. Messner, the father of Roy G., was born 
in Wa>me County, Ohio, July 1, ISS'g, the son of 
Fred and Alargaret Messner, both of whom were 
also natives of Wayne County. Fred Messner, a 
farmer by vocation, passed away in 1883 ; his wife 
died when Lewis A. was a boy. Lewis A. Messner 
lived on the farm until he attained the age of 
eleven, then left home to make his own way in the 
world, going first to Indiana and there entering the 
farming and lumbering industries. When the Civil 
War broke out, he enlisted in Company K, Forty- 
Sixth Indiana Volunteers with whom he served 
throughout the long struggle until mustered out late 
in 1865, after more than four years of army life. He 
was first in the Thirteenth Army Corps under Gen- 
eral Hovey with whom he served until after the fall 
of Vicksburg. The regiment was then transferred 
to the Nineteenth Corps under Banks. While raiding 
the Texas border in 18G4 Mr. Messner's division 
was captured and its members paroled, but they saw 
some additional service at the front before peace 
was declared. Because of physical disability brought 
on by army service Mr. Messner now draws a pen- 



sion. After the war he farmed in Iowa, then in 1868 
he went to Michigan, farming and lumbering at 
different points in that state until 1888, when he 
came to Puget sound. He at once took a pre-emp- 
tion claim one mile west of the site of Granite Falls, 
and a little later filed on a homestead two miles 
east of town. Four years ago he removed his fam- 
ily to Granite Falls, which is now his home. He is a 
man of public spirit and ability, has served his 
city as councilman, and is one of the city's substan- 
tial men. He is a member and one of the organizers 
of William Hall Post No. 107, and is affiliated 
with the Modern Woodmen of America. In Oceana 
County, Michigan, in September, 1867, Mr. Messner 
was united in marriage to ]\Iiss Mary E. Marsh, the 
daughter of Jerome and ]Minerva (Skinner) Marsh. 
Mrs. Messner was born in Genesee County, New 
York, October 29, 1849, and came to Michigan when 
a girl. Five children came to this union : Fred, 
George, Leon, Roy G. and Cora, now Mrs. Hansen, 
all of whom are residing in the vicinity of Granite 
Falls. 

Roy G. was born on a farm at Fruitport, Muske- 
gon County, Michigan, February 7, 1887. His edu- 
cation was obtained in Granite Falls and at Snoho- 
mish, where he attended high school for a time. He 
learned the printer's trade in the office of the Gran- 
ite Falls Post, which he entered as an apprentice 
February 8, 1904, working for his present partner, 
Frank Niles. -In August of that year Mr. Messner 
purchased a half interest in the plant and simultan- 
eously his brother, George L., purchased a half in- 
terest and the enterprise was thereafter conducted 
under the firm name of Messner Brothers until De- 
cember 5, 1904. From that date until July 1, 190-5, 
Roy G. operated the business alone, the partnership 
of Niles & Messner being formed at that time. Suc- 
cess has crowned the efforts of the young men, 
bringing to them not only deserved financial remun- 
eration but also an excellent reputation among all 
with whom they transact business. Mr. Messner is 
independent in his political views. Fraternally, he 
is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World and 
the Women of Woodcraft. 



DAVID A RITTER, engaged in farming and 
slockraising upon his eighty-acre farm just south of 
Granite Falls, and one of that town's later pioneers, 
is a native of the Peninsula state, bom June 15, 
1865, in Cass County, one of the finest sections of 
that commonwealth. His father, Henry L., a farmer 
by occupation, was born in Ohio in 1820, of German 
stock, but came to Michigan in its pioneer days and 
hewed out a home on La Grange Prairie, one of the 
finest agricultural parts of the state. He died in 
1871 upon the old homestead. The mother of David 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



1061 



A. was in maiden life Elizabeth Shorte. Her de- 
mise occurred four months before that of her hus- 
band. Of the twelve children of whom she became 
the mother only five are still living, two sons and 
three daughters, the subject of this sketch being 
next to the youngest child in the family. He was 
reared on the old farm, attended the public schools 
of the neighborhood and when a young man en- 
tered the shops of the Round Oak Stove Company 
at Dowagiac, Michigan, one of the best known con- 
cerns of its kind in the union. After three years 
thus spent he returned to the farm, operating the old 
homestead several years. Just previous to his im- 
migration to the Pacific coast in 1895, he worked 
some time in the stove shops at Dowagiac. Upon 
his arrival on the coast he came immediately to 
Granite Falls and entered the shingle mill of Ander- 
son Brothers with whom he remained five years. A 
year and a half followed with Shafifer Brothers near- 
by, then si.x months with the Sobey jNIanufacturing 
Company. Upon the conclusion of the latter ser- 
vice Mr. Ritter, in November, 1902. purchased his 
present place just southeast of town and moved to it. 
Since then he has been engaged in developing its re- 
sources, also doing considerable teaming for others. 
Mr. Ritter was united in marriage to Miss Ella 
Ellis, May 31, 1885, while residing in ?ilichigan. 
Her parents. Peter and Anna (McWilliam) Ellis, 
came to Jklichigan in an early day, where the father 
followed agricultural pursuits. Mrs. Ellis passed 
■away before the marriage of her daughter ; i\Ir. Ellis 
resides with Mr. Ritter at Granite Falls. Mrs. 
Ritter was born in Sullivan, New York, June 9, 
]S65, and therefore was twenty years old when 
married. Death entered the Ritter home February 
25, 1904, and carried away the faithful wife and de- 
voted mother, her loss being mourned as a personal 
one by all who knew her. Three children, Susie, 
Leroy and Floyd, survive her. INIr. Ritter is a mem- 
ber of the Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen 
of America. He is one of the community's substan- 
tial citizens who may be depended upon at any and 
all times to deal squarely with all, to support any 
progressive public movement and in general to con- 
tribute his share toward the betterment of all around 
him. 



MICHAEL DIFFLEY, whose saw-mill and ex- 
tensive logging cainp lie on the Pilchuck river, two 
and a half miles south of Granite Falls, Washing- 
ton, is not only numbered among the leading opera- 
tors of Snohomish County at the present time, but 
he has been identified prominently with the lumber 
industry in Snohomish and Skagit counties for 
more than twenty years past. Hundreds of stump- 
liddcH acres scattered over this section of the sound 



bear witness to his great energy in this line of ac- 
tivity in which he has attained an enviable reputa- 
tion as a business man oi marked ability, unusual 
aggressiveness and sound judgment. In his veins 
there flows pure Celtic blood, the inheritance of an 
unbroken chain of Celtic ancestors, and in County- 
Longford, Ireland, he was born in the year 1868, 
the son of Michael and Mary (Ferrel) Diffley. The 
senior Diffley, a farmer by occupation until his re- 
tirement from the activities of business life, is still 
living in Ireland at the advanced age of seventy- 
eight. The mother is also living, she being now 
seventy-two years of age. Of the eight children 
born to this union, of whom two are dead, the sub- 
ject of this biographical sketch, is the sixth child. 
His early life was that of most Irish lads raised on 
the farm and members of a large family. Until he 
was eleven years old he assisted at home as much 
as possible and attended the common schools of the 
district, thus attaining what schooling he could. 
Then, with his sister Mary, he left the family roof 
to seek a home with his uncle, Patrick Greeley, who 
lived in Wisconsin. Here, in the United States, 
Michael Junior was given further educational ad- 
vantages, working and attending school five jears 
longer, and also learning the blacksmith's trade. 
In 1885, thus equipped, he set out to make his own 
way, coming to Puget sound, Tacoma, being his 
first stopping place. From Tacoma he went north 
to Whatcom county and immediately afterwards 
to Skagit, being engaged during the next few years 
in driving logs on the Skagit and Samish rivers in 
the latter county and a little later on the Stillagua- 
mish and Snohomish rivers further south. He 
worked for Patrick McCoy, E. G. English and Wil- 
liam McKay at different times while in Skagit, 
these men being among the foremost lumbermen of 
the time in that section of the sound. For many 
years after Mr. Diffley came to this section of the 
state both Skagit and Snohomish counties were 
hardly more than great logging camps with few 
roads of any kind and exceedingly poor trails even 
through the wilderness. When he first saw the 
Skagit valley it was as yet hardly touched by the 
great lumbermen and it was a difficult and a danger- 
ous undertaking to make a trip up as far as the 
Sauk river. He worked for E. D. Smith, Lowell'? 
pioneer lumberman, before the city of Everett was 
founded and remembers when there were but three 
houses on the site of the present city. To have se- 
cured a claim on the peninsula would have been an 
easy matter, but, in company with others, he little 
dreamed that a metropolis would spring up so sud- 
denly on the uninviting spot. He took off much of 
the timber from the site of Everett in an early day. 
Mr. Diffley was engaged in rafting by contract at 
.A.nacortes for several years, making a very satisfy- 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



ing success of it. In 1895 he branched out in busi- 
ness for himself and with headquarters in Seattle 
engaged quite extensively in logging operations up 
and down the sound. Mr. Diffley abandoned log- 
ging temporarily in 1896 to go to Dawson City, 
Alaska, with a partner, Frank Rupp. They became 
two of the earliest men in that famous camp. Upon 
their trip inland from the coast, they had to depend 
upon game principally for their subsistence. Mr. 
Diffley shortly afterward came south to Atland, on 
Johnstone Straits, British Columbia, and there took 
two claims, the Ohio and the Bonnie Belle. First he 
made money in his mining ventures, but eventually 
sunk a fortune in exploiting the Ohio claim. In 1899 
he returned to his old business in Snohomish coun- 
ty, taking up lumber operations near Hartford, 
where he and his brother Thomas had operated 
previously for some time. In all Mr. Diffley 's oper- 
ations in that vicinity covered a period of seven 
years. He and Charles Seiffert as partners cut a 
tract of approximately 8,600 acres near Hartford, 
or between that place and Granite Falls. Four 
years ago Mr. Diffley moved his camps up the Pil- 
chuck to the Frank Gregory place, the timber on 
which he had purchased, and there he erected a saw- 
mill and established his present business. He also 
took a contract to supply the Sobey Manufacturing- 
Company with bolts and supplied both mills belong- 
ing to that concern while they were in operation. He 
still furnishes all the bolts used by the present mill 
at Sobey. Mr. Diffley's establishment bears a high 
reputation as an exceedingly well managed one that 
has drawn to it as competent men as can be found 
in the lumber industry on Puget sound. 

The marriage of Miss Kate Wall to Mr. Diffley 
was solemnized at Everett, March 14, 1903. She is 
a native of Tipperary, Ireland, who came to the 
United States in 1901. Her parents still reside in 
the old country. Two sons have blessed the union 
of Mr. and Mrs. Diffley, Francis and Lawrence. 
The family are connected with the Catholic church, 
Mr. Diffley also having membership in the Catholic 
branch of the Y. M. C. A. TIo is also affiliated with 
the Elks. Politically, ho is an independent voter, 
though normally an adherent of the Democratic 
party whose conventions and assemblies he attends 
regularly. His party has often sought to honor him, 
but he has persistently declined to allow the use of 
his name, the last occasion being when offered the 
nomination for sheriiif. A lover of good government 
and a believer in progress he is always keenly inter- 
ested in whatever pertains to the public's welfare. 

In bringing this sketch to a close it is interesting 
and appropriate to mention an incident which clear- 
ly and forcibly illustrates the character of the man. 
While attending the coronation ceremonies connect- 
ed with the crowning of King Edward in 1898, Mr. 



Diffley of course visited his old home in Ireland for 
the first time since he had left it as a lad only eleven 
years old. While there he purchased the old home- 
stead, of which the Diffley s had been simply tenants 
for five generations, and presented it to his aged 
parents, thus bringing an undreamed-of joy into 
their lives and insuring its future possession to the 
family, provided the wishes of the donor are car- 
ried out. Mr. Diffley considers this one of the hap- 
piest acts of his entire life, as well he may, though 
he but modestly refers to this unusual display of 
generosity which involved the expenditure of a large 
sum of money. His sterling qualities of integrity, 
justice to all, and broad sympathies have made him 
deservedly respected and esteemed by all with whom 
he is associated, while his keen abilities and in- 
domitable will power make him a prominent factor 
in the local business world and a leader in the com- 
munitv. 



JOSEPH SWARTZ. founder and owner of the 
Swartz shingle mills on Swarts pond, three miles 
southeast of Granite Falls, is one of the highly es- 
teemed and able business men of Snohomish coun- 
ty. He came to eastern Snohomish county as a 
pioneer and has risen through vicissitudes to a 
prominent and honorable position among his fellow 
men. 

The career of Joseph Swartz is not only one of 
which his family and friends may well feel proud 
but it is one of unusual interest to every American 
and contains an object lesson quite obvious and im- 
portant. He was born in southern Russia, Province 
of Podolsk, March 15, 1860, to one of the leading 
families in the city of Bershad, his father having 
been the foremost lawyer of the community. Sovol 
Swartz, the father, passed away in 1905 at the age 
of seventy-four after a modest, unostentatious, 
though long and useful life. His wife, Zopha (Ber- 
stenof) Swartz, also a native of Podolsk province 
and of the same city, and the daughter of a promi- 
nent business man, is still living in Russia at the 
age of seventy-two. Six children were born to this 
union of whom Joseph Swartz is the eldest son and 
second child. As befitting the family's positfon, he 
was given a thorough education in Russia's public 
schools and later sent to the Shetamer gymnasium, 
or college, by which he was graduated when twenty 
years old. He then served six months in the regu- 
lar army, being exempt because of his university 
education from longer service as is Russian custom, 
after which he engaged in teaching. At this time, 
as a result of his broad education and inborn love of 
freedom, he definitely decided to leave his mother 
countrv and seek liberty and the opportunities and' 
privileges which he thought belonged to him by im- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



migrating to the United States. He was at that 
time earning one hundred roubles a month, in ac- 
tual value worth as much as an equal number of 
■dollars in the United States, and held a position in 
Russia far above the average young man. Still he 
did not hesitate. With foresight characteristic of 
the man, he realized that in a new country his fine 
education would count for nothing at the begin- 
ning and that he would probably have to commence 
his new life as a common laborer. So he applied 
himself to the study of industrial arts for one year 
in the School Mechanical Industry at Shetemir, 
Province of Volinsk, the chief mechanic being a 
personal friend, learning the trade of a machinist. 
Thus equipped and prepared to meet with formida- 
ble difficulties, in 1884 he bade farewell to the em- 
pire and sailed for the republic that was to be his 
future home. From New York harbor he went di- 
rect to Cleveland, Ohio, and there obtained employ- 
ment in the machine shop of Cox & Prentice, with 
whom he remained eighteen months. He then, with 
his savings, went into Pauline County, Ohio, and 
purchased a timbered tract and to the clearing of 
this devoted the next three years with unusual suc- 
cess. At the end of that period he sold out and 
opened a boot and shoe store in Kansas City, Mis- 
■souri, where he prospered. However, fire broke out 
in the block and destroyed his business, and because 
of the non-compliance of other firms in the same 
block with insurance regulations, Mr. Swartz was 
compelled to sufifer the loss of his insurance money, 
which was a severe blow to him. With indomitable 
courage he gathered what remained of his shattered 
property and started for the Northwest, landing in 
Seattle just after the great fire had swept that me- 
tropolis and while the stricken people were still liv- 
ing in tents and shacks on the ruins. Two months 
later Mr. Swartz came to Snohomish county and in 
June. 1SS0, tiHik a homestead east of Granite Falls 
at what is knriwn as Swartz lake. There he de- 
voted his acli\ities to clearing land and market gar- 
dening until six years ago, when, with a partner he 
embarked in his present business under the firm 
name of Swartz & Stacey. Mr. Stacev retired from 
the firm in 190.3, since which time Mr. Swartz has 
been alone in the conduct of his business. He keoc 
the old homestead until three years ago. The 
Swartz shingle mills are equipped with double block 
machinery having a capacity of one hundred and 
twenty thousand shingles a day, and in a'l depart- 
ments employ from twenty-five to thirty-five men 
ten months in the year. The plant is a modern 
one. Mr. Swartz also maintains his own lodging: 
camp on his own property nearby. The mill site is 
one of the finest in this section of the county. 

While a resident of Pauline Countv, Ohio, Mr. 
Swartz was joined by Miss Mary Vinshinkof, to 



whom he had plighted his troth before coming to 
America, she crossing the ocean alone to become 
his wife, the ceremony being performed in Septem- 
ber, 1886. She, too, is a native of Bershad, born 
August 12, 1869, and is the daughter of Leon and 
Mucy Vinshinkof, both of whom spent their entire 
lives in Bershad. Leon Vinshinkof was a merchant 
who was swept away in a cholera epidemic when 
forty-two years of age. Mrs. Vinshinkof is still 
living, residing at Bershad. Mrs. Swartz received 
a good education in the Russian schools. With her 
husband she has shared the difficulties and hard- 
ships incident to the founding of a new home in a 
strange country, but like her husband believes the 
reward has been well worth the sacrifice. Four chil- 
dren have been born to this union : Leo, August 15, 
1887; Elbert, November 1, 1888; Florence, Janu- 
ary 31, 1890 ; and Gladys, October 23, 1896, all of 
whom are attending school. Politically, Mr. Swartz 
is a student of public affairs and since he came to 
America to enjoy freedom, reserves to himself the 
privilege to vote independently, attaching himself 
to no political party. It is his observation that 
Americans all too frequently inherit party preju- 
dices and sooner or later return to the family fold, 
if they should chance to stray therefrom. As an 
American citizen, Mr. Swartz is contributing unre- 
servedly to the maintenance of good government in 
his adopted country, as a pioneer he has done his 
share toward the reclamation of the wilderness in 
Ohio and Washington, and as one of the substan- 
tial and able business men of his community he is 
a prominent factor in its everyday life and progress ; 
in short, he is the kind of man whom America wel- 
comes to her shores and rejoices to amalgamate with 
her liberty-loving, progressive citizenship. 



WILLIAM M. TURNER, an honored soldier 
and pioneer now residing in Granite Falls, Wash- 
ington, one of the original locators of that city's 
town site, was born in Park County, Indiana, Jan- 
uary 22, 1840. He is the son of David H. Turner, 
a native of North Carolina, born in Guilford county 
in 1820. Going to Indiana in boyhood the elder 
Turner spent the rest of his life within its bounda- 
ries, his death occurring in 1850. The mother, Ze- 
rilda (Manwaring) Turner, was born in Indiana, 
and died in 1859, at the age of thirty-nine. Of her 
four children, two are living, William M. and Mrs. 
Martha E. Hanks, the latter of whom is now a resi- 
dent of Honolulu. Like many of the most success- 
ful men, William M. Turner is self-educated. At 
the age of twelve he was obliged to support himself 
by working in a flour mill, but he diligently irn- 
proved all his leisure hours, thus securing a practi- 



1064 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



cal and thorough training for the active duties of 
life. When the call came for volunteers in 1861, he 
•was one of the first to respond, enlisting in the 
Ninth Indiana Battery, Light Artillery, under Cap- 
tain N. S. Thompson. His first service was ren- 
dered at the battle of Shiloh. During the summer 
of 1864 he was with General Banks on his Red 
River expedition, and for forty-four consecutive 
days was either fighting or under the enemy's fire. 
That he escaped from this terrible experience with- 
out even a scratch seems almost miraculous. While 
returning home on the steamboat Eclipse, he was 
a victim of the frightful boiler explosion that oc- 
curred at Johnsonville, Tennessee, in which thirty- 
five out of the seventy-two members of his company 
on board were killed. Fortunately he .escaped, but 
with the loss of an eye. He was mustered out in 
Indianapolis, March 6, 1865, and at once began 
farming. In the fall of 1868 he drove through to 
Kansas, and took up a claim in Woodson county, 
later going to Cherokee county, where he farmed 
till 1880. He then resumed his travels across the 
continent, stopping this time at Walla Walla, Wash- 
ington. Two years later he sold his property there 
and drove to Portland, Oregon. Going thence by 
boat to Toledo, he then made the remainder of the 
journey to Seattle with his team. After teaming 
two years he went to Snohomish in 1884, and hence 
up the river to Machias. Later that same spring he 
located land on the present site of Granite Falls, 
but being unable to reach it with a wagon, he and 
his family lived in Machias from April until Aug- 
ust, while he was cutting a road six miles in length 
to reach his claim. With the exception of another 
family that came at the same time, the nearest 
neighbors were at Hartford. His first cabin, made 
of split cedar logs, is still standing. For some time 
his only occupation was making shingles by hand, 
which he hauled to Snohomish, there being no store 
or post-office nearer than tliat for six years. 
Granite Falls as a town, came into existence in 
1890. A post-office was opened about that time and 
Mark Swinnerton, of Marysville, erected the first 
store, A school had been organized in 1888. LTntil 
1894 Mr. Turner farmed his property, but at that 
time he platted it as part of the town site, and re- 
tired from active labor. 

Mr. Turner was married March 22 . 1866, to 
Martha E. Hendren, a native of ^Mercer County, 
Kentucky, born April 10, 1849. Her father. Star- 
ling B. Hendren, who was born in West Virginia 
in 1808, served during the Civil War in the Ninth 
Kentucky Cavalry. ■ He also had two sons, Andrew 
and Starling, in the Nineteenth Kentucky Infantry. 
His death occurred in Kentucky in 1894. The 
mother, Mary (Saunders) Hendren, a Kentuckian 
also, died April 4, 1861, aged fifty. Both Mr. and 



Mrs. Hendren came of Virginia pioneer families. 
Air. and Mrs. Turner have five children: Mrs. 
Margaret Griffin, of San Francisco, whose husband 
is largely interested in Goldfields, Nevada ; John D., 
of Arlington, Washington ; Mrs. Daisy Robe, of 
Granite Falls; Edward R., of Livingston, Montana; 
and Walter, of Granite Falls. Mr. Turner is a 
prominent member of the William Hall Post, No. 
107, Grand Army of the Republic, and the Modern 
Woodmen of America. He is a well known Repub- 
lican, loyally serving his party's interests. He wa.s 
the first election inspector in Granite Falls, and held 
the office of deputy assessor for eight years. Mr. 
Turner claims the distinction of having cast the first 
ballot in the town. A man of splendid business abil- 
ity and unquestioned integrity, a hardy pioneer of 
undairtited courage, he enjoys the unbounded confi- 
dence of a host of loyal friends and acquaintances. 



FRED P. ANDERSON, the well known mana- 
ger of the Granite Falls Co-Operative Union, was 
born in Dover, Maine, January 30, 1865, the son of 
David and Sarah E. (Hassell) Anderson, who were 
also natives of Maine. The father, born in 1836. 
went to California in early manhood, and, having 
made a little fortune, returned to his native state a 
year later. His death occurred in 1883. The 
mother, aged seventy- seven, is now living with her 

1 son, Fred P., the youngest of her five children. Mr. 

I Anderson attended the common schools, completing 

I his education by attending the academy in his home 
town one term. Leaving home at the age of eight- 
een, he came to Snohomish, Washington, and spent 
the first five years of his residence there at various 
employments. He then took up a pre-emption 
claim where Granite Falls is now located, and 
proved up on it by commuting in 1889. He re- 
mained on the claim only a part of the time for the 
next two years, working in logging camps in the 
meantime. In 1891 be entered the employ of Mark 
Swinnerton, who owned the first store opened in 
Granite Falls, and in the fall of 1893 he and W. H. 
Davis purchased the business. They were in part- 

j n^rship until July, 1894, at which time Mr. Ander- 
son became the sole owner of the stock. During 
the financial depression of 1895 he lost this prop- 
erty, and also his interest in a mill that he had 
acquired some years previous to this time. Many a 
man would have been dismayed by this accumula- 
tion of reverses, but Mr. Anderson was not the man 
to give up easily. Again taking up anything he 
could find to do, he was able a few years later to 
buy a piece of land and make a new start. Later, 
having sold this farm, he went to Seattle, remain- 
ing there, however, but a few months. On his re- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



turn to Granite Falls, he accepted the management 
of P. E. Parminter's store, and retained that posi- 
tion till the business changed hands some eighteen 
months later. He was then employed as bookkeeper 
by James McCuIlough, of Machias, for six months. 
After selling his house in Granite Falls, he moved 
to Chelan, Washington, only to. find it less desirable 
as a business location than he had expected. He 
therefore came again to Granite Falls a few months 
later, and worked at carpenter work and in a store 
until he entered the employ of the Robe, jNIenzell 
Lumber Company. When the Granite Falls Co- 
operative Union was formed January 30, 1905, he 
was given the management of it. 

Mr. Anderson was married October 2, 1891, to 
Minnie L. Hall, a native of Michigan, born Janu- 
ary 5, 1865. Mrs. Anderson came West in 1889 
with the family of J. L. Sneathen. Her mother is 
now living with her; the father, William Hall, is 
deceased. Three children have been born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Anderson, Edith, in 1892; Wesley, in 
1894; and Beatrice, in 1903. Mr. Anderson is a 
charter member and the present consul of Granite 
Falls Camp, No. 8,355, Modern Woodmen of Amer- 
ica, also of the Odd Fellows lodge, No. 13, ac 
Snohomish. In political belief he adheres to Re- 
publican principles, but he has never desired politi- 
cal prominence. He is discharging the duties of his 
present position with characteristic faithfulness and 
ability, thus demonstrating the good judginent of 
those who placed this responsibility upon him. His 
personal life and character are such as to command 
the respect of all with whom he is associated. 

Note — Mr. Anderson passed away Wednesday 
morning, March 28, 1906, at Providence hospital, 
Everett, as the result of injuries sustained by the 
premature expjosion of a blast at his mine near 
Granite Falls on the Sth of the month. The fune- 
ral was held at his home March 30th, under the au- 
spices of the Modern Woodmen of America of 
which order he was a prominent member. 



WILL HARDING. Among the representa- 
tive business men and pioneers of Granite Falls, is 
numbered the one whose name initiates this biogra- 
phy, Will Harding, the well known merchant. He 
was born March 18, 1868, in Muscatine County, 
Iowa, and is the son of Abner and Caroline (Rip- 
henburg) Harding, both of whom are natives of 
New York. The father, born in 1833, settled in 
Iowa in the early 'sixties. Responding to the ca'l 
for volunteers when the Civil War broke out, he 
enlisted in the Second Iowa Cavalry, and served 
four years and six months. He is now engaged in 
fanning in Michigan, which state became his home 



in 1870. His wife was born one mile from Niagara 
Falls. William Harding secured his education in 
the common schools of Michigan. At the age of 
seventeen he went to work in a saw-mill, and was 
thus employed until he came to Snohomish in 1890. 
Taking up a pre-emption claim three miles east ot 
Granite Falls, he held it for three years and then 
sold out, at which time he filed on a homestead near 
there, owning this property five years. Snohomish 
was the nearest post-office, and the settlers took 
turns in discharging the duties of postman during 
those early years. Soon after Mr. Harding moved 
here the people of Granite Falls organized a stock 
company and buillt a hall. The floors were the 
only part of it made of sawed lumber. This ma- 
terial had been hauled from Getchell, a distance of 
six miles, over a road so rough that two hundred 
and fifty feet of lumber was a load for a good team 
During the winter months a pack train was the only 
means of bringing in freight, and the cost was one 
dollar per hundred. While still owning his home- 
stead, Mr. Harding embarked in the saw-mill busi- 
ness in partnership with T. K. Robe and Charles 
Last. In the course of a year he purchased Mr. 
Robe's interest, and later sold his entire holdings to 
Mr. Last. Having sold his homestead also, he 
j bought out the dry goods establishment formerly 
I owned by J. S. Boyd, and since disposing of his 
i milling interests, hag devoted his entire time to this 
enterprise. This was the first store of the kind 
opened in Granite Falls. In recent years Mr. Hard- 
ing has added a line of general merchandise to his 
stock. The firm transacts business under the name 
of W. Harding & Company, Mrs. Harding being the 
silent partner. 

In 1890, October 19th, Mr. Harding and Flora 
A. Hubbard were united in marriage. Mrs. Hard- 
ing was born in Ensley, Michigan, August 11, 1867. 
Her parents, Robert and Catherine A. (Sneathen) 
Hubbard, also pioneers of Michigan, are now living 
in Granite Falls, having come hither in 1890. Mr. 
Harding was born in Pennsylvania ; Mrs. Harding 
in Ohio, and there married. Mr. and Mrs. Hard- 
ing have one child, Clifton R., bom August 34, 
1891. Mr. Harding is very prominent in fraternal 
circles, being actively identified with the Foresters 
of America, the Odd Fellows, and the Modern 
Woodmen of America. The Republican party 
claims him as a loyal member, although he does not 
take an active part in political matters and has never 
cared to hold office. His religious beliefs are sum- 
med up in the Golden Rule, which he has diligently 
practiced in his business and social life. It is this 
strict adherence to lofty principles, combined with 
a thorough and practical knowledge of the details 
of his business, that has established for his firm 
such an enviable reputation and won it success. 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



JOSEPH S. ENAS, one of the honored pio- 
neers of Granite Falls residing one-fourth mile 
southeast of town, was born December 10, 185-i, in 
the Azores islands. He is the son of Ignacio and 
Maria (Souza) Enas, also natives of these islands. 
The father died there in 1862 ; the mother, in 1903, 
at the age of ninety-two. Leaving home in 1873, 
Joseph S. Enas immigrated to the United States, 
and made his home in Trentoii, Massachusetts, for 
a few months. There he worked in a brickyard, at 
the same time employing all his leisure moments in 
learning to speak the English language. He then 
crossed the continent, and spent the following elev- 
en years mining in Sierra and Plumas Counties, 
California. His residence in Snohomish county 
dates from 1883 when he came hither, and, after 
being employed in lumber camps for a few months, 
took up a squatter's claim where he now lives. Land 
in this locality had not then been surveyed. The 
nearest road was at Machias, a distance of ten 
miles, hence he was obliged to pack in his supplies 
on his back. The next nine years, while proving up 
on his claim which was nearly all covered with 
heavy timber, Mr. Enas worked in logging camps. 
Nearly eight years elapsed before Granite Falls 
had a store or post-office. About this time the rail- 
road was built through this locality, and settlement 
became more general. To Mr. Enas belongs the 
distinction of having been the first settler to estab- 
lish a home in this part of the valley. His nearest 
neighbor lived four miles below him. Mr. Enas 
was one of the founders of the Union Hall of Gran- 
ite Falls, which was erected by a stock company. 
One citizen donated an acre of land, whilst others 
took shares at a par value of four dollars per share, 
two days' work constituting the purchase price of a 
share and the individual holdings being limited to 
five shares. The hall, thirty by fifty feet, was built 
of hewed timber, with the exception of the floor, 
made of sawed lumber, the material for the latter 
having been hauled from Getchell. The side logs, 
each fifty feet long, were raised by hand to a height 
of twelve feet. Many and diverse were the uses to 
which this building was put in those early days, it 
being church, school-house, dance hall and public 
meeting place all in one. In the summer of 1904 't 
was sold by the stockholders to the Odd Fellows 
lodge. It is now being used as a primary class 
room, the school attendance having increased so 
rapidly that the present accommodations are inade- 
quate to meet the requirements. In 1892 Mr. Enas 
decided to abandon farming and engage in the 
shingle business at Granite Falls, which he did. 
Owing to the general depression, which followed, 
the price of shingles and shingle bolts reached so 
low a figure that there was no margin of profit in 
the manufacture of them so Mr. Enas resumed 



farming some two years later. He now has twenty- 
two acres in a fine state of cultivation, and an equal 
number in pasture, the rest of his eighty-eight acres 
being still unimproved. He is largely interested in 
fruit raising and dairying. Fraternally, he affiliates 
with the Odd Fellows, having joined in California; 
in politics he is a loyal Republcan, one who is very 
often sent as delegate to the county conventions. 
His religious creed is embraced in the Golden Rule. 
Broadly intelligent, and possessed of sterling quali- 
ties, he is one of the influential citizens of Granite 
Falls, and holds the respect of his fellow men in all 
walks of life. 



ULRICH SCHERRER, one of the prosperous 
farmers of the upper Pilchuck valley, residing foui 
miles southeast of Granite Falls near Mensel's lake, 
is a pioneer of his cominunity. Of Swiss birth, he 
is endowed by nature with those sterling qualities 
so necessary to him who would invade a wilderness 
and reclaim it as have so many of his countrymen 
in the far West. Born November 6, 1865, at Arbon, 
Thurgau canton, he is the son of Jacob and Bar- 
bara (Kreis) Scherrer, both of whom were natives 
of Switzerland. The father came of Swiss-German 
stock and was born in the same canton in 1834. 
He farmed in his native land, which he left in 1880 
to settle in California, where he resumed farming. 
His death occurred there in 1895. Mrs. Scherrer 
was born in 1831. She passed away in 1896, the 
mother of twelve children, six boys and six girls. 
Ulrich Scherrer, the seventh child and the subject 
of this sketch, attended school from the age of six 
until he was twelve, spending half a day in the 
school room and the remaining half in an embroid- 
ery factory. The family was large and it was only 
by such assistance that the father was able to sup- 
port it. Ulrich worked in this factory until he was 
nineteen years of age, then borrowed enough money 
from an uncle to carry him to the great sister repub- 
lic across the Atlantic of whose rich opportunities 
for young men he had read so much. Landing at 
New York City, he soon made his way across the 
continent to San Francisco, via the Southern Pa- 
cific railroad and shortly afterward engaged in 
farming in Sonoma county. After two years there 
he farmed a year and a half in Sacramento county, 
spent a year and a half driving a milk wagon in San 
Francisco, then came north to Washington, arriving 
in Tacoma in August, 1889. Two months then 
passed in a brickyard at that city, upon the conclu- 
sion of which, Mr. Scherrer came still further north 
to Snohomish county and finally located a home- 
stead on the upper Pilchuck, eighteen miles east of 
Snohomish City, the claim being one abandoned by 
Henry Menzel. There were no roads into the re- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



1067 



gion. only what were commonly called trails, con- 
sisting of a line of blazed trees through a dense 
jungle so thick that traveling was difficult. He at 
once commenced clearing his place, working out at 
anything he could find to do, mostly in nearby log- 
ging camps. Xot until six years later was he able 
to confine his activities to his place, so great was 
the task of improving it and making it self support- 
ing. Bears and other wild animals were quite thick 
in the vicinty for many years. In fact as recently 
as the fall of 1905, Mr. Scherrer killed a large black 
bear by trapping him, bruin having destroyed con- 
siderable stock on I\Ir. Scherrer's place and on the 
places of his neighbors. He now has twenty acres 
cleared upon which he is raising general farming 
products, particularly vegetables, which he sells to 
surrounding logging camps ; he also keeps a herd 
of Jersey cows and a band of sheep. Mr. Scherrer 
has served his district as road supervisor and in 
other ways has manifested his public spirit. Politi- 
call}'. Mr. Scherrer is a Socialist. As a hardy pio- 
neer who has endured the hardships incident to set- 
tlement on a frontier and as a successful farmer, he 
has done and is doing a full share toward the up- 
building of Snohomish county and is esteemed as 
one of her substantial citizens. 



GEORGE W. ANDERSON, farmer and 
dairyman residing a mile northwest of Granite 
Falls, one of the leaders in his community, bears 
the distinction of being the first settler in that sec- 
tion of Snohomish county in addition to being an 
early pioneer of both that and Skagit counties. As 
is the case with many of Puget sound's pioneers, he 
is a native of the old Pine Tree state, and was born 
November 14, 1857, at Dover, the son of David and 
Sarah E. (Hassell) Anderson. The elder Ander- 
son was born in Maine also, in 1828, of Scotch de- 
scent, belonging to a family which for generations 
had lived along the Atlantic coast. When barely of 
age he joined the rush to the newly discovered Cali- 
fornia gold fields, rounding the Horn in 1849, among 
the first of Maine's argonauts. Upon his return 
East he engaged in farming and while so occupied 
passed away in 1882. Mrs. Anderson, the mother 
of George W., is a native of the Old Bay state, de- 
scended from one of its oldest families, and is at 
present residing with Mr. Anderson at the ripe age 
of seventy-seven. The subject of this biography 
attended the common schools of his native state and 
later the Foxcroft Academy. Until he was twenty 
years of age he remained with his parents on the 
farm, then detemined to try his fortune in the far 
West, crossing the continent to Portland and the 
Willamette valley. In September, 1878, he came 
north to LaConner, Whatcom county, and assisted 



Olaf Poison to harvest his crop on Brown's slough. 
Shortly afterward Mr. Anderson joined the army of 
prospectors engaged in exploiting the Ruby creek 
mines at the head of the Skagit river, spending two 
summers and one winter there. He, Porter Durley, 
Charles Bramer, and W. H. Davis owned the 
"Rough and Ready" placer, at the mouth of Rubv 
creek, claimed to have been the best mine in the 
diggings. At first the owners made money, but 
eventually a disastrous washout of their dam, an 
expensive one, swept away their means and they 
were forced to sell out at a sacrifice. After spend- 
ing a winter in Seattle, Mr. Anderson worked a 
short period logging on Hood's canal, being then 
called East on account of the serious illness and 
final death of his father. The next year he re- 
mained in Maine, settling the affairs of the estate, 
then, accompanied by his mother, came to Snoho- 
mish City. Early in the spring of 1884 he came up 
the Pilchuck and filed on his present place just at 
the edge of Granite Falls, locating a short time be- 
fore William Turner, the second settler, arrived. 
Mr. Anderson experienced a hard time in reaching 
his place, crawling on his hands and knees through 
the brush part of the way. His brother-in-law, W. 
H. Davis, also became one of the early settlers in 
the vicinity. Mrs. Anderson, the mother of George 
W., was one of the first white women to settle in 
the locality. The few settlers there freighted their 
supplies part way up the valley and packed them in 
on their backs the remainder of the way. Having 
located on an old "burn," Mr. Anderson was en- 
abled to put in a small crop the first year, thus giv- 
ing inception to his farm. However, he was obliged 
to work at times in the woods to secure sufficient 
money with which to improve his place. The early 
pioneers spent a month, soon after locating, in 
building a crude road down the valley. Before he 
proved up on his homestead, however, he engaged in 
the logging business one year with Fred Anderson 
of Snohomish, the firm sending their logs down 
the Stillaguamish river to Utsalady. After being 
in the logging business five years, Mr. Anderson 
withdrew and with H. J. Andrus built a saw-mill 
near the present town of Machias, which they oper- 
ated two and a half years. They then leased it to 
Blackman Brothers and later sold it to the latter, 
after which Mr. Anderson returned to his ranch to 
which he has since devoted his entire energies and 
skill with highly successful results. 

Mr. Anderson and Miss Eva I. Andrus, a daugh- 
ter of Florace J. and M. J. (Parker) Andrus, were 
united in marriage December 25, 1887. She passed 
away ^Slarch 3i;. 1903, after becoming the mother 
of four children, three of whom survive her: Jennie, 
Elvie Fay. and David H.; Ada A. is deceased. Miss 
Elizabeth Twogood, the daughter of Parley Two- 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



good, a Granite Falls pioneer of 1889, residing in 
the neighborhood, has since been married to Mr. 
Anderson. She was born in Michigan, December 
28. 1875. Both her parents were born in Michigan 
and were pioneers of that state, in which she her- 
self was reared and educated. Mrs. Twogood is 
deceased. Mr. Anderson is a charter member of 
Granite Falls Camp, No. 8,355, Modern Woodmen 
of America, and for several years has been consul of 
this thrifty camp. In politics, Mr. Anderson is also 
active as a Democrat, being chairman of his pre- 
cinct committee. He has several times refused to 
accept the nomination for county commissioner in 
his district. He has also served as a member of the 
local school board, thus evidencing in still another 
way his interest in public affairs and desire to as- 
sume his full responsibilities of citizenship. His 
land, two hundred acres, lies in one body and is con- 
sidered a valuable tract, one of the fine farms of 
the community. Seventeen cows constitute a select 
dairy herd on this place, from which he ships cream 
to Snohomish regularly. A wide-awake, energetic, 
capable man of affairs, interesting himself in the 
betterment of the entire section in which he lives, 
and its earliest pioneer, he is universally esteemed, 
respected and accounted one of the county's sub- 
stantial citizens. 



JULIUS HANSON, successfully engaged in 
general farming and dairying just west of Granite 
Falls, is among the earliest pioneers of that section 
of Snohomish county. His life has been one of 
more than ordinary interest, its scope of incidents 
being spread over a goodly share of the globe. He 
was born in Gothenburg, Sweden, October 8, 1858. 
to the union of Carl and Sophia Christina (Samuel- 
son) Hanson, both natives of Sweden also. The 
father, a seafaring man, was born July 31, 1831. 
He was serving as a captain when last heard from 
years ago, but whether he is now dead or alive is 
not known to his son. The mother, wife of Captain 
Hanson, died in 1859, when Julius was only a year 
and a half old so that of her he remembers noth- 
ing. The lad attended the common schools of 
Sweden until the age of fourteen, when, just after 
confirmation, he joined his father on the sea. Two 
years later he joined another ship's crew and dur- 
ing the next ten years his whole life was spent be- 
fore the mast. At the age of eighteen he shipped on 
an American vessel and after voyaging for a year 
reached the United States at the port of New York. 
During the following six years he shipped from 
New York to various foreign ports, visiting Eu- 
rope, South America, India, China, Honolulu and the 
Philippine islands. While off the Philippine coast 
his ship encountered a disastrous typhoon which 



wrecked the vessel on the coral reefs of Cebu is- 
land. Little did he then think as he stood among the 
saved that some day not far distant that territory 
would be under the protection of the Stars and 
Stripes after a war with the Spanish people. In 
1883 the adventurous sailor rounded the Horn to 
Frisco and there bade farewell to the sea, his only 
home for so many years. After fifteen months mak- 
ing ties in the woods of Mendocino County, Cali- 
fornia, he came to Snohomish county and engaged 
in work for Blackman Brothers in their camps near 
Snohomish City. Two years later, in 1885 he went 
up the Pilchuck river and took a claim a mile east 
of the present town of Granite Falls, being among 
the first settlers in that vicinity, a few of the others 
being George Anderson, William Turner and W. 
H. Davis. Mr. Hanson assisted in the building of 
the best roads and with the others endured all the 
hardships and dangers incident to pioneering in so 
isolated a spot in the heavy timber. For a long time 
he worked on his place in the summer and in log- 
ging camps during the winters. The old homestead 
was his home until 1905, when he sold it and pur- 
chased eighty acres a little more than a mile west 
of town. 

Mr. Hanson and Miss Cora May Messner were 
married July 3, 1892. She is a native of Michigan, 
born November 21, 1872, and is the daughter of 
Lewis A. and Mary E. (Marsh) Messner, pioneers 
of Granite Falls, whose sketches appear fully else- 
where in these records. Mrs. Hanson, herself, ex- 
perienced pioneer life in Snohomish county, com- 
ing here when a young girl. Four sons have been 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Hanson, Hilmer Lewis, Vic- 
tor Ernfrid, Carl Rudolph, and Gustav Oscar. Mr. 
Hanson is affiliated with the Odd Fellows and the 
Court of Honor, to which latter order his wife also 
belongs. Politically, he is an independent voter,, 
always seeking out the best men, realizing that hon- 
est, competent officials count for more than issues. 
He is deeply interested in the cause of education, 
and assisted in organizing the pioneer school district 
in his community and in erecting the little school- 
house, built by donations of labor and money. He 
has also served as road supervisor of his district. 
Public-spirited, energetic and capable along the dif- 
ferent lines of activity he pursues, and possessing 
confidence in the future of his county, Mr. Hanson 
holds the esteem and respect of his fellow men and 
deserves the prosperity that has come to him after 
the hard struggles on a western frontier. 



CHRISTIAN BROWNE, whose well improved 
and sightly farm lies only a mile east of Granite 
Falls, is one of the honored pioneers of this section 
of Snohomish county. In his quiet but forceful way 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



he has for the past seventeen years devoted his en 
ergies and abilities to hewing out a home in the erst- 
while forest, and at the same time has contributed 
to the general progress and prosperity of his com- 
munity. Born in Liebig, Germany, October 22, 
1S4(), he comes of strictly Prussian stock. His 
father, Christopher Browne, who passed away years 
ago at the age of eighty-four, was the owner and 
captain of a canal boat along the river Rhine. Han- 
nah ( W'aspffarleng) Browne, the mother of Chris- 
tian, died previous to her husband's death at the 
age of .seventy-nine. The subject of this review 
received a good education in the German schools 
and when sixteen years of age was apprenticed to 
the blacksmith's trade. At the conclusion of his 
three years' service, or in 1865, he entered the Ger- 
man army and served during the internal war be- 
tween the German states preceding the formation of 
the empire. In 1870, after spending five years at 
his trade, the ex-soldier re-enlisted, this time enter- 
ing the army of the empire at the time of the Fran- 
co-Prussian War. His enlistment was made in the 
Sixty-seventh regiment. Ninth Army Corps, which 
was placed for frontier duty along the Danish bor- 
der for six months. After the war, the young vet- 
eran of two armies returned to Hamburg and 
opened a general produce store, which he operated 
with fair success until July 8, 1873. At that time 
he sold out and came to the United States. Imme- 
diately proceeding to Chicago, which city he reach- 
ed after the great fire, he there spent three years, 
going east then to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 
where he entered the rolling mills and iron workb 
at Columbia. That place was his home until 1883, 
when he returned to Chicago, spent a year in that 
city, and then went to Springfield, Illinois, and re- 
sumed his old occupation in the steel and iron mills. 
For several years he was thus engaged in Spring- 
field, going thence in 1888 to Washington Terri- 
tory, in company with Joseph H. Klaus. These 
men, on the day of Seattle's great fire, were on the 
upper Pilchuck river locating claims. Mr. Klaus 
took a homestead upon which he is still living, 
while Air. Browne, for a consideration of one hvm- 
drcd and seventy-five dollars bought the relin- 
quishment of a man named Thompson to the place 
which is still his home. The tract he pre-empted 
first, but after living on it two years, unsurveyed. 
Mr. Browne took it as a homestead. The date of 
his actual settlement on this farm was October 12, 
1889. There was but one road into the district and 
that a very poor one from Machias over which Mr. 
Browne transported the few household furnishings 
he brought with him. For many >-ears the farm 
did not return him a living, compelling him to gee 
out and work for others to obtain the necessaries of 
life. Now, however, he has a large portion of it 



cleared and in cultivation and is reaping the re- 
wards of honest toil, patient perseverance and un- 
ceasing energy. 

Mrs. Lizzie Beinhauer, also a native of Ger- 
many, was married to Mr. Browne in Pennsylvania 
in 1882. She was born in the old country June 10, 
18-19, and came to the United States with her broth- 
er Henry in 1868. She was married previous to her 
union with Mr. Browne. Four daughters and one 
son have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Browne: Ber- 
tha, the oldest, aged twenty-four, now the wife of 
Edward Fawner; Hannah, now Mrs. William Nor- 
ton ; Katie and Emma, at home ; and John, also at 
home. The married children reside at Granite Falls. 
The family are communicants of the Lutheran 
church. Mr. Browne is regarded highly by all who 
know him, as is also his wife, and he is looked upon 
as one of the community's sterling men of unques- 
tioned integrity and stability. 



HENRY L. ATWOOD, whose thrifty ranch 
lies snugly and picturesquely located among the 
hills two miles east of Granite Falls on Atwood 
creek, a branch of the Pilchuck river, is one of the 
true pioneers of Snohomish county. He came to 
this region when it was in its wild state, more than 
seventeen years ago, and has not only witnessed its 
transformation into a prosperous district of farms 
and towns and mines, but he has in fact contributed 
personally to this wonderful development of a west- 
ern frontier. Though born in Boston, Massachu- 
setts, in the very heart of the populous East, he 
early sought the freer life of the West and like 
many another young man of his time reached fur- 
ther and further westward, engaging in the various 
occupations and meeting with the common exper- 
iences incident to frontier life, until he finally found 
himself in Washington Territory in 1887, after hav- 
ing visited Colorado and the southwestern portion 
of the L^nited States. He followed logging in Kit- 
sap county for a time, then came northward and in 
February, 1889, by the aid of a compass located his 
present ranch, being among the first in this section. 
His nearest neighbors, and they were miles away, 
were Julius Hansen down by the Pilchuck, and the 
small settlement in the vicinity of William Turner 
at what is now Granite Falls. Mr. Atwood had to 
build a trail in order to get to his place and for a 
long time packed in everything on his back, indicat- 
ing but one of the trials of building a home in the 
Washington woods. More than two and a half 
years elapsed before he was able to file on his land, 
the survey not being made previous to that. He 
early joined with his neighbors in building roads, 
new trails in asking for a new post-office at Granite 
Falls, and and in other public matters of vital in- 



loro 



SNOHOIMISH COUNTY 



terest to the growth of the community. Like many 
others he was compelled to work out for a time in 
order to support himself, but of late years has given 
his ranch his entire attention with the result that he 
has cleared a large portion of it and otherwise laid 
the foundation for what will soon be one of the 
finest, prettiest places in this section of the county. 
Recently he has erected a commodious, comfortable 
(lA\elling that adds to the value and appearance of 
I lie farm. 

Air. Atwood was united in marriage, Februarv 
2C, 1904, to Aland J. I'ay, a native of Hardwick, 
Vermont. She i^ ilu' danglttcr nf I'rank Fay, a vet- 
eran of the Civil War, at present engaged in farm- 
ing, who is descended from American Colonial 
stock. Her mother, who bore the maiden name of 
Deborah Brown, is also a native of the Green Moun- 
tain state, and of Colonial stock. Mrs. Atwood was 
educated and reared in Vermont and New Hamp- 
shire. One child has been bom to this union : Frank 
Fay Atwood. born ]\Iay 11, 1905. I\Irs. Atwood be- 
longs to the Baptist church. Mr. Atwood is affili- 
ated with one fraternity only, the Odd Fellows. Both 
he and his estimable wife are esteemed members of 
the community in which they live while he is re- 
garded as one of the substantial men of this section, 
in addition to the position he has attained by reason 
of his pioneership and the part he has played in the 
growth of western Snohomish county. 



JOHN A. THEURER, successful mill owner of 
Robe, is one of the well known men of the Pacific 
Northwest, having been identified with the lumber 
and milling business since he came to this state in 
1889. He is also well known politically, having 
been a member of the house of representatives at 
the last session of the state legislature, in which he 
took a prominent part, being a member of the com- 
mittees on tide lands, state, school and granted 
lands, mines and mining, printing and supplies. Mr. 
Theurer was born at White Lake, Muskegon Coun- 
ty, Michigan, on New Year's Day, 18G3, one of the 
si.x children of John and Augusta (Popkey) Theu- 
rer, natives of Germany. Mrs. Theurer died in 
1898, in her fifty-sixth year, but ]\Ir. Theurer, now 
eighty-two years of age, is living in Everett, to 
which place he came two years ago. John A. Theu- 
rer passed his early life in Montague, Muskegon 
County, Michigan, where he obtained a common 
school and academic education. At sixteen years of 
age he entered the employ of a shingle mill, remain- 
ing with the company until in 1887 he left Michi- 
gan and went to New Mexico. He remained there 
but a short time, however, going on to California, 
where he resumed work in a shingle mill. Eight- 



een months later, in 1889, he came to Snohomish' 
County, Washington, and entered the employ ■ of 
Blackman Brothers, remaining with that well 
known lumber firm for the next six months. He 
then became financially interested in the firm of J. 
F. Webber & Company, builders of a shingle mill 
at Cathcart. After operating this mill for some 
time. Mr. Theurer left it to associate himself with 
the lease of R. Hembridge's mill at Granite Falls. 
For three years this connection continued and at 
the close of the lease-term, J\Ir. Theurer came to 
Robe and purchased a small plant. From that be- 
ginning in the fall of 1898 he has built up his pres- 
ent establishment, with a saw-mill of sixty thousand 
feet daily capacity and a shingle mill with a capacity 
of one hundred and fifty thousand per day. There 
is also a planing mill in connection, and he owns as 
well good timber lands, and a logging railroad 
about two and a half miles in length. 

In April. 1901, ]\Ir. Theurer married Miss Ella 
Raesch, a native of Michigan who came to Wash- 
ington with her parents. Mr. Raesch has passed 
away but Airs. Raesch is a resident of Robe. In 
fraternal circles Mr. Theurer is a member of the 
Knights of Pythias, of the Benevolent and Protec- 
tive Order of Elks, and of the Concatenated Order 
of Hoo Hoos. In politics he is an active Republi- 
can, though he was a Democrat prior to the time 
of the assassination of the late President McKinley. 
Mr. Theurer is a business man of exceptional abil- 
ity, a citizen of the best attainments and principles 
and an efficient public official. No one has beea 
more active in the development of the industrial 
resources of the Northwest, and as an energetic 
participant in its progress he is well worthy of 
prominent mention in these annals. 



TI-IEES KACKMAN, the well-to-do pioneer 
farmer residing one mile south and a mile west 
of Bryant, was born in Germany March 2, 1SG6. 
His parents, Peter and Hedwig (Willers) Kack- 
man, were also born in that country. The father 
came to Washington in 1885, and now, at the age 
of eighty, is making his home with a daughter, 
Mrs. Metta Enselmann, who lives near Arlington. 
The mother died in her native land in 1878, aged 
forty-seven. Thees Kackman is the youngest of a 
family of six children. He received his education 
in the schools of his native country, and at the age 
of seventeen, in company with two sisters, Katrine 
and Hedwig, sailed for the LTnited States. They 
located first in Minnesota, remaining there three 
years on a farm. Deciding to find a home in the 
Northwest, Mr. Kackman then went to Seattle, and 
thence to Stanwood. He soon made a trip up the 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



river, and a year later took up a homestead of one 
hundred and sixty acres on which he now lives. It 
is situated a mile from the Stillaguamish, and at 
that early date could be reached only by that means, 
there being no roads. With the exception of a few 
places where the trees had been burned off, the land 
was covered with timber. The nearest store and 
post-office was at what is now known as Silvana, a. 
distance of nine miles down the river. During the 
first few years he brought all his supplies up the 
river in a canoe, and then packed them on his back 
to the ranch. He later made a trail over which an 
ox team could be driven, and constructed a rude 
wagon with wheels sawed out of a large fir tree. 
He still has this relic of those by-gone days in which 
the old adage, "Necessity is the mother of inven- 
tion," was every often proved true. With the as- 
sistance of a neighbor his first cook stove was 
brought to the cabin, fastened to a pole. While 
holding his claim he worked out a part of the time 
to support his family. A school-house was built 
soon after he came to this locality, and a post-office 
and store followed in the course of the next three 
years. 

Mr. Kackman was married March 31, 1897, to 
Selma T. Frenzel. a native of Wisconsin. Her 
parents, Charles and Elwina T. (Schultz) Fren- 
zel, both of German nativity, died in Wisconsin, 
whither they immigrated in 1855. ]\Ir. and Mrs. 
Kackman have had four children, Peter H., Otto L., 
Selma E. H., and Henry, of whom all are living 
save the youngest, who died June 13, 1905, aged 
seven months and nine days. Mr. Kackman is a 
member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, 
and on political questions he votes an independent 
ticket. Pie lias held the office of road supervisor 
for two years. He is known as an earnest, indus- 
trious, conscientious man, and is respected as such bv 
his fellow citizens. Of his original claim he now 
has forty acres in crops and pasture, upon which he 
keeps a fine herd of cattle, devoting much attention- 
to dairying. He is also very successful in raising 
vegetables, for which he always finds a ready mar- 
ket. His thrift and good management are apparent 
on every side, and have enabled him to attain his 
present prosperity. 



SAMUEL S. ERDAHL. one of the honored | 
pioneers of Bryant, Washington, residing one-half 
mile east of town, was born in Norwav, June '27, 
1858. His parents, Samuel S. and Bretha Erdahl, 
are living in their native country, Norway, the fath- 
er aged eighty-four, the mother, seventy-three. Of 
their seven children Samuel S. is the oldest. After 
receiving his elementary education in the common 



schools, he attended a military school for three 
years. He left home May 24, 1S81, to avail himself 
of the greater opportunities to be found in the 
United States and, locating in Winnebago County, 
Iowa, farmed there for some time, going thence to 
Alinnesota. The severe winters of the latter state 
did not please him, so he decided to try the milder 
climate of Washington, and in June, 1885, came to 
Stanwood. Later he filed on the land he now owns 
and moved onto it. There were but five settlers in 
Bryant at that early date. As it was so far from 
the river, it was necessary to cut a trail, and later, a 
wagon road to Stanwood. Some idea of the labor 
involved m this tmdertaking may be had from the 
fact that Mr. Erdahl spent his entire time for four 
months on it, and the other settlers nearly an equal 
amount of time. Stanwood had the nearest post- 
office and store. It was eight years after he came 
before Mr. Erdahl could get a wagon to his house. 
For the first two years he did not have even a 
yoke of oxen, and was thus obliged to do all his 
work by hand. When he eventually became the 
proud possessor of a cow, in order to provide her 
with food, he packed hay on his back a distance of 
two miles. It was no slight task to keep her sup- 
plied with food, but the luxury of having milk am- 
ply repaid him for his toil. Every foot of the ranch 
was covered with timber when he filed on it. He 
now has twenty acres in cultivation, and one hun- 
dred and forty in pasture. Dairy interests occupy 
the larger share of his time and attention. His 
thorough familiarity with the conditions on which 
success depends, and his careful attention to details 
enable him to realize a substantial income from this 
industrv alone. 

In the fall of 1881 Mr. Erdahl and Susan Bergo 
were married in Iowa. Mrs. Erdahl was born in 
Norway and came to the L^nited States at the same 
time that Mr. Erdahl came. Her parents are de- 
ceased. Eight children have been born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Erdahl. two of whom, Breta and Harry, are 
deceased. The others are Samuel. Hannah, Martha. 
Breta, Harold and Annie S. Although a loyal sup- 
porter of the Republican party, Mr. Erdahl has^ 
never had any desire to take an active part in politi- 
cal matters. He and his family are identified with 
the Lutheran church. Possessed of the sterling 
characteristics that everywhere insure respect and 
confidence, Mr. Erdahl is a citizen of whom Bryant 
is justly proud. During his long residence here he 
has witnessed wonderful changes, and by reason of 
his vivid recollections of the early days is able to 
fully appreciate the modern improvements and con- 
veniences that all are now privileged to enjoy. In 
a quiet, unassuming way he has contributed his full 
share to the growth and development of this local- 
itv, and his influence and means can always be re- 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



lied on to advance any public enterprise which 
promises to be of benefit to the community. 



CHARLES D. HILLIS. Among the young 
men of Snohomish county who are carrying for- 
ward the work so well begun by the pioneers of 
agencies of a continuous development, forces in ush- 
ering in the day of larger things for a very large 
country, Charles D. Hillis is deserving of a place in 
the front rank. Still in the early 'thirties, he has 
already massed a competency and with the means 
already acquired is pushing forward to the accom- 
plishment of greater things, the winning of worthier 
victories. He belongs to the class who form the 
leal strength and boast of any country, the vigorous, 
thrifty and fearless workers in the direction of 
progress. 

Mr. Hillis was born in Elk County, Kansas, Sep- 
tember 14, 1873, the son of James F. Hillis, a native 
of Indiana, who in later life became a farmer in 
Kansas and continued to farm there until his death 
in 1891. With him our subject lived until sixteen 
years of age, then he came to Walla Walla, arriving 
in 1888. After a short stay in southeastern Wash- 
ington he moved to Oregon where his home was un- 
til 1890, then he came to Snohomish county. Short- 
ly after his arrival he took a timber claim near 
Oso, which continued to be his property for four 
years. In 1897 he purchased the place at Cicero 
which is now his home, and to its cultivation and 
improvement he gave himself with zeal and energy 
until last spring when he bought a half interest in 
a shingle mill at Trafton and since that he has been 
successfully operating the same in conjunction with 
D. E. Servis. The mill has a capacity of fifty thou- 
sand daily. Mr. Hillis' property interest include his 
fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres, forty of 
which have been cleared, and improved by the erec- 
tion of a neat little house and other buildings, a 
half interest in the mill just mentioned, a half in- 
terest in two hundred and forty acres of excellent 
timber land, a house and two lots and some other 
property in Everett, certainly not a bad showing for 
a man who began life without anything a compara- 
tively few years ago. 

The industrial success of Mr. Hillis has been 
achieved without sacrifice of any of the principles of 
right living and fair dealing which form the basis 
of an honorable standing among his fellow citi- 
zens, and his position in social circles and as a man 
among men is no less enviable than that occupied 
by him in business. In political faith he is aligned 
with the Democratic party; in fraternal affiliation 
he is a Yeoman, an Elk and a Modern Woodman. 
He has three brothers and one sister, namely 
James, John, Royal and Marion, also two half 



brothers, Benjamin and Roy, and one step-sister, 
Lillian Hostetter. 



STEPHEN CICERO, storekeeper, post-master, 
farmer and poultryman at the place which bears his 
name, is one of the pioneers of this section of Sno- 
homish county. Mr. and Mrs. Cicero first came up 
the river in 1889, bringing family, stove, furniture 
and provisions in a canoe and occupying two days 
in making the trip. For a time Mr. Cicero had a 
hard time getting a start in his new place, but he 
persevered. A suggestion of the inaccessibility of 
the place may be gathered from the fact that the 
first road to Cicero was built so late as 1897. Mr. 
Cicero was born in Genesee County, Michigan, De- 
cember 28, 1856, the son of Joseph and Ellen L. 
(Smith) Cicero, the former a native of Canada who 
came to Michigan and engaged in lumbering for a 
period of years, ultimately embarking in the hotel 
business. Mrs. Cicero was born in Genesee County, 
New York, in 1833, and died in 1871. Stephen Cic- 
ero lived at home until his mother's death and dur- 
ing that time secured what formal education he has 
been able to obtain. He passed his years until 1889 
in Michigan, then came to Snohomish county, after 
having stopped for a time in Seattle. He took up 
a pre-emption of one hundred and sixty acres, which 
he held until seven years ago, when he sold out and 
bought his present place of twenty acres and his 
store. 

In 1885 Mr. Cicero married Miss Martha Gor- 
don, daughter of Jesse and Matilda (Ellis) Gordon. 
Mr. Gordon was a native of Scotland who came to 
the LInited States when a child, and when the Civil 
War broke out enlisted and served four years in the 
Union army. Mrs. Gordon is a native of Ohio, born 
in 1849, and was educated in the common schools of 
Ohio. She was married at the age of fifteen. The 
couple are living in King county at present. Mrs. 
Cicero's natal year was 1866. She received her edu- 
cation in the schools of Michigan and lived with her 
parents until her marriage. Two children have been 
born to Mr. and Mrs. Cicero: Mrs. Olive Ryan 
and Stephen, the latter of whom is dead. They 
have an adopted son, Harry. In politics Mr. Cicero 
is a Democrat, but has sought or held no office, lo- 
cal or state, except membership on the school board. 
In fraternal circles he is a Yeoman. When Mr. 
and Mrs. Cicero first came to this section of the 
country the post-office was at Trafton, that at Cic- 
ero not being established until six years ago. In 
1891 the first wagon and team of horses appeared, 
driven by Frank Kent, who occupied three days on 
the trip from Kent's prairie. Birds from outside 
did not come until a year later, but now, strangely 
enough, the meadow lark and robin are quite com- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



mon. Mr. and Mrs. Cicero are well satisfied with 
their venture and feel that Snohomish county has 
been good to them in every way, the hard times of 
the early days simply preparing for the later times 
of greater ease and affluence. 



RALPH COLLINGWOOD (deceased) was 
one of the pioneers of the upper Stillaguamish river, 
and his life from 1884 to the time of his death was 
intimately connected with the development and set- 
tlement of this part of Snohomish county. Mrs. 
Collingwood was the first white woman in this sec- 
tion and she retains vivid memories of experiences 
of those early days of the reclamation of the forests 
for human kind. Mr. Colhng^ood was born in 
Plessey, England, Decembei 18, 1843, the only son 
of Roger and Isabelle (Thompson) Collingwood. 
The elder Collingwood, a descendant of the admiral 
of the same name who is famous in the annals of 
the British navy, came to the United States in 1850 
and settled in Michigan, dying at Big Rapids in 
187G. His three daughters were Annie, deceased ; 
Elizabeth and Jennie. Ralph Collingwood at the 
age of seventeen enlisted in the Union army and 
served his adopted country faithfully for three 
years. Returning from the war, he passed a num- 
ber of years in Michigan, then went to Kansas and 
later to Arkansas. After three years in the latter 
state he came to Washington in 1882 and went to 
work in Port Blakely. Coming to Snohomish coun- 
ty two years later, he located on a timber claim 
near Trafton, but after a few months he removed 
to a homestead three miles above Trafton which has 
since borne his name and where Mrs. Collingwood 
lived after her husband's death until quite recently. 
Of this period Mr. Collingwood wrote in a sketch 
of the early days on the upper river : "On the first 
day of March, 1884, Mr. and Mrs. Collingwood, 
Ed. Fisher and a Mr. Parks pitched their tents at 
the McEwan place, three miles up the north fork, 
and took possession of an abandoned bachelor cab- 
in. They had been taken up the river in a canoe 
by Siwash John Friday and his klootchman, and had 
reached the place the third day after leaving Stan- 
wood. That night a heavy snow fell and the next 
day the men began to cut a trail to Mr. Colling- 
wood's homestead claim three miles to the west- 
ward, which required eleven days. Then a cabin 
was built, the supplies packed in. and Mrs. Colling- 
wood. the first white woman on the north fork, took 
her canine bodyguard, 'Shep,' and moved into her 
first forest home. Mr. Parks located on the D. S. 
Baker place, and during the summer James Mc- 
Cullough took up the claim that is now occupied 
by the river a mile west of Cooper's shingle mill, 
and George Moore located the present Brazelton 



place and relinquished it to that family a year 
later." 

In 1865, at Bay City, Michigan, Mr. Colling- 
wood married Miss Jennie Patterson, a daughter of 
James and Lome (Morden) Patterson. The father 
was a native of New York who in early life was a. 
sea captain but later became a Michigan farmer. 
Mrs. Patterson, a native of Canada, died when Mrs. 
Collingwood was but a girl, the youngest of five 
children of whom only herself and sister Mary sur- 
vive ; the latter is also a resident of this county. Aft- 
er her mother's death, Mrs. Collingwood lived with 
an uncle until her marriage. In politics Mr. Colling- 
wood was a Republican, while in fraternal circles 
he was a member of the Masonic order. He was 
a prosperous man, as is evidenced by the fact that 
he owned at the time of his death, which occurred 
at the Everett Hospital, February 5, 1897, the home- 
stead of one hundred and sixty acres, free from in- 
cumbrance, a dairy herd, twenty-five neat cattle, 
and the implements and other paraphernalia of a 
well kept, modern farm. Mrs. Collingwood has re- 
cently sold the old homestead to Mr. Cavanaugh. 
She is one of the highly respected women of Sno- 
homish county, esteemed by all who know her, one 
who has experienced the vicissitudes of pioneer 
days and has done her share toward replacing the 
wilderness with farms and homes. 



JACOB T. LOHR. Among the expert lumber- 
men who have been drawn hither by the excellent 
timber of the Puget sound country and who are 
forces to-day in the utilization and manufacture of 
that great, transcendent resource, the man with 
whose life history this article is concerned is deserv- 
ing of a prominent place. He is thoroughly appre- 
ciative of the timber wealth of the country, Imows 
something about its undeveloped minerals, believes 
in its future and has an abundance of that kind of 
faith which impels men to go ahead and accomplish 
something. Fie hails from a lumber state, having 
been born in Wayne County, Michigan, February 
18, 1855, and is one of the four children of Frederick 
and Augusta M. (Adams) Lohr, both natives of 
Germany. The father came to the United States 
when fifteen years old, settled in Michigan and 
passed the remainder of his life there, dying in 
1875. The mother came to this country at the early 
age of eight, her parents having died, and lived with 
friends in Bufltalo, New York, for five years, later 
going to Michigan, where she was married. Her 
husband having passed away as heretofore stated, 
she later remarried, and in 1883 came to Lyman, 
Skagit county, where she continued to reside until 
her demise four years later. 

Mr. Lohr of this article acquired a common edu- 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



cation in the public schools of Michigan, and at 
eighteen went to Detroit to engage in railroad office 
work, but he soon left it to embark in lumbering at 
Manistee, Michigan, where for nine consecutive 
years he followed log scaling and kindred occupa- 
tions. During the summers of 1872-3-4, however, 
he was employed on a vessel on Lake Michigan and 
at one time barely escaped drowning, his vessel 
having been wrecked. After becoming an expert in 
the lumber business he took up the work of esti- 
mating and selling timber on a commission, which 
line he followed until ISH'i, when he came to Wash- 
ington. For the first three years after his arrival 
he followed the same pursuit here, his central point 
of operations being Seattle, but in 1885 he built the 
steamer Pearl and began running it on the waters of 
the sound and Samish river. A twelvemonth was 
thus spent, then he took a homestead on the Skagit 
river near Lyman, but the attractions of the lumber 
business were too great for him and soon he had 
built a saw-mill at Sterling and was again busy in 
the manufacture of lumber. Fire terminated this 
enterprise a year later; then Mr. Lohr turned his 
attention to prospecting, becoming one of the first 
locators in the Silverton district. He gave special 
attention to the Perry creek section, staking out 
seven claims there, and iluring the nine years be- 
tween 1801 and i'JOi) devoting practically all his 
energies to explorations and the development of 
properties already acquired. As a result he now owns 
a controlling interest in all the Perry creek mines, 
whose values consist of gold and silver, with twen- 
ty-five per cent copper. In 1900 he became inter- 
ested once more in the lumber business. He re- 
turned to Seattle and to the business of buying and 
selling timber, and the following year erected a mill 
of his own at Ehrlich, which he soon sold, coming 
then to Cicero. There he has since lived, engaged 
in a general milling business, he being owner of a 
third interest in the Heath-Morley Company, which 
has a saw and shingle mill and forty milHon feet 
of timber, half of it cedar. 

February 4. 1900. Mr. I^ohr married Miss Marie 
T. Zibbell, a daughter of August Zibbell, and a na- 
tive of Minnesota, born July 13, 1879. She came 
to Colfax, Washington, in 1898, and to Seattle i 
year later. She and Mr. Lohr are parents of two 
children, Ralph Major and Sidney. In politics Mr. 
Lohr is a Republican, active, influential and awake 
to all matters of general concern, but not ambitious 
personally for political preferment, though in 189() 
he consented to become his party's candidate for the 
office of county surveyor. He is one of the repre- 
sentative business men of the county and one of the 
progressive forces in its development, possessed of 
an active, lively faith in its future and especially 
in the future of the Perrv creek mines. 



CLAL'DE C. GRANT, engaged in general 
farming a half mile northwest of Cicero, is one of 
the successful agriculturists of this part of Snoho- 
mish county and during a comparatively few years 
has built up an excellent farm out of the forest 
lands. Mr. Grant was born in Iowa January 20, 
1868, the son of John and Angie (Baxter) Grant. 
The elder Grant was a native of Ohio and farmed 
in that state until 18G7, when he went to Iowa. In 
1870 he moved to Kansas and in 1888 came to 
Snohomish county, settling on the Stillaguamish 
and residing there until his death at Arlington in 
1899. Mrs. Grant is still living, a resident of Ar- 
lington. Besides Claude, she has two other chil- 
dren, James and Nellie. Claude C. Grant made his 
home with his parents until thirty years of age, 
working in logging camps for a number of years 
after his arrival in Snohomish county. For the 
past eight years he has been operating his present 
farm, doing a successful business and building up. 
an excellent property. 

In April, 1900, Mr. Grant married ?iliss Eliza- 
beth Schiller, daughter of Robert and Minnie 
(Eicholze) Schiller, natives of Germany, and now 
residents of xVrlington. Mrs. Grant is a native of 
Germany, born on Christmas day, 1881. She re- 
ceived her education principally in the schools of 
Arlington, coming to the United States with her 
parents when she was eight years of age. Mr. and 
Mrs. Grant have two children, Hazel and Audree. 
In politics Mr. Grant is aligned with the Republi- 
cans. He has 180 acres of excellent land, thirty 
of which are at present cleared and under cultiva- 
tion. He keeps seven milch cows, also has eleven 
head of stock cattle and half a dozen horses. He is 
improving his farm as the years go by and the 
place now presents a sharp contrast to what it was 
when he first took hold of the land. Mr. Grant is 
energetic, thrifty, intelligent in his work, a good 
manager and one of the popular and influential men 
of the community. 



HUGH C. RUTHRUFF, a general farmer living 
two and a half miles west of Oso, has been in Sno- 
homish county since 1888 and has been very suc- 
cessful since coming here. Mr. Ruthrufif was born 
in Kansas on Christmas Day. 1866, the son of 
Chester and Urina (Sprague) Ruthrufif, who are 
still living in the Sunflower state. The elder Ruth- 
ruff was born in Michigan in 1839 and became a 
carpenter. He went to Kansas when a young man 
and, with the exception of the years 1889-92, when 
he was in this state, has passed his entire time since 
attaining manhood there. Mrs. Ruthruff is a na- 
tive of Ohio, still lives in her Kansas home, the 
mother of seven children besides the subject of this 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



1075 



biography, namel)- : ^Irs. Nellie L. Conover, Mrs. 
Nettie M. Lambert, Mrs. Belle D. Farrier, Claude 
D. Rutbniff, Mrs. Gertrude Walker, Miss Lulu 
Ruthruff and Clement Ruthrufif. Until he was 
twenty-two years of age Hugh C. Ruthrufif lived 
with his parents, obtaining his education in the lo- 
cal common school. Coming to Snohomish county 
in 1888, he located on a place near his present farm, 
which he afterwards sold to advantage, then took 
a timber claim on which he proved up in 189-1. 
During this period of his life he worked a great 
deal in Whatcom county. After disposing of his 
timber claim in 1899, Mr. Ruthruti' engaged in log- 
ging and other lines of endeavor for two years. He 
bought his present place of 100 acres in the fall of 
1901, moved onto it in the following spring and 
has since lived there. 

October 2, 1893, :\Ir. Ruthruff married IMiss 
Mildred E. Richards at Whatcom, daughter of 
Ephraim and Frances (Childs) Richards, both of 
whom are still living and residents of Snohomish 
county. ^Ir. Richards, a native of Maine, and by 
occupation a farmer, removed to California in early 
life and in 188G came to Snohomish county. Mrs. 
Ruthrufif has a brother and two sisters, Willie E. 
Richards, Mrs. Maud AIcKinnon and Miss Efifie 
Richards. iXIrs. Ruthrutif was born in 1873 and 
lived with her parents until her marriage. To Mr. 
and Mrs. Ruthrufif have been born si.x children: 
Earl B., Vern M.. Dwight C, Harold C, Neil and 
Beryl N. In politics IVIr. Ruthrufif is a Republi- 
can, while in fraternal connection he is a member 
of the Brotherhood of American Yeomen. Of the 
one hundred acres comprising his home farm sixty 
have been slashed and are in pasture, while thirty 
are completely under cultivation. His dairy herd 
consists of eight milch cows, and he has ten head 
of stock cattle, as well as other live stock. Mr. 
Ruthrufif is well satisfied with the opportunities held 
out by Snohomish county and feels that he has 
prospered since coming here ; further, expects that 
all conditions in the county will improve with the 
flight of time. He is highly respected as a man of 
estimable character, intelligent, well informed and 
thoroughly in touch with events in the world at 
large. 



many other successful men, Felix Chartrand was 
obliged by circumstances to assume the active duties 
of life at an early age, working on a farm when only 
thirteen years old. A few years later he began 
work in the woods on the Gatineau river, and he 
was thus employed for two years, after which he 
immigrated to the United States. He first located 
at Jordan Falls, New York, but went the follow- 
ing fall to Michigan, where he spent the next five 
years in the woods. . Still journeying westward, he 
stopped in Butte, Montana, for a time, whence he 
came to Seattle in the spring of 1888. He was en- 
gaged in teaming there the first summer, and in 
the fall came on to Stanwood, went twenty-five 
miles up the Stillaguamish river, and pre-empted 
IGO acres. There was at that time only a blazed 
trail reaching to Stanwood, so supplies had to be 
brought in in canoes by the Indians at a cost per 
load of from twenty to thirty dollars. Seven years 
later, having lost the pre-emption, Mr. Chartrand 
returned to the woods to find employment. During 
the past five years he has taken but one vacation, 
this being when he went to Idaho. In February, 
1901, he took up his residence on his farm located 
one and one-half miles west of Oso. of which he be- 
came owner six years ago, and he has since de- 
voted his attention to clearing the land and getting 
it in condition to cultivate. He has ten acres in 
crops and pasture and since acquiring the land has 
erected comfortable buildings besides earning $400 
in wages. These improvements are a substantial 
proof of his tireless energy. 

Mr. Chartrand was married in 1903 to Mrs. 
Mary VanCore, a native of Wisconsin, born at Eau 
Claire. Her parents are both living in her na- 
tive state. She has two children by her former 
husband, Alfay and Cecil, and one child, Walter, 
has been born to Mr. and jMrs. Chartrand. Mr. 
Chartrand is identified with no political party, al- 
ways preferring to vote for the man, nor has he 
ever cared to take an active part in political mat- 
ters. Although not one of the earliest pioneers, 
Mr. Chartrand has been identified with the various 
interests of this locality for a number of years 
now, and he is numbered among the well and fa- 
vorablv known citizens. 



FELIX CHARTRAND. Among the thrifty 
and industrious fanners of Oso is the man whose 
name gives caption to this biography. He was 
born at Saint Lawrence. Ontario. December 2-5, 
1861, the son of John and Florence (Begrau) 
Chartrand. The father, a farmer, died in Ontario 
in 1878, at the age of forty-eight, but the mother, 
at the age of seventy-seven, is still living at Ottawa. 
She is the mother of seventeen children. Like 



CHARLES SANDBERG, who is operating 
with marked success a dairy farm situated one mile 
north of Oso, is one of the pioneers of this part 
of Snohomish county who has created for himself 
a pleasant home and a valuable farm out of the 
forest of the upper Stillaguamish. He was born in 
Sweden in the summer of 1857, the son of Erick 
and Caroline (Bostrom) Johnson^ who lived and 
died in the old countrv, leaving five children besides 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



Charles. The others are Carrie, Erick and August 
Sandberg, Mrs. Sophia Nordene and Mrs. Emma 
Sandstrom. There is also an adopted son, John 
Nelson. Charles Sandberg lived with his parents 
until the death of the father in 1871, then at the 
age of fourteen, worked for farmers in the vicin- 
ity of his home in northern Sweden. After three 
years at farm work young Sandberg engaged to 
work in lumber yards in his native country and re- 
mained in that occupation until he came to the 
United States in 1881. After his arrival in the 
new world, he first settled at Cadillac, Michigan, 
where he remained until he came to Snohomish 
county, whither a brother had preceded him to the 
Stillaguamish valley. The brother was drowned 
in the river within a few weeks of the arrival of 
Charles, and the latter took charge of the brother's 
place and has since operated it, with the exception 
of two years, 1898-99, which he passed in Alaska. 
When Mr. Sandberg first came up the river there 
were no railroads in the country and few trails and 
provisions had to be brought by canoe. Mr. Sand- 
berg was fortunate in having sufficient funds to 
support him until his farm could be put into con- 
dition to produce crops. That was in 1891. 

In 1887 at Seattle Mr. Sandberg married Miss 
Catherine Larson, a native of Sweden, and the 
daughter of Lars and Mary (Olson) Johnson. 
Mrs. Johnson never left her native land, but Mr. 
Johnson came to the United States in 1892 and 
died in Oso six years later. Mrs. Sandberg, who 
was born December 5, 18G5, came to the United 
States when twenty-one years of age, and worked 
in Michigan until coming to Seattle a short time 
prior to her marriage. To her and Mr. Sandberg 
have been born six children : Nellie A., Mabel L., 
Carl A. (deceased), Esther M., Fred A. and Lil- 
lian M. In politics Mr. Sandberg is a Republican 
and in church membership a Lutheran. Forty acres 
of his 160-acre tract have been cleared and are un- 
der cultivation, much of the remainder being pas- 
ture land, where he grazes his twelve milch cows 
and his stock cattle. The house is a fine large one 
■of nine rooms, supplied with all modern conven- 
iences. Mr. Sandberg is well satisfied with the 
"business opportunities of Snohomish county, where 
his thrift and industry have placed him in an inde- 
pendent position. He is a sterling man, well liked 
in the community, with much public spirit and in- 
terest in all that pertains to the state and nation. 



JOHN ILES. Prominent among the progres- 
sive and successful men of Snohomish county, and 
deserving of the highest credit as a man of force- 
ful character, executive ability and good business 
judgment is John lies, a prosperous farmer living 



at Oso. Having come to Snohomish county nine- 
teen years ago with only funds sufficient to support 
his family until he could get a few acres of a 
timbered homestead cleared, he has by industry, 
thrift and good management, accumulated sufficient 
property so that should his earning capacity be sud- 
denly destoyed by some accident, he could still live 
on the income from his holdings. Mr. lies was 
born in London, Ontario, Canada, December 10, 
1856, the son of John and Eliza (Menery) lies, na- 
tives respectively of Ireland and Canada. The 
father was engaged in farming in Michigan for 
many years, and died in that state in 1895, re- 
spected and honored by all as a devout and worthy 
man. His wife, the mother of our subject, passed 
away in Michigan a few months prior to the time 
of his death. The other children of this estimable 
couple who are still living are Christina, William, 
Sarah, Samuel, Levi L., Maggie and David, and 
they have two half-brothers and a half-sister, name- 
ly, Frank, Thomas and Abigail. 

Until he was eighteen years of age Mr. lies, of 
this artcle, lived with his parents, then he began 
independently the struggle of life, his first employ- 
ment being log driving in Michigan. As soon as 
he attained his majority he accepted a position on 
the police force of Cadillac, that state, and he con- 
tinued to serve as such officer two years, retiring 
eventually to accept a position with a New York 
chemist in a wood alcohol establishment in the 
mountains of Tennessee. He remained there until 
1887, then came to Washington and took up his 
present place. He had funds sufficient to sustain 
himself and family until his farm could be made to 
produce, hence he was able to devote all his time 
and energy to clearing and cultivating. He has ac- 
quired new fields to conquer from time to time and 
is still pushing ahead, nor does he expect to pause 
in his battle with timber, stumps and debris until 
the last acre of his extensive holdings is ready for 
the plow. Naturally alert and adapted to work in 
the woods, he has made considerable money cruis- 
ing timber and locating newcomers looking for 
land. During the winter of 1904-5 he found 
homes for thirty-seven settlers, for which service 
he received a hundred dollars each. Except while 
absent on a visit to Michigan in 1903, Mr. lies has 
lived on his present farm since coming to Snoho- 
mish county. 

In the summer of 1886 Mr. lies married Miss 
Cora Woodward, a native of the Peninsula state, 
and a daughter of Eli George and C^mthia 
(Parker) Woodward. Her father was a native of 
New York, who removed to Michigan in middle life 
and became a hotel keeper and liveryman at Cadil- 
lac, but at the time of his death in 1899 was a 
farmer. Her mother, a native of Indiana, died in 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Michigan in 1883, leaving two children, Mrs. lies 
and Mrs. Nellie Larson. Mrs. lies has two half- 
brothers, Gerome and Darwin Woodward, and 
■one half-sister, Mrs. Ida Young. Born in Buffalo, 
N. Y., February 2, 1868, she was educated in the 
common schools of ]\Iichigan. She was married 
prior to her union with Mr. lies and by her former 
marriage has one son, Clyde. Mr. lies was also 
married before, the issue of his first union being 
one son, Theodore, while the children of his pres- 
ent marriage are Winnie, born December 23, 1890, 
and Walter Lee, born January 27, 1894. In poli- 
tics Mr. lies is a Democrat, in fraternal connection 
a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows and the Ancient Order of United Workmen, 
in church membership a Methodist. He has in his 
home place 130 acres of his original homestead, to 
which has been added thirty acres of improved farm 
land purchased later, while his other property in- 
terests include a house and two lots in Everett and 
three residences in Oso. which he rents. Now that 
he finds himself in an independent position, he plans 
to remove shortly to the city of Everett that his chil- 
dren may have the benefit of better educational in- 
stitutions and enjov the other advantages of urban 
life. 



ALFRED FRENCH, a carpenter, and one of 
the active and- forceful young men of the county, 
active along many lines among which are prospect- 
ing, operating engines and farming, is a native of 
Kennebec county, Maine, born in 1866. the sixth of 
the eight children of Addison and Sybil French, 
agriculturists of Maine, which was their native com- 
monwealth also. The elder French died in 1905, 
but our subject's mother still lives in the Pine Tree 
state. 

Alfred French, of this article, completed a com- 
mon school course of study, then set out, at the age 
of seventeen, to learn the jewelry business, but after 
a time his eyes failed him and he was compelled 
to change his occupation. Endowed with a natural 
aptitude and taste for mechanical work, he turned 
his attention to carpentering, following that until 
1887, when he went to Massachusetts to accept a 
position in connection with an asylum. After 
spending a year there he passed another twelve- 
month or so at his home in Maine, then in 1890 
came West and located permanently in the Paget 
sound country. His first employment was in 
bridge construction for the Seattle, Lake Shore & 
Eastern Railway Company, and while engaged in 
that line he became impressed with the value of 
Snohomish county as a place for the development 
of fine homes and farms, so he soon took a home- 
stead on the Boulder river, about seven miles east 



of Oso, where he lived for the ensuing seven years. 
During this period he worked at anything he could 
get to do at odd times for subsistence, giving his 
major efforts to land clearing, but he never wholly 
deserted his trade and in time came to make it his 
main reliance for a livelihood again. In 1900 he 
was unfortunately stricken with a sickness which 
left him incapable of work for two years, but as 
soon as he had sufficiently recovered he turned to 
his handicraft, also to operating engines in different 
parts of the county and to prospecting for iron. His 
last contract is for the building of a school-house at 
Hazel. As a result of his prospecting he is the 
owner of twenty-four iron claims, some of them 
very promising ones. 

Mr. French acknowledges allegiance to no po- 
litical party, though he takes the interest in poli- 
tics, local and general, that every . good citizen 
should and is governed in casting the ballot as 
much as possible by the qualifications of the can- 
didate.i. He has never married. An excellent 
tradesman, an energetic worker, a respected mem- 
ber of the community, a man who is willing always 
to render a just return for what he gets, he belongs 
to that great industrial class who are the real 
strength and boast of any community. 



WILLIAM ALDRIDGE (deceased). Inas- 
much as he was an honored veteran of the civil 
war, a well-known pioneer of the Northwest, and 
withal a man of sterling character, the death of 
William Aldridge was keenly felt not alone in his 
own immediate neighborhood but throughout the 
county as well. He was a native of Indiana, born 
in Putnam county, August 20, 1844, the son of 
William and Mary A. (Moore) Aldridge, both of 
whom were also born in Indiana. The father's 
death occurred in that state in 1864; the mother's, 
ten years later. William Aldridge received his edu- 
cation in the common schools of his native state. 
A boy of sixteen when he enlisted in the Eighteenth 
Indiana volunteers, he saw active service during 
the last three years of the civil war, engaging in 
many of the most important battles, in one of which 
he was severely injured, making him a cripple for 
life. Returning to Indiana at the close of the war, 
he farmed there until 1878, when he moved to 
Lyon County, Kansas. Later he located in Elk 
county, near Howard, residing for several years 
in that part of the state. In 1887 he came to Stan- 
wood, Washington, and took the claim near Oso 
on which his family now live. He brought his wife 
and children in a canoe from Stanwood, a distance 
of nearly forty miles, the trip lasting two and one- 
half days. The nearest railroad was at Seattle; 
the nearest postoffice and store at Silvana. Mail 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



reached this remote corner of the state but once 
a month and the cost of transporting supplies from 
tile store to the ranch was one dollar per hundred 
weight. Some faint idea of the hardships and 
privations of that early day may be gained by con- 
trasting the conditions existing then and now, but 
the rising generation can never fully appreciate 
what the reclamation of this vast wilderness cost 
those brave pioneer men and women. The first 
school was not opened in this locality until a year 
later, and then it was but a three months' term each 
year for the succeeding three years. The first 
postoffice, known as Allen, was established in 1890, 
about the time that settlement became general here. 
A large majority of the homeseekers were from 
Kansas. For many years horses were unknown, 
oxen being used entirely for travel and farm work, 
and to Mr. Aldridge belongs the honor of having 
been the first man in this locality to own a horse. 
The rudely constructed roads were almost impas- 
.sable in places, there being at least one such point 
between the ranch and .\rlington where it was 
necessary to use a block and rigging each time in 
order to get up the hill. The family own all of 
the original homestead, consisting of one hundred 
and forty acres, of which forty acres are devoted 
to dairy interests. 

In December. 18GG, Mr. .\ldridge and ^Nlarie 
Robinson were united in marriage. Mrs. Aldridgei 
also a native of Indiana, is the daughter of Samuel 
and Sarah A. (Hardesty) Robinson, both of 
whom are deceased, the father having died in 1887 ; 
the mother, who had reached the age of eighty-one, 
in 1904. Eight children have been born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Aldridge, as follows: Ella N., who was 
drowned in 1888; Mrs. Clara Siler, of Everett; 
Emma; 'Mrs. Etta Higgins, of Chelan, Washing- 
ton; Harley, Gertrude. Oliver and Oscar. Three 
of the daughters are graduates of the state normal 
and are winning marked success as teachers. As 
a pioneer, Mrs. Aldridge expcrienceil her full share 
of dangers and discomforts while she bravely stood 
by her husband's side, assisting him in every possi- 
ble way. With only six other white women within 
a radius of five miles her life must have been indeed 
a lonely one, save for the absorbing attention which 
she lavished upon husband and children. As the 
latter have grown to manhood and womanhood 
they have appreciated her toil and care for them; 
Mr. Aldridge was a prominent member of the 
Grand Army of the Republic, in which organiza- 
tion his presence is greatly missed. He was a re- 
publican, loyally supporting the party in every way 
while never seeking any political honors for him- 
self. The family is identified with the Methodist 
church. During his long residence here Mr. Al- 
:dridge had won the confidence and esteem of hia 



many acquaintances and was one of the most popu- 
lar and prtiminent citizens of the countv. 



BERNARD J. DUFFY, of Fortson, is a whole- 
hearted man who. fearing no obstacle in nature 
and endowed with faith in the future, selected a 
place amid the forest trees of Snohomish county, 
and after a period of hardship consequent upon the 
isolation of his selection, entered upon a period of 
financial prosperity which has placed him in the 
forefront of present-day prosperous farmers of Sno- 
homish county. With a small beginning, barely 
sufficient to enable him to get his homestead under 
way to productiveness, Mr. Duffy has fairly woii 
his home and his present position in the community 
by individual effort and personal energy and fore- 
thought. He was born in the province of Ontario, 
Canada, in 1868, the son of John and Elizabeth 
(Callahan) Duffy, natives of Ireland, wdio came to 
the western continent, selected the queen's domin- 
ion as a home and raised their children, passing 
away between 1871 and 1873. Bernard was one 
of six children, the others being James, Patrick, 
Mary. Edward and Margaret. At the time of the 
death of the parents the oldest sister was of an age 
which made her capable of managing the house- 
keeping of the family, and to take care of the estate 
an administrator was appointed. Under this regime 
Bernard lived until he was nineteen years of age, 
contributing his sliare toward the maintenance of 
the family; then he started for the West, stopping 
in Minnesota and Montana, and finally, in 1890, 
locating on a homestead in Snohomish county, near 
where Fortson is now laid out. In possession of 
enough financial means to subsist himself for three 
years, Mr. Duft'y then followed the plan of occupy- 
ing his summers in the logging camps and the win- 
ters in doing what work might be done about his 
homestead place, and this system continued until 
1898. With but a little money he w^ent in the year 
mentioned to Alaska to work as a miner, and after 
five years he returned with a goodly sum saved 
from wages earned in the Dawson district of the, 
Klondike and was thus in a position to forge for- 
ward with the improvement of the homestead. 
When Mr. Duff'y first located on his farm he was 
seriously embarrassed because of the lack of trans- 
portation, but in later years, especially since the 
building of the Darrington branch of the railroad 
there has been uo question about the disposition of 
produce. 

In politics he is a democrat and in church rela- 
lations a communicant of the Catholic church. His 
farm consists of one hundred and sixty acres of 
land, seventy of which are cleared and under cul- 
tivation. His house, built of split cedar, is eight- 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



1079 



een by twenty-five fcer m dinu-nsmns. with roof of 
similar construction, all the hamluvork of the 
owner, and his barns are of the same material. A 
small orchard is on the place and he keeps thirty- 
five head of cattle and twenty sheep, as well as 
horses sufficient for hauling- and doing the farm 
work. Ultimately 'Sir. l)utt> expects to have a 
fine dairy farm. In the community he is recog- 
nized as a man of ability, of excellent disposition 
socially, and of thrift and application in whatever 
direction he elects to operate. 



JOHN A. C.KMPBELL, whose farm lies a mile 
and a half east of h'ortson on the county road, is 
one of the aggressixe men of the community who 
have taken advantage of every opportunity otifered 
and is now enjoying a modest competence. Air. 
Campbell had fe\\' advantages in early life an! 
\vhat he has acconiplished has been d. ino (Uib. 
through hard, persevering wurk. lie was burn 
on Prince Edward's Island, (mil of .^t. Lawrence, 
in the summer (if isr.'.'. , me uf the se\ en sen- nf 
John and Catherine ( anipbell, who were uf .^-^cutcli 
ancestry, natives <if that island. The nmther still 
survives and is living on the old island hunieslead. 
(_)f her sons, other than the subject of this bi.iii- 
raphy, there are si.x — Alexander, .\ngus, Innnceni, 
Marshall, Philiii and Ste|.hen: she has .me .laui^h- 
ter, Mary Jane. Cntil he became .if age, J<.hn A. 
Campbell remained with his parents, .ibtaining but. 
a meagre schooling. In l.'^S? he went tu Manitoba 
and passed two years in railroad wark, at the end 
of that time coming to the Pacific coast and settling 
at Astoria, Oregon, where he spent two years at 
work in the woods in connection with the lumber 
liusiness. He came to Washington in ISSd, pass- 
ing the first three Acars at Seattle. In b-iiH) he came 
to Snohomish county and took up h\- ]-iresent place,, 
though for two years after coming here he spent 
considerable time in Seattle. He then iii.n-ed his 
family here and commenced clearing his land. Mr. 
Campbell's kn.iwle.lge i.f timber and railr. .ad work 
especially fitted him f. .r vari.jus kin. Is ..f \\<:vk dur- 
ing the period when he was putting his farm in 
condition for cultivation. He worked in logging 
camps, managed the .gang of men on the right of 
way when the Darringtim branch of the railroad 
was in process of .-. .n.>tnicti.m, and a few years 
ago had charge of similar work in Alontana. Pie 
made Arlington his home for two years. 

In 1888, in Seattle, INIr. Campbell married Miss 
Elizabeth O'Connor, only child of Patrick and 
.\nna (McGuire) O'Connor, who passed their en- 
tire lives in Ireland. Mrs. Campbell was born 
Ma'rch 17, 1866. She came to Canada when seven- 
teen years of age and lived with an uncle until 



she came to Seattle, shortly before her marriage. 
Five children have been born to Mr, and Mrs. 
Campbell — Catherine, Annie M., Lillie M., John 
F. and Margaret. In politics Mr. Campbell is a 
Democrat and in fraternal circles a member of the 
Ancient Order ..f United Workmen. Both Mr. 
and Mr-, (ampbell are comnnmicants of the Cath- 
olic chinch. Mr. Campbell has erected on his place, 
of which twenty acres are under cultivation, a fine' 
log residence with seven rooms, one of the interest- 
ing sights eif the region. He has a herd of milch 
cows and stock cattle,' with horses and hogs in cor- 
responding number. Rated as one of the substan- 
tial citizens of the community, wide awake, pro- 
gressi\e an.l h.morablc in all his dealings, he is in-, 
deed c.mtributing his full share to the upbuilding of 
the Puget soimd country. 



IRA HOLLiyOSWORTH, general farmer, 
truck gardener and poultryman, whose farm lies 
one mile northwest of liazel, is engaged in several 
profitable industries and possesses a valuable prop- 
erty, steadil)- increasing in worth with the passing 
years. ,\lr. Ilollingsworth is overseer of the farm, 
an ;iffeeti.)n of the heart, caused by an injury re- 
ceixeil .luring the Civil War, preventing him irom 
undertaking hard labor. Born April 28, 1838, in 
Jn. liana, lie is i me of four sons of Ara and Susanna 
(llennetl) 1 1. illingsworth, the father a native of 
Ohio and the mother of North Carolina. Both long 
ago passed away in Kansas. Ira Hollingsworth is 
the only survivor of the sons, but he has four sis- 
ters living — Sarah, Ruth, Eliza and Deborah. Until 
he was twenty years old young Hollingsworth lived 
with his parents. At that age he began to do for 
himself, for six years being in the employ of farm- 
ers of his neighborhood. He enlisted in the One 
Hundred and Forty-eighth Indiana volunteer in- 
fantry toward the close of the war and served as 
a private until mustered out in the fall of 1865. 
He then returned home and farmed his father's 
homestead until the family removed to Howard 
County. Kansas, in 187(1. A division of the county 
later placed Mr. Hollingsworth's residence in Elk 
county. Twenty years later he came to Snohomish 
county, locating on a homestead on the north fork 
of the Stillaguamish, where he has since lived. A 
large part of the place has been cleared, and in its 
cultivatiim and maintenance Mr. Hollingsworth's 
son Henry is the principal factor. Mrs. Hollings- 
worth died August 28, 1905. Mr. Hollingsworth, 
suffering from the effects of a wound received from 
a rock thrown by a Union soldier, is in receipt of a 
pension from the government, which is of material 
aid to hiin in his declining years. ' 

In 1859, in the Hoosier state. Mr. Holling.s-i 



1080 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



worth married Miss Mary Jane Jones, one of the 
seven children of James Marshall and Jemima 
(Wilson) Jones, natives of Kentucky, who late in 
life removed to Kansas and there died. She was 
born in 1840 and lived with her parents until mar- 
ried. Nine children have been born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Hollingsworth — Mercy M., William Henry, 
Newton C, Benjamin F., Emma V., Joseph B., 
George H., Sarah J. and James M., all living with 
the exception of Mercy M. and George H. In poli- 
tics Mr. Hollingsworth is a Republican. Members 
of the family are affiliated with the Christian 
church. The Hollingsworth farm is largely de- 
voted to raising garden truck and vegetables, a 
ready market for which is provided by the lumber 
camps of the vicinity. The family is one of the 
highly respected ones of the community, enjoying 
the confidence and good will of all. 



PETRUS PEARSON, one of the Hazel Lum- 
ber Company, Hazel, Washington, is one of the 
active young business men of Snohomish county 
and has already gained a commendable reputation 
for business energy and executive ability. As are 
so many of this region's successful men, the sub- 
ject of this review is a native of Sweden, born Oc- 
tober 17, 1879, a son af Peter A. and Christina 
Pearson. The elder Pearson was born October 13, 
1817, and spent his whole life in the land of his 
birth, dying in 1884. Mrs. Pearson is still living 
in the old country. One other son, Aaron, and a 
daughter, Jennie, are also still living. Young Pear- 
son received his education in Sweden, attending 
both the common and the high schools as well as 
taking a course in a business college, thus laying 
an excellent foundation for his business career. At 
the age of twenty-two he set out into the world to 
seek his fortune and a year later bade farewell to 
his native shores, sailing for the United States. 
Coming at once, in 1902, to Puget sound, he was 
so pleased with the outlook offered young men in 
the Stillaguamish valley that he purchased an 
eighty-acre tract of logged-oflf land near Hazel and 
commenced improving it, at the same time work- 
ing in the surrounding logging camps. A little 
later he attended the Pacific Lutheran college at 
Tacoma eight months and on his return to the val- 
ley entered the employ of McMartin Bros, as book- 
keeper at their milling plant. In 1901 the am- 
bitious young bookkeeper bought a small interest 
in the business and upon its reorganization into 
the Hazel Lumber Company became its assistant 
secretary. He was again promoted January 6, 1906. 
this time to the position of cashier, and to this work 
he is now giving the best of his ability and energy. 



realizing the splendid opportunity that has been of- 
fered him. 

Miss Maude Pendleton, the daughter of George 
and Elinor (Lawrence) Pendleton, became the bride 
of Mr. Pearson July 8, 1905. Her father was a 
successful farmer during his life, which was termi- 
nated while he was a resident of Pennsylvania many 
years ago. Mrs. Pendleton survived him and is at 
present residing in Arlington. Mrs. Pearson was^ 
born March 16, 1884, and at the time of her mar- 
riage was living at home. Mr. Pearson is Repub- 
lican in his political views, which are liberal, how- 
ever, and is manfully assuming his share of public 
responsibility, being at the present time director and 
clerk of school district No. 90. His lodge affiliations 
are with the Modern Woodmen of America. In ad- 
dition to his milling interests, Mr. Pearson still re- 
tains his eighty-acre tract of land. It is a distinct 
pleasure to chronicle in these biographical pages the 
life of a young man so highly esteemed and so well 
trained to his work, one whose future appears to 
hold so much of promise. 



JAMES R. PIERSON, a successful agricultur- 
ist of the Stillaguamish valley, residing a mile west 
of Hazel on the line of the railroad, has one of the 
most widely known places in northern Snohomish 
county. It is a landmark of the early days, so promi- 
nent that it is called the "Pioneer Home." Mr. Pier- 
son was born in Missouri February 1.5, 1866, the 
son of William and Catherine (Macbeth) Pierson. 
The elder Pierson was a native of the Empire state 
who went to Iowa when a young man and in 1865 
took up his abode in Missouri. Four years later he 
went to Kansas, where he lived until 1888, then 
immigrating to Washington and settling on the Stil- 
laguamish river near Oso. There his death occurred 
in 1900. Mrs. Pierson was a native of Iowa; her 
death occurred in Kansas. January 21, 1874. Two 
daughters, Sadie and Elizabeth, and one son, the 
subject of this sketch, survive their parents. James 
R. lived at home until his marriage, after which 
event his father lived with him until his death. 

In 1895 Miss Linnie E. Higgins, daughter of 
Walter D. and Hettie (McCormick) Higgins, was 
married to Mr. Pierson. i\Ir. Higgins is a native of 
the Blue Grass state, born May 25, 1833, but when 
quite young was taken by his parents to Missouri, 
where the family resided until its immigration to 
Texas in 1869. There Mr. Higgins engaged in 
agricultural pursuits, which he followed with success 
in the Lone Star state until 1887, in that year com- 
ing north to Washington. Snohomish county ap- 
pealed so strongly to him that he at once settled in 
the upper Stillaguamish valley, taking the place orr 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



which Mr. Pierson now resides. Mr. Higgins and 
his daughter came to this vicinity alone and for a 
number of years kept open house with true South- 
ern hospitality for all travelers who chanced to come 
their way. He was perhaps the earliest of the pio- 
neers of this vicinity — at any rate, the most widely 
known. His name is perpetuated in Mount Higgins 
and in the Higgins school district. The farm, in 
memory of its early days, is still known as the 
"Pioneer Home," and there its founder is comfort- 
ably passing the remainder of the years allotted to 
him. 

Mrs. Higgins was born in Missouri, July 27, 
1832, and died February 8, 1876, in Texas. Of' their 
children, Sarah. Alonzo and Dennie are dead, 
Mary, John and Mrs. Pierson living. The last 
named was born in Missouri March 28, 1872, and 
lived at home until her marriage. Two children 
have blessed this union. Myrtle and Dennie. In po- 
litical matters Mr. Pierson is an ardent Democrat. 
The Pierson homestead is well stocked with cattle 
and horses, including a dairy herd, and of its one 
hundred and thirty acres twenty-two are in a state 
of cultivation. Its proprietor is a man of energy and 
ability, one of the substantial citizens of the commu- 
nij;y and esteemed by all who know him. The old- 
time hospitality which has characterized the estate 
since its establishment still holds sway, lending an 
additional charm to the atmosphere surrounding it. 



CHARLES E. MOORE, junior member of the 
firm of Montague & Moore, general merchants at 
Darrington, has risen from the ranks through sheer 
merit to his present position of influence and af- 
fluence. One of Michigan's sturdy sons, he was 
bom in that state February 19, 18G1, to the union 
of George W. and Lovina P. (Newbre) Moore, 
there being si.x children in the family. The elder 
Moore was a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1823, 
who there spent the first twenty years of his life. 
Then he immigrated to the Michigan frontier and 
in the Peninsula state followed his trade, that of a 
carpenter, until his death in 1897. Mrs. IMoore was 
borji in the Empire state in 1832 ; she is still living, 
a resident of Battle Creek, Michigan. Of her chil- 
dren, one is a daughter, Nellie, and five boys, Ilun, 
Whitehill, Gainer, Owen and the subject of this 
sketch. Charles E. remained at home until nineteen 
years old, then went to the Red River Valley, North 
Dakota, where he was engaged in farm work for 
his brother five years. A short visit to Michigan fol- 
lowed, after which he crossed the continent to the 
Pacific Northwest, locating in Washington in 1889. 
Here he worked two years in various logging camps 
on the sound, then settled on a claim on Deer creek, 
a tributary of the Stillaguamish river. Two years 



later he left the woods to form a partnership with a 
man named Carroll in conducting a hotel, general 
store and the postofiice at Oso, just established. 
Eight years later, or in 1900, after a prosperous 
life, the partnership was dissolved, part of the stock 
sold and Mr. Moore moved the balance to the new 
town of Darrington, the firm of Montague & 
Moore being organized at that time. Until the year 
1901, when the railroad reached Darrington, the 
first train arriving May 31st, all supplies had to be 
hauled in from Arlington over rough roads. Since 
Mr. Moore came to Darrington he has taken a prom- 
inent part in forwarding the interests of the com- 
munity, and because of his public spirit, broad views 
and aggressiveness has been a strong factor in its 
progress. The schools have received his attention 
also, he having been a member of the local school 
board for some time. In political matters he is a 
Republican. The business venture in which he is a 
full partner is proving a success, much of the credit 
for which is due to ^Ir. Moore's keen business judg- 
ment and enterprise. 



JOHN MONTAGUE, senior member of the 
mercantile firm of Montague & Moore, leading busi- 
ness men of Darrington, has been a resident of Sno- 
homish county for nineteen years and is among its 
substantial citizens. He is essentially a self-made 
man, having assumed the responsibility of manhood 
at the early age of fourteen and accumulated his 
present holdings solely by his own efifort. Of South- 
ern birth, born in Baltimore, Maryland, March 20, 
1850, he is one of Paul Montague's three sons. Paul 
Montague was a native of Ireland who came to the 
United States in 1844, engaged in contracting work 
and successfully pursued it until his death, sixteen 
years later in New Jersey. All his sons survive, 
John, Nicholas C. and Francis B. At the age of 
eleven John, the subject of this biography, went to 
live with an uncle, with whom he remained three 
years before setting out to make his own way in 
the world. He went to Canada, worked there seven 
years, then returned to the states, locating for a 
short time in Michigan before coming to Washing- 
ton in 1887. He reached the little town of Florence, 
on the Stillaguamish river, :\Iay 9, 1888, and imme- 
diately engaged in logging at different camps. 
About this time, too, several months earlier, he filed 
on a claim near the site of Oso, being the first man to 
settle that far up the valley. This claim he made his 
home during the next twelve years, working out sev- 
eral months each season for others to obtain money 
for use in improving his place. In 1899 he came to 
Darrington, built the block now used by his store 
and the same year opened a general merchandise es- 
tablishment. Shortly afterward he sold a half in- 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



terest to Mr. Moore and the existing firm was 
formed. In addition to his mercantile interests, Mr. 
Montague owns his old homestead, comprising one 
hundred and twenty acres, of which twenty-five are 
improved. The contrast between the condition of 
Darrington when Mr. Montague reached it and its 
present thrifty condition is as great as is the con- 
trast between the first day's business and that trans- 
acted on any day of the present time ; both have ad- 
vanced wonderfully. Now the town has a railroad, 
business houses and a rapidl)' developing tributary 
country and wagon transportation or packing from 
the main line at Arlington is a thing of the past. 
INIr. Montague has exhibited unusual enterprise in 
all his dealings, his business commanding the bulk 
of the community's trade and running up as high as 
{t;-?0,000 last year. He is one of the established men 
in this section of the country, popular and es- 
teemed. 



JOHN KNUDSOX, wood worker, carpenter, 
photographer and mine owner of Darrington, is one 
of the successful business men of this section of Sno- 
homish county. Much of his time since coming here 
he has passed in the mercantile business. Easily 
adapting himself to dift'erent lines of work, obtain- 
ing information along any line of investigation with 
apparent ease, he has succeeded in diverse occupa- 
tions where others have failed. 

Born in Norway in 1855, he is the son of Knute 
and Rennie (Osmenson) Knudson, farmer folk, who 
are now dead. Besides John, seven of their children 
survive — Osmand, Delia, George, Alice, Stener, Ed- 
win and Rennie. Until nineteen years of age, John 
Knudson made his home with his parents. On leav- 
ing home he came at once to the United States and 
settled in Iowa, where for six years he pursued 
the trade of a blacksmith. Between the years 1883 
and 1891 he lived in Nebraska, where he also fol- 
lowed blacksmith work and farmed at different 
times. He then came to Washington, to Snohomish 
county, where he has since resided. At first he oper- 
ated a store and hotel at Darrington, but disposed 
of them to engage in other lines. He now has a 
fully equipped wood working establishment, with 
lathes, scroll saw and other instruments of his craft, 
and in addition has a photograph gallery. J\Ir. Knud- 
son has also done considerable prospecting, at pres- 
ent owning nine promising claims on White House 
and Jumbo mountains. 

In 1901 Mr. Knudson married Miss Emma Ev- 
ans, who died a year later, leaving no children. In 
politics Mr. Knudson is a Republican, while in 
church affiliations he is a Lutheran. Besides a sub- 
stantial home in Darrington and the building in 
which his shop is located, he owns one hundred and 



sixty acres of land, forty of which have been platted 
into the town site of Darrington. Mr. Knudson is 
one of the wideawake citizens of the town, a man of 
excellent business judgment, successful in all that 
he undertakes and a man who commands the respect 
of his fellow citizens. 



JOHN L. CA^NIPBELL is another of the pioneer 
citizens of the Pacific Northwest whose birthplace 
is Prince Edward's Island, in the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence. His farm lies six miles west of Darrington 
on the count}- road. Mr. Campbell was born June 
1, 1871, the son of Ronald and Mary (Dailey) 
Campbell. The father was born on Prince Edward's 
island of Scotch ancestry and lived there until he 
came to Washington in 1902, since which time he 
has made his home with his son. Mrs. Campbell, 
also a native of the island, died there in 1871. John 
L. Campbell lived with his parents until nearly nine- 
teen years old, coming to Seattle in 1888. After a 
few months in that city, Mr. Campbell went to Ore- 
gon and for two years worked in the woods. In 
1890 he came to Snohomish county, and being well 
impressed located on his present homestead. For a 
number of years he followed the plan adopted by so 
many men in this new country of working several 
months in the year for others, emplo\-ing the re- 
mainder of the year in bringing his homestead into 
a state of cultivation. He moved on to his place per- 
manently in 1902 and has since devoted his entire 
energies and skill to its improvement. 

Early in the year 1902, January 10, Mr. Camp- 
bell married ^Nliss Elizabeth Creedican, daughter of 
Michael and Mary (Clarke) Creedican. Mr. 
Creedican was born in England to Irish parents. 
He became a miner and carpenter and came to 
this country in 1883, settling in Pennsylvania, 
where he lived four years. He then came to the 
Puget sound countr}' and has been here ever since, 
passing most of his time in King county. Mrs. 
Creedican was born in Ireland in 1857, but went 
to England in early life and married while there. 
She is still living, the mother of eight children: 
Thomas, Ann (deceased), Elizabeth, Mary, Pat- 
lick, James, Joseph and Margaret. Elizabeth was 
born August 29, 1880, and lived at home until 
married. " To Mr. and Mrs. Campbell has been 
born one child, a daughter, Mary. In politics Mr. 
Campbell is a Republican. The family is affiliated 
with the Catholic church. Though that portion 
of ]\Ir. Campbell's farm under cultivation is not 
large, he has it well in hand and is utilizing all its 
productive powers. He is considered one of the 
c.'ipable men of the community ; a man of excellent 
character and one in whom confidence is placed by 
his fellows and the community in general. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



JOSEPH CHENIER, living five miles west of 
Darrington on the county road, is one of the hus- 
tling agriculturists of this part of the county and is 
held in high regard by his neighbors and business 
associates. Mr. Chenier was born in Canada in 
1854, the only son of John B. and Mary (LaSab- 
linier) Gienier, both of whom were born in Can- 
ada. The father died when Joseph was but a year 
old, but the mother is now living with her son near 
Darrington. Joseph Chenier lived at home until 
Jie had attained the age of fo.urteen, when he went 
to work in the woods. In 1880, leaving his family 
behind, he removed to Massachusetts. His work in 
the Bay state was connected with the lumber in- 
dustry and as soon as he had settled himself there 
he sent for his family. Massachusetts continued 
to be his abode until he came to Snohomish county 
in 1890 and located a claim on the river near Fort- 
son. Two years later his family joined him. In 
1904 Mr. Chenier sold out his original location and 
purchased his present farm. For a period of three 
years since coming to Snohomish county Mr. 
Clienier operated a saloon and hotel in Darrington, 
which he still owns but leases. 

In 1873 Mr. Chenier married Miss Millie Gren- 
ier, daughter of Otain and Zoe (Tebeau) Grenier, 
natives of Canada. The father died in 1903; the 
mother is still living, making her home with Mrs. 
Chenier. To Mr. and Mrs. Chenier have been born 
six children : Melina, Permelia, Joseph, Fred, Dor- 
eneau and Eva. In politics Mr. Chenier is not 
aligned with any party, preferring to cast his ballot 
for such candidates as appeal to him without any 
other force than their qualifications for office. In 
church affiliations he is a Catholic. Mr. Chenier's 
farm comprises eighty acres, fourteen of which are 
under cultivation. He has nine head of cattle and 
horses sufficient for carrying on the farm work. 
He is a man who is skilled in wood lore, having 
passed the greater part of his life in the forests 
of the new world. As a farmer he is successful 
and as a citizen he is highly respected. 



EDWIN MILTON STEPHENS,— Among 
the foremost business men of Monroe, Washing- 
ton, stands Edwin Milton Stephens, president of 
the State Bank of Monroe, and also of the Stephens 
Brothers Mill Company. He was born in Oregon, 
January 31, 1868. Hi's father, William Stephens, 
a native of Iowa, crossed the plains in 1852 with 
his parents, Ebenezer and Rebecca Stephens, with 
ox teams and, reaching his destination, Oakland, 
Douglas county, Oregon, erected a flour mill there, 
which he continued to own and operate until 1885, 
v,'hen he sold out and moved to Puget sound. The 
mother, Rosanna (Ensley) Stephens, is a native 
of Wisconsin. After acquirin.<r his rudimentary 
education in the common schools of his native 
state, Edwin Milton Stephens completed his schol- 



astic training by a course in a private academy at 
Oakland. Thus equipped for a successful business 
career, he left home at the age of twenty-one, locat- 
ing in Marysville, where he owned an interest in a 
shingle mill. A year later he went to Getchell, and 
v/as there engaged in the manufuacture of shingles 
for three years, when he again took up his resi- 
dence in Marysville, pursuing the same line of ac- 
tivity. Coming to Monroe in 1897 he, in partner- 
ship with his brother, Elmer, built a shingle mill, 
and together they operated it until it was destroyed 
by fire in 1902. They then, in company with two 
other brothers, D. F. and L. L. Stephens and B. F. 
Bird, formed the firm of Stephens Brothers, In- 
corporated, and erected a saw and shingle mill two 
miles north of Monroe. The mill has a capacity of 
'; 5,000 feet of lumber and 125,000 shingles daily, 
and regularly employs from thirty to fifty men. 
March 1, 1904, Air. Stephens assisted in organiz- 
ing the Monroe State Bank, which has a capital of 
$25,000, and is officered as follows: E. M. Steph- 
ens, president ; C. L. Lawry, cashier ; A. J. Agnew, 
vice-president; Walter Wardell, assistant cashier. 
Although so recently organized this is already be- 
coming favorably known, and is doing a large 
amount of general banking and foreign exchange 
business. That it will in the course of a few years 
be one of the leading institutions of the kind in this 
part of the Northwest is the general belief of those 
who are in position to judge of its strength and 
stability. 

Mr. Stephens and Miss Ida M. Smith were 
married May 35. 1890. Mrs. Stephens was born 
in Kansas, and there grew to womanhood, acquir- 
ing an excellent education in the schools of the 
state. Her parents, Henry H. and Anna Smith, 
were both natives of Wisconsin. The father was 
for. many years a successful agriculturist there, 
prior to the time when he migrated to Kansas. After 
his death, the mother came to reside with her 
daughter in Monroe. To Mr. and Mrs. Stephens 
four children have been born : LaFayette D., Ger- 
trude, Eliza N. and Lillian. Fraternally Mr. Ste- 
phens affiliates with the Odd Fellows and the Elks. 
In political belief he adheres to the doctrines of 
the Republican party, and loyally strives to advance 
its interests, while never seeking any preferment 
for himself. His career since coming to Monroe 
should prove an incentive to other young men of 
energy and pluck, as he had practically no means 
at that time, and has acquired his present financial 
standing solely by his own unceasing labor, and his 
splendid management. He is demonstrating day 
by day the wisdom of those who elected him presi- 
dent of the bank. His keen, conservative business 
abilities render him an able financier, while his irre- 
proachable personal character inspires a feeling of 
security and confidence. He is a liberal minded, 
public spirited citizen, always willing to throw the 
weight of his influence in favor of any enterprise 



1084 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



that promises to contribute to the public welfare. 
His interest, however, does not stop there, as his 
time and means are also cheerfully given as they 
are needed. His position in the business and social 
life of the thriving little city of Monroe is one 
of which he has every reason to feel proud, since 
it is so justly merited. 

Mr. Stephen's father, William, an old Puget 
sound pioneer, is now a respected resident of 
Marysville. He was born in Des Moines. Iowa, 
April 27, 1844, came to Oregon in 18.52, as hereto- 
fore stated, was educated in Wilbur Academy, and 
at twenty-one became his father's partner in a grist 
mill. He was in that line of business sixteen years, 
then sold out and farmed for half a decade. In 
1887 he drove from Oregon to Marysville, his 
team being the first to pass over the road from Sno- 
homish to that point. Purchasing 280 acres of land, 
he engaged energetically in the improvement of the 
same and now has a fine farm, upon which he 
raises high grade cattle, O. i. C. hogs and other 
livestock. Mrs. Rosanna (Ensley) Stephens, his 
wife, is likewise a member of a family that crossed 
the plains to Oreeon in 1852. Her parents died in 
1898. 



WILLIAM C. WHITE, one of the wide-awake, 
prosperous business men of Monroe, Washington, 
is a native of Henry county, Illinois, his birth oc- 
curring January 14, 186(). His father, Eli White, 
a native of the Buckeye state, was for many years 
a well known railroad man, following that line till 
his death in 1899. The mother, who bore the 
maiden name of Christena Newburg, was born in 
Sweden, but is spending her declining years in 
Chicago, Illinois. William C. White enjoyed the 
usual educational advantages until he reached the 
age of thirteen, when he was thrown on his own 
resources and obliged to begin life for himself. 
F'ossessed of unusual strength of character he spent 
no time in bewailing the fact that he must now 
start out for himself, but at once manfully faced 
the future, and soon found employment in a 
foundry in Kewanee, Illinois. Later he worked in 
a large bottling establishment for a time. In 1882 
he went to Nevada, where an uncle of his resided, 
and with him he spent one year working and at- 
tending school. This latter privilege was greatly 
appreciated by the eager, ambitious boy, who often 
regretted that he could not have had a more liberal 
education. That he utilized every moment of the 
time spent within the walls of the school room may 
be safely inferred. His first business venture was 
the establishment in Nevada of a stage line carrying 
mail, express and passengers, and in the operation 
of this he was emploved for several years. He re- 
mained in Nevada eighteen years in all. In 1897 
be visited the Pacific Northwest for the first time, 
and was so thoroughly pleased with the country 



and the business openings that he lost no time ire- 
locating in Edmonds, Washington, where he be- 
came the proprietor of the City hotel. He owned 
this property until 1900, then sold it, and moved to 
Monroe, where he erected a large two-story build- 
ing, in which he conducts the Rainier bar and 3l 
bowling alley. 

Mr. White was married January 3, 1886, to Miss- 
Hannah Nordstram, a native of Sweden. Her par- 
ents still reside in the fatherland, where her father 
is a prosperous agriculturist. Two children, Ed- 
ward C. and Mable N., have been born to Mr. and 
Mrs. White. Mr. White is prominent in fraternal 
circles, holding membership in the Foresters of 
America, and the Eagles. In political persuasion, 
he is a loyal Democrat. The party has honored 
him by electing him a member of the city council,, 
which office he is filling at the present time, meetings 
its requirements and responsibilities in a very cred- 
itable manner. 



: JOHN A. VANASDLEN, the "father of Mon- 
roe," is a worthy descendant of a long line of illus- 
trious Dutch pioneers and heroes who were promi- 
nent in the settlement of New Amsterdam, fought 
in the War of 1812, and served their country with 
bravery in the great national struggle of 1861-5. 
The same courage which inspired them, induced 
him to come to the far West in the days when the 
Pacific coast needed men of endurance and patriot- 
ism to open her forests and lay the foundations for 
future commonwealths. Mr. Vanasdlen performed 
more than his share of services of this kind at 
Monroe, Snohomish county, as well as in other 
communities of the state. He was born in Cum- 
berland county, Pennsylvania, October 9, 1861, the 
son of Tagart and Katherine (Beetem) Vanasdlen, 
both natives of the Keystone state. The father ran 
stage lines and carried the mail in that state when 
railroads were few. He served the union during 
the Civil War and died in 1865. The mother is 
living at Himtsdale, Pennsylvania, where another 
son resides. The only other child was a daughter, 
Carrie, now deceased. John A. Vanasdlen took ad- 
vantage of the common schools of his native state 
until he was fifteen years old, when he assumed for 
himself the responsibilities of life and followed 
mining and lumbering until 1880. The longing for 
travel which had been a characteristic of some of 
his ancestors induced him to leave his native state, 
and he found employment in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin, respectively. In 
Illinois and Iowa he worked in the coal mines for 
two and a half years. He was in Minneapolis, 
Minnesota, in 1883, his face still turned westward, 
and he went thence to Bismark, North Dakota, 
thence to Miles Citv and Bozeman, Montana, and 
was in Helena and Butte, in the latter state, ahead 
of the railroad. That same vear he followed the 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



1085 



setting sun until he saw the waters of the Pacific. 
He found employment in the coal mines of King 
county until 1889, when he came to Park Place, 
Snohomish county, and opened a general merchan- 
dise store. He and John Stretch of Snohomish, 
March 22, 1893, platted forty acres which was 
called Tye City, now Monroe. Mr. Vanasdlen 
moved the store building, stock of goods and post 
office a mile and a quarter to the new townsite in 
1893 and was made the first postmaster of Monroe, 
which position he held until the change of adminis- 
tration in 1897 when J. E. Dalloff became his suc- 
cessor. Pie continued his mercantile business until 
1901 when he disposed of his stock, and engaged 
in cruising and locating timber lands, selling real 
estate and in lumbering. In 1903 in company with 
Nellie Francis, he established the Monroe Furniture 
Company, the only furniture house in Monroe at 
the present time. 

Mr. Vanasdlen and Miss Annie Francis were 
united in marriage November 7, 1891, at Snoho- 
mish, where her parents John and Elizabeth Francis 
now reside. They are natives of England and came 
to Snohomish county when Mrs. Vanasdlen was a 
child. Mr. and Mrs. Vanasdlen have si.x children. 
Myrtle, Tagart, John, Annie, Clarence and Nellie. 
Mr. Vanasdlen is a member of the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows, of the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen, and of the Elks at Everett. In 
politics he has always been a Democrat. He is a 
prosperous, enterprising citizen, the kind of a man 
that is a great benefit to a new settlement, and that 
always leaves an impress indelibly stamped upon the 
community. 



JACOB M. SPRAU, merchant of Monroe, is a 
worthy representative of the substantial German- 
American type of citizen. He was born in Ohio 
September 5, 1839. His parents, Henry and Eliza- 
beth (Hofman) Sprau, came from Germany to the 
United States in the 'fifties, settled in the IBuckeye 
state and followed farming, first there and after 
1867 in Allegan county, Michigan. They died in 
the latter state, in 1888 and in 1883, respectively. 
Jacob M. Sprau lived on the Ohio farm until twenty 
years old, acquiring as good an education as he 
could in the common schools and then willingly 
assisting in the work on the place. When he feft 
home he performed the same kind of service for 
other farmers, first in Ohio and then in Michigan, 
until 1901, when he came to Puget Sound and 
located at Snohomish. Two years later he came' 
to Monroe and with his youngest son, A. B.. estab- 
lished their present prosperous business in tobacco 
and confectionery'. 

Mr. Sprau married Miss Julia M. Burgderfer, 
October 29, 1862. in Ohio, in which state she was 
born and in which state her parents died. Mr. 
and Mrs. Sprau have had the following children of 



whom the first two have died : Lillian, Frankie, 
Charles, Jessie, Effie, Nina, Roy, Arthur, and 
Ethelyn. Charles, the oldest living, is proprietor 
and manager of the Penobscott hotel at Snohomish 
where he is doing a good business. A sketch of 
him will appear elsewhere in this volume. Mr. 
Sprau is a member of the National Protective Le- 
gion and in politics believes thoroughly in the prin- 
ciples of the Republican party. He is a conserva- 
tive, discriminating and respected citizen of the 
community, who is closely identified with all public 
measures looking to the general advancement and 
prosperity of the people and to the attainment of 
higher standards in public and private life. 



PETER J. SUHL, a successful and substantial 
business man of Monroe, was born in Holstein, 
Germany, on the first day of October, 1860, the son 
of Paul and Mary (Schmidt) Suhl, natives of Ger- 
many, who came to the United States in 1890, and 
located and farmed in Iowa until the father's death 
in 1903. The mother resides at Walnut, Iowa. She 
has had seven children as follows : Henry, John, 
Herman, Peter, Maggie, Emma and Mary. Peter 
Suhl was given the advantages of the schools of 
Germany and worked on his father's farm until he 
was twenty years old. He had heard much of 
America, the land of liberty, where the government 
had a fann for every industrious man; so he bade 
farewell to the old home and in 1883 arrived in 
Iowa where two uncles lived. He worked for 
various farmers in that state until 1889 then farmed 
ten years for himself. In 1899 he decided to make 
one more change, to come this time to the Pacific 
slope, of which he had heard much. He eventually 
located in Monroe and opened the Olympia Bar 
which he conducts as a gentlemen's resort. 

In Iowa on the 15th of December, 1893, Mr. 
Suhl married Miss Hannah Colzau, who was horn 
in the town of Delve, Holstein, Germany. She is 
the daughter of John and Katherine Colzau, Ger- 
mans, who still reside in the old country where the 
former has followed steamboating. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Suhl two children have been born — Arthur 
and Mary. Mr. Suhl is a member of the Foresters; 
of America and of the Fraternal Order of Eagles,, 
while Mrs. Suhl is a member of the Maccabees and 
the Royal Neighbors of America. Mr. Suhl is a 
Republican in politics and a special admirer of the 
character and energ>' of President Roosevelt. He 
is a progressive citizen, always a friend of law and 
order, well liked by all who meet him. 



MRS. JENNIE M. SAWYER, owner of much 
valuable real estate in Monroe, has contributed her 
share towards the welfare of the place. She was 
born in Vermont on the 26th day of May. 1839. the 
daughter of Reuben and Betsey (Smith) Dodge, 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



natives of New Hampsliire wlio followed agricul- 
tural pursuits all their lives. They were descend- 
ants of English ancestors who settled on the Atlan- 
tic coast in colonial times, the genealogy of the 
Dodge family being complete in its records back to 
the sixteenth century and published in book form. 
Many of the family took part in the war of 1812. 
Mrs. Sawyer was the eleventh of twelve children. 
She received a common school education and re- 
mained with her parents at Royalton, Vermont, 
until her marriage to Samuel J. Sawyer, in 18G0, 
upon which Clairemont became their home. He 
was a native of New Hampshire, and a veteran of 
the Civil War, after the close of which he engaged 
in farming in Vennont, following that until his 
death in 1878. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer was born one son, 
Ernest L. Sawyer, born June 27, 1861, who came 
to Puget sound in 1888. He was engaged in the 
real estate business in Tacoma until 1892 when he 
came to Monroe and organized the Monroe Land 
Improvement Company, after which he became one 
of the leading spirits in the upbuilding and devel- 
opment of the town. For the past five years he 
has been a prominent railroad promoter making 
his headquarters in Madrid, Spain, and taking an 
active part in the construction of the road from 
the capital city to Malaga. His mother succeeded 
to his real estate holdings, in 1896, which she ac- 
quired by the purchase of mortgages and much 
of this property she has since sold. She is an 
earnest, christian woman, a member of the Meth- 
odist church. In fraternal affiliation she is a Re- 
bekah. She is intelligent above the average, gen- 
erous and popular, and has a great deal of business 
ability which has stood her well in hand in man- 
aging the details of her extensive interests. She 
is well worthy of honorable mention in the annals 
of Snohomish county as one who has lent material 
aid to the development of its industries and to its 
general progress. 



CHARLES F. ELWELL of Monroe conducts 
one of the leading meat markets in Snohomish 
county and deals generally and extensively in beef 
cattle.' He was born in Maine April 2, 1862, the 
son of John and Eliza (Crosby) Elwell, farmers 
of the same state, who came to Puget sound first 
in 1858, remained eighteen months, returned to 
Maine, came again to Snohomish county in 1872 
and remained until her death in 1887, and his in 
1897. More of the lives of these honored pioneers 
is found in a sketch of Tamlin Elwell of Snohomish, 
in another portion of this history. Charles F. El- 
well is truly a western man, though born on the 
Atlantic coast. He was educated in the public 
schools of .Snohomish and was graduated from the 
commercial course of the Washington University 



at Seattle. He worked in the woods and followed 
lumbering until 1892, then began raising thorough- 
bred stock on the Snoqualmie river in King county 
at which he continued until 1900 when he disposed 
of his interests and opened his present place of 
business at Monroe. 

In Snohomish, on March 29, 1889, Mr. Elwell 
married Miss Sophia Roesell, daughter of Henry 
and Mary Roesell, the former of whom, a ship- 
builder, died in 1905 ; the latter is still living in 
Whatcom, Washington. Mr. and Mrs. Elwell have 
had three children, June, Earl and Celese. Mr. 
Elwell is a member of the .\ncient Order of United 
Workmen and of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. 
He is a Republican in politics and public spirited 
in all matters of general interest. Both Mr. and 
Mrs. Elwell are worthy citizens of the great state 
of Washington, warm heated, generous and very 
popular. They are well entitled to enrollment in 
these chronicles with those who are recognized as 
jjotent factors in the present-day civilization of this 
section, and as descendants of its earlier pioneers. 



FRED O. FATTISON, proprietor of the Met- 
ropolitan livery and sale stables at Monroe is a 
native of the Evergreen state, and a product of the 
great West. He was born in the Tualco valley, 
Snohomi.sh county, October 29, 1872, the son of 
Rufus and Eclesta (Higgins) Pattison, natives of 
Pennsylvania and Iowa, respectively. They are 
farmers who came to Puget sound from Pennsyl- 
vania in the spring of 1872 and now reside one 
and a half miles south of Monroe. Fred O. Patti- 
son is the second of their five children, the others 
being Mrs. Mina Dunstan ; Ira, Goldy and Sela. 
Fred O. received a good common school educa- 
tion in Snohomish county and assisted his father 
at home until he was eighteen ; then he farmed for 
himself and followed dairying until September 9, 
1905, when he purchased his present business from 
James Wallace. 

Mr. Pattison and Miss Lulu Mann were mar- 
ried at Snohomish October 17, 1894. Mrs. Pattison 
is a native of Michigan, the daughter of James W. 
and Clara (Strong) Mann, both born in Maine, 
new engaged in farming near Sultan, Washington. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Pattison have been born two 
children, Wilton Ray June 28, 1896; and Zelma 
Eernice, December 16, 1898. Mr. Pattison is one 
of the bright and energetic young business men of 
Monroe and he and Mrs. Pattison have a wide 
circle of friends and admirers. Himself a pioneer 
and the son of pioneers of this section of the North- 
west, Mr. Pattison will always be identified in 
pioneer history with the men who have overcome 
the stubborn obstacles interposed by Nature in the 
]iath of progress, and who have brought about the 
prosperous conditions of the present day. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



1087 



BENJAMIN SYKES, a pioneer of the pio- 
neers, and a typical example of the dauntless and 
hardy frontier class which has pushed out beyond 
the boundaries of civilization, subduing the forests 
and conquering wild nature in her own domain, 
is a native of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, born May 
12, hS-I.S. His father, James Sykes, an Englishman 
by birth, was for a few years an iron worker in 
Pittsburg, to which city he came from his native 
land in the middle forties, but in later life he en- 
gaged in agriculture and that was his occupation at 
the time of his death, which occurred in Wisconsin 
in 1903. He and two brothers settled in La Crosse 
county about 1850, when it was a "howling wilder- 
ness" and they had to cut roads into their places. 
He served as a member of Company I, Eighth Wis- 
consin Infantry, from 1862 until the war was about 
closed. Rebecca (Broadbent) Sykes, mother of our 
subject, was likewise a native of England, born 
about 1839, and was married in that land but ended 
her earthly pilgrimage in Wisconsin about a year 
before her husband's death. She was the mother 
of eight children, of whom the subject hereof was 
the third in order of birth. 

Having been taken to Wisconsin when about two 
years old, Benjamin Sykes grew up in the midst of 
pioneer conditions, accjuiring such educatiim as was 
possible under the circumstances and a>'-i>tinL;' nn 
the parental homestead until twenty-one. lie then 
went to eastern Minnesota, where he served an ap- 
prenticeship of three years at the wagon maker's 
trade. At the end of that time the entire family 
moved to western Minnesota and settled in the 
heart of the wilderness, locating in Lyons county, 
near Marshall. At this time they had to haul pro- 
visions with ox teams one hundred miles. \MK-n on 
the outward trip they would pass just cnc li.iuse 
between their farms and Redwood Falls. f(irt\ miles 
distant, but notwithstanding the loneliness and iso- 
lation they got along well. In 1883. after about 
ten years of farming under those conditions, Mr. 
Sykes went to Marshall, eight miles distant, and 
engaged at his trade, carpentering, remaining 
several years afterward. His next move was made 
in July, 1887, to Roslyn, Washington, where he 
spent nearly a ^-ear and a half, then he took a place 
on the head waters of Woods creek, at that time 
one of the wildest portions of a wild state, settling 
farther up the stream than any other pioneer. A 
waeron could be taken to within four or live miles 
of his place, but provisions had to be transported 
the rest of the way on the backs of the men, and 
it was several years before a wagon road was com- 
j'leted to his home. During these early days bears, 
cougars and other wild animals were abundant and 
destructive to livestock. At one time a cougar 
entered Mr. Sykes' clearing: at another time one of 
these animals killed a yearling for him. and many 
times they gave chase to cattle, occasionally de- 
stroying one of the weaker animals. During his 



residence on Woods creek the neighborhood killed 
five cougars in all and numerous bears fell victim 
to the rif^e and traps of Mr. Sykes, on one occasion 
three of them being taken in a single day. He also 
did considerable hunting and trapping for fur bear- 
ing animals, beaver mostly, selling sometimes as 
much as one hundred dollars' worth of furs in a 
year. 

Mr. Sykes assisted in building the first school- 
house in that part of the country, an 18 by 21 struc- 
ture, all constructed from timber furnished b'y cedar 
trees except the sash and doors. He had built his 
own dwelling house in the same manner out of 
materials taken from one big tree. As Mr. Sykes 
had homesteaded eighty acres in Minnesota he could 
only take eighty acres in Washington, but that was 
enough, as it took him all the time he resided on 
Woods creek to free half of it from the impeding 
timber. In 1903 he sold the unimproved part to 
Charles Faussett, and the improved part was ac- 
quired by his son, Elmer, who resides there now, 
then he moved into Monroe and turned his atten- ^ 
tian to carpenter work and contracting. He has a 
splendid home in Monroe, well located. 

In Minnesota, April 11, 1871, Mr. Sykes mar- 
ried Nancy Jane Van Buren, a native of Illinois, 
born Dec. 18, 18.51. Her father, William, was a 
native of Pennsylvania, born in 1832, but later be- 
came a pioneer of eastern Minnesota, and eventqaily 
settled in Cle-Elum, Washington, where he still 
lives. He is a shoemaker by trade and is still active 
in this line. The mother of Mrs. Sykes, Lucy 
(Cramp) Van Buren, was born in England in 1831, 
but from her father derived German blood. She 
died in Roslyn about seven years ago. Mr. and 
Mrs. Sykes have had the following childjen : Cul- . 
len, born February 16, 1872, residing in Tualco val- 
ley : Elmer, February 19, 1879, living on the old 
Woods creek place; Nettie May, deceased; Ben- 
jamin. February 13, 1882, at home; also Cora Re- 
becca, born in 1884, deceased; and one other girl 
who died before being named. Mr. Sykes is an 
active and influential member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church as is also his wife, and in fraternal 
affiliation is a Good Templar, but he acknowledges 
allegiance to no political party, voting independently 
always. He is one of the sterling men of the Mon- 
roe country, possessed in a marked degree of the 
resourcefulness and independence which are fostered 
by the battle with pioneer conditions, but also rich 
in those qualities which make a man a force for 
order and good government in any comnnniity. 



CAPTAIN OTIS C. McGRAY, whose long. 
useful life fraught with so many varied and inter- 
esting experiences is familiar to the large majority 
of the residents of Snohomish county, needs no ex- 
tended introduction to the readers of this history. 
The profound truth voiced by the philosopher that 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



"To have been well born is the greatest felicity" is 
strikingly illustrated in the career of Captain Mc- 
Gray. Born January 1, 1839, to the union of 
William and Hannah (Ratcliff) McGray, he in- 
herited many of the sterling qualities of character 
which for centuries have distinguished the Scottish 
people. Like his ancestors for two generations, he 
is a native of Maine. In the early colonial days the 
McGrays settled in this state and also in various 
other localities on the Atlantic coast, and became 
prominently active in the thrilling events of subse- 
quent years. The family was well represented in 
the War of 1812, several members of the family 
having rendered valiant service in that memorable 
struggle. 

Having completed his elementary training in 
the common schools of his native state, young Mc- 
Gray took a thorough course in the academy at 
Freedom, Maine, and was graduated with honor in 
April, 18()1. Alden J. Blethen, the well known pro- 
prietor of the Seattle Times, was a schoolmate of 
his at that time. Thrilled with passionate zeal for 
hib beloved country, he was one of the first to re- 
spond to her call in the hour of extreme need, 
enlisting as a private in the Fourth Maine regiment. 
Company A, \'olunteer Infantry. He soon found 
abundant op])ortunity of fulfilling his boyhood 
dream, that of some time bravely defending his 
country as his illustrious forefathers had done. Hav- 
ing consecrated his services, his life if need be, to 
the cause of truth and right, he was, during the 
suceeding years found always in the forefront of 
battle. From the first conflict at Bull Run to the 
battle of Gettysburg, he actively participated in six- 
teen engagements, his regiment being in the third 
army corps under Philip H. Kearny, brigadier-gen- 
eral in the Army of the Potomac. Although 
scarcely past his majority, Mr. McGray soon dis- 
tinguished himself as a fearless soldier and was 
promoted to a lieutenancy. Later, in recognition of 
remarkable bravery and skill, he was appointed 
captain of Company A, the one in which he had en- 
listed as a private. After the battle of Gettysburg 
he was sent to Belfast, Maine, to superintend the 
first conscript, and he served as provost marshal 
until isTil when he was released from duty, retiring 
with a military record the memory of which might 
well bring pride to the breast of any man. 

Going to Wisconsin after the war. Captain Mc- 
Gray entered the employ of the W. and J. G. Flint 
Company, importers and wholesale dealers in teas, 
coffees and spices, traveling as their representative 
throughout the states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, 
Iowa and Michigan. With ability and faithfulness 
he devoted every energy to this enterprise, and gave 
such excellent satisfaction that he retained the posi- 
tion until 1872, when he was in position to engage 
in business for himself. Deciding on Forest City as 
a location he went thither and opened a general mer- 
chandise store, which continued to be his for five 



years during a part of which time he was also post- 
master. In 1877 he first visited the Pacific coast, 
going first to San Francisco, and thence in the 
steamer "Dakota" to Seattle, Washington. He ar- 
rived in the latter city June 1, 1877, and soon, ia 
company with a Swede named Andy, went on to 
Ebey slough where they spent nearly a year cutting 
cordwood for the steamer "Nellie," owed by Ben 
Stretch and Charley Low. Returning to Seattle in 
the spring of 1878 he leased the Salmon Bay ranch 
of Doctor Smith, and tilled the soil for a time, 
meanwhile carefully investigating the surrounding 
country. A year later he purchased the present site 
of Latona, a suburb of Seattle, for the sum of $500, 
and quietly awaited the course of events which, he 
was convinced, would bring a great advance in 
real estate in localities adjacent to the Queen City. 
In 1881 William Cochran and William Powell cut 
the timber for the Western Mill Company, and two 
years later Captain McGray sold the tract to Rich- 
ard Ward for $6,700. Desiring to revisit California 
and become more familiar with the country, he went 
to Los Angeles in 1883, and embarked in the real 
estate business, remaining until 1888. Finding that 
although surrounded by the beauties nature has so 
lavishly bestowed on that favored region, he still 
longed for the strenuous life of the Northwest, he 
again sought a home in Seattle, where for a time 
he busied himself in laying water mains for the 
city. In 1889, just prior to the time that the city 
was visited by the terrible fire, he was appointed 
sanitary inspector, an office which he retained until 
in 1891 he resigned to accept an appointment as 
bailiff in the equity department of the Superior 
court, under the Honorable I. J. Litchtenburg. 
After filling this position with honor for two years, 
he turned his attention to general contracting, con- 
structing sewers within the city limits for nearly 
seven years. 

At length, weary of the toil and turmoil of city 
life, he determined to find a secluded spot where he 
might have time to enjoy life, and having satisfied 
himself that Cherry Valley, Snohomish county, 
would exactly suit his taste, he came here in 1900, 
and purchased the Rocky Point ranch situated six 
miles south of Monroe. It is a fine piece of prop- 
erty, embracing ninety-two acres, part of which is 
in cultivation. A large orchard forms a part of the 
farm, and to it the Captain gives much time and 
attention. He is also known as a breeder of su- 
perior horses, and is acquiring quite a reputation 
along that line. For many years he has been promi- 
nent in the councils of the Republican party, having 
been several times a delegate to the state, county 
and city conventions, in which assemblies he was 
always accorded an honored position, and listened 
to with profound respect. Indeed, so actively was 
he engaged in political matters while residing in 
Seattle, that he became known as one of her "war 
horses." He has one brother, Frank McGray, wha 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



lias been boom master for the Saint Croix Boom 
Company at Stillwater, Minnesota, since before the 
Civil War, a fact that carries its own guarantee of 
his business ability. That he might not be drafted 
into service, the Captain placed on deposit $300, 
and thus secured his exemption. It was rather 
strange that among the entire number of Union 
soldiers enrolled, there was but one man, the Cap- 
tain, who bore the name of McGray. He is an hon- 
ored member of the Stevens Post, No. 1, of the 
Grand Army at Seattle, Washington, also is 
prominently identified with the Masonic lodge. 
No. 105, at Prescott, Wisconsin. Wise enough 
to retire from active business pursuits when but lit- 
tle past the prime of life. Captain McGray is finding 
the fullest measure of peace and contentment amid 
these rural surroundings where it is possible to 
get close to the heart of Nature. A brave, battle- 
scarred war veteran, a shrewd, practical business 
man ; a loyal and patriotic citizen ; a tried and 
trusted friend, he holds the respect and honor of 
liis entire circle of acquaintances. 



FREDERICK KNUTSON. Among the pros- 
perous agriculturists residing on the banks of the 
Snoqualmie river, few are better known or more 
highly respected than he whose life history forms 
the theme of this review. Like many of the most 
successful men now residing in the Northwest, he 
claims Norway as the land of his nativity. His 
birth occurred July 17, 18.5i. The father was a 
successful farmer until his death in 1S7G ; the 
mother is still living in Norway at the ripe old age 
of eighty-five. Of her ten children, Frederick is the 
fifth. He acquired the rudiments of an education 
in the common schools of his home land, and when 
hut a lad of twelve years started to make his own 
way in the world. His willing hands busied them- 
selves at various occupations in the next few years, 
farming, mining and railroading each in turn afford- 
ing him means of support. At the age of twenty- 
four he migrated to Sweden, where he was engaged 
in lumbering for four years. Year by year the de- 
termination to find some day a home in the LTnited 
States steadily grew stronger, but it was not until 
1883 that he was in position to carry out his plans. 
Then, however, he severed the ties that bound him 
to his fatherland, and sailed for America, with 
bright anticipations of the success and honor that 
awaited him in her hospitable domain. He landed 
in Castle Garden, and after the usual preliminaries, 
set out at once for Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. His 
first employment in the new country was on the 
railroad then being built between that city and 
Duluth. He spent the winter working in the lum- 
t)er camps in the northern part of the state, and 
the following summer, having returned to Chippewn 
Falls, cleared some land in that locality. Still 
pressing westward, he reached Saint Paul in 1883, 



and there purchased a ticket to Seattle, Washington, 
making the trip via San Francisco, from which 
point he came north in the old steamer "Dakota." 
For a time he labored in the lumber districts, re- 
turning however to Seatle at the breaking up of 
the winter. Later he crossed Lake Washington, 
followed a rude trail into Cherry Valley, and there 
engaged in the lumber business which he followed 
for the ensuing four and one-half years. Realizing 
that his parents were growing old, and would never 
be able even if willing to visit him in the United 
States, Mr. Knutson then returned to the land of 
his birth, remaining a year among his relatives and 
friends. Again seeking at the end of that period 
the home of his adoption he very soon filed on a 
homestead in Cherry Valley, King county, a few 
miles from his present location. He sold this in 
1899, and invested in the property he now owns, 
120 acres of fine land, sixty of which are cleared 
and in excellent cultivation. His splendid orchard, 
than which there are few finer ones in this part of 
the state, bears unmistakable evidence of wise care 
and thorough knowledge of the varied requirements 
of different fruits. He has a beautiful home built 
on an elevation conimanding a full view of the 
valley nestling below. Mr. Knutson is largely in- 
terested in dairying, and is very familiar with the 
entire subject. 

The 17th of November. 1888. witnessed the 
marriage of Mr. Knutson and Miss Caroline An- 
derson, of Sweden. She is the daughter of Olaus 
Anderson, a skillful tailor well known to the resi- 
dents of Redmond. Washington, his home at the 
present time. To Mr. and Mrs. Knutson six chil- 
dren have been born: Fred O., Mamie, Henry, 
Edwin E., Blanche, and Blanda. Mr. Knutson is 
a prominent member of the Odd Fellows and the 
Modern Woodmen of America, and his wife is an 
influential Rebekah. In politics he is a loyal Demo- 
crat, but he has never cherished any political as- 
pirations. One of the hardy pioneers of this sec- 
tion who blazed the trail for others, he has been 
identified with the growth of the community for 
many years, and has been instrumental to a large 
extent in developing its resources, as well as ren- 
dering valuable assistance in building roads and 
opening up the country. His fellow citizens regard 
him as one of the strong, influential members of the 
community. 



FRANKLIN E. PHELPS. The distinction 
of having been one of the little company of daunt- 
less men who first penetrated the wilderness of 
Snohomish county, and opened the way for the 
triumphal march of civilization, is justly accorded 
Franklin E. Phelps, one of the worthy pioneers of 
Tualco valley, Washington. Inheriting from his 
parents, Samuel and Louise (Lindsey) Phelps, the 
inestimable benefits of a noble ancestry, he entered 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



life October 37, 1851. The Phelps family, origi- 
nally from England, settled on the Atlantic coast 
very soon after the landing of the Mayflower, and 
was prominently identified with colonial history. 
The mother was the direct descendant of a well 
known Revolutionary family, honored throughout 
tiiat portion of the East which was then their home. 
After a long, useful life, she died September 20, 
1880. The father early in life learned the stone 
cutter's trade, following it successfully for fifty 
years, at the end of which lime he decided to aban- 
don it, and spend the remainder of his years in 
agricultural pursuits. He therefore located on a 
farm in his native state. New York, and remained 
there until his death, June 29, 1900. 

Born like both his parents in the Empire state, 
Franklin E. Phelps acquired his education in the 
schools of Oxford, his native town, completing his 
training at the age of eighteen. He left home at 
that time, and spent the next three years on a farm, 
that being the occupation that first presented itself. 
Believing that he could better his condition by 
going to Pennsylvania, he went thither in 1872, 
and he worked in the lumber camps of Ridgeway, 
Elk county, until 1875. Gradually working his 
way westward, he was employed the following year 
in the lumber regions of Warsaw, Wisconsin. Be- 
ing convinced that the splendid forests of the North- 
west must afford an unpaialleled opening for the 
lumberman, he started for the state of Washington 
in 1876, arriving in Snohomish county August 9th 
of that year. Here felling the giant monarchs of 
the forest that had sported with the forces of na- 
ture for centuries, he found congenial toil and four 
years slipped quickly by. He invested in his first 
real estate in the county April 19, 1880. 160 acres 
of land in Tualco valley, which now forms half of 
his fine ranch. The remaining half he acquired 
as a homestead claim some years later. In common 
with the other pioneers, he underwent all the trying 
experiences inseparably connected with life in a 
new country. In the absence of roads all the neces- 
sary supplies were brought by Indians up the Sky- 
komish river in canoes, and packed thence to the 
scattered claims, on the backs of the hardy settlers. 
It is small wonder that the life they lived while 
wresting a living from the unwilling soil developed 
a rugged strength of character often wanting in 
these modern days of ease and luxury. Year by 
year Mr. Phelps toiled on, working early and late, 
and today he reaps the harvest of his arduous toil, 
beina: the owner of one of the most valuable estates 
within the boundaries of the entire county. It con- 
sists of 320 acres of fertile land. 150 of which are 
in an excellent state of cultivation, and the remain- 
der in fine pasture which he utilizes in maintaining 
his large herds of cattle. Crowning these broad 
acres, and imparting the necessary home-touch 
without which the picture would be incomplete, 
stands an imposing residence, beautiful in archi- 



tectural design. A stream of water runs near by, 
forming a picturesque addition to the grounds, and 
supplying the family with the finest varieties of fish. 
The marriage of Mr. Phelps and Miss Mary E. 
Foye was celebrated in Seattle, September 13, 1880. 
Mrs. Phelps was born in Iowa, and was the daugh- 
ter of A. W. and Margaretta (Buffington) Foye, 
both natives of Maine. The father is now a resi- 
dent of Tualco valley ; the mother died here some 
years ago. The death of Mrs. Phelps, July 20, 
1895, occasioned profound sorrow to the entire 
community in which she had spent so many years 
of her life and made so many warm friends. Her 
gifts of mind and heart and her charming person- 
ality made her everywhere a welcome guest, a fit- 
ting companion for her honored husband. For the 
past twenty-eight years Mr. Phelps has been promi- 
nent in Masonic circles, being a member of the Blue 
Lodge, Chapter, Commandry and Mystic Shrine. 
He is also identified with the Odd Fellows' frater- 
nity. The Republican party claims him as one of 
its most enthusiastic adherents, and has frequently 
elected him to positions of honor. He has twice 
held the office of countv commissioner, from 1895 
to 1897, and from 1899 to 1901, discharging the 
duties incumbent upon him in a manner highly satis- 
factory to his constituents. Perhaps to no one man 
does the valley of Tualco owe a greater debt of 
gratitude than to this broad minded, public spirited 
citizen who has cheerfully contributed of his time 
and wealth to the promotion of every public enter- 
prise. He was one of the principal promoters of 
the Tualco Valley Telephone Company, and is at 
present the largest stockholder. But for his timely 
assistance doubtless this and many another projected 
improvement would have failed of consummation. 
He is also one of the heavy stockholders in the State 
Bank of Monroe. Uniting with his remarkable bus- 
iness capabilities the sterling virtues that command 
universal esteem, Mr. Phelps is in every respect 
worthy of the exalted position that he holds in the 
hearts of his fellow citizens. 



PETER PERSON. Among the well known 
agriculturists and dairymen of Snohomish County, 
Washington, Peter Person occupies an honored po- 
sition. Like so many of the prosperous farmers of 
the Northwest he claims Sweden as his native land, 
his birth having occurred there April 4, 1846. He 
is the son of Peter and Elsa (Person) Johnson, 
who were also Ixirn in that country. The father 
followed various occupations in early life, but in 
later years devoted his attention more exclusively 
to agriculture, in which he was very successful. He 
died August 17, 1874. The mother's death oc- 
curred Februar)- 8, 1878. Peter Person acquired 
his education in the common schools of his native 
land, remaining at home till nineteen years of age, 
when he started out for himself. He was variously 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



employed in the lumber camps and on the farms of 
his native country for many years ; but at length 
deciding that the land across the waters held greater 
opportunities for an energetic, ambitious man, he 
made the necessary arrangements, and in 1888 came 
to the American continent, landing at Quebec. He 
then crossed the continent to Vancouver, British 
Columbia via the Canadian Pacific railroad, and 
proceeded thence to Seattle, Washington, arriving 
July 31, 1888. He spent the fall in the lumber 
camps of King county, and having taken out his 
naturalization papers December 4, of that year, he 
filed on a homestead near Cathcart Station, on the 
Snohomish river, which he farmed until 1901, when 
he sold out and moved to Snohomish county. Fur- 
chasing the Spurrel ranch situated in Cherry valley, 
six and one-half miles south of Monroe, on the 
banks of the Snoqualmie river, he took up dairying 
on a large scale, and he has demonstrated his ability 
to make a splendid success of the industry. His 
fine ranch embraces one hundred and fifty acres, de- 
voted mainly to raising hay and potatoes. 

Mr. Person was married in Sweden, December 
5, 1875, to Miss Bertha Nelson, also of Swedish 
nativity, the daughter of Nels and Golin (Ander- 
son) Aaronson. The father, a successful farmer, 
died in 1865 ; the mother is still living at the ad- 
vanced age of seventy-seven. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Person two children have been born, both natives 
of Germany. Of these, Nick, born December 29, 
1875, acquired his elementary education in his native 
land, completing his training in the schools of 
Snohomish county. Fond of agricultural pursuits 
he has remained at home, working with his father 
on the farm, and sharing a large part of the re- 
sponsibility. The daughter. Insula, born January 28, 
1881, was married to David E. Glover, December 
27, 1904, and is now residing in Monroe. Mr. Per- 
son is a prominent man in the ranks of the Demo- 
cratic party, and has been honored by being elected 
to many precinct offices. A wide-awake, practical 
farmer, he has achieved an enviable success, and is 
known throughout the community as a man of abil- 
ity and sterling worth. 



WINSLOW B. STEVENS, now a resident of 
Everett, is not only among Snohomish county's 
early pioneers but he is also among the white men 
who, nearly half a century ago, cast their fortunes 
with those of Puget sound, and have ever remained 
faithful. That their faith and judgment were not 
ill founded is becoming every day more and more 
apparent. Born at Wellington, Piscatiquis County, 
Maine, December 9, 1837, the son of Phineas and 
Abas:ail (Hamm) Stevens, he comes of colonial 
American stock, tracing his ancestry back on the 
patemal side to the arrival of three brothers at 
Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1640. His grandfather 
fought three years in the Revolutionary war. 



Phineas Stevens, born in 1799 at Hodgdon, Maine, 
followed farming until his death in 1856. Mrs. 
Stevens, also a native of Maine, born in 1811, came 
of Hugenot ancestry. Her father, Thomas Hamm, 
was the third settler at Wellington, coming before 
Maine was admitted as a state. She died in August, 
1872. Winslow B. is the sixth of fourteen children, 
one of them, Hiram, now lesiding in Seattle. After 
a common school education Winslow took an acad- 
emic course with a view of entering Borden col- 
lege, but in this ambition he failed for at the tender 
age of twelve he began to make his own way in the 
world. He remained in the state until 1859, spend- 
ing the last two years at Machias in the lumber 
industry, then came to Port Townsend via the Isth- 
mus of Panama which he crossed by rail, the trip 
occupying a day. In all forty-three days were 
consumed in the journey to Pugent sound. From 
Port Townsend he immediately went on to Port 
Gamble, entered the mills July 11th, and there made 
his home until January 1, 1871. However, as early 
as October. 1863, he made his first trip into Snoho- 
mish county, entering the employment of Smith & 
Wilson, loggers on the site of Lowell. Here Mr. 
Stevens says he felled with an axe the first tree that 
was floated down the river as a sawlog and person- 
ally had charge of the first raft, taking it to Priest's 
Point. After six months with Smith & Wilson, he 
engaged in making ship's knees on the river flats, 
turning out those used in building the S. S. Cyrus 
Walker. In 1866, be left the Snohomish to log on 
Hood's canal for the Port Gamble Lumber Com- 
pany, where he was occupied until January, 1871. 
At that time he sold out and went to Kalama to 
take charge of a crew constructing the first portion 
of the Northern Pacific in Washin.gton. In 1873 
he removed his family to Tumwater to enable his 
children to secure better school advantages, and 
after the great Jay Cooke failure had suddenly cut 
short the building of the Northern Pacific, Mr. 
Stevens returned to Snohomish county, arriving in 
1874. Since that date he has resided here contin- 
uously, removing from the old home at Snohomish 
to Everett in 1900. In 1873, Hat island, in Port 
Gardner bay, was the scene of the murder of the 
county's oldest settler, a Frenchman, savs Mr. 
Stevens. This pioneer had taken a claim at Tulalip, 
but upon the creation of the reservation bearing that 
name, had been forced to move, which he did, go- 
ing to the island. Mr. Stevens, Hugh Ross and 
Harry Spithill appraised his property at the time 
the estate affairs were settled. Salem Wood, Mr. 
Stevens remembers as being the first settler in the 
valley of the Snohomish as far inland as Monroe, 
and John Cochran he says came about the same 
time. For the past fifteen years, in a business way, 
Mr. Stevens has devoted himself entirely to timber 
cruising with great success, and at present does all 
the cruising for the H. O. Seiffart Lumber Com- 
pany, also being in the service of S. A. Buck of 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



Monroe, the Sultan Lumber Company and many 
others. Hale and hearty, unusually well preserved. 
Mr. Stevens today appears nearer two score and 
ten years than his three score and ten. 

His marriage to Harriett M. Berry, the daughter 
of Adkins and Sarah Berry, took place in 1863, she 
braving the perils and hardships of a journey to the 
Pacific alone in order to join the faithful young 
lover who had won her affections before leaving 
the Pine Tree state four years previously. She is a 
native of Machias, ]\Iaine, and was reared on a 
farm. Her mother was born at St. Stephens, New- 
Brunswick. Of the four children born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Stevens, the oldest, Mrs. Flora Floyd, died at 
Reno, Nevada, in July, 1905 ; Winslow B. Jr., is at 
present a resident of Snohomish ; Jerome is dead, 
his death having occurred in November, 1882 ; and 
Nellie is married and living in Seattle. Although 
Mr. Stevens is a staunch Republican and has been 
since he began voting, he has been content to re- 
main in the ranks, never holding office. He has 
contributed freely of his energy and skill to the 
upbuilding of the different communities in which 
he has resided, Snohomish county in particular, is 
a pioneer among pioneers, and in his declining 
years enjoys the confidence and hearty good wishes 
of his fellow men. 



JOSEPH LINDLEY, who resides two miles 
south of Monroe, Washington, is numbered among 
the prosperous agriculturists of that locality. Com- 
paratively few of the grown men now living in the 
state of Washington can claim the distinction be- 
longing to him, that of having been born within its 
boundaries. His birth occurred in Jefferson county, 
March 19, 1875. His father, John J. Lindley, was 
of English nativity. In early life he thoroughly 
mastered the stonemason's trade, and he successfully 
followed that in connection with farming until his 
death in Jefferson county, in 1887. The mother, 
Mary (James) Lindley, was born on the Pacific 
coast, hence was thoroughly familiar with early 
pioneer experiences. After a life of service for 
others, she died in 1883. Joseph Lindley attended 
the common schools of his native county, and by 
making the best possible use of his limited oppor- 
tunities acquired a practical education in the few 
years he spent in the school room. He assumed 
life's responsibilities at a very early age, being but 
eleven when he left his father's farm and started out 
for himself. Utilizing the practical knowledge he 
had picked up while working with his father at 
home, he found employment on the farms of that 
region, and although but a boy gave evidence of a 
thrifty, industrious nature which won approval from 
his elders. Later, he abandoned farming and took 
up lumbering, working in the camps of Puget sound. 
By careful economy he laid aside each year the 
larger part of his wages, and was thus able in 1899 



to purchase the fine forty-acre farm on which he 
now lives. He took up dairying, believing that to 
be the most remunerative branch of farming for him 
at least. His neat, comfortable home bespeaks his 
thoughtful care for the happiness and welfare of 
his family. 

Mr. Lindley and Miss Mary Johnson were 
united in marriage in Port Townsend, December 8, 
1894. Mrs. Lindley has the honor of being the 
daughter of Andrew Johnson, one of the most 
prominent pioneers of Snohomish county, whose 
residence in Tualco valley dated from 1860. Hav- 
ing died in 1888, he was not permitted to see the 
greater transformations that have occurred in the 
adjacent territory within the past fifteen years. 
Ellen (Johnson) Johnson, the mother, who was 
born on the Pacific coast, is still living in Tualco 
valley. To Mr. and Mrs. Lindley three children 
have been born: Clarence, Earl and Blanche. Mr. 
Lindley is an enthusiastic member of the Foresters 
of America. The principles of the Republican 
party agree substantially with the political beliefs 
of Mr. Lindley, and he therefore gives to that party 
his undivided support, asking no reward in the way 
of personal preferment. A young man of exem- 
plary habits and upright character who brings to 
each task in life a resolute detennination to perform 
it as perfectly as possible, he is destined to achieve 
a still more enviable success in the years to come 
than has rewarded his eft'orts in the past. 



GEORGE JOHNSON. Among those who 
might readily be pardoned for being proud of their 
ancestry is numbered the one whose career forms 
the theme of this biographical review, George John- 
son, the son of the distinguished pioneer, Andrew 
Johnson. The latter spent his early life in Sweden, 
his native land, — but, having reached years of 
maturity, decided to find an opening in the land of 
promise that lay across the waters. Dissuaded for 
a time from his purpose to settle immediately in the 
United States, he followed the sea for ten years, 
landing at many of the principal ports, and acquir- 
ing thereby an extended knowledge of the habits 
and characteristics of the people of other nations. 
Landing eventually at San Francisco, he proceeded 
to Puget sound, and there having previously de- 
termined to abandon the sea found employment in 
the saw-mills at Port Gamble for the following 
year. In 1860 he came to Snohomish county, and 
located at the forks of the Snoqualmie and Skyko- 
mish rivers, which later became known as Johnson's 
Landing. He was a prominent factor in the history 
of that locality, and was known widely as a man of 
sterling worth. At his death which occurred Jan- 
uary 15, 1888, his original pre-emption claim was 
divided among his children. Llis wife, a native of 
the Pacific coast, is now residing in Tualco valley, 
her home for many years. Of their seven children. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



1093 



George Johnson is the second. He was born in 
Snohomish county, July 20, 1807. After acquiring 
his education in the common schools, he farmed 
with his father on the homestead, assuming much of 
the responsibility. When the estate was divided to 
him fell the forty acres on which he now resides, 
situated two miles south of Monroe. This is now 
in a high state of cultivation, and reflects great 
credit on the owner who so thoroughly understands 
the various phases of the work. His dairy is one \ 
of the finest in the neighborhood. 

On March 17. 1897, Mr. Johnson and Miss Lil- 
lian Hayes were united in marriage. Mrs. Johnson, 
a native of Pennsylvania, born October 23, 1868, 
is the daughter of Henry and Sallie J. (Brown) 
Hayes. The father was born in Vermont, but later 
found a home in Pennsylvania where he followed 
his trade, shoemaking. and also engaged in farming 
to some extent. In 1894 he severed the ties that 
bound him to the East and accompanied by his fam- 
ily, crossed the intervening states, locating on Puget 
sound. His death occurred in Monroe, six years 
later. The mother is now living in Monroe. Mrs. 
Johnson is a genial woman, devoted to her family 
"and friends. The four children born to Mr. and 
Mrs. Johnson are as follows : George Dewey, born 
April f), 1898 ; Mildred and ]Miles, twins, born Feb- 
ruary 16, 1900; Thelma. May IS. 1903. Mr. John- 
son is prominent in the ranks of the Republican 
party, giving it his hearty support, and advancing 
its interests in every possible way. He is the worthy 
son of his father, possessing the ambition, energy 
and dauntless courage of that hardy pioneer. He 
is widely known throughout the county, enjoying 
the confidence and respect of all who have the 
pleasure of his acquaintance. 



GRANIS W. AUSTIN. Few pioneers of 
Snohomish county are deserving of a more honored 
position in her history than Granis W. Austin, one 
of the prosperous agriculturists of ^lonroe, Wash- 
ington. He was born in Balton, Canada, Decem- 
ber 23, 1834, to the union of Benjamin and Sarah 
(Peasly) Austin. The father, a native of Maine, 
was the direct descendant of the Austin family of 
colonial histon,', the members of which were Eng- 
lish Quakers, who sought a home in this country 
to escape persecution. The mother was born among 
the New Hampshire hills, and there spent her girl- 
hood. Of her six children Granis W. is the second. 
Availing himself of the somewhat limited educa- 
tional advantages afforded by the schools of the lo- 
cality, he acquired a practical training which was 
supplemented by careful study and observation in 
life's broader school. Working with his father on 
the farm till he had passed his eighteenth birthday. 
he there became familiar with the work that in 
later years has engaged his entire attention. When 
lie was no longer needed at home he went to the 



lumber regions of Wisconsin, and made his start 
in life, remaining in the state from 1853 to 1859. 
Fairbault County, Minnesota, then became his home 
for a year, which was spent on a farm. Finding 
this less satisfactory than life in the woods, he mi- 
grated to the northern peninsula of Michigan in 
1860, and again engaged in lumbering. Two years 
later, finding himself in position to carry out a long 
cherished plan, that of visiting the Pacific coast, 
and perhaps locating there, he went to San Fran- 
cisco, via the Isthmus of Panama, and settled in 
Sierra county, where he was engaged in lumbering 
and mining for seven years. Thereupon returning 
to Wisconsin, he resided in that state a couple of 
years, then recrossed the continent to California 
over the L'nion Pacific railroad. Arriving in San 
Francisco he took passage in the old blockade run- 
ner. "Prince Albert" to Victoria, and reached Sno- 
homish county, June 10, 1873. He soon took as a 
pre-emption claim the land that now con- 
stitutes his fine ranch, one hundred and sixty 
acres situated one mile south of Monroe. Only 
the prophetic eye could discern in the dense 
forest the smiling landscape that to-day greets 
the beholder's eye ; and only the dauntless 
pioneer spirit that laughs at hardships and courts 
Nature in her wildest moods, would ever have un- 
dertaken to effect the transformation. Accompan- 
ied by his brave young wife who was one of the 
first white women to cross the trail from Snohomish 
to Tualco valley, he reached his homestead and 
there, miles from the nearest white settler, erected 
a rude cabin and began the formidable task of 
clearing the land. The years that followed were 
fraught with perils and hardships that can only be 
understood by those who have undergone similar 
experiences, but gradually the forest gave way to 
Mr. Austin's indomitable energ\', other settlers fol- 
lowed in his wake, and life became less primitive. 
Miss Amelia Wellman, a native of Joliet, Illi- 
nois, born January 3. 1849, became the wife of Mr. 
Austin November 16, 1865, the marriage taking 
place in California. Mrs. Austin is the daughter 
of John and Rachel (Taylor) Wellman, who were 
both born in Pennsylvania. Her father, after fol- 
lowing the carpenter trade for many years in the 
East, "crossed the plains to California with an ox 
team in 1849. to seek his fortune in the gold fields. 
He returned to Illinois for his wife and children in 
1851, bringing them to their new home via the 
Isthmus of Panama. Mrs. Austin was then an in- 
fant. In crossing the isthmus, the men went on 
foot while the women and children were carried by 
the natives. To Mr. and Mrs. Austin eight chil- 
dren have been born, of whom only three are now- 
living, namely John P., born in Wisconsin, May 25, 
1868"; George, in Tualco valley, November 16, 1874; 
Ernest, June 6, 1876. Mrs. Austin is prominently 
identified with the Good Templars and the Macca- 
bees, also belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church. 



SNOHOiMISH COUNTY 



Pew residents of the county are more enthusiastic 
Republicans than is Mr. Austin, who is always 
prominent in poHtical matters. In territorial days 
he held the office of county commissioner and dis- 
played iiis characteristic ability in the discharge of 
his duties, his varied experiences with men and af- 
fairs rendering his opinion on the various points at 
issue especially valuable. After a life of unceasing 
toil, Mr. Austin is now reaping the prosperity he so 
richly deserves, surrounded by a host of friends 
and acquaintances who esteem him for his upright 
character, and appreciate the part he has played in 
opening up the great Northwest. 



THOMAS SPAULDING, an extensive agricul- 
turist, residing two and one-half miles northeast of 
Monroe, Washington, on Hazel farm, was born in 
Calais, Maine, October 14, 1850. His father. Still- 
man Spaulding, was a native of Massachusetts. Go- 
ing to Maine in early Iwyhood he there followed 
farming and logging until 1S()3, when he moved to 
California, and he made that his home the remainder 
of his life. Clara A. (Chase) Spaulding, the 
mother, who was born in New Hampshire, passed 
away in 1884. She was the mother of nine chil- 
dren, Thomas being the eighth. One son, Joseph, is 
hving in Santa Clara County, California, aged sev- 
enty-three. Mr. Spaulding attended the common 
schools of Maine in his boyhood, completing his 
education in California after the family settled 
there. The trip thither was made in 1863 via the 
Isthmus of Panama to San Francisco, which at that 
early date had not been reached by railroads. After 
a brief residence in the state, the elder Spaulding 
died, leaving his son to care for the widowed 
mother. He at once decided to take up dairying and 
was thus employed until he removed to Seattle in 
1883. In a short time he located in Skagit county, 
and for several years he and a brother, Colan, fol- 
lowed logging there and at Port Susan in Snoho- 
mish county. In 1890 they purchased the land 
which is now known as Hazel Farm, and at once 
began clearing off the dense timber that covered it. 
It is now one of the finest ranches in the county, 
comprising four hundred acres, one-half of which 
is now in cultivation. The brother's death in De- 
cember, 190-1, came as a great shock to all, he hav- 
ing passed away on account of heart failure with- 
out a moment's warning. 

Mr. Spaulding and Miss Nellie Jakins were mar- 
ried in 1887. Mrs. Spaulding, a native of Fairfield 
County, Maine, is the daughter of William Jakins, 
who for many years prior to his death was light- 
house keeper at Point No Point, on San Juan. The 
mother, whose maiden name was Robinson, is now 
living with her daughter, Airs. Spaulding. The lat- 
ter is a gifted musician. Mr. and Mrs. Spaulding 
have one child, Delia E., aged nine years. j\lr. 



Spaulding is a prominent member of the Odd Fel- 
lows' fraternity, while his wife is numbered among 
the enthusiastic Rebekahs. In political faith he is 
a Republican, but like many loyal members of the 
party, he prefers to have others do the active work 
and hold the offices. His chief interest is centered in 
his splendid farm, and to it he devotes his best en- 
ergies. Believing that dairying is one of the most 
remunerative branches of farming, he is especially 
intere.'-.ted in it, and keeps a fine herd of forty cows, 
besides a large number of young cattle. Mr. Spaul- 
ding's land was originally taken up by Salem Woods, 
deceased, who was the earliest settler in Snohomish 
County, Washington. Although he might justly 
feel proud of the success he has achieved, Mr. 
Spaulding is known as a quiet, reticent man, whose 
life and character are such as to command respect 
and confidence. 



ANDREW BENGTSON, an energetic farmer 
residing two miles northeast of Monroe, Washing- 
ton, was born October 14, 1853, in Christiansalane, 
Sweden, on an island seven miles long and three 
and one-half miles wide. He is the son of Bengt- 
son and .-Vuna (Olson) Anderson, also of Swedish 
nativity. The father, born in 1821, is still living; 
the mother died in 1891. Andrew Bengtson grew 
to manhood in his native country, acquiring his ed- 
ucation there, but in young manhood decided to 
seek his fortune in the United States, of the won- 
derful advantages of which he had so often heard. 
He reached Omaha, Nebraska. May 3, 1888, and 
remained there eighteen months, engaged in laying 
mains for a gas company, and in the meantime 
learning the English language as rapidly as pos- 
sible. Lured by tales of the still greater opportuni- 
ties to be found in the Northwest, he went to Seat- 
tle in December, 1890, and at once found employ- 
ment in a brick-yard where he worked every day 
from that time till the Fourth of July with the ex- 
ception of Christmas. When he left there, it was 
with the intention of securing a homestead, so he 
came to Snohomish county and took a one hun- 
dred and sixty acre claim near Lake Rose- 
gar. By careful management he had accumu- 
lated sufficient means to purchase transporta- 
tion for his family who had remained be- 
hind while he made a home for them in the new 
country. As the road only extended as far as 
Machias. the task of getting his supplies and the 
necessary furnishings for the little home to his 
claim was a difficult one indeed. After having them 
brought as far as possible with horses, he was 
obliged to pack them on his back for long, weary 
miles, but a year later a road was built to his ranch, 
and other improvements followed. When at length 
he had his family of six once more with him, he 
found he had but fifty cents in cash with which to 
face the future. Undismaved, however, he left his 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



brave wife to care for the little ones while he 
worked for the Machias Shingle Company. During 
the three years thus spent he encountered many re- 
verses that would have proved fatal to many a man's 
hope and courage. He first met with a severe acci- 
dent that nearly cost him an arm. and incapacitated 
him for work for some time. When at last he had 
resumed his position, and had a credit of 
one hundred and forty dollars on the com- 
pany's books, the firm failed, leaving him al- 
most destitute, and with no work in view. Thus 
he faced the hard times of the nineties. Cutting 
shingles at seventy cents a cord, wages to be taken 
out in trade, was the only occupation he could find 
for some months. Little by little he was able to 
make a clearing in the forest that covered his claim, 
his wife aiding him even in the arduous work of 
felling trees and cutting underbrush. When they 
had succeeded in clearing five acres and were able 
to keep a few cows, they congratulated themselves 
that the worst was over. Many of the settlers in 
that neighborhood who had expected to become 
rich in a brief space of time became discouraged 
and sold out about that time. Mr. Bengtson had no 
thought of leaving until on account of the small 
number of pupils the schools were closed. To de- 
prive his children of educational advantages was 
out of the question, hence he, too, disposed of his 
property, realizing two thousand five hundred dol- 
lars from the sale, a sum which enabled him to pur- 
chase the one hundred and sixty acre farm on 
which he now resides, and to build liis neat 
comfortable home. Later he sold eighty acres. With 
the exception of a couple of acres this land was 
then covered with timber and brush, but he now has 
forty acres in cultivation, devoted principally to 
dairying. He has a fine herd of cattle numbering 
twenty-four, also several horses, and the first pony 
he e\ cr owned in this state. 

Mr. Bengtson was married at the age of twen- 
ty-five to Bengta Johns, whose parents were well 
known fanners in the vicinity of his boyhood home. 
She was born in Sweden in 1854. Eight children 
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Bengtson, as fol- 
lows : Mrs. Annie Walters, of Monroe ; Matilda, 
at home : Airs. Sadie Tevebar, of Monroe ; Aaron, 
at home; Hilda, Olga, Emma and Lester. The 
children who are not at home are all living so near 
that they can make frequent visits, and thus the 
family circle is unbroken on festive days. Mr. 
Bengtson is a Republican, but has never taken an 
active part in political matters, though he has al- 
ways manifested a deep interest in educational af- 
fairs, and was one of the organizers of the first 
school at Lake Rosegar and served as director for 
four yeairs. Mr. Bengtson is in the truest sense of 
the term, a self made man. When a mere boy 
scarcely more than eight years old, he began work- 
ing out for his board and clothes, and from that 
time till the present he has employed his time to 



the best possible advantage, often overcoming 
seemingly insurmountable obstacles. 



ELMER E. ODELL, a thrifty agriculturist re- 
siding two miles north and one east of Monroe, 
Washington, was born May 25, 1863, in Erie 
County, Pennsylvania. His parents, John and 
Laura A. (Dibble) Odell, were both natives of New 
York. The father died in 1864, at the age of fifty- 
five; the mother, in July, 1901, aged seventy-six. 
Elmer E. Odell acquired his educational training in 
the schools of his native state. He was the eighth 
of a family of nine children, and as means were 
somewhat limited he began to support himself at the 
age of fourteen, working out for ten dollars a month 
and board. In 1891, after farming for several years in 
his native state, he crossed the continent to Seattle, 
and in a short time took up his residence in Monroe, 
where he opened a hotel. Eight months later he 
purchased a homesteader's right in King county, 
situated between Inde.x and Skykomish, and he 
made that his home for the following seven years. 
Disposing of this property, he then invested in the 
forty-acre farm he now owns, a tract of land so 
densely timbered at that time that it was impossible 
to find room on it to turn a wagon around. Dur- 
ing those early years while he was clearing the land 
and getting it in condition to cultivate, it was often 
necessary for him to work away from home to pro- 
vide the family with food and clothing. He now 
has a fine piece of property, five acres under plow, 
and twice that number in pasture, and he intends in 
the near future to engage extensively in raising 
hogs, believing that to be an especially satisfactory 
branch of the livestock business. 

Mr. Odell and Lucy N. Hayes were married 
October 27. 1885. They were playmates in child- 
hood, having lived on neighboring fanns in Penn- 
sylvania, in which state she was born June 30. 1860. 
Her father. Henry P. Hayes, is deceased ; the 
mother. Sally (Brown) Hayes, is now living with 
her daughter. Mrs. Odell. Mr. and Mrs. Odell have 
seven children. Arthur A.. Hazel L.. John H.. Law- 
rence A.. Floyd E.. Elmer D.. and Elizabeth L. Mr. 
Odell holds membership in the Odd Fellows and the 
Modern Woodmen of America, and both he and his 
wife are Rebekahs. Although a firm believer in 
the doctrines of the Republican party, he has never 
actively participated in political aflfairs. and has no 
desire for office. An earnest, energetic man. of 
good habits, he is winning success in the work to 
which he is devoting his best energies. 



GEORGE W. HAYES, a prominent pioneer 
of Snohomish county now residing three miles 
northeast of Monroe, was born in Erie County, 
Pennsvlvania. Februarv 15. 1850. the son of Henry 
P. and Sallie P. (Brown) Hayes, both of whom 



1096 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



were born among the hills of Vermont. The father 
spent his boyhood in Penns^'Ivania, but in later life 
came to Washington, and he died here August 16, 
1899, aged seventy-four. The mother, now in her 
seventy-fifth year, is living in Monroe. George W. 
Hayes secured his education in the schools of Watts- 
b'urg, Pennsylvania, and at a very early age, al- 
though handicapped by a severe injury, started out 
for himself. After farming for a time in his native 
state, he went to Michigan in 1870, and he spent 
the ensuing four years in the pineries of the state. 
He then found employment on the railroad at Ann 
Arbor, Michigan, where he remained for a year. 
Returning to his old home for a brief visit, he next 
took a trip to Illinois, going down as far as Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio, in a skiff. From there he went to 
East Saint Louis, where his home was for a few 
months, but for some time he had been thinking of 
locating in the Northwest, and in 1887 he started 
for Washington. He reached the present site of 
Monroe October 23d, of that year, and took up a 
thirty-three acre island near there in the Skykomish 
river. He came expecting to live only a short time 
as the physicians of the East held out no hopes of 
his recover}' from the severe bronchial trouble which 
had been steadily undermining hjs health for years, 
but the change proved so beneficial that the disease 
wholly disappeared in the succeeding months, and 
has never returned. Mr. Hayes was a passenger 
on the first emigrant train ever put on the North- 
ern Pacific railroad. His supplies were purchased 
in Snohomish, and brought by canoe to his claim. 
In settling on the island the possibility of having 
his home swept away by floods had been over- 
looked by him, and, indeed, all went well for the 
first five years, but then, very unexpectedly, the 
water began to rise at the alarming rate of a foot 
per hour. Prompt action was necessary if any- 
thing was to be saved, so with the assistance of his 
wife he loaded his five hogs, which he could ill af- 
ford to lose, into a canoe, and brought them to the 
barn where he transferred them to an empty wagon. 
Here the family were also obliged to seek refuge 
when the water that covered every foot of their 
land, drove them from the house. The fences that 
had been built at such a cost of both time and labor 
were all swept away, and much other damage was 
done. This occurred in November, 1892, and fol- 
lowing as it did the fires of the preceding June that 
had occasioned them heavy losses, it somewhat dis- 
couraged Mr. and Mrs. Hayes, who decided to go 
East, but a longing for their little home on the isl- 
and soon seized them and at the end of seven 
months they returned. They resided there, until 
1904, when they traded it for the forty-acre farm 
known as the "Hillery" property, located in a beau- 
tiful, secluded valley. In recent years the buildings 
and the farm itself had been neglected to such an 
extent that Mr. Hayes has been kept constantly 
busy in putting them into good condition again. He 



now has twelve acres in cultivation, and an addi- 
tional two acres in orchard. He intends in the fu- 
ture to devote the larger share of his attention to- 
dairying. 

Mr. Hayes was married August 12, 1883, to- 
Addie Moore, of Chautauqua county, New York, 
born April 4, 1868, the daughter of Nathaniel and 
Philinda (Williams) Moore. The father died 
many years ago; the mother is now living on the 
old homestead in New York. Mrs. Hayes' grand- 
father on the maternal side owned a home in Chi- 
cago when it was but a trading post, composed of 
only a few rude dwellings. Mr. and Mrs. Hayes 
have one child, Leila H., born April 4, 1896. In 
political belief Mr. Hayes is a Republican, but 
while loyally upholding the party he has never 
taken an active part in its campaigns. He is inter- 
ested in educational matters, and is one of the 
school directors, while in religious persuasion, he 
and his family are Methodists. Mr. Hayes is a man 
of remarkable energy and perseverance, and these 
virtues, combined with an upright character, have 
won for him the respect of all who are acquainted 
with him. He is rich in pioneer recollections, and 
to hear him recount his experiences is to have a 
greater reverence for those brave men and women 
who left home and friends to settle in this 
vast wilderness. One amusing story which he tells 
is as follows : Having loaded a mowing machine 
in a wagon he started for the mainland, and had 
only reached the middle of the stream when a tug 
broke, frightening the horses, and causing them to 
break away. Thus he was left to his meditations, 
which possibly were not as pleasant as they might 
have been. Fortunately his wife, who possessed 
the true pioneer courage, succeeded in rowing a 
canoe out to the scene of the disaster, but the swift 
current ran the canoe into the wagon and filled it 
with water. Just how she got into the wagon and 
thus escaped drowning neither she nor her husband 
ever knew. The wagon and machine were eventu- 
ally towed to land by stretching a cable from the 
shore, and hitching horses to it. 



HENRY D. WALTERS. Among the thrifty 
and industrious farmers residing in the vicinity of 
Monroe, Washington, is found the one whose name 
forms the caption of this biography. He was born 
in 1840, in Hanover, Germany, the son of Daniel 
and Hannah (Rodewalt) Walters. Immigrating to 
the United States with his parents when only nine 
years old, he grew to manhood in Pope county. 
Illinois. In the full flush of youth he answered the 
call of his adopted country when the Civil War 
broke out, enlisting in Company A., Fiftv-Sixth 
Illinois Infantry, and during four years of active 
service he was found in the thickest of the fight, 
having participated in the battles of Corinth, Vicks- 
burg. Champion Hill, Lookout Mountain, and a 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



score of others less familiar to the student of his- 
tory. A special Providence seemed to protect him, 
for although his clothes were often pierced by bul- 
lets from the ranks of the enemy he never sustained 
the slightest injury, and was never captured. He 
was mustered out at Springfield, Illinois, August 
18, 1865, and at once engaged in farming. Several 
years later he went to Kansas, and after spending 
a winter there came to Washington in 1887. His 
residence in Snohomish county dates from the fall 
of that year when he came by team from Seattle. 
The following year he took up IGO acres where he 
new lives. Here in the dense forest he built a rude 
cabin for his family, and he and his eldest son 
worked in the various lumber camps to procure the 
necessary means for purchasing supplies. Snoho- 
mish was the nearest town, and the roads to it were 
at times almost impassable. Xearly four years 
elapsed before school advantages were secured for 
this locality. In later years ATr. Walters sold a 
part of his farm, retaining, however, forty acres, 
most of which is now in good cultivation. Dairy- 
ing claims a large share of his attention. He has 
a fine herd of Jersey cattle, and understands how to 
make them yield the largest returns. He also is 
very successful in raising poultry and vegetables. 

Mr. Walters was married in December, 1865. 
to Katherine Platter, who died in 1875, leaving 
motherless a family of four children. In 1876 he 
and Qiristina Barkmann, a native of Ludbergen. 
Germany, born October 31, 1842, were united in 
marriage. Mrs. Walters found a home in Ohio in 
ISGO, and later, in 1869, became a resident of Illi- 
nois. Mr. Walters has seven children, as follow's: 
Millie; George and Mrs. Annie Pearsall, married 
and living in Monroe. Washington; Fred, of Col- 
ville, Washington; Julius, of Monroe; Mrs. Carrie 
Houston, Leavenworth, Washington ; Mrs. Lillian 
Holly, of Tacoma. !Mr. Walters is an honored 
member of the Grand Arm}-, and in political belief 
he adheres to the doctrines of the Republican party. 
Unlike many men who allow themselves to become 
absorbed in business affairs to the exclusion of all 
else. Mr. Walters, although a keen, practical man 
of affairs, is an earnest Christian worker in the 
Christian Apostolic Union. His life and character 
are such as to merit the confidence of his fellow 
men. 



FRED E. FERGUSON. Few residents of 
Snohomish county have achieved a more enviable 
success in life than has he whose name forms the 
caption of this biography. He was bom in Waupa- 
ca. Waupaca countv, Wisconsin, September 12, 
1858. His father, John R. Ferguson, of Scotch 
descent, was born in Pennsylvania, and after se- 
curing his education took up farming in his native 
state. In the early fifties he migrated to Wisconsin 
with his family, making that his home until 1861, 



when he returned to Erie county, Pennsylvania, his 
home at the present time. The mother, Alvira 
(Gleason) Ferguson, a native of Vermont, traced 
her ancestry back to the Emerald Isle. She died 
in 1880, leaving behind her the memory of a long 
useful life, spent in the service of others. His an- 
cestors on both sides of the family being of dis- 
tinguished colonial stock, Fred E. Ferguson natur- 
ally inherited a full share of the energy and 
dauntless courage that enables his forefathers to 
overcome seemingly insurmountable difficulties in 
making a home on the wild, desolate coast of the 
Atlantic. He acquired his rudimentary education in 
the common schools of his native state. Leaving 
home at the age of seventeen he took up railroading 
in the oil regions of Pennsylvania for two years, 
then he decided to go to Leadville, Colorado, and 
engage in mining. Four vears later, having fol- 
lowed his guiding star to Seattle, Washington, he 
completed his scholastic training by a thorough 
course in a business college there, that he might be 
well equipped for a business career. He then ac- 
cepted a position in a grocery store, and for the 
next two years he worked along this line, but de- 
cided at the end of that time to seek another open- 
ing. Desiring to resume his former occupation 
(mining) he went to Juneau, Alaska, in 1885. Hav- 
ing spent the ensuing six years in the famous 
Treadwell mines, he then returned to Seattle and 
purchased the Merchants' Hotel, which he con- 
ducted until 1900, during that time establishing a 
splendid reputation for careful attention to the re- 
quirements of the traveling public. He disposed of 
his holdintjs in the year mentioned, and coming to 
the beautiful valley of Tualco, became owner of his 
fine estate comprising three hundrei. and sixty 
acres of fertile river bottom land situated three 
and one-half miles south of jMonroe, Washington. 
Of this estate one hundred and eighty acres are 
in a fine state of cultivation, and are devoted to 
diversified farming, which Mr. Ferguson considers 
tlie most remunerative for the average agricultur- 
ist. The neat, comfortable home surrounded by 
tasteful grounds bespeaks the owner's thoughtful 
consideration for the comfort and happiness of the 
family, and the taste of both husband and wife. 
In addition to his splendid ranch Mr. Ferguson 
also owns the Ferguson Block in Monroe. 

Mr. Ferguson and Mrs. Eleanor Fitzmaurice 
were married in Seattle, March 13, 1901, Reverend 
John Damon performing the ceremonv. Mrs. Fer- 
guson spent her childhood in Ireland, her native 
land, coming to the LTnited States when a girl of 
fifteen. She soon married her first husband, Mr. 
Fitzmaurice, and settled in the Tualco vallev in 
1874, becoming the mother of a family of bright, 
happy children as the years slipped away. In that 
wild, lonely country, miles from the nearest set- 
tler, the brave girl-wife encountered hardships and 
trials sufficient to tax the endurance of the stoutest 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



heart, but throughout all those years no word of 
complaint ever fell from her lips. When in the 
course of time other settlers came to this locality, 
her little log house overlooking the Tualco valley 
came to be known as "Blarney Castle," and was the 
center of the social life of that primitive period. 
All the diversified amusements and entertainments 
of village life, socials, literary societies, debating 
contests and spelling schools took place under its 
hospitable roof, the graceful, charming young 
hostess being the leading spirit of all these gather- 
ings. Mrs. Ferguson has thus an extensive ac- 
quaintance throughout this locality, and is esteemed 
and loved by all. Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson have one 
adopted child, Doris Vivian. In the Knights of 
Pythias fraternity Mr. Ferguson is a prominent 
member, being identified with the Queen City lodge, 
Number 10, of Seattle. He is also affiliated with 
the Elks of Everett. Politically, he adheres to the 
doctrines of the Republican party, and is always 
willing to advance the cause in every possible way. 
Climbing the ladder of success step by step from 
the lowest round he has reached his present posi- 
tion by his own untiring efforts. His splendid busi- 
ness ability combined with his upright character 
renders him one of the most prominent and influ- 
ential men in the county. 



H. M. MEREDITH. Among the foremost citi- 
zens of Sultan, Washington, is numbered the one 
whose name gives caption to this biography, H. 
Meredith, the popular mayor of the town. Like 
his parents, Bradford and Raechel (Meredith) Mere- 
dith, who are now deceased, he was born in 
Kentucky, the date of his birth being July 9, 1840. 
His grandfather, William Meredith, is known to 
have been one of the earliest settlers in that state. 
H. Meredith is the oldest of a family of seven 
children, four of whom grew to maturity. He re- 
ceived his education in the common schools of his 
native town, Litchfield, and when a mere lad of 
thirteen began to support himself, remaining at 
home, however, till he was thirteen. Responding 
to his country's call for volunteers at the breaking 
out of the Civil War, he enlisted in Company I.. 
Third Kentucky Cavalry, under Captain Mercer, 
serving as sergeant for several months. A year 
later he raised a cavalry troup. Company G., thir- 
ty-five Kentucky mounted infantry, of which he 
was captain until he was mustered out in January. 
1864. He was actively engaged in the battle of 
Murfreesboro. and also in many engagements of 
minor importance. Previous to this time he had 
been stationed at Fort Donelson. He was with the 
command that succeeded in forcing General Bragg 
back into Kentucky, and thus relieved the situation 
for the Union forces. Although only twenty years 
old at the time of his enlistment, Mr. Meredith 
soon distinguished himself as a brave soldier and 



a skilful leader of men, retiring from service with 
a record of which he might well be proud. Two 
months after the war closed he went to Bozeman, 
Montana, and later spent several years mining and 
prospecting in the vicinity of Helena. Failing to 
meet with success there, he participated in the 
White Pine excitement of '67, with similar dis- 
couraging results. He then started on a prospect- 
ing trip that lasted several months, during which 
he visited Los Angeles County, California, and 
finally drifted to the Ralston mines in New Mexico, 
only to find that they, too, held out promises that 
were never realized. A like experience awaited 
him in Silver City, New Mexico, whither he soon 
went. These years of fruitless search for gold, 
though seemingly wasted, afforded Mr. Meredith 
an excellent opportunity of becoming familiar with 
the various rock formations. This knowledge that 
lie had rapidly acquired led him later to take up a 
claim in Georgetown, New Mexico, which had been 
pronounced worthless by other prospectors. Lack- 
ing the necessary funds for sinking a shaft, he suc- 
ceeded in interesting a man in the project, and a 
partnership was formed. A ninety foot shaft and 
a sixteen foot crosscut tunnel brought them to ore 
running 3,600 ounces to the ton, the best of which 
netted $100 per sack. A stamp mill was soon in- 
stalled, and within two years Mr. Meredith sold 
out his interest for $160,000 in cash. Deciding to 
abandon mining and invest his fortune in other 
ways, he returned to Silver City and opened the 
Silver City National bank and also engaged in mer- 
cantile business. For five years, from 1883 to 1887, 
he did a general banking business there and also in 
Georgetown. At the end of that time he closed the 
doors of his banks, realizing that he must again 
start at the foot of the ladder. Undismayed by this 
disaster which would have proved the ruin of many 
a man, he borrowed $200 of a friend and started 
for Washington, fully determined to retrieve his 
fortune. He carried with him a ten dollar bill 
bearing his signature as president of the bank, as 
a souvenir. Coming to Snohomish county he man- 
fully faced the new conditions that he met, and 
was soon employed by a Boston company as repor- 
ter on the iron and coal deposits at Hamilton. His 
next location was Seattle, and having realized on 
an insurance policy that he carried he was able to 
start a brickyard. The destructive fire of '89 that 
swept over the city bringing ruin to so many, 
proved a blessing to him, as it created an increased 
demand for his material. His residence in Sultan 
dates from February, 1890, when, having sold his 
brickyard in Seattle, he moved here, and began 
prospecting. He and his father-in-law, D. Bunn, 
built the river boat. "Minnie M.," operating it until 
the railroad was built in 1892. Mr. Meredith was 
also interested in the mercantile house of T. W. 
Cobb & Company, which failed soon after, leaving 
him practically penniless. Meeting this reverse 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



with characteristic fortitude and courage, he at 
once took up real estate business, and in 1893 re- 
ceived the appointment of United States Circuit 
Court Commissioner, and postmaster at Sukan. 
Unable to purchase the postoffice fixtures valued 
at sixty dollars, he gave his note for the amount, 
and borrowed forty dollars to buy a small stock of 
cigars and tobacco to sell in the office. The en- 
suing years were full of toil, and often the early 
morning hours found him still at his desk employed 
either at his work as commissioner, notary public 
or postmaster. Year by year his business increased, 
until when he sold out in the summer of 1905, he 
could congratulate himself that he was once more 
free from financial anxiety. 

Mr. Meredith was one of the organizers as well 
as the first Secretary and Treasurer of the Com- 
mercial Trout Company, Incorporated, one mile 
north (if town, a home industrv. 

:\Ir. Meredith was married 'in December, ISSO. 
to Miimie M. Bunn, a native of Colorado. Her 
father, who died in Sultan in 1903, was an honored 
pioneer both of Colorado and New Mexico. Mr. 
and Airs, ^^feredith have two children, Mrs. Jose- 
])hine lM>\\ler and Mrs. Luella Mayhall. both resi- 
dents of Sultan. ]\Ir. Meredith is a prominent mem- 
ber of the Fort Craig Post of the Grand Army at 
Silver City, New Mexico. He is also a Thirty- 
second Degree Mason, holding his membership in 
die lodge of Santa Fe, New Mexico. In political 
I ^lief, he has always heartily endorsed Democratic 
p 'inciples, and has taken an active interest in 
cc unty, state and national affairs. While residing 
in New ]\Iexico he was one of the committee op- 
po -ng the division of Grant county, and he still 
rec lis with pleasure the fact that his party won on 
the issue. That he was unanimously elected Sul- 
tan's first mayor in June. 190.5, is of itself abundant 
proof of the unique position he holds in the hearts 
cif his fellow citizens. He was one of the most en- 
tlmsiastic members of the Snohomish county ex- 
ecutive committee for the Lewis and Clark Exposi- 
tion, rendering valuable assistance in planning to 
have the county fittingly represented. Possessed 
of sterling qualities of mind and heart, the vicissi- 
tudes incident to the life of Mr. Meredith have but 
contributed to his strength of character, and made 
him worthy of the honor so freely accorded him. 
bi' his fellow citizens of his town and county. 



JOHN A. SWETT. Among the few business 
and professional men of Snohomish county who 
can claim the distinction of having been born within 
its limits, is numbered John A. Swett. the enter- 
prising editor of the Sultan Star. His birthplace 
was Snohomish City and the date of his birth Feb- 
ruary 11. 1877, at a time when this town was prac- 
tically the only one in the county. 

John H. and Martha (Burham) Swett, the par- 



ents of the subject of this biographical review, are 
natives of Maine, both descended from Colonial 
stock. Actor Swett, the father of John H., was 
the son of a patriot of the Revolutionary period in 
American history, and was successively a sailor, 
farmer and lumberman. At but twenty years of 
age John H. Swett, who was born June 7, 1841, 
in Washington county, came to the Pacific coast, 
via Panama, and was engaged at various occupa- 
tions in the Golden State until May, 1864. At that 
lime he came north, stopping at Portland, Victoria 
and finally reaching Port Townsend. A period of 
logging followed on Hood's Canal and the White 
river near Seattle. In the fall of 1867 he pur- 
chased a team and commenced logging for himself 
at Pleasant Harbor, continuing in business success- 
fully until 1870, when he visited his old home in 
Maine. On his return he went to Hood's Canal, 
where he was employed until March, 1873, that 
date marking his permanent settlement in Sno- 
homish count}-. Three years later he was compelled 
to retire from the woods because of a crushed 
leg. In 187G he was chosen county auditor and 
served the county with great credit two full terms. 
Since that time Mr. Swett has been engaged in 
the transfer business at Snohomish to w^hich he 
brought the first team of horses. He has served 
his city as councilman for several terms and is con- 
sidered one of the substantial citizens of his co;Ti- 
munity, well worthy of a place among its honored 
pioneers. Airs. Martha (Burham) Swett is a 
daughter of Captain George Burham. who served 
as an officer in the War of 1812. Before her mar- 
riage she taught school in Alaine several years. 
She was born in 1843, and married December 5. 
1874, at Portland. Oregon, having come west alone 
for the purpose of marrying the man of her choice. 
Of their two children, both sons, the younger is 
George B., born October 11, 1883. now in the em- 
ploy of the Northern Pacific at Snohomish. 

John A. Swett, after receiving a careful educa- 
tion in the schools of his native town, entered the 
office of the Daily Sun, owned by Will AI. Sawyer, 
to learn the printer's trade. Naturally fond of 
journalistic work, he desired to have a practical 
knowledge of all its details, and so rapidly did he 
acquire this training that he was soon able to enter 
the emplo\ of the Seattle Times and the various 
papers published in Everett. For two years, just 
prior to the founding of the Sultan Star, Septem- 
ber 7, 1905, he was employed on the Monitor of 
Alonroe, Washington. The Star is a well written, 
four-page paper, which although in its infancy, 
gives evidence of vigorous life. It is independent 
in political matters, as is also its editor, its avowed 
ambition being to contribute to the growth and de- 
velopment of the town and county in every possible 
way. i\Ir. Swett is identified with the Foresters of 
America. Of the latter fraternity he is a charter 
n;ember of the re-organized court at Sultan, .ind 



1100 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



holds the office of financial secretary. Mr. Swett 
possesses a genial personality and excellent busi- 
ness ability along his chosen line of endeavor and 
is justly considered one of the county's promising 
young men. 



CHRIS. THYGESEN. The life of this well 
known and esteemed pioneer of Puget sound, now 
a resident of the Skykomish valley, afifords a splen- 
did and inspiring illustration of the power of stead- 
fastness of puroosc and force of character in the 
pursuit of material success. A stalwart integrity, 
an indomitable will and the ability to grasp and 
mp.ke the most of opportunity are marked attri- 
butes of this successful Danish American. 

Born in Veile, Denmark, September 16, 1854, 
Chris. Thygesen is the third in a family of eight 
children. Thyge Mortensen, the father, who was 
born in 1814, a descendent of an old Danish fam- 
ily, led a useful life, full of activity and diversity 
cf occupation. He passed away in 1903, in his 
native land, which he had never left. Christine 
Rye (Jacobsen) Thygesen, the mother, also born 
in 1814, was a member of an illustrious family, one 
noted in the military history of Denmark. Gen- 
eral Rye was one of her relatives. She departed 
this life in 1904, having survived her husband only 
a year. As a lad the subject of this sketch attended 
the public schools summers and worked out win- 
ters. He was an apt pupil evidently, for soon h.is 
eft'orts came under the notice of a minister, Rev. 
Ribe, who interested himself in the struggling boy. 
finally securing for him a free scholarship in the 
high school. At the age of sixteen, the young man 
engaged in agricultural work, following this three 
years. In the meantime he had learned of tlie 
great advantages afforded young men in the 
United States, and determined to avail himself of 
them. 1873, with the assistance of his brother, l.e 
secured enough money to pay his passage across 
the ocean, and he v.'orked his way from New York 
to Wisconsin, whither so many of his countrymen 
had preceded him. When he reached his destina- 
tion he hadn't a cent and for two days had not 
had a meal. 

Undaunted, however, by such an unpropitions 
entrance into American life, Mr. Thygesen sought 
and found work in a dairy, and soon saved enough 
money to repay his brother's loan and to carry him 
to the Pacific coast, then he started for Sacramento, 
California. He arrived without unusual incident 
and went to work on a farm in the Sacramento 
valley. During the next year and a half he sa\'ed 
three hundred and sixty dollars. On April 27, 
1877, he landed at Seattle. The Pacific Northwest 
suited his desires, so he took a homestead in the 
White river, eleven miles above Seattle and com- 
rricnced its improvement. At this time he sent 
for his betrothed, who in due time reached San 



Francisco safely, but there became lost. Finally a 
friendly Danish policeman found her and the young 
woman who had accompanied her to the United' 
States, took them to his own home and advertised' 
for Mr. Thygesen, whom, fortunately, he soon dis- 
covered. Mr. and Mrs. Thygesen remained on tlie 
White river ranch seven years, during part of 
which time they both worked out, she cooking and 
he doing whatever farm work he could find to do^ 
Having sold his place for one thousand six hun- 
dred dollars, he then bought a farm in the same- 
neighborhood for four thousand dollars, and es- 
tablished the Valley Dairy, selling the milk in Se- 
attle. At this time he handled three hundred gal- 
lons a day, much of which, however, he purchased' 
from his neighbors. But the business proved too 
exacting for his health, and he returned to the 
farm. In 1888 he was appointed postmaster at 
White River and the same year opened a general 
store there. In 1890 he had a three-story b'uilding„. 
well stocked, in addition to his ranch, and his en- 
tire holdings were valued at twenty thousand dol- 
lars. Mr. Thygesen that year purchased a large saw- 
mill at Sumas, Washington county, together with- 
four hundred acres of timber land, having sold his- 
King county property for fourteen thousand dol- 
lars. Then came the financial storm of 1893, leav- 
ing him but one thousand dollars out of the wreck. 
But adversity brought to Mr. Thygesen's aid a- 
true friend who had great confidence in his busi- 
ness abilities. The friend advised the establish- 
ment of another store at White River, offering 
to back the enterprise with a loan of three thousand 
dollars. Mr. Thygesen accepted the off^er and suc- 
cess crowned his endeavors. After three years- 
in the store he engaged in handling livestock for 
the Seattle market, following this line of business- 
six years. In 1900 he decided to make another 
more determined eft'ort to regain his feet and ac- 
cordingly came to Snohomish county with the in- 
tention of again taking up agriculture. He, witlv 
his son Clement, and his eldest daughter Manda, 
journeyed with team across the country to the 
Skykomish valley. The Wallace Lumber Company- 
had just begun extensive operations at Startup and 
for that point Air. Thygesen headed. The son went 
to work in the mill at two dollars a day, the daugh- 
ter found employment in the hotel at one dollar nr 
day, while the father secured an option on a forty- 
acre tract of land nearb'y and commenced the im- 
provement of it, at the same time erecting a board- 
ing house in town. Mrs. Thygesen shortly after- 
ward joined her husband and the whole family- 
worked to a definite end. At the conclusion of 
two years' work, they had saved two thousand dol- 
lars, besides having partially improved their land. 
The next year they operated two boarding houses, 
but unfortunately fire destroyed one, causing a loss 
of seven hundred dollars. In 1903 they sold the 
remaining hotel and removed to the ranch situated 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



jtist a mile west of Startup. Now Mr. Thygeseti 
lias one hundred acres of land, fifty of which are 
cleared and well improved, and is devoting much 
of his attention to dairying, with which he has 
been familiar since boyhood. He has also won 
success at fruit growing. 

The marriage of Mr. Thygesen and Miss Karen 
Maria Clemensen, the daughter of Qemen and 
Christine (Magdalene) Hansen, was solemnized at 
San Francisco January 15, 1878. Her father was 
a government mail carrier in Denmark for twenty- 
four years. When a young man he served in the 
Danish-Prussian War in 1848 and won distinction 
on the field of battle. He was presented by the 
king with two medals of honor, which are now in 
the possession of Mrs. Thygesen and valued by 
her as such tokens should be. Mr. and Mrs. Han- 
sen came to the United States in 1882 to make their 
home with Mr. Thygesen. The aged veteran passed 
away in May, 1904, but Mrs. Hansen survives, re- 
siding with her daughter. In Denmark, Mrs. Thy- 
gesen was a schoolmate of her husband, when in- 
ception was given to the attachment which even- 
tually brought their lives together. Nine children 
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Thygesen: Chris 
Jr., Qement, Amanda, Lydia, Qiristine, James 
Blaine, Marie, Ernest and Pearl. 

Mr. Thygesen is a good citizen of strong convic- 
tions and the ability and willingness to back them 
up, the kind of a man that takes an interest in ihe 
public welfare. For sixteen years he has filled the 
office of justice of the -peace in the communities 
where he has resided, and he is still serving his 
community in that capacity. He was a delegate to 
the Good Roads convention at Olympia in 1894 
and took an active interest in its sessions. Ever 
since he perceived the advantages of this region he 
has been a substantial force in inducing emigration 
to locate on Puget sound and while in the White 
River valley brought many of his countrymen to 
that section, being the leader of the movement. 
V.'hen the Everett Chamber of Commerce inaugu- 
rated its advertising campaign in 1905, Mr. Thy- 
gesen was selected to represent his section of the 
county and contributed materially to the success of 
the enterprise. He wrote an article of marked 
strensth for the benefit of homeseekers which was 
published under the title "In Quest of a Home," 
in the Great Northern Bulletin and which has been 
spread broadcast over the United States. A great 
flood of personal correspondence followed, which 
Mr. Thygesen has unshirkingly cared for with ex- 
cellent results. Of the large number who have 
come to the county as the result of his work, fully 
twenty families are located in the vicinity of 
Startup. It is this phase of his activities especially 
that is winning for him a warm place in the hearts 
of all who know him and are conversant with his 
broad public spirit. Politically, he is a faithful 
member of the Republican party and an active. 



tireless worker in its ranks. While a resident of 
King county he was at one election his party's can- 
didate for legislative honors, but was defeated in 
a hard contest. 



HENRY L. BALDRIDGE, the well known 
superintendent of the State Salmon Hatchery at 
Sultan, Washington, was born March 30, 1871, in 
Kentucky, which state was also the birthplace of 
his parents, William and Phoeb'e J. (Beverly) 
Baldridge. The father, born in Tennessee, is now 
living in Hamilton, Washington, retired ; the 
mother died there in 1887. She was born in Vir- 
ginia. Of a family of nine children, Henry L. is 
the third. After acquiring his education in the 
schools of his native state, he came west in 1886, 
\vith his parents who May 21st of that year settled 
in Hamilton, Washington, at that time an unprom- 
ising wilderness. For nine years he worked in the 
woods, gladly contributing his earnings to aid in 
supporting the family during the .first six years. 
He then mined for a short time, still making his 
home at Hamilton until he entered the employ of 
the state in 1897. Having held the position of as- 
sistant fish culturist at Baker for more than three 
years and demonstrated his practical knowledge of 
the work, he was tendered the superintendency of 
the state hatchery when it was established in Sul- 
tan September 1, 1900. He has made a thorough 
and exhaustive study of the entire subject of fish 
culture, thus becoming familiar with its various 
phases, and establishing for himself a reputation 
as an authority on the subject. 

Air. Baldridge and Annie Richardson were mar- 
ried July 28, 1898. Mrs. Baldridge, a native of 
Ohio, born July 24, 1882, came to Washington with 
her parents, Andrew and Eveline Richardson. They 
are now residing in Hamilton where the father fol- 
lows his trade as a mechanic and carpenter. Mr. 
and Mrs. Baldridare have one child, James L., born 
July 12, 1899. Mr. Baldridge is an enthusiastic 
member of the Republican party, always taking an 
active part in political affairs, but never desiring 
office for himself. A rising man of excellent qual- 
ities, thrifty, industrious and energetic, he holds 
the respect and good will of the community. 



NATHAN BARKER JONES, superintendent 
of the "Forty-Five" mine situated twenty-four 
miles from Sultan, Washington, is one of the most 
widely known mining men of the Northwest. He 
is a native of Lvnn, Massachusetts, the date of his 
birth being August 18, 1867. His father, John 
A. Jones, born in 1827, also in Lynn, traced his 
ancestry to earliest American stock. He was a 
painter' by trade, and died in 1901. Lucy (Kim- 
ball) Joiies, the maternal ancestor, received her 
education in Maine, the state of her nativity. She 



1102 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



died in 1881. at the age of fifty. Nathan Barker 
Jones acquired his education in the common schools 
prior to leaving- home at the age of thirteen to 
make his way in the world. Going to Iowa he 
went to work for Gilman Brothers, well known 
cattlemen of that region, remaining till 1883, when 
lie went to western Texas and rode the range for 
two years. After engaging in the stock business 
till twenty-three years of age, he decided to take 
up mining, and at once went to Chihuahua, old 
Mexico. Two years later, in the spring of 1893. 
he came to Sultan Basin, Washington, entering the 
employ of the Monte Cristo Developing company, 
which was then working the "Forty-Five" mine. 
He was with the company for a year, mining and 
running a pack train. Following this, Mr. Jones 
spent some time with the Little Chief company. 
and later spent one summer packing from Sk\- 
komish to the mines in that district. Dliring all 
these years he had been making a careful study of 
mining in its various branches, and was thus quali- 
fied to accept the position of superintendent of the 
"Forty-Five" mine when it was tendered him by 
the Consolidated company in December, 1895. The 
mine was then closed, but he was soon instrumental 
in having it reopened, and from that time till the 
property was bonded by the ]\Iagus Mining com- 
pany in the summer of 1901, lie had entire charge 
of its development. The previous year, when this 
property was acquired by the A. W. Pinkham 
estate, he was retained in his former position. Ap- 
preciating the fact that he was the right man in 
the right place the present stockholders appointed 
him superintendent of construction, with complete 
control of their outside mill, roads, etc. This mine 
i? conceded to be the best developed property in 
the Sultan Basin, and has been an extensive ship- 
per, having furnished one hundred and two thou- 
sand dollars worth of ore. A good wagon road 
connects it with Sultan. A force of thirty-five 
men is employed to operate it, and a still larger 
number of workers will be needed as its develop- 
ment progresses. 

Mr. Jones was married January "30, 1898, to 
Mary E. Jones, born near Toronto, Canada, Au- 
gust 13. 187(i. Her parents, Alexander and Mar- 
garet (Ferguson) Jones, are both living. Her 
father is a well known railroad contractor, farmer 
and packer. Mrs. Jones received a thorough edu- 
cation in the schools of Toronto. Mr. and Mrs. 
Jones have three children, born in Sultan, Lucy 
M., born January 7. 1899: Evelvn F., June 1. 
1902; Nathan P., March 15, 1901. Fraternally. 
Mr. Jones is identified with the Modern Woodmen 
of America. He is influential in the ranks of the 
Republican party, but is never found as an office 
seeker. Since coming to Sultan he has purchased 
an eighty-acre farm, one-half of which is within 
the corporate limits of the town, and has erected 
a beautiful home, modern in all its appointments. 



The success attending Mr. Jones in his chosen 
field of activity is due to his extensive knowledge 
of the mining industry, his keen, practical business 
ability, and the push and vim with which he takes 
hold of and carries on the work. These character- 
istics are fully recognized in his home community, 
where he is esteemed for his manv sterling quali- 
ties as citizen and neighbor as well as business 
man. 



JOHN F. WARNER, the well known mer- 
chant of Sultan. \\'ashington, was born in Ander- 
son C(iunt\'. Tniliana. in February, 18G1. Elias 
Warner, lii> father, a native of Virginia, settled 
in Indiana iu early life, and engaged in farming. 
He died at thQ age of fift\'-t\vn, when his son John 
F. was but eight days old. The mother, Selinda 
(Pierce) Warner, also a \'irginian, was born in 
1S21, and died in 1888. She was the mother of 
six children, five of whom are now living in the 
East. John F. \\'arncr enjoyed unusual educa- 
tional advantages. <ui)pleinenting his elementary 
training by attending the Indiana State Univer- 
sity. Leaving home at the age of nineteen he went 
to Alissfuri and taught there for a short time, but 
soon returned to his native state where he had pre- 
viously secured his first experience in teaching. He 
then decide<l tn laki' u|i the study df law. and en- 
tered the office (if i;.il)iii.M.n andL.ivett at Ander- 
son. In 18S(J he completed the course and was 
admitted to the bar. His residence in Washing- 
ton dates frotn the spring of 1895, when after a 
four months' visit in Missouri he reached Sno- 
homish. Later he took up a homestead near Sky- 
komish, residing on it a few months and then re- 
turning to Snohomish. He had sought a location 
in the west with the full intention of practicing 
law, but found on his arrival that the prospects 
were unfavorable, and hence changed his plans, 
and temporarily resumed his fonuer profession, 
teaching. He accepted the pusitinn nf principal 
of the Sultan schools, which then had an attend- 
ance of eighty pupils of whom only two were In- 
dians. At the close of the second term he re- 
signed, and having previously bought an inlercst 
in the Sultan Cash Store, he devuted !iis entire 
attention to the business that was conducted luider 
the firm name of Hawkes and Warner. A year 
later he purchased his partner's interest, and in 
1897 erected his present place of business. By ad- 
hering to upright principles, while also making a 
careful study of the needs and requirements of his 
customers, Mr. Warner has built up a splendid 
trade, increasing his capital stock from one thou- 
sand three hundred dollars to six thousand five 
hundred dollars. In 1898 he in partnership with 
Mr. Harris, opened a branch house in Monroe. 
Washington, known by the firm name of Harris 
and Warner. This, too, is doing a thriving busi- 
ness. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



Mr. Warner and Miss Belle Johnson of Galla- 
tin, Missouri, were married in 1888. Mrs. War- 
ner's parents. William and Mary (Yates) John- 
son, were born in Mrginia. The father is still liv- 
ing in Missouri; the mother died in 1888. Mr. ami 
Mrs. Warner have one child, Ellis E.. born March 
18, 1890, now attending the Snohomish High 
School. Mr. Warner affiliates with the Democrats, 
but has no desire to be prominent in political cir- 
cles. Knowing him to be a man of unusual mental 
attainments combined with rare practical ability, 
his friends at one time nominated him for the leg- 
i.slature. only to find that he gracefully but tinnly 
refused to accept the honor. In religious belief he 
is a Spiritualist. Vespasian Warner, the well 
known pension commissioner at Washington, D. 
C, is a first cousin of Mr. Warner. Of the War- 
ner family of which he is a descendent there are 
now but three adult male members, but as he jok- 
ingly says there is little danger of extinction of the 
family name since he has one son, a brother in 
Kansas, three, and the cousin previously mentioned, 
seven. Mr. Warner has a wide acquaintance 
throughout tlie county, and is held in the highest 
esteem. 



A. LOUIS PETERSON, the popular proprie- 
tor of the Sultan Hotel at Sultan, Washington, 
was born in Amherst, Wisconsin, July 1, 1866. His 
father, Andrew Peterson, was a native of Sweden. 
Immigrating to the L^nited States he became one 
of Wisconsin's pioneers. He was a veteran of the 
Civil War having enlisted in the Forty-Fourth 
Wisconsin Volunteer regiment. At the close of the 
war he resumed his former occupation, farming. 
He died in 1897 at the age of sixty. The mother. 
Ann (Peterson) Peterson, also born in Swerlen. 
died in Wisconsin in 1874. A. Louis Peterson has 
a brother, Fred Peterson, who lives in Sultan, and 
a sister residing in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. Mr. 
Peterson spent his boyhood acquiring an education 
in the schools of his native state, and working on 
the farm. At the age of twenty-two he decided to 
seek his fortune in the great northwest, going di- 
rect to Seattle, Washington, and thence in a couple 
of weeks to Bucklev, where he found employment 
in a hotel. Remaining but a short time he went to 
Tacoma, and soon to Murray island. A year later 
he took up his residence in Florence, Snohomish 
county, working there as in the previous town?, at 
whatever he could find to do. In 1890 he em- 
barked in the restaurant business at Whatcom, and 
devoted his attention to that for the following 
three years. Lured by the tales of the fortunes 
that others were making in the mines of British 
Columbia. !Mr. Peterson left Whatcom in 1894 
with a pack horse, riding along the telegraph trail 
to the Omenica country in British Columljia. There 
he resided two years, prospecting and trapping. 



meeting with only limited success. Going to Van- 
couver and thence to the mines at Harrison lake, 
he hired out for a year during which time he never 
left the camp even to visit the neighboring town. 
At the end of that time, finding he had sufficient 
means to take him to the Klondike gold fields, he 
started for Dawson in the spring of 1899. He 
reached Skagway in February, and in the follov,-ing 
n:onth rode overland by dog express to Dawson. 
Plis previous experience in the mines of British 
Columbia was there repeated for the first year, but 
the second brought better success. That fall he 
purchased two claims for seven hundred and fifty- 
dollars, and as soon as possible began prospecting, 
with the gratifying result that before midvi^inter 
he had found dirt worth one hundred and fifty 
dollars to the pan. After taking eight thousand 
dollars out of the claims he sold them and returned 
tt Washington, having spent almost three years in 
the north. Locating at Stanwood, he purchased 
an interest in the Palace Hotel which he owned 
until May, 190"2, when he sold out and came to 
Sultan. The hotel he now owns he bought Sep- 
teiTiber 3, of that year. Since that time he has 
built an addition twenty-eight by seventy feet, thus 
doubling the amount of room in the building, and 
has now by far the best appointed hotel in this part 
of the county. With characteristic energy' and 
thoroughness he has made a practical study of 
the requirements of the traveling public, and by 
catering to these preferences has built up a splen- 
did business. 

Mr. Peterson was married in November, 1902, 
to Miss Elizabeth Barker, a native of California. 
Her parents are deceased. Air. Peterson is well 
known in fraternal circles, being a member of the 
Eagles of Snohomish and the Foresters of America 
at Sultan. In political belief he adheres to the 
principles of the Republican party, and is always 
deeply interested in local politics. He is one of 
the most influential members of Sultan's citv coun- 
cil, and a man whose judgment and ability are 
recognized bv his fellow citizens. 



WILLIAM COOK, city treasurer, a member 
of the city council, and a prominent merchant, of 
Sultan, Washington, was born in Yorkshire, Eng- 
land, July -29, 1865. Daniel Cook, his father, im- 
migrated to the United States in 1866, settling 
in Calais, Maine. In 1883 he came to Snohomish, 
Washington, and purchased a farm on the Sultan 
river. He was residing here when he died April 
27, 1895, at the age of sixty-two. The mother, 
Hannah (Twidle) Cook, died December 21, 1902, 
aged seventy-six. She was the mother of one 
child, William. He acquired his education in the 
California schools, his parents ^having resided 
there prior to coming to Snohomish. After com- 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



pleting his schooling he moved with his parents to 
Washington, where he learned the trade of painter 
and paper hanger, and followed it for a number of 
years. In September, 1875, he went to Eureka. 
California, where he resided until 1883 when he 
moved to San Francisco. Having been a resident 
01' Snohomish county since 1883, Mr. Cook is very 
familiar with the conditions existing during thcs'.- 
pioneer days. When he came up the river for the 
first time it was by a trail on the bank. Supplies 
were conveyed to the few settlers by canoe, thus 
gieatly increasing the cost of even the common ar- 
ticles of food. On the death of his father, Mr. 
Cook took up the work of the farm, continuing to 
be thus employed until June, 1905, at which time 
he bought out H. M. Meredith's stock of general 
merchandise, at Sultan, which he is now success- 
fully conducting. 

Mr. Cook was married in 1893, Bessie Cole, a 
native of Minneapolis. Minnesota, being his bride. 
Her parents, Brackett and Amy Cole, moved to 
California when she was four years old, and there 
she spent her girlhood. In 1889 they settled on 
tlie S;:o!iomish river, near Sultan, where they sti!! 
reside. Mr. and Mrs. Cook have one child. Earl 
M., born May 27, 1894. Mr. Cook votes the Dem- 
ocratic ticket, and although cherishing no aspira- 
tions for office, takes an active interest in political 
matters. Mr. Cook is known as a man of strict 
integrity, one who believes in the practical appli- 
'Cation of the Golden Rule in every day business 
transactions. In addition to this he possesses a 
courteous manner that at once attracts those who 
are thrown in contact with him. That he will be 
eminently successful in the business in which he 
has recently embarked is a matter of firm convic- 
tion in the minds of his many acquaintances and 
friends. 



GEORGE V. PEARSALL, the proprietor of 
the Pioneer Hotel, and the owner of a store and 
meat market, in Sultan, Washington, was born in 
Clinton County, Iowa, June 18, 1860. His parents. 
William R. and Sarah (Names) Pearsall, were 
both born in New York. The father was one of 
the pioneer settlers in Iowa, but in later life set- 
tled in Washington, and died in this state in 1903, 
at the age of seventy-four. The mother has passed 
her sixty-second birthday. Of a family of four 
children George V. is the second. Like most boys 
he spent his boyhood at home acquiring an educa- 
tion in the common schools of his native state. At 
the age of twenty he left home, going to Texas 
where he remained one year. He has been n resi- 
dent of Washington since 1883, that being the year 
when he came to Snohomish, then only a very small 
town. He had previously learned the carpenter 
trade, and was thus engaged for a number of years 
after coming West. Believing that he could em- 



ploy his time to better advantage along other lines 
than clearing a homestead, he never filed on any- 
thing but a timber claim, and that he disposed of 
many years ago. He has the distinction of having 
built the first piece of railroad in Snohomish 
county, having had the contract for constructing 
two miles of the Seattle and Lake Shore & Eastern 
road at Cathcart. Later he contracted for the con- 
struction of the Great Northern railroad in Wash- 
ington and the Canadian Pacific in British Colum- 
bia, spending in all nearly three years in this work. 
In 1891 he started a brickyard in Snohomish, which 
he owned a year. During the financial depression 
of the 'nineties he followed various occupations, 
that he might not be idle. He purchased a store 
in Wallace in 1891, owning it for a year, when he 
sold out and invested in the hotel he still conducts 
in Sultan. In recent years he has added a store 
and meat market, managing them in connection 
with his other business. 

The marriage of Mr. Pearsall and Alice M. 
Eearse occurred June 25, 1890. Mrs. Pearsall, a 
native of Nebraska, is the daughter of James 
Bearse, of Ferndale, Whatcom County, Washing- 
ton, who until recently has been engaged in the 
drug business. He was born in Wisconsin. Mr. 
and Mrs. Pearsall have four children, Ellsworth 
E., Ralph M., George E., and a baby not yet named. 
Mr. Pearsall is prominent in fraternal circles, being 
identified with the Odd Fellows and the Foresters 
of America. He is independent in political belief, 
and is always deeply interested in political issues, 
although he is not an office seeker. As one of Sul- 
tan's most energetic and progressive citizens he 
takes an active part in the affairs of the city coun- 
cil of which he is a member. His influence is al- 
ways on the side of any movement that will con- 
tribute to the growth and development of the wel- 
fare of the town or county. During his long resi- 
dence in this county he has become well and favor- 
ably known in business, political and social circles. 



GILES L. WELLINGTON, of the firm of 
Wellington & Baldwin, livervmen of Sultan. Wash- 
ington, is, like his parents, Edwin R. and Mary E. 
(Colburn) Wellington, a native of Pennsylvania, 
the date of his birth being May 20, 18(i7. His 
father, born in Buffalo, New York, followed car- 
riage building for many years. Now at the age 
of seventy-two, he is living in San Dieeo. Cah'fnr- 
nia. He was a prominent soldier in the Civil War, 
having served three years and a half in the Eighty- 
Third Pennsylvania regiment. The mother died 
in 1897 at the age of sixty-two. Of her nine chil- 
dren Giles L. is the fifth. All are still living with 
the exception of two. Mr. Wellington received his 
education in the schools of Iowa, whither his par- 
ents moved when he was four years of age. Dur-' 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



1105 



ing the winter months he worked, attending school 
■only in the summer months. At the early age of 
thirteen he started out for himself, and for the 
next few years was variously employed. He at 
length learned the blacksmith trade and after 
spending two and one-half years in this occupation 
in Iowa, moved to Nebraska. In 1889 he migrated 
to Deer Lodge, Montana, mining there and at dif- 
ferent localities in the state for several years. De- 
siring to visit the Northwest he drove to the Yel- 
lowstone Park in 1899, and thence to Snohomish. 
Washington, accompanied by his family. Two 
years later he returned to Montana, remaining till 
1903, when he again found a home in Washing- 
ton, and in November of that year purchased an 
interest in his present business. While a resident 
of Montana, he was unable to accumulate prop- 
€rty, owing to heavy debts incurred by sickness, 
but in the last two years he has been very success- 
ful, and is now enjoying the prosperity his energy 
and industry so justly merit. 

Mr. Wellington was married in Deer Lodge. 
Montana, September 16, 1893, to Effie Christopher- 
son, who died later, leaving motherless one child, 
TJobert Efifner. He was again married in 1897. 
this time to Mrs. Margaret (Crow) Wellington, 
of Helena, Montana. Mrs. Wellington bore the 
Tnaiden name of Margaret Crow, and was born in 
Woodbury Countv, Iowa, March 7. 1874. She is 
the daughter of Rev. Murray and Sarah (English) 
Crow. Rev. Crow is an elder in the Baptist church 
at Parker's Prairie, Minnesota, and though past 
"four score years of age, is still active. To this 
union one child has been born, James Murray, 
April 3, 1903 ; there is one other child. Florence 
H., by Mrs. Wellington's former marriage. The 
fraternal instinct is strong in Mr. Wellington, and 
lie holds membership in the following orders : 
Eagles, Odd Fellows, Modem Woodmen of Amer- 
ica, Sons of Veterans, and Foresters of America. 
In political belief he adheres to the doctrines of the 
Republican party, although he does not care to 
take an active part in county and state affairs. He 
is- known as a thorough business man, one who at- 
tends personally to the details of whatever line of 
activity he is pursuing. He commands the respect 
of all who are associated with him. 



NATHAN N. BAXTER, a prosperous agricul- 
turist residing one and one-half miles west of Sul- 
tan. Washington, was born in Bristol, Tennessee. 
April 14, 18fi4, in the same house in which his 
father. Rev. Nathan W. Baxter, was born. The 
elder Baxter, a former Baptist minister, was the 
•direct descendent of one of the oldest families in 
the state. He died in 1904, aged sixtv-six. Mary 
(Davault) Baxter, the mother, is a Virginian, and 
Is still living in Tennessee, at the age of sixty- 



seven. Nathan N. Baxter is the third child of a 
family numbering ten. He received his educa- 
tional training in the schools of his native state, 
and remained at home till he had passed his ma- 
jority. Going to Illinois he spent a year farming, 
and later resided for a time in Texas and also in 
New Mexico territory. In the latter state he fol- 
lowed lumbering for two years, prior to his return 
to Tennessee, where he fully intended to make his 
permanent home. At the end of two years, how- 
ever, he again went to the territory of New Mex- 
ico, but soon decided to visit the Northwest. He 
reached Seattle in 1890, and after a two-days' stay 
came up to Sultan, at that time a small, unprom- 
ising town. He loaded his trunks on a freight 
wagon at Snohomish, and made the remainder of 
the journey on foot. Arriving here May 1, 1890, 
he located a homestead six miles north of Sultan 
which he owned until 1903, and on which he re- 
sided for six years. In 1892 he purchased a tract 
of land, but was unable to hold it during the hard 
times. For several years he worked at whatever 
he could find to do, and at one time made a trip 
to Atlin, British Columbia, in the hope of finding 
more remunerative employment. Failing in this, 
however, in October, 1899, he bought forty acres 
of land, the farm he now owns, to which in 1903 
he added an adjoining eighty acres, giving him at 
present one hundred and twenty acres. There was 
little else but timber and stumps on the land at 
that time, and to make it yield a living for himself 
and family was no easy task. Purchasing seven 
cows and a hand separator for which he gave his 
note he embarked in the dairy business, with the 
satisfactory result that inside of the first nine 
months he was able to take up the note. The next 
year he increased his stock, and at the end of that 
time found himself entirely free from debt. Of his 
farm twenty acres are stumped and in cultivation, 
and twenty acres are in pasture. He has a select 
herd of twelve dairy cows. 

Mr. Baxter was married August 21, 1893, to 
Inez E. Peake, a native of Oregon, born May 24. 
1876. Her parents, Robert B. and Ellen (Ladd) 
Peake, were pioneers in that state, her father hav- 
ing settled there shortly after the memorable gold 
excitement in California in 1849. Leavenworth, 
Washington, is now their home. Mr. and Mrs. 
Baxter have four children as follows: Mary El- 
len, bom December 17, 1894; Florence Thelma, 
September 30. 1896; Ossie Gladys, August 8, 
1898; Nathan B., May 8, 1903. Mr. Baxter is a 
prominent member of the Modern Woodmen of 
America. In political matters he inclines to the 
principles of the Democratic party, although at 
times voting an independent ticket. His religious 
beliefs are embodied in the Golden Rule, which 
he seeks to follow in his intercourse with his fel- 
low men. He is well known throughout the 
county, and is worthy of the respect he enjoys. 



1106 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



WILLIAM H. ILLMAN. a prominent pioneer 
of Snohomish county, who has been identified with 
hei history since 1881, was born in Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania, August 3, ISGO. William Illman. 
the father, to whom belongs the distinction of hav- 
ing printed the first postage stamp in the United 
States, was born in England January 1, 1819. His 
father, who was also a printer, issued the first il- 
lustrated children's books in this country. The 
senior William Illman now resides with his son in 
Sultan. ^Martha (Adams) Illman, the maternal 
ancestor, was a descendent of the John O. Adams 
family of New York, and was the mother of eight 
children, of which William H. is sixth in order of 
birth. She died in 18G6, at the age of forty-four. 
William has two sisters, Mrs. R. M. Folsom, of 
Snohomish, and Airs. Grace W. Chase, of Sultan, 
and one brother, Harold W., living at Lake Ste- 
vens. After receiving a thorough education in the 
schools of Philadelphia, he taught for four years 
in Ontario, Canada, meeting with a large measure 
of success. He then went to Australia, remaining 
six months, when he found he had not the neces- 
sary funds for purchasing transportation to the 
Laiited States. He therefore worked his way back 
on a vessel returning to this country, and on arriv- 
ing here at once entered the employ of the Oregon 
Railroad and Navigation Company as foreman. 
While engaged in this work he at one time ex- 
ploded 20,000 pounds of powder, by far the largest 
blast ever fired on the road. A year later he came 
up Skykomish river and took up the land situated 
two and one-half miles east of Sultan on which he 
now resides. During the winter of 1883-4, owing 
to the freezing up of the river that was then the 
only means of reaching the ranch, Mr. Illman was 
destitute of all kinds of provisions save flour, and 
dependent on a rather scant supply of game. He 
was fortunate enough, however, to find deer most 
of the time, and occasionally something else in the 
way of meat to vary his monotonous diet. Later, 
when he had made quite a clearing in the dense 
forest, and was working up a promising logging 
business, a sudden rise in th^': river swept every- 
thing before it, leaving nothing to reward him for 
his months of toil. For the las.' ten years he has 
devoted his time almost exclusive'y to fruit grow- 
ing, and confidently hopes very soo.n to explode the 
theory that peaches cannot be raisevl in this local- 
ity. He now has thirty-five acres cleared and in 
excellent cultivation. He is breeding thorough- 
bred Jersey cattle, and is already establishing a 
reputation throughout the county as an authority 
on the subject. 

Mr. Illman was married in October, 1889, to 
Miss Lucy Wells of Chicago, who is the daughter 
of Alpheus and Ellen (Soule) Wells. Mrs. Ill- 
nan came west with her parents, when they found 
a home in Cowlitz County, Washington, wliere her 
father was for some time engaged in the manu- 



facture of shingles. His death occurred there In 
1903, after he had passed his seventieth birthday. 
The mother, a direct descendent of the famous- 
Union spy, Soule, is still living, at the age of sixty- 
five. Six children have teen born to Mr. and Mrs. 
Illman, William J., Alpheus, Walter, Adeline, Har- 
oM and Winston. Of the Modern Woodmen of 
America Mr. Illman is a prominent member. He 
identifies himself with no political party, preferring 
to vote as his judgment dictates. At one time he 
was candidate for the office of county school super- 
intendent on the Populist ticket, but resigned on 
account of fusion, to the great regret of his many 
friends and acquaintances who recognized his pe- 
culiar fitness for the position. Few residents of 
Sultan are more conversant with its early history 
than is Mr. Illman, who is on friendly terms with 
"Sultan John" and other Indians of local celebrity. 
A broad minded, public spirited citizen, possessed 
of the manly character that at all times commands 
respect, he is one of Sultan's most popular resi- 
dents. 



JAMES W. MANN, one of Sultan's well-to-do ■ 
agriculturists, residing one and one-half miles 
southeast of town, was born in Maine, June 24. 
1854. His father, John Frank, also a native of 
that state, was born in Penobscot county, October 
22, 1832. He went to Saginaw, Michigan, August 
12, 186G, and engaged in the lumber business until 
1875, at which time he moved on a farm situated 
seventy-five miles west of Saginaw, in Mecosta 
county. Fork township. Later, after spending some 
time in California, he came to Washington, and 
was residing here on the subject's homestead at 
the time of his death in 1894. Susan A. (Church- 
ill) Mann, the mother, was born in Maine March 
4, 1836. Her marriage took place July 24, 1853, 
in Maine. Of her seven children three are now 
living, James W. being the eldest. Her home is 
now in Sultan. A daughter, Mrs. Nettie Marso- 
lais, is also a resident of Sultan. Frank is also 
a resident of Sultan. Mr. Mann acquired his 
education in the state of his nativity, and in the 
meantime worked with his father on the river. 
When the family moved to Michigan he found em- 
ployment as foreman in the lumber camps remain- 
ing at home. Later, after farming and lumbering 
for a few years in Mecosta he migrated to Sno- 
homish, coming to his present location May 8, 
1888. Here in this desolate wilderness, with an 
inverted washtub for a table, the family partook of 
their first meal on the ranch. Their home, a rude 
shake building, sixteen by sixteen feet, was but 
half roofed, as one side and end were built par- 
tially. There were four feet of floor. The near- 
est road was six miles away, the only way of 
reaching the claim being by canoe. So dense was 
the timber that during the winter months it was 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



necessary to light lamps at three o'clock in the af- 
ternoon. Snohomish was the nearest supply point 
and postoffice. Twelve years elapsed before a 
road was built to the ranch. For the first few years 
both Mr. and Mrs. Mann worked away from home, 
in lumber camps and hotels, leaving the children 
in care of Mr. Mann"s parents, who were living 
with them. Those were years of arduous toil, but 
both possessed the true pioneer spirit, and had no 
thought of abandoning their home in the forest. 
In 1892 the first school district was organized, ]\Ir. 
Mann being a member of the first board and serv- 
ing for twelve years, and a lx)ard shack, sixteen 
by eighteen feet, built for the accommodation of 
the ten pupils that were enrolled. The second year 
after settling here, the neighboring families 
planned a little Fourth of July celebration, but 
owing to the impossibility of procuring shoes in 
the town for the children, the Manns could not 
attend. The many trials, hardships and depriva- 
ti(3ns incident to those pioneer days can be fully 
understood only by those who have had a like ex- 
perience in Western life. Mr. Mann now has sev- 
enteen acres of his claim entirely free from stumps. 
and an additional twenty-five partially cleared. He 
devotes his attention principally to dairying, and 
£0 thoroughly does he understand the subject that 
he secures a monthly income of sixty dollars from 
his cows. He owns twenty-eight head of cattle and 
several horses. 

Mr. Mann was married July -i, 1877, in Sheri- 
dan Township, Mecosta County, Minnesota, to 
Clara L. Grove, a native of Pennsylvania, born 
August 21, 1859. Her father, John D. Grove, died 
during her infancy ; her mother, who bore the mai- 
den name of Mary C. Hower, born in Schuylkill 
County, Pennsylvania, April 4, 1840, is now living 
in Michigan. Three children have been born to 
Mr. and Mrs. Mann: Edward E., April 19, 1880; 
Mrs. Lulu Patterson, of Monroe, September 7, 
1878; a daughter. March 1, 1882. who died ten 
days later. Mr. Mann is a member of the Modern 
Woodmen of America, and the Foresters of 
America. In political belief he is independent. 
For many years he took a very active part in poli- 
tics, although refusing to accept any office. He 
was road superintendent in the district many years. 
A man of sterling integrity, true to his convictions, 
Mr. Mann is highly esteemed by his fellow citi- 
zens. 



L. ROY JOHNSON, of Sultan, owning and 
operating an extensive woodworking plant a mile 
south of town, under the firm name of the Creek- 
wood Manufacturing Company, is one of Snohom- 
ish county's able, aggressive young business men 
whose foresight in turning to new advantage a 
portion of the sound's great timber wealth is meet- 
ing with substantial reward. In addition to the 



manufacture of lumber and shingles, the Creek- 
wood Manufacturing Company makes broomhan- 
dies, being probably the only factory on the sound, 
engaged in manufacturing the latter article. 

George William Johnson, the father of L. Roy 
of this review, was born at Adamsville, Wayne 
County, Michigan, February 2, 1832, and is there- 
fore among the first of the Peninsula state's native 
sons. His people were Pennsylvania Dutch. His 
mother's name was Mary (Calkins) Johnson. As 
a lad he attended school in a log schoolhouse at 
Catville, Michigan, and at the age of fourteen, 
having lost his father and being motherless, he 
commenced making his own way in the world by 
peddling throughout the middle states. At the age 
of eighteen he went to live with relatives in Barry 
county and was there married at Woodland. Hast- 
ings then became his home for a short time after 
which he spent a winter shingle weaving at Bear 
Lake. During the next few years he lived at Mus- 
kegon, working as a millwright, carpenter and con- 
tractor, following which he engaged in fishing on 
Lake Michigan. He removed his family by open 
boat to Grand Rapids shortly, thence went to 
Woodland, where he bought and for five years 
operated with success an upright saw-mill on Mud 
creek. He then bought a water power mill at 
Nashville on the Thornapple river, and in part- 
nership with Eli M. Mallett operated this and a 
steam mill several years. later adding a grist mill 
to the concern. However, Johnson & Mallett even- 
tually sold out and established a hardware store at 
Nashville. Later, they sold this also and built an 
excursion boat to run on Lake Michigan, but after 
operating it a short time, they went into the hotel 
and grocery business at Fremont, Michigan. From 
Harbor Springs, Mr. Johnson removed to St. Ig- 
nace and established the town's first furniture 
store, later adding a crockery and grocery depart- 
ment. He also engaged in building houses and in 
fact was connected prominently with the activities 
of his community in every way until July 27, 1889. 
v.hen, having disposed of his property and inter- 
ests in Michigan, he set out to erect a new home 
in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle was the family's 
home until 1892, when Mr. Johnson went into the 
furniture business at Sultan. While there he com- 
menced testing Washington's woods for the manu- 
facture of chairs, furniture generally and novel- 
ties, with gratifying success. In 1898 he acquired 
a tract of forty acres across the river, conveniently 
situated for the development of a large waterpower, 
and there erected the plant now owned by his son, 
in addition to which he commenced the improve- 
ment of his fine bottom land for farming purposes. 
In 1905, still vigorous and aggressive in business, 
in spite of his years, he removed to Seattle to en- 
gage in contracting, which he is following with 
success at the present time. Fraternally, he is a 
Mason. Mrs. Julia M. (^Mallett) Johnson, his 



1108 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



wife, the mother of L. Roy Johnson, is also a native 
of Michigan, born in Barry county, June 26, 1835, 
her people being among the earhest pioneers of 
that state. Her great-great-grandfather came to 
America from France ; her mother was of Scotch 
descent. For several years previous to her mar- 
riage, which was solemnized February 23, 1853, 
she taught school. The eldest of her children. 
Elina, now deceased, was born at Hastings, Michi- 
gan, November 39, 1855 ; Ion, the next oldest, now 
working for the Seattle Electric Company, was 
born at Muskegon, September 27, 1857 ; Josie, now 
Mrs. Josie Meyers, was born at Woodland, June 
4, 1861 ; and Leon Roy, the subject of this sketch, 
was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, June 2, 
1876. 

L. Roy Johnson received most of his education 
at St. Ignace, on the beautiful Straits of Mackinac, 
graduating from the High school of that little city. 
He accompanied his parents West to Washington, 
reaching the territory just previous to its admission 
as a state into the Union, and in 1893 came to 
Sultan to engage in business with his father. Sul- 
tan was his home until 1898, when he joined his 
father in establishing the Creekwood Manufactur- 
ing Companv's plant, and he has 'since been iden- 
tilied with the growth of the industry. He has 
fitted himself by close application and study to as- 
sume charge of the plant and is thoroughly con- 
versant with all the details of the work. Upon the 
removal of his father to Seattle, he acquired en- 
tire possession of the plant and business and is 
now preparing to resume operations, after a long 
shutdown, on a more extensive scale than ever be- 
fore. He is making a specialty of broomhandles. 
utilizing alder, maple and spruce timber, and be- 
sides handling the American trade is supplying 
the English trade with his product. The capacity 
of the plant is sixty thousand shingle, ten thou- 
sand feet of lumber and one thousand five hundred 
broomhandles every ten hours. A turbine wheel 
furnishes sixty-horsepower, while fully three hun- 
dred horsepower can easily be developed from the 
creek. Mr. Johnson is also an enthusiast on the 
subject of fruit raising in the Skykomish valley 
and is setting out a considerable portion of his 
place to apples. A large portion of the forty-acre 
tract is in cultivation, and sheltered by the foot- 
hills, with an abundance of wood and water, it is 
one of the coziest places along the river. Mr. 
John.son is recognized as one of the substantial, in- 
dustrious and uprieht citizens of the community 
in which he has lived fourteen years, and is con- 
sidered one of Snohomish county's rising young 
men. 



EUGENE L. MORGAN. Among the pro- 
gressive, broad-gauged men who to-day form the 
main pillars of Snohomish county's citizenship 



must be placed the well known resident of the Sky- 
komish valley whose name gives title to this bi- 
ographical review. Upon his extensive place, pic- 
turesquely situated on a graceful bend of the river 
two miles below Sultan and said to be the finest 
ranch in the valley, he is engaged^ in diversified 
agricultural pursuits, giving especial attention to 
dairying and horticulture. 

Of Scotch originally, the Morgans came to the 
American colonies many generations ago, and the 
immediate line from which the subject of this 
sketch is descended were pioneers of prominence 
in New York and Michigan. Leonard D. Morgan, 
the father, was a native of the Empire state, born 
at Utica, in 1797, and by trade was a carpenter, 
though he followed farming the greater portion of 
his long life. Immediately after his marriage in 
1832, he and his bride set out for Michigan terri- 
tory and located in Berrien county, among the first. 
That county was his home most of his life. When 
the Civil War broke out, he went to the front as a 
lieutenant of Michigan infantry, and served 
throughout the notable conflict, winning a cap- 
taincy before being mustered out. Captain Mor- 
gan attained to not a little influence in his commu- 
nity and became known as a highly capable, public- 
spirited citizen. His death occurred in Minnesota 
in June, 1895. Clarinda (Majors) Morgan, the 
mother of Eugene L., was a native of Vermont, 
born in 1815, and descended from a colonial fam- 
ily. She passed away in 1859, the mother of seven 
children. The fourth child among these is Eugene 
L., who was born upon the farm in Berrien County. 
Michigan, January 21, 1850. He attended the pub- 
lic schools of his district until 1863, when he en- 
tered the Michigan Agricultural College at Lans- 
ing, the state capital. The motherless lad pursued 
his studies at the college throughout the exciting 
years which followed his entrance and was grad- 
uated therefrom in the year 1867, possessed of 
more than a fair education and especially equipped 
for the scientific pursuit of agriculture in all its 
phases. He soon joined his father in Minnesota 
and until 1873 was engaged in teaching school in 
tliat region. The Western fever then set his blood 
afire, and with the boundless enthusiasm, of youth 
and all its rosy hopes, he joined the rush to the 
Black Hills. He emerged from the rush, for- 
tunately, with undisturbed equilibrium and one 
thousand seven hundred dollars in his pocket, then 
he returned to Michigan and built a mill at Crooked 
lake on the Flint & Pere Marquette railroad, near 
Big Rapids. This he operated three years, giving 
up the enterprise to go on the road for the West 
INlichigan Lumber Company. During the next four 
years he traveled in Kansas, Illinois and Missouri, 
at the end of that time settling at Topeka, Kansas, 
and marrying. He engaged in contracting on an 
extensive scale, among other edifices building a 
large portion of the state hospital for the insane 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



at Osawatomie, and was otherwise identified 
prominently with the business and social life of the 
city, which was his home until 1890. Some unfor- 
tunate business ventures and a natural desire to 
push still further westward at this time caused his 
removal to Snohomish county, which he reached 
shortly after the admission of Washington as a 
state. At Snohomish City he took up his business 
as a contractor and during the next few years bu'lt 
many of the finest barns and buildings in the Sno- 
homish valley. He then leased land and engaged 
in stockraising and general farming to which he 
has since given his entire attention. He purchased 
his present place in 1899. It was formerly the 
property of John Elwell, who took it as a home- 
stead during the earliest period of the county's set- 
tlement. But little clearing had been done upon 
it when Mr. Morgan secured it and there was no 
road to it. He brought all his supplies across the 
river and in bringing over the first load drowned 
a team of horses. Practically unaided he has built 
fully two miles of road up the south side of the 
river to connect with the Sultan road and he ex- 
pects shortly to put in a ferry at his place. The 
hundred and ninety-two acres constituting his farm 
lie along the stream in crescent form for three- 
quarters of a mile, and of the tract forty-five have 
been cleared of the timber and improved with a 
commodious dwelling, barns and other buildings. 
A large orchard occupies several acres and this 
year the owner is setting out four acres to berries, 
for which the place is especially well adapted. El- 
well creek flows through the ranch to the Sky- 
komish river. All in all it well deserves the posi- 
tion it occupies among the finest places in the 
county, and will ever be a substantial testimony to 
the industry, skill and perseverance of its owner 
and maker. 

At Topeka, Kansas, July 7. 1883, Miss Anna 
Morgan, the daughter of William and Frances 
("Burns) Morgan, was united in marriage to Eu- 
gene L. Morgan. Her familv, too, is of pure 
American stock, the grandparents being Pennsvl- 
vanians. William Morgan was born near Cincin- 
nati, Ohio, in the year 1813, the son of early pio- 
neers of the Ohio vallev. and was married there in 
184 7. Mrs. Frances Morgan was a native of Cam- 
den, Ohio, born in 1820. Shortly after their mar- 
riaee thev removed to Illinois, and there resided 
until 1901, when thev came to Sultan. Washing- 
ton. Their long, useful lives terminated about the 
same time, the husband passing away in Julv, 1902. 
and his faithful helpmeet the following Novem- 
ber. Mrs. Anna Morean was born New Year's 
Day, 1800, at Eaton, Ohio. At the age of sixteen 
she went to Kansas. Later she attended the Nor- 
mal school at Junction City and she was engaged 
in teaching music at the time of her marriage. 
Four children haye blessed the union of Mr. and 
Mrs. Morgan: Lee, born June 3, 1884, engaged 



in business in the southern part of the state; Rex, 
May 8, 1887, assisting his father in the manage- 
ment of the ranch ; Beatrice, January 27, 1889 ; 
and Claudia, October 5, 1891,' the latter two at- 
tending school at Sultan. The Morgan home is 
a dispenser of true Western hospitality and cheer, 
and the starting point for many a gaming expcdi-. 
tion into the surrounding forests, which still 
abound with deer, birds and bears. 

Mr. Morgan, while residing in Topeka, served 
for several years as its marshal, or chief of police, 
and was also a member of its board of aldermen. 
A loyal Republican, he was active and influential 
in Kansas politics for years, a member of the state 
central committee and its ,assistant secretary for 
some time. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the 
Modem Woodmen. His has been a life of more 
than usual activity and influence and in his quiet 
but intensely energetic way he has contributed and 
is contributing materially to the substantial ad- 
vancement of Snohomish county. A residence of 
sixteen years within its confines has not only re- 
sulted in the acquirement by him of a comfortable 
competency but also in the establishment of an en- 
viable record as a man of integrity, ability and 
public spirit, deserving of a place among Snohom- 
ish county's representative pioneer citizens. 



FRED S. BUCK, president of the Sultan Log- 
ging Company and vice-president of the Sultan 
Railway & Timber Company, together constituting 
one of the largest establishments of its kind in 
Snohomish county, is ranked among the most suc- 
cessful young lumbermen of Puget sound, and his 
record gives ample proof that he is justly entitled 
to such a place. He is distinctly a self made man. 
as that term is commonly applied, who has gained 
his thorough knowledge of the lumber business by 
actual experience in every department since boy- 
hood, supplemented by naturally progressive ideas. 

As is true of so many of the Pacific Northwest's 
lumbermen, Fred S. Buck is a native of the great 
peninsula of Michigan. He was born on a Kent 
county farm, August 5, 1873, the son of Eli S. and 
Eva (Jacox) Buck. The elder Buck, now living 
in retirement near Grand Rapids, Michigan, is 
likewise a native son of that state to which his 
father came from New York in the early part of 
the nineteenth century and hewed out a farm 
among the vast pineries. Eli S. also engaged in 
agricultural pursuits during his earlier years, but 
later took up the master industry of that region and 
operated extensively along the shores of Lake 
Michigan, attaining prominence as a business man. 
When only seventeen years old he responded to 
his country's call to arms, enlisting in the Sixth 
INfichigan Cavalry and serving until no longer 
needed. His wife, the mother of the subject of 
this review, bore the maiden name of Eva Jacox 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



and was born in Indiana. When a mere child she 
was brought to Michigan b\- her parents and there 
married and Hved imtil her death in 1902. 

Fred S. Buck was educated in the pubhc 
schools of Kent County, Michigan. Upon his grad- 
uation from the High school at Grand Rapids, it 
was but natural that he should join his father in 
the lumber business, which he did, going to the 
camps at Charlevoix. There he remained until 
1895, mastering the many details of the industry 
and taking his share of hard knocks along with the 
rest of the men. Hard times caught the firm that 
year, forcing a suspension of business and even- 
tually the temporary abandonment of it by the 
young man. He saw an opening in the dairv busi- 
ness in Kent county and soon established a retail 
and wholesale trade of no mean proportions which 
occupied his attention until 1899. His health failed 
him at this period as a result of which he deter- 
mined to seek it in the balmy climate of the I'acihc 
Northwest. A trip to Washington satisfied him 
that he need go no further and so impressed was 
he with the opportunities offered by the lumber 
industry that he forthwith located in Snohomish 
county, sold his dairy farm and bought a shingle 
mill at Snohomish. This plant he operated suc- 
cessfully four years at the same time maintaining 
bolt and logging camps on the Pilchuck for three 
years. So pronounced is the difference between 
methods of logging in Michigan and \Vashins:ton 
that he was obliged to learn much of the business 
over again and therefore moved slowly and con- 
servatively in his undertakings until his grasp 
should have become stronger. Following his sale 
of the shingle mill and withdrawal from operations 
on the Pilchuck, Mr. Buck in 1903 organized the 
companies of which he is still the active head. 
Large tracts of timber were purchased between 
Sultan and Monroe and with eight horses and 
horses for yarding he commenced logging. A 
donkey engine was soon purchased for yard- 
ing purposes, then steel was laid and the 
hauling was done by locomotives. The busi- 
ness grew rapidly, demanding better equipment, 
and finally the complete, modern plant now 
in use was installed. Seven miles of track, extend- 
ing northward from the Great Northern line a mile 
and a half west of Sultan, are now used, equipped 
with a locomotive and cars, in addition to which 
four donkey engines are used as yarders. The 
camp is situated at the railroad junction. One 
hundred men are employed in all departments and 
a monthly average of two million five hundred 
thousand feet of fir and cedar is maintained. As- 
sociated with Mr. Buck in this enterprise is the 
well known capitalist of Snohomish, U. K. Loose, 
although the active management of the firm is 
vested in Mr. Buck, who resides near the camps. 

At Grand Rapids, Michigan, May G, 1903, Miss 
Viola McCrath, the daughter of Lyman and Eliza 



(Carroll) McCrath of that city, and Mr. Buck 
were united in marriage. She was born in Kent 
county also, April 3, 1880, and received her edu- 
cation in the schools of that community, residing 
there until her marriage. Lyman McCrath, who 
with his wife is at present residing with Mr. and 
Mrs. Buck at Sultan, is one of Michigan's pioneer 
sons, born in a log cabin near Grand Rapids in 
1842. His parents came to Michigan territory 
with ox teams in a very early day. Mr. McCratli 
-.rved during the Civil War in Company K, First 
.Michigan Engineers and Mechanics, and rose to a 
captaincy before the conflict closed. After the 
war he engaged in building and contracting, his 
trade being that of a mason, and was thus engaged 
for the most part during his residence in the East. 
Airs. Eliza McCrath was born in Ireland in 1848, 
crossed the ocean when a little child and was only 
ten \cnrs of age when Michigan became her home. 
After completing her e<hication she took up the 
I-irofession of teaching and followed it several years 
before her marriage. 

Fraternally. Mr. Buck is afliliated with the Odd 
Fellows, the Foresters, and the Concatenated Or- 
der of Hoo-Hoos, the last named being the lum- 
bermen's fraternity. Politically, he is identified 
with the Republican party. As a capable, thor- 
oughlv trained Inisiness man, possessed of marked 
executive abilitv. he is contributing generously to 
the industrial development oi the sound comitry, 
and as a citizen he is regarded as one of the 
county's strong men. 



CARL ARNDT, one of Startup's prosperous 
citizens, was born in Prussia, November 30, 1855. 
His parents, Carl and Carolina Arndt, were both of 
German nativity. The father, born in 1832, immi- 
grated to the United States in early life, availing 
himself of the larger .ippDrtiinities afforded by this 
countrv. He was residing in Minnesota at the time 
of his' death, in the spring of 1905. The mother 
was born in 1833, and is still living. Of a family 
of seven children, Carl Arndt is the third. He 
was thirteen years old when his parents founded a 
a home in the LTnited States, and from that time 
till he reached his majority he remained with them. 
.After working for some time in the woods of Min- 
nesota he went to western Iowa, returning home, 
however, at the end of a year. He assisted his 
father in the work of the farm for the following 
twelve months, and then secured a position in a 
brewery at Lansing, Iowa. Si.x months later he 
gave up this work to engage in fishing on the Mis- 
sissippi river, and was thus employed for a year, 
during which, through the trickery of his partner, 
he lost $1,500. Moving to New Albin, Iowa, he 
opened a saloon, owning it for two years, when on 
account of the enforcement of Prohibition measures 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



lie was obliged to go out of business. Deciding to 
locate in the northwest, he came to Seattle, working 
in a saw-mill to earn sufficient means to bring his 
family from Iowa. A year later he sent for his 
wife and children, and on their arrival, settled on 
the homestead he had previously taken up as a 
squatter's claim. For the first }car all his sujiplies 
were brought over a trail from Snulmnush to Sul- 
tan, and packed thence on his hack, the trip iiccu])y- 
ing a full day. In 1889, a year after .\lr. Anidt 
took lip his residence in this locality, a store antl 
post 'iffice were opened. .\s his land was all densely 
liPiliered it was necessary for him to work out in 
ilie wiHids and mines i'lr several years to support 
liis family. ( )f his original Idd acres he now has 
twenty-five in excellent cultivation, and fift}' more 
in pasture. He has a fine orchard covering one and 
one-half acres. The remainder nf his land he de- 
■\'otes almost exclusively to dairying and stock rais- 
ing. In 1900 he opened a salrum in Startup, leav- 
ing his family on the ranch which is situated a mile 
from town. In a few months his place of business 
^^•as burned out. but he soon opened the "Wallace." 
of which he is still the iM-dprietm-. 

Mr. Arndt was married June ■?. 1880. to Pau- 
lina Raughter. who was huni in P>rownsville. '\l\n- 
nesota. May 0, 18,">9. Her parents. Jacob and Min- 
nie (Hankey) T'.-uigliter. were hnth natives of Ger- 
many. The father died ^\-Ilen she was a year old: 
the mother is still living. Mr. and Mrs. .\rndt have 
twelve children. ;\lrs. I'.crtha ("iiddings and Mrs. 
:V[innie Lane, of Startup; William. Carl Jr., Alfred. 
Dora. Rosie, Arthiu-. Hazel, Pert. Laura, and Lena. 
^Ir. Arndt is a memlier of the Ea,gles of Everett. 
In political belief he ailheres to Democratic princi- 
ples and always aids the party in every possible 
way. As a member of the school board for several 
years he has rendered the cause of education valu- 
able service. He assisted in erectin.g the first school- 
house in the town. This primitive structure, made 
of cedar shakes, has been replaced liy a substantial 
four-room building, modern in its equipment. ]\Ir. 
Arndt and his family are identified with the Luth- 
eran church. In addition t^ his ranch he has ac- 
quired durin.g his residence here a large amount of 
niinino- property tliat he is de\ eli >]iing. Surrounded 
1\\ evidences of the prosperit}- that is his today, he 
recalls the time when his home was destroyed by 
fire and he and his family left without even the 
necessary amount of clothing to make them com- 
fortable. Previous to this, during the financial de- 
pression of 1893, he worked for twenty-five cents 
a day to purchase a sack of flour. At one time he 
and his family subsisted for six weeks on a diet of 
])otatoes and salt, and even the latter article was 
procured on credit. Both he and his wife, who 
was one of the first white women to settle in this 
locality, were endowed by nature with the true 
]iioneer spirit that makes light of seeming impossi- 
l^ilities and knows no defeat. It is a fitting reward 



that success has attended their efforts in these re- 
cent vears. 



father 
to mil 
pinnee 


Luther D. 

ois in 18:i: 
•s of that s 


Gunn 

. an.l 


hi. wi 
tive 


fe. Lmeran 
\'ermont, 


c\- 1 L 
celeb 


ding anniversary 
has passed his nin 


Xi-ve 
etv-rtr 


\ears 
b. is 


lis iunior. 
he ohiest. 


< )t t 
He s 



AMOS D. GUNN, well known throughout the 
county as the founder of Index, Washington, was 
born in Putnam county, Illinois, May 14, 1843. His 
. moved from Massachusetts 
bec'ime one of the honored 
lure they still live. He and 
iillins) Gunn who is a na- 
)iated their sixty-fifth wed- 
■inl)er 14, 1894. Mr. Gunn 
•si birthday; bis wife is eight 
their fifteen children, Amos 
secured lii^ ediiration in the 
comnuin schnols of his native state, and remained at 
home till he was eighteen years old, when the Civil 
War broke out. luilisting in Co. H, Twentieth 
Illinois regiment he served a few months and was 
then discharged on account of ill health. After his 
recovery he re-enlisted in 1864, becoming a member 
of Company B, 139 Illinois re.giment. .\fter the 
war he located at Fort Smith, Kansas, and there 
held the office of deputy post master a year. Having 
decid.ed to engage "in agricultural pursuits he then 
moved to Iowa, and was thus employed for the en- 
suing nine years, during which he also embarked in 
the hardware business. The well remembered panic 
of 1873 caused him heavy losses, which together 
with the nervous strain shattered his health. It 
was at this time that he made his first visit to 
^^"ashino■ton, and located a claim where Oaksdale is 
now Iniilt. He held this property for a .short time 
only, as he then returned to Kansas, farming there 
for twelve years. His permanent residence in the 
northwest dates from ]\Iarch 24, ls9(i, when he re- 
turned to Washington. A month later he purchased 
a squatter's claim oh the present site of Index, that 
had been taken up as a homestead previous to that 
time, but which on account of Northern Pacific 
niilroad claims had again to be filed on as a placer 
claim. The town ot Wallace, situated twelve miles 
away, was the nearest supply point at that time. 
Two years later ^Ir. Gunn platted his land as the 
townsite of Index, and thus became identified with 
the earliest history of the town. He was appointed 
post master in 1891, when, largely through his in- 
fluence, the town secured an office. For several 
years he brought the mail from Wallace on pack 
horses. In 1898 the first mineral claims were lo- 
cated in this district, and the year following wit- 
nessed a rapid increase in the valuation of property. 
Mr. Gunn took advantage of this, disposing of_ a 
portion of his land while the excitement was at its 
height. There are several developed claims in this 
region, several of which are being worked at the 
present time, including the Copper Bell and Ethel. 

Mr. Gunn and Perses E. Graves were united in 
marriage in February, 18GS. Mrs. Ginin, a native 



1112 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



of Illinois, was known and loved by a wide circle 
of acquaintances and friends. Her death in 1898 
was a profound sorrow to the community. Of the 
eleven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Gunn, the six 
still living are as follows: Mrs. Nettie Doolittle, 
and Mrs. Stella Van Vechten, of Index ; Mrs. Car- 
rie Hagath, of Monte Cristo; Mrs. Lena Schull. 
of Seattle; Luther C, a civil engineer in British 
Columbia ; Perses, the post mistress in Index. Mr. 
Gunn is prominent in fraternal circles, being iden- 
tified with the Masons, Elks and Redmen. Politi- 
cally, he affiliates with the Republican party, and 
for many years was very active in county afifairs. 
As one of the substantial citizens of the town, his 
influence is always sought in the advancement of 
every public enterprise, and his judgment highly 
valued by his fellow townsmen. His property hold- 
ings are extensive, embracing a large share of the 
original townsite in addition to his beautiful home. 



HENRY E. BAITINGER, of the mercantile 
fiim of Baitinger & Ulrich of Index, Washington, 
is one of the representative business men of the 
town. His birth occurred in Stearns county, Min- 
nesota, September 30, 1871. John Baitinger, his 
father, is a native of Germany, who immigrated 
with his parents to the United States in the early 
"forties," finding a home in Minnesota. He still 
resides there, and after farming for many years 
has now, at the age of seventy-three, retired from 
active work. Frederika (Jaeger) Baitinger, the 
mother, also born in Germany, recently passed her 
sixty-ninth birthday. Henry E. Baitinger received 
his education in the common schools of his native 
state. He was but fourteen years old when, from 
choice, he began supporting himself, being em- 
ployed as clerk in a general store in Paynesville. 
Minnesota, and later, in Hutchison, a town in the 
same state. Locating in Eureka, South Dakota, 
eight years later, he spent the following two years 
as manager of the store owned by W. F. Krinke. 
and then removed to Putney, South Dakota, where 
he engaged in general merchandise business for 
himself. After three years' residence there he dis- 
posed of his interests, and came to Washington, 
opening a commission house at Everett, He soon 
found, however, that the town was not of sufficient 
size at that time to make this business successful. 
and therefore sold out at the end of nine months. 
Deciding that Index ofifered an excellent opening 
for a wide awake business man, he moved here, 
and became owner of the store previously belonging 
to Air. Rogers. Thoroughly familiar with all the 
departments of the enterprise by reason of his lone 
years of experience, he has built up a splendid 
business, and is now reaping the reward for his 
clo.se attention to details and his strict adherence 
to uoriHit principles. Store rooms covering nearly 
one-fourth of a block are required to accommodate 



his large stock of merchandise, all of which is care- 
fully selected and up to date. Associated with him 
in the business is W. F. Ulrich, also a man of 
practical ability. 

Mr. Baitinger was married November 18, 1892^ 
to Martha Schultz, of Minnesota, daughter of Mr. 
and Mrs. John Schultz, natives of Germany. Mrs. 
Baitinger was born November 5, 1872. Her parents 
reside in Everett, Washington. Five children have 
been born to this union, Hildegard V., Wallace W.. 
Firman V., Qinton W., and Bernice B. Mr. 
Baitinger votes the Republican ticket and upholds 
the party in every way, but has never sought office 
or cared to devote his attention to political matters. 
Mr. and Mrs. Baitinger are held in the highest es- 
teem by the entire community. The latter is a 
prominent meiuber of the German Evangelical 
church. Although still a young man, Mr. Baitinger 
is recognized as one of the most enterprising busi- 
ness men of the town, holding a position of influ- 
ence among his fellow citizens that many an older 
man might covet. 



CLIFFORD R. REDDING. Among the young 
men of Index, Washington, who have achieved an- 
enviable success, stands the one whose name 
initiates this biography, Clifford R. Redding, the 
well known druggist and assayer. He was born 
in Niles, Michigan, March 1, 1876. His father. 
Frank M. Redding, a tinner by trade, was also a 
native of Michigan, the date of his birth being May 
4, 184(5, and his death January 19, 1878. The 
mother. Elmira (Robinson) Redding, is a native of 
Ov.ensville, Ohio. Five years after the death of 
her husband she moved to Edgar, Clay county. 
Nebraska, and there her son grew to manhood,, 
acquiring his education in the schools of that local- 
ity. She recently passed her sixty-first birthday, 
leaving been born September G, 1844. The thrift, 
industry and manliness that characterize him today 
were early manifested by Cliliford Redding, who- 
when a mere boy of nine spent his vacations work- 
ing in stores and offices that he might contribute to 
the support of his mother and thus lighten her bur- 
dens. All his leisure hours were employed in study- 
ing chemistry, and so diligently did he improve the 
time that after being graduated from the high school 
at the age of eighteen, he immediately accepted the 
position of assistant chemist at Omaha, Nebraska, 
tendered him by the Union Pacific railroad. Three 
years later he entered the employ of the Omaha and 
Grant Smelting Compan}- as chief chemist, remain- 
ing one year, at the end of which time he resigned. 
Locating in Index, Washington, in 1898, he formed 
a partnership with L. Bilodeau, and opened an as- 
say office. At the end of a year he purchased his 
partner's iriterest in the business, and also the drug 
store formerly owned by Isaac Korn, both of which 
have engaged his attention since that time. Until 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



a year ago he had entire charge of the assaying 
for all the mining companies of this district, in ad- 
dition to much outside work for other camps. Mr. 
Redding also represents the Pacific Coast Oregon 
Sampling Company of San Francisco, at the smel- 
ter at Everett. Fraternally, he is a charter member 
of the Tillicum Tribe, Number 68, of Redmen at 
Index, holding the honored position of chief of rec- 
ords. He enjoys the confidence and goodwill of all 
his associates in business and social circles, and is 
one of the most popular young men of the town. 



SYLVESTER SMITH, the well known lum- 
berman of the upper Skykomish valley, operating the 
large combination saw and shingle mill at Index 
under the name of the Smith Lumber Company, is 
prominently connected with the master industry of 
Snohomish county. He was born on a farm near 
St. Joseph, Michigan, March 2, 1860. Wesley Smith, 
the father, who was born in Ohio, followed agricul- 
tural pursuits until his death in 1877. Upon the 
outbreak of the Civil War, he attempted to enlist 
but was rejected by the recruit officers. Margaret 
(Doolittle) Smith, his wife, the mother of the sub- 
ject of this review, was a native of New York; 
she passed away in Michigan in 1902. 

Sylvester Smith received his education in the 
district schools of his community, remaining at home 
until twenty-three years of age, when he Ijought a 
farm in Berring county and commenced farming on 
his own account. A year and a half later, how- 
ever, he determined to seek his fortunes in the Paci- 
fic Northwest, so came to Washington, reaching 
Seattle in the spring of 1889, while this common- 
wealth was yet a territory. Shortly afterward he 
took a pre-emption claim in the Pilchuck valley 
near Machias, where he spent the succeeding two 
years, following which he engaged in logging on the 
Stillaguamish near Granite Falls. Two years latei 
he removed his camps to Tolt on the Snoqualmic, 
where he operated three years, then he operated on 
Frenchy slough, a tributary of the Snohomish river, 
three years, at the end of this period returning to 
Machias and erecting a shingle mill three miles 
southeast of town. This was in March, 1901. This 
plant contained a single block hand machine. By 
good management Mr. Smith prospered. Reaching 
out for a better location, he came to Index in 1903 
and established his present mills, acquiring also con- 
siderable tributary timber land. The saw-mill has 
a capacity of 40,000 feet, the shingle mill a capacity 
of 30,000 shingle a day, in addition to which a 
large quantity of dressed lumber is handled. The 
equipment is modern and complete, including among 
other things an electric lighting plant of sufficient 
size to furnish the town of Index with light. The 
logging arrangements are also quite complete, two 
donkey engines being in use and the timber being 



brought directly to the mills by means of cables. 
Between forty-five and fifty men are employed the 
year around in this establishment which certainly 
makes a generous contribution to the prosperity of 
Index and the county generally. Mr. Smith has 
certainly attained to a business success in which any 
man might well take pride. 

The marriage of Miss Bertha Rose Mathews, the 
daughter of James M. and Rose (VanSky) Ma- 
thews, to Mr. Smith was solemnized September 20, 
1905. Her father was born in Pennsylvania in 
1850, coming of good American stock. In 1864 he 
went to the war at the tender age of fourteen as a 
drummer boy for the Fifth Wisconsin Volunteers 
and he participated in the bloody battle of the Wil- 
derness and in other engagements. After the war 
he followed the trade of a carpenter in Minnesota 
until 1890, when he brought his family to Puget 
sound. Since that time he has lived in both Snoho- 
mish and King counties and is at present farming 
near Machias. Mrs. Mathews, who is of Pennsyl- 
vania Dutch extraction, was born in the Badger 
state in 1859. Her people came west to Wisconsin 
in 1859, becoming early pioneers of that state. 
They had come originally from Virginia. While 
living on the southern frontier her father's uncles, 
aunts and grandmother were massacred by the 
Cherokees and his mother, father, himself and a 
young brother were compelled to remain hidden 
three days and nights in a hollow beach log to es- 
cape a similar fate. Mrs. Smith was born at Eagle 
Lake, Minnesota, March 5, 1877. She received her 
education in that state and Washington, and later 
took up music teaching, a profession in which she 
was successfully engaged till the time of her mar- 
riage. Fraternally, Mr. Smith is an Odd Fellow, 
belonging to the Encampment and also to the Re- 
bekahs, of which latter order his wife is also a 
member. Politically, he is a Republican of liberal 
views. For the past fifteen years or more he has 
taken an active and substantial part in the devel- 
opment of the county of which he is now a citizen, 
winning the respect and esteem of all classes. He 
is essentially a self-made man, with the courage, re- 
sourcefulness and strength which come from fierce 
and prolonged- battling with opposing forces. 



O. O. ROWLAND, of the McAllister-Rowland 
Copper Mining Company, Incorporated, owning and 
operating half a dozen important groups in the In- 
dex and Silver creek districts, including the cele- 
brated Ethel mine and mill, and also associated with 
W. J. McAllister of this company in the construc- 
tion of an electric railway from Index to Mineral 
City, an account of which is given elsewhere in this 
volume, is among Snohomish county's most aggres- 
sive and far seeing business men. During his short 
residence here he has entered into vast undertakings; 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



with a confidence and an enthusiasm that have 
awakened a new interest in mining circles, and he 
is engaged in the actual execution of these enter- 
prises. 

Born in Lane county, Oregon, July 26, 1862, 
Mr. Rowland is one of the Northwest's native sons 
and a descendant of one of Oregon's oldest fami- 
lies. Lowrey Benton Rowland, the father, went to 
Iowa from his eastern birthplace about the middle 
of the last century, and in 1852 joined the little 
band of immigrants that wended its uncertain way 
with ox teams across the plains and mountain ranges 
into the far-ofif Willamette valley, selecting as his 
new western home a donation claim near Eugene, 
Lane county. He served successively as a soldier 
in the historic Rogue River Indian War and in the 
Yakima War of 1855-6, and on all occasions arose 
to the responsibilities and sacrifices of frontier life. 
A man of broad abilities, a stockman, farmer, and 
merchant in turn, he was active in the business and 
social life of his community until advancing years 
forced him into retirement. He is still living at 
the age of seventy-six, Eugene being his home. His 
wife, the mother of O. O. Rowland, came from Iowa 
to Oregon with her parents in the same train with 
Mr. Rowland ; they were married near Eugene. She 
bore the maiden name of Elizabeth McCall, and is 
still living at the age of sixty. 

The subject of this review was reared in Mon- 
mouth, Polk county, to which his parents removed 
when he was seven years old, and there received 
his education in the public schools and the Christian 
College, now the Oregon State Normal. He had 
prepared himself to take up surveying and civil en- 
gineering, so upon graduation from college in 1881 
iie readily obtained a position with the O. R. & N. 
R. R. Company. From that road he went to assist 
in surveying the main line of the Northern Pacific 
through Washington Territory, giving this work 
three seasons. He then spent a similar period with 
the Southern Pacific in engineering work with head- 
quarters at Portland, a season with the Oregon Paci- 
fic working between Yaquina Bay and Corvallis, 
and a year with the Hunt system in southern Wash- 
ington, at the end of this extended railroad work 
settling down to a general practice in Washington. 
Since 1891 he has followed his profession in this 
state with headquarters either at Seattle or New 
Whatcom (now Bcllingham). However during 
this time he has visited southern Oregon, eastern 
Oregon and Idaho as a mining engineer, thus fitting 
liimself for the work he has recently undertaken. 
For five years past his headquarters have been in 
the Alaska building, Seattle, though at present he 
is established in Index. The Ethel shipped its first 
carload of concentrates March 13, 1906, and is be- 
ing operated steadily by the McAllister-Rowland 
Company as lessees, and the exploitation of the other 
proj^rties has already been commenced. 

Mr. Rowland and Miss Nettie Darneille of Lane 



county, Oregon, were united in marriage June 30, 
1897. She, too, is a native of Oregon, born in Lane 
county in 1880, the daughter of early pioneers of 
the Northwest. Isaac Darneille, her father, came 
to Oregon with the senior Rowland, and is engaged 
in agricultural pursuits near Eugene. Mrs. Dar- 
neille bore the maiden name of Hill, and was the 
daughter of Judge Hill, one of Oregon's earliest 
judges. She was an infant when brought across 
the plains. Her death occurred in 1892. Mr. and 
Airs. Rowland are the parents of two children : Jesse 
Emmett, born in the historic Florence mining basin, 
central Idaho, September 8, 1900 ; and Edward 
Theodore, torn in Seattle, October 2, 1903. The 
family liome is still maintained in Seattle. Politi- 
cally, Mr. Rowland is a Republican of liberal views, 
though in these matters as in general business af- 
fairs, he is broad minded. As one of its native sons, 
Mr. Rowland is familiar by experience with the his- 
tory of this section of the Union during practically 
the entire period of its wonderful growth, and has 
himself taken an active part in its development. Mr. 
Rowland has been accorded a welcome into Snoho- 
mish mining circles as a man of experience, initiative 
abilities and a business man of energy. 



PHILIP HINGSTON, of Index, treasurer and 
general manager of the New York-Seattle Copper 
Mining Company, Incorporated, operating the most 
extensively developed property in the well known 
Silver Creek mining district of Snohomish county, 
is among the younger leaders in the industrial prog- 
ress of this section of the state. He has been asso- 
ciated with the interests of the Silver creek district 
for the past five years, engaged continuously on the 
New York-Seattle mine, and in that time he has 
become most favorably known in his profession and 
as a public spirited citizen. 

JNIr. Kingston was born in Huron county, On- 
tario, April 25, 1874, the son of Thomas L. and 
Sarah (Cardiff) Hingston, both of whom also were 
born in Ontario. The elder Hingston removed to 
Manitoba in 1881, becoming one of the pioneers of 
that northwestern frontier, and there engaging ex- 
tensively in wheat raising which business he fol- 
lowed until his retirement. At one time his farm 
consisted of 960 acres. He is still living near 
Winnipeg at the age of sixty-one years. Mrs. Sarah 
Hingston is also living, aged fifty-six. She is the 
mother of five children of whom Philip is the oldest. 
He was reared on the farm and secured his educa- 
tion as best he could in a frontier school, situated 
eight miles from his home and in session only four 
months each year. 

Four years of this sort of schooling in addition 
to what he could pick up in his home constituted 
the educational equipment of the young man when 
he entered a machine shop as an apprentice at the 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



1115 



age of eighteen. Two years and a half later he left 
the shop at Brussels for Niagara Falls, New York 
state, and after working there a short time he went 
to Toledo, Ohio. Later he entered the Westing- 
house Electrical Works at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, 
and after spending two years in the employ of that 
celebrated firm he accepted a position with the Stan- 
ley Electric Company in Fittsfield, Massachusetts. 
In the meantime, with commendable ambition and 
perseverance, he had resumed his studies at night 
school and had supplemented his practical work in 
the shops by a thorough course in engineering. Thus, 
when he came to Snohomish county, in April, 1900, 
as one of the owners and officers of the New York- 
Seattle Company, he was well fitted to undertake 
the engineering problems immediately presented to 
him for solution. The property consists of sixteen 
claims adjoining the Mineral City town site. At 
that time it was scarcely more than a prospect, sit- 
uated in an extremely rough country, and there be- 
ing no roads, the task of installing a plant was an 
arduous one from the beginning, but at present the 
mine is equipped with a small saw-mill, a complete 
compressor plant operated by waterpower from 
which may be developed 500 horsepower, and the 
various shops and residence buildings necessary to 
the working of such a property. The company is 
at the present writing calling for bids for the erec- 
tion of a 200-ton concentrator during the summer 
of 190G. A railroad is projected by private capital 
into the Silver Creek district, upon which road it 
is expected work will be commenced at once. When 
completed it will afford excellent shipping facilities 
to this and other mines in the vicinity. The ore 
bodies of the New York-Seattle group of claims are 
large, lying in five parallel leads, and carrying chal- 
copyrite with some gold. In passing it may be said 
that the owners of this mine have steadily adhered 
to the policy of development on an extended scale 
rather than to the construction of expensive outside 
works, indicating a gratifying conservatism. 

The m.arriage of Mr. Kingston and Miss Agnes 
M. Curtin, daughter of Thomas H. Curtin, was sol- 
emnized at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, November 16, 
1904. Her father came of Colonial American stock 
and w^as born in New York state. He was superin- 
tendent of the woolen mills at Utica until his death 
in 188G at the age of thirty-six. Mrs. Curtin, who 
bore the maiden name of Mary E. Dunn, was born 
in Ireland in 1853, was brought to America when a 
child by her parents, and is now living in Pittsfield. 
Mrs. Hingston was born at Utica, New York, May 
15, 187fi, but was reared and educated principally 
in the Old Bay state. Upon her graduation from 
high school she took up stenography as an occupa- 
tion and was so engaged until her marriage. Fra- 
ternally, Mr. Hingston is affiliated with the Odd 
Fellows and the Masons, his home Masonic lodge 
being the celebrated one at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 
which has no number and with which many of 



America's famous men have been connected. Mr. 
Hingston is a successful young business man of 
increasing prominence in the community, command- 
ing the respect and esteem of his associates. 



THOMAS McINTYRE, one of the leading 
mine operators in the Index district of Snohomish 
county, has been prominently identified wath the de- 
velopment of that district for many years past. He 
is trustee and treasurer of the Buckeye Copper Com- 
pany, whose sixteen claims lie five miles south of 
the town of Index and within a mile of the Skyko- 
mish river and the Great Northern Railway. For- 
merly this was the Index-Independent Consolidated 
mine and from it some rich shipments of ore have 
been made. In fact the ore was awarded a bronze 
medal at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904, for the 
copper and silver contained in it. Copper glance 
and bornite are the predominating copper deposits. 
Fully 1,500 feet of development w^ork has been done 
and two of the eight ledges have already been cross- 
cut by tunnel. Under the superintend'ency of Mr. 
Mclntyre, who is also one of the heaviest stock- 
holders of the company, three eight hour shifts are 
now at work. 

Mr. Mclntyre is a native of the Emerald Isle, 
born in the west portion November 9, 1858. His 
father, Dennis J. Mclntyre, a butcher Hy trade, died 
in 1877 at the advanced age of seventy-seven years. 
The mother, Mary (Woods) Mclntyre, was also a 
native of Ireland. At the early age of sixteen the 
young man left the family roof tree to make his own 
way in the world, after having obtained a fair edu- 
cation. Leaving his native land, he crossed the 
ocean to Boston where he secured employment in a 
store. A year later he went to New Hampshire to 
drive tip carts in grading roads, and thence accepted 
employment in the great paper store of Bradner & 
Smith, Chicago. After a year and a half with that 
firm he went south to New Orleans and engaged in 
steamboating on the Mississippi river for a year, 
returning in" 1880 to Chicago. From St. Paul, Min- 
nesota, he shortly shipped to Bismarck, Dakota, to 
assist in the construction of the Northern Pacific 
across the continent, staying with this work until 
the great project was completed. He was present 
at the driving of the golden spike at Gold creek, 
Montana, in September, 1883, by President Grant, 
Henry Villiard and other notables. Mr. Mclntyre 
then came to Seattle, going thence back to Timber- 
line, Montana, where he had charge of the tracks 
in the coal mines for some time. In 1882, he had 
joined the rush to the mines at Cook City, being 
among the first to reach the diggings. From Tim- 
berline he attended another mining excitement, this 
time going to the Castle Mountains. After this trip 
he returned to Washington Territory and worked as 
foreman on the eastern end of the projected Seattle, 



1116 



SNOHOMISH COUNTY 



Lake Shore & Eastern railway, then held the same 
position on the Lewiston branch of the Northern 
Pacific, and following this acted as foreman in the 
construction of the Wallace branch of the same 
road. Easton was his home during the next two 
years. He arrived at Index in July, 1893, it being 
then a mere trading post, and this has since been his 
home though he has mined and followed railroad 
work in various parts of the Northwest. In 1894 he 
went to British Columbia on a prospecting tour and 
was gone two years. Again he spent several years 
in the Monte Cristo district, all of which prepared 
him for the important work he has now undertaken. 
He is thoroughly familiar with the whole western 
slope of the Cascades in Washington, having pros- 
pected, mined, hunted and fished over much of it 
during his long residence on the Sound. Of the three 
oldest settlers at Index at present he is one, the 
others being Amos D. Gunn and Fred C. Doolittle. 

Mr. Mclntyre was united in marriage December 
26, 1893, to Miss Annie AIcRee, a native of Ten- 
nessee, born March 25, 1864. She is the daughter 
of David McRee, a native of North Carolina and 
one of its planters. He was born in 1826, and passed 
away in 1893. He went to Tennessee as one of its 
earliest pioneers and came to Washington in 1887, 
settling at Snohomish. He served during the Civil 
War on the southern side. Mrs. McRee bore the 
maiden name of Levina McAdoo, and was also a 
native of Tennessee, her people having been wealthy 
southern planters, of colonial stock. She passed 
away when Mrs. Mclntyre was but a year and a 
half of age. Mrs. Mclntyre was educated and 
reared in eastern Tennessee. Two of her brothers 
came to Snohomish county with the family and 
were pioneers of Index. David McRee came to In- 
dex in December, 1890, among the first, and took a 
homestead. He was killed at the Index mine in 
1897. Adolphus McRee arrived the year after his 
brother. He was drowned in the Skykomish river 
in November, 1897, while taking a canoe load of 
ore across. 

Mr. Mclntyre is affiliated with the Odd Fellows 
and Rebekahs, his wife belonging to the latter, the 
Red Men, and Knights of Columbus. Politically, 
although a believer in Democratic principles, he is 
liberal, and is a supporter of President Roosevelt. 
Both himself and wife belong to the Catholic church. 
The Mclntyre home at Index is one of the finest 
residences in the community and is filled with an 
atmosphere of genuine western and southern hospi- 
tality. Mr. Mclntyre is accorded the position of 
being one of the substantial mining men of the 
county, a public spirited citizen and a leader in his 
community. 



FRED C. DOOLITTLE, one of the influential 
citizens of Index, Washington, was born in Lynn 
county, Kansas, December, IG, 1868. His father, 



Samuel R. Doolittle, born in 1837, is a native of 
New York. Going to Kansas as colonel of the 
Seventh Kansas Cavalry regiment, in the Civil War, 
he became a well known pioneer of that state. He 
is still living at the age of seventy-two in Kansas. 
The mother, ]\Iell ( Thomluson) Doolittle, is a Mis- 
sourian, the place of her birth being Warrensburg. 
She is the mother of ten children, all of whom save 
the second, Fred C, are residents of Kansas. Mr. 
Doolittle received his early education in the com- 
mon schools of his native state, supplementing this 
training by a course in the State Agricultural Col- 
lege. Having completed his education he taught for 
two years in Kansas, prior to coming west in 1890. 
He first located in Snohomish, Washington, arriv- 
ing there on the fifth of July, and remaining till his 
marriage in the fall of that year when he came to 
Index. He and his bride took their wedding trip 
on horseback, that being the only way to reach their 
destination. Only one other family, that of his 
father-in-law, Amos D. Gunn, had found a home in 
this lonely spot. The following winter he spent in 
running a pack train to the mines, and during the 
next year took up a homestead which he later sold. 
After working at whatever he could find to do 
until 1900, he took up the draying and express 
business, and is still thus engaged. By careful in- 
vestment he has acquired 300 city lots, and devotes 
a portion of his time to real estate dealings. 

Mr. Doolittle and Henrietta Gunn were married 
November 4, 1890. Mrs. Doolittle, a native of 
Iowa, is the daughter of Amos D. and Perses E. 
(Graves) Gunn, distinguished pioneers of Index, 
a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this history. 
The father was born in Putnam county, Illinois, 
Mav 14, 1843. He is a well known veteran of the 
Civ'il War, having served in the 20th and 139th Illi- 
nois regiments. Coming to Washington in 1890, 
he took up the present site of Index as a squatter's 
claim. Two years later he platted the town, and is 
thus known as the "father of Index." The mother, 
also born in Illinois, died in Index in 1898, after a 
long, useful life. Airs. Doolittle is the eldest of 
eleven children, six of whom are still living. The 
seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Doolittle are 
as follows: Hazel, Ruth, Blanche, Nell, Bessie, 
Luther (deceased), and Dorothy. Mr. Doolittle is 
a popular member of the ]\Iodern Woodmen of 
America, and the Redmen. He is prominent in the 
councils of the Republican party ; held the office of 
deputy sherifif for three years, and is now one of 
the most active members of the Republican Central 
Committee, one whose loyalty and devotion to the 
highest interests of the party are unquestioned. He 
and his family attend the Congregational church. 
By reason of his long residence in Index Mr. Doo- 
little has a wide circle of acquaintance, and enjoys 
the unbounded confidence and respect of all who 
have ever been associated with him either in busi- 
ness or social relations. 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



ANDREW J. MURPHY, the well known liquor 
dealer of Index, Washington, was born in Arena, 
Wisconsin, January 1, 1864. His father. John 
Murphy, was a native of Lynn, Massachusetts, the 
date of his birth being 1856. When he settled in 
Arena, Wisconsin, the nearest railroad was at ^lil- 
waukee. a distance of 136 miles. He later found 
a home in Sioux City, Iowa, and died there in lS9-i. 
Margaret (_ Sullivan) IMurphy, the maternal ances- 
tor, who was also born in Lynn, is still living in 
Sioux City, aged sixty-eight. Andrew J. Murphy is 
the third child of a family of seven. After at- 
tending the common schools he completed his educa- 
tion in the normal school at Madison, Wisconsin, 
and at the age of eighteen started out for himself. 
He was employed by a stone contractor in Eau 
Claire, Wisconsin, for two years, when he decided 
to take up railroading. Going to Aberdeen, South 
Dakota,* he secured a position as fireman on the 
Chicago. ^Milwaukee & St. Paul road, discharging 
his dlities in such a satisfactory manner that at' the 
end of two years he was promoted to the right hand 
side of the cab. Four years later he resigned this 
coveted place, migrating to Washington, in the fall 
of 1889. After spending the winter visiting various 
portions of the Sound country, he settled in Fair- 
haven in the spring, and opened a restaurant which 
he owned for a year. He then engaged in the ice 
business in Fairliaven, Sehome and Whatcom, and 
was at that time the only dealer in ice on Bellingham 
Bay. Two years later the old longing for the road 
took possession of him, and, disposing of his busi- 
ness interests, he went to Great Falls, Montana. 



Entering the employ of the Great Northern railroad 
as engineer, he was assigned to the Seattle e.xtension 
of the road, running an engine on it for nearly 
three years. During the last two years his route 
embraced the switchback on the Cascades. Again 
abandoning the road, he opened a hotel at Sultan 
which was then enjoying a boom, and in the ensuing 
seven years by wise investments acquired a large 
amount of real estate of which he is still the owner. 
Wishing to locate in Everett he sold his hotel, and 
moved thence, becoming the owner and proprietor 
of the Fashion saloon and lodging house. He was 
thus employed until July 26, 1905, at which time he 
sold out, fully intending to go to Tonopah, Nevada. 
A brief visit to Index, Washington, having convinced 
him that here was an excellent opening, he took up 
his residence in the town, and opened a saloon. He 
has thus far had no occasion to regret his decision. 
Mr. Murphy was married in November, 1893, 
to Bertha ]\Iann, raised in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, 
born in IMuskegon, Alichigan, April 14, 1874. In 
188T she moved to Snohomish with her parents, 
George and Annie Mann, pioneers of Snohomish 
countV- Her father died in November, 1899; the 
mother still lives in Sultan. Mr. IMurphy is a 
prominent member of the Eagles, Aerie No. 13, of 
Everett, Washington, and also of the Foresters of 
America. In political belief, he is independent, pre- 
ferring to identify himself with no political party. 
The Catholic faith claims him as an adherent. He 
is a keen, practical business man, whose 
present financial standing is due entirely to his own 
efforts. 



AUG 81 1908 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 










Jr-^ 



